Homeschooling vs. Public Schooling: Pros and Cons

If you feel anything on this list should be revised, supported with additional information, deleted, or if anything is missing from this list, please e-mail me. I do plan to keep this page up and update it whenever necessary. There are currently some "personal stories" below that support points that seem to be true, but it would be much better to replace these things with more general facts/statistics or studies.

Pros of Homeschooling / Cons of Public Schooling Cons of Homeschooling / Pros of Public Schooling
Academic Academic

Homeschoolers are, on the average, ahead of their public school counterparts academically

See Preschoolers' Classmates Influence Their Language Skills (Science Daily, 10/27/11) - Home schooled kids are going to be around their parents (who have larger vocabularies) a lot more than peers. From observing the vocabularies of home schooled piano students of mine, I think this is a very significant factor.

If a child has a specific talent or interest, this can be focused on and developed, such as allowing a kid who is interested in trains to learn everything they can about trains

In the words of a homeschooling parent I know: “As kids get older, they are more self-sufficient and are able to both do and correct their own work. They are self-motivated.”

Constant competition present in public schools can be demoralizing for some kids

Some colleges are starting to give preference to homeschooled kids since homeschooled kids are more willing to think outside of the box. This would make sense to me since so much of public school time is spent trying to conform, trying to say what they think the teacher wants (or other students want) to hear, and "trying not to say anything that sounds stupid".

One homeschooling parent writes, “Homeschooling prepared my two older kids to be exactly that - “thinkers” - individual thinkers as well as leaders among their peers.”

See Peer Pressure in Preschool Children: Children as Young as 4 Years of Age Conform Their Public Opinion to the Majority

Kids are more likely to receive what education they need in the case of less capable parents

Public school teachers have more experience teaching their grade than parents do, and parents don't have to worry about choosing high-quality curriculum

Competition with peers may motivate students to work harder in school

There is no element of “familiarity breeds contempt” between a student and their teacher, while there can be with a student and the student’s parent, leading to road blocks in academic progress

Social Social

No having to deal with mean kids at school: “socialization” is not always a healthy thing. It can often cross the line into emotional/physical abuse because so many K-12 kids completely lack empathy and are so willing to tease.

See "10 Things Schools Don't Teach Well" (on the book The Social Skills Improvement System—Classwide Intervention Program). This only validates what I have already observed over and over AND OVER again as a piano teacher: homeschooled kids are not only ahead of their public school counterparts academically, but emotionally as well. They don't wiggle around on the bench as much. They listen better. They are more focused, more pleasant, and more calm. It makes perfect sense to me: they get more one-on-one time with adults than kids in public school do. They learn to emulate mature behavior rather than being around bad behavior at public school on a daily basis.

Everyone seems to believe that you can't shelter your kids forever - "they need to learn how to deal with the ***holes of the world." Well, if you knew you had to move to a city with the highest crime rate in the U.S. in 2 years and there was nothing you could do about it, would you seek to "prepare" yourself and your family for the crime by moving to the worst neighborhood in the city, hoping that your experiences of being raped, mugged and terrorized will benefit you in the long run? I completely reject the idea that exposing kids to meanness sooner rather than later is of any benefit whatsoever. In fact, some of the mechanisms that kids implement for themselves to "cope" with bullies, cliques, etc. at school are mechanisms that are not only unhealthy, but that parents at home may never even find out about. Kids are not yet mature enough to always develop healthy coping mechanisms to these problems.

I know someone who was a social outcast and came home crying every day after middle school – she says homeschooling would have been far less damaging to her, and this one point alone was sufficient reason by itself to justify homeschooling. In fact, she regrets that her mother never considered the option of homeschooling her (she, as a student, had no idea it was even an option - had she known, she would have begged for homeschooling).

I know a parent who says that she had to sign some kind of release of liability form for school (?) since kids at recess don’t follow the rules (play too rough and use profanity)

From my own observations (as a piano teacher) of homeschooled children, the only ones whose social skills truly lack are the ones with actual diagnosed disorders or whose parents are reclusive isolationists who want to raise their kids with a belief system that is impossible to develop with some kind of regular social contact. I think these kids end up a bit strange regardless of their schooling environment, and people only seem to blame school environment for kids’ weirdness when kids are homeschooled. I went to public school, and there was an abundant supply of weirdo kids in public school too. Most of the piano students I have who are homeschooled are not only completely normal, social, and happy, they are also all very well-behaved. None of them have picked up any mean/manipulative behavior from school. (My oldest daughter had already picked up some negative behavior from other kids at preschool at the age of 4 - things we most definitely did not teach her.)

A shy child (or one with selective mutism, going along with the SM example in the last item opposite to this box) might get worse in a home environment if the parent does not get involved with co-ops, homeschooling association events, etc.

