How many parents choose home schooling for moral/religious reasons?

Question

Most of the homeschooling parents I've met have chosen home schooling because they felt the public school atmosphere was too liberal or negative, and didn't like the influences their kids were exposed to. Is that representative of most homeschoolers?

Answer 1

Our primary reason was the lack of education in the public schools. My older son IS gifted (not just a proud mama's talk, confirmed by his teachers) but he never made the cut on the gifted test. Then, I found out their idea of a gifted program was not more DIFFICULT work, just MORE work (things that were optional for the other kids were required for the gifted kids). Being able to include religious studies in his schooling was a side benefit of homeschooling.

I read in a US DoE report (from 1999) that the primary reason most parents chose to home educate is for educational reasons (86.1%), while 65.6% did so for religious/moral reasons (numbers are over 100% because people could choose more than one reason). I put a link to the article below. It's quite an interesting report, even if it is 7 years old.

To Madison - get a reality check. Most homeschoolers are BETTER socialized than their age-group peers because they have had to deal with people of different ages, races, etc (check the stats, babe!). Many are involved in volunteer projects, giving back to the community, which allows them even more opportunity for socialization. Is real life for you REALLY like junior high? I have never had to deal with guns, drugs, or other juvenile violence since I got out of school. Playground politics is NOT the real world!

Answer 2

I think homeschooling is a pretty sad situation. My mom is a Jr. High Special Education teacher, and every year she has a few kids in her classes who transitioned from home school to public school and have to be in class with kids who have learning disabilities because they're so undereducated. These are kids who are in 8th grade, but read at a 2nd or 3rd grade level, and their parent(s), who have no legitimate teaching or educational credentials, did it to them because they have no idea how to properly educate a child. Even without discussing the obviously stunted social skills that these children have after being home schooled, I don't see how any rational person could do this to their own child. If a parent hits his/her child he/she can be jailed and lose custody, but nothing happens "parent/teacher" who stunts the social and academic development of his/her child irrevocably. Any parent who homeschools their child should be arrested for child neglect.

Answer 3

Let us all get off of our moral/religious, liberal/conservative, inclusion myth/exclusion myth, SOAP BOX! Pleeease!

Most any parent you talk to can be guided to say they home school for a moral reason. Do you honestly expect them to say they selected home schooling for immoral reasons?

Read the old literature on home schooling. You will find that the people, who engaged it, were convinced that the public education system was broken and would never be fixed.

Those people, 20 plus years ago, were a minority, at least in opinion. Today more and more parents realize that the system is broken.

The broken system is not only reflected in home schooling, but also in the continued existance of private schools and the growth of charter schools.

A great part of our original school system was founded on the desire of people to pass their own viewpoints and beliefs to their children. I see nothing wrong with that. I don't think any system can function without principal; but that is exactly what some people expect today.. Such people are not liberal/conservative but, in my studied opinion, patently insane. The problem is they hold many key positions in the educational bureaucracy.

The big argument against home schooling is often the myth of socialization. This myth says that you must throw kids into a public mixing machine where they pick up critical social skills by rubbing against their peers. I guess you put them in the washing machine in elementary and tumble dry them in high school? This is just so much hog wash. The outcomes of home schooling never have and in no way support this idea.

The truth is that in any mix of human beings the outcome is always associated with the lowest common denominator.
Let's say you put Albert Einstein in a class of average kids who happen to be drug free. Next you add one kid who is a drug user. At the end of the year you will still have one Albert. But, most likely, you are going to have two and perhaps a lot more drug users.

I have seen mental wards and social service systems which have better learning environments than can be found in many public schools today. As a parent, I do not see the problem being with teachers. The problem is with lazy childish parents,** childish administrators and childish bureaucrats. This trinity is attempting to work in a system voided of principal by other self serving children. These are the graduate children who hide behind the name of science, human rights, religious freedom, separation of church and state.and the law. They are not liberals. They are spoiled selfish people who hate things as other people see them. There premise is -"If I can't have my way, no one else can have theirs."

** You will seldom find a lazy parent home schooling. You will find a lot of lazy parents who dump their kids on the public school system for baby sitting; or to make up for their lack of providing anything to their childrens' education beyond a TV set.

Bottom Line: The way your question is put, the answer is---- Just About Everyone.

Answer 4

Yes, for the most part. That and the incidences like Columbine. A lot of people homeschool because it can be a superior education and the socialization is healthier than in public school. I know a lot of very happy, well adjusted, mature, drama free homeschoolers.

