Research has shown that homeschooling your children can make them enjoy a “higher life satisfaction” and it may not negatively affect them in a social or emotional way.
This is because education at home is also considered to be social, and it might even make your children accomplish more things in life. However, choosing to homeschool them is a big decision — as certain aspects like finance, dedication, and time all come into play to make it work effectively.
Bright Side collected celebrity parents and their kids who chose the path of an education at home, and the reasons behind each decision.
1. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
Will and Jada both agree that homeschooling their children was essential to their well-being. The decision to educate their kids out of a school environment came from their big travel schedule — but they also believe that the school system (both public and private) is “designed for the industrial age” and we are all currently in a technological age. They don’t want their kids to memorize, but rather actually learn.
2. Kris Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner
Kendall and Kylie performed poorly in school because they often missed classes due to their careers, and they weren’t able to be completely creative in the everyday school environment, which lead them to be disinterested in continuing.
However, they applied to a homeschooling agency called Novel Education, which helps people who travel a lot. They had a chance to choose the courses they wanted to take and shape a successful career simultaneously.
3. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Angelina Jolie believes that “we live in a different age, and the education system hasn’t caught up with our children or our way of life.” Since the family travels a lot, she wants her kids to enjoy doing other things such as visiting a museum or reading a book they love, instead of getting homework done as quickly as possible.
Angelina also didn’t want her adopted kids to skip out on their culture. She wanted them to learn more about their ethnicities. So, she hired a Vietnamese-speaking tutor and a teacher with an African background to connect with her children.
4. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are quite busy with their work schedules, so home-schooling their daughter Suri was the ideal solution. Suri has a teacher who is with her every day, and they find the one-on-one education very useful and favorable. Katie says that her daughter is very strong-willed and determined, and that it’s important to go with what the child wants.
5. Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony
Jennifer Lopez has 2 twins, Emme and Max. She believes that they are happy, well-adjusted, loving, and caring kids. Jennifer says that the most important thing for them is to spend time with their mother, so they don’t feel abandoned by a parent, that’s why homeschooling was a great option for the family.
6. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin
Gwyneth and Chris believe that the British Education system “lacks traditional elements of classical thought and learning.” They wanted a tutor to be humorous, sporty, youthful, easygoing, and enjoy life.
They expected the tutor to travel with them everywhere and teach their children, Apple and Moses — offering things like Greek, Latin, and French, along with sailing and tennis lessons.
7. Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson’s kids were homeschooled while he was alive, and he was always very protective of them. He told his daughter, Paris, that she could do anything that makes her happy, “an astronaut, a vet, and a nurse.”
She was homeschooled for the first 12 years of her life, and the only interactions she had were with her family members or other adults. She said she didn’t have any social skills, and had to force herself to learn very fast, but she has gotten pretty good at it over the years.
8. James and Kimberly Van Der Beek
This lovely family has tried “many variations” to teach their children, like the traditional homeschooling in their home. Kimberly says that it is an amazing experience and that parents who are thinking about educating their children at home should not stress.
She believes that school is a form of imprisonment and that teachers put way too much pressure on kids. They are told, for hours, what to do and what they should learn. In order to have strong, creative, self-sufficient children, they should learn to make their own decisions.
9. Richard Williams
Both Serena Williams and her sister, Venus, were homeschooled by their father, Richard. Since their careers were sport-based, it was crucial for them to focus more on tennis, so their father homeschooled them from elementary school all the way through high school. This way they had more time to shift their attention to tennis.
Did you homeschool your children? Would you consider giving it a try?
Bright Side/People/9 Celebrity Parents, Who Decided to Homeschool Their Kids, Share Their Reasons Why
