Michele Marshall joins us once again as a Guest Columnist.  She is one of the HOOville Ladies on the Homeschooling Only One message board.

It’s that time of year when all the “lists” for all sorts of educational needs start to appear like tiny parasites on an otherwise healthy summer of activities.

Our local stores have printed sheets of what each teacher in each grade at each public school would like to have their students bring in the first week. The newspaper publishes a list of dates to sign-up your child for Kindergarten or elementary school, dates for orientation, dates for teacher-parent meetings.

The homeschool world, it seems, is not immune to these blights – I mean lists.  The “Top Ten Tips for New Homeschoolers” and “Pre-School: Life, not a List” are recent article titles in national homeschooling magazines.

Under the theory that “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” here are my own personal Top Five Reasons to Go Ahead and Homeschool An Only Child. I’m limiting myself here, because there are so many wonderful reasons to choose homeschooling. But homeschooling an only child is a less common situation and thus causes parents to think twice about their options. 

5. Homeschooling “only one” does not necessarily refer to a family with an only child.

There is an often unrecognized segment of the homeschooling community that has one or more children in the public school system, while educating a remaining child at home. Sometimes this is due to health or developmental reasons. Other times the older children are well-adapted to the public school environment, but now a younger sibling, entering the school-aged years, might seem to benefit from home education.

We live and learn that different educational choices are possible for different children, no matter how we’ve done it before.

4. Even though private school might be an option, homeschooling only one is still cheaper.

The cost of homeschooling an only child is a double-edged sword, when you consider that the cost of any curriculum or resource is the same, whether you use it for one child or four.

But, the “extras” of homeschooling are much less expensive.  Fees for things like zoo passes, field trips, and special camps or classes are much more manageable, which often allows for more of these events. For those worried about peer-socialization, this usually means more opportunities to meet other children.

3. When homeschooling only one, it’s clear what works, and what does not, for both the child and the teacher.

Resource and curriculum choices are far easier when you only have two people to please--the parent and one child. And determining what teaching style works best is also much easier when you do not need to adapt it to different ages or skill levels.

Making changes in your homeschooling process is easier as well, because the impact of these changes need only impact one student. The same holds true for scheduling activities.

2. In homeschooling an only, we are truly returning to an older, more demonstrative, system of education.

One of the criticisms levelled at the public school environment is that children rarely get to see adults in a normal, daily work environment. Particularly when homeschooling one child, the student gets more opportunities to see adults doing real work in a real environment, as opposed to the artificial circumstances presented by the traditional school setting.

Consider that those with only one child at home are more likely to do daily tasks with their children alongside; tasks like shopping, errands, and even certain forms of volunteer work. One parent might even regularly choose to take an only with him or her to their workplace.

Through these experiences, the only child sees more of their parents as well-rounded individuals. This type of exposure provides positive models of various skills, like problem solving, time management, and even coping with mistakes.

Worrying about an only child having more time to socialize with other children discounts the amazing benefits of having them available to socialize with their parents and other appropriate adults.

1. Finally, homeschooling the only child is a simple continuity of the parent/child relationship that began with their birth.

The unvarnished reality is that only children have extremely strong bonds with their parents. To artificially force the transfer of that bond to someone outside of the family, a teacher for instance, is to begin to break this parental bond.  What possible advantage could there be in this for a young child?

As an only child, I remember feeling a bit “rejected” by my parents when I was suddenly placed in a classroom with many children.  For the first six years of my life, I was “one of them,” part of my parents’ adult world. It felt like taking a step backwards. And, indeed, my mother often said later that I became an “entirely different child” once I started going to school--and she wasn’t giving me a compliment.

What we, as home educators, need to remember is that we are raising future adults, not simply taking care of children. And that task is no different whether it’s applied to one, or many children. 

Michele Marshall, DW of 17 years, MOM of 8 years, and PhD, homeschools her only in SW Indiana.  Aside from loving HOO-ville and chairing her local homeschool group, she's also "pro-owl-pellet" and not the least bit squeamish about biology or "chewy" discussion topics.

Donna Conner lives in Fort Worth, TX with her husband, Glenn, their son, Mike, and their dog, Lucia. Donna and Glenn have been homeschooling their son since the beginning of his education. Mike completes his homeschooling this year. Donna is an artist and has always enjoyed writing. She wrote Homeschooling Only One five years ago, after discovering that there were many other families homeschooling only one child. Her website is devoted to those with only one student in their homeschool, with listings of online resources. You can visit her website at  http://donnac.com and read her blog at: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DonnaC

copyright © 2008 Donna Conner ~~ All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of author, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles where the title and author are listed.