Category Archives: School

An Introduction to Home Schooling

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Home schooling has gained greatly in popularity over the years. Many parents feel the education system is not doing its job to educate their children. Some parents have decided to school their children themselves. This form of schooling takes place in the home and is structured in a similar manner to the regular school experience. I have noted that in families where a child is receiving home schooling, that the child tends to be a little further ahead than his/her peers.

Parents work with the school to provide an education that is equal to the one they would receive in a regular school setting. The children must have learning sessions in topics such as math, reading, science, and history. There must also be some form of physical activity during the day, comparable to gym. The physical activities used in home schooling are many times used as a positive reinforcement to keep good study habits.

Of course, like most things, home schooling has its advantages and disadvantages. It is up to you to decide is home schooling is right for your children.

Advantages include a more focused learning environment. Without the distraction of other students, children will be able to concentrate on what is being taught. It is also a more relaxed atmosphere. Children are comfortable in their own homes, aren’t embarrassed to be wrong, and won’t feel the social pressure to conform to others’ opinions. These all can be great pluses for home schooling.

There are also drawbacks to home schooling. Social skills are not developed as quickly. The children are often sheltered from life situations such as not being included in a group or being the best in the class. These children can sometimes feel uncomfortable in social situations because they are not used to them. By allowing the child personal interactions with their peers, you can get over this disadvantage rather quickly.

Home schooling is a decision that should be made based on the child’s attitude and social adjustment. While it can be a wonderful experience stimulated with learning and free thought, it can teach children not to rely on community, which is something we all rely on at some point during our lives. Ignoring this could make settling into college or a career a lot more difficult than it has to be. Not saying that a child will not fit in, just that it can prove to be harder. There are also steps you can take to make this transition as smooth as possible.

The Truth About Home Schooling – The Benefits Are Real

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There are many valid reasons why parent may decide to remove their children from public schools and begin home schooling them. Hundreds of thousands of parents across America have come to the conclusion that public schools simply cannot guarantee their children’s safety; that public school overcrowding is depriving their children of the individual attention they need from their teachers; and that the presence from bullies and uncontrollable children in public schools is to distracting for their children.

While there are many negatives in the public school experience which justify the decision to begin home schooling a child, there is also one very big positive. Research studies have shown that home schooled children learn better than those who remain in public schools, and even better than children in expensive private schools. The truth about home schooling is that the research indicates that for most children, being removed from public school for home schooling was the best decision their parents could have made.

Home Schooling Success Stories

There are, of course, the individual stories which reflect glory on the truth about home schooling: the 2007 winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee was thirteen-year-old Evan O’Dorney. Because of is flexible home schooling schedule, his mother was able to spend two hours coaching him with his spelling each day for several weeks before the competition.

The truth about home schooling is that, unlike public schooling, it does not have artificial standards to which each child must conform before being allowed to advance to the next grade. Home schooling allows children to progress at different rates in each subject, so second-grader Mary may be reading at a sixth-grade level while she is still trying to master second-grade math. The home schooled child is in no danger of being “left back” or of being called the class dummy.

The USDE Agrees

The US Department of Education itself has supported the findings of studies which indicate that by the end of eighth grade, home schooled children are performing an average of four grades ahead of their public school counterparts. Whether the home schools are that much better, or the public schools are that much worse, may not be clear, but the results are.

Home schooling will be a learning experience for parents as well as children and in the early going can be stressful for parents who have not attempted formal teaching before. So the support of other home schooling parents can be very helpful, and another truth about home schooling is that the parents engaged in it are some of the most supportive people one is likely to meet.

The evidence seems clear that home schooling is almost never a mistake, as long as both parents and children are willing to put their full efforts into making it work!.