Home Schooling Vs Regular School: These days many parents have alternatives to learning, which includes traditional forms of schooling and homeschooling. Both methods try to serve the purpose of giving their children quality learning but weighing them in terms of cost and efficiency would be much better before deciding on which is a better method for children.
Cost Comparison
Regular Schools are usually places where you have to pay tuition fees, besides other expenses such as uniforms, transportation, extracurricular activities, and special learning materials. Though expensive, private schools in urban India can be anywhere from ₹50,000 to few lakhs on a yearly basis, so it becomes really a matter of concern for many families.
On the other hand, Homeschooling would be cheaper as parents normally buy books, online courses, and build an app or two to use while creating a bit of tutoring every now and then. But on a whole, homeschooling would end up costing less than the expenses incurred in private school, yet it usually will cost the time and commitment of a parent. This becomes a hidden cost, too.
Effectiveness of Learning
Regular Schools are equipped with fixed layouts in their curriculum, licensed teachers, and group exposure. Peer interaction, discipline, and competition bring children a little closer to real-life hardships in the future. A child would benefit most from not being in a large classroom, however, when that child is standing next to all others who usually pay some attention to him/her.
Homeschooling allows children to learn in an appropriate pace concerning their own. With that, he can focus on strengths, work on weaknesses or even develop creative ways to teach him. It reduces external pressure from exams and set schedules. But, there are no and may have no social exposure and extracurricular activities that traditional schools have compared to homeschooling unless parent-organized.
Pros of homeschooling: Individualized learning, flexible timing, fewer pressures, cost effective.
Cons of Homeschooling: Strong parental involvement needed, very little socialization with other people, and most importantly, recognition problems when it comes to higher education.
Pros of regular schools: They have an organized manner of learning, peer learning, and exposure to sports and/or cultural activities, with certification being recognized.
Cons of Regular School: High costs, little attention on individuals, exam stress.
Usually, homeschoolers end up saving on costs. Effectiveness, though, depends on the type of learning style that would suit the child, as well as how supportive the parents will be. In this case, structure and social development would be in regular schooling while flexibility and a more personalized approach in learning would be under home-schooling. Most definitely, no one generic would suit all families.