At 18-years-old, most children will graduate from high school and head off to college a few months later. Most kids are excited about college and all the change that comes with it, but what if you have homeschooled your child for his entire school life and the only place that he has ever learned is at home? Is it rational to expecthim to head off to college without having ever set foot in a classroom? Would continuing their education at home be a better option than packing them off to college? Could e-learning perhaps be an option?
Today, e-learning is big business, with more and more people opting to undertake qualifications from the comfort of their own homes every year. Of course, for many teenagers, college is that first chance to step outside their comfort zone and their first move towards independence. However, if your child isn’t keen to attend college, could e-learning be another avenue worth exploring? To determine whether remote learning could be a good fit for your child and their educational needs, it’s important that you understand what the pros and cons are of higher education at home.
The pros of studying for a degree at home:
The main advantage of e-learning is the fact that it allows students to study from anywhere in the world and fit their studies around their lifestyle. For a child who has been homeschooled, this means that they can continue to learn in a way that makes them comfortable.
Another benefit of studying from home is that you can set your own pace of study. This means that your child could study and take assessments and hand in assignments as slowly or as quickly as they need to. For example, some facilities offer online associates degrees, which last for two years and can either act as a pre-degree or as the first half of a degree. This means that the process of getting a degree is longer as the course is spread over a longer period, but it can be a more effective way of learning for some students. That’s the benefit of learning remotely – you can go at your own pace.
Then there’s the fact that distance learning courses offer students all of the same resources that on-campus students get. There are live and recorded webinars that students can attend, notes posted online, and remote students are also assigned tutors to work closely with throughout their course, to ensure that they remain on track with their learning and workload. The learning experience is not that different, but the social one is.
The cons of studying for a degree via e-learning:
One of the cons of choosing to study remotely is the fact that it can be rather lonely. When your child chooses to attend a course on-campus, they work closely with other students, forming close friendships. However, if your child has always been home educated and has friends and a social life already, them being lonely isn’t something to worry about.
Another con of choosing to learn from home is the fact that it doesn’t prepare your child for working in a building surrounded by lots of other people. If your child has always learned from home, they may struggle to adapt to life in a hectic office environment, which is where attending an on-campus course could be beneficial and a better option for them.
Higher education at home is something that more and more children who have been homeschooled are choosing to take advantage of. However, before allowing your child to undertake a degree remotely, it’s important to determine whether it’s the best option for them.
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