Downside of home schooling?

Question

I am a competitive parliamentary debater and am interested in running cases for and against home schooling. I have lots of information on the benefits of homeschooling and am not interested in more. I would like to hear some of the common arguments against home schooling, however. Nothing ridiculous, but solid and logical. I'm just shopping around for ideas, here.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I was home schooled for about a year. sure it had its good times, but im a verry social person and it got pretty lonely and boring after awhile. hope i could help!

Answer 2

-The children learn more.

-They get to be in the REAL WORLD

-Learn how to interact with people of all ages

Sorry, had to be sarcastic

Some real cons:

-If the parents don't help their child, the kid can fall behind

-Not as many resources

Answer 3

what they said

Answer 4

anti-social...the kid will become a social r****d im sure you have met them they cannot carry out a normal onversation. Its unpractical its not good for them as much as you think it might be your wrong its not.

Answer 5

parents (and kids) get tired of it and then the kid ispacked off to public school where we have to face socially retarded people (no kidding) who have hugh gaps in their learning, esp in maths and Language.  One kid in my class had no idea about fractions and he's 12!  This is his first year of regular school

Answer 6

Acceptance in certain circles, maybe one that they couldn't be in.   And there is that one little thing: not being able to bring up your child the way that they should go so that when they are old they will not depart from it.  You hand your kids over to the government, you get a government education with all that it entails.

All of life is about being accepted into certain circles.   Perhaps you wish to be a graduate of xyz high school, being homeschooled, you cannot belong to that group.   Public, government funded and mandated, education isn't for everyone, being materialistic business oriented, consuming adults isn't our goal.

All of life is about choices and sometimes you get to choose which circle you are a part of, whether or not you truly understand the reasons, or even choose, you will belong to many different circles.  

You don't want a debate, you want help pushing an anti-homeschooling agenda that you are incapable of proving. This is the HOMESCHOOL forum. Perhaps there should be an "anti-homeschooler" or better yet how about "public schoolers" forum where you can bash homeschoolers, you'd fit in that cirlce and might make better leeway.

Answer 7

1.You can get off track and not get all your work done before summer.

&

2.There is nobody to socialize with so when you are finished with school it is very hard to make friends because you are so used to having nobody around.

Answer 8

Most of the "down side" that people argue to me don't apply.

I've been told that my kids don't get socialized, meanwhile they're out about every day with other kids, have lots of friends and are involved in a number of group activities.

I've been told my kids don't get enough guidance/instruction from other adults, meanwhile my kids take classes in a number of subjects in our co-op with other teachers, and my teen takes college courses.

I think the only real downside to homeschooling is for the board of ed who ends up not getting the funds for the kids who don't go to public school.

Answer 9

Homeschooling obviously has a lot of benefits, and in our four years, I haven't seen any downside for our family.  However, here are some possible cons:

*If the parents are not committed to educating their child, it won't work.  Homeschooling is not for everyone, and parents need to know what their responsibility is before they start.

*A parent needs to be willing to be flexible in order to homeschool effectively.  When teaching one child, the logistics of a classroom often don't work.  The point of homeschooling is to tailor a curriculum to a child's needs - to teach according to their learning style and challenge them at their level.  If a parent is stuck on a "my child WILL learn in this manner" attitude - which I have seen - trouble often follows.

*A homeschooling child needs to be motivated to learn and to be responsible for their education, especially in the jr. high to high school years.  Some kids need the structure and competition of a classroom, while others need the freedom and individual attention of a homeschool.  If the child is better suited for a classroom, they should be in one if a good classroom option is available.  (In some areas, a good school is nothing more than a pipe dream.  In others, they are readily available.)

*Homeschooling families need to be willing to make sacrifices.  These aren't always necessary, but obviously if one parent quits work, it will financially impact the family.  The parents need to weigh this out ahead of time, to make the decision as to whether this is worth it.

These are things that each family needs to decide for itself; however, they are downsides that need to be considered.  For many families, they are worth it - and they are fairly easily worked around.  For others, one or more of these is too "big" to work around, and another option must be considered instead.

Good question!

