Homeschooling One big concern when it comes to homeschooling is whether kids will be ready to navigate the real world when it comes time to “leave the nest.” People who don’t know much about homeschooling, people who are interested in homeschool as an educational alternative, and even homeschoolers themselves might ask themselves, “How can I make sure homeschooling prepares kids for the real world?”
It’s a reasonable question to ask. If you are considering homeschooling your child, it is also a smart question to ask. It illustrates that you are truly concerned about your child’s future and whether this is the best move for your family to make.
Hopefully, this article will help to alleviate some of your fears of your child being unprepared once it is time for them to venture out into the real world. In it, I will share some reasons that I feel homeschool can be a great preparation for life as an adult. You’ll learn how homeschooling prepares kids for real life and the real world.
Reason #1: They are Highly Socialized
One common argument (or, rather, misconception) is that homeschooled kids across the board lack socialization. This is untrue. Although it does depend a great deal on the parent and child, homeschoolers have a wide variety of opportunities to socialize.
I would go so far as to say that they have more opportunities to socialize than their public school counterparts simply because they are not confined to a single classroom in a single building for 5-8 hours a day. Rather than being limited to interactions with children their own age (and usually from their own neighborhood), homeschool children can spend part of their day meeting and interacting with children of all ages from their community, as well as with adults. This environment is much more similar to “the real world” than a traditional school setting. So in reality, homeschooling prepares kids better for interacting with people of all ages, better than being in a classroom with twenty of their peers.
Reason #2: They Have Developed Life Skills
One beautiful thing about homeschool is that since you develop your child’s curriculum, you can include subjects and activities that normally would not be offered in public schools. For example, you can teach them how to balance a checkbook, how to develop a budget, how to grow a garden, how to change a tire on their car, how to change the oil in their car, and even how to start a business. You could even have a curriculum that includes a specific focus on life skills. So not only does homeschooling offer more flexibility with curriculum, but homeschooling prepares kids for living on their own.
Reason #3: They Have a Better Idea of What They Want
Another thing that makes homeschool so appealing is that it provides children with the ability (and time) to really to explore all of the topics available to them. This is especially true when parents allow the curriculum to be guided by (or at least partially guided by) their child’s interests.
It allows the child to really dig deep into the thing that they find fascinating. This is something that often doesn’t become a possibility until college, when we have a great degree of control over our curriculum. For this reason, homeschool students might be more confident about the direction they would like to take once they graduate from high school.
Reason #4: They Are Well Rounded
Because they are able to explore more topics and activities during their free time, homeschooled children often participate in a variety of extracurricular and community activities.
Homeschooled kids are able to join clubs and groups. They are able to play sports (even with their public school counterparts in many states). They are able to do a lot of things in their free time that they may not otherwise have had the opportunity to do (at least not as readily). Because of this, they are often well-rounded in their experiences, which is not only great for navigating life, but for putting on college applications. They are also likely to be well-networked from being involved with their local homeschool community.
Reason #5: They Are Independent
After a while, homeschoolers are able to take over their education more and more. They are able to decide which topics they want to pursue and which activities they want to engage in. Also, homeschooling prepares kids to work independently.
The ability to make decisions and work on your own towards goals are definitely skills that will serve them well out in the real world.
We hope to homeschool one day, and applaud those who do.
Excellent summary! We are in year 25 of homeschooling our 7 kids, with only 1 teen still at home. Each child spent done time in traditional schools, and all of the now grown kids completed university and are doing well in life.
All of the things you mentioned are true…my favorite thing about homeschooling had been the freedom to travel as well as to personalize study for each child!