George Bernard Shaw, an influential Irish writer, once said, “My schooling not only failed to teach me what it professed to be teaching but prevented me from being educated to an extent which infuriates me when I think of all I might have learned at home by myself.” Many parents have latched onto Shaw’s beliefs and have made the audacious decision to home educate. Currently, there are approximately 1,642,027 homeschooled children in the U.S.A. alone. Home educating is an alternative to mainstream public schooling, and it is performed within the home through curriculums, co-ops, or online education systems. Homeschooling is advantageous because homeschooled children are proven to perform better academically, they can avoid inimical mainstream school situations, and parents can specialize curriculum in the best interest of their child individually.
First and foremost, when a student has a positive environment to be surrounded in, they are able to perform better academically. To start, when children are homeschooled, they continuously have access to highly encouraging parents who push them to do their best. In an article by Johnna Burns, Meehan and Stephenson stated that kids tend to achieve greatly as homeschoolers because the parents are highly encouraging. They also accomplish more socially and academically because adults typically view their children as advanced in comparison to other kids, causing children to live up to that expectation (7). Because parents see their
Secondly, homeschooled students can receive a similar level of education or even better than those in a traditional school. Students can take online courses at home and have their parent assist them when needed. Online courses can provide all the necessary required materials to bring the student to success. Research has shown that homeschooled students have equal to or higher test scores than traditionally schooled students. McReynolds (2007) explains that homeschooled students are successful, “Nevertheless, a variety of studies suggest that by traditional standards, homeschoolers do pretty well. They tend to score higher than public school children on standardized achievement tests (Rudner 1999), advanced placement exams (Richman 2005), the SAT (King 2004) and the ACT (Golden 2001). Homeschoolers attend college at higher rates than public school students (Richman 1999)” (p. 37). McReynolds proves that homeschooled students can score better on a test than traditionally schooled students. This proves that homeschooled students can be just as
Because homeschooling provides a more flexible schedule, parent-taught kids have social opportunities that public schoolers do not. Homeschooled children have the option to hang out at the mall or a café due to finishing school early. They can also work on school with fellow homeschoolers at each other’s houses or at a park which provides a change of scenery and the enjoyment of company. Not only can homeschoolers socialize with their peers, but due to their flexible schedules they can also interact with people in diverse age groups. Whether helping a neighbor with yard work, visiting an elderly couple across the street, or babysitting during week days, home taught kids interact with people of all ages unlike building school children who spend all day surrounded by their same age classmates. Clearly homeschoolers not only have plenty of socializing opportunities, but they also get to interact with people outside their peer
These two counterpart choices in education have been an ongoing controversy for such an extended amount time due to the concernment of what effects a child gaining his or her education in the comfort of their own home rather than a more engaged learning environment. Some argue that homeschooling is so controversial due to the issues of socialization or lack there of, time and financial constraints on the family and/or parents, and it simply being less effective and enforced than that of the alternative, public school, in terms of academic achievement and overall stature, (Martin-Chang, Gould, & Meuse, 2011). Additionally, traditional schooling is shown to provide more educational opportunities and important personal interactions between peers and teachers. (Korkmaz and Duman, 2014). On the contrary however, others argue that homeschooling raises greater academic achievement, creates strong familial and parent-child bonds, has the potential to build greater self-motivation and a sense of responsibility, while potentially keeping children out of harms way whether that be bad peer influences, bullying, drugs and alcohol.
Parental involvement is another benefit to homeschooling. Educating one’s children at home gives intentional parents the opportunity to determine what and how the child will learn. Nowadays, at public schools, parents struggle for the opportunity for their opinions concerning their children’s classes to be heard (Beliefnet News 2013). With the option of homeschooling, they are not only given the awareness of what their children are studying, but also the authority to choose the education material. In addition, they can walk through the material with their
Surprisingly, there are a variety of people that do homeschooling. Both people from high-income to low-income families. There are parents that even have doctorates or even a diploma in a general subject. Families with either one or two parents and differing ethnics and religious or secular inducement choose to homeschool (Ray 2002). Researchers come to the conclusion that homeschoolers, for the most part, have free reign when it comes to their homework and school pace that they feel that suits them the best.