Answer 10

I am a homeschooling mom.  My children are very socialized.  We do things with many other homeschool families.  Those who are complaining about no socialization when being homeschooled only have themselves to blame.  Get out the door and do something!  

One of the biggest downsides for me is all the people who think they know how to raise my children better than I do.  I have seen rhetoric that public school teachers are taught which says that "ultimately you know what is best for the child, when dealing with a parent"  

Another problem I see runs into the parents who claim they are homeschooling but the kids are just running around the neighborhood causing problems.  

On the opposite end are the majority of parents who are doing their best.  If these kids do go back into the public school system, they are so far ahead of their peers, it makes it tough on the student.  I have seen that too.  Hope this helps.

Answer 11

i have nothing to compare homeschooling to as i have never been to any sort of school, only taught at home by my parents, but here are some things i see as downfalls of home schooling:

-the feeling of not being included, or "normal" being looked at as different by other kids cause of a choice that your parents made. not just as a kid but through life. people react in all kinds of ways when you tell them you only home schooled. i don't like to explain to every random person who asks "where did you go to school?"

-the lack of diploma, i only have a GED. be it for work, continuing education, or just self esteem reasons, a diploma would be nice.

-lack of social skills when young, entering the adult world a bit green as far as relationships, etc.

-lack of motivation. i tend to be a bit unmotivated as it is, i think for me a classroom would have been better suited for the good of my education. i think it would have held my attention better also. often times it was my own responsibility to study and it simply didnt get done.

-sports. sports are a good thing i believe. i have never played sports cause i was home schooled. the only sports i did were solo ones like horseback riding, motocross, etc. i think competition and exercise are good things that come with sports that home schoolers don't get.

-lack of access to materials, books, equipment, even specific teachers for different topics, all things i don't  think any parent could provide the way schools can.

these are some things i thought of off the top of my head and there are more, but there are also so many things i have learned through homeschooling that i never would have in public school also. i think one needs ot weigh it all out when making the decision to home school there child or not. a lot of it may depend on the child and the parents also. there is a lot to weigh in and every situation will be different when it comes to teaching kids at home, whereas with school your at least guaranteed with an equal education as anyone else who graduates high  school, whether that is a good thing to be normal is for each person to decide. anyway. hope i could be of help. if you have any other questions feel free to contact me at [e-mail]

Answer 12

As HS mom stated, there are some cons, but most of those are not directly related to homeschooling, but are more of parenting. I will point out that out of hundreds (literally) of homeschooling families I know personally, I only know of one family who faces these issues. In general, they are not true for the majority of homeschoolers, and there is no evidence of these incidents as part of homeschooling. As well, I know several public schools who face similar issues.

Control issues, can leave children isolated and angry about lack of self-control. They might not have the chance to socialize as much. (the only angry homeschoolers *I* know already post here)

Lack of education in the adult or fear of 'worldly' behaviors lead parents to not share all of the information that the world has to offer. (Again, I've seen this exactly once)

Isolation can lead to immature social skills, which indirectly affects relationships later. (Although in my experience, this is easily remedied with little experience)

I'm sure you'll get some other things. Sorry about the long disclaimer, I just like to illustrate that this is NOT endemic of homeschooling. We homeschool, and know so many families that homeschool, that I feel I speak from experience. it is true that I can't speak for every homeschooler in the US, but it is probably that the hundreds I know are representative of homeschoolers across the US, Christian, Muslim, Pagan, Atheistic, gifted, disabled, curricula, unschooling, virtual, etc.

Answer 13

I graduated from homeschool. The first "con" almost all homeschoolers hear is, "Well, you don't get any socialization do you?" Anyone who says that couldn't be more mistaken. There are countless opportunities for homeschoolers to interact with people outside of their family. The only reason that one might not do so is in the unusual case that the parents don't want them to. We have co-ops, extracurricular clubs (like ski club, debate etc).  There is no lack of interaction with people for homeschoolers.

One downside I've found in my own life is that once I got a job and got out into the "real world", it wasn't anything like I thought it was going to be. Often times people homeschool for religious purposes. The parents will shelter the kids from certain aspects of society. Which on one hand is a good thing, it allows the kids a more ideal upbringing. But once they go out and hear people swearing and talking about "inappropriate" topics, the more sheltered child can get a little bit of culture shock. It doesn't happen all the time, but I have seen it happen (it happened with me). Though I was able to adjust fairly quickly.

