Reasons Being Homeschooled

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Reasons Why People Homeschool

In order to determine whether Homeschooling is indeed promising, one must first understand the reasons why people choose to Homeschool. According to Reich, Homeschooling is appealing to many families because of the capability to almost entirely customize education for their children. Many families want to homeschool because they do not feel that their children’s spiritual and moral needs are met in public schools.

Moreover, some families choose to Homeschool in order to screen their child’s curriculum to remove secularist views found in modern day public school curriculum (2002). Others have children with special needs or learning disabilities, so they choose to homeschool (Maaja, 1997). Ultimately, families are looking for what they believe is best for their children. And these families want to be actively involved in the education of their children. Homeschooling parents do not want strangers raising their children. They want to raise their children with freedom from government systems and institutions (Ray, 2000a).

According to Madden, the reasons why people choose to Homeschool are cited frequently in literature. The following chart (Table 1) shows what she has found to be the most frequently given reasons for Homeschooling “in the literature” as well as the most frequently found reasons in her own personal experience and observations:

Table 1: Most Frequently Found Reasons for Homeschooling

According to the Literature

According to Madden’s Personal Experience

Ø Religion/philosophy;

Ø Avoid peer-pressure;

Ø Greater parent-child contact;

Ø Develops better self-concept;

Ø Avoid peer competition;

Ø Accomplish more acade...

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Wortham, Sue C. (1995). Many pairs of glasses, many pairs of shoes. Childhood Education, 72, issue 2, 96-A.

Zeise, A. (1998). A to Z’s Home’s Cool Homeschooling. Retrieved April 6, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/083198.htm

Maaja (1997). Homeschooling Kids with Disabilities. Retrieved April 15, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.members.tripod.com/~Maaja/index.htm

Dunn, J. (1999). Taming the Tube: Television Access and Literacy [Electronic version]. Home Education Magazine, March-April. Retrieved May 3, 2004 from http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/HEM/issue_index.html.

Hegener, H. (1997). Homeschooling Online [Electronic Version]. Home Education Magazine, Novermber-December. Retrieved May 3, 2004 from http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/HEM/issue_index.html.

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