Education
Homeschooling benefits
Introduction to Homeschooling
Homeschooling is not as it is portrayed to be, the benefits highly outweigh the negatives.
Today over 2 million students are homeschooled in the USA (Anthony)
Three main reasons to home school:
1. Personalize the daily schedule of the child
2. There are opportunities to be social in many occasions
3. Proven to get a more quality education through homeschooling
Personalization
Homeschooling allows parents and students to personalize their learning atmosphere and knowledge to their specific needs and desires.
The number one reason for homeschooling is for specific religious instruction (Hagen).
- In a household setting, religion holds a stronger priority than any public instituition could instill (Anthony).
- Native Americans use homeschooling organizations to properly preserve their traditional values (Gaither).
Moral instruction can be closely taught and controlled in a homeschool setting.
- Many moral aspects (respect for example) cannot be monitored as effectively in a public school setting with surrounding children (Anthony).
- Educational psychologist claims that kids get their values from the people that they spend the most time with and therefore parents want their kids to inherit their values (Hagen).
Flexibility with scheduling and content is allowed through homeschooling.
- Kids with other activities have the ability to make time for club sports or other commitments (Gaither).
- Homeschooling is especially used for dancers that can travel and work around their schedule (Larsen).
- Parents get to decide when to teach that fits their schedules and what content to teach their kids as well (Feulner). Parents can use many resources and tools to assist this and make it very personalized (Dumas).
Levels of education and specific curriculum based on a child's need or abilities can be modified to fit the child's life.
- Health needs such as learning disabilities or intense food allergies are easier to attend to with homeschooling (Gaither).
Instead of being stuck in classrooms with too advanced or too easy of material, the kids can learn at their own pace and with the certain learning style needed (Hagen).
Kids have access to work in whatever environment they feel most comfortable and productive (Feulner).
Performance
Based on nationally compiled data it is clear that homeschooled students hardly ever score below average when compared to traditionally public or private schooling. Studies and reports consistently show that homeschooled students score higher on standardized tests, perform better in core classes and maintain an overall higher GPA. To simply demonstrate my point, the first table demonstrates the high average GPA of homeschooled students compared to public and private average GPAs, and the second table that shows the high-range scores that homeschooled students achieve on the most important test in the Midwest, the ACT.
Social Skills
1. Social skills within the community
- Home school support groups and "Mom schools" (Gaither)
- fosters public participation in civic activities (Dumas)
- excel in leadership (Dumas)
2. Transition into college life
- two different case studies were conducted
1. Five factor scale (Geary)
2. Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Dumas)
- shows little difference socially between traditionally schooled students and homeschooled students
- transition proves to be a tremendous learning experience
- advantages for homeschooled students include ability to form a closer relationship with their professors (Snyder) as well as entering into college with a typically stronger foundation of principles from their parents (Geary)
***Overall the transition is found to be tougher in academics than social life
Works Cited
Anthony, Kenneth. "Declarations of Independence: Home School Families' Perspectives on Education, the Common Good, and Diversity." 16.1 (2013): 1-15. EBSCO. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Dumas, Tanya K., Sean Gates, and Deborah R. Schwarzer. "Evidence, for Homeschooling: Constitutional Analysis in Light of Social Science Research." EBSCO. N.p., 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.
Feulner, Natalie. "Life Lessons: Homeschooling Gives Orono Parents Opportunity to Teach through Experience." Bangor Daily News 05 Apr. 2014: n. pag. EBSCOhost. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Gaither, Milton. "Home Schooling Goes Mainstream." Education Next 9.1 (2009): 10-19. EBSCO. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Geary, Danielle. "Trend and Data Analysis of Homeschooling." EBSCO. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.
Hagen, Paul, Shawn Spence, Michael Farris, and Kay Flueling. "Parents on the Pros and Cons of Homeschooling." Interview by Michael Martin. NPR. 6 Aug. 2013. Radio. Transcript.
Larsen, Gavin. "Should You Try Homeschooling?" Dance Spirit Sept. 2014: 92-93. EBSCO. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Ray, Brian D. Homeschool Progress Report 2009: Academic Achievement and Demographics. Rep. Purcellville: Homeschool Legal Defense Association, 2009. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED535134. EBSCO. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Snyder, Marc. An Evaluative Study of the Academic Achievement of Homeschooled Students Verses Traditionally Schooled Students Attending a Catholic University. Publication. Fort Lauderdale: Abraham S. Fischer School of Education, 2011. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED533544. EBSCO. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.