2. Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

Quick summary: At its best, homeschooling is highly social, cost-effective and provides exceptional learning and a healthy/work-life balance for families. Challenges can be finding friends, choosing a curriculum, and getting a break from kids, but all of these can be overcome with best practices for modular learning. 

1. The Top 13 Pros

2. Pros Explained

3. Cons of homeschooling and how to overcome them

4. The approach to homeschooling makes a difference

Is homeschooling really better?

Wondering if homeschooling is the right choice for your child?  Homeschool families often tell us that they’re more relaxed and joyful, that their kids have friends, and are learning much faster than they were at school.  With 1-1 mastery-based learning, we’ve observed many five-year-olds go through the entire K-8th school math curriculum in six months. 

At its best, homeschooling makes it easy for kids to learn efficiently and for families to make lots of close friends in an interdependent community that shares education and childcare. 

However, homeschooling also has unique challenges. Just like school, some homeschooling practices can make life stressful for families - and even lead to social isolation.

As experts in homeschooling and modular learning, we’ll share the most common challenges of homeschooling and how to overcome them. No education method is best for every family. We encourage any family considering this route to carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages to see if this is the best path for their family. 

Let’s start with the good news: 

Pros of homeschooling

Families decide to homeschool for many reasons, ranging from the advantages of 1-1 mastery learning to spending more time with their kids. Here are the main benefits we’ve seen from families homeschooling, especially those using a modular approach.

The top 13 pros

1. Mastery Learning: Kids learn better through 1:1 tutoring with Mastery Learning

2. Parent involvement in education: Parent involvement in education leads to superior educational outcomes. 

3. The love of learning: Kids love learning using a more flexible, self-directed approach. 

4. Better social environment:  Homeschooling provides a better social environment for kids and more time for play.

5. Interdependent community: Families enjoy being part of a diverse, interdependent community that shares resources and support. 

6. Better Curriculum: Homeschooling allows families to choose progressive, scientific-based, secular curricula and educational software aligned with their values and customized to their child’s learning style. 

7. More time with kids: Families enjoy spending more time together as a family

8. Flexible schedule: Homeschooling allows families to create a flexible schedule that provides better childcare coverage and works better for their work/life balance. 

9. World Travel: Homeschooling makes it possible for families to live anywhere in the world at any time. 

10. Sleeping in: Families like sleeping later so much better that it’s one of the top reasons cited for homeschooling. 

11. More affordable than school: Between afterschool classes, tutoring, and summer camp (not to mention private school), homeschooling can be a lot less expensive) 

12. Year-Round Schooling: Having a consistent learning and childcare schedule all year round helps keep kids learning without breaks and reduces stress for the family.

13. Getting into college: Homeschoolers are all the rage at elite colleges and universities who are excited about their independence, creativity, and exciting projects they’ve completed during their homeschooling. 

Still skeptical? Let’s discuss these benefits in more depth. 

Pros Explained

1. Mastery Learning

   Kids learn better through Mastery Learning and individualized instruction: We’ve spoken to many families who decided to homeschool their children after discovering the concept of 1-1 tutoring with mastery learning. Way back in 1968, Benjamin Bloom published groundbreaking research that most parents already instinctively know:  children learn better when they can learn at their own pace, when learning is personalized to their way of learning, and when they master each concept before moving on to the next. 1-1 instruction is the ideal delivery model for this type of instruction. The Annenberg Institute found that results were only slightly better when an experienced teacher delivered 1-1 tutoring. José Luis  Ricón’s academic review demonstrates how Mastery learning is heavily amplified through the support of both 1-1 tutoring & educational software.
   

2. Parent involvement in education

   improves learning outcomes. Study after study shows us that parent involvement in education not only leads to better educational outcomes but is the most significant predictor of a student’s success in school and life. And this is regardless of a parent’s income or educational background. In general, parents care more about their children and are more close observers of how they learn and develop than any other person in their life. 

   They are also their most important role models. If helping a child with homework or teaching them to read makes such a difference, it goes to follow that taking full responsibility for their education could make an even more profound impact on their learning and social-emotional development. Quality family time also leads to healthy bonding, which lays the foundation for strong social skills, self-esteem, and mental health. 

   We’ve found parents consistently underestimate their huge positive impact on their children, just by being there, so we’ve devoted an entire section to exploring this in more depth. 
   

