Home School Allows for Custom Education and Evaluation

The primary benefits of home school is that it allows for customization of education, personal attention, and personalized evaluation.

As some parents become increasingly less satisfied with the quality of public education available to their children, many are turning to home-schooling. Naysayers may feel that the lack of formal structure or standardized teaching or testing means a lower quality education. However, the primary benefits of home school is that it allows for customization of education, personal attention, and personalized evaluation.

Just as adults have strength and weaknesses, so do children. They will develop at different speeds in different areas, sometimes called asynchronous development. For example, a ten-year-old may be a late-bloomer in writing, but a genius in math. This child simply may not have the motor skills to write as quickly as he or she can think. Sadly, these days people are quick to label, and a child with uneven abilities may be deemed learning disabled or as having ADD. While these conditions certainly do exist, any child that falls below “average” in some way may be inappropriately labeled. The greatest benefit of home-schooling is that a curriculum can be customized to the abilities of the child. In a traditional classroom, the ten-year-old from the above example may, over time, fall so far behind in one subject that they are held back from going to the next level (i.e. the next “grade”) because their abilities fall short of what is assumed to be “normal.” Instead of following the coursework of any particular grade, a home-school curriculum can be designed around the needs of the child.

Along with customization of curriculum, home-schooling allows for the personal attention not always available in a traditional school environment. Not only can coursework be tailored to the individual, but so can the method of delivery. Learning styles can be classified in three ways: visual (learn through seeing), auditory (learn through listening), and kinesthetic (learn through doing, moving, or touching). A typical classroom will attempt to support all three styles in order to reach everyone. However, if your child is clearly a visual learner, the method of delivery can be adjusted to fit their needs specifically.

Some fear that since not all states require home-schoolers to take state standardized tests, the progress of home-schooled students is not being measured in any way. When given the choice, many parents still choose to have their home-schooled children take these standardized tests as a diagnostic tool. But, instead of being measured against an “average,” custom testing lets parents measure students against their own development goals. Affordable exam software is available for anyone that wants to create a test. Test Generator is a popular test maker that allows tests to be designed specifically for the student, the content, or both. Parents customize the test content based on the child’s specific curriculum, and they can also choose the evaluation method. For example, a student who is not particularly strong in writing shouldn’t penalized by being forced to take an essay test; instead, the exam software can be set up in a multiple choice format.

Some may feel that home-school doesn’t offer the same kind of formal structure or standardized testing as traditional schooling. However, this informality allows for greater flexibility. A customized curriculum can developed around the abilities of the child, and delivered in a teaching style that meets the needs of the student. With custom testing, this student can be evaluated on their specific progress, in a method that works best for them. They also are measured against their own development, rather than against an average. In conclusion, the lack of formal structure is the very thing that leads to the greatest benefits of home-schooling.

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