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
Education in our society is a very important factor in shaping our future. One’s future is depended on the education they receive and everyone is somehow affected by this. Children from the ages of kindergarteners to seniors in high school, college graduates, and stay at home mothers, are all shaped by the education the government provides us. There are many different ways to acquire an education some through private schools, public, charter, and being homeschooled. However, homeschooling is growing more in popularity than it has ever been.
Many public schools risk the safety of students. The Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics show that in “2012, there were about 749,200 violent assaults on students.” In the 2011-2012 academic year, there was a record of “209,800 public school teachers who reported being physically attacked by a student.” World wide, an average of 1,175 teachers and staff were physically attacked each day of that school year. Every year, about “10 percent of primary- and secondary-school teachers are threatened with bodily harm.” With these positive statistics, I would not know why a parent would second guess their choice of enrolling their children in public school.
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
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.
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.
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
For many people, the relationship between traditional schools and home schools is like talking about politics in general, and it is often difficult to change people's original ideas. In fact, the two education systems have their own advantages and disadvantages. Next, let's take a look at some countries' views on these two educational systems.
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.
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).
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
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
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
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
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
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