The Many
Benefits of Home Schooling for Children
“A child’s education has always
been seen by parents, and perhaps by society as a
whole,
as the purview of the child’s parents,” (Hiatt-Michael
1994). When thinking about
education in America today school houses, recess, and school busses often come
to one’s mind. In America today, roughly
83% of children attend public schools for their education (Davis and Bauman 2013). While the next most
popular choice in children’s education is private school, more and more parents
are taking control of their children’s education by home schooling. Why are so many parents deciding to home
school their children? The answer is
clear for many parents. There are many
benefits of home schooling that outweigh the benefits of traditional education
for children.
For many parents, the choice to home
school their children are made in hopes to improve their child’s academic
achievements. Many parents feel that
they can provide a better education for their children than the standardized
public education system (Saghir 2008).
Public schools typically suffer from
relatively large classroom sizes, 15 or more students per teacher. Larger class sizes result in less individual
attention for each student and more time spent disciplining children than
actually instructing children (O'Neill and
Mercier 2003). Larger class sizes
also affect the length of a school day. According to Saghir, home schooled
children also need less hours a day of instruction (Saghir 2008). A majority
of instruction time in public school is often wasted waiting for a teacher to
answer individual questions, standing in line, listening to another student, getting
children back on task, and other small tasks such as roll call, recess, and
bathroom breaks (Horsburgh 2005). For children who are home schooled,
instruction can include more individualized attention, shorter days, and
lessons that extend much further than the classroom.
For many children who are home schooled
they also have to opportunity to learn valuable life skills not taught in
public instruction. While there is a lot of strategically placed fact based
curriculum, many skills such as using surviving without technology and credit
are not taught in most public schools (Saghir
2008).
Many parents have been looking to the
past to teach their children skills not offered anymore in public schools (Saghir 2008).
With more and more technology being used in public schools to save time
and money, children in many schools are not even reading physical books anymore
(Johnson 2014). According to Johnson, students use computers
and tablets more and more for research many not even teaching how to conduct research
in a library (2014). Children who are home schooled can learn using traditional
methods. They can also study other
traditional skills such as cooking, sewing, crochet, healthcare, household
management, and how to manage personal finances. Some people may be concerned that learning
these extra skills may take away from a child’s academic learning but what do
the academic scores say about the success of home schooled children?
Skeptics are concerned that children who
are home schooled will suffer academically.
One of the reasons so many parents are choosing to home school their
children is because recent studies suggest that home schooled students score
much higher in academic testing than children who attend public schools (Horsburgh 2005). “In study after study, the homeschooled have
scored, on average, at the 65th to 80th percentile on standardized academic
achievement tests in the US and Canada, compared to the public school average
of the 50th percentile” (Ray 2007). In another study conducted at the University
of Maryland, out of more than 20,000 home schooled students the average
academic achievement test scores were in the 70th to 80th
percentile (Saghir 2008).
Many parents of another type of child
are equally concerned about the academic quality of their children’s
education. Special needs children make
up 47% of all children who are home schooled (Johnson
and Knuth 2010). According to
Johnson and Knuth special needs children are considered both children with
learning impairments and children who are gifted and talented (2010). Both of
these groups of children learn at a pace much different from children in their
age group. Home school education gives
parents the ability to closely monitor their child’s progress, move their child
along at their own pace, and handle any special behavioural issues that public
school staff might not be trained to deal with (Johnson
and Knuth 2010).
While the academic benefits of time
management, life skills, academic quality, and dealing with special needs
students seem very clear, many parents have more than one reason for choosing
to home school their children. Because
of religious diversity, public schools have tried to distance themselves from
religion in an attempt not to offend any students or parents. Some ideas and values taught in public
schools even go against some religious values.
For these reasons and others, some parents choose to home school their
children for religious reasons.