Answer 5

My parents chose home-schooling for both reasons. I was in a private school for my first two years, but when they pulled me at the end of 2nd my whole personality had changed. Before I started kindergarten, I was one of the most happiest, out-going, talkative, friendliest kids; when they pulled me I was quiet, insecure, shy, introverted, mean. I thought my mom didn't know WHAT in the world she was talking about. Besides that, my third grade year was spent completely relearning everything I had supposedly learned. I, myself, would choose home-schooling for my children because it gives kids one-on-one time with the "teacher", it allows the parents to see their child's weak and strong spots and to spend extra time with things the child didn't completely understand the first time and to speed through those they did understand. and as for Socialization, there are tons of programs where the kids can all get together, like Speech and Debate and Bible Quizzing. Many of my friends take classes at the public high-schools. Also there are co-ops where home-schooled families can get together and have classes with a parent sharing their expertise. All in all, I enjoy it and wouldn't trade it for the world. By the way, I am now 17 and almost finished with high-school.

Answer 6

That would be the reason for me. I try and teach my kids what I feel is best and don't need teachers teaching them the opposite. If teachers could just stick to the curriculum then I would probably be more ok with them going. Even some schools that are of my own religion I don't like. So for me home schooling would be the best option.

But sense I moved to a county that does not recognize home school, I have no choice but to send them. I will just try and choose the best private school that is closest to my values.

Answer 7

I was home schooled until I was 8 years old. I had to attend public school because my oldest brother died, and my Mom needed some time to recoop, and get over the loss of her son. My 4th and 5th grade teachers were very able to work with me and my parents. My ability level was already high school level as a 4th grader. They worked with me, and I got what I needed. When I went into middle school it got harder, because the classes were boring and I wasn't learning anything. After my 9th grade year, my parents decided to pull me and home school me because the principal and counselor were not willing to help me excel. I am now home schooled at the age of 15 and learning more than ever. I can study what interests me, and I'm going to be getting my diploma here in about a year, and then I'm going to a community college instead of sitting in boring classes for 4 years. Public School is so over rated. It's boring. It's no fun. I didn't learn anything. And I sure as heck feel a lot safer in my own home than in a school filled with drugs, sex, knives, and guns. All of my brothers are home schooled to, so I do socialize every day with my best friends in the whole world. Who needs friends when you have family? Someone needs to explain that one to me.

Answer 8

I am a homeschooling mother. I chose to school my daughter because I don't want my daughter to be taught lies as truth. Also as a personal conviction of my faith in Jesus Christ. I am to train up "my" child in the way they should go. My daughter at age 3 said she wanted to read. At 9 years old she is entering 6th grade. In reply to MADISON my daughter has better social skills than most kids her age. We are apart of a co-op and have AWANA at church she played soccer for 4 years, gymnastics for 3 years, she has gone to visit shut ins, and helped serve the homeless on more than one occasion. She knows how to talk to adults as well as small children. Her closest friends range in ages from 6 to 13 plus she has an incrdible relationship with several teenage girls who just graduated from homeschool this year. There are about 60+ kids at our church who are homeschooled, some of these parents taught in the public school. For me though this is a calling God has placed on my life. Is homeschooling for everyone? NO! But it is a blessing for those who are called to use this method of education. Are there those out there who shouldn't be homeschooling? YES, they have allowed their children to fall behind or are getting no real education at all. I know some of these on both ends. If you are planning on homeschooling make sure you have a great support system. And check out your resources. I live in VA and have listed a local group HEAV (Home Educators Association of VA) and the HSLDA which is the Home school legal defense association. Both are packed with great information. Good luck to all those who choose to follow this path.

Answer 9

I know that's why my parents homeschooled us, and also why the majority of people who homeschool that I've met do it. I do know one family who pulled their kids because they didn't feel their kids were safe in the public school.

And as far as social skills go, there are lots of other places kids can learn social skills. My brothers and sisters were actually more grown up and mature than a lot of their peers who went to public school because they didn't spend all their time around other kids but rather with adults. As kids you act like who you spend time with and when you spend time with adults that's who you act like.

Answer 10

not for me! there are OTHER external things children learned from being with other children - SOCIAL SKILLS in which you cannot teach them. this world is already full of isolated people who don't give a damn about one another and for that reason alone home schooling could cripple them that way.

if you're so worried about your religion and morals, be a good parent, dont' brain wash them so they're not exposed to other things and become SHELTERED. that's ever worse!