3. Kids love learning

   It’s heartbreaking for parents and teachers to hear a child say, “I hate school,” or flat-out refuse to go. Rather than forcing their child to sit at a desk for six hours a day listening to lectures, with homeschooling, families can choose curricula that inspire and delight their unique child. 

   In homeschooling, kids have plenty of time to play, make projects, do extracurriculars that interest them, and explore the outdoors. With the right balance of structure, socializing, and self-directed learning, homeschooling will inspire a lifelong love of learning. 

4. Better social environment

   It’s ironic that one of the most common myths about homeschooling is that it’s anti-social. In school, kids sit at desks in single-age classrooms with minimal time for recess. They’re often at risk for bullying, racism, homophobia, other forms of discrimination, and even gun violence. In homeschooling, kids get unlimited time to play and collaborate on learning with a diverse group of kids of different ages. They’re exposed to brilliant, caring adults from a huge variety of professions (Engineers, artists, teachers) who care deeply about children and education. In our section on socializing, we’ll give a ton of great practices to ensure homeschooled kids have a vibrant social life while homeschooling. 
   

5. Interdependent Community

   With the decline of religious practice and the rise of technology, there are fewer and fewer ways for people to connect in-person and form communities that share resources and support.  Homeschooling communities are a rare exception. Homeschoolers share childcare, skills, and resources; they form homeschool co-ops. Many families chose to homeschool because they were marginalized in school communities, so homeschool communities tend to be particularly inclusive. While homeschoolers have a wide variety of views on everything from politics to technology, their shared goal of raising children who love learning unites them and makes them one of the most vibrant and interdependent communities we’ve seen. They invite each other over for dinner, take trips together, and often meet up as a community several times a week. Being part of an inclusive, supportive community saves families money, saves time, and improves mental health.

   There’s a reason that “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” has become a cliché.  And in many homeschooling communities, that’s actually happening. 
   

6. Progressive Curriculum

   In school, all children take the same standardized tests and use the same state-standardized, largely static curriculum, even if it’s not the best fit for the way they learn. Since it’s state-standardized, the curriculum becomes a political issue and takes a long time to change.

   Instructional materials are designed to optimize group learning and group outcomes, and not necessarily mastery-based. Families have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of diversity represented in social studies and literature programs. Sex Ed, in most schools, is still widely limited to a heteronormative view that is limited to teaching abstinence via the easy crackability of egg babies (or, at best, how to put a condom on a banana.)  Climate science is not widely taught in schools, even though it’s one of the most pressing issues of the day.

   In homeschooling, families can choose high-quality, mastery-based learning materials that ideally suit their unique child. There is an abundance of exceptional science, social studies, and literature programs that are much more nuanced, progressive, and inclusive than materials used in school: featuring the experiences and voices of women and other marginalized groups. 
   

7. Spending more time together as a family

   Children grow up so fast. Often, the only time families get to spend time with each other is after an exhausting day at school, followed by 2-3 hours of homework, dinner, and bedtime. Or worse, maybe 30 minutes after work and after school activities. Homeschooling families love spending more time together as a family and treasure that time with their children before they grow up. Quality time together can help boost confidence and prevent addiction. Certainly, every family needs breaks from their kids (and visa versa!), but this can absolutely be built into a homeschool schedule (and should be)
   

8. Flexibility

   We’ve been hearing more and more about how remote work and remote jobs are the future of work. With homeschooling, families can experience all the benefits of being digital nomads without being tied to school. They can sleep in as late as they want, travel the world with their kids, get childcare when they most need it and cultivate autonomous learners who can save them lots of time by learning life skills like how to make dinner, clean, and excel at learning.  Learn more in our section on homeschool schedules.

9. World Travel

   Families often envy their single friends who get to travel the world as digital nomads. But with homeschooling, families can be digital nomads too. Worldschooling is one of the most popular forms of homeschooling. And travel has so many benefits for learning. Kids learn about culture, geography, and history.  According to Robin Hancock, a global education specialist with Bank Street College:

   “Travel has the potential to create a new narrative that teaches children about the similarities with others [and] lays a strong foundation, especially in the early years...We have the potential to raise a generation that knows how to live and coexist with each other."
   

10. Sleeping in

    Every now and then, someone in a homeschooling group will ask a question like “what’s the best part of homeschooling?” We were surprised at how often “sleeping in” was mentioned as the #1 reason for homeschooling. While this might seem amusing, getting the sleep we need is no joke. The New York Times even published “An Economic Case for letting teenagers sleep a little later,” The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that pre-teens get 9-12 hours of sleep a night. 73% of teens don’t get the sleep they need to learn well and be healthy.   

