Parents
are getting dissatisfied with the quality of education in many traditional
schools. The excessive attention given
to scoring high in standardized tests, proliferation of drugs and the dangers
of shooting incidents in many traditional schools are forcing parents to look
for available options other than the traditional schooling. One of these options is homeschooling. The latest studies say that in 2007 alone there
is about 1.5 million students in the United States that are homeschooled
(National Center for Education and Statistics). This shows that homeschooling
is getting more popular considering that in 1999 there was 850,000 homeschooled
students while in 2003 there were 1.1 million homeschooled students. The number of students being homeschooled show that it is now getting the attention of many parents as it offers a number of advantages and addresses some of the disadvantages in traditional schools.
As an option for traditional
schooling, homeschooling has been getting the attention of many parents
nowadays. One of the many reasons why
parents are opting to go for homeschooling is their ability to monitor the
progress of their children. In
homeschooling, parents’ get to see the academic strengths and weaknesses of
their children that will allow them to customize their child’s education. The ability to directly monitor their
children’s progress is something that is not present in traditional education because
parents entrust this task to the student’s instructor.
In homeschooling, there
is greater bond between the parent and the children. The bond between the parents and the children
is said to be stronger because they spend much time together in learning and in
playtime. This strong relationship
translates to better learning for the student.
“One of the most important findings in the early childhood domain is the
importance of nurturing, stable relationships as the key to promoting
competence in young children.” (Dobson 8)
One of the arguments
against homeschooling is that homeschooled students may not perform as well as
the students in traditional school. Traditional
schools take pride in the fact that only they know how to teach students. However, recent studies have confirmed that homeschooled
students outperform traditional school students in standardized tests. In fact, they perform significantly better in
all subjects compared to students in traditional schools.
Another argument
against homeschooling is the perception that homeschooled students have
inadequate socialization. The idea is
that it is only in traditional schools where children can be fully
socialized. On the contrary, it does not
follow the students in traditional schools are fully socialized. In fact, there
are a number of students in traditional schools who are social misfits such as
the geeks, and loners who are typically ostracized in school. The perception of
homeschooled students having inadequate socialization has no basis since the
curriculum of homeschooled students includes exposure trips in museum or
community. Parents include socialization with other homeschooled students as
part of their program (Joye 107). They
also have outside activities such as volunteer works, join clubs and
participate in sports. To say that they
are stuck at home studying their lessons is preposterous and baseless.
Parents
now prefer homeschooling their children not only because of violence or religion
or drugs or poor quality of education. They prefer it because of the
realization that it offers much more advantages than traditional schooling. Educated parents know that if they remain
committed to giving their children the best education possible they can do it with
the right help. The realization that homeschooling
is much better is the reason why homeschooling is slowly being recognized in
the community. With the various materials now available, more parents will
continue to prefer homeschooling.
Cited works
Joye, Carren. Homeschooling More Than One Child: A
Practical Guide for Families. Lincoln,
NE: iUniverse, 2005.
Dobson, Linda. The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling
Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning. California: PrimaPublishing, 2002.
National Center for Education and Statistics.
FastFacts: Homeschooling. April 6, 2014. < https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=91>