As we get closer to achieving herd immunity, we’re on the precipice of leaving COVID-19 in the past. However, it’s important to reflect on the past few years. The pandemic prompted millions of parents to switch from the conventional schooling model to the homeschooling model. Students went from attending local schools to receiving lessons at home.
While many parents opted for online classes for their children, several others chose to homeschool their children. As a parent, making this decision is difficult. If you homeschool your children, you retain a lot of control. You can set your children’s schedule, create your own curriculum, carve out a healthy school-life balance, and keep their safety intact.
However, you also give up a significant amount of freedom and leeway. Parents who homeschooled their children during the pandemic struggled to:
- Focus on work like they used to
- Complete household chores and routine tasks with the same efficiency as before
- Feel energised and alert throughout the day
As the homeschooling blues got to them, they quickly began to look for alternatives. While every parent would like to teach their children themselves at home, this situation isn’t ideal nor realistic. Working parents had difficulty managing their personal, work, and social life. While parent-led homeschooling may have worked out well within the first few months, it didn’t take long for the approach to take its toll on parents.
Post-COVID, institution-led homeschooling (also known as online homeschooling) is popularising globally, especially in the UK. This approach takes the burden off of parents and places it on the shoulders of institutions. Today, there are a handful of prestigious online schools across the globe. These institutions set up online classes for children to help parents handle their responsibilities without feeling overwhelmed.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through some reasons why you should consider switching from regular parent-led homeschooling to online homeschooling. By the end of the blog, you’ll have a better understanding of which decision is right for you. Let’s get started.
1. Student Performance
Every parent has a razor-sharp focus on helping their children perform well in school. The regular homeschooling approach makes this slightly difficult for parents. You and your partner will shoulder the responsibility of organising your children’s classes, giving them homework, helping them revise, setting up skill-building activities, and the list goes on. This isn’t just difficult, it’s unrealistic.
While some parents manage to pull it off, they feel extremely worn out. You may manage to help your children succeed good grades. However, you and your partner’s personal and social life will take a toll along the way.
The online schooling approach is well-known for helping students secure top grades. At Cambridge Home School Online, we offer four homeschooling programs: Primary Prep/Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 10), Lower School/Key Stage 3 (ages 11 to 13), Upper School/IGCSEs (ages 14 to 16), and Sixth Form/AS & A-Levels (ages 17 to 19).
Our MA/MSc/PhD qualified subject specialist teachers deliver engaging, focused, and retentive lessons to help students develop an academic edge. We also use a well-rounded, independent, and interdisciplinary curriculum to bring out the best in students. While the national curriculum is effective, it has a lot of shortcomings. We fill the gaps to achieve greater academic breadth and depth.
As a result, students learn more comprehensively. Since they cover more ground, they sit their exams with more confidence, clarity, a wide set of skills, and academic sharpness. Our learning outcomes reflect the effort, dedication, and hard work our teachers pour into each lesson.
In June 2021, 86% of our IGCSE students secured A*s and As in their target subjects. 83% of our A Level students secured two As and a B or higher, as requested by top universities. Moreover, all students who applied received offers from some of the best universities across the globe.
As a parent, you can confidently switch from regular homeschooling to online homeschooling without worrying about affecting your children’s grades. In fact, this decision helps students secure even better grades, as highlighted above.
2. Parental Ease
Every child deserves a happy, healthy, and well-rested parent at home. Homeschooling often takes a toll on parents. No matter how much effort you’re investing into your children’s education, you must be present, focused, and attentive when you interact with them.
An excellent lesson doesn’t take precedence over quality family time. Many parents develop burnout as they take the homeschooling reins. You’ll be too tired to give your children the attention, care, and support they deserve. Unfortunately, this affects children’s personal growth and social development.
The online homeschooling approach offers a lot of ease to parents, helping them retain optimal energy levels and focus on their children once their online classes end for the day. At Cambridge Home School Online, we teach 8–10 students in each classroom. As a result, students receive one-on-one attention from our teachers.
As a parent, you don’t have to worry about assisting your children during their classes or continually intervening throughout the day. You’re welcome to check in on your children whenever you want. However, this isn’t mandated. Our teachers are provided extensive training on keeping students engaged through and through.
The online-based homeschooling model is extremely effective. However, it cannot be utilised hastily without the right experience, expertise, training, and skills. As an institution with over 20 years of experience, we’ve set up hundreds of trainings to help our teachers achieve a level of mastery.
We use advanced audio-visual technology to make the lessons more fun, engaging, stimulating, and enjoyable for all students, especially younger pupils who are prone to getting distracted. This approach helps us keep students immersed in their lessons. Not only do students have an effective learning experience, but parents also free up a lot of time.
If you’re a working parent, you can focus on work uninterrupted, complete chores and routine tasks, and keep your personal and social life on track. Once your children’s classes conclude for the day, reconvene with them and plan out the rest of the day as you deem fit.
The online homeschooling approach is a healthier balance for parents as they can focus on themselves while providing their children with a quality Cambridge education. You will also retain more control than you would if your child attended conventional school.
Online homeschooling is a lot more flexible. Your children aren’t “going in” to school; they’re attending online classes from home. This means you can structure the rest of their day and squeeze in the right activities.
When children attend conventional school, they feel tired, worn-out, and fatigued. Since their energy levels are low, they cannot participate in extracurricular activities as they should. These include playing sports, developing new skills, exploring new hobbies and interests, socialising with friends, and the like. Students “get through” these activities. However, they don’t enjoy them or make the most of them as they’re too exhausted.