    Some schools start as early as 7:00 AM, meaning families may have to set the alarm as early as 5:00 AM to prepare kids for a circuitous bus ride to school. For those of us who aren’t early birds, the freedom to sleep in until 7 am or even 10 am may make a considerable difference in our productivity and quality of life. Different people need different types of sleep. Are you an early bird, night owl, bear, or a dolphin? Sleep chronotypes are a fascinating way to determine what kind of sleep you need. And homeschooling might be your ticket to getting the sleep you need to be the best you can be. 

11. Homeschooling is more affordable than public or private school

According to a study by Deloitte, the average homeschooler is spending 15% less this September than the average public school family. As we discuss in our section on affording homeschooling, the average homeschool family is just as likely to be poor or near poor as other families who attend school. 

Public and private school parents have to spend a considerable amount on afterschool activities, childcare, and summer camp. 

This difference in cost is magnified for families considering private school.  In cities like San Francisco and New York City, the most prestigious private schools can cost over $60,000 per year. And, with a few notable exceptions (where private school can cost upwards of 100k/year, students are still learning in a group and not doing 1-1 mastery learning. 

Families with multiple children could have to pay $180,000/year to send all their children to private schools. 

For families with a child who has special needs, public school is sometimes simply not an option. As an extreme example, in New York State, if a family has a child has special needs and is told they can not be accommodated at a typical public school, they have to sue the state to help finance a private education at a “special school” that could cost upwards of 100k/year. 

When families with the resources for private school sit down and do the math, they see they could provide a much higher quality, more affordable education to their children by hiring teachers, tutors, and childcare providers.  

Homeschoolers have more control over how they spend their money on education. Perhaps because homeschooling communities spend so many years together, homeschooling has evolved into a sharing economy where families swap childcare, education, and other resources such as food and clothing, homeschooling is significantly less expensive than public school. Homeschoolers also seem to have more time to research free resources and opportunities. Since they’re not constrained by a 9-3 school schedule, they can benefit from free days at cultural organizations and museums. 

12. Year-round schooling

Every summer, students in most public and private schools stop studying what they were studying at school for three months, interrupting their rhythm and leading to learning loss. They may then have an opportunity to enroll in marvelous summer camps where they deepen their understanding of music, gymnastics, foreign language, robotics, or math. Then they stop for nine months until the following summer rolls around. 

As educators, this makes absolutely no sense to us. Students lose the continuity of learning essential for effective mastery-based learning (mastering one concept before moving on to the next at the ideal pace). At the start of the school year, a month or more is often spent on catch-up. 

And that’s lost time for learning. Homeschoolers learn for 12 months of the year without extended learning breaks. And kids don’t want to take breaks because learning is fun and engaging for them. They see it as a treat, not a chore. 

13. Colleges love homeschoolers

In 2015, Business Insider called homeschooling “the new path to Harvard.” MIT, Stanford, Harvard, and other schools are known for pro-actively recruiting homeschool students. Why do colleges love homeschoolers so much? Homeschooling produces creative, independent thinkers who love learning. They see education as a privilege, not a chore. 

“(Stanford admissions officers)gave the University's highest internal ranking for intellectual vitality to two of the nine homeschoolers admitted. And an astounding four homeschoolers earned the highest rating for math--something reserved for the top 1 to 2 percent of the applicant pool.” -Stanford Mag

Since homeschoolers have been doing mastery learning, they’re often incredibly accomplished academically. Take, for example, Olivia Farrar, who scored a 5 on 8 AP tests before going to Harvard. (She probably had more time to study for them without a full high school course load) 

Homeschoolers also have a great deal of time to explore their own interests, spearheading interesting projects and figuring out what they care about in life. In particular, college admissions officers cite “intellectual vitality” as some of the key traits they love about homeschooled students. 

If higher education is still around by the time your homeschooler turns 18, they’ll have some strong competitive advantages when they apply to college. See more on how to prepare your homeschooler for college or careers in our section on accountability and support.

Cons of homeschooling and how to overcome them

Homeschooling, like school, has its unique challenges. Still, by applying some simple best practices we’ve picked up from modular learners, most of these challenges can be surmounted. 

We want to address real challenges families actively face, as opposed to myths and misconceptions, as well as ways to overcome them. Every family’s situation is unique, so you need to decide for yourself what’s best for you and your family at this time.  

