Frequently Asked Questions

Homeschooling in simple terms means that your child is educated at home, and not at a conventional private or public school. You as a parent can choose the curriculum, and subjects based on your child’s interest and teach them at your own pace. Hiring a personal tutor is another option, that is usually very expensive.

The most common myth about homeschooled children is that they will not be able to interact properly with other children, because they supposedly only talk to their immediate family members. How much socialising can happen within the four walls of a regular school classroom, where children are expected to keep quiet, as the teacher does most of the talking? During lunch breaks, children have only enough time to hurriedly eat their lunch and spend the rest of the time waiting in line to use the washroom. For homeschooled children, their personalized learning experience propels them to be more interested in exploring the outside world. They will have more opportunities to socialise with different age groups, when they visit stores, parks, museums, and friends. They will be more active in the neighbourhood and will be able to participate in community service projects, just another activity in their daily schedule. They can be enrolled in extracurricular activities and clubs of their choice where they will be able to communicate not only with their peers but with people of all age groups.

There is a common misconception that if children aren’t bullied, they will be too timid and will never toughen up. Bullying can lower the self-esteem of a child and scar them for life. Bullies are often insecure children who use bullying as an attention-seeking method, because they do not receive enough care and attention at home. Why would you want your child to interact with bullies? Homeschooled children are more confident and more composed. They are not shy to speak up and do not seek to draw any adverse attention to themselves. They know that they are loved and cared for. Homeschoolers can turn out to be even more ready for real life than their peers, who go to regular schools. They are clearly aware of exactly what they want and do their best to achieve their goals. Since your child will take part in extracurricular activities and communicate with others, they will still have arguments and conflicts with some of these people. They will also go through disappointments and have worries. Most parents do not choose homeschooling to protect their child from the harsh realities of the real world. That is just a spin-off.

Your child does not have to be gifted to be able to study on their own. Homeschooling allows children to study at their own pace and focus on things that interest them. Homeschooling is a great option for any child, whether they are advanced learners, or whether they struggle to learn, or whether they are bored with the monotonous and repetitive classes of regular school.

Homeschooling is essentially a way of life that you choose to ensure that your child makes the most of their time. They should fit in other activities, hobbies and chores into their daily routine. A flexible schedule allows you as a parent to plan out their days according to how they feel and what they want to do, but that does not mean that they do not do anything constructive at all. Extensive research has shown that homeschooled children interact more with their parents and help them around the house. Parents can take them shopping and involve them in doing other normal activities, depending on their age. It's also a great idea to motivate a homeschooler to volunteer for some charity. Parents can teach their child to solve conflicts and lead them to become more disciplined than a regular school child can ever become.

Well, this assumption seems more reasonable than others, because children are mostly at home the whole day. They actually don't just sit around all day long. Being at home is a way of life for them so they become used to incorporating different activities into their flexible schedule. They are free to join a sports team, learn to play a musical instrument or be a part of an art class, just like all regular school children. Many parents actually encourage them to do so, because they want their kids to socialise and make new friends. It will shape them into multifaceted and accomplished individuals.

People think that homeschoolers are spoiled because they assume that such children are allowed to do whatever they want, whenever they want since they get to be at home all day. Well, in fact, they really can do whatever they want whenever they want, because they're free to do things at their own pace. However, that doesn't make them pampered. If you as a parent, raise your child well, they will grow into confident and self-motivated individuals who know what they want from life. Even regular school children, if not raised well can become spoiled. Every child learns to discipline themselves, as long as there are no external disturbances or influences.

A lot of parents dismiss the idea of homeschooling their kid because they think that the government authorities would not allow it. However, this is not the case. Since this type of education is becoming more common, it has become legal in most countries. In India, homeschooling is not regulated by the government authorities, so homeschoolers don’t have to register themselves with any of the current government agencies or authorities. Homeschoolers usually follow a curriculum of their respective state. Homeschooled children can appear for board examinations conducted by NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) after the age of 14 years, or they can take the internationally recognised Cambridge IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) exam. On completion of this exam, they will move onto the Cambridge Advanced programme, popularly known as Cambridge A level.