Online elementary school programs are not a new invention. They’ve been around for years, benefiting students and parents alike. However, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve become the default medium of education.
Many parents believe that even the best online elementary homeschool programs are only a viable option during the pandemic.
On the contrary, enrolling your kids in online schools is a great idea, with or without a pandemic.
Here’s why:
Bigger Role for Parents
In a conventional brick-and-mortar school, typical parental responsibilities include:
- Checking homework.
- Going to parent-teacher conferences.
- Serving as chaperones for school events.
A report card at the end of the year is pretty much the only way parents get to know their child’s performance.
Since it’s issued so late in the term, it allows no room for corrective measures.
When they enroll their child in an online learning elementary school, parents — or parental figures — are given a much bigger role to play in their child’s studies.
They get to help set up an efficient daily routine. They can also sit with their child and observe their class participation. They can offer their kid more help with time management and organizational skills.
Safer and More Conducive to Learning
The pandemic may have arrived in 2020, but issues such as shootings, gun violence, and physical violence at school have worried parents for decades.
Even before school shootings became common, bullying and harassment have been longstanding problems in conventional schooling.
In such an environment, a child needs to be more focused on personal safety. This can distract them from their studies and interfere with their learning.
In comparison, since online primary education takes place at home, parents can help create an environment that’s more conducive to studies.
Children, too, are free to focus on their studies instead of worrying about other things.
Highly Personalized
The biggest disadvantage of brick-and-mortar schools is that there are too many students in each class.
All of these students are expected to perform at the same level.
In contrast, the best online primary schools enforce limits on the number of students in each class.
In online elementary schools, for example, there may be as few as 12 students per class. This allows the instructor to give personal attention to each student and help them improve.
No Peer Pressure
In traditional schools, peer pressure is a common risk to individual personality development.
Afraid of not fitting in or being labeled as ‘uncool’, children often end up doing things they don’t want to.
This can be as harmless as demanding a new hairstyle or as serious as behavioral changes and bad manners.
When you compare this scenario with virtual schools, there’s a clear difference.
Since virtual schools encourage independent study and self-directed learning, children don’t get carried away by peer pressure.
Peer interaction in virtual schooling is also very different from that in in-person schooling. This helps children be more authentic and true to who they are.
These are just some of the reasons why choosing an online primary school in the USA makes sense.
As a professional online bilingual school, Ideal School helps its student acquire proficiency in English and Spanish as they participate in virtual learning from home. For further information and queries, contact us today.
