Accidental Homeschooler: When Homeschooling is Essential
Homeschooling is a powerful option that provides tons of educational benefits to kids – but despite this, many homeschooling families didn’t initially plan to educate their children at home. If you find yourself researching homeschool options out of necessity rather than preference, you might be an “accidental homeschooler.”
Whether homeschooling was your plan all along or if circumstances have made you unexpectedly start considering alternative education options, you’ll find a world of resources available to support your journey!
What Is an Accidental Homeschooler?
We know it can be daunting to venture into the new waters of home education, especially when it is not what you had originally planned for your child. You may have enrolled your child in a traditional school but felt they may not be getting the education or attention that is needed for them to succeed. You may have been faced with a change in your family’s personal life that made regular school attendance difficult. Often, these situations result in families discovering that the best route forward for their child is to homeschool. The term for this group of people who are in this situation are called “accidental homeschoolers.”
Accidental homeschoolers refer to the groups of parents and students who find themselves in a situation where they need to transition to homeschooling after attending traditional school. Often, these students are faced with unexpected circumstances in which nontraditional education would be most beneficial for them.
Why Do People Choose Homeschooling?
If you’re starting to research alternative education options, you may be wondering, “Why do people homeschool when it wasn’t their original plan?” The answer to this question may vary.
Family Circumstances
There are some situations where life forces parents to rethink the best path forward for their child’s education. For example…
- Families may relocate when a child’s guardian changes jobs.
- A child’s guardian may have to travel often.
- Some jobs may require families to move repeatedly.
- Challenges with a family member’s health may make regular school attendance difficult.
These kinds of inconsistencies can create a disconnect in both academic and social growth for a child. In these situations, families often find that the best way to keep a child’s education consistent is to begin homeschooling. Especially when using an online homeschool curriculum, there is little to no break in a child’s learning, even when life throws your family a new curveball. One of the great homeschooling benefits is the comfort of consistency.
One-on-One Attention
Many students benefit from more personalized attention in their education. Unfortunately, classroom numbers and a lack of resources can be a huge hindrance to this in a traditional school setting. This need can push many parents to start researching homeschool, as it allows them to give their child one-on-one help and improve the quality of their education.
The benefits of this individualized attention are clear! According to the National Home Education Research Institute, homeschooled students achieve higher scores on the SAT and ACT than students in traditional school.
Mental Health
The bustle of the traditional school environment can be distracting and even anxiety-inducing for some students. In the classroom, students aren’t just attending to their studies – they’re also constantly navigating a huge influx of social situations, and not all of them are positive. For example…
- Bullying is a major problem on school campuses
- Many students feel social anxiety when answering questions or taking tests
- Some children feel isolated from social groups formed by their peers
One survey found that as many as 80% of parents are concerned about the environment that their children may be learning in at school. Some families feel that these concerns are urgent enough to take a child out of traditional school and into homeschool for their own safety. While academics are a vital part of a child’s livelihood, their mental health and wellbeing are also essential. Many parents choose to homeschool to ensure their child can learn in a positive, safe, and supportive environment.
Benefits of Accidental Homeschooling
Although an accidental homeschooler may begin to pursue a home education out of necessity, we find that they quickly discover how much there is to love about this method of learning! Even if it wasn’t part of your original plan, we think you’ll love some of the benefits to homeschooling, including…
- Flexibility: One of the biggest benefits of homeschooling is the ability to tailor the education to the individual needs and learning style of the student. Homeschooling makes it possible to set your schedule, choose your child’s curriculum, and adjust the pace of learning to best suit their needs. With Miacademy, you can easily control all of this with just a few clicks!
- Customization: Homeschooling allows parents to customize the education to the specific needs, interests, and goals of the student. This can include incorporating more hands-on learning experiences, focusing on certain subjects, and planning extracurricular activities that align with the student’s interests. These activities can greatly enrich their learning, too!
- Individualized learning: Homeschooling can allow you to provide a one-on-one learning environment, which can be especially beneficial for students who may struggle in a traditional classroom setting. This individualized attention can help students stay engaged and motivated, which can lead to better academic progress.
Other homeschool benefits that families enjoy include…
- Opportunities for family bonding
- The ability to incorporate religious or moral instruction into the curriculum if desired
- More control over the learning environment, including the ability to customize it to the student’s needs
- The opportunity to provide a safe and supportive learning environment
- The ability to travel and incorporate educational experiences outside of the traditional classroom setting
- Potential cost savings compared to private schooling options that were traditionally considered the main form of alternative education
Using Miacademy as an Accidental Homeschooler
We know how challenging it can be to rethink your plans for your child’s education. Miacademy’s flexible and easy-to-use online homeschool curriculum can help make your journey as an accidental homeschooler stress-free. Both our K-8 and high school sites include engaging video lessons, fun practice games, and enriching extension activities. In addition to a comprehensive curriculum, we also offer a fun, safe, and social community!
Why Homeschool With Miacademy
Rather than either struggling to keep up with the pace of a whole class or waiting for the curriculum to challenge them, Miacademy enables students to work at their own pace. From the parent portal, it only takes a few clicks to change the amount of work assigned to your student each day. You can also choose which courses, units, and lessons your student will take from our comprehensive curriculum. We offer thousands of lessons, and we’re always creating new content. In most states, our accredited curriculum satisfies all homeschool requirements! Some of the subject areas we offer include…
Our team of skilled teachers and subject-matter experts carefully crafts each lesson to meet the diverse learning needs of all students. We also believe that students should love learning, so we aim to make every lesson fun and engaging! Miacademy students can play exciting games, write in our community newspaper, and even make videos to practice their newfound learning.
And since our program is designed with kids in mind, it can also help your student learn to be independent on their homeschool journey. You won’t need to stress about carefully monitoring them and making sure they are getting through their assignments. We aim to make the transition to at-home learning as seamless as possible!
Ready to learn more about how Miacademy can help accidental homeschoolers start strong? Reach out to our amazing customer support team any time!