An Argument Against Homeschooling:

Reasons Not To Homeschool

An argument against homeschooling is that your child will "miss out" on all the things a school can provide. At first sight, it seems one of the most powerful arguments that might make you decide homeschooling is bad.

My Dad, who went to Oxford University, would say:"There is plenty of time."

I would add that lovely proverb:

"When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear."

Does your child really need to learn all those things now?

Poetry and Shakespeare are just two of the things I believe are often taught far too young in schools. Both require a level of maturity which mainly comes years later. Schools usually succeed only in putting you OFF for life.

In fact, a large part of our curriculum has been centered on giving William and Catherine reasons to want to write, as you'll see in our homeschool creative writing tips.

My Dad would agree. Since he was the best friend of Philip Larkin, became a poet himself and read English at Oxford he has reason to know!

When it comes to High School, there's obviously more of an argument. Mum sent me there precisely because she didn't think she could manage science. I'm certain, too, that would have been one of the strongest arguments the school made in its favor.

Part of her decision was influenced by being awed by the impressive collection of school lab. equipment.

If she'd known how long I spent actually using that equipment myself – rather than sitting watching the teacher – maybe she'd have changed her mind!

Especially when, as you'll see from our free homeschooling curriculum, learning science is really about waking up wonder about the world around us - which doesn't necessarily cost anything at all.

But the biggest arguments against homeschooling based on the what-your-child-is-missing scenario fades into the background if you ask yourself how much of what you learnt in school was actually useful. Did you really enjoy learning or was it more something you had to do in order to pass an exam?

A large part of the answer comes down to the teacher. And that's where homeschooling wins all the arguments.

You may not be the world's expert in everything (at least, I haven't met you yet if you are!), but the argument against homeschooling that because you lack knowledge, you can't teach, is nonsense. Homeschool has to be the best by the simple virtue of you being able to work individually with your child to find out the answers to the questions they want to ask.

Real learning, as we all know, is not top down – it comes from an inquiring mind searching out.

You may not know all the answers, but you know how to find them. And you can be in the happy position of learning with your child. It's far more important that your child sees learning as something useful and enjoyable and builds up interests that will stay with them forever.

In the UK and many States in the US, you do not have to be a qualified teacher in order to be allowed to homeschool. We will cover that in the start homeschooling section, where you'll see I actually think one of the arguments against homeschool could be being too much of a 'teacher' when it comes to learning with your children.

Following a strict timetable is obviously essential in school when you have to organize large groups of children into sensible time blocks, but a homeschool planner gives you far more flexibility.

Now, there are some instances where you might feel you really can't cope and there is a genuine argument against homeschooling.

Math and Physics are my sore points, particularly as I feel I will fall into the bad teacher trap of not understanding something myself and so threatened by arguments which stretch beyond the answers on the printed page.

In my case, I have a secret weapon. I pass the children over to Rob! We also use lots of simple ways to make Math fun, as you can see from all the board games we enjoy in Third Grade Math Activities.

But, if you're similarly feeling inadequate and think your child will really miss out on something if you choose homeschool, I'm quite sure you'll find a way.

If you can't teach something yourself, maybe you know someone who can.

A few homeschool Moms I know worried their children would lose out on organized sports and team skills. So they set up a sports session for homeschool children. Problem solved!

Let's take this the other way round.

How can a school possibly provide all the opportunities homeschool can?

When you look at it like that, the argument against homeschooling becomes a positive strength.

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