Since the COVID-19 pandemic started and the world was forced into lockdown, most students and parents have had to adjust to a homeschooling model. However, compared to more antiquated homeschooling systems, students, parents, and educators had the internet on their side.
While some students and parents were keen to return to the traditional classroom, many students and parents have selected to continue or adopt a homeschooling model permanently in record numbers across all states and territories.
One lasting criticism of homeschooling is that socialisation will suffer under a homeschooling model, a fear that has proven to be unwarranted.
In many cases, homeschooling has improved many students’ social developmental skills and maturity. Read on to discover the many social benefits of homeschooling, and learn why Lion’s Education is driving the change for modern homeschooling in NSW.
Improved social interactions at gatherings
Often, in a traditional school setting, children and adolescents are told that school is not a social time, which is never the case if we think back to our school days.
While some students thrive in academia without the social distractions of school affecting their grades, many children and adolescents find the distraction and noise incredibly disruptive to learning and educational performance, especially students with neurodivergent conditions like ADD and dyslexia.
For the students who are hampered by a traditional social school model, this can create social overload, negatively affecting their social development in other peer situations, like:
- Sports
- Hobbies
- Play
- Parties
- Family events
- Community gatherings and more
A homeschooling model can allow many children to focus more on their learning and problem-solving in their own unique way without comparing their performance with classmates or being negatively influenced, disrupted or overstimulated by their peers while studying.
This can allow them the mental energy to engage in other social situations more fully, be less saturated in schoolyard social relationships, and avoid being lured into the politics of the schoolyard social hierarchy.
Age and maturity diversity in socialisation
In a traditional social classroom, children are often only exposed to their teacher and children their age. While this is important in some aspects of socialisation, it does not give a child a good example of the realistic age and maturity disparities they will encounter in the real world.
Many homeschooled kids will have unique structures and may venture out into the world with their parents more often throughout the day.
This can expose them to a wider variety of people from a diverse age bracket, allowing them to experiment and observe more of the world outside of the classroom and how others interact at their jobs and in everyday social situations.
Some parents have found that this has positively affected and advanced their child’s social skills and maturity levels after adopting a homeschool model.
More parental control over social peers
One area where a traditional classroom model removes parental observation and control is the children’s friends and social groups. While children and teenagers must learn to feel their way around and make social decisions on their own, sometimes this can also have disastrous effects.
Parents need to connect with children or teenagers to ensure they trust them and that the child will not hide things from their parents as they get older and more independent.
In many cases, homeschooling has been shown to improve the family unit’s social relationships, creating a stronger bond and more trust between children, siblings and parents.
Heightened connection and trust within the family model means children and teens will be more likely to share their life events and social relationships with their parents, which gives parents greater influence over the peers the child chooses to socialise with, and the life decisions the dependent makes as they mature into adulthood.
Greater sense of self and better self-expression
At times, the classroom and the schoolyard can be as much a negative place as positive. Although often discouraged by school faculty, the social aspects of a traditional school setting generally involve segregative groups and a playground hierarchy regardless.
While this is a natural occurrence in all schools throughout history and has been studied at length, this doesn’t mean that it ends in a healthy outcome for all students.
Children with a stronger sense of self will often dominate in these hierarchies, prompting some children to modify their behaviour or “copycat” others’ behaviours in a bid to be accepted by a more “popular” group of peers. For some, this pyramidal structure within the schoolyard can affect the child’s naturally developed sense of self.
A homeschooling model allows a child to independently work on their beliefs, morals, opinions and personality unfettered by schoolyard politics, resulting in a more confident, stronger sense of personal identity and maturity.
Lions Education: Excellence in Online Learning
Our team of experienced and highly-qualified education specialists are dedicated to providing effective, science-based approaches for a new age of homeschooling.
To register your interest or find out more about our Lions Education online learning, click here to access our online registration form, and one of our representatives will respond as soon as possible.