Formal school or home schooling?

@emediloy (701)
Indonesia
January 30, 2010 2:26am CST
Hi dear friends...education is one of the important things in our life. We should be have a good education and also our children. We work hard for our children better education. There are some education system that we can choose. some parents choose a formal education, like public school or private school, and the other choose informal school, like homeschooling. what would you choose education system for your children? and what is the reason? thanx 4 share.
2 people like this
14 responses
• United States
31 Jan 10
Each child is different as each family is different. Some are made to teach; others are not. I have found that if a parent has the heart to teach, the children can learn much faster on a one to one basis at home. In the United States, the books that take nine months (an average school year) to go through for each grade level take approximately three months for the same material when home schooling. The home schooling day takes an average of three to four hours per day as opposed to the long days in formal education. Once the books for a grade level have been covered, there is much time for participating in a home schooling group with activities like sports, gym, science, art, social studies, debate teams, etc. Children can work side by side with parents on occasion also if a parent owns a business. Our daughter taught herself a programming language by just using a spare computer at home and giving her a book of the language (HTML) when she was approximately 12 years old. By the time we decided mutually to send her to the local High School, she was at the top of her class in almost every area despite a learning disability. She had good values established and loved to learn so much that the teachers were astounded at her enthusiasm for learning. When her classmates chose a social path that was harmful, she had no problem not going along with the crowd. She had a lot of fun with her classmates and evaluated her surroundings constantly to be prepared to interact with others in a good way but to also protect herself in case someone was not acting appropriately. Overall, it worked for us to home school for grades kindergarten through grade eight. We sent our daughter to public school for grades nine through twelve and then on into college. Of course, every year we prayed and evaluated what we should do for schooling choices (home or formal education). We never home schooled to remove our child from society but to be more involved. While it is not for everyone, it certainly worked for us. There are many studies and books written on the subject that are very interesting. Many people who changed our world were home schooled at some point in their life. When a child is home schooled, they do not view learning as something that happens in a building with teachers, students, and formal learning. A home schooled child looks at learning as a way of life and continues to learn throughout their life just because it is fun, enriching, and stretches their creativity.
@emediloy (701)
• Indonesia
31 Jan 10
wow..that's a great! you must be very proud of your daughter. i agree that parents must be involved in children education,thanx so much for sharing your experience. it would be a good guide for us.have a nice day!
@blue65packer (11826)
• United States
31 Jan 10
If I had children I would send it to public school. I went to a religious school kindergarden thru 8th grade. It was not a great experience. I would of been off going to public school. Having religion jammed down my throat was not for me! Anyway, I would not choose homeschooling. I know it can be great with some children but all! I know some homeschooled kids. As soon as they got in the real world they were pretty naive of alot of stuff. They were book smart but not street smart. I don't like it when parents don't socialize their kids when home schooled or not alot. If they attended school that would not happen. This is my opinion.
@emediloy (701)
• Indonesia
31 Jan 10
Hi there..thanx 4 your opinion. we think that formal school has more advantages than home schooling. but both are just a different ways to gain a good education, right? it is a choice. have a nice day!
@jennybianca (12912)
• Australia
31 Jan 10
I chose public schools for my daughter, both in primary and high school. I did not feel it necessary to pay the very high fees of private schools, as they often dont provide any better education. If you want your child to have a religious education, you would need to choose a private school. Home schooling is fairly popular. I didnt choose it as I believed my child would benefit from a better range of facilities and subjects from a mainstream school. Let alone the issue of socialising. Im not against home schooling. I taught at school of the air for 4 years and those children must have home schooling because they live in isolated areas. I have friends in this city who homeschooled all 6 of their children because they didnt believe in the values many other children bring to school, and didnt want their children surrounded by it for religious reasons. I have another friend who homeschooled her two boys for at least two years, as they were bullied at school.
@emediloy (701)
• Indonesia
31 Jan 10
Hi jenny..yeah, there are various reason why parents home schooled their kids. but i believe both formal school and home schooling are just a different ways to reach good education in the future. thanx 4 the response, have a nice day!
@nautilus33 (1827)
30 Jan 10
~ Hi, emediloy! I am a teacher in German and I don't think the home schooling is better than the formal school, just because at home you are alone with the teacher, there are no other people, schoolmates and you are not so open as at school. Well, it has a positive site, because there is an individual contact between you and the teacher, which is very important in teaching, but I think it is the most important, because at school you can share you experience with your schoolmates and they will do the same, and at home you can't do it! One more thing- the home schooling/teaching needs much money, because you have to pay at least 4 teachers- Mathematics, Your mother language, Biology and Geography for example, and I don't think there are many people, who can afford their child/children to have home teachers! ~
@emediloy (701)
• Indonesia
30 Jan 10
Hi nautilus..nice job, i used to be a teacher too..i agree with you. school is the best place for children to learn how to interact with other people. yes, home schooling is an expensive way, especially in my country, only high class society could do that. thanx 4 the response.
