Traditional School or Homeschooling?

There are some decisions I make as a parent while raising my kids, and one of them is making a decision regarding their education.

Currently, I have been deliberating on whether my first son will continue with his traditional schooling or I should embark on homeschooling for him for many reasons I wouldn't want to disclose here. I was surprised to see that hive learners asked the same question in my mind for this prompt.

The question of if traditional schooling is better than homeschooling has no fixed response, as parents will always choose what they feel works better for them; one answer can't work for every family.

I will start by saying that traditional schools have their own advantage. Here, children get to build social interactions; they mix with other students, get exposed, and learn things outside their families. But again, I am wondering what our children learn in school sometimes. I don't have control of what he consumes in his mind over there in school; I have no idea of what he is exposed to, and that's why homeschooling appears to be a good option in certain instances.

When it's about homeschooling, a parent takes charge of what the child learns and how he learns. Let's say my child is lagging behind in math; I will have the opportunity to spend a lot of time teaching him math until he has a better understanding of it. I might even use a practical teaching method that he may not be lucky to get in a traditional setting. Applying real-life education to teachings is what I can do while homeschooling, more of doing it practically rather than theoretically. These are some advantages of considering homeschooling a child, but then it has its own challenges.

When kids are restricted from going to traditional school but learn at home alone, social interaction becomes a challenge, and learning how to communicate with others becomes a hassle. There are lots of things to learn from mixing with others, such as resolving disagreements, learning to share and cooperating with others, etc., but for a kid doing homeschooling, every socialization ends at home, as it's limited, and that's a demerit.

Personally, I will choose an option suitable for each of my kids, depending on their personalities. If I choose to homeschool any of my children because I feel it's suitable for them, then I should have the time, the patience, and all resources needed to achieve a good result; otherwise, I will prefer they go through traditional school while I complement whatever they are learning in school at home, thereby bringing balance and values.

I also believe that education has gone beyond classroom learning, so yea, go outside and learn in the real world practically. Whichever option we choose for our kids, it's still our responsibility to ensure they learn beyond what's written on textbooks. By so doing, you will find out that they will be exposed to what their teacher never taught them. As much as education educates our children, parents still have a role to play.

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