Time Time

Kids will not receive any wasteful assignments with little or no educational value, such as constructing catapults in physics classes or making soap opera videos in Spanish classes

“Busy work” will not occur - assignments will only be repetitive if the repetition is found to be necessary for that individual student

Kids do not receive group work assignments which result in all the hard-working kids doing all the work (and sometimes being academically penalized by the presence of lazy kids in their group)

Kids and parents can go on vacation any day of the year (no competition with seasonal crowds and jacked airfares)

Homeschoolers can also take school “with them” since they are always with their teachers. (A homeschooling parent I know says about this point, “This is awesome! I love this flexibility.")

Kids can go to school on Saturday to make up for missed days due to sickness, family events, out of town swim meets, etc.

Kids can stay in pajamas all day

Note: A homeschooling parent I know says, “This is good but... structure/discipline is needed. I actually don’t let my kids begin school until they’re dressed. (p.s. we do take one pajama day per year... also my high schooler is the judge of this some days)”

Parents don’t need to drive to/from school

Kids have more flexible schedule for musical/sports study (they could take lessons in the morning or early afternoon)

Kids have the option of accelerated K-8 study, possibly entering college earlier or stretching out the high school experience so that 11th grade is not a homework nightmare every night

In public schooling, most parents still have to at least monitor what kids learn every day so they can help to reinforce it, and in some cases, sit down and help the kids do homework every day

Homeschooling after kindergarten can be fairly time-consuming for parents

Note: As mentioned above in the “Academic” category, students become self-sufficient as they get older, which must certainly cut down on time parents must spend teaching

Homeschoolers are still “busy”, at least the ones I give piano lessons to. They still come to lessons sometimes unprepared if they had a busy week.

This seems to be mostly because of extracurriculars, especially karate, which sometimes goes 6 days per week

Homeschooling parents must be organized and motivated, while parents of kids who are public schooled do not necessarily need to be either

Health / Stress Health / Stress

Kids and parents get better sleep when not having to abide by the school district schedule

Studies show that students’ academic abilities and health suffer when they don’t get enough sleep (did we really need studies to figure that out?)

High school is especially bad with early starting times that prioritize finances of bus scheduling over student health

See Hard Times During Adolescence Point to Health Problems Later in Life

A homeschooling parent I know writes, “Just a note about the benefit of homeschooling for a child to develop at their pace academically, emotionally, physically (of course) and so on. - Our oldest was painfully shy (for lack of a better word), a people-pleaser and maybe even timid. Homeschooling offered her a safe, nurturing environment in which to mature and develop into an intelligent, confident, outgoing leader at her own pace."

It is difficult to be around your kids all day long, every day – it requires a lot of patience

Kids may resist teaching more with parents since “familiarity breeds contempt”, stressing the critical teacher-student relationship

Relationship Relationship

More opportunity for parent/child bonding

Values Values

Parents can incorporate religious study into the curriculum

One homeschooling parent writes, “Wonderful option when God is the source of knowledge, reason and order.”

Kids do not pick up undesirable values from teachers and kids with incompatible political/religious/social views

One homeschooling parent writes that his kids have still been exposed to this to some degree with other relationships, but that parental proximity at the time of exposure (thanks to homeschooling) allows for such things to be used as some sort of relational lesson.

Parents have more control over who their kids hang out with

“Power of association” is a dominant influencing factor in kids’ lives, and parents have virtually complete control over this factor when kids are homeschooled. The homeschooling environment makes it literally impossible for a student to become a stoner and ditch class.

It is hard to imagine teen pregnancy being nearly as big of an issue among homeschoolers as it is among those public schooled

I truly have never met even ONE homeschooled student who I would label a "punk".

Cost Cost

Not having to drive to/from school 5 days per week saves money on gas

Homeschooling costs an additional amount per year (anywhere from $300 to $1200 depending on the curriculum choices)

Parents are still paying for public school through taxes whether their kids utilize it or not

Potentially more money spent on gas in the case of students who are very involved in various activities of homeschooling associations and co-ops

Satisfying physical education requirements through various extracurricular sports could also cost extra gas money if the student wouldn’t have otherwise become involved in those activities

Physical Education Physical Education

Because homeschoolers still must satisfy PE requirements, homeschoolers tend to engage in more directed kinds of physical education such as private tennis lessons, horse riding lessons, karate, etc. rather than undirected play at recess and occasional games of dodgeball, softball, volleyball, soccer, capture the flag, etc.

