Many parents choose homeschooling for their children in order to have more control over what their children learn. However, when parents choose to teach at home they often neglect to provide their child with an appropriate education. Important life skills are learned in the a regular school setting that cannot be learned at home, as time passes homeschooled children are forced to go through unnecessary stress as they must assimilate into the social world because they lack certain life skills. This alternative education choice can have a positive impact for children who are not physically and mentally prepared for a traditional school, but it neglects very important lessons needed for proper development and for the creation of proper citizens of a society. Although, everyone has a choice to how they go through their education it is important to take into account that the decisions of a few can put strain on the majority.
People choose homeschooling for several reasons, the National Center of Education Statistics found that thirty six percent of parents chose homeschooling in order to instill proper religious and moral values, twenty one percent chose it because they felt uncomfortable with the safety of the public school environment, twelve percent were not satisfied with the “academic institution”, and seven percent had other reasons such as the proximity of a school or economic struggle. In Edward Said’s book Orientalism, he suggests that societies create an image of what they believe others to be, and with time the idea becomes normalized. The fact that most parents choose homeschooling for religious reasons is alarming because it promotes inequality and misunderstandings about of religious groups. The more a group separate...
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"Homeschooling in the United States: 2003 - Executive Summary." National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a Part of the U.S. Department of Education. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. .
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978. Print.
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First of all, it is critical to realize that schools are merely a way of educating the youth, yet schools are not the only way, and there is no soild evidence to prove that schools are better than other methods. In fact, when compated to homeschooling, it is quite the opposite. After the study of Eric Rudner was rejected due to sample issues such as self-selection and socioeconmical differences, Dr. Sandra Martin-Chang, researcher in
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).
Home school education has been growing exponentially in America over the past couple decades as more and more families are deciding to cultivate their kids’ educations in a more personalized fashion. Parents choose to home school their children for a large variety of reasons. The most popular reasons for this decision include dissatisfaction with the current education system, religious freedom in education, and personalized education for certain skillsets. Home school educations grew in popularity as the Internet became more prevalent in culture. The Internet allowed parents to access more educational materials from home and communicate with other home school families across the globe. Home school has had an impact on the identities of students
Lines, P. (1995). Home Schooling. ERIC Digest, Number 95. Retrieved April 23, 2003, from http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed381849.html
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).
An estimated 4 million children are currently home schooled with a 15-20% yearly growth rate. According to a California study by researcher Dr. Brian [D.] Ray, 92 percent of school superintendents believe that home learners are emotionally unstable, deprived of proper social development and too judgmental of the world around them. The latest claim against home schooling suggests that home schoolers are potential child abusers. Mr. Ron Barnard, a Holly High School teacher says that he would prefer public schooling for his children because of the peer socialization, extra curricular, and mandated curriculum. Public schooling is more efficient in educating our youth than traditional home schooling.
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.
Rivero, Lisa. The Homeschooling Option: How to Decide When It's Right for Your Family. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.
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.
Morris, T. (2001). Pros and cons of home schooling. Retrieved December 7, 2004 from http://tx.essortment.com/homeschoolinfo_rfda.htm
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.
“Is getting a good education important to you?” Most people when asked this question would answer, “Yes.” This is because it teaches us valuable life skills and prepares us to communicate and engage with others in the world. Education has taken on many forms over the years, and one of the more successful components of education has been homeschooling. Once considered a criminal act of defiance, homeschooling is now legally an option in all fifty states for parents to consider, and it has a substantial
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.
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.
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.