Students and children have been forced to take online classes to stay safe during the pandemic. Around the world, there are 300 million students who are studying at home because of Covid-19. However, the increasing violence at school and severe bullying in on-site schooling have made homeschooling viable for many Americans. Around 3% to 4% of students in the US are homeschooled and around 9 million as of February 2020 had been homeschooled at one point in their student life.
Statistics of Homeschooling
Apart from that, the percentage of students that have opted to homeschool rose from 2% to 8% every year until 2019. In that very year, 9% of children from ages 5 to 17 have switched from traditional to homeschooling. A big leap from the 3.4% average before 2019. You can’t really blame the parents and children, as it is very traumatic for people this age to go through the risk and experience school violence nowadays.
Around 80% of the parents that homeschool their children cited safety as their primary reason. There are also those who are not satisfied with the current curriculum of traditional schooling. As of the end of 2020, there are 2.5 million American children who are homeschooled.
Out of this 9% of American children being homeschooled is 51% or more than half is female while the other 49% is male. This is also a good option for exceptional students as 25% of homeschooled children have been recommended to go to a grade higher than their age requires. Those children’s growth and interest to learn would have been stunted by traditional schooling.
This doesn’t mean that homeschooling is just for high IQ children or exceptionally bright students. On average, homeschooled students score between 80 to 90% no matter what level of educational attainment their parents have finished. While it is generally known that girls perform better than boys in the traditional school setting, in homeschooling boys perform 44% better in reading compared if they are in traditional schools.
The success of homeschooling is also statistically proven in the number of students that graduate. The percentage of homeschooled students that graduate high school is 10% higher than those who go to traditional schools. About 57.5 % of traditional school students go to college but just 41% finish it in 4 years. That is compared to 74% of homeschooled students going to college and 66.7% of homeschooled students that graduated from college.
Curriculum
There are a lot of top curriculums you could choose for homeschooling your children. Depending on the child’s style of learning and your teaching methodology, you will find a lot of resources available for you online. You can also homeschool for free if you want to. Looking at all the huge repertoire of information on the internet that you can choose could be overwhelming and make you feel that you cannot do it by yourself. However, it could be as simple as you also would choose to be, and spending that much time with your children is a rewarding and gratifying experience as a parent.
Once you have chosen the curriculum that you want to use for your child’s education, you can just follow it. Note, however, that the curriculum could be changed when you feel like it is not the right fit or is not effective for both of you.
In the morning, you could choose to teach the children household chores. That way, they will gain independence and self-reliance. When you do this, you instill responsibility and that household chores are necessary life skills.
After that, after washing up and eating breakfast, you can take a walk to the park or beach and let the children enjoy the sun and being in the present. Walking the dog and letting the children roam free would prepare them for the day ahead. A schedule for each day is necessary but don’t cramp it too much.
You don’t want the children to be burned out and lose their innate curiosity and desire to learn. The curriculum you use would be able to help you create a realistic everyday schedule of learning for your children.
Keep the interruptions on a learning time at a very minimum or zero. That way, everyone can focus and progress while having fun. Some parents put the more difficult subjects in the morning as some children would have a hard time focusing in the afternoon. You can tweak the schedule as you see fit while making sure that the children are learning. Outside activities or classes incorporated into your homeschool curriculum must be done on a day that is not already packed or busy.
If you are not confident with some subject you can find a tutor that can help you better equip your child. There are a lot of educators out there who are experienced and have the qualifications that could teach your child the subject that you find challenging to teach. It is already hard as it is to be a parent, so know that there are resources and options available for you if you need them.
You don’t need to make it hard for yourself. If you encounter anything else or need to find a good strategy, you’ll find a lot of books to read that can cater to that. Your local library or the resources found on the internet can help with that. If not, Amazon could be the next good choice.
In the same breath, reading to your children is a great way for them to retain information and depending on how it is delivered, piques their interest in what you are reading. Gather the children and read a book to them, it will teach them inflections and pronunciations of words that may be unfamiliar to them. You can make it sound like a drama performance and record it so that the children can play it over and over again.
To support the efficiency and effectiveness of homeschooling a school desk is necessary. The Kids Desk for Home Schooling and Chair Set at FlexiSpot. It is moisture-proof and durable, with adjustable height and desk feet for good posture, waterproof surface, and rounded edges for child's safety. Moreover, it grows with your child so you don’t have to buy one every other year.
