Both traditional homeschooling and online high schooling are the feasible options for imparting education. Both these modes of learning improve the student’s situation by protecting them from regular struggles of the traditional school and from certain questionable social acts like bullying. This kind of learning system allows students to learn from the comfort and safety of their homes. They are also kept a safe distance away from distractions of all forms.
Since this is the Age of Internet, there is no denying that online high schools are a smarter way of imparting education to students as compared to homeschooling. Though both of them require parental intervention, but online schools are not that demanding of massive parental involvement. In fact, for high school students, no parental intervention is required in most cases since the students are matured at this stage. Online schools provide the full-time access of online teachers. So, students get all the support they need from their teachers and do not have to rely on their parents.
There are some people who even use the terms homeschooling and online schooling interchangeably. However, both are pretty different. In case of homeschooling, the parent plays the role of the teacher and in charge of finding curriculum. An accredited private online school is one that provides accredited courses to children along with full-time availability of the online faculty. This cuts down the necessity of parental involvement.
In both homeschooling and online school, the curriculum needs to be built or altered in a way to suit the individual child. So, this involves careful consideration of unique needs and circumstances.Online schools do have an upper hand over traditional homeschooling. Here is a list of the benefits to attending an online school that you cannot avail in case of conventional homeschooling:
Teachers
In case of homeschools, parents need to be in-charge of everything. Most importantly, they need to be the teachers themselves. They take up the task of teaching all material to their kids. This is quite a concern when a parent is not that educated or well-versed himself or herself, even if it is in certain subjects. The parents need to be good in all the subjects to impart overall education of high quality to their kids.
On the contrary, online schools employ state-certified teachers, at least the regionally-accredited ones do. This strong faculty team is usually available full-time, providing instruction, guiding, encouraging, motivating, supporting and resolving the students’ queries. The online teachers hired in genuine online schools are easily accessible via online class sessions, phone, email, one-on-one tutoring, and face-to-face meetings. They focus on one-to-one attention. They also discuss important issues with the child’s parents, in case required. Thus, they play a great role in the student’s success in passing an online course.
Curriculum
Homeschooling parents need to research and find their own curriculum. They need to build effective curriculum right from the scratch. It can be pretty taxing for these parents. They need to invest time, energy and money as well to create the curriculum all by themselves. Also, the parents along with the students make up their own schedule and lesson plans. They always make sure to adapt to the national and state standards.
On the contrary, a virtual online high school comes with its own in-built curriculum. However, the most appealing feature of an online class is that these curriculum are open for customization. Every student has unique needs. Keeping those needs in mind, parents or students can get their curriculum tailored to fit their lifestyle. This is approved by the state. Online schools provide lesson plans. This helps students to create their own unique schedule. This gives structure to students’ learning. It also affects the daily schedule.
Testing phase
Homeschooling parents are responsible for researching state and national testing standards to ensure their child complies. However, online schools require students to take the same state assessments as their conventional counterparts. Online schools usually provide locations where students can take these exams.
Attendance record
Homeschooling parents need to research local attendance and academic policies. It is their responsibility for their reporting requirements. On the other hand, online school makes sure that the educational accountability is already in place. This accountability includes attendance and academic policies. Right from the first day, attendance, grades, testing, and other requirements are accounted for within the online learning platform.
Socialization
For socialization, homeschool parents need to take measures to make sure their children interact with their peers. On the contrary, online schools provide structured socialization opportunities. Many online schools encourage students to make small study groups to promote socialization and exchange of academic ideas as well. These schools also conduct real-time events such as field trips and outings to enable socialization. Thus, all the plans are made by the authority of the online school, keeping the students’ needs in mind.
Technical knowledge
One of the side-effects of taking classes in an online school is that they make the student technically efficient. They provide an elaborate set of smart and easy-to-use online tours and resources to help the students who want to explore more than just bookish knowledge. Thus, while gaining hands-on experience on these tools, they get tech-savvy. This is not the case for traditional homeschooling where textbooks are used mainly.
Cost
Though there is no definite amount that is charged for an online course, fees for these courses are usually less than the total cost involved in preparing a homeschooling course. This is because in case of online schools, no extra cost needs to be paid for textbooks, guide books etc. All the resources are available online itself, so this cuts down the extra expense.
Homeschooling demands a lot from parents. Today most parents are working and it becomes an issue to take out a large chunk of time from their busy schedules to prepare a curriculum from scratch. Online schools are a safer option since they provide every necessary thing to the students, creating a healthy and nurturing education system.
