Home Schooling

Be True to Your School

In Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe, a family stranded on an island is forced to try to lead a normal life while being isolated from society. One aspect of daily life they have to emulate is school and learning. The family must take it upon themselves to teach and learn pertinent information. Similar to the Crusoe family, parents have been teaching their own children at home for years. In fact, home schooling was seen as the best form of education until the mid-1800's, due mostly to the fact that the majority of people lived in rural areas where it was more convenient to keep children at home (Vail, ed. 346). As people started moving to urban areas and developing public education, however, they started to doubt the effectiveness of home schooling. It was even outlawed by many states in the late 1800's. Nowadays, home schooling is legal in every state and is becoming increasingly more popular (346). Many parents are turning to home schooling as an alternative to traditional public education. Although some parents feel home schooling meets the needs of their children better than public schooling, the long-term consequences and effects on the children make it an ineffective alternative to traditional schooling for the vast majority of students.

Admittedly, public schools may not always meet the needs of certain students. Some students may be at a lower level of learning than the level at which the public schools teach, so these students will need material taught at a slower pace than that of the public schools. Because the purpose of public education is to benefit everyone who receives it, the schools teach at the pace that is best for the whole class; teachers cannot slow the entire class down for one student. The student may hinder the learning progress of the class if everyone else understands the material. These students who learn at a slower pace may also need special attention in order to fully understand, but this may not be available in a public school classroom. Students receiving their education at home can learn the material "under the ideal conditions--alone or in groups small enough to make real learning possible--that [public] schoolteachers persistently cry out for" (Guterson 353). In addition to slower students, some students learn at an accelerated pace. The curriculum used in public schools may move too slowly for such students. For instance, an important figure in the home schooling world, John Holt, argues that in a day, students only learn new material for about 15 minutes. The rest of the time is spent reviewing old material or answering questions over material that a student already understands (89). For a student with a high scholastic aptitude, this would be very frustrating because they could handle much more information. When these students are home schooled, however, they are able to go through material as quickly as they want to and can skip topics they already understand because no one else is affected by their learning pace. Not only do teachers often move too slowly, but also the material covered is not always advanced enough to fully realize their learning potential. Often people who choose to home school their children think that public schools do not "provide an environment in which each child's particular talents may flourish" (Vail 346). A student may be a particularly strong science student, yet the school may have a weak science department, thus not creating a challenging enough course of study for this student. In cases such as these, students are missing what they could be learning because of forces beyond their control when they stay in the public school system. More advanced students may confuse their classmates because their level of understanding is much higher. Moreover, students with physical handicaps may have a difficult time at schools that are ill equipped for handicapped students. Students may have a hard time getting around, thus making them miss class time. They could then miss important concepts or be rushed to catch up. Also, the added stress of trying to get around and be accepted by other students would make it harder for them to learn. They would not be able to focus solely on their education because of the extenuating circumstances. For many parents, the best way to avoid all of these problems is to remove their children from public education and teach them at home.

Although this may be the case, there are options other than home schooling that are very effective. First of all, parents can choose from a wide variety of parochial schools available. Parochial schools typically are more authoritarian and have a more rigidly disciplined atmosphere than public schools (Koetzsch 15). The curriculum used by parochial schools stresses faith-based learning, which emphasizes and develops strong morals and values. Teachers in parochial schools generally care more about the student, due in part to the tendency of parochial classes to be smaller in size. They also tend to be more concerned with the students because they are proctoring their spiritual growth as well as academic, giving them an additional bond (15). In addition to parochial schools, there are alternative forms of public education to the traditional public schools. For example, parents who do not like the rigidity of the public school system may choose to enroll their child in the Montessori school system. Students who attend Montessori schools experience more freedom and hands-on activities than those in regular public schools. Montessori schools encourage independence and curiosity from a very young age (www.montessori.org). In addition to Montessori, there are a growing number of Waldorf schools throughout the United States. Parents who may want a little more structure than Montessori offers yet would like their child to learn by their own experiences may choose to send their child to a Waldorf school, which encourages children to participate in the arts and do things for themselves while incorporating a teacher and a "structured classroom environment" (Koetzsch 21). Similar to Montessori and Waldorf, Foxfire schools offer a different approach to public education. Students in Foxfire schools apply their learning to real life situations while still in school. They work with teachers and develop skills they will need in the business world (102). If there are no available schools that seem to work for a child, there is always the possibility for parents to lobby for change within the public education available to them. For instance, parents can go to the school board with complaints and see that their opinion is acknowledged and acted upon. Another opportunity to change the public school system is through petitions or forming committees. Finally, if no progress is being made, a relatively