Home Schooling

Home Schooling – Some positive & Negative thoughts

When it comes to schooling for children their parents have a daunting task of selecting the right school and the right method of teaching as they will come across many syllabis like state curriculum, CBSE, ICSE and International schooling etc.

Home is the first school and mother is the best child goes an old adage. In line with this principal many parents in our cities are opting for Home schooling or their children. Though their percentage is very miniscule when compared to traditional schooling the concept is slowly catching up. Some of the reasons attributed by such parents are pressurised or overloaded atmosphere in the regular schooling. Despite many system , each one of them has its own lacuna and lack stimulus.

In this concept of Home schooling or Learning at Home the child is made to study at home. The syllabus is selected from the curriculums of different boards or following their own by taking the best of these methods. The child will have his own time for learning and he can also concentrate on other extra curricular activities like sports or other programmes. He will have freedom to make his own time table for both studies as well as other activities. The parents will take care of guiding their children. In case they are not able to teach a particular subject they have their own forums through which they will exchange those people (another parent) who can teach such subjects. Since they are not professionally qualified there are some associations who guide them the method of teaching. In case, the child needs extra coaching they are going for specialized tutors.These children can register themselves to any of the board to take up their Class X or Class XII examinations and to continue their career.

In Western countries this concept is prevalent since many years and has been recognized by many countries. An analysis of such children’s educational level shows that they have fared better in competitive examinations than those who studied in traditional schooling. Despite such encouraging results the percentage children who opted for Home schooling is still very minimal.

Many educationalists like John Caldwell Holt, Raymond & Dorothy Moore are critical of traditional schooling especially for those upto 12 years of age. Their primary assertion is that a home can provide better environment for the children at that age. In this age a child can learn a lot of things from the nature he is watching every day. However, Holt also says that Home schooling is not an answer to badness of schools.

There are many negative aspects in the system of Home schooling in respect of overhaul development of the child. In this system first and foremost is the precious period of childhood is totally lost as he will not be growing and studying along with other children of his own age group. The sweet memories of that age cannot be experienced at any point of time in the later stage. The child’s social networking is totally reduced. They may grow individualistic and not as a group where children coming from different strata of society are mixed together.

Such a method, may also give one sided view as their parents by knowingly or otherwise may block all points of view and try to put in their own views on the young minds. As they are not professionally qualified they may lack the child psychology to teach them. Another is the cost factor. It may be more than the cost of regular schooling as they have to engage special tutors for special subjects especially mathematics and Science. In any society, Home schooling needs full time attention of any one of the parents for the child. In the Indian context, it is only the mother who have to do this and the father choosing such job may be an exceptional case. Otherwise, the child may stray away from his assigned work. In our cities where majority of bothe the parents are working professionals it is debatable who will sacrifice their career to go in for Home schooling of their children.

According to John Holt, ‘Real learning is a process of discovery and if we want it to happen we must create the kind of conditions on which discoveries are made’. This includes time, freedom and unnecessary pressure. I think this principle needs real application for our children which our educationalists should think of while adopting the best method of education for the youngsters. At the same time one should keep in mind that there is no idealistic method in this field.


K.S.Someswara
No.633, 22nd Main
4th Block ‘T’, Jayanagar
Bangalore 560 041