by Steven Horwich
Safety
Homeschooling is safer than sending a child to school – any school. Even at the best schools, hazing, bullying and harassment happens.
Kids in large groups can be particularly cruel. And in most schools, there are far greater worries over safety.
Not to belabor this, but we all know about the rash of recent school shootings – over 70 incidents in the past year and a half in the U.S. alone.
And to take a very quick trip to the dark side, the U.S. Department of Education released a report in 2004 stating that 6-10% of all children in public schools would be sexually abused by either teachers of staff. That's millions of children that would be abused at some time during their years in school.
No school can offer the safety that your family home normally provides. I think that this argument alone is often a reason to homeschool, the only one required. Of course, it presumes that you will create a safe environment for your student.
The Quality Of Education
Tests across the board score homeschoolers higher in academics of all kind, than public school students. What is perhaps more surprising is that homeschoolers also outscore private school students!
Millions of moms and dads are getting education done better than millions of teachers.
Colleges and universities now often give preference to homeschoolers to attend their campuses.
Why? Homeschoolers do better at academics – and they are better at dealing with others than students who have gone to school and received a “proper socialization experience.”
This is a very telling truth, folks.
Subjects Studied
Many parents want their religious beliefs integrated into the learning experience.
Under that same heading, there are sometimes subjects, or aspects of some subjects, they do not wish their child exposed to.
And schools, of course, cannot discuss religion at all, not in any way.
There certainly are many families who see this as a reason to homeschool.
Scheduling
Many families are forced to travel or keep odd hours, as work makes demands on parents.
Many children do not study well in the morning, or at another time of the day.
Many families need to take their limited vacations at odd parts of the year, based on work.
Some students actually work, such as young actors, and their school schedule must arrange itself around their employment. This was the case with my son.)
Sometimes a parent who wants to participate in his child's education has limited availability at unusual hours.
Homeschooling can accommodate all of these unusual scheduling concerns and more.
In fact, it can be made to fit any families scheduling needs – since the family makes the schedule.
Financial
I am a fan of private forms of education, but private schools cost a lot of money to attend.
Homeschooling can be done for very little money, far less than private schooling or public.
Yes, public schooling costs – all of us.
The average child in public school costs the public between $11,000-$27,000. depending on the school district.
The private school student is going to pay anywhere from $600 a month (almost impossible today) to $3,000 or more for very chichi schools.
You can homeschool for an entire year, generally, for well under $1,000, and thatincludes curriculum and field trips, and some extracurricular activities.
I've known several families who homeschooled for years and spent hardly a dime.
Their kids came out well, by the way.
Home verses the Classroom Environment
Classroom = 20 to 40 children, usually, with almost nothing in common except that the teacher does not really know any of their names without a seating chart. The teacher has about 1 minute per child per period, but spends most of it assigning work and grading papers and the like.
If a child is picked on, he usually must fend for himself – even (especially) if the person harassing the child is an adult.
Even going to the bathroom requires permission – but in a school, what does not?
Kids are treated in a school like criminals to a large degree, to be controlled and marginalized, without freedoms.
Homeschooling = you and perhaps a few families of friends, in your house or the house of a friend you know well.
There will be one-ten kids there, they'll all get to know each other well.
The child has the freedom to study what he's interested in (and a certain amount of basic subjects), and be supported in the effort by adults who know him and care about him – you and your friends.
Add it up, schools don't compare well.
Special Needs
I contend that there is no child who does not have “special needs”.
The obvious cases of children who have some sort of physical or emotional condition clearly make homeschooling an inviting option.
The space they work in, the schedule, the materials studied, absolutely everything they use and do can be tailored to the needs of the student, and that is something a school simply cannot do.
But all children have “special needs”!
Bright children who are great students need to be challenged constantly by their studies.
Students with unique interests need to be allowed to pursue them.
“Slower” students, or students who struggle with literacy, need to be allowed to learn at their own pace, off the clock, and never to be compared in terms of the progress being made by other students.
In the end, every child should learn whatever needs to be learned, no matter how long it takes. Education is not a race.
And every child's interests should be investigated by that child.
Much easier to do that while homeschooling than to talk your school into creating a class for your child in “auto mechanics”, or “comparative religions”, or for that matter, any specialized study.
These are just some reasons to homeschool.
There are many others that would might make homeschooling the only choice.
A powerful inducement to homeschool is the insistence by a school that your child must be made to take drugs such as Ritalin for some reason, they insist it happen or Junior will not be permitted to continue to attend...and the state will be called in to investigate you as a parent.
Yup. That will push a family toward homeschooling quite nicely.
Should you homeschool? You could as easily ask “why should I not homeschool?”
Steven Horwich has been a professional educator for over 40 years, and a homeschool advocate and author of curriculum for 15. His K-12 secular curriculum, STEPS (www.stepsed.com) has been used by over 20,000 students worldwide, and includes world history, science, civics, creative writing, study basics, current events, and lots of arts.
