When it comes to education of your child you want to make sure that they have the best education possible. There are 3 choices that you, as a parent, can make for education. Those are public school, private school, and home school.
For many people, private school is out of the budget. While the schools are usually better than public school, they can be very expensive. Depending on the school, it can cost several thousand dollars per school year. That prices it right out of the pockets of many people.
Public schooling is free, and each child is guaranteed to have a free and appropriate education. There are public schools all over, making it easy for your child to get there, plus there is usually transportation, so you don’t have to do anything to get your child to school except to get them out to the bus stop on time.
Children who are in public schools can participate in a lot of extra-curricular activities, such as band, sports and clubs. The kids also get a lot of socialization which will help in their later lives. They will encounter a lot of different personality types.
But, for all the things that are going for public schooling, it has a lot of faults. Public schools are geared to teach the average student. That means that students on either end of the scale get neglected. Gifted kids get bored and kids who are struggling keep getting left further and further behind.
Class sizes are often very large. In most schools the class sizes average one teacher to 20 students at the elementary level, and in middle and high school that can go up to 1:30, or more. That means that your kid doesn’t get the help that they need when they need it.
Homeschooling is another option for education. There are a lot of reasons for this. One is because their children get the individualized education that the parents want them to. The education is totally geared around the child and will work towards their strengths and help them with their weaknesses. The parents get to spend a lot of time home with their kids, so while the kids are being educated they are also bonding with their kids. The gifted kids get to work as fast as they can, while the kids who are struggling get to spend all the time they need to stay caught up.
But, as good as homeschooling is there are some drawbacks to it. One is that your kids won’t be around as many other kids so they won’t have that same level of socialization, which could hurt them.
There is some cost associated with home schooling, mostly to buy the supplies that are needed, but they average about $500 a year. But, that allows you to find the curriculum plan that works the best for your child. There are a lot of different plans available.
When it comes down to public school versus home schooling, a lot of the decision comes down to what will work best for you and your kids. Not all kids will work well with home school, and not all parents are cut out for home schooling.