Why do people homeshool their children?

Answer 1

1. Parents feel motivated by God.
2. Parents feel motivated by some state requirement that they don't agree with.
3. Parents are disturbed by something that is or is not happening in the school.
4.Parents find out about how much higher a homeschooler's national test scores are in general.
5. Parents like the continuous interaction with their children.
6. Parents like the accelerated curriculum available.
7. Students are tired of being bullied and scared.
8. Students are tired of wasting their time on non-productive procedures.
9. Students like the educational field trips.
10. Students like the park days, study groups, drama groups, gymnastics, basketball, and other fun homeschool activities.
11. Students like being able to complete their school work quickly and enroll in community fun early.
12. Students like taking community college classes years early.
13. Students like their parents as they get to know them on many levels.
14. Special needs students get the resourses they need.
15. Gifted children can move ahead in the subjects that they need to move ahead in.
16. Teens in work experience are more in demand because they have more flexible hours.
17. Tutoring and on-line resources are abundant.
18.University recruiters scout out the homeschoolers because they are independent learners.
19. Military acadmies recruit homeschoolers at teir 3 (the highest tier) because they are generally more mature and are used to interacting with many ages of humans.


20. Because they feel God told them to. kk

Answer 2

My daughter is extremely fortunate never to have been to Public School. I prefer the term Home Based Learning, because we are hardly ever home!

She has never been bullied in the school yard, teased on the school bus, ridiculed for not having the right brand of blue-jeans, nor has she ever had a teacher who disliked her. She is not caught up in the "you've got to dress like everyone else" mentality. Some people may think this is all part of growing up, but I don't buy that.

I think that most home-schooled children are extremely well socialized, and I have found that home-schooled children, in general, are well adjusted, articulate, confident and are comfortable conversing with adults. Home-schooled kids are busy volunteering in their community and most have a genuine love of learning that will last a life-time.

When you think about it, the way that a typical school segregates children into single age groups for up to 13 years of their lives, is not natural. When you compare that to home-schooled children who are mingling with a wide age range of people, I think the home-schoolers become much more comfortable with society at large.

My daughter and I went to Europe for a month this spring and that was a wonderful experience for us both - I think she did considerably more "socializing" than if she had been cooped up in a classroom for 7 hours a day with 30 other nine year olds. She was exposed to both English and Norwegian cultures, customs, currency and language - that is real education!

If nothing else, look at the grammar and spelling of some of the questions on this site - that will show you the diminishing quality of Public School education. Read some of the "Could I be pregnant?" questions. The ignorance is rampant and I really think that the home-schooled children are some of the next generation's leaders!

Answer 3

Wow, with all the great answers, it's hard for me to decide what to say. First off, I've noticed that many more public school teachers are deciding to homeschool their own children. That right there should tell you that there is something wrong with the public school system. Our reasons for homeschooling are many. Every family that homeschools has their own reasons. We homeschool because the last year our kids were in public school things got really bad. My youngest daughter was slapped for SOCIALIZING in class by her first grade teacher. Our son who was barely 5yrs old at the time was bullied by older children on the bus and when he would cry the bus driver would yell at him for being disruptive. Another one of my daughters was so bored that the teachers would have her grade papers, even in Kindergarten. Then we moved and the schools were worse. Our son was bored. Our oldest daughter was harassed because she was smart. Everyone of our children were at the top of their class because the level of academics was so much lower than what they were used to. I also do not agree with how and what the public schools teach. If they can teach evolution then they should also teach creation. After all, evolution is only one theory. It is the parents job to provide an education for their children. We take that very seriously. Being able to socialize means being able to interact with people of all ages, races, income levels, etc. Not just a group of friends your age. Public school does not offer the opportunity for real socialization. All day you are with the same people. Most homeschoolers interact with many different people all day. Besides, it's great to be able to consider a trip to the grocery store as school time.

Answer 4

There are many, many reasons that parents choose to homeschool. I, personally, chose to do it because out of the 5 public schools I could choose for my children, only one was worth a dam n. And, sadly, it was in the middle of the worst part of town. My children will NEVER ride a school bus, and I don't feel that we should take our lives into our hands to take them to school.
We didn't have the money for private or parochial school, so we chose to homeschool.
It has worked VERY well for us, and my children are learning so much. They also hang out with other kids almost every single day, so they are getting social interaction.
We aren't religious people. We aren't vegan or vegetarian. We aren't into new agey stuff (well, maybe a little, my son is interested in Chinese Zodiac.)
We are just normal, run of the mill people who chose to take our children's educations into our own hands. If we ever moved to a city where the schools were up to scratch, we may consider sending them, but for now? No.

Answer 5

Because we can.

Because we want to.

Because it works.

Because we don't feel that children learn how to socialize and become responsible adults by learning from other children.

Because it is what we feel is best for our children.

Because noone loves their children more than a loving parent(s)

Because society says its wrong (a good sign that something should be done, many bad decisions have been made by the masses throughout history)

Because children learn in a variety of ways other than what the schools deem as the "only" way.

Many like myself also do not believe that the schools promote free thinking but rather socialist propaganda (just as wrong to me as theocracies).

There are many more but those are just a few.

