By Rena Zalavadiya
Introduction
Many times parents homeschool their kids because of their health. After they get better they put them into public school. Moving to public school from homeschooling can affect the kid's mental health as they are in a whole new environment where they experience different lifestyles and rules. They have to communicate with different people who have different personalities; They have to get used to the pace that the teacher teaches at; They have to follow the school rules and schedule. It is a very drastic change that the kids have to go through. (S.H,2024)
Homeschooling vs Public School
While kids are being homeschooled, they learn at their own pace and the teacher gives them their full attention, unlike public school where everyone has to be at the pace that the teacher teaches. In homeschooling, they don’t have a schedule that they have to follow and they can do work whenever they want to. While they are at home, they can dress up and be comfortable in whatever they like but at public school, they have to dress up a certain way to fit in with societal views and opinions. In homeschool, most of the work is done independently, while in public school people have to be able to work in groups and be responsible for their part of the work.(S.H,2024)
How moving to a public school affects your mental health
Social Challenges
- Kids have to be able to communicate and work with many people at once. In homeschooling, you mostly work independently and don’t have anyone else to talk to except known faces like your siblings or your parents. This change could affect the kids as they aren’t used to talking to strangers, making it harder for them to make friends and be alone in school. This might cause anxiety for them as they might be scared of what people think and might be scared of saying the wrong thing.
School Work
- Homeschooling means learning at your own pace. In public school, students have to get used to understanding and doing work at the same pace as teachers. They also have to finish their homework and study for quizzes and tests every week.
- Moving also means that they have to catch up with all the things they haven’t learned yet as the school material might be harder than what they were learning at homeschool. - This causes a lot of stress as they start stressing over their grades and stay up late to either finish their hw or to study. (Cox,2024)
School Schedule/ Hours
- They have to get used to a schedule where they eat lunch at a certain time, wake up at a certain time and have different classes at certain times. This causes a lot. They also have to get used to school hours and having class after class. This affects their mental
health and causes them problems as they aren’t used to focusing on what the teacher is teaching for a long period while sitting in one spot for hours.(Krohn,B 2024)
Peer Pressure
- They will also learn that not everyone is nice, there will be some people who will bully them for the way they act, dress, or even for staying quiet. They will have to get used to people’s opinions and they might start doing things a certain way so that people don’t see them as weird. This causes them to become self-aware about themselves and causes them to feel insecure because of what others think. This means they will hyper-focus on every detail about themselves and also will be stressed about how they look and what they say.(Office of Communications, 2017)
Conclusion
Moving from homeschool to public school is a huge deal. Sometimes switching could cause more disadvantages for the kid than advantages. It is recommended that the kid prepare for it and go visit the school first so that they can get an idea of what it is like so that they won't be totally clueless on the first day. Students who do switch do go through a lot as they have to get used to new classmates and new teachers and also the whole school system. In conclusion, the kids who do switch will need a lot of help and will suffer because of school if they aren't prepared for it.
References
Cox. J. (2024, March 26). How Much Homework Is Too Much? Graduate Programs for Educators.
Krohn, B. (2024, October 30). Pros & Cons of Homeschooling for Mental Health | Bridgeway Academy. Bridgeway Academy.
Office of Communications. (2017, January 31). How Does Bullying Affect Health and well-being? Http://Www.nichd.nih.gov/.
Anywhere. S. H (2024, October 23). Homeschooling vs Public School: Mental Health and Other Advantages. TSH Anywhere.
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