Essay on Definition of Home Schooling

Although not becoming officially permitted in all the states until 2012, many students were already participating in homeschooling in the already permitted states

Thesis: Homeschooling environment is an effective approach in education due to evidence of higher achievement on placement tests, success through college, engaged socially with activities outside homes, and students becoming active members of society.

Summary: Michael Romanowski wrote an article called "Common Arguments about the Strengths and Limitations of Home schooling." Home schooling is continuing to grow rapidly in many places. He explains that home schooling serves children equally well as public schools. Romanowski supports the main idea by giving claims that home schooling helps a child improve their social skills, children who are homeschooled are more likely to become academically successful, a student is not put on time limit and they are not told to put everything up and focus on a new topic. Home schooling allows children to learn to socialize with older people and stills allows them to socialize outside of their home with community activities. When the parents are closely involved in the student's academic work

Homeschooling is not as recent as some people think it to be. In fact, it has a long history and has advocates behind it such as the famous

In certain ways, home and public schooling are very similar. One way that they are similar is they both offer a well-organized learning atmosphere. Home schooling allows their students to do all of their school work online, which prevents the risk of students losing

Homeschooling is not a new idea or phenomenon in America. The concept of homeschooling goes back to earliest Colonial times in American history. Prior to the rise of compulsory public education laws in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, homeschooling was the primary method of educating children. From the beginning of the twentieth century until the late 1960’s, the practice of homeschooling fell out of practice except in limited circumstances. Then in the 1960’s and 1970’s America saw the rise of the modern homeschool movement that started not with the religious right

However, if on one hand homeschooling can provide the student with freedom on different levels, on the other hand learning at home can drastically reduce parents’ freedom and can consume a lot of their time causing stress and frustration in most cases.

She also had been a high school math and physics teacher along with holding a liberal arts and sciences degree from St. John’s College, and she hold a master’s degree in English from Georgetown University. Homeschooling can be a matter of consistency for families living in isolated rural locations, for those temporarily abroad, and for those who travel frequently. Parents need to be involved in their children’s home schooling and they don’t all need to have a certain degree to teach their children in their home. Although, home schooling only has a small number of students who choose that can have a be superior to public schooling. Even though home schooling has grown over the years there is a wonder if home schooling is a help to public schools or a harm. Marcia summarizes that academic achievement and homeschooling history are especially good. Tensions can be hard with decision on whether home schooling is the right way to go, but with Clemmitt’s article she shares that they can receive adequate education with parents teaching them, academic achievement of homeschooled children, and whether home schooling can help or hinder public

The National Center for Education Statistics conducted several studies that arrayed the academic performance of students that were educated at home compared to those who attended public or private schools. In conclusion, a trend was established that homeschool students scored increasingly higher on tests that put them grade levels above their public and private school peers. Their scores continuously demonstrated a positive growth through the years from the kindergarten to senior year of high school (“The Positive Reality of Homeschooling”). The excelling academic performance of homeschoolers is perceived as a direct result of their control over their own education.

Once a parent has child that is old enough to start school, the parent has to think about if they want to enroll their child in public school or homeschool them. 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.

The term homeschooling refers to the practice of parents educating a child at home, rather than in a conventional public or private school setting. These children would otherwise be enrolled in elementary or secondary school. Homeschooling is seen in the United States today as a viable alternative to public school education. According to widely-repeated estimates, as many as two million American children are schooled at home, with the number growing at 15 to 20 percent per year (McDowell & Ray 2000, Lines 2000). Despite the rising prevalence of the subject, we are left without basic information on the nature of homeschooling in the United States. What motivations do parents have for choosing homeschooling — religion, concerns about school quality, or other motivations? What are the limitations that these families face? Lastly, what strengths do these children exhibit with homeschooling? The common argument in limitations of homeschooling is the issue of socialization in homeschoolers development. The counter-argument from homeschooling advocates is that homeschooling does not mean a hermit like existence for the children. The idea is that social skills do not have to be developed only with people who are the exact same age but experience of forming meaningful relationships social skills will get solidified. Some families feel judged by making the choice to homeschool even when it meets their child 's needs, although today they are becoming more mainstream ( Collom,

"Parents of 136 homeschooled elementary children completed questionnaires assessing constructs derived from the parental involvement literature and personal beliefs identified in the homeschooling literature as important to parents’ decisions to home school. Results suggest that home-schooling parents appear to be motivated by an active role construction, strong sense of efficacy for helping the child learn, and positive perceptions of life context"(1). This shows that parents who choose to home school are very motivated to allow their children to succeed as best they can, also that they would want their children to learn every

Twenty years ago, many states did not allow home schooling. Constitutional protection has always been uncertain. The U.S. Supreme Court has never explicitly ruled on home schooling. Although in 1972, in Wisconsin v. Yoder, the Court did restrict compulsory school requirements in a limited ruling involving the right of Amish students not to attend high school (Lines, 1996). In Wisconsin v. Yoder, the Amish parents claimed that high school attendance was destructive to their children's religious beliefs and would interfere with their pursuit of the Amish way of life (Fisher, Schimmel, and Kelley, 1995). Since this ruling there have been many court cases dealing with the issue of home schooling. All 50 states allow home schooling ad 34 states have enacted specific home schooling statutes or regulations (Clark, 1994). What drives many home-schoolers are the well-documented social troubles and the declining test scores in the public schools. In 1991, the total number of children being home schooled was between 248,500 and 353,500. Many public educators feel that children who are home schooled are missing out on key learning situations that come from the public school. For instance the sciene experiments, these would be very costly to duplicate at home. Also they argue that home school children miss out on the social aspect of school. Very often they are

Homeschooling is a concept of doing schooling at home. In this kind of study a child from a family receives his academic education from somebody within the house.

Homeschooling, not very well known, presents a new and affordable way to educate children. “Home school is a term used to refer to the education of children by their parents or guardians in a setting other than a public or private school” (Anderman & Anderman, p. 467). It has never been a new thing; it just has not been as popular as it used to be (Lines, p. 76). With this topic meaning so much to groups for and against the right for homeschooling and what should be legalized or not, the debate still rages on from local to even national government entities. Both sides of the argument have valid points, but ultimately it is the choice of the parents. There are many types of ways to educate children and that decision is difficult for both