Home schooling has been growing popular nowadays. Many parents found it as the perfect answer to educating their children. They are able to focus on their child’s education and provide support for them. However, many parents are still trying to determine if home schooling is right for their child. In order to make this decision it is important that the advantages and disadvantages of home schooling be taken into consideration, along with some other important issues.

The following are the advantages to be considered:

• If your child is physically incapable of going outside due to complicated diseases or is handicapped, having home education would be convenient both for the child and the parent.
• Home education is associated with close-knit family relationship as the child only interacts with the other family members.
• The child is also expected to be well-behaved if educated at home as he is not exposed to various immoralities that may come to influence him/her in a real school.
• Some parents believe that school is not a safe place for their child. Some also believe that the school is not educationally competent; a lot of concepts are not completely taught in there. In home education, they are secured with the kind of education provided to their child and they can be able to guide their child the whole time.
• In home learning, the parents could also control the curriculum of the education provided to their child. They can concentrate their child’s learning on a specific topic if they want to.
• Expenses are cut-off in home education. Children don’t need to spend on transportation fees, expensive projects and unnecessary school supplies.

On the other hand, the following are the disadvantages:

• The home educated child would not develop social skills as he is not exposed to other types of people.
• Freedom is abstained from the child; the child would not enjoy his life as a child. There are many other things that cannot be learned in an educational setting and these are only learned through experience.
• Some people do not believe on home education’s academic quality as it does not follow the standard curriculum.
• In some college universities, they require additional tests for home educated children. This is to ensure that the child is academically ready for college.
• Those that are educated at home for a long time and have decided to go to school are found to be lacking in social skills.
• Home educated individuals commonly experience psychological problems when exposed to the social environment as in entering a college/university or working on a job.

Hopefully this discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of home schooling has given you the insight you need to make an informed decision. As discussed above, the decision to home school is one of the most significant decisions you will make during your child’s life

ELearning is an umbrella term that includes distributed learning, online education, Computer Based Training (CBT) delivered over a network, and Web Based Training (WBT). As eLearning is self-paced, hands-on learning, it endows with very rich learning experience that can even surpass the level of education one might experience in a crowded classroom. It can be synchronous, asynchronous, instructor-led or computer-based or a combination of both.

Coupled with the communicative powers of technology, today eLearning has influenced different facets of education & training. It is now used, as an option by companies for training, disseminating information and other information management needs for their employees. By using this mode of instruction, companies can save millions of dollars in education and training their employees.

Although used for various purposes, eLearning is one of the most promising innovations to improve classroom teaching and learning after the school hours. ELearning permits teachers to develop study materials using the worldwide resources of the Web and communicate information in a more engaging fashion. Availability of wide-range of texts, diagrams and images with video and sound, including virtual reality technology makes teaching an interesting and effective process that holds the interest of students in the classroom.

As learning is a continuous, cultural process, so access and opportunities to learn should be available to students in real time after the school hours. eLearning fosters self paced learning whereby students can access the study support round the clock at their pace and convenience. A real time study support to students through subject experts via Virtual Classes further solve the queries of students and make them more proficient in the subject. It is highly appreciated by the teachers and students for its economic value as it eliminates the travel time and costs without compromising the quality and requirements.

Amidst all such benefits, eLearning has a major pitfall, viz. lack of face-to-face interaction between the students and the professor. But the quality education at economic cost available as per the convenience and flexibility of learners conceal the snag in eLearning and makes it a foremost choice of today’s knowledge driven generation.