I’ve recently made the decision to educate my eldest son at home. He’s been slipping behind academically ever since he started senior school, three years ago, and I just don’t believe he will achieve his full potential there. My son isn’t exactly impressed, but he understands my reasoning and agrees he’ll probably study more productively at home. If there were a better school locally, or I could move nearer to one, I would prefer for him to stay in mainstream education. However, I sincerely believe this is the best route for him. In order to make this decision, I had to look into all aspects of home education and be sure we could implement everything required of us to enable him to achieve the necessary exam results. Here’s a list of the pros and cons involved to help you decide whether this is something you might consider for your own child.

(Please note that most of the following information applies only to those in the UK (and England in particular) as rules differ slightly, depending on where you live. Those of you who reside elsewhere in the world should check the local policy regarding home-education before making any plans.)

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Pros:

You do not need to stick to the national curriculum, term dates or school times.

Your child doesn’t have to sit any particular number of exams – or any at all, in fact.

There are subjects available to home-schoolers which are not usually available to children in mainstream schools (these include subjects such a Latin, Sociology and Psychology, Photography and plenty more besides).

You can spend far more time working with your child on a one-to-one basis than any teacher can and, essentially, you’re more concerned with their achievements than anyone else is (at least, you should be!).

You can teach your child in the way they learn best, tailoring everything to their needs, rather than the population’s in general. (Some children learn visually, other audibly and some prefer role play.)

There will be no distractions for your child (you need to have a quiet room in which they can study) so they will be more likely to achieve targets.

Your child will not waste hours a day walking to and from school, queuing up to get into class rooms, attending registration, or taking an unnecessarily long lunch-breaks.

There’s no-one to call them names for trying hard or putting up their hand in class so they are likely to participate more in lessons and gain more from them as a consequence.

You get to spend quality time with your children while still allowing them their freedom every evening to see their friends or attend clubs, etc. This means you will have a closer relationship with your child.

Your child can choose which examination board’s syllabus to study, rather than the school choosing them for them. This means you can pick the board which provides the most interesting course, the one with the best text-book or the one with more/less coursework, as preferred.

There are lots of online groups for advice and swapping or lending materials and some parents who are able/qualified to take on the job of tutoring all local home-school children in a particular subject.

If your child is of above average ability you can enter them for higher level exams.

Your child can sit several exams per year from the age of thirteen or whenever they are ready to, as apposed to having to sit around ten exams within month or two.

Most home-schoolers enter for exams far earlier than their peers and often achieve far higher grades, too.

Many universities like home-schoolers because they know they are motivated and able to study independently.

No more buying or ironing school uniforms etc – yay!

You’ll probably learn something, too!

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Cons:

You need to be motivated, organised and patient.

You will have to pay for every exam your child sits.

You will have to buy any textbooks required and all other materials (this can get expensive if your child wants to study art).

There are no funds available from government to enable you to do this, although, there was a group of parents in Essex who were able to negotiate an award for tutoring because they argued the local schools were too poor and the local council found this to be true. This could pave the way for other groups to do the same.

Some subjects are not available to home learners. Your child could still study them but will be unable to sit exams.

If your child isn’t achieving in certain areas and you’re not equipped to teach him adequately you may need to employ a tutor or pay for a distance learning course.

You will have to arrange all the exams yourself and travel to the nearest centre accepting private candidates.

Your child has to be willing to work and able to study independently.

You need to ensure your child still gets plenty of exercise, as they would when attending school.

Your child might get angry with you or feel like the “odd one out”.

You need ensure your child is able to socialise with other children of similar ages or they could become lonely and depressed.

They miss out on group discussions and tasks which might be helpful to them.

If you enjoyed this article you might also enjoy the following:

Me, Myself, and I – Do We Really Need Grammar?

I hope this proved helpful for someone! If you are interested to see how we get on please visit my new blog – there’s not much to see right now but when school starts in September we’ll be adding to it regularly.

www.educatinglewis.blogspot.com