According to Finding Delucinea (findingdelucinea.com) “Homeschooling is when parents or guardians take responsibility for educating their children outside any school system.” It is not that easy, though. “One thing that all homeschoolers seem to agree on is that deciding to home-school is not an easy choice, and it takes a lot of commitment to make it work.” “One of the biggest challenges for the homeschooling parent is keeping up with the legal requirements.”
The U.S. Department of Education's National Council for Education Statistics (NCES) reported (2012) that homeschoolers represent 3.4% of the U.S. student population. Although the number of homeschoolers has been growing steadily since the first count in 1999, homeschooled students are still a minority. This delineates another challenge. Now this 3.4% student body swimming against the tide gives the potential for isolation.(CIDER, 2015)
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There is so much knowledge that is gained through real-world exposure to a vast array of subjects far more lasting than reading out of a textbook. The word “schooling” in homeschooling is misleading because education takes place in and out of formal lessons. The biggest waste of time in schools comes not just from indoctrination, but also from “teaching to the test,” where kids memorize, regurgitate, and forget.
Marianna Brashear, curriculum development manager at the Foundation for Economic Education
“In more recent times, many American parents have largely abdicated the responsibility of teaching their own kids, in favor of supposed “experts.” The context for this abdication is a compulsory system established to replace parental values with those preferred by the states and now, to an increasing degree, by the federal government. It’s important to remember how much the current system was established as a reaction to immigrants.”(W. Reed, Lawrence,
“On the fringe” education has become increasingly more popular since the 1970’s while public education has been around since the 1600’s (Davis). “On the fringe” is what some parents think homeschooling is because they think schooling their children at home is “backwards” (Drenovsky and Cohen). However, homeschooling is more beneficial to students than public schooling.
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
Homeschooling is often portrayed as an overprotective mom - unwilling to let her kids leave her for a day at school, and a large number of children, all unable to hold a conversation, let alone function normally in society. As someone who was homeschooled from kindergarten through eighth grade, I can attest that my homeschool experience was the exact opposite of this confining stereotype.
Parents should do their research to make sure they are able and prepared to homeschool their children. Each state has their own requirements for homeschooling and most families pays for the studies themselves. In certain areas, enrollment in a state based program is optional. If that is the case, then the state pays for specific resources in exchange for the homeschool meeting certain requirements to remain in the program. If the child is already in public or private school and the parent decides to homeschool. The parent would need to write a letter of withdrawal that has to be given to the school principal or the local
Homeschooling has been around for a long period of time. People wanted their kids to be homeschooled for a number of reasons. They felt like their kids was just part of a system and that their kids was missing out on a real education. In the 1970s John Holt, “began arguing that formal schools’ focus on rote learning created an oppressive classroom environment designed to make children compliant employees (J. Gary Knowles, Stacey E. Marlow, & James A. Muchmore, 2015).” It’s ok to be a compliant employee but people want the best for the kids and the only way for that is for your kid to be the boss. With that statement John got a few people to buy in and follow his movement and started homeschooling their kids. With homeschooling as a parents you wear a lot of different hats, so with that said you have to have a lot of patients with your kids because they’re going to ask a lot of questions. People need to have some
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.
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.
Homeschooling is probably one of the least known and least understood issues in education. Many people tend to think that most homeschoolers are religious conservatives or extremists. However, the truth is that people from all walks of life are joining the homeschooling bandwagon (Ray, 2004). The main misconception is that homeschooled children don’t get the same academic and social education as traditionally schooled children. Contrary to popular perception, homeschooled children have the same, if not better academic opportunities, social opportunities and college admissions prospects than traditionally schooled students have.
Many people often feel that home-schooled children are not fully challenged to the best of their abilities. Some may feel that if a student is placed in a classroom setting and given the opportunity to strive and excel academically against twenty plus peers that it would result in allowing them to both question and challenge their peer’s answers. This could result in the child learning different methods of learning, and also help with memorization. While we say that home schooling is benefitting our children, it remains a fact that those children are not prepared for the real
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.
Romanowski, M. H. a. The adage of the adage of the adage Homeschool and the public school: Rethinking the relationship. Streamlined Seminar, 19(3), Spring 2001. Retrieved December 7, 2004 from the EBSCO database. Sikkink, D. (1999).
Homeschooling is receiving instruction of education in a place other than an established school. Some parents feel if they keep their children at home, they can minimize the chance that harm can happen. Other parents feel that they know their child best and can utilize personal strengths to work on educational needs. In the past, religion was the leading cause of parents who chose home schooling, now days this does not necessarily hold true.
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.