100 Homeschooling Pros and Cons: The Complete List

Homeschooling is a big decision. As you know, we are a hybrid homeschooling family. We homeschool three days a week, and my children go to a school two days a week. This has also been called part-time homeschooling or University model schooling. We’ve been part of this type of schooling for over ten years. It works for our family! And I know you might have a lot of questions about homeschooling. It’s a huge decision! So here it is… the big list of homeschooling pros and cons you’ve always wanted but may not have known you needed has arrived!

Pros and Cons for Mom or Dad

In this part of the 100 pros and cons, we’ll cover how homeschooling affects the Mom or Dad’s life. I’m covering this in terms of the person who is doing more of the teaching. In the majority of homeschooling families, this is the Mom. But sometimes the Dad takes over the schooling!

Pros:

1. You’ll have more time with your kids.
2. You will know exactly what your kids are learning.
3. You’ll be aware of your child’s strengths.
4. You will be aware of your child’s weaknesses.
5. Your schedule will have more flexibility.
6. Less lunch packing!
7. There will be less backpack packing!
8. Less papers and art projects.
9. More chore helpers.
10. More pajama days.

Cons:

1. You’ll have a lot more time with your kids.
2. You will have less time to yourself.
3. Your kids will always be with you.
4. Less time for grocery shopping, dentist appointments, etc.
5. Your home will be messier.
6. The home will be louder.
7. You will be responsible for your child’s education.
8. It will be more difficult to have a job.
9. You will have to cook or provide three meals per day.
10. More pajama days.

As you can see, many of these reasons overlap. For example, you will have more time with your children, which is a huge blessing. But it can also be frustrating at times to always have people and noise around. For that reason, it’s helpful to create a schedule where or at least a routine where the stay at home parent has some quiet time in the day. For me, that’s almost always needed in the afternoons.

Homeschooling Pros and Cons for the Kids

If you ask 100 kids whether they would want to be homeschooled or not, you may get 100 different answers for why or why not. For my own family, I try to keep tabs on how happy my children are with their education. However, it must be recognized that this is all they’ve ever known. So they aren’t really aware of any other options. But in my ten years of homeschooling, I think I’ve become aware of some of the pros and cons of homeschooling for the kids. And I even got my own children’s input on this list!

Pros:

1. You have a more flexible schedule.
2. There aren’t many early mornings.
3. You can plan your own work day.
4. There’s more time with your siblings.
5. There’s less time for friend drama.
6. You have more time for personal interests.
7. More time with your parents.
8. Less peer pressure.
9. Mom is the teacher.
10. More pajama days.

Cons:

1. There’s not as much social time with friends.
2. Less extracurricular activities at school.
3. Harder to be part of clubs.
4. More chores at home.
5. You have more time with your siblings.
6. Fully responsible for your daily schedule.
7. Less aware of popular culture references.
8. More time with your parents.
9. Mom is the teacher.
10. More pajama days.

As you can see, there are lots of repeats in this section also! Again, some children might love pajama days, but some teenage girls might like getting dressed for school. For these reasons, so many of the pros and cons can go either way. This list may not help you actually make the decision on homeschooling, but it will help you be aware of all of the reasons to consider this life change.

Pros and Cons for the Family

For the overall family unit, there’s also many homeschooling pros and cons. Not only does it affect the parents and the children, but it affects the family overall. In fact, many of these pros and cons may appear on multiple lists. But that’s the truth about homeschooling!

Pros:

1. If full-time homeschooling, no private school fees.
2. No uniform fees or lunch fees.
3. More time to travel.
4. Able to avoid bullying and other negative influences.
5. No concerns over school safety.
6. Can build stronger family relationships.
7. You can create a more personalized educational plan.
8. More varied age interactions.
9. No homework! When you’re done, you’re done for the day.
10. Able to pursue individualized interests.

Cons:

1. Full financial responsibility for education.
2. Little use of county resources.
3. Difficult to integrate into public school sports.
4. Less recognition for quality work.
5. Fewer awards and resume building opportunities.
6. May be fewer technological opportunities.
7. Smaller social circles.
8. Possibly more hectic home life.
9. Less opportunities for parents to work outside the home.
10. Less interaction with same aged peers.

Again, there are lots of repeats here. Also, not all of these will be applicable in all families. Some homes may be more hectic when homeschooling. But some may also be more peaceful without all of the lunch packing and paper shuffling. So many of these items are very individualistic!

The 20 Top Pros from a 10 Year Veteran

So up to this point, we’ve covered 60 pros and cons from different aspects of the family. However, since I am a homeschooling Mom, you know I’m biased. Although there are challenges, I love homeschooling and I am so thankful to be able to do it and be home with my children. So to summarize the last of the 100 homeschooling pros and cons, I’m going to give you some of my favorite pros for why it’s amazing to homeschool.

1. There’s more time for play.
2. You can have more time outside.
3. You can more recess and less art.
4. Or you can have more art and less recess if that works better.
5. You have more time to give back to your community as a family.
6. There will be a wonderful community if you find it.
7. You can spend all day in your pajamas.
8. The baby can nap on their own schedule.
9. The teenager can sleep until 10 am.
10. The Mom can sleep until 8 am.
11. Teens can explore work opportunities.
12. There’s more time for reading.
13. You can world school and travel for learning opportunities.
14. There’s more time for music lessons.
15. Elite athletes can manage their schedules.
16. High schoolers can complete their college degree at home.
17. Hobbies can become part of a high school transcript.
18. Children can learn more life skills like cooking.
19. Parents can fully direct their children’s education.
20. Children can have more say in their learning.

Personal Examples from Our Home

And finally, for the last 20 homeschooling pros, I’m going to give you some personal examples from our own family. These may not be applicable to everyone. However, they are personal examples from my own life that make homeschooling a wonderful choice for us.

1. I don’t usually start my day until 8:30 am.
2. I stay up late working on my blog and other online jobs.
3. We volunteer as a family on a regular schedule during the day.
4. I haven’t emptied the dishwasher in years!
5. My kiddos help me with so many chores.
6. We have a precious circle time together where we sing hymns, read the Bible, and study art and National Parks.
7. My kids get to snuggle with their cat and dog while they do their work.
8. We don’t do schoolwork on the evenings or weekends.
9. I can exercise at any time during the day.
10. I’ve personally taught each of my children to read. There’s nothing more amazing than seeing this “click” right before your very eyes.
11. Every new experience is a learning opportunity.
12. We have the chance to study new places in depth before we visit.
13. We can go to Disney during the weekdays.
14. I can help my children with their piano or their Spanish and remember things I learned in my own childhood that I haven’t thought about in decades.
15. We can play board games together and integrate learning into play.
16. There’s less driving time to and from school.
17. We can spend time with extended family on a more flexible schedule.
18. Mornings and evenings are less hectic on our non school days. Even though I have more time to myself on the hybrid days that my children are at school, there’s something very hectic about the driving, the backpacks, the lunches, the unpacking, and the dinner and after school activity rush.
19. Witnessing my children’s sibling relationships grow and flourish is an incredible gift.
20. I am blessed beyond measure to have more time to spend with my children.

I did it! That’s the 100 pros and cons of homeschooling from a Mom of 5 and a 10 year homeschooling veteran. Do you still have questions? I’d love to answer them so feel free to ask in the comments or over on Instagram.