Online homeschooling is a lot more flexible and balanced. Students enjoy a healthy school-life balance. As a parent, you can plan skill-building activities for them without worrying about a poor response. Your children will perform well in school and retain their energy levels for a productive day.
Similarly, you’ll also feel energised and refreshed as you will not be required to carry the bulk of your children’s academic responsibilities. Our teachers are more than happy to shoulder this responsibility, and they do so with adroitness, conscientiousness, and assiduousness.
3. Safety
Many parents are adamant about homeschooling their children for safety reasons. And rightfully so. By homeschooling your children, you can eliminate the risk of school bullying, virus contraction, harassment, peer pressure, abuse, and ostracisation. Your children will attend classes from the safety and comfort of their homes. However, it’s important to note that parent-led homeschooling isn’t the only approach that keeps safety intact. The online homeschooling model also safeguards children’s safety.
At Cambridge Home School Online, we eliminate the risk of virus contraction since our classes are held online. Additionally, we have taken strict measures to eliminate the risk of school bullying at our institution. Bullying can seep through the cracks anywhere, even in online classes.
Our teachers are given extensive and rigorous training on identifying even the slightest patterns of bullying and nipping them in the bud. They’re adept at preventing bullying and taking the right measures to protect children if a slur is uttered in class or a derogatory expression is made towards another student.
Our online teaching system is very advanced and effective. It assists teachers in identifying signs of bullying. Ultimately, our teachers take the reins and maintain a healthy, safe, and wholesome online learning environment.
If there is an instance of bullying, our teachers remove the student who perpetrated the derogatory speech/action from the classroom. We take prompt measures to protect the safety of our student body. Shortly afterwards, a meeting is planned with the student and their parents.
At CHS Online, we prioritise transparency. Parents are kept in the loop about everything from their children’s academic performance to their personal growth to their class participation. We hold three parent-teacher consultations each year, one in every term.
Recommended Read: Cambridge Home School Online’s Reviews
4. Mental Health
Student mental health is extremely important. In 2022, the risk of school bullying, harassment, abuse, and peer pressure is at an all-time high. Switching to parent-led homeschooling is an effective way to combat this. However, in some cases, children’s mental health exacerbates instead of improving.
Socialisation is a big aspect of the schooling experience. When children are homeschooled by their parents, they cannot interact with other students. Whether it’s in-person or virtual, this interaction is pivotal. Students get a chance to build strong friendships, learn from their peers, and socialise after school. If you homeschool your children, you’ll struggle to help your children establish these social connections.
The online homeschooling model retains this critical aspect. At Cambridge Home School Online, our students work on group presentations, complete skill-building activities together, and interact with each other during class discussions. After school, they carry their friendships forward. Our students play sports together, go on excursions, and bond in numerous other ways. By helping students enjoy excellent social growth, we help them enjoy good mental health. These two go hand-in-hand.
At CHS Online, we provide one-on-one success coaching and pastoral support to every student. As schooling becomes more rigorous, students require additional support from their teachers and school counsellors. We take this responsibility seriously. IGCSE and A Level students require the most guidance and support owing to the difficulty of their programs.
Our school counsellors frequently check in with students to understand how they’re doing. If, for instance, a student is struggling in any way, we provide the support they need to get back on track. School-related stress and anxiety are common among students of all ages, especially older students.
Parents and teachers shouldn’t dismiss these issues. Instead, they should acknowledge them and provide the tools students need to navigate these problems with ease. We do just that. Our students become confident, capable, and content learners who keep pushing and striving for the best.
5. How Can I Get Started?
Cambridge Home School Online is considered one of the most prestigious online British international schools across the globe. Whether you’re looking for an online primary school, online classes for secondary education, IGCSE schools, or competitive A Level classes for your children, CHS Online should be one of your top considerations.
As an experienced institution, we equip students with the tools, support, and guidance they need to succeed. Our students are also given 24/7 access to our online repository. Once they finish their classes for the day, they can access thousands of videos, catch-up lessons, PowerPoint presentations, worksheets, study guides, activities, and past papers, among other resources. Each tool we provide helps students learn better, secure top grades, and become well-rounded individuals.
Explore our admissions process and term dates to begin. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our team. We’re always happy to help!
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FAQ
What are the benefits of online homeschooling versus traditional homeschooling post-COVID?
Online homeschooling provides structured, engaging lessons delivered by qualified teachers, which alleviates the pressure on parents to manage their children’s entire educational process and allows them to focus on work and personal commitments.
How does Cambridge Home School Online ensure student performance?
Cambridge Home School Online employs MA/MSc/PhD qualified subject specialist teachers who use an independent and interdisciplinary curriculum to deliver comprehensive lessons, thereby helping students achieve academic excellence.
What measures does Cambridge Home School Online take to ensure student safety in an online environment?
Cambridge Home School Online has rigorous protocols to identify and prevent any bullying behaviour in their online classrooms, ensuring a safe and supportive learning environment for all students.
How does online schooling impact a child’s mental health compared to parent-led homeschooling?
Online schooling provides structured social interaction with peers through group activities and presentations, which is essential for mental health and development, something that may be lacking in parent-led homeschooling.
How can parents get started with Cambridge Home School Online for their children?
Parents interested in Cambridge Home School Online can explore the school’s admissions process and term dates on their website and contact the team for any questions to ensure it’s the right fit for their children’s educational needs.
