Homeschooling, Advantages and Disadvantages

Homeschooling or an independent school is an alternative method of education where parents choose to educate their children at home rather than in formal school. Through homeschooling or home schooling, parents can determine for themselves the right teaching system according to their abilities, interests, and learning styles. Parents will bring teaching staff to the home to teach children properly as a formal curriculum. It's just that the homeschooling method used is packaged in a home style.

Get to know homeschooling in Indonesia

In Indonesia, homeschooling has become one of the legal education systems. This is based on the Republic of Indonesia's Minister of Education and Culture Regulation No. 129 of 2014, which states that home schooling or homeschooling is a process of conscious and planned education services carried out by parents / family at home or a place with a conducive atmosphere. Parents who want to educate their children in homeschooling are required to report to the education office at the district or city level. Homeschooling is chosen for various reasons, such as certain medical conditions so that children are not allowed to attend formal schooling, dissatisfaction with available educational methods, and the belief that children cannot develop their interests or talents and creativity in public schools.

Advantages of Homeschooling

The main advantage of this method of learning with a homeschooling system is that children get the full attention of the teaching staff or educators, because they don't need to wait their turn to learn something. When the child is able to take lessons, he can continue to learn to the next stage. But if he is obstructed, he can still ask educators to continue teaching until they understand something. Here are other advantages of homeschooling:

1. Flexible study time

One of the advantages of homeschooling is the flexibility of study time. Parents, children, and teaching staff can negotiate with each other when the right time to start learning and determine the length of study. In addition, parents can also choose the schedule of subjects they want to learn in one day.

2. Children can develop their talents

Parents and children can jointly determine their own topics, times, durations to ways of learning in accordance with the interests, abilities, and learning styles of children. Every child has different talents and interests and the ability to process information. With homeschooling, learning methods can be optimized to develop each child's talents according to their desires and abilities.

3. Children get enough rest

Formal school routines that require children to come early and sometimes return until late afternoon, make the child's break time to be reduced. Children who have less sleep allow it to fall asleep in class during the lesson. In contrast to homeschooling children who get longer breaks, so they can follow the lessons given well.

4. Parents can supervise the association of children

Parents can continue to oversee the learning process and association of children participating in homeschooling. That way, children can avoid promiscuity in their infancy.

5. Children have the opportunity to study outside the home

Unlike children who get formal education at school in general, homeschooling children have a more flexible schedule. Children who are educated with homeschooling can get knowledge by studying in museums, libraries, and even in the open.

Homeschooling Losses

From the advantages stated above, you also need to know the disadvantages that may arise from homeschooling programs. The main effect of homeschooling on social life is the limited scope of friendship and friendship. Homeschooling makes children's social life limited to interactions with teaching staff and parents, compared to peers studying in formal school. To overcome the social effects that may arise in homeschooling children, parents need to keep their children connected to the school world and their peers. For example, create groups of homeschooling children to gather, study, and interact together. In addition, homeschooling children usually do not get facilities that support the teaching and learning process like in formal schools. For example a sports center, laboratory, library, or even an art studio.

Who Needs Homeschooling?

Parents prefer to put their children into homeschooling programs because they are influenced by various factors, for example because the child is suffering from a serious illness that makes his activities limited. Here are some children with special conditions that require homeschooling programs:

1. Children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)

ADHD is a condition in which the child has difficulty in concentrating, as well as hyperactive and implusive behavior. These symptoms appear when entering school age, so they have difficulty in following the lessons.

2. Children with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)

OCD is a condition that causes children to have unwanted thoughts, feelings, and fears. Children with OCD usually find it difficult to concentrate on the schoolwork given.

3. Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a disorder of the learning process, which makes it difficult for children to read, write and spell. People with dyslexia will have difficulty identifying how the words that are spoken should be converted into letters and sentences. But in general, people with dyslexia still have a normal level of intelligence.

What you need to consider is homeschooling is not a shortcut for children who experience obstacles while in school, for example academic problems or children become victims of abuse. Before choosing homeschooling, parents and teachers should discuss together to find out the problems faced, and determine what education method is best for the child.