.children should be educated at home rather than at school?

Answer 1

I believe home schooling is great and it has been great for my family.

I have to say as well though, I am involved with our church in the youth group and I have seen kids from the public school system that do great as well. I also see some that don't do so well. Their is a direct correlation to the involvement of the parents in schooling (whether public or home school) and the outcome of the students education. It comes down to not letting any other entity make major choices for you, as a parent. Parents are the one ultimately responsible for the education, whether you choose to keep them at home or send them to some one else to do the teaching.

Just a note on socialization, home schooling is definitely an advantage as far as exposing kids to many different ages and types of people, teaching manners and respect, and giving kids confidence. The public school students should be taught that at home as well, and not relying on the kids at school to "teach" their peers socialization. That's like the blind leading the blind and part of the reason some schools are so unsafe.

Answer 2

It should be an option for children to be educated at home. Children can still have positive experiences in a school setting. Each family must evaluate what works best for their particular situation. Homeschooling is a viable option and statistics have shown consistently over the past two decades that this can be the most effective way to educate children due to the small class size and the high level of parental involvement.

There are great schools and teachers but overall public education has been dumbed down over the past several decades and some of the national standards that have been developed and are being rolled are based on questionable teaching methods (integrated math, incidental phonics) and questionable ideology (particularly in civics education where a "one global government" ideology and a focus on "the common good" seems to be replacing the concepts of "national sovereignty & government exists to protect individual rights".

Answer 3

What difference does it make. Many parents that I know home schooled their children are more educated than the "real" teachers. This is the 21st century and there is no reason for education to be any more or less for anyone. Schools are way to overcrowded and you would think that school systems would encourage homeschooling more to help make the classroom more manageable for these teachers. Personally, I don't understand the whole controversy.

Answer 4

How about public school children ARE being educated at home. I talk to public school parents and hear variations of the same refrain: "you have to teach your child the math facts, they don't learn it in school", "I contract out math to Sylvan Learning" (after paying 800 dollars a month for private school!) "My kid is 6 and he has an hours homework every night," " When we started out in public school my child was expected to know her alphabet and numbers BEFORE starting kindergarten". "Oh yes, you have to go to the school at least once a week to check or the teacher will ignore your child." With my older children I made a decision "I pay my taxes, it's THEIR job to teach my children" And guess what? They spent 12 years in school and came out barely literate, emotionally scarred and ill prepared to start life. It was not that much of a decision to homeschool my second set of children because I realized that was the only way they were going to get an education and I no longer had to rely on the public school system to babysit for me while I went to work.

Answer 5

Depends on your circumstances and whether you are willing to give up enough time and money to do it. It is not an easy option but we found it worked for us.

We live in an area where there were loads of home ed children and they had a great social life. They had opportunities to take part time adult ed courses at college if they wanted to and they had plenty of time to concentrate on their interests.

Dd1 has just finished a computer degree; Dd2 is just about to start a Geoscience degree and Ds is taking GCSE English and a few computer programming exams this year.

My advice is to do what suits you as a family. We have friends whose children go to school and are happy and we have friends whose children stay at home and are happy.

Good luck

Answer 6

Agreed. It depends on circumstances.
We decided to home school when we saw that the 8th grade was going to be a repeat of what we had endured for the last several years. Our son was not learning and was a distraction to others. (Teachers tend to not understand that socialization thing that we hear so much about.) He had a great time in school and everybody liked him, but we had a concern that he might need more than that to succeed in life.
He likes home school. He has plenty of time for his friends AFTER his school work.
We use free and cheap resources. We are flexible and go with interests. Home school, for us, is not expensive but it does take time and effort.

Answer 7

Agreed, depends on circumstances. If you are rural and the schools are good there is often no super advantage. If the schools are bad or the area is a bit nasty then homeschool has a lot of advantages.

If your parents are smart and can afford the tools required, homeschool can be faster if you are a good student. Some homeschool kids do calculus by age 15 or 16.

Answer 8

I am a single (divorced) mother who has chosen to homeschool my 7-year-old first grade son. Homeschooling, I came to realize was what would work best for my son. I have had to totally restructure my life in order to homeschool; I now work from home. I live a more frugal lifestyle, but that's fine. I know the sacrifices I am making are worth it. I also am experiencing the joy of my son's face lighting up and simply beaming as he learns to read proficiently.

I live in a large city, and our neighborhood public school is not a good one. Only 25 to 30% of the students are working up to grade level. Also, my son gained admission to one of the better schools that is not located in our neighborhood. However, the first grade work was "baby work" per my son who was then 6 years old. He said he had done all this work in kindergarten and it was "B O R I N G." When I worked outside of my home, by necessity--not choice, I sent him to the best private Christian kindergarten that I could afford.

Yes, there are not many single parent homeschoolers, but there are some. I think as parents, single and married, begin to think outside the box, realize that many schools are unsafe, that many are not teaching their children, etc., they, too, will begin to homeschool.

Answer 9

Agreed, but than I am a home school parent who does not believe in the concept of mass or Mc-education.

Answer 10

Well you need to know what your doing in the beginning or it could just ruin your child's life. I started getting home schooled around 6th grade and It literally ruined my life. It took several years to find the right curriculum so there were large periods of time where I did absolutely nothing. I also think you should listen to what your child says, and figure out how he or she wants to do it. Things would've worked out a lot better if my mom listened to me when I asked for the same type of books I had in school.