@saphrina (31552)
• South Africa
30 Jan 10
Formal schooling is better, as your kids can grow and learn with children their own age. Homeschooling is good as well, but lot of kids need that interactiveness with other kids, because they have to learn to socialize. Some kids have trouble socializing, as they've never seen the inside of a formal school.
@emediloy (701)
• Indonesia
30 Jan 10
Hi saphrina..yes i agree with you. formal school is better place to learn how to adapt with each other. sometimes home schooling is sounds too exclusive for most people here. thanx!
• Philippines
30 Jan 10
for me i choosed to formal school because on formal school you go to school and you meet a new classmate and that you gonna have a social life so its better to have a formal school than informal school . and the new classmate that you met is become one of your friend or become a special friend.
@emediloy (701)
• Indonesia
30 Jan 10
yeah, even some people meet their soulmate at school :) school is best place to learn how to interact with each other.thanx, happy mylotting!
• Philippines
30 Jan 10
Although home schooling is more convenient and the student gets more attention, I like going to normal school because of the people I meet. Even though tests sucks, it's great to know you are suffering with someone. It's great to know that someone is feeling the same way as you are about the subject or a teacher. Formal school is a great way to gain new friends.
@bren_yrra (354)
• Philippines
30 Jan 10
It always pays to have formal schooling because it makes you more knowledgeable and skillful on a certain area of work.However, there are instances that what we can do is to have home schooling because formal schooling doesn't allow due to work commitment and other things. I prefer formal schooling for my children especially till post graduate level.But I don't want them to end there,I will encourage them to earn other things too which can also be gained through home schooling or non formal education.My focal point is that one should continue to learn new things or should continue to develop himself through learning.Whether education is gained through home schooling or formal education, then the attitude of a learner still what matters most.
@emediloy (701)
• Indonesia
30 Jan 10
yeah, i think its good to combine between formal and informal education. in formal school the children would learn about socialize. thanx 4 share.
@kquiming (2997)
• Philippines
30 Jan 10
homeschooling for me, just to be different. Ok, not exactly just to be different. It's just that I grew up in a family that travels a lot. Long story , but to make it short, well it's hard to adjust and as a kid, it wasn't emotionally healthy for me to transfer from one school to another for a couple of times in my entire childhood.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
30 Jan 10
If I had a child starting school in this day and age she/he would be homeschooled. The Public School system is horrible in the United States. As far as I'm concerned there is no real quality teaching anymore. You send your kids to school and they may not come home due to shootings, kidnapped while on your way to school or going back home. Its just a very dangerous world we live in and I just wouldn't trust a child of mine to go to school everyday. She/He would definitely be homeschooled. They could join activities after school such as baseball or dance classes so they can still make friends and know how to communicate with others outside the home.
• United States
30 Jan 10
I majored in elementary education and have done some subbing. I love teaching and seeing the kids faces when they understand what they are learning. Last Thursday I had subbed for a third grade class and there was one girl who was struggling with her writing. She loved to write, but she could not get her thoughts on paper. She had been so hard on herself and hjad asked me if it was ok to stay in the classroom after she ate lunch so I could help her. Her and I spent lunch time working on her paper. What I had her do was take a piece of paper and write down everything that came to mind, don't worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar at this point just get your thoughts down. After she had done this the two of us had gone over what she had written and we put the ideas that were similar into different categories. I had her use three different highliters and high lite what would go into the first paragragh, then what went into the seocnd paragraph and then whatever she had left over went into the third paragraph. By the time we were done with her paper she was proud because she had finished before everyone else. She was proud of herself and thanked me for helping her. I feel that formal schooling is best and I feel that parents need to help their children. I am a believer that learning starts at home. I feel that if parents help their children with their school work and help educate their children they will do well in school.
@emediloy (701)
• Indonesia
30 Jan 10
Hi randy..you're right. parents should be active and give some contributes to help their children's study. because i think education is not only teacher's obligation, but parents too. thanx, have a nice day!
• India
30 Jan 10
I think formal school education is the best in today's scenario. A child's overall development is possible only when he learns with others and make use of his learning with others.
@iharidh (308)
• Indonesia
30 Jan 10
I prefer formal school, and by that I mean that children should go to school everyday, meet their friends, teachers, and interact with them all. I prefer formal school to homeschooling because I think the formal school is just better from every point of view. This is simply because school is not just about subjects. There are tons of things that our children should learn, most importantly is life itself. They can learn life if they live it. So the children have to live in real life. One of the ways is that they have to go to school.
@Ladyslipper (1327)
• Philippines
31 Jan 10
I'd prefer formal schooling for my child rather than homeschooling. It is because I believe that EQ is also important for a growing child and not just IQ. Aside from my child's brain I would also want his emotion and social awareness to be developed. I strongly believe that it will be possible if he will have actual interaction with children of his same age and also if he will be involved in other type of school activities.