Homeschooling

Homeschooling: the Advantages and Disadvantages

Colleen Byrne

Western International University

COM112 Utilizing Information in College Writing

Amanda Bradley

March 5, 2006

Introduction

Picture a home where the children are reading books from the local library at the kitchen table, parents working diligently on a plan for their school week, the children learning from the people they trust the most, their parents. This is a normal scene from the house of a homeschooled child. Now picture a place where children attend a structured school and some stay home, sheltered from their peers and outside influenced education. This is another version of a homeschooled family. Which way is the most beneficial for the child? This is a heated question with many different responses. The purpose of this research paper is to figure out which way works for individual families.

History of Homeschooling

"Through the late 1700s and early 1800s, children continued to be either taught at home by their parents or they were taught in church schools. Wealthy children throughout the colonies were sent to tuition schools for college preparatory courses, trade or commercial schools existed which also required tuition, and finally, for the poor, there were tax-funded "charity" schools which taught the rudiments of English, mathematics and moral education. There were no public schools and there was no compulsory education or mandatory attendance of any kind until much later." (Seelhoff, 2003, pg. 33) Homeschooling is not a new trend; it was the foundation of our country's schooling system. One of the reasons for the new found interest in homeschooling is to take back the control from the government and put the control back in the hands of the parents. Homeschooling is vastly growing to nations as widespread as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, The United Kingdom, as well as the United States. (Ray, 2001)

The number of homeschoolers nearly tripled in the five years from 1990 to 1995 when there were approximately 700,000 homeschoolers (Lines, 2000). These statistics only include homeschoolers from the United States, even though homeschooling is a growing trend internationally. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) "Ð'...About 1.1 million students (1,096,000) were being homeschooled in the United States in the spring of 2003. This represents an increase from the estimated 700,000 students who were being homeschooled in the spring of 1999."

The 1960's and 1970's were times of great unrest for new ideas about education. Some educational critics, like John Holt, became popular writers by questioning methods of schooling. In August of 1977, the first issue of Growing Without Schooling (GWS) was published, and the nations, and probably the worlds, first periodical about homeschooling were born. The people who first started the modern movement mostly stayed "underground", and those who were discovered often faced fines or possibly jail (Lines, 2000). The critics like Mr. Holt became strong advocates of the homeschooling process and fought long and hard to have the laws of our government changed to include homeschooling families.

The United States now accepts homeschooling as legally valid alternative to public/private schooling. Although the laws are different state to state and some states have additional requirements, even today many families will stay "underground" for fear that the legal environment will again change, or because they disagree with particular regulations. This is one of the reasons that the Homeschool Legal Defense Association was formed. This group fights for the rights of homeschoolers in all of the states and keeps them up to date on the ever changing rules and regulations in their states.

Demographics

According to the NCES, out of the 1.1 million homeschooled children, 3% were White, 1% was Black and less than 1% was Hispanic. (NCES, 2003). The majority of homeschooled families with only one homeschooled child are 2%, families with 2 homeschooled children make up 2% and families with 3 or more children make up 3% of homeschoolers. Most homeschooled families are headed by two parents, although at least 2 % of homeschoolers are one parent homes.

In the spring of 1999 Lawrence Rudner, Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation released the results of the largest survey and testing program for students being homeschooled to date. Results demonstrated that homeschooled students are doing exceptionally well and provide an informative portrait of America's modern home education movement. Almost 24% of homeschooled students have at least one parent who is a certified teacher. It is stated that the surveyed homeschooled students watched much less television than their public educated counterparts nationwide; 65% of homeschooled students watch one hour or less per day compared to 25% nationally. According to Dr. Rudner"Ð'... Almost 25% of homeschooled students were enrolled one or more grades above their age-level peers in public and private schools. Homeschooled student achievement test scores were exceptionally high. The median scores for every subtest at every grade (typically in the 70th to 80th percentile) were well above those of public and Catholic/Private school students. On average, homeschooled students in grades 1 to 4 performed one grade level above their age-level public/private school peers on achievement tests." (Rudner, 1999).

Does this study truly represent the 1.1 million homeschoolers in our country? Some activists disagree with the way Dr. Rudner's study was conducted. They are worried that the data is not a truly diverse and accurate taste of homeschoolers. "The data Rudner analyzed was derived exclusively from parents who used the testing services of Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian institution located in Greenville, South Carolina" (Welner & Welner, 1999). Although the majority of children that are homeschooled are white and middle-class, the recent renaissance in homeschooling is drawing many families from all ethnicities. Since the point of reference used was related to a religious institution may have also provoked many homeschoolers to rebuff a relationship with the Bob Jones University testing service.

Dr. Rudner's study states that homeschooled students watch much less television