The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a new set of obstacles for parents. Previously, parents were solely focused on providing their children a quality education. Today, they have to surmount countless new hurdles.
While traditional schools are gradually reopening across the UK, the fear of the pandemic hasn’t abated. As the vaccine becomes readily available, people are gradually adopting a carefree attitude. Social distancing regulations are slowly being disregarded, and things are returning to normal.
However, this rapid normalisation could potentially cost millions of people their health. It’s important to note that we haven’t reached herd immunity yet. In addition, swarms of people are leading the anti-vaccination movement, and refusing to get vaccinated. As children return to school in the long run, they could potentially contract the virus from an unvaccinated child.
Amidst this confusion and uncertainty, parents are increasingly choosing to err on the side of caution by enrolling their children in online schools. In fact, there has been a 200% increase in online learning since the onset of the pandemic. This switch isn’t temporary; it’s expected to continue in the long run.
If you’ve been considering enrolling your child in an esteemed online school, make sure you have a good grasp on the benefits of this transition. How will your child benefit from distance learning high school online? In addition, how will your life change as you make this switch?
In this blog, we’ll dive deeper into the benefits of online schooling for both parents and students. Use this guide to gain more insight into the transition, and make an informed parenting decision for your child and family as a whole.
How Does Online Schooling Benefit Parents?
1. Peace of Mind
While parents have always valued their children’s safety, the pandemic has made this concern more critical than ever. Today, parents can inadvertently jeopardise their child’s health by placing them in an unsafe learning environment. At the end of the day, there’s no way to guarantee whether every student, teacher, and staff member around your child is vaccinated and COVID-free.
By switching to online schooling, you can gain much-needed peace of mind. Online schools create a healthy, safe, enriching, and interactive virtual learning environment. Children can safely continue their academic and skill-building journey from the comfort of their home.
As a parent, you can easily prioritise your child’s health and safety, and feel much better knowing that they’re protected at all times.
Recommended Read: Simple Ways to Help Your Child Become a Better Learner
2. Greater Parental Involvement
Wholesome family time plays a big role in developing a child’s personality. Children who have an absent parent, or don’t receive much attention from their parents, fail to perform as well as their peers. They become reclusive and withdrawn.
As they grow up, they fail to develop a strong sense of self-worth and self-confidence owing to the lack of parental reassurance growing up. As a result, children feel insecure about their accomplishments.
A high degree of parental involvement, affection, and time goes a long way in helping a child feel content, confident, self-assured, and motivated. By switching to online schooling, parents can actively participate in their child’s life, and be their personal cheerleader.
Every child needs a pat on the back from their parents. Children who have involved, supportive, uplifting, and encouraging parents perform exceptionally well in their academic life. They’re also able to develop essential soft skills, moral responsibilities, and ethical values.
At Cambridge Home School, our MA/PhD qualified subject specialist teachers play a pivotal role in helping a child develop academically, personally, and socially. However, parents also get the opportunity to play an active role in their child’s development.
3. Flexibility
Flexibility is one of the biggest boons in a parent’s life. A rigid, inconvenient, stressful, and overwhelming schedule can take a toll on your day. As a result, your parenting abilities may suffer.
By switching to online school for their kids, parents can reap the benefits of enhanced flexibility. In essence, your child can learn from anywhere. If you plan to take a family trip, you can set up your child’s study station at your Airbnb or hotel. You can also benefit from a flexible work schedule.
However, we strongly recommend setting some ground rules to retain structure. If you’re traveling with your kids, make sure you establish the seriousness of their classes. As you designate a separate space for their classes and create a structured schedule, you’ll manage to help them stay focused and attentive.
As a result, you can give your kids a much-needed breather in the form of a mini getaway while keeping their academics on track.
Recommended Read: How to Maintain Your Child’s Social Life When Homeschooling
4. Stronger Relationship with Your Child
As stated earlier, online schooling frees up a lot of time for parents and students. This is largely because of the nature of online learning. Compared to traditional schools, online schools are more effective.
According to research, virtual learning requires 40–60% less time, and children retain 25-60% more knowledge. In comparison, classroom-based learning results in 8–10% of knowledge retention.
By cutting down the time in half, and increasing productivity on the whole, online schooling helps parents develop a stronger relationship with their child. You can play skill-building games with your kids, engage in fun activities, and provide the guidance they need.
Whether your child is struggling with something in their personal life or need your advice on an academic decision, you can step in and lend a helping hand. As you offer the emotional support your child needs, you’ll manage to strengthen your relationship with them.
Recommended Read: Involving Your Homeschooled Kids in Sports Activities
5. Reduced Costs
Compared to a conventional school, online school is more affordable. You can still provide your child a quality education without breaking the bank. According to research, the average annual cost for traditional private schooling has risen above £17,000.
At Cambridge Home School, our annual fee is £9,000. For Primary Prep School, the annual fee is £4,000. In addition, we also provide financial support.
By making online schooling more accessible and affordable, we’re committed to helping parents offer their children an exceptional learning experience while keeping their budget intact.
Recommended Read: Cambridge Home School’s Scholarships and Bursaries
How Does Online Schooling Benefit Students?
6. Efficient Learning and Retention
We touched upon the speed and efficiency of online schooling earlier. In this section, we’ll dive deeper. This benefit is shared among both parents and students. As a parent, you can rest assured that your child is developing the skills and strengths they need to excel in their academic life and future career. As a student, you can learn more efficiently, and benefit from an improved school-life balance.