1. External judgment from family, friends, society & other kids

   Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of stigma around homeschooling. People might encounter objections from a partner or family member who thinks of homeschoolers as weird or anti-social. They may have once met a homeschooler who didn’t know how to read or who they found odd and used that one incident as their entire basis for judging homeschoolers. They may have seen dramatic cases in the news of homeschoolers being neglected or abused. Unfortunately, parents are subjected to harsh judgment all the time, whether they’re in school or not. Even more challenging, some families may be in a situation where they want to homeschool their child, but their partner/co-parent does not. This can be especially difficult in the case of divorced parents. 

   How to overcome external judgment

   It’s important to remember that people are entitled to their opinions but not to their facts. And it’s your job to make the best decision about your child’s education and family’s lifestyle with the information you have at the time. If you need or want to convince others you’re doing the best for your child, you can share some of the statistics on the benefits of homeschooling. In a difficult communication situation (such as with an ex-husband or ex-wife), it’s always important to practice reflective listening, making sure you understand their point of view and asking for permission to reflect or (if they are of an age to do so) suggest that your child choose what they feel is best for them. Bringing up examples of successful homeschoolers can also help, as often people respond better to stories that appeal to their emotions and moral intuition than data. And if you’re really feeling down, don’t forget what the famous homeschool alum Albert Einstein said,

One of the best ways to show the benefits of homeschooling is by getting started. You can practice modular learning in the summer or after school. People may change their mind when they start to see the concrete results. 

For more on getting a partner, co-parent, family member, or other stakeholders on board with homeschooling, see our blog on this topic: “When parents disagree about homeschooling.” 

Fortunately, like any disruptive movement, the stigma around homeschooling will likely decrease proportionately as the number of homeschoolers grows.

2. Homeschooling can shift extra responsibility to one parent, often the mother 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the hardest hit groups was mothers, who took on most of the responsibility for homeschooling. 

There are certainly many dads who take on the bulk of the homeschooling, especially in the secular homeschooling community. However, we still live in a gendered society, and it’s often the mom (whether she’s a stay-at-home parent or if both parents have full-time jobs). This can cause a lot of stress for the parent who might feel like they’re working 24/7, doesn’t get alone time, or feels like they have a full-time job as “homeschool teacher,” when they’d like to enjoy the role of “mom,” “partner,” or “independent adult” a little more often. 

Families can homeschool with full-time jobs, as single parents, and with one working parent. If you’re in a situation where there’s one parent doing most of the homeschooling, this might cause a problem where they feel they are doing more than their fair share, causing stress and burnout. 

And research supports that men do indeed have blind spots around their perceptions about who does most of the work on homeschooling. A study in The New York Times revealed that women perceived that they did most of the homeschooling, while men perceived that they were doing 50% of the work.  

The first step to overcoming this challenge is being aware of it

It’s not fair to expect one parent to be “on all the time” as homeschool teacher. Take the time to make an agreement and establish guidelines with your partner so that the homeschooling will be shared in a way that works for both of you, whether one parent is working or not. You should also schedule time on at least a monthly basis to evaluate how things are going and make improvements.

In any relationship, It’s important to make space for regular check-ins to see what’s working and what’s not, and how to best support each other before things reach a breaking point. Regular date nights are an excellent time for this, but remember not to only focus on homeschooling during your date:)

3. Parents don’t get enough alone time

Just like being an entrepreneur, as a homeschool parent, it’s vital to take breaks from the homeschooling job. No one should have to work a 24-hour schedule. Many single parents homeschool successfully due to the interdependent nature of the homeschool and with the support of great tips like sparking independent learning with strewing. In our section on homeschool schedules, we’ve created example schedules for every type of homeschooling family (two full-time jobs, single parent, one working parent, and more) 

This challenge can be overcome if both parents are aware that it’s a real issue and treat it with the attention it deserves.

One parent shared in the most popular Reddit /homeschool group: 

Some great ways to get away from the kids are doing a babysitting swap and joining a homeschool co-op. Find out more strategies for getting the me-time your whole family needs in our section on childcare.  

4. Kids may not be able to participate in school-sponsored events and clubs

Many families have fond memories of participating in intramural sports, high school prom, or debate club.  While homeschoolers have many self-organized activities, including prom (there’s even a homeschool band in the NYC homeschooling community), depending on where you live, there might not be the depth and breadth of school activities that school offers. 