For many religious parents, home
schooling is a way to incorporate their beliefs into their children’s
education. Unlike children in public
schools, home schooled children can pray and participate in religious activities
without worrying about ridicule from other students or teachers. “Homeschooling parents can easily and
actively preserve ideologies, values and practices by which to live,” (Saghir 2008).
Saghir also states that religious beliefs deter children from
participating in negative activities such as drugs, sex, and criminal
activities (2008).
Families who also practice certain
religions may also face discrimination and extra hardships while their children
attend public schools. The number of
home schooling families with the Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu faith are
dramatically on the rise (Saghir 2008). For Muslim children, it is especially hard
due to discrimination and schools illegally refusing to let the children pray
and dress according to their religion (Ray 2007). Other religions experience similar
problems.
Many families are not strangers to
discrimination whether it is because of social class, race, or religion. Society today is not easy on children. Many parents see their children coming into
contact with activities such as drugs and alcohol, their children becoming the
victims of bullying, and their children being influenced negatively by other
students. Because of the growing social issues of today, many parents are
choosing to home school their children.
Bullying is a real issue in many public
and private schools across America.
Children are bullied for anything from their accent, the way they dress,
their social class, their religion, or just because they’re new in school (Johnson and Knuth 2010). Bullying can scar a child for life, and in
some instances even lead to depression and suicide. When parents choose to home school their
children, there is no real pressure for these children to ‘fit in’. There is no added peer pressure for children
to conform to what a group feels is popular (Saghir
2008, 47). Children can be
themselves and develop talents they enjoy without the fear of retaliation by
their peers. Saghir says, “Studies have
shown that homeschoolers have a more positive self-concept than their peers in
schools” (2008, 48)
For some parents, home schooling means
keeping their children away from negative influences. Parents often worry about their children’s’
exposure to sex, drugs, and criminal activity.
Much of the bad behaviour a child learns, it learns from other children
in school (Horsburgh 2005). A parent cannot choose who their child
interacts with in public schools, who is in the child’s class, and so on.
Many parents believe that home schooling
gives them the opportunity to guide their children towards more positive
influences, monitor their social influences better, and choose to teach their
children about sex when they feel the time is right (Johnson and Knuth 2010).
According to recent studies, home schooled children are 79% less likely
to suffer from drug addiction, teen pregnancy, and juvenile delinquency (Saghir 2008).
These numbers are a great motivation to parents.
The number of home schooled children is
rapidly growing. Academics, religion,
and social reasons are just some of the reasons parents choose to homes school
their children. According to research,
it is clear that there are many benefits to home schooling children over
enrolling them in public and private schools.
With the growing number of economic, political, and social issues the
number of home schooled children will most likely continue to climb well into
the future.
References
Davis, Jessica, and Kurt Bauman. School Enrollment in the United
States:2011. U.S. Census Bureau, 2013.
Hiatt-Michael, D. "Parent Involvement in American Public Schools: An
Historical Perspective 1642-1994." School Community Journal 4
(1994): 247-258.
Horsburgh, Fergus B.N. "Homeschooling Within the Public School
System." Ottawa: Simon Fraiser University, 2005.
Johnson, Ben. "Too Much Technology and Not Enough Learning?" Edutopia.
March 14, 2014.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/too-much-tech-not-enough-learning-ben-johnson
(accessed June 9, 2015).
Johnson, Sarah Anne, and Jessica Diane Knuth. "A Descriptive Analysis
of Homeschooling Children with Autism." Sacramento: California State
University, 2010.
O'Neill, Jan, and Deborah Mercier. "Incredible shrinking class
size." Journal of Staff Development 24, no. 3 (2003): 18-22.
Ray, B. "The Evidence is so Positive, What Current Research Tells us
About Homeschooling." Christianbook.com. 2007.
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/cms_content?page=1812612&sp=
(accessed July 4, 2015).
Saghir, Aneela. "An Introduction to Homeschooling for Muslim
Parents." Sacramento: California State University, 2008.
