Can Homeschooling Help Anxious Teens?

Can homeschooling help anxious teens? Read below to find out if homeschooling your teen is the right choice. These tips may help you decide whether or not homeschooling is the right choice.

As more families start to debate whether homeschooling is right for their family or not, one popular concern among parents is whether homeschooling can help their anxious teen. Anxious teens will often have slipping grades, bouts of depression, and flat-out refuse to go to school.

Of course, there’s much debate over a parent forcing their teen to attend to school when they refuse, but we thought we’d touch on the topic of homeschooling as an option. Many parents have found that switching their anxious teen away from a traditional school setting to attend virtual classes or homeschool full time has helped with their anxiety.

Be certain to check out our Pros and Cons of Homeschooling.

Can homeschooling help anxious teens

We wondered if this holds true for every teen or is a case by case basis. Homeschooling isn’t something that everyone wants to hop on board with, but it can be rather beneficial for an anxious teenager while strengthening the family bond.

The truth is that you have to pay attention to the needs of your teens. Every teen is going to be different as are their needs.

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Can Homeschooling Help Anxious Teens?

Yes, we feel that homeschooling can help anxious teens. The ability to adjust your teen’s daily routine in a fashion that works for their individual needs is just one of the major reasons why homeschooling helps with anxious teens.

Some of the reasons are listed below in how homeschooling can help reduce the anxiety in your teen. Make certain to sit and talk to your teen as well so that you know what anxieties they’re feeling during this time. They’ll give you insight hopefully in other ways that you can help them get over a few of their worries and fears. Talking to your teen can help you understand their feelings which is important to know.

Reduced Standardized Testing Stress

Every state is different in what it requires for homeschooling, but there are fewer standardized testing requirements for most homeschool curriculum options. If your anxious teen opts to attend a virtual charter school they’ll graduate with a high school diploma from an accredited school, without having the pressure of passing all of the standardized tests that most public schools require.


With the onset of so many more test requirements than in previous years, it’s no wonder teen anxiety has become a concerning health problem. Homeschooling helps reduce the stress from teachers who must maintain certain requirements within their classroom to get their students to pass those standardized tests.

Reduced Social Anxiety

More often than not parents and teachers confuse social anxiety with being shy. Social anxiety is not the same as being shy, not at all! Social anxiety is an irrational fear and tension that comes with panic attacks when your teen is forced to engage in certain social interactions. This painful mental health disorder can make it impossible for your teen to succeed in a traditional school setting.

When you opt to homeschool your anxious teen you’ll find that their social anxiety diminishes, and they start to have fewer panic attacks. The reduced pressure of having to be overly social or engaged with people that your teen may not feel comfortable around helps encourage your teenager to live a life with reduced social anxiety, because they can live on their terms by being social in their own way.

Work With Your Teen

It’s true that some teens just don’t like traditional schools, and in this case, it may be best to work with them to continue in traditional schools. It’s just as important to get an education as it is to learn to cope with situations you may otherwise dislike, such as a full-time job. With that being said, a truly anxious teen will be honest about what their needs are and how they work best.

Sitting down with your anxious teen to discuss the options and ways in which you can work with them to ensure they get proper education with homeschooling will help your anxious teen succeed. Allowing your teen to play a key role in the planning of their homeschool curriculum and hours that they “attend” school time will help increase their self-esteem to encourage healthy development.

Homeschooling is an option that’s available in all 50 states in America. This is a personal choice that doesn’t work for every family but can be rather beneficial to parents who have an anxious teen starting to fail in the traditional school setting. Be sure to review all of our reasons why homeschooling can help an anxious teen and then make your decision based on what you feel is best for your family and teen’s wellbeing.

Tips for Dealing with an Anxious Teen at Home

Keep in mind that homeschooling might be a great choice for your teen but you can also pay attention to your teen at home as well. Anxiousness is something that happens to a lot of teens and is something that you can try and work through as a family.

Creating a safe space at home for your teen can be one of the biggest things to helping them with their stresses.

Let your teen talk when they need to talk and be there to listen to them as well. Even though they might be having big emotions, it’s important to lend an ear so that you can hear them and listen to what they’re saying.

Make certain that while you’re listening to them, you’re also hearing them, too. Be there for them to express themselves so that they’re heard and have some input as well.

These tips can help your anxious teen feel less anxious at home as well as school, too. Learn how to help your teen feel calmer and a bit more relaxed in terms of school life and potentially social life, too.

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