Homeschooling : Harmful Or Helpful?

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

Before the development of the United States education system it was necessary for children to homeschool, but that time has passed. Today students have the option to attend the school that best fits them due to the process of open enrollment. The United States educational system now offers students options such as religious schools, charter schools, private schools, and public schools. Therefore, no reason exists that they can not find a decent school that meets their academic expectations. Families that homeschooled have a distinct disadvantage to families that attend public or private schools.

Public schooling in the United States fails in providing a quality education for student in K-12. In 2015 the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which measures reading ability and math and science literacy among 15-year-olds in dozens of developed and developing countries, found that the United States is ranked 35th in math and 27th in science Desilver, D. (2016). The number one thing every parent wants for their children is for them to have access to the best possible education available. As a result of a low quality public education, parents are progressively looking for alternative ways of schooling. In particular, some parents have decided that homeschooling would better prepare their children in life. This paper will analyze both the pros and cons of homeschooling.

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

While the American public school system educates the majority of students today, a fast growing population is beginning to accept homeschooling as an adequate alternative. Anyone with kids desires only the best education and experiences for them. Those who face this decision have to take in the plentiful list of differences and decide which will suit their family best. For years, most people saw homeschooling as an ineffiecent replacement to the government-provided schools already in existence. However, in the last ten years, studies have proved that homeschooling well equipps a student for college and beyond, changing the minds of many(http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2012/06/01/home-schooled-teens-ripe-for-college?page=2). In order to make this crutial decision between public or home school, one must account for the social and extracurricular opportunites, the educational aspect, and what role the family plays in education.

Homeschooling is on the rise in America. According to a 2007 NHES study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education there are an estimated 1.5 million students actively being homeschooled up from the 850,000 estimated in previous study conducted in 1999 (NCES, 1). Once seen as a fringe activity usually associated with the religious right, homeschooling now encompasses many mainstream families looking for educational alternatives in the face of such issues as violence, peer pressure, and poor academic quality in many public schools. Detractors on the other hand claim that homeschooling is a less effective method of educating America’s youth citing academic and social issues. Despite critics’ claims to the contrary, homeschooling is an effective and viable method of education as its participants not only do well academically; they are well socialized and are successful in college and later life.

Throughout history, homeschooling has been practiced by parents, extended family, and tutors. However, a small number of children were being subjected to homeschooling as compared to the 21st century (Gaither, p.226). Homeschooling is regarded as the provision of education to young people in a private setting as opposed to public setting. Instead of being educated by the teachers, the children are educated by their own parents, relatives, or tutors hired and paid by the parents. Parents who opt to subject their children to homeschooling, do so for a variety of reasons ranging from religious demand, structure of public schools to personal preferences.

Parents choose to homeschool their children for many years for many different reasons. To name a few reasons, the location (rural or suburbs), income, the belief that they can teach better, or the parent’s religious belief. Is homeschooling a better option than sending a child to a public or private school? Homeschooling is not all that bad or a traditional school is more superior, it comes down to the parent’s preference of what they think is best for themselves and their child. There is a misconception that homeschooling will not allow students to be successful due to students are not well enforced by the parents to do their work. Even in a traditional school, students may be

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.

With the many anxieties and stresses of public school, homeschooling is rapidly growing in popularity, with the numbers increasing by at least 7 percent every year. There are currently approximately two million children homeschooled throughout the United States. Recently in the years of public education, children have struggled due to the many distractions around them. Even in private schools, this issue has been evident. Sometimes the private or public school can be too slow for a student who is a quick learner. Sometimes the private or public schools have no fault in the issue, but the child suffers with a learning disability. With a committed parent or teacher, homeschooling can benefit their learning.

Growing up, we all remember that all too familiar conversation we had with our parents, where they would interject with the popular statement, “I have the final say.” As difficult as it is to admit it, they are right! Approach adulthood, every decision a child makes dictates the kind of person he or she will become and the sort of life they will live. However, a parent bears the honor and responsibility of “having this final say,” and makes the tough decisions regarding their child. One of the first monumental decisions a parent makes in a child’s life is in their early education years. Most often, where and when the child starts school becomes the focal of the conversation. Unfortunately, homeschooling is not even considered, by a majority of parents, as a relevant alternative to forms of more traditional schooling. Parents unquestionably assume to send their children to public schools, but do their child a disservice in not considering this viable option. Although both public schooling and homeschooling 's focus primarily on providing students with a quality education, today’s homeschooling affords students with higher test performance, individualized education, creates lifelong learners and provides unique socialization.

Are there any benefits to homeschooling your children? Some people believe that there aren’t. They argue that parents who homeschool their children are depriving them of the experiences and independence that traditional schooling provides, giving their children unfair advantages in relation to their schoolwork and believe that these parents aren’t educated correctly to homeschool their children. While this may be true, my hope is to show those people that even though there are differences in homeschooling and traditional schooling, homeschooling is not as detrimental to children as one might think. I don’t want to change their mind. I just want to show them that traditional schooling is not for everyone like they might believe and that homeschooling may be a better option for some families.

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

Mahatma Gandhi once said "There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.” Homeschooling has evolved into a popular and fast growing alternative to traditional schooling. In 2003, there was an estimated of 1.1 million homeschooled children, and in 2007 homeschooling had continued to grow to over 1.5 million. Opponents of the homeschooling method argue that parents are not as qualified to educate their children as teachers are; therefore, their children will not measure up to the academic level of traditionally schooled children. Additionally, they argue that homeschooled children will not be on the same social level as children in regular schools and will lack adequate social skills for the real

Homeschooling is becoming much more common now than it was years ago. Parents are now preferring to homeschool their children over public school due to many reasons such as religion, safety, academic quality travel, family togetherness, separation of government and school, mastery over grades, expenses, and focusing on learning plans made for the student.