Safety
Homeschooling is safer than sending a child to school – any school. Even at the best schools, hazing, bullying and harassment happens.
Kids in large groups can be particularly cruel. And in most schools, there are far greater worries over safety.
Not to belabor this, but we all know about the rash of recent school shootings – over 70 incidents in the past year and a half in the U.S. alone.
And to take a very quick trip to the dark side, the U.S. Department of Education released a report in 2004 stating that 6-10% of all children in public schools would be sexually abused by either teachers of staff. That's millions of children that would be abused at some time during their years in school.
No school can offer the safety that your family home normally provides. I think that this argument alone is often a reason to homeschool, the only one required. Of course, it presumes that you will create a safe environment for your student.
The Quality Of Education
Tests across the board score homeschoolers higher in academics of all kind, than public school students. What is perhaps more surprising is that homeschoolers also outscore private school students!
Millions of moms and dads are getting education done better than millions of teachers.
Colleges and universities now often give preference to homeschoolers to attend their campuses.
Why? Homeschoolers do better at academics – and they are better at dealing with others than students who have gone to school and received a “proper socialization experience.”
This is a very telling truth, folks.
Subjects Studied
Many parents want their religious beliefs integrated into the learning experience.
Under that same heading, there are sometimes subjects, or aspects of some subjects, they do not wish their child exposed to.
And schools, of course, cannot discuss religion at all, not in any way.
There certainly are many families who see this as a reason to homeschool.
Scheduling
Many families are forced to travel or keep odd hours, as work makes demands on parents.
Many children do not study well in the morning, or at another time of the day.
Many families need to take their limited vacations at odd parts of the year, based on work.
Some students actually work, such as young actors, and their school schedule must arrange itself around their employment. This was the case with my son.)
Sometimes a parent who wants to participate in his child's education has limited availability at unusual hours.
Homeschooling can accommodate all of these unusual scheduling concerns and more.
In fact, it can be made to fit any families scheduling needs – since the family makes the schedule.
Financial
I am a fan of private forms of education, but private schools cost a lot of money to attend.
Homeschooling can be done for very little money, far less than private schooling or public.
Yes, public schooling costs – all of us.
The average child in public school costs the public between $11,000-$27,000. depending on the school district.
The private school student is going to pay anywhere from $600 a month (almost impossible today) to $3,000 or more for very chichi schools.
You can homeschool for an entire year, generally, for well under $1,000, and thatincludes curriculum and field trips, and some extracurricular activities.
I've known several families who homeschooled for years and spent hardly a dime.
Their kids came out well, by the way.
Home verses the Classroom Environment
Classroom = 20 to 40 children, usually, with almost nothing in common except that the teacher does not really know any of their names without a seating chart. The teacher has about 1 minute per child per period, but spends most of it assigning work and grading papers and the like.
If a child is picked on, he usually must fend for himself – even (especially) if the person harassing the child is an adult.
Even going to the bathroom requires permission – but in a school, what does not?
Kids are treated in a school like criminals to a large degree, to be controlled and marginalized, without freedoms.
Homeschooling = you and perhaps a few families of friends, in your house or the house of a friend you know well.
There will be one-ten kids there, they'll all get to know each other well.
The child has the freedom to study what he's interested in (and a certain amount of basic subjects), and be supported in the effort by adults who know him and care about him – you and your friends.
Add it up, schools don't compare well.
Special Needs
I contend that there is no child who does not have “special needs”.
The obvious cases of children who have some sort of physical or emotional condition clearly make homeschooling an inviting option.
The space they work in, the schedule, the materials studied, absolutely everything they use and do can be tailored to the needs of the student, and that is something a school simply cannot do.
But all children have “special needs”!
Bright children who are great students need to be challenged constantly by their studies.
Students with unique interests need to be allowed to pursue them.
“Slower” students, or students who struggle with literacy, need to be allowed to learn at their own pace, off the clock, and never to be compared in terms of the progress being made by other students.
In the end, every child should learn whatever needs to be learned, no matter how long it takes. Education is not a race.
And every child's interests should be investigated by that child.
Much easier to do that while homeschooling than to talk your school into creating a class for your child in “auto mechanics”, or “comparative religions”, or for that matter, any specialized study.
These are just some reasons to homeschool.
There are many others that would might make homeschooling the only choice.
A powerful inducement to homeschool is the insistence by a school that your child must be made to take drugs such as Ritalin for some reason, they insist it happen or Junior will not be permitted to continue to attend...and the state will be called in to investigate you as a parent.
Yup. That will push a family toward homeschooling quite nicely.
Should you homeschool? You could as easily ask “why should I not homeschool?”
Steven Horwich has been a professional educator for over 40 years, and a homeschool advocate and author of curriculum for 15. His K-12 secular curriculum, STEPS (www.stepsed.com) has been used by over 20,000 students worldwide, and includes world history, science, civics, creative writing, study basics, current events, and lots of arts.
