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Advantages and Disadvantages of Homeschooling
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Homeschooling
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Homeschooling Pros and Cons
Homeschooling is a rising alternative in children’s education. As with any other major movement there have been doubts and debates as well as support and promotion for this educational approach. Homeschooling was once the norm in society before there was a public school system. But the parents involved in homeschooling feel very strongly about the positive outcomes that it has brought about in the lives and success of their children. It has once again surfaced and become popular but there are several people who question the possible negative effects this option creates.
Criticism of homeschooling is vast and there are several different aspects as to why it could be detrimental to the development of a child. One such argument is that experiences of diversity are lost when students are taught in the home. They have lost the opportunity to work with peers of varying culture and social statuses in an academic environment. Such experiences are essential preparation for social and professional life outside the home. Without this training at an early age they may be at a disadvantage when forced to go out into the work force. Another reason why some people disapprove of homeschooling is that since the parents can design what is taught their children only are exposed to the parents’ views. This results in the children having limits on their ability to form their own views and ultimately forming their own unique personality and values. Also to be considered is lack of work ethic built through a structured school setting. The discipline that is learned will be used later on to maintain a steady job and allows them to become accustomed to the rigidity of professional industry. Also in the classroom children ...
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...November 23, 2003, from EBSCOhost on the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com
Ray, B. (2002). Customization through homeschooling. Educational Leadership 59(7), 50-55. Retrieved November 23, 2003, from EBSCOhost on the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com
Reich, R. (2002). The civic perils of homeschooling. Educational Leadership 59(7), 56-60. Retrieved November 23, 2003, from EBSCOhost on the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com
Staehle, D (2000). Taking a different path: A mother’s reflection on homeschooling. Roeper Review 22(4), 270-272. Retrieved November 23, 2003, from EBSCOhost on the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com
Wichers, M. (2001). Homeschooling: Adventitious or detrimental for proficiency in higher education. Education 122(1), 145-151. Retrieved November 23, 2003, from EBSCOhost on the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com
Homeschooling can bring families together. Family orientation is very important; this can be done by spending time together and building memories as they learn because it is what bonds...
Moreover, some families choose to Homeschool in order to screen their child’s curriculum to remove secularist views found in modern day public school curriculum (2002). Others have children with special needs or learning disabilities, so they choose to homeschool (Maaja, 1997). Ultimately, families are looking for what they believe is best for their children. And these families want to be actively involved in the education of their children. Homeschooling parents do not want strangers raising their children. They want to raise their children with freedom from government systems and institutions (Ray, 2000a).
Patricia Lines describes homeschooling in the abstract for her article Homeschooling Comes of Age, as “one of the most significant social trends of the past half century.” This trend has sparked debate over its effectiveness and the quality of the students it produces. Roy Lechtrek, in The Case for Homeschooling, and Lines argue in favour of homeschooling while Benjamin Gorman, in An Argument Against Homeschooling, argues against it. All three of them agree that isolation in education, whether social or academic, is not beneficial to students. They also believe that religion plays a major role in the decision to homeschool students. The differences they have are a result of their agreement on these fundamental principles of education. Disagreement is over the execution of these principles and so the common ground is often implied through their ideas of the ideal method.
Homeschooling offers students a more time efficient education that allows the student to focus on education in which is the sole purpose for school. Homeschooling also gives the teacher a thorough evaluation of a student’s strengths and weaknesses by visually seeing what subjects they excel in and what subjects they are weak in. At this point students can increase their individual progression in each subject. Homeschooling permits control of the environment a student learns in to retain the focus of the student. This will reduce the chances of drug usage, bullying, and violence. Samuel Blumenfeld said this on the importance of homeschooling “The home is a safe haven for the children in a world awash with drugs, sexually transmitted diseases, violence, and moral corruption” (Cindy Mur et al.76). When parents come to realize that the home is the safest place for their children, then will they act as Blumenfeld concludes “I look forward to the day when the public schools will be virtually empty not because we have abolished public education but because the parents will have abandoned it” (Cindy Mur et al.
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).
Mar. 2007). Rpt. in Homeschooling. Ed. Myra Immell. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 2 Oct. 2014.
While the majority choose to do so for academics, the reasoning goes beyond simply that. Homeschool families are often stereotyped as extremely religious and attempting to hide their children from the corruption and sin of the world. Families that do keep children out for these reasons are still prevalent within the homeschooling community; my mother contemplated homeschooling me and my brothers for this reason, and one of my best friends is homeschooled in a religious home. As homeschooling grows more mainstream, more families believe that public school squashes a child’s creativity and attempts to conform all children into the same person. Lynn Schnaiberg, a writer for Education Weekly, gives the reasons for four homeschooling families in her article “Staying Home from School.” In this article, the first family, the Scandora’s, believe “learning is not a product of teaching” and that their children should be free to learn at whatever pace they want. Another family featured in Schnaiberg’s article, the Collins family, is dissatisfied with the Baltimore city schools, which had some of the lowest test scores in the state. The Hoyt family has two children who are considered “gifted.” Because public schools do not give proper attention
“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).
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.
In the past decade homeschooling has grown in America much more than we could estimate, 1.5 million students are now learning at home, that’s a 75% increase from 1999, Parents have become more unsatisfied by the public schooling systems and its effects on their children concerned that their children could be exposed to violence, bullying or even drugs.
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.
I have chosen to write this essay about homeschooling. Homeschooling is one option for schooling children, along with public and private schools. Many people do not believe in homeschooling because they do not trust that parents are teaching their children correctly. They argue that parents can’t teach their children without proper training and that without it. They also worry that students will not learn to socialize or function in society and that homeschooling is just a way to hide children from the real world. A lot of people fear homeschooling because they do not know very much about that form of education. On the other hand many peoples opinion is that homeschooling has many benefits and that it gives
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.
All children in America have the right to a quality education. Most students receive that education through conventional means, going to a public or private school. There is another option for today's children, home schooling. Home schooling is a controversial issue. While it does have its benefits, some people believe it has too many downfalls to be an effective method of education. In this paper, topics such as academic impact, social impact, and parental opinions of home schooling will be discussed.