Home School: A Family Decision

572 Words2 Pages

Whether a family chooses to home school or send their child to public school has become a great concern for many parents. There are many important differences and similarities between the two. The choice a family makes will not be the same for all because they should base their decision on what is best for the family. Furthermore, a family should ponder the facts of both, home school and public school, before opting out one for the other.

One difference between public school and home school is social development and peer pressure. Social development is essential in the development of a child and many families consider this when choosing between the two schools; however, social development presents peer pressure because peer pressure is the influence of a social group. In public school, social development occurs daily from riding the school bus, to participating in class discussions, after school clubs, or joining extracurricular activities; however, in public school, many problems can arise due to peer pressure. On the contrary, in home school there is no peer pressure, nor is there much of an opportunity for social development; consequently, a child may crave social interaction and/or feel left out and isolated.

One similarity between public school and home school is convenience, although different in ways. When choosing between the two schools, a family should consider what is most practical for the family. For example, in public school, buses pick up children and take them to and from school, which is convenient for a family working outside of home. Although if a family has a special needs child or children, it could be convenient for the family to choose home school because there aren’t any major schedules to keep; furthermore, they are not bound to the many meetings at a public school. Therefore, even though both are different in their conveniences, they both have conveniences to consider.

Families also consider the quality of education an important factor when choosing between the two. Both schools are similar in the aspect of education, and both can end with a diploma and prepare a child for college. Although, when is comes to the learning environment, each is different. In public school, several different teachers teach children, furthermore, there is typically a high student/teacher ratio.

Open Document