How to participate in school activities as a homeschooler

Fortunately, in many areas, it’s absolutely possible to enroll your child in the school soccer team or robotics club, even if they’re a homeschooler. Consult with the homeschool office and your local school to find out how to make this happen. 

5. Social isolation

In general, homeschooling is much more social than people realize. Still, while some homeschoolers immediately become part of a vibrant homeschool group in their area, it may take more time for other homeschoolers to make friends. We’ve found this is especially true for families in remote, rural areas or secular homeschoolers who live in the bible belt. It can also be difficult when the parent is very extroverted, but the child is more introverted or vice versa.  Younger kids may love their homeschool co-op with 8-10 kids but find they want to be part of a bigger group once they hit their pre-teen or teenage years. 

How to make friends as a homeschooler

While socializing may be tricky initially, technology has made it easier than ever to connect with other like-minded homeschoolers in your area. Unschooling groups tend to be hubs for secular homeschoolers. Start your homeschooling group by joining a local homeschooling group, joining a homeschooling co-op, or consulting our in-depth section on socializing, which has lots of great strategies for making it easy for you and your child to make friends no matter where you live. 

We also explore why parents may matter more than peers as role models - and how these family relationships set children up for healthy relationships and positive mental health in life.

6. Not having a second income can be challenging 

Many families successfully homeschool as single parents or with two full-time jobs. Clearly, this is easier when parents work remotely, but it’s not the only option.  Because of mastery-based learning, it’s not hard to fit the academic component of homeschooling for an hour or two in the morning, at lunch, after work, or in 20-minute increments. 

How to afford homeschooling

The more significant challenge, especially with younger children, is childcare. Some families choose to have one parent homeschool and the other work, which can substantially reduce income. 

Other families sit down, do the math and find out that having one parent take on homeschooling is more affordable than childcare, afterschool, summer camp, or private school: 

For some, the benefits of homeschooling make it worth it. Sometimes, families choose to change career paths. There are many fantastic and often lucrative jobs and gigs for homeschool parents, including online tutoring, nursing,  software engineering, or even hosting another child in your homeschooling. If that’s something you’re considering, you may want to consult Modulo’s blog on the best jobs for homeschool parents.

Every family must make the best choice for themselves and their kids. Our section on affording homeschooling can help families decide what options are available for childcare. 

7. Choosing a quality homeschooling curriculum can be hard

While there are so many extraordinary, mastery-based curricula available, there are also many mediocre options. Lots of homeschooling curricula have errors, are not based on the latest science of teaching, or may contain information that’s not scientifically accurate.

While it’s wonderful to be able to choose your child’s curriculum, it’s not so wonderful poring over thousands of comments on homeschool Facebook groups to find the right choice for your child. It’s also not so wonderful suddenly discovering that the supposedly secular science textbook you chose teaches creationism instead of evolution - or that the answer key contains the wrong answer to a math problem you just spent the last hour solving with your child.  

Luckily we’ve done that work for you

At Modulo, our team of learning specialists has reviewed thousands of homeschool curricula recommended by homeschool parents. We’ve vetted them for accuracy and ensured that they’re based on the latest research and best practices for teaching and learning. We’ve also tested our favorites with a group of 25 students on Modulo to ensure they’re fun and engaging. 

In under two minutes, the Modulo curriculum planner helps families choose an exceptional, mastery-based core curriculum, math, and literacy supplement based on their child’s interests, favorite activities, any special needs, family preferences on screen time, and more. 

If you want a more in-depth look at homeschool curriculum, please take a look at our complete guide to homeschool curriculum. 

Our section on cognitive diversity includes curriculum recommendations for nine different learning diagnoses, based on research and what we’ve seen work with homeschooling families. 

8. Homeschoolers don’t get free childcare from school

We understand it can feel so much easier to send a child to school from 8-3 pm than having to coordinate alternate childcare arrangements. Families might not be aware that the school schedule came about when the federal government decided to standardize the school schedule for all families, merging urban and agrarian school schedules to be one-size-fits-all. It’s not a flexible schedule.  And with the popularity of remote work and entrepreneurship, this is becoming increasingly less a schedule that works for most families. 

When families sit down and take a good look at the time it takes and the amount it costs to cobble together after-school babysitters, extracurriculars, summer camp, etc., they might start to question this assumption. Likewise, as homeschoolers grow older, they often develop much more independence than children who attend school, giving families more free time to focus on work projects. 

