Increasingly, parents are homeschooling children for at least part of their education. Many say they were inspired by meeting homeschool families. They saw children better behaved, better adjusted, academically advanced. Families tended to be closer, values passed on more carefully and the children have more time to be involved at church and other activities while still getting to “just be children.”
The tired old arguments just don’t hold up. “But the children will be unsocialized recluses.” “Learning will suffer with ‘unqualified’ persons teaching.” “They won’t be successful as adults.” These have been disproven long ago.
Significant studies demonstrate homeschooled children to be as friendly, outgoing, and sociable toward adults as any conventionally schooled child and significantly more compassionate towards peers and younger children. Standardized tests reveal that homeschooled students – the majority of whom are taught by parents ‘unqualified’ to teach in a conventional school – not only match, but dramatically outperform their conventionally schooled peers. And the adults are happy and successful, excelling in jobs in every sector of the economy – and homeschooling children of their own.
There are the fears of parents who want to be homeschooling children, but unsure they can, “I don’t know enough.” “My kids do not behave well.” “It’s too expensive.” Parents in exactly these situations have successfully homeschooled their children and you can too!
First, you taught them to walk and talk and tie their shoes. You certainly can teach them to read and do basic arithmetic. Furthermore, you can also teach them more challenging subjects also. Teaching is not as complicated as it is made to sound. You’d be helping your son or daughter with their homework anyway if they were going to a conventional school.
See if your spouse is knows a given subject better and will teach that subject. Alternatively, see if you can learn as you go. Spend half an hour each night studying the lesson or two beyond your student. Many a parent who thought they were no good at math has successfully taught this way. Third, find a tutor. Many times in homeschooling groups parents will tutor homeschooling children in different high school subjects.
Second, with homeschooling children, two things are in favor of better behavior: They are removed from the negative influence of peers; they are closely supervised by someone who cares about their individual performance. How could a teacher supervising fifteen to thirty five children not her own possibly do as good a job of disciplining as a parent who is supervising just a few who are her very own? Many parents are astonished at what a difference a year of homeschool makes in children’s behavior.
Finally, as to the expense – if you really want to go for it, there are all sorts of creative solutions, from purchasing used books, borrowing from other parents and the library, and getting them free at schools or Freecycle. There are even families where both parents work, who really wanted to homeschool and by very creative scheduling, they did it!
If you believe homeschooling would be good for your family, don’t be afraid to try it! It can happen!
