With Covid and many other reasons, many mums are considering homeschooling as an option for their children. But here comes the big question: is homeschooling actually better? Keep reading to know the answer!
Home Achieves Your Child’s Potential
Home schooling is on the rise globally, and the Middle East is no different. Despite the law sometimes forbidding it; UAE parents are homeschooling in increasing levels. The term ‘home school’ often drags up tired and unhelpful old stereotypes, and parents often have the reactions to match. However, the reality of homeschooling is quite positive, and you might not be aware of what your child is missing in the classroom.
A Side Note
Whilst we’ll deal with the benefits to your child, it would be remiss not to remind parents of the financial benefits of homeschooling. Private tuition can be prohibitively high, with Dubai parents reportedly paying Dh4,000/mo in tuition fees. Some parents have reported that their yearly costs for homeschooling can be less than even one month or private tuition.
Furthermore, lots of families like to pigeonhole learning into term-time and not term-time. This is significant because research has shown that summer learning is absolutely crucial and home schooling can help to break down this barrier and keep education constant and beneficial.
The Art of Learning
Whilst teaching can vary wildly across grades, countries, schools and tutors, the fact remains that a lot of education is geared towards getting your children through a specific path – specifically, helping them to attain each new round of grades in the hopes of getting into that perfect school. Again, while some schools will do this well, pairing it with the actual process of learning and educating, home schooling can be a better option for developing your child’s curious mind. Having first-hand control of their education and being able to guide it accordingly means you’re left with more opportunity to focus on helping your child develop and learn concepts, not just memorize.
Focusing The Learning
A downside to much public or private schooling is that your child’s day is segmented in strictly regimented periods, with ‘practice’ time either an after-school luxury or mandated within their day. By taking schooling back into the home, this opens up your child’s learning schedule, allowing parents to craft learning and very specifically target and nurture their child’s learning, harnessing the best time to engage in practice.
Life Skills
Life skills are often overlooked in school but they are eminently important . While some children might pick them up from mindful families, they can sometimes suffer from the lack of ‘real life’ skills offered by schools – things like financial management and home skills.
Home schooling may seem niche, and can be difficult to take up in some countries in the Middle East. However, it’s an increasingly popular method of education – and for good reasons. You can do it too – take control of your children’s schedule, and your own, and you could be seeing your children fully harness their potential.
Written by: Sally Writes
