Reasons To Homeschool For Student Well-Being

For children and teens, their academic lives are significant aspects of their development, and public or private schooling plays a pivotal role. When it comes to homeschooling, factors such as physical or mental disabilities, specific learning needs, and evening bullying are all common reasons. When deciding if homeschooling is the best option for your children (or other students in your case), it's crucial to understand its various causes.

Common Reasons For Homeschooling

• Poor mental health: Attending public school comes with many complex challenges for students, such as developing social connections, managing regular responsibilities, and even navigating dating. These can lead to the beginning stages, such as anxiety, depression, and specific mental health disorders, when such challenges become mentally overwhelming and cause harm. Homeschooling would allow students to recover from these stressors while working through an easier-to-manage schoolwork load.

• Bullying: Bullying is a severe and widespread problem that happens daily to many public school kids. Even though bullying may be visible, it can often be covert and subtle, with students not fully realizing they are being bullied or being afraid to speak up about it. In addition, there may also be insufficient resources or staff support in public schools, or the schools have done everything they can to resolve the bullying without success. Homeschooling will likely be a better option if they show signs of struggling with assertiveness, low self-esteem, and impaired social skills.

• Physical disabilities and injuries: Children who are physically disabled or injured and require mobility devices (such as a wheelchair or crutches) may struggle to be comfortable in a public school environment. For example, traveling to and from class or arriving at or leaving campus may be physically challenging five days a week. Homeschooling will likely be a more comfortable environment where students can learn at a more gradual pace and have their daily needs (such as lunch and bathroom breaks) within closer proximity.

• Family and work commitments: A fixed school schedule can quickly get in the way of other obligations that work on a similar program or are demanding on a student's time. For example, suppose a parent has an international job that requires constant moves, or the household has to change locations due to the obligations of seasonal farming. In that case, these can easily hinder a student's attendance at a public school. Homeschooling under these circumstances will allow flexibility in how and when students pursue their education.

• Provide a more individualized learning experience: Public school classrooms are known to have substantial classroom sizes, which makes it difficult for a single teacher to give personalized tutoring to each student. As a result, a student may need help grasping lessons taught in a particular subject and require extra time and tutoring. Homeschooling is a better option if parents can better provide more one-on-one time with a student.