Barbara Bednarczyk Home Education? Is it for you?

More and more families are looking for better education for their kids. Parents want their children to develop their talents, have fun in learning new things or face challengesface challengesface challenges without giving upgiving up [give up]giving up. What they don’t want is teaching the kids like every other student. So, parents often choose a solution which is becoming more and more popular in Poland—homeschoolinghomeschoolinghomeschooling.

Homeschooling is a special way of learning where students study at home with their parents' help. In the United States about 2.5 million children learn in the homeschooling system. In Poland, there are now around 14,000 homeschoolershomeschoolers [homeschooler]homeschoolers, but the number is still growing. Homeschooling is legal in Poland, children aged 6 to 18 can be homeschooledhomeschool sb (verb)homeschooled. However, there is no complete freedom here. The child must be enrolled in a regular school.  And in order to be promoted to the next grade, students take examstake examstake exams in individual subjects.

There are many good things about homeschooling. First, parents can choose what to teach based onbased onbased on their child's interests, and there's no strict dress codedress codedress code, so they can wear comfy clothes while studying. Another advantage is flexibilityflexibilityflexibility. Parents can make a schedulescheduleschedule that works best for their child, giving them more time for subjects they enjoy. They can also pickpickpick teaching materials that make learning fun and easy, like interactive websites, games or practical activities.

However, homeschooling might mean fewer chances to be with peerspeers [peer]peers, so students may not develop social skillssocial skills [social skill]social skills as much. To fix this, parents can arrange playdatesplaydates [playdate]playdates or join homeschooling groups. What is more, there is a need for discipline. Without school rules, the family has to work them outwork them out [work sth out]work them out on their own. Sometimes, without a regular school routine, students can fall behindfall behindfall behind in their studies. Therefore it is really important for parents to keep an eyekeep an eyekeep an eye on their progressprogressprogress and help them catch upcatch upcatch up if needed.

Homeschooling has good points like individual learning and flexibility. But it can also have challenges, such as fewer social interactionssocial interactions [social interaction]social interactions. With parents' support and the right resourcesresources [resource]resources, homeschooling can be a really great choice.

What do you think?

1 Źródło: Barbara Bednarczyk, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.