Why don't more stay at home parents homeschool their children?

Question

Why don't more stay at home parents homeschool their children? I mean the first arguement people give me is "kids need socialization." And what makes homeschooled kids "unsocialized"? I mean *some* might be that way but don't people realize there are more places to make friends than school like homeschooling groups, youth groups, sports, kids around the neighborhood, play groups, ect? So why don't more stay at home parents (or any parents for that matter) do it?

Answer 1

I often wonder that as well. I know homeschooled children who are more socialized than any child in public school. Some parents just don't consider it because they either 1. are too lazy -or- 2. don't care.

Answer 2

Fear...I don't homeschool now but I did for a year. It was great and my kids were "socialized" through homeschool activities. I think that most stay at home parents fear they will fail. I sure did. I mean, if the school messed up it was their fault but if I messed up then I really blew it for my childrens future.
Secondly, I think that parents don't know that homeschooling can be a great way to learn. We have kind of been taught to send your child to school as the best way...Whether it is or not.
Thirdly, I think some parents just really like the break to get things done and find they are more patient and better parents after some distance. They feel it is the best thing for their family to send their children to school.
Mine are back in school and one loves it and one doesn't. Whether at home or at school they are both honor students. The "school" teacher was amazed how advanced my son was when I put him back in school. All of the one on one just did him great.
I may homeschool again.....I think it is like alot of things. A bad stereotype scares people off of it. Good question though and thanks for asking it.

Answer 3

When we first started unschooling our son, grocery clerks, for example, would always say, "Why aren't you in school?" Just 8 years later, he and our youngest get this from clerks, "You're homeschooled, aren't you?"

This is a new thing - your question is something akin to asking why all people in 1964 didn't have friends of other races/religions/social classes than their own. Only a few decades ago, homeschooling was actually illegal. If you consider that early schools were kinder-garten - child garden - you can see they were or were thought of as refuges for kids, saving them from child labor.

It is only a truly affluent culture or a culture that is not industrialized that can have homeschooling on a mass scale. More and more people will homeschool as they see more and more people homeschool. It's how people are, and it makes some sense, to want to know if something works before you try it.

One by one, the objections are falling. Some might still think homeschool is bad for socialization, based on one person they know who homeschooled, without pausing to realize they probably know obnoxious people who went to school. However, the proponderance of the evidence has flooded society to a large extent and most people are proud to say their grandchildren are homeschooled, because they know this means their child generally will be perceived as better educated, better mannered, and more sophisticated. And research bears this out.

The fact is that school is an artificial environment. Whatever the intent - and some argue well that the intent is malevolent, to get a child to know his place and to quash original thought - the result is the separation of learning from living, of curiousity from education, and of parental values from the core place of influence.

I personally disdain the teaching of religious myth to children, and am unhappy that so many kids are brainwashed through homeschooling (but they'd be brainwashed even attending school, as most americans persist in the belief in myths as silly as believing in zeus), but the peers should not be a primary influence in a young person's life. It's counter to evolution and nature.

Children who are homeschooled, however, are not, or don't have to be, sheltered to the point that they are not in the real world. I simply mean that they shouldn't be spending the bulk of their waking hours in an unnatural environment created to accomplish the goals of the state rather than the parents. Homeschooled children, when not sheltered by religious fundamentalists, are out in the real world. They are never in this artificial institution where people are segregated by age and where you can get an F on something because you learned it well a week after the test - by which time the person who aced the test has already forgotten what they learned.

I think unschooling and the available, continually learning parents required to do it is the way the get the best education for America's children today.

Answer 4

I think the whole idea of stay at home moms being lazy is ridiculous. I had 2 children at home but yet I choose to send mine to school. I don't feel that i am properly trained to be teaching my children. Teachers spend years in school learning how to teach. I am a very involved parent I volenteer at the school 2 days a week am on the PTO and attend the keep on learning program.
I think homeschooling is a wonderful choice, but not for everyone.I would hate to know that all my time with my child would be focused on learning and structure. I enjoy free time with my kids and not having to be the disiplinarian over learning and you can say that is selfish but I enjoy my kids.
Plus in my area there is no homeschooling groups or support netwoks so homeschooling means your on your own sink or swim I don't need that kind of pressure. I don't know everything and I know I can't teach my kids everything.

Answer 5

It depends on local law. Some homeschooling laws require that parent to be around. Some just require some type of adult supervision. In any event there are social laws governing children under 16 and a lack of responsible supervision can get a family into trouble.

Answer 6

i stay at home, and will not homeschool my son. i didnt go to school to be a teacher. i think school will give us a break from each other, (much needed) i'll have a chance to do stuff around the house. and i dont run up credit cards, we actually don't have any. i'm not spoiled, i drive a 98' car, (a nissan, not even a bmw or anything like that) Why should parents homeschool? i went to a "bad" school, and many of my friends have just graduated college (on time) are great people, law abiding people. so really i think its a personal decision. i dont think homeschooling is bad, but i would rather have my child go to school.

Answer 7

I don't homeschool my children because the school they go to is fantastic. The class size is small, the academic and sport programs are awesome and my children love it. I have met lots of other moms and teachers that have become my good friends. I guess I would feel like my children would miss out on what real life is about.

Answer 8

I am seriously considering homeschooling my son for pre-school. Why not? I won't have to pay for that. But once he is in kindergarten then I will send him to school. I just don't think I will be able to teach him as well as a properly trained professional would (I am considering alternatives other than public school).
Many stay at home mothers will spend their new found time working part time, working from home, or working in their child's school. Many spend many hours volunteering as teachers helpers or lunch aides. They are still very involved with their children and their education.

Answer 9

Most homeschool children stick together so much they don't learn how to socialize and to go through the normal trial and errors that many children deal with at certain ages and stages of their lives. Such as making new and different friends outside their environment.

Answer 10

Instead of asking why more don't home-school, you should be asking why DO people home-school?

As for me, I like to see my tax dollars at work, which is why I send my children to (GASP) PUBLIC school. There are so many more resources at the schools than I could possibly provide them with--especially in science and technology. I personally would be doing a disservice to my youth by trying to home-school. In addition, I think children should be exposed to lots of people with different opinions (and germs to boost their immunity) and cultures. Clubs, play dates, sports are not the same.

Many home schooled children are very bright and excel beyond their age-level, and some would never make it in a regular classroom environment, however in my non-professional opinion, home-schooled children cannot share, cannot wait their turn, and require immediate gratification and one on one attention. In addition they tend to have a bit of a superiority complex. How many kids are in a home-schooled class? Not 20.

God bless (help) those who do home school. I'll take public school any day!

Answer 11

I am a stay at home mom who is not at all lazy and does not rack up charges on my husbands credit card.
I will not homeschool. This was a decision which was discussed several times with my husband and I and we want our son to have the best education he can get. I do not doubt that I could teach him many things but my knowledge is limited. I would hate to think that he could have excelled in a subject but didn't because of my lack of knowledge or understanding of the subject. I would rather trust teachers to show him things. While I will be hands on and help with homework, etc...