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The Truth and Consequences

 Making an Informed Decision

Homeschooling is not a simple choice or everyone's cup of tea for that matter. There are freedoms and dexterity in having the reigns over your learning. There are trade-offs and downsides to homeschooling as well. We would like you to be aware of them before you make this life-changing leap.

Challenges of Homeschooling:

  • Certification is an issue and has to be tackled with based on personal resources.

  • Recommendation letters are a pain in the ass.

  • The scheduling and finishing of the syllabus fall on your shoulders

  • The lack of social interactions and exposure to various school activities especially group activities could be a challenge

  • You will not be able to participate in cultural school activities or other group activities of schools

Benefits of homeschooling:

  • Avoids problems of schools: bullying, useless information being taught, lack of engagement with current issues, etc.

  • Invest more in learning how to learn. 

  • More time to explore other non-mainstream cultures.

  • Freedom to explore subjects seldom offered in mainstream colleges, or schools

  • Do not have to sit in classes, and can learn whenever inspired.

Image by Esteban Lopez

Surya Narendran, Former Homeschooler

My first experience with homeschooling began when I chose to study for the 11th and 12th standard exams from home. The small learning centre I had studied at until now only supported students up till the 10th, so at that point I was faced with the decision of selecting another, larger, school to move to. I had enjoyed my years of education so far, and was lucky to have had many great teachers. However, a frustration I often faced was having to keep up with the class. My pace of learning was variable - I tended to spend many extra hours on a topic that happened to spark my imagination, and then skip boring-yet-necessary practice assignments because I had to catch up with the rest of the group. In the larger, more structured classes at an international school I knew that this mismatch would probably get worse. 

 

Having studied for two subjects on my own during the 10th standard, I gained the confidence to talk to my parents about studying at home for the next two years. I was excited to be able to set my own pace for learning, spend more time with my hobbies, and travel whenever I wanted to. After some disappointments when trying to fit in with a larger crowd, I was satisfied with my close-knit group of friends for the moment. Overall, the world outside the confines of school felt more fresh and attractive, and it was worth giving up some security in order to explore it myself. 

 

Like any period in life, those two years came with unexpected realizations, challenges, and lessons. There were some valuable skills I needed to pick up - like learning how to teach myself. There is no substitute for a passionate and experienced teacher, but self-study gave me a different opportunity - to understand how I learned best and create strategies around that. What do I do when what the textbook says seems to make no sense? How can I try to solve a problem in which I’m completely stuck? What if the study material is too dry and boring for me to focus on for long? Apart from the practical skills that I gained in trying to solve these issues, what I developed was a confidence that even if something seems hard at first, I can find a way around it. In a group, it’s easy to feel stupid and give up when everyone else seems to understand something effortlessly. At home though, I could give myself more time to get familiar with topics I found difficult, and skim past those which turned out to be easier for me. 

 

Setting my own schedule and sticking to it wasn’t as easy as I thought. After years of relying on my teachers to set the pace and make sure I finished work on time, it was a bit disorienting to find that at home I could silently fall behind on my goals and not even notice. Though in theory I had plenty of time to study, prioritizing and keeping to a schedule turned out to be harder than I thought.  But eventually, being able to meet those self-appointed goals came with a rush of satisfaction. I felt more independent - I no longer had to rely on someone else to motivate me, when I knew there was something I wanted to accomplish.

 

That said, it took me many months of studying from home to realize the importance of community spirit. Even in a small school, the sense of order, working alongside others on the same tasks, sharing ideas, a pinch of competition, even the reminders and deadlines - all of these contribute to a feeling of security, and make it easier to come back to study each day. Without them, keeping a meaningful relationship with learning grew difficult. My interests were still alive, but any routine can begin to feel like drudgery in the long run, if it doesn’t give you the positive reinforcement you expect. I enjoyed spending time with my friends on weekends or in the evenings, but I couldn’t rely on them to make each day feel worthwhile - creating an environment where I could stay enthusiastic  became my responsibility. Having a friend who was also studying the same subjects from home was a huge help - sharing our successes and frustrations and working together once in a while was relaxing, and made me look forward to making progress. When possible, I did homework together with friends from other schools as well. Sometimes I visited the learning centre that I was a part of until my 10th standard, where I split my time between finding a quiet corner to study, and helping out with the library or working with the younger children. 

 

In the same vein, I found that I needed to consciously leave room for new things in my environment. Being able to set my own schedule according to my needs was definitely one of the advantages of homeschooling - but by creating the perfect routine, I was also silently removing anything that fell outside my comfort zone. Yet, these are sometimes the experiences that help you grow most as a person. School can be a constricting place, but it also gives you the chance to occasionally try activities that are unpleasant at first, and meet people whom you might otherwise avoid from a first impression. To overcome the feeling of inertia, I tried to make time for something new each day - it could be attending an unfamiliar event, starting a conversation with a stranger, or as simple as painting a picture without knowing how to, or watching a movie genre which you’ve never seen before. It’s still work in progress for me, but I was surprised how much a small, seemingly pointless change in routine could improve my mood and help me look forward to doing more the next day. 

 

All put together, homeschooling has been a really valuable experience for me. The skills and life lessons I picked up along the way are things that continue to help me at college and in other aspects of my daily life. More importantly, it was an opportunity to get to know myself much more intimately than before, and understand my priorities and what I needed to experience wellbeing. Learning from home didn’t substitute for everything that a school can provide, as I’m figuring out through my college course. But it helped me develop a sense of self-reliance that makes learning from new situations less scary, and more meaningful. 

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