Over the years homeschooling is becoming widely popular all over the world. Although many people believe that public school is the only way to go, people exclude homeschooling and create their own opinions about it. Homeschooling is much more than what people make it seem, it’s a better opportunity for young students to take. Homeschooling opens your mind and knowledge to things all over the world that public schools are not able to experience. Not only does it help the student strive to be a part of their community, and attend associations but also it helps create a bond between families. Although homeschool students are talked about and repeatedly treated as if they are not any better, homeschoolers succeed in education, have
Homeschooling is becoming an increasingly popular choice for educating children in the United States. In fact almost 2 million children in grades k-12 will be homeschooled this year alone (Smith). Home education requires a high level of parental involvement and commitment to implement a curriculum that not only teaches the basics in education such as reading, writing, arithmetic and beyond; but one that also prepares the child for a life of interaction amongst peers and those with different backgrounds and beliefs. There are many reasons a family may choose to homeschool. Parents may choose to homeschool based on the desire to cultivate religious values in their children, or to provide a higher
For example, the book for Joseph Murphy (2012) reported his study in 2010 that “homeschool achievement reported in national percentiles as follows: total reading,89th; total language, 84th; total mathematics, 84th; science, 86th; social studies,84th; and composite, 86th” (Joseph Murphy, 2012, p. 136). Also, the book provided more evidence of how those homeschooled students perform in ACT exam. Scholars have compared college entrance examination scores of homeschoolers national for those tests. Rudner (1999) reported that homeschoolers had a composite ACT score of 22.8, while the national average score was 21.0. This score placed homeschooled children in the 65th percentile of all ACT test takers (Joseph Murphy, 2012, p. 137). We see Student success is a difficult subject to understand. Despite of the high scores for homeschooled students in standardized exams, the stories of homeschooling families show some failure. So, DuBose had some problem with homeschooling failure. A story of “family A who chose homeschooling because their children were lagging in public school, and their homeschooled cousins were excelling. After only one year at home, the A. Children were returned to public school and Mrs. A. vowed she would never homeschool again” (Guilt -free Homeschooling). This family when they failed to survive homeschooling, they returned to the public school. This is actually one advantage that families have the choice of going back to public school instead of leaving
An ever growing and popular way of educating young minds is home education or home schooling. An estimated 2.3 million students are home schooled in the United States, which is an increased amount from 2010 when the home school estimate number was 2 million(Ray) It’s an interesting and effective choice that’s been popularized for a reason. Home schooling positively affects a child’s development by allowing them the chance to discover themselves instead of falling into the conformity that is instilled in schools. In the process, statistically, they receive a better education with higher test scores than students in the public school system.
Recent statistics indicate that homeschooling is increasingly becoming a method of education that is accepted and trendy. Homeschooling is now a fashionable choice for many of the young professional looking for the best education for their children. However, the question that arises is whether this form of education is right for our children. For parents, making the decision of instructing their children from home is not easy. The topic of homeschooling is controversial and involves issues such as social and cognitive development, standards, governmental involvement and safety (Merry, & Karsten, 2010). Those who oppose homeschooling argue that too much is left for
Traditional-school environments constrict students to specific learning paces that may not fit their individual needs. This lack of flexibility can negatively affect students’ academic careers. In fact, “homeschooled students achieved higher standardized test scores
In truth, learning begins well before children enter school, and once children are attending school they continue to learn both inside and outside the classroom. Parents play a critical role in the influence of the home environment on academic learning. Many studies indicate that children who do well in school come from families that provide a supportive and enriched environment for learning in the
Education is a very important concern in the hearts of Americans. . But what exactly is the best form of education. Homeschooling has gradually made its way into the education field as an acceptable and controversial form of education. Homeschooling can simply be defined as educating children at home or the community rather than at school (Withrow, 1999; Cromwell, 1998; Lines, 1995). An alternative definition would be, parents choosing the schooling for their children (What is Homeschooling, 2000).
Carole Kennedy, a principal at a school in Columbia, Missouri, talks about how time and time again she has seen many bright young children turn into lazy and poor students when they decided to turn to homeschooling. Carole specifically remembers a young boy who used to go to public school. He had some behavioral problems and his parents constantly received calls from school. She said that eventually the parents grew sick of dealing with the student’s problems at school and decided to withdraw him from public school to teach him at home. All of the child’s former friends had heard that at home he did very little work. This has happened to many children over the years (Pfleger 55).
This article covers the positive and negative effects of Home schooling. Although I agree with some the strategies involved in home schooling no curricula is perfect. I intend to portray the comparison of home schooling to public schooling to inform the reader of its advantages. Along with that I hope to divulge some useful tools in educating our youth. Its widely known that public education could use some improvements. There are some factors of home schooling that can be combined with our current public school curriculum With that being said there many disadvantages that bring forth dangers in both system that should be taken into account. In order to make an informed decision we must examine both systems flaws. Then work on eliminating them and use their attributes to rebuild education in general. There is a reason why both homeschooling and public schools exist and its feasible that we analyze the motives behind both educational track.