The Home Schooling Debate Rages
The home schooling debate will never end. Like many parents you‘re concerned about drugs, violence, lowered educational standards and the lack of values or religion offered in public schools, are teaching their own children at home. You have read all the articles and books you can find, but you still don't know if it would work for you and your child. Maybe you don't even know what you should take into consideration before I decide.
The number of U.S. children educated at home has nearly tripled in the last 10 years, as mainstream parents have embraced a movement once considered the domain of aging hippies and religious fundamentalists. So many families have taken up homeschooling - an estimated 350,000 children in the United States by the start of the 1990's, with current estimates as high as millions - that even school districts are getting involved.
Advocates say home schooling is the best way to assure a high-quality education and want it exempted from federal and state accountability requirements. But critics warn that removing children from the public schools threatens an essential pillar of democracy while depriving students of vital contact with children and adults from other backgrounds. And school officials complain that when home schooling doesn't work, parents “dump” their children back in the public schools, which are then blamed for the home-schoolers' poor performance.
Do You Have The Time For Home Schooling?
Home schooling will require enormous time considerations on your part. Many have quickly discovered that you can seldom count on getting the housework done during school hours. While your oldest child may work fairly independently, your two youngest children may need a more traditional teaching environment with lessons and help. Some states may have strict home schooling standards. You may be required to spend four hours a day, four days a week to meet the required fifteen hours per week of education. When they are older and in junior high or high school, you will need five days most of the time. You may spend two or three hours a day planning lessons, grading papers, and preparing or finding materials. Purchasing a curriculum can save time, but you will still have to spend time with your children if you want them to have more than a paper and pencil learning experience. To make homeschooling successful, both parents need to consider this a full-time job for the teaching parent, especially at the beginning when you're finding your own style of teaching. Few parents with outside job requirements or unsupportive spouses can do the job effectively. Some do, and do it well. If you're organized, it must be possible.
Does Your Child Want To Be Home Schooled?
You should discuss the decision thoroughly with even the youngest child. Help them to understand the benefits and the drawbacks. How do they feel about leaving their friends, if they've been attending a school?
Do You Like To Teach?
Even using a self-guided curriculum requires a certain amount of teaching. If you can't give your students more than they would get at school, you aren't doing them any favors by keeping them home. A younger child left entirely to a textbook is probably better off in a public school. Group activities are an important part of schooling, and unless you have several children, you will be the group. Allow time to talk over the history, science and literature your child is exploring. Can you handle the math problem that doesn't make sense to your child or do you know where to find the answer? Plan to spend time putting on puppet shows, doing science experiments and reading together.
Can You Afford Home Schooling?
You are paying for everything, books, materials, and curriculum all add up, and there are no tax breaks for home- school parents. the costs of homeschooling vary dramatically. The more time and experience you have, the more you can save.There are ready-made curriculums available, but they are expensive. Many parents switch to homemade programs after the first year to save money and to give themselves more control. Look for recent textbooks in thrift stores, but make sure they aren't too outdated. History written just ten years ago may be filled with inaccuracies and may exclude women and minorities. Begin by making a school budget that includes books, science equipment, maps, globes, art supplies, writing materials, computer programs, and teaching guides. Allow extra money the first year, since you're likely to make mistakes in your purchases.
Home Schooling Debate Conclusion
If you want to home school do so. But know what is ahead of you. The entire home schooling debate boils down to this. The phenomenon of home schooling is a threat to many in the public education system. Imagine being a professional, proud of what you do, and you are confronted with the fact that "amateurs" (i.e. parents) are able to produce just as good or better results than you can in your system.
There is immense pressure within the public education system to downplay and even ignore the success that homeschooled children have. The exclusion of such students from formal competition can be one way to minimize publicity about home schooling and how successful it can be.
The reason home schooling works well, but not in all circumstances is this- A parent teaches one, two or three children. A classroom teacher has as many as thirty children all with different problems and needs. Some of these children may have psychological problems but you are required to teach them as well as the others because parents do not want that child singled out or treated differently. Teachers have a problem dispensing discipline because every parent has a different idea on how they would like their child disciplined and the truth is the states have followed suit and basically removed discipline from the classroom. How would you home school twelve of your neighbors kids and each neighbor had a different set of rules for disciplining their child. Six children are angels and six are right out of children of the corn. It’s not easy to do.
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