Considering home education Part 4: negatives of home ed!

Part 4 of the Considering HomeSchool series questions the negatives of home education.

Those who don't home school, often perceive entirely different negatives to what is actually faced by home educators (the social myth comes to mind), so here we lift the lid and ask that question, what are the negatives faced?

If you missed the previous parts to the series, you can catch up with post one {here}. Part 5 asks what do you know now since starting home education that you wish you knew when you started out? So check back in for that.

What are the negatives to home education? (please list any solutions to overcome these if you have any)

"You have to juggle many things- my solution has been to drop standards in other areas eg cleanliness and meals can reach a new acceptable level. Secondly, people continuously advising (us) that the children should go to school so we could get a break as parents and children would benefit from social dimension."

Umm Noor Zainab, UK

" Lack of interaction with other children for some families. We overcome this by trying to provide other opportunities for our kids to see other children (We organise, sport activities, outing to Museums and interesting places, park days with other children from other homeschoolers or family and friends).
Balancing Hoeschooling with other household or work duties. Increase in the mother's load of work brings more stress and exhaustion on the mother. The husband's involvement is crucial in this. Alhamdulillah I get a lot of help from my husband, he helps in the cleaning, takes the kids for the sport activities, also helps in teaching the little ones, reads for them when I am busy, he does not impose more hardship on me when it comes to cleaning, tidiness, food and other duties that I might leave last in times. We can ask for help from the husband and other family members or we can hire others to relieve us from some of the duties."

Umm Abderrahman, Australia

"I actually don't see any negatives to homeschooling at all. I think it's awesome!"

Umm Safiya, Denmark

"The positives to home ed far out-weight any negatives Alhamdulillah! However, in terms of negatives then I'd say from a selfish point of view, not having "time" to yourself and the constant clean up! When you have your kids with you 24 hours a day 7 days week, your house is lived in constantly....and it shows because things are rarely in their place like they would be if everyone in the household went out to work and school all day. But that's the point, Alhamdulillah we have a home, not a show-house. (I have to remind myself of that every time I want to scream!).
I guess another negative, is the pressure of ensuring your children "succeed" - if they fail at school no one blames the teachers, but if you are homeschooling and your kid fails the fingers will point straight to mum and dad! - I reassure myself that research statistics show that homeschoolers generally outperform schoolers Alhamdulillah!

Umm Khadeeja, UK

"Time-consuming"

Umm Romaisa, USA

"My biggest challenge is motivating the children. When they are being taught by their own parents they tend to try and push their boundaries, try to get away with things etc. I sometimes struggle to make them complete a set amount of work - I know I need to use more sanctions, rewards etc, I need to think about devising a system which works for us."

Umm Hannah, UK

"Not having much of a personal break."

Anonymous, UK

"Not really negatives for strong families, but they could be reasons for some families to fail at homeschooling or not the best option - One parent has to be heavily involved, better if there is a second parent to help (and to work so the family will have money, only one parent can work full time). Must make effort to have socialization and not just stay in the home. Parent must make effort to find the best curriculum for their children.  Children must be motivated.  There must be respect and calmness in the home- if it is a 'yelling home', "hitting home' or there is huge culture clash between parents/kids it will be a big issue. If the main schooling parent gets ill or injured, it will be hard on the family. If the parent is too strict/rigged and does not understand child development it will be hard for the children to learn to the best of their ability. "

Umm Ibrahim, Canada

"Providing a good social-interaction alternative. I enrolled her into the classes mentioned earlier (a fun science class, an art class, an Arabic class and a Robo-makers class on different days of the week. Each class is 45 min long), where the number of kids in each class isn't more than 12."
Umm Shehrezad, U.A.E

"No companionship at times - Solution Co ops."

Umm Maimoonah, Qatar

"Initially , not knowing if my child was at the right level or stage or wondering we were doing enough or not. Then I realized, she is an individual, I don't need to compare her to any school or anyone."

Umm Yusuf, South Africa

What negatives have you come across with home ed and have you found any solutions to them? Let us know in the comments below.