Home Schooling

A wise man once said, "We can teach our children to have courage, faith, and endurance and show them how to learn, and they can teach us to laugh, to sing, and to love." In other words, each family member has valuable lessons to teach the family.


Yes, believe it or not, not all children leave their houses to get an education. Homeschooling is when parents teach their children an academic curriculum and work with their child just as a teacher wold do.

In the United States homeschooling is actually a fast growing trend when it comes to teaching and education. A leading homeschooling researcher names Dr. Brian Ray, says that the homeschooling has increased 15 percent over the past year couple of years. His information is backed up by the U.S. Department of Education's National Household Education Survey program. In 1999 the Department of Ed said there was about 850,00 homeschooler's nation wide and in 2003 the number increased to about 1.1 million. Now there are about 2.5 to 4 million homeschooler's nation wide.

Some statistics about homeschooling from Dr. Ray are...
95% of homeschooler's had a strong and better understanding of politics and government compared to the 65% of U.S adults.

76% of home school graduates voted in a national or state election compared to the 29% of U.S. adults

71% of home school graduates take part in on going community service activities.


Although homeschooling is another alternative for schooling it can have its advantages and disadvantages.
Some common reasons to home school are
- individual attention
- direct parent supervision
- teaching and learning experiences can be shared together
- the advantages of one's child. When your efforts have paid off and you can see that your child is learning.
- flexibility
- Your own schedule that works for the child

Since homeschooling can be very controversial there are of course some disadvantages.
- less sociable
- pressure from parents or pressure on the parent
- parents could like skills that a teacher has
- parents could be to laid back or to strict
- not enough time for your self. Homeschooling can be a full time job and the child could also not have enough time to really be a kid and have some fun.

When it comes time for college many home school families are concerned. Every year there are colleges that have accepted home school students. Some examples of those schools are Brown, MIT, Yale, Georgetown, and Harvard. Research also shows that home schooled children who attend college seem to have strong leadership skills, hard work ethic, and an increase in moral values.

Homeschooling is not for everyone, but it does work. It is an option for a schooling alternative and although it is not the number one option is is better to have your child educated in this way, than in no way at all.



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