At Cambridge Home School, we have an independent curriculum in place. We strongly feel that the national curriculum is too prescriptive and subject to political turbulence. By devising a unique, effective, and well-rounded curriculum, we help our students absorb and retain knowledge faster than a) traditional schools, and b) other online schools.
We’ve taken the best aspects of the national curriculum and introduced new features of our own. By creating a balance that promotes each student’s academic and personal growth, we help them become creative, curious, and critical thinkers.
For older students, we provide a lot of freedom to help them secure top grades. Students are able to choose which subjects they wish to study at greater depth. They can also study fewer subjects, as opposed to 9 or 10 IGCSEs. In addition, they have the freedom to split subjects and sit their exams over two years (as opposed to attempting them all in their final year).
This unique approach gives our students an academic edge and helps them perform exceptionally well on their exams. Our students get accepted to some of the leading universities, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University, and Princeton University, among other esteemed institutions.
For younger children, we equip them with the knowledge, skills, insight, ethical responsibilities, moral values, and strengths they need to grow in their academic and personal life. By benefiting from efficient learning and retention, our students perform better on the whole.
7. Reduced Pressure and Stress
The traditional schooling system is known for creating a high-pressure, stressful, and anxiety-inducing learning environment for children. Instead of being encouraged to do their best, students are pushed to develop a competitive mindset, which can often be extremely toxic.
Instead of comparing students to each other, they should be encouraged to unlock their own academic potential. Comparisons mostly compel students to feel threatened by their peers and develop unhealthy strategies to “outdo” them. This can be detrimental to a student’s mental health in the long run.
Online schooling slows, stabilises, and evens out the pace, which significantly helps students focus on learning and growing. Instead of doubling down on the competitive aspect of academics, students can zone in on their own academic journey, and do their best. There’s less pressure, stress, anxiety, and fear of failure.
Our teachers actively encourage, empower, motivate, and uplift students. This strategy plays a pivotal role in helping students succeed—both academically and personally. They’re less likely to suffer from deteriorating mental health. They’re also less likely to doubt themselves and view their peers as competitors.
By cultivating a healthy, enriching, empathetic, and supportive learning environment, we help our students put their best foot forward in all aspects of their life.
Recommended Read: How Homeschooling at Online School Can Help Children with Anxiety
8. Exposure to Unique Experiences
Online schooling brings together students from all over the world. At Cambridge Home School, our students live in the UK, Europe (including Western Russia), Africa, and the Middle East. As students are exposed to greater diversity, they have unique and enriching experiences.
Our students develop strong friendships outside of class. They communicate virtually on social media platforms and video call applications. As they get to know each other, they benefit from a healthy social life. They’re also more accepting of each other.
We strongly enforce the importance of embracing diversity and being welcoming to students of all races, ethnicities, religions, genders, classes, sexualities, and sexual orientations, among other identities. By enabling students to accept, empower, and support each other, we foster a wholesome and supportive learning atmosphere.
In traditional schooling systems, this element is largely absent. Owing to the large classroom size, students receive less one-on-one attention from their teachers. Consequently, they are unable to practice essential skills like acceptance, empathy, and respect as deeply and intently as they should. This triggers damaging forms of discrimination in children, ranging from racism to sexism, among others.
We play an active role to ensure our students don’t develop a hateful, discriminatory, and oppressive mindset. Instead, they’re encouraged to be accepting of one another.
Recommended Read: Larger Class Sizes Lead to Educational Shortcomings in UK Secondary Schools
Making the switch to best oxford school in UK is a great way to help your child grow into a thoughtful, compassionate, intelligent, and attentive individual. At Cambridge Home School, our teachers work assiduously to help students reach impressive levels of academic success in a healthy manner. By balancing their academics and mental health, we ensure our students thrive in all aspects of their life.
If you’re considering enrolling your child at Cambridge Home School, start by reading some of our reviews. To finalise your decision, we recommend reading our admissions process in detail.
We provide a quality British education to motivated English-speaking students across four schools: Primary Prep School (ages 8 to 10), Lower School (ages 11 to 13), Upper School/IGCSEs (ages 14 to 16), and Sixth Form/A Levels (ages 17 to 19).
If you think our Virtual international school is the right fit for your child, perhaps it’s time to start working on your application form today.
—
FAQ
Why are parents increasingly considering online schools?
Due to the lingering concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents are becoming more cautious about the environments they place their children in. Online schools offer a safer and more controlled setting for learning, reducing the risk of virus transmission. This change isn’t temporary; it is expected to persist in the long term.
What are the benefits of online schooling for parents?
Parents can expect several benefits from enrolling their children in online schools, such as peace of mind concerning health and safety, increased involvement in their child’s education, and greater flexibility in day-to-day schedules. Additionally, online schooling usually costs less than traditional private schools, providing financial relief.
How can parents maintain a structured environment in online schooling?
Though online schooling offers flexibility, it’s essential to set some ground rules to maintain structure. For example, if you’re travelling, make sure to designate a separate space for your child’s classes and stick to a study schedule. This ensures your child remains focused and keeps up with their academics.
Does online learning improve the parent-child relationship?
Yes, online schooling allows for more quality time between parents and children, thereby strengthening their relationship. It also provides an opportunity for greater parental involvement in their child’s education, which is vital for the child’s emotional and academic growth.
How does online schooling at Cambridge Home School differ from other platforms?
Cambridge Home School offers a unique and well-rounded curriculum designed by MA/PhD qualified subject specialists. It focuses on creating a balance that promotes both academic and personal growth in students. The school provides a wide range of courses for various age groups and encourages students to choose subjects that interest them, giving them an academic edge.