Home Schooling vs. Traditional Schooling: Which Provides a Better Overall Education?

Home Schooling vs. Traditional Schooling: Which Provides a Better Overall Education?

I have become increasingly interested in the idea of homeschooling in comparison to education at a regular public school.  I work at the YMCA, usually in the after school program for elementary aged children grades K-5.  On Thursdays, however, from 8-2 before that I work for the home school program with children of the same age.  There are about 20 home schooled children that come in every Thursday, and our job is to supervise them as they interact and play with each other during different activities throughout the day.  I find this very interesting that parents need to set up a time to bring their children together for their only social interaction with other children, where as most kids that age see their friends all day in school as well as after school.  Now that I have a basis of comparison I can see that these home school children behave completely different than the children who go to traditional public school.  On one hand, the home school children are very well behaved, and there is little need to ever yell at any of them, where as children in a regular school setting take a lot more effort to deal with.  On the other hand however, I have noticed that many of the home school children are not only well behaved, but socially awkward, and have a hard time making friends and interacting with their peers.  Many of the children still have a hard time leaving their mothers when they drop them off and they are in 3rd or 4th grade! Although we don't deal with the home school children in terms of academics, I was SHOCKED to see the little amount of information that the older kids knew, such as basic information like the capital of Massachusetts or the current president.  After witnessing this I am interested to see the benefits and disadvantages of the two types of schooling.    

Home Schooling: Pros

• Allows curriculum to be adjusted to the students individual needs
• Religious beliefs can be taught while home schooling
• One on one attention for student 
• Freedom to choose your own schedule
• No exposure to problems that come along with public schooling

Home Schooling: Cons

• Parents may not be qualified to teach
• Less opportunity for children to interact with a diverse group of students
• More expensive than public school
• Time consuming for parents
• Harder for student to apply to college
• Child may feel isolated from others their age

Public School: Pros

• Learning in a group setting
• Many extracurricular activities: sports, chorus, drama, clubs, groups, etc.
• Socially diverse education
• Free to attend
• Convenient: buses provided, close to home
• More resources for students: computers, libraries, gym, etc. 

Public School: Cons

• High student/teacher ratio
• Less independence due to scheduled learning
• No say in curriculum
• Possible problems with peers: bullying, learning bad habits, or exposure to drugs/alcohol
• Too much emphasis on state testing

Overall, there are clearly positive and negative aspects to both types of schooling.  From my own experiences, and after reviewing this information, in the future for my own children, I will choose traditional public school.  I feel this way because I see these home school children every week and I feel as though they lack sufficient social skills as well as educational awareness of current events.  I'm sure their parents intended to home school so they could get a good education, but I think it has back fired in many of these situations.  These parents may not be qualified to teach, lack the time it takes to truly educate their children, or do not focus on a broad enough curriculum.  Looking back on my own time in public school, I would never want to miss spending time with friends, going to prom, high school graduation, playing on sports teams, going on school ski trips, etc.  I feel like all children deserve these opportunities, and home schooling makes it hard for them to live the life of a normal child.  I don't personally know anyone my own age who was home schooled their whole life, but it would be interesting to get their perspective.  I think home schooling can work if parents are truly dedicated to teaching, but I think that the cons outweigh the pros in this case, and I would stick with public school for my kids.