Sunday, September 30, 2007

Bessie Chan: Home Schooling


The Idea of home schooling Date:24-9-2007

What is home schooling? When childern are educated at home or in places other than a traditional setting as in a school,it is called home schooling.The idea of home schooling is detable as it has adventages and disadventages.

The adventages of home schooling are enormous. It is believed that the emotion of a child affects his/her learning.Bullying from other students will kill the motivation of learning in a young child. It is obvious that there is less bullying in home schooling. Teenagers who are easily affected by peer pressure will absolutely have less negative peer pressure when they are educated in home schooling. Also, it is apparent that children are internally motivated to learn in home schooling as they can choose the subjects they are interested in. Teaching methods and teaching materials are some of the external factors affecting children’s learning. The parents, acting as the teachers in home schooling , not limited by school curriculm, provide flexible teaching methods and immense teaching materials to their childern. Children learning under these global curriculum will absolutely have an open-mind about the world. As students spend long periods of time with their family in home schooling, the relations between family members will probably become closer.

The disadvantage of home schooling are undoubtly numerous. It is believed that students teaching and supporting each other with their own language and methods raise the learning effectively.These emotional factor of positive peer encouragement can hardly be found in home schooling. There has external factors affecting children’s learning. Unlike traditional school, home schooling is not subsidized by the government. Those un-organized home school and unwealthy parents may find it difficult to provide enough learning materials and resources for their children to learn. Relationship with others is another aspect that we should consider. As students spend short periods of time dealing with other classmates in home schooling, it is possible that they will become more self-centered and less social-skilled persons.

In conclusion, I believe that in home schooling, as with any debatable issue, the adventages and disadvantages are neither simple nor one-sided. The most important thing is how people apply the idea of home schooling by taking its advantages and diminishing its disadvantages.

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