Home Schooling Or Not

Home Schooling Or Not?

Much of what I thought about home schooling was wrong. The conventional wisdom about this rapidly growing dimension of American education is too simple, too stereotyped and too stale.

For instance, the Home School Legal Defense Association, despite its energetic lawyers and many admirers, is not the leader of home schooling in this country. There is no leader, and no reigning ideology. There are instead at least a million American children - the real figure is probably twice that number - whose families want them to learn at home for many reasons, often having little to do with religion or politics.

The common image of home-schoolers as lockstep religious conservatives falls apart when you discover that some of these parents have been shunned by their fundamentalist churches for teaching their kids at home rather than sending them to the church's school. Some home-schoolers love the new for-profit online teaching programs like K12. Some think they are a corporate plot. Some parents are home-schooling because their kids were learning more quickly than their teachers could keep up with. Some are home-schooling because their kids were learning more slowly than their public school teachers had patience for. Some home-school because their children were unhappy at school. Some home-school because they could not meet their needs any other way.

Public school educators often worry that the children of such people will not learn necessary social skills. But home-schooling parents said their children learned how to deal with other people just fine, particularly with the many adults they encountered when they visited the library or went to church or did chores around the neighborhood. With their parents so often at their side, they were able to see what good manners and self-confidence looked like, rather than be forced to adopt the jungle code of the average high school corridor. In many families one parent stays at home to supervise the home schooling, although they often do some work there to pay the bills, or trade off with other home-schooling parents when they have to be away.

Home schooling involves a tremendous commitment from the parents. At least one parent must be willing to work closely with the child, plan lessons, keep abreast of requirements, and perhaps negotiate issues with the school district. The most common home school arrangement is for the mother to teach while the father works out of the home. There are a variety of educational materials geared for the home school, published by dozens of suppliers. Some are correspondence courses, which grade students' work, some are full curricula, and some are single topic workbooks or drill materials in areas such as math or phonics.

Many of the curriculum providers are indentifiably Christian, including several major home school publishers such as Bob Jones University Press, Alpha Omega Publications, and Home Study International. A major non-religious provider of home school materials is the Calvert School in Baltimore. Figures vary as to how many home schools use published curricula or correspondence courses, but the Department of Education estimates that it is from 25 to 50%; the rest use a curriculum the parents and/or child have devised. Education writer John Holt, a champion of home schooling, suggested that no particular area of study was essential. He advised parents to use real life activities such as work in a family business, writing letters, bookkeeping, observing nature, and talking with old people as meaningful academic lessons. Home schools might fall anywhere on this spectrum, between the tightly planned study of a formal curriculum to Holt's free-form, experiential learning.

But first, all the parents interested in teaching their children at home need to find out what laws apply to their state and school district.

BONUS : Home Schooling Program: What You Need To Know

What is homeschooling?

- Homeschooling mostly means learning at home; this may be due to physical restrictions, emotional inhibitions or simply the parent’s want to be with his/her child. Homeschooling, no matter it’s purpose is basically the parent taking responsibility for his/her child’s education and is a totally acceptable procedure.

Is homeschooling permitted in my state?

- Yes, homeschooling is permitted in all 50 states, however, there are differences in the implementation. Most of the time, the superintendent must first be notified with the intentions of homeschooling. Each state’s regulations regarding home schooling varies, some have high, some have low, some don’t even require the parent to give notice for a child’s homeschooling.

What are the requirements for homeschooling?

- As said earlier, homeschooling varies from state to state, however, every state requires a certain qualification for the parents, a certain list of subjects to be taught, exams and other evaluation procedures, and a certain number of hours of teaching in a school year. Most of the time, if the requirements aren’t met, homeschooling is discontinued and the child gets sent to a public school.

How do you actually homeschool?

- Some parents employ a set of programs provided by qualified curriculum analysts, however, homeschooling can involve a regimented program or what they call natural learning, which is more of a hands-on experience.

Where do I get my curriculum?

- The internet is a great source, so are libraries and local homeschooling support groups

What about testing?

-Some states require a certain amount of evaluation method, not necessarily written exams. Basically tests are the decision of the parent. Presently, some actual formal education institutions are discouraging the idea of formal exams. A good rule of thumb is, if your child is discovering new things and it is apparent in his/her behavior, then that should be evaluation enough.

What about College?

- The main disadvantage of homeschooling is its lack of a diploma, since the child isn’t taught in a public school, the state cannot issue a diploma; however, some states allow parents to “make” their own diplomas to be given to the child on the day of “graduation”. Nevertheless, homeschooled people shouldn’t find it hard to get into college or pursue higher education as many institutions, colleges and universities highly accept and sometimes even encourage the entrance of homeschooled students into their school program.