Rohan Parikh weighs in the pros and cons of the online vs home schooling debate
According to a study by National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), homeschooling has experienced a growth of two per cent to eight per cent over the last few years. While this is good news for parents who are keen to home school, there are some clear reasons why it is still not the main mode of education.
This is given the fact that online schooling is seen as an extension of regular school, where the child studies through a virtual classroom. Often seen as a component of hybrid schooling, it gives the child an opportunity to learn and interact from the safety of his/her house.
A keen evaluation of the two modes of schooling reveals their unique features:
Online schooling works with a fixed curriculum, whereas homeschooling is a freewheeling approach
Online schooling uses the curriculum of a board that has been put together by learned academicians. The syllabus is well-structured, monitored and time-tested; and is created to develop a child’s mind in an age-appropriate manner. Homeschooling is more spontaneous and very highly customised. It takes one student at a time and specifically serves his/her needs.
Online schooling is delivered by trained teachers and homeschooling needs a parent to step up as a teacher
A child’s education needs an adult’s complete and undivided attention. For homeschooling, parents need to be well-educated in the subjects and available at all times. It requires the immense dedication of parents. By its very nature, homeschooling demands incessant hard work, involvement, patience, and sacrifices on the part of parents. Further, seeing the parent as a teacher may not be easy for the child. The boundaries in a parent-child relationship get blurred too. In online schooling, each teacher knows their student well. These teachers are certified with years of training in engaging students and courses doled out consistently by training institutes too keep evolving.
Regular reviewing in online schools allows children to flourish at the right pace, while homeschooling takes an open approach
There are many benefits to regular reviewing that let children grow at an appropriate pace. In many ways, tests are motivating stepping stones. It blooms in a child the desire to excel, work towards a goal, and develop the willpower. When others around them do better or worse, it develops respect and empathy respectively. Home-schooling is open where the only competition for the child is with the self and the next big goal is to exceed your own self.
Online schooling reveals an understanding of the outside world, while homeschooling is more inward-looking
Children develop a range of faculties when they interact with their peers. Online schooling enables them to reach out and mingle with children from different strata, cultures and regions. Learning in a group teaches life skills too. Children learn to weather different scenarios and become tolerant of others. Homeschooling, in comparison, is more of an inward exercise. The child is more deeply involved with people and resources available at home and grows with that.
All in all, homeschooling and online schooling are both crafted for different purposes. Both evolve with the children in different ways and have unique impacts. Homeschooling is attuned to each child and moulds them gently as they grow. While online schooling is a step up from regular schooling — like regular schooling — from the comfort of home and prepares the child for the hybrid world of the future.
(The author is the managing director of The Green Acres Academy, a school by The Acres Foundation)