How do you describe home schooling? In the United States, it is a growing trend championed by parents who believe that the best education a child can receive is available in his or her own living room, not in the traditional classroom.
Home schooling is winning more advocates every year. Home schoolers have sprouted in Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Japan, and New Zealand, indicating that interest in home schooling is spreading around the globe.
In its basic concept, home schooling is not as radical as it may seem. "Home, not the school, was the original educational system," suggest Raymond and Dorothy Moore in their book Home-Spun Schools. "Until the 18th century, most children who went to school started at twelve or later."
Notable persons, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein, were schooled at home. In fact, compulsory-school attendance laws were not introduced in the United States until late in the 19th century. So, according to author and home-school parent Kerri Bennett Williamson, home schooling is not just a recent fad, but "an old educational standard." Indeed, home schooling was the standard for most people in Biblical times.
Why are so many parents making the decision to teach their children at home?
Religious Reasons
The National Catholic Reporter estimates that from 50 to 90 percent of U.S. parents who practice home schooling do so for religious reasons. These parents are generally concerned about protecting their children from what they perceive as atheistic influence in the schools. "The backbone of the home-school movement is the Christian Fundamentalist community, which believes that religion is either abused or ignored in the classroom," said Time Magazine.
Damaging Immoral Influences
Other parents have pulled their children from public schools to safeguard them from exposure to damaging immoral influences at an early age. "Things were getting pretty out of hand with immorality in the schools," said one man who decided several years ago that he and his wife, would school their children at home. "We were concerned about our children and about the sad state of affairs in the school."
Educational Rather than Ideological
Sometimes, parents choose home schooling for educational rather than ideological reasons. They are fed up with overcrowded classrooms, low academic standards, and safety problems prevalent in many public schools. Disappointed by the often lackluster results of institutional teaching, they believe that they can help their children more by giving the one-on-one attention that home schooling makes possible.
Parents Involvement
Explaining why some prefer home schooling, the book Home Schools: An Alternative states: "Parents (who school at home) have 100% involvement with their children . . . They can devote their attention to their own child's education."
Does It Work?
Those who advocate home schooling say that children learn more effectively at home because lessons are woven into many aspects of the family's' daily activity. "Many families begin with a mathematics textbook, but then discover that lessons can be learned through everyday experiences. Shopping and checkbook balancing for example can help their students comprehend money management, while home repairs make an excellent primer in measurement," said an educator.
Some studies have shown that home schoolers generally earn scores at or above the national average on standardized achievement tests. But such results do not necessarily prove that home schoolers are better off than conventionally schooled children.
The Criticisms
Home schooling is not without its critics. Many school officials have expressed concern over the inconsistent quality of education being offered through home-school efforts. The Time Magazine puts it this way "Good intentions do not automatically translate into solid education.*'
• Parents may not be capable of providing adequate home education. According to NEA's (National Education Association) official position statement, "Home schooling programs cannot provide the student with a comprehensive educational experience."
• Home-schooled children are too isolated and are deprived of normal interaction with other children their own age.
Advocates Objection
• Parents don't need college credentials to be good teachers. "Parents need not know all the answers in order to encourage their children to seek answers to their own questions," says the book Home Schooling —Answering Questions. Children can be directed to appropriate source materials. Parents and children can learn together. And where advanced training or expertise is required, private tutors can be hired on a part-time basis.
• "Children are not socially isolated," said Brian Ray, director of the National Home Education Research Institute. "Home schoolers usually take -field trips to the zoo or to the
museum. They play in the neighborhood just like other children. The idea that. they're locked up in a closed room from eight in the morning until ten at night just isn't right."
The Challenges
• Commitment
Home schooling takes "not just courage, but stamina, inventiveness and steady nerves," says Christianity Today. So if you are contemplating home schooling, think realistically about the commitment involved. Diligent effort and good organization will be needed to keep up with chores and other family responsibilities in addition to providing a daily academic program for the children. "You might be working so hard you'll feel like quitting," Ray said. "It's very demanding."
• Home-Schooling Laws
For example, in the United States, home schooling is legal in all 50 states, but the levels of regulation vary considerably. In some places, teaching your child at home simply means notifying
the local school superintendent and filling out a one-page form. In other states, a parent must be a certified teacher to qualify for
home schooling. Determine what local policy is so that you can comply with all the legal requirements.