Setting up a childcare schedule for your family doesn’t have to be complicated. Taking a little extra time to figure out an ideal childcare schedule in the beginning will pay off a lot in the long term. Families can see how to make homeschool childcare easy in our section on childcare, based on case studies with real homeschool families in suburban, rural and urban environments with all different types of work requirements and work schedules. 

9. Homeschooling takes more time in the beginning than public school

One of the major appeals of public school is that its grab-and-go academics, socialization, and childcare warped into one. We simply enroll, and the school takes care of the rest.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t play out that way for many families. If children have special needs, families often have to go through lots of red tape and even legal battles to help them get special services. Afterschool programs are competitive. Some parents mark their calendars and wake up at 5 am to make sure they nab that first spot in the coveted afterschool drama club on the day enrollment opens. Signing up for the public school lottery or navigating private school admissions can cause a headache of epic proportions.   

You’ll save time in the long run

At Modulo, we do a fair amount of consulting with homeschooling families, so we know how much time it takes to plan a curated academic, social, and childcare experience. On average, it takes about 20 hours, in the beginning, for one learning specialist to set up all curricula, establish a curated learning plan, interview prospective teachers, and organize all of their homeschool and afterschool activities. From there on out, it’s about an hour a month of maintenance for the next 13 years of a child’s education. 

How many hours do you invest in back-to-school shopping? Is it comparable?  We live in a culture of outsourcing. Homeschooling is definitely not a grab-and-go option, at least not yet. But we also think that’s part of the appeal. It’s fun to get creative and design your child’s education. It’s exciting to discuss your choices and share ideas with other families in your homeschool community.

It’s empowering to take responsibility and have a say in what they learn and how they learn. And it can be thrilling to learn new things right along with them.  Perhaps that is why this early movement has attracted many creative and entrepreneurial types: engineers, artists, teachers, makers, and entrepreneurs.

10. Homeschooling is less structured than public school

School is a standardized system that is built to work well for neurotypical kids and a typical nuclear family structure with two working parents performing typical office jobs (especially if these are structured similarly to jobs in the 1950’s). While most kids are not neurotypical, and our society is moving more and more towards flexible and remote work, there are some families who do indeed fit the original mold. 

How to build a structure and environment that supports learning and family life

We’ve found that some children respond well to the highly structured, hierarchical, and competitive system traditional schools offer: the trophies, standardized tests, 45-minute periods, school bells, and grades. If your child is lucky to be assigned to a teacher they adore, it might really inspire them to do well in school. 

We’ve met some families who are doing modular learning with one child, pure unschooling with another and sending yet another child to public school. 

There’s evidence that most children with some structure to their homeschooling fare better than those with none, which is why we generally encourage a modular approach to learning (as opposed to 100% unschooling). However, every child learns differently, and it’s important to honor your child’s learning style. There is no reason to impose structure on an incredibly self-driven learner or a child with naturally great executive functioning skills) And there’s certainly no need to re-create the structure of school at home (which is designed for group learning and standardized learning). Instead, establish new systems that help your individual child excel. This can be a combination of their regular activities, schedule, and the learning environment. Our section on setting up a homeschooling schedule provides inspiration for how successful modular learners have structured their children’s days. 

In the end, how does a parent determine if their child would do better in school or homeschooling?  

Families often know intuitively their kids learn best, but children’s own preferences about what type of schooling they want to do can also be a great indicator. For example, if a child loves school and can’t wait to get up and go every morning, by all means, keep them there. If they express resistance or even flat-out refuse to go, that might be a hint that this system is not optimizing their learning and social-emotional development. 

The approach to homeschooling makes a difference

In studies of unschooling learning achievement, researchers found that unschoolers typically performed at the same grade level as students in school, but unschoolers with some structure performed better than their peers. Black and Latino students tended to perform much better, regardless of the type of homeschooling.

This suggests that the quality of the public school and the quality of your homeschooling do play an essential role in your child’s learning outcomes. But with a few best practices, homeschooling can lead to far better outcomes for your child and for your family than public school. 

Our objective is not to glorify homeschooling but to demonstrate how homeschooling can work well for many students through a modular approach.

Even if public school isn’t the best option for your child, it might not be the best choice for your family. And it would be unwise to make a choice that significantly undermined your own mental health or caused undue financial duress. 

Make the choice that’s best for your child and for your family. When you thrive, they will thrive as well. 

With that said, we still think that modular learning: curated education, curated social experiences, curated childcare, and curated accountability is the best choice for most families. 

Read on to learn 21 mindblowing statistics that show modular learning is the future of school.