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 …show more content…
Some scientists have noted a slight shift in how the home school system highlights the misgivings of the public school system (Murphy 251). This is known as the lighthouse effect because public schools will supposedly see the good elements of home school education and adapt them. Another way that home schooling affects the public school system is that supporters of home schooling will not financially support the public school system (Murphy 251). Some critics view that this withdrawal from the primary school systems will reduce public schools’ resources. Despite the fear that retreating to the home for schooling will wreck public schools, some public schools have started making accommodations for homeschoolers to make use of the schools’ resources (Murphy 251). This allows homeschoolers flexible schooling in various environments and gives the public schools more potential student traffic. Public schools are not the only schools whose identities are affected by the rise of home school. A good majority of home school students are actually former private school students (Murphy 251). The private schools population feels the sting of students leaving in large numbers. Home school education has effects on other parts of the education world, which also affects the students in those institutions. Therefore, home school has an impact in educational situations outside the …show more content…
This identity recognition occurs in several different aspects of a student’s life, which includes the student’s familial ties. In a study by Joseph Murphy, a sociologist at Vanderbilt University, he acknowledges that a home school education carries a lot of requirements for the family’s time investments (Murphy 253). Parents have to rearrange their schedules and routines, which strengthens the student’s relationship with his or her parents. However, it can also put a strain on the student’s parents (Murphy 253). The parent who does the majority of the education has to balance homemaking with teaching, which can be a major stressor for some. A mother or father who wants to write the curriculum may find that other obligations around the house will need to be dropped in favor of time. A positive side to the home school education’s impact on the student’s familial identity is that there can be a strengthening of familial bonds (Murphy 253). The parents involve themselves directly in the child’s education, allowing for a strengthening of relationships. Home schooled students can also grow closer to their siblings because they will have time and space to deepen the relationship. Samuel Blumenfield, an educator and author, said that home school families build a “generation bridge instead of a generation gap” (765). A home school family’s
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...
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
Lyman(2006) writes about the definition, history, and current social importance of homeschooling in the United States. The author defines the education which is provided at home instead of school as homeschooling. She sates thatearlier homeschooling was confined mostly to the handicapped children who were not fit along with the regular students, who need extra care and the wealthier classes who wanted their children to be prepared for university studies. She continues to give an information that the number of families considering their children to have their schooling at home is increasing every year with the awareness of the positive traits of homeschooling followed bythe research work by the educational specialists, even while other education
Homeschooling can get you into a lot of trouble. You could have social workers showing up at your house saying, “We’ve received complaints about unsocialised homeschoolers”. You could have worried family trying to counsel you because you are going to teach them in ‘isolation’. One of the charges most frequently brought against homeschoolers, the apparent lack of ‘healthy socialisation’, is one they continuously fight. Though they have proved themselves capable of healthy social interaction, the notion persists, leading some homeschoolers to accept the label, “weird, unsocialised homeschoolers” as part of their identity (Flynn). Is the schoolroom really that important to the social development of the child that any other method is deemed less
Home schooling originated in a time when there were a small number of schools. Even when more public and community schools became available, traditional groups like the Seventh Day Adventists and Mormons, chose to school their young children at home. The Amish society kept their older children out of the public schools and chose to educate them through life in the community. The movement for home schooling has become more prevalent in modern day education. Many parents opt to educate at home, whether it be for religious purposes or because they are pursuing the philosophy of child-led learning. Whatever the reason for home schooling, it has become a predominant form of education in society today (Lines, 1995).
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.
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.
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.
ABSTRACT: Home schooling is a controversial topic among educators. The issues that follow a child throughout their educational and social lives, are elevated when a child has been home schooled. There is no social environment for the child to learn to develop basic social skills; most home schooling environments are made up of a child, perhaps accompanied by a sibling, and the parent teaching the information given. There is no room for a developed personality that is constant with a child of equal age and grade in a normal schooling environment. Other problems include the quality of the teacher, lack of practice for standardized testing, bias grades, inconstant laws on home schooling from state to state, the overall education of a home schooled child, and the quality of the teacher. All these problems are explored, and discussed with in this essay.
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.
Every parent is faced with the decision of whether or not to home school their child. While some families may find home schooling as being very helpful and beneficial to their child’s education, others may find that it is crucial their child be sent to a normal school. Some parents are hesitant to send their children to public school because of crime and lack of discipline and also because they fear that the quality of education is declining. Parents may also feel that sending their child to school will aid in their social development. Home schooling has both advantages and disadvantages which aid parents in this difficult decision.
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.