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Homeschooling vs public schooling
Homeschooling vs public schooling
Homeschooling vs public schooling
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Last year, my husband and I were trying to decide what was best for each our children when it came to his or her education. Although Freeport, Illinois, does not have a significant amount of schools from which to choose, we certainly looked at them all. After we had spent numerous hours talking to teachers and touring classrooms, we were not impressed by any of the local schools. Basically, every school offered the same general subjects served in a cookie cutter fashion. We, however, wanted our children to have a more diverse and individualized education. Therefore, we decided to look into other options of schooling, particularly homeschooling. “[P]arent-led home-based education . . . is an age-old traditional educational practice that a decade ago appeared to be cutting-edge and ‘alternative’ but is now bordering on ‘mainstream’ in the United States” (Ray). Even though homeschooling has become more popular, some educators and homeschool opponents disagree with the effectiveness of home-based education; believing that children should not be taught by uneducated or undereducated parents who may lack the resources provided by the mainstream school system. However, the public and private schools are not providing children with the proper techniques for learning and understanding the fundamentals of the materials being taught due to the time restraints imposed by teaching multiple children with different educational needs at the same time. In contrast, homeschooling can help children not only learn the concept but understand why they are learning the concept. Structured homeschooling is the best option for most children when it comes to his or her educational needs.
Most parents have heard about homeschooling but know little about ...
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...llion Homeschool Students in the United States in 2010.” NHERI. 3 Jan. 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
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According to Gretchen M. Wilhelm and Michael W. Firmin, in their article Historical and Contemporary Developments, the Department of Education found that over 1,700,000 students are homeschooled. That’s 3.4 percent of all school age children (304). Homeschooling is defined as an education that contains less than twenty five hours of public school teaching each week and is based out of a household. The earliest forms of education were originally taught from home, then later developed into public schools (Wilhelm and Firmin). Homeschooling not only affects the students taught, but also fellow Americans in the race to advance a nation. Homeschooling needs to be understood in order to revise education into a better and
Hegener, H. (1997). Homeschooling Online [Electronic Version]. Home Education Magazine, Novermber-December. Retrieved May 3, 2004 from http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/HEM/issue_index.html.
erupted in the late '70s against our monolithic government school systems, stands as one of the most significant educational developments of the century. The number of American children being taught at home, although minuscule compared to public school enrollments, had grown by the late 1990s from near zero to a near million” (Wagner, 2001, p. 58). Indeed, the rise of homeschooling is one of the most significant trends of the past half-century. Homeschooling is vastly growing to nations as widespread as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, as well as the U.S. (Ray, 2001). The main reason for this reemergence of an old practice is a desire to gain control from the education bureaucrats and reestablish the family as central to a child’s learning (Lines, 2000). The homeschooling movement surprised the professional education establishment with its rapid growth. The number of homeschoolers nearly tripled in the five years from 1990-91 to 1995-96 when there were approximately 700,000 homeschoolers (Lines, 2000). Patricia Lines conservatively estimates the number of homeschooled children at approximately 1 million, while less conservative appraisals among homeschooling researchers and associations place the number of homeschooled children at approximately 1.2 million (Welner & Welner, 1999).
Homeschool is a verb is defined as “to teach your children at home instead of sending them to a school” (Homeschool). This means that a child is not taught at a public or private school; But the child is not necessarily just taught at home. Many homeschooling students participate in learning with other homeschooling families. Homeschooling is legal in all fifty states, and in the United States alone, it is estimated that there are between 1.7 and 2.1 million homeschooling students. However, it is hard to know the exact number of these students since some states have different laws and do not require reporting (Frequently). Perhaps in the years to come, states will become more regulated across the board about reporting.
According to Mary Griffith, author of the book The Homeschooling Handbook, the concept of homeschooling is nothing new to society. It is only in the past 150 years that public school system as we know it came into effect (Griffith, 1999). Prior to that, “…the family was the basis for social life…the home was where children learned what was necessary to function in their community” (1999). By the mid-1970s, there were barely any people practicing homeschooling (Ray, 2004). However, over the past twenty years there has been a resurgence in people choosing homeschooling (2004). There has been a 500 percent increase in homeschooling from the 1990-1991 school year to the 2002-2003 school year (2004). The National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) estimates “that between 1.7 and 2.1 million students were being homeschooled in the U.S., in every grade level from kindergarten through twelfth grade…Indications are that the growth rate is between 7 percent and 15 percent per year ” (2004).
Although homeschooling has its benefits, it does not always lead to the best of the best in the academic world. Many people believe that homeschooling always leads to educational success; the homeschooled student gets accepted into the top colleges, they score higher on standardized tests than public schooled kids do, and they improve faster than children in public schools. These so-called benefits of homeschooling do not really exist unless the individual works hard. Some parents homeschool their children because they think that a homeschooling parent can relax all day and take part in very few activities. Others think that homeschooling leads to the highest scores. However, the student himself has to work hard in order to have a successful
United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2004). The condition of education 2004. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.
“According to the U.S. Dept of Education more than two million students are homeschooled in the United States, up from 850,000 in 1999” (Stone 33). Why is there such an increase of homeschooled students? Although there is increased expense and students are not exposed to “expert” teachers, homeschooling is the better option (Mhoon).
In the recent times, home schooling has been the most sought mode of learning by the American parents. In fact, it estimated that over 1 million children in America are now undergoing home schooling (Cooper, 2005). Although this form of learning is legally acceptable, parents are entrusted with teaching and coaching their children in all subjects. In addition, parents can also hire private tutors for their children as part of home schooling. This form of learning is aimed at ensuring that parents commit themselves in ensuring their children are able to learn like other kids in public schools.
Studies have shown year after year that homeschooled students consistently perform just as well as (or in many cases better than) traditionally schooled students on standardized academic exams. But very rarely does anyone ask why this is, or what caused the student to do so well, because they are usually too concerned with questions about the student’s social life or if they would be able to handle the transition into college. Therefore, my thesis statement is: Homeschooled students often achieve higher academic success and are more active in their communities than traditionally schooled students, due to a personalized approach to learning that emphasizes individuality. My research paper will debunk some popular myths about homeschooling, and give the real reasons why homeschoolers are so successful.
Today, many parents are homeschooling their children. A U.S. Department of Education’s report shows that approximately 1.5 million children were being homeschooled in 2007 (Lips & Feinberg, 2008). This is almost 3 percent of all school age children (Lips & Feinberg, 2008). A private researcher, the National Home Education Research Institute, estimates 2.5 million children were being homeschooled in the 2007 – 2008 academic years (Lips & Feinberg, 2008). By either count, homeschooling is growing exponentially.
In today’s American society, quality education is important for one to succeed. Without proper education, a person will find it extremely difficult to apply for college, a job, or to pursue his or her dream. Typically when Americans think of education, public education is the first to come to mind. Public education has been around for centuries and is provided to most children throughout the United States. Due to this fact, public education has been the go to education source for years. Though, this trend is slowly changing with many parents deciding to home school their children instead. Many factors are the cause for this issue, but the common arguments arise from a certain few. For students, public school provides many opportunities ranging from social connections, school sports, and the exposure to teachers who are experts in their fields. But homeschooling is often superior because it offers additional time for students to participate in various extracurricular activities and community service, allows for more individual attention, personal character development, and it offers less exposure to discrimination that is received in the public school environment.
As the population in public schools increase, the problems in these schools are also on the rise. These changes are leasing to the way parents are schooling their children. Many parents are leaning towards homeschooling as a solution to this problem. This increase in homeschooling can be directly related to an increase in school violence, the offering of a lack luster curriculum, and lack of student teacher interaction.