Home Schooling

Should You be Home Schooling?

The image of home schooling has typically been that of the fundamental agoraphobic, too scared to let their children mix with the sinners at the public schools.  Recent years have tempered that a great deal.  New home schooling curricula has been introduced, providing a clearer path of learning, and there have been so many success stories of students that come from home school environments. 

Meanwhile the state of public schooling in America has gone down hill drastically; resulting in poorer and poorer scores on standardized tests, gangs and violence on the rise, and the rash in the late 90’s of school shootings, all contributed to the falling confidence in public education.

Better Learning at Home

Many parents are finding a better and more personalized home schooling curriculum and giving their children a more effective education at home.  Children of home schooling parents set many of the perfect scores on the standardized tests.  Many of these parents looked at it as an alternative to expensive private schools; the side benefit of a student teacher ratio that no school could afford to match may only play a small role in the equation.  In general, more of the parents cite the more relaxed learning atmosphere they can create at home.  All the side things public schools bring, like the stress to fit in isn’t a distraction for the students.

The Internet has also brought home schooling into the digital age.  More than just a learning aid, home schooling online improves the general state of the education as it can step in to help in the areas the parent may themselves feel deficient.  It can also answer that biggest argument against home schooling; the lack of socialization.  By working together, both the teachers and the students get to interact breaking the isolation associated with the negative image of the fundamentalist Christian home schooling.

Many Still Don’t Trust Home Schooling.

With all these benefits, why wouldn’t more parents choose this route?  There are several answers to this.  Many parents simply don’t have the time.  In more and more families, both parents have to work just to make ends meet.  For these families, home schooling is simply impossible. 

The loss of income is just too great. Others look to the supposed gaps in the education, and feel that specialty lessons like some sort of home schooling driver education, are lacking.  In short, it just isn’t for everyone. Each family must decide whether public, private or home schooling is best for their own children.

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