Home-schooling

Compiled by Nathalie Farah, Community Journalist

Published: August 07, 2008, 23:59 G NEWS

According to Homeschool.com, the number of children in the United States being

home-schooled has jumped by nearly three million every year.

According to the website, many parents are using home–schooling to connect

more with their children as well as provide them with a more flexible and
diversified educational style.

However, there are some disadvantages such as the loss of income because of a
parent having to stay at home to focus on educating his or her child.

Do you know anyone who was home–schooled? How did they find it? Do you
think it is a more feasible approach to education as compared to traditional
schooling? Why?

Home-schooling prevents a child from learning social skills and being

exposed to different people and ideas.

Children who are home-schooled do not interact with other nationalities and
cultures. In school, pupils learn how to interact with different people and learn
more about the world while home–schooled children only have their computers.
Because home–schooled pupils don't interact as much with others, that might
affect their self-confidence compared to other pupils.
Ailene del Rosario
Abu Dhabi

While anyone can learn from a book, schools can give other essential skills to
pupils such as how to interact with other nationalities. Also, pupils can make
friends, which is important. When I first came here I didn't know how to interact
with other nationalities because I wasn't exposed to them in the Philippines but
now I know what to do.
Solon del Rosario
Abu Dhabi

It depends on how children who are home-schooled are being taught. Even
though in regular schools there is more interaction between pupils, if they are
taken out for a lot of social activities then home–schooled children don't really
miss out. They learn how to socialise and interact from those activities. I have
friends who were home–schooled and they didn't miss out on anything.
Ridade Bayik
Dubai

When pupils are home-schooled they lose out on being exposed to others. Also,
going to school is a tradition and pupils who are home-schooled miss out on that
and other experiences that come with attending normal schools. They also might
be a better influence for children compared to home-schooling.
Mariam Hozefa
Dubai
Technology can help tailor education for special needs children better
than a classroom experience.

Technology is becoming a major part in education today, so children with special

needs would benefit more from programmes that are created specifically for
them. This would be better than focusing only on teachers and their ability to
explain something that the pupil is having difficulty understanding.
Roshatha Sampath
Abu Dhabi

It's a good idea to use technology to help educate children with special needs.
The material can be structured for their specific needs and it can be a creative
way to teach them because it can expose the curriculum in a new way. That way,
children with special needs would be able to grasp the material better than if they
were in a classroom.
Yousuf Khan
Abu Dhabi

It might help pupils with special needs because of the way the programmes are
created. They might be able to get the pupils to focus better because of things
like sounds and special effects that would catch their attention. Pupils can also
learn at their own pace instead of trying to catch up with others in a normal
classroom so they would be able to retain the information better.
Harkirt Singh
Sharjah

I think that it's better for pupils to be in a classroom, even if they have special
needs. If a school has the proper equipment and teachers, then pupils would be
able to learn and at the same time be exposed to others. That's important
because it will help them discover more about the world and it would provide
them with skills that would be valuable in the future.
Kitho Jones
Dubai

Educational achievement has the most influence on an individual's future

earning power.

When in school, children learn to interact with one another and they discover
whether they are leaders, followers or team players. That is important because it
reveals what they would most likely be in the future. It's not enough for a pupil to
be good academically, he has to have good social skills, too, if he is to be
successful in the future.
Sandra Kefayeh
Abu Dhabi

What a pupil achieves in school is important but what they learn from home also
has an impact on their future. What they learn at home influences the way they
interact with others and how to handle different situations. If a pupil has good
grades, a good upbringing and good friends then they are most likely to be
successful in the future because they know what to do in any given situation.
Zakaria Ashour
Egypt

In school, pupils are taught everything that they would need to be successful in
the real world. So if they have good grades, they learn how to manage stress in
an effective manner in order to be successful as adults. They also learn skills,
such as how to communicate with others and how to present their ideas that
would help them later on in their lives.
Ranjeet Raju
Dubai

It is very important because it acts as a guideline for what may happen in the
future. But school does not only teach pupils information that is relevant to their
education and success in the future but it also teaches them how to be good
members of society through interactions between fellow pupils and teachers. So
how pupils do in school is a parallel to their success as adults.
Neha Najeeb
Dubai

Computer-assisted education or e-schooling cannot achieve proper

learning in case of older pupils.

It's better than conventional schooling because pupils can immediately search for
information using the internet if they aren't sure about something instead of
waiting to speak to a teacher. Also, it's a more interactive way to educate pupils.
Pupils who use e-learning also have an advantage because they learn how to
work with technology better than their counterparts.
Raouf Al Henawi
Al Ain

It should only be used to supplement what a pupil is learning in school instead of

as a replacement for it. At school, pupils interact with one another, both on the
playground and in the classroom. Pupils who use e-learning miss out on those
interactions and that could affect them in the future because they wouldn't know
how to properly communicate with others.
Wasfi Tarabishi
Abu Dhabi

It's different for pupils who are in classrooms. They can interact with the teacher
and if they have any queries they can ask immediately instead of trying to look
for the answer online. Pupils also learn skills, which are as important as learning
information to get good grades. E-learning is good but after a certain extent it
can't help pupils as much as traditional learning.
Noura Mohammad
Sharjah

I would prefer that my children go to school. In traditional schools, pupils are

exposed to many things that I feel that home-schooled children might be
deprived of. Also, the experiences that pupils have in schools help to build their
character, which is essential for the future.
Kristina Estero
Dubai