Answer 6

We started home schooling because my son was reading by the age of 4 and there was no advanced class. They said he would be a class helper. I asked what he would learn and they said that he will just have to do the work until he reaches his learning level. I didn't want to stifle his learning. Now after many years of home schooling, I have found that each child learns differently. I can teach each child so they learn the best way for them. INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION! That can not be given in a class of 15-30 children. I am also a Christian and do not agree with many things being taught in the schools as fact. I do touch on some things to explain our point of view.

Answer 7

Because the extended community has lowered it's goals and diminished it's values.

The community begins with family.

If it were not for families there would be no community. We want to set the standard of living to a higher level. We want our set of values to be honored -- we can't impart our values to the community without a vote or an election -- but we can raise our children to know and work with our values without having a group of clones dictating to them how to behave. And they are not subject to a teacher that is promoting an agenda that doesn't have anything to do with academics. Our children don't have to learn how to fight against abuse after it is too late. They can learn about it without having to LIVE in it.

We want to teach our children to work and improve themselves for the good of the community instead of "every one for themselves".

We want them to learn in an environment that is free from the hindrances that encumber the current public schooled students.

When the family is intact it is strong. When the family is strong the community is strong. Home-schooling is a great way to maintain intact & strong families and communities.

We prefer to raise our children instead of giving them to the village at a young age. Instead -- we raise them to lead the village when they have first been prepared.

The first and most basic government system is that of individual self-control. A person is capable to govern themself in a manner that benefits all people. When the student is trained in a method that is independent of the mass-group mentality they learn that it is in their own best interest to do what is right at all times -- in both the sight of people and of God. A sefl-controlled person is enabled by their behavior to be a good member of society.

The second basic form of government is the family --- each individual learns to work with other people in many situations. The family unit as a whole can work together for the benefit of the community. Learning the basic academic core studies at home is a great way to keep this form of government intact.

Next, thirdly, comes the extended community. Good individuals working together in good families come into contact with many other families and they build the core of a neighborhood, a town, a city, a county, a State, a Union of States ---(USA?) etc. etc....

Self-governed individuals make awesome family members. Strong and intact families make great neighborhoods and cities. Working together they can have a well maintained system of living.

We home-school because the system of life in our country has been downgraded to a low common denominator. We choose to change the equation ---- Higher standards in everything -- academics, social contact, etc....

Answer 8

I was homeschooled, and if you had asked me like a year ago I probably would of told you I hated it and all this stuff, but I'm so glad I was my mom died in July and id give anything for her to be teaching me again she homeschooled my other brothers and sis, there whole life till collage of course she did it to protect us for all the crap out there but when you grow up we had to deal with it anyway lol.

Answer 9

we home school ours for numerous reasons

my son was a slow learner and even though we had held him back one year, he was still behind. he wasn't getting the personal attention he needed in public school.

since being home schooled, he is not only learning better, he even was able to make up the year he lost.

further, the violence in school just gets worse each year

plus, we are Christians and much of the stuff they try to teach in school is false

http://www.onemoreservant.org/TextbookLies.htm

there are more reasons, these are but a few

Answer 10

Why do people in general or why do individuals homeschool? I guess I'm trying to find out if you are looking for a general answer or specific answers from people.

I chose to homeschool because I taught elementary and my dh teaches jr. high. The first thing that worried us was the social milieu. If our family were the way classes in school are, we would think our family a horrible place to raise our children. The focus on material things, foul language, bullying by some, the adoption of certain attitudes against learning and school, or against adults or younger siblings or younger kids, the clothes the girls wear in junior high, how nasty they get, everybody trying to impress everybody else, trying to be somebody else... The list goes on. It's not where we wanted our kids growing up.

We also appreciate that our kids are unique. The school system is set up for one model, and that's it. You have to fit in or your going to fail or excel, but be bored because you can't go your own pace. Having taught kids who could have used more time and eventually gave up in school because they had gotten so far behind with some things, as well as having taught kids who were very advanced and bored, or who had given up because they were so bored and didn't see the point in trying, we knew that educationally, being able to provide our kids with the means of learning at their pace would be best. This is something we knew we could do and are willing to do it, so we're doing it for as long as it works.

ADDED: Just reading the other answers here. On the socialization aspect, I think it is psychologically harmful for most children (not talking teens/high school here) to be around 30 other kids the same age for most of their days. People in the past learned how to be responsible, caring, well-mannered people by being around others who were like that: adults or at least older children. A one-room schoolhouse has more sense than today's model if we're going to talk about social skills development. By homeschooling and deciding together what kinds of things they would like to do, and picking from the plethora of available activities, they still get social interaction, but also guidance on how to behave. They're not having social interaction overkill and aren't having peer attitudes be the primary focus in their lives. When something goes wrong, there are a ton of adults around to guide or inform. I'm not trying to stop my children from interacting with others. I'm trying to provide them with an amount suitable to their ages and personalities, and in situations that seem reasonable and helpful to their growth.

And frankly, if it takes 13 years (k-12) of being around a ton of people every day to develop reasonable social skills, there's something wrong. Just look at people in the past who lived out in the boonies and would go to town. They knew how to behave and interact--because their parents or older siblings had guided them when they were younger. They didn't spend each day with others the same age. Yet they still became presidents and inventors and scientists and businessmen and much more. And we're not talking hundreds of years ago. People much more recent, like the Roosevelts and others, were homeschooled. Needing exposure to others doesn't mean requiring constant exposure to many.