In homeschool, there's more encouragement to explore different areas. For instance, a public school gives you a set curriculum for history; you learn exactly what they put in the book. In homeschool, though, we do follow a curriculum, but there's alot of extra time put into the study of it. Getting out extra books from the library, going on field trips and such... just for the fun of it.

Anyway, that's just my experience.

Answer 14

Here's some info that may help you:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Good luck!

Answer 15

I would say a possible downside of homeschooling is the loss of income if one parent stops working.  If the household is used to a certain lifestyle, level of income, etc., this loss could be perceived quite negatively.  However, most homeschooling families already understand the sacrifice they are making.

Another downside could be if you are homeschooling an only child and don't have that child in enough activities, classes, sports, etc., especially if he/she is a very social person.

Also, as a homeschooling single parent, I really struggled to make ends meet during my first year of homeschooling.  However, I learned to live a lot more frugally than when I worked outside my home.  Some people believe it is impossible for a single parent to homeschool effectively.  However, I have now started a work-at-home job, do contract work from home, along with taking online classes and homeschooling.  In this day of advanced technology, many single parents homeschool and many stay-at-home moms work from home/have a home-based business.

Some families have both parents working outside of the home and have to juggle their schedules a lot in order to homeschool; this, I can imagine, would be very stressful.

Answer 16

The classic arguments against homeschooling are:

-Kids won't get socialized

-Kids will miss out on the 'standard' experience and so won't have the same background and won't be able to talk about the same things when they are adults

-Parents, with their wide variety of backgrounds, aren't as good teachers as people who are specifically trained as teachers

-Sure, parents can teach young children, but how will they teach teens? How can they know enough about all of the subjects they need to know?

-Kids will practically locked up in the basement and never meet real people

-Parents won't teach the 'right' things, the things that we as a society have determined that kids should know

-Parents might let kids fall through the cracks

-Kids won't have friends

I'm not sure how the debating system works...but for your sake, I hope you get pro-homeschooling, because everything I just said had easy responses to it:

-Socialization issues have been debunked multiple times, I'm not even going to go into it.

-So what? It's not like any 2 kids have the same experience anyway. That's what makes life interesting.

-Many teachers, particularly in the inner cities, have little or no training, and bad teachers can rarely get fired (often causing good teachers to leave). Also, the data seems to show that parents of all different levels of education, as well as those with and without teaching certificates, tend to do equally well at educating their children.

-Parents teach their kids to learn on their own, they have access to online, DVD and other methods and can and do hire tutors or trade teaching with other homeschooling parents.

-Not likely. I mean, it isn't impossible, but that isn't a feature of homeschooling.

-I'm very unimpressed with what our schools teach now. Why should I assume that this is the 'right' methods teaching the 'right' information to students. Plus, each state has completely different standards anyway, as do most districts. There is no 'right' set of information.

-Schools also let kids fall through the cracks, in many places at an alarming rate. In some areas, more than 50% of kids don't graduate; other schools (or sometimes the same ones) have startlingly high numbers never learn how to read...and the parents are often kept in the dark.

-I had almost no friends when I was in a public high school. Is that a reason to shut down that school?

Answer 17

One big downside is being accepted by those who don't homeschool. My daughter was at a summer park activity where there was also a homeschool park day going on. She was sitting next to a non-homeschooled girl who found out that the parents and kids wearing the homeschooled group t-shirt (which is done by some members so new people can connect with the group), she completely put it down, not knowing a thing about it. Fortunately, the playground activity attendant corrected her mistaken views, but if nobody had, she would have continued believing that you do no work at home and various other things.

I know a homeschooled teen who had been hanging out one summer with some teens from her sports. When this one girl found out she was homeschooled, even though they'd been having a blast together for weeks, the girl completely treated the homeschooled girl like dirt. "Homeschoolers are freaks." Then she'd hear snide comments during sports training, "Such a social r****d."

Of course, others' ignorance isn't a reason to not homeschool.