Homeschoolers can still participate in public school sports teams, band/orchestra/choir, chess club, or whatever (as it should be, since homeschooling parents are still paying for public education through tax dollars)

Public schooled children get more diverse exposure to a variety of sports during PE time

Parents do not need to drive kids to weekly sports lessons and daily practices since the PE occurs at school (homeschoolers are required to get PE in some way)

Note: many parents of kids who are public schooled drive to weekly sports lessons and daily practices anyway

Pros of Homeschooling / Cons of Public Schooling	Cons of Homeschooling / Pros of Public Schooling
Academic	Academic
Homeschoolers are, on the average, ahead of their public school counterparts academically See Preschoolers' Classmates Influence Their Language Skills (Science Daily, 10/27/11) - Home schooled kids are going to be around their parents (who have larger vocabularies) a lot more than peers. From observing the vocabularies of home schooled piano students of mine, I think this is a very significant factor. If a child has a specific talent or interest, this can be focused on and developed, such as allowing a kid who is interested in trains to learn everything they can about trains In the words of a homeschooling parent I know: “As kids get older, they are more self-sufficient and are able to both do and correct their own work. They are self-motivated.” Constant competition present in public schools can be demoralizing for some kids Some colleges are starting to give preference to homeschooled kids since homeschooled kids are more willing to think outside of the box. This would make sense to me since so much of public school time is spent trying to conform, trying to say what they think the teacher wants (or other students want) to hear, and "trying not to say anything that sounds stupid". One homeschooling parent writes, “Homeschooling prepared my two older kids to be exactly that - “thinkers” - individual thinkers as well as leaders among their peers.” See Peer Pressure in Preschool Children: Children as Young as 4 Years of Age Conform Their Public Opinion to the Majority	Kids are more likely to receive what education they need in the case of less capable parents Public school teachers have more experience teaching their grade than parents do, and parents don't have to worry about choosing high-quality curriculum Competition with peers may motivate students to work harder in school There is no element of “familiarity breeds contempt” between a student and their teacher, while there can be with a student and the student’s parent, leading to road blocks in academic progress
Social	Social
No having to deal with mean kids at school: “socialization” is not always a healthy thing. It can often cross the line into emotional/physical abuse because so many K-12 kids completely lack empathy and are so willing to tease. See "10 Things Schools Don't Teach Well" (on the book The Social Skills Improvement System—Classwide Intervention Program). This only validates what I have already observed over and over AND OVER again as a piano teacher: homeschooled kids are not only ahead of their public school counterparts academically, but emotionally as well. They don't wiggle around on the bench as much. They listen better. They are more focused, more pleasant, and more calm. It makes perfect sense to me: they get more one-on-one time with adults than kids in public school do. They learn to emulate mature behavior rather than being around bad behavior at public school on a daily basis. Everyone seems to believe that you can't shelter your kids forever - "they need to learn how to deal with the **holes of the world." Well, if you knew you had to move to a city with the highest crime rate in the U.S. in 2 years and there was nothing you could do about it, would you seek to "prepare" yourself and your family for the crime by moving to the worst neighborhood in the city, hoping that your experiences of being raped, mugged and terrorized will benefit you in the long run? I completely reject the idea that exposing kids to meanness sooner rather than later is of any benefit whatsoever. In fact, some of the mechanisms that kids implement for themselves to "cope" with bullies, cliques, etc. at school are mechanisms that are not only unhealthy, but that parents at home may never even find out about. Kids are not yet mature enough to always develop healthy coping mechanisms to these problems. I know someone who was a social outcast and came home crying every day after middle school – she says homeschooling would have been far less damaging to her, and this one point alone was sufficient reason by itself to justify homeschooling. In fact, she regrets that her mother never considered the option of homeschooling her (she, as a student, had no idea it was even an option - had she known, she would have begged for homeschooling). I know a parent who says that she had to sign some kind of release of liability form for school (?) since kids at recess don’t follow the rules (play too rough and use profanity) From my own observations (as a piano teacher) of homeschooled children, the only ones whose social skills truly lack are the ones with actual diagnosed disorders or whose parents are reclusive isolationists who want to raise their kids with a belief system that is impossible to develop with some kind of regular social contact. I think these kids end up a bit strange regardless of their schooling environment, and people only seem to blame school environment for kids’ weirdness when kids are homeschooled*. I went to public school, and there was an abundant supply of weirdo kids in public school too. Most of the piano students I have who are homeschooled are not only completely normal, social, and happy, they are also all very well-behaved. None of them have picked up any mean/manipulative behavior from school. (My oldest daughter had already picked up some negative behavior from other kids at preschool at the age of 4 - things we most definitely did not teach her.)	A shy child (or one with selective mutism, going along with the SM example in the last item opposite to this box) might get worse in a home environment if the parent does not get involved with co-ops, homeschooling association events, etc.
