While there are arguably many advantages to homeschooling, it’s wise to also consider the disadvantages of homeschooling before you take the plunge and dive in.
Homeschooling isn’t always roses and sunshine. In fact, I’m here to testify that it’s pretty tough. In all honesty, it just might be one of the hardest things you ever do for your kids. You see, homeschooling is not a simple change of educational venue, it is a massive lifestyle change that impacts the entire family. So, it is wise to carefully consider and be aware of the challenges and disadvantages of homeschooling in order to compensate for them.
Be forewarned: I’m not trying to talk you out of homeschooling! I am a passionate advocate, but an honest person needs to evaluate the drawbacks and make sure they understand the commitment before moving forward.
9 Disadvantages of Homeschooling
Drawbacks to homeschooling to know before you start
1. Significant Time Investment
Homeschooling usually requires an active parent several hours each day. Additionally, preparing for the academic year requires extensive preparation to review and choose curriculum, select books, and prepare lessons. Being the homeschool parent is like having a job for 4-8 hours a day, except no one pays you to do it! Additionally, it can be very hard on the homeschooling parent in other ways. There are few to no breaks throughout the day and little adult interaction. For most homeschoolng parents, they take on the role of mom or dad as soon as the school day is over with no down time in-between. Homeschooling will try your patience, tempt your anger, and cause you stress as the teacher. So, one disadvantage of homeschooling is that it requires extreme multi-tasking and can easily lead to overwhelm.
2. Total Commitment
Homeschooling is challenging, especially in the beginning. If you are transitioning from a public school, it will be a massive lifestyle change for you as well as your children. The first few weeks of anything new are always difficult and taxing. Homeschooling requires a commitment of time, energy, and determination to make it work. It is not uncommon to meet families who “try” homeschooling for a few months or a semester and then jump back into public schools because it is more work than they expected.
3. Limited Knowledge
Another disadvantage to homeschooling can be your own limited knowledge as teacher. Understanding that your child could easily be limited only to your own knowledge base, be sure to expose your child to authoritative texts, other adults, other viewpoints, other opinions, experts, and hands-on experience. It is also important to teach your child critical thinking skills and encourage them to draw their own conclusions. Don’t be afraid to let your kids think differently than you! You are raising them for a different era and a different world than the one in which you live. Some parents struggle with feeling unqualified to teach, especially as students advance into junior high and high school. Don’t be afraid to reach out to other homeschooling families, join co-ops, or utilize other resources to help your child extend past your own individual knowledge. This doesn’t have to be a game-changer!
4. Cost
Any wise decision requires counting the cost before committing! While public school is free, homeschooling is not. It can, however, be done on a budget. On the frugal end, expect to pay at least $100 per child yearly on textbooks, materials, and other resources. On the other end, some parents spend from hundreds to thousands annually per child. If you’re coming to homeschooling from private school, this may seem like a bargain! However, if you’re coming from public school or just beginning to educate, the cost may seem daunting and may be a disadvantage of homeschooling. Additionally, you may also need some one-time purchases such as furniture, technology, or lab materials. If you plan fieldtrips, consider that cost as well. You also need to consider if adopting the homeschool lifestyle will require losing one adult’s income to become a stay-at-home parent. On the other hand, you will no longer need nice school clothes, work-clothes, fund-raiser money, or group costs that many public schools frequently ask for from parents!
5. Extracurricular Activities
One of the biggest disadvantages to homeschooling can be the lack of access to school programs such as chorus, band, sports, newspaper, theater, etc. Some states do allow for homeschoolers to participate in school sports, but not all. More often, homeschooling families band together to form their own extracurricular activities. However, the cost of these associations is then placed on parents instead of being free through the school district. In contrast, homeschooling students can get free access to special services such as speech therapy or dyslexia support through the local school districts.
6. The Big Yellow Bus
Parents first contemplating homeschooling often wonder if their children will miss all the small things that make up a common American school experience. For example, things like riding the bus, eating in the cafeteria, going to assemblies, and participating in fundraisers. You might feel nostalgic about your own school experience surrounded by many kids the same age and learning from a different teacher each school year. Oddly enough, none of these things ever seems to come up in homeschooling families I know. Homeschool kids don’t miss these things because they don’t know they exist. The homeschool experience is so rich in other ways that these things are rarely missed! Even kids who transition from public schools tend to dismiss the small stuff in light of the greater value.
7. Too Much Time Together
Most veteran homeschool parents will tell you that the best thing about homeschooling is the time you spend together and the worst thing is – the time you spend together. Yep! It’s a double-edged sword. Family time is a treasure and homeschooling pulls a family together like nothing else! But being together all day every day can also be wearying. In homeschooling families, you tend to see less sibling bickering (no research here – just my casual observations!) and lots of family love across age levels. However, sometimes kids and parents all need some space from each other! Too much together time can quickly become a disadvantage of homeschooling if not taken into consideration. Arranging for an hour of “quiet time” or alone time each day can be a God-send for the children and the homeschooling parent’s sanity, too! A wise parent will plan for each child to have some breathing room in the day, and schedule quiet time for yourself as well.
8. Deadlines? What Deadline?
One of the other common drawbacks of homeschoolers is our sometimes overly-casual approach to learning. Many parents do not assign grades and there is little focus on test taking. However, an unintended result can be that a student may not learn to respect a firm deadline. Additionally, some students may not have basic test taking skills or never be required to complete boring assignments. At first, these seem unimportant (which is why many homeschooling families ignore them). However, if a student is college-bound, learning to meet a deadline, take a test, and complete distasteful assignments are an important part of learning how to “do school”. Another important factor is learning how to respect another adult’s authority (besides mom or dad). Many homeschool families join a co-op at some point in order to address some of these issues.
9. Teaching Your Own Child
Finally, perhaps the biggest disadvantage of homeschooling is simply the fact that it can be really tough to teach your own kids. For some reason, children push their own parents harder than they ever do someone outside of their family. They throw bigger fits, backtalk more, and complain longer to mom or dad than they ever would a classroom teacher. It’s important, then, that any transition to homeschooling include a major focus on respect, obedience, and expectations to set the standard for what will and will not be acceptable. It’s doable!
Pros and Cons of Homeschooling
Any life choice comes with pros and cons. Make no doubt about it – there are always positives and negatives to any decision. Sometimes, the grass seems greener on the other side and the road looks easier, but there are always costs to consider, too. There are definitely pros and cons to homeschooling as well.
So, try making a list of the benefits of homeschooling as well as the top disadvantages of homeschooling, too. What really resonates with you? You may find you need to sit and really ponder some of the pros and cons of homeschooling before jumping into the homeschool lifestyle. Remember, drawbacks don’t have to be a game-changer because there are always ways to overcome and compensate for the negatives. Discuss your advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling list with your spouse and friends before making the right choice for your family!