Home Schooling

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Home Schooling

Education is a very important concern in the hearts of Americans. . But what exactly is the best form of education. Homeschooling has gradually made its way into the education field as an acceptable and controversial form of education. Homeschooling can simply be defined as educating children at home or the community rather than at school (Withrow, 1999; Cromwell, 1998; Lines, 1995). An alternative definition would be, parents choosing the schooling for their children (What is Homeschooling, 2000).

Home schooling started thirty years ago because of two men, Raymond Moore and John Holt. Both men felt that the public education system was wrong and emerged as founders of the homeschooling movement in America. Moore believed that children were being pushed in school to learn things they were not ready to learn. After evtensive research, he concluded that children in schools become extremely dependent on their peers. (Lyman, 1998).

John Holt believed that it was beneficial to homeschool children because children were not being encouraged to use their natural curiosity. His negative attitude towards schools is shown when he wrote, "To return once more to compulsory school in its barest form, you will surely agree that the government told you that on one hundred and eighty days of the year, for six or more hours a day, you had to be at a particular place, and there do whatever people told you to do, you would feel that this was a gross violation of your civil liberties." Holt viewed schools as places that produced "obedient, but bland citizens" (Lyman, 1998).

Home education is one of the fastest growing alternative forms of education to public schooling (Cook, 1999; Withrow, 1999). Approximately one million children or more are being educated in their homes because of the success of homeschooling. (Two Takes on Homeschooling, 1997) The increase of students does not seem to be slowing down, and with growing concern over the public schools, the growth of the homeschooling movement is inevitable.

One of the main areas of concern for homeschooling is the academic performance of students; even though there is much debate on the testing assessments and the data collected, research shows that that homeschoolers achieve academically at the same level, or in most cases, above stu...

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... automatically. (Kuntz, 2000)

Cost

Public schools are free. Low-income families can attend without worrying about money, unlike homeschools that have a cost to buy curriculums, materials, and equipment. Also, in homeschooling one family member must give up their income in order to teach their children, and most families can not afford to do that (Szegedy-Maszak).

Homeschooling may deprive a child of vital skills needed to succeed outside of high school and in the workforce. In the public schools it is almost guaranteed that a child will get them; whereas homeschoolers most likely will not. The public school system is not perfect, yet it offers a realistic place of education that is available to all with a promise of teachers that have been certified. ?

Bibliography:

Guterson, D. (1992), Family matters: Why homeschooling makes sense. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Pennsylvania Department of Education (1998, March). Home education in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Department of Education. 1-15.

Pride, M. (1994), Homeschool goes high tech. Retrieved January 27, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.home-school.com/Articles/HighTechHS.html

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