Time	Time
Kids will not receive any wasteful assignments with little or no educational value, such as constructing catapults in physics classes or making soap opera videos in Spanish classes “Busy work” will not occur - assignments will only be repetitive if the repetition is found to be necessary for that individual student Kids do not receive group work assignments which result in all the hard-working kids doing all the work (and sometimes being academically penalized by the presence of lazy kids in their group) Kids and parents can go on vacation any day of the year (no competition with seasonal crowds and jacked airfares) Homeschoolers can also take school “with them” since they are always with their teachers. (A homeschooling parent I know says about this point, “This is awesome! I love this flexibility.") Kids can go to school on Saturday to make up for missed days due to sickness, family events, out of town swim meets, etc. Kids can stay in pajamas all day Note: A homeschooling parent I know says, “This is good but... structure/discipline is needed. I actually don’t let my kids begin school until they’re dressed. (p.s. we do take one pajama day per year... also my high schooler is the judge of this some days)” Parents don’t need to drive to/from school Kids have more flexible schedule for musical/sports study (they could take lessons in the morning or early afternoon) Kids have the option of accelerated K-8 study, possibly entering college earlier or stretching out the high school experience so that 11th grade is not a homework nightmare every night In public schooling, most parents still have to at least monitor what kids learn every day so they can help to reinforce it, and in some cases, sit down and help the kids do homework every day	Homeschooling after kindergarten can be fairly time-consuming for parents Note: As mentioned above in the “Academic” category, students become self-sufficient as they get older, which must certainly cut down on time parents must spend teaching Homeschoolers are still “busy”, at least the ones I give piano lessons to. They still come to lessons sometimes unprepared if they had a busy week. This seems to be mostly because of extracurriculars, especially karate, which sometimes goes 6 days per week Homeschooling parents must be organized and motivated, while parents of kids who are public schooled do not necessarily need to be either
Health / Stress	Health / Stress
Kids and parents get better sleep when not having to abide by the school district schedule Studies show that students’ academic abilities and health suffer when they don’t get enough sleep (did we really need studies to figure that out?) High school is especially bad with early starting times that prioritize finances of bus scheduling over student health See Hard Times During Adolescence Point to Health Problems Later in Life A homeschooling parent I know writes, “Just a note about the benefit of homeschooling for a child to develop at their pace academically, emotionally, physically (of course) and so on. - Our oldest was painfully shy (for lack of a better word), a people-pleaser and maybe even timid. Homeschooling offered her a safe, nurturing environment in which to mature and develop into an intelligent, confident, outgoing leader at her own pace."	It is difficult to be around your kids all day long, every day – it requires a lot of patience Kids may resist teaching more with parents since “familiarity breeds contempt”, stressing the critical teacher-student relationship
Relationship	Relationship
More opportunity for parent/child bonding
Values	Values
Parents can incorporate religious study into the curriculum One homeschooling parent writes, “Wonderful option when God is the source of knowledge, reason and order.” Kids do not pick up undesirable values from teachers and kids with incompatible political/religious/social views One homeschooling parent writes that his kids have still been exposed to this to some degree with other relationships, but that parental proximity at the time of exposure (thanks to homeschooling) allows for such things to be used as some sort of relational lesson. Parents have more control over who their kids hang out with “Power of association” is a dominant influencing factor in kids’ lives, and parents have virtually complete control over this factor when kids are homeschooled. The homeschooling environment makes it literally impossible for a student to become a stoner and ditch class. It is hard to imagine teen pregnancy being nearly as big of an issue among homeschoolers as it is among those public schooled I truly have never met even ONE homeschooled student who I would label a "punk".
Cost	Cost
Not having to drive to/from school 5 days per week saves money on gas	Homeschooling costs an additional amount per year (anywhere from $300 to $1200 depending on the curriculum choices) Parents are still paying for public school through taxes whether their kids utilize it or not Potentially more money spent on gas in the case of students who are very involved in various activities of homeschooling associations and co-ops Satisfying physical education requirements through various extracurricular sports could also cost extra gas money if the student wouldn’t have otherwise become involved in those activities
Physical Education	Physical Education
Because homeschoolers still must satisfy PE requirements, homeschoolers tend to engage in more directed kinds of physical education such as private tennis lessons, horse riding lessons, karate, etc. rather than undirected play at recess and occasional games of dodgeball, softball, volleyball, soccer, capture the flag, etc. Homeschoolers can still participate in public school sports teams, band/orchestra/choir, chess club, or whatever (as it should be, since homeschooling parents are still paying for public education through tax dollars)	Public schooled children get more diverse exposure to a variety of sports during PE time Parents do not need to drive kids to weekly sports lessons and daily practices since the PE occurs at school (homeschoolers are required to get PE in some way) Note: many parents of kids who are public schooled drive to weekly sports lessons and daily practices anyway