Is Homeschooling Effective?

Homeschooling has been looked down upon for many years. Many people believe that there
are many repercussions to homeschooling children, when the truth is there are none. Homeschooling
shows great results with many people and on average it makes children perform better on state and
national tests. Homeschooling is safer, more effective, and more optimal than sending children to
schools.

Home schooling is a very relevant subject. It is applicable to virtually everyone. Most people
have either been home schooled or public schooled. The majority lies with public schools, but home
schooling is steadily increasing in numbers. In 1999 there were 850,000 students being homeschooled
which increased to 1,100,000 homeschooled students in 2003. This was a 29% in just four years
(Home Schooling in the United States). Homeschooling is a growing practicing concept and should
be seriously looked at when deciding whether or not to put a child into a school or to home school
them. With these increasing numbers of parents homeschooling children there has to be some good
reasons for why more and more people are choosing it over sending children to public schools. But
since not everyone is homeschooling their children, there has to be some problems with this concept
too.

There are many different reasons for why parents and guardians chose to keep their children
at home to learn. These different reasons are formed by the different values of the parents. These
values cover an array of areas like religion, safety, and the want for a better educated son or daughter.
All of which have their pros and cons when comparing between homeschooling and public schooling
and depending on whom one asks, you will get different opinions to whether or not it is a pro or a con.
For example, one person would say that public schools offer better educating and another would say
that homeschooling far surpasses the education one would get from a public school. Another person
might say that a child that is home schooled will be less sociably adapted, while another would refute
that statement because they think that homeschooled children are much more involved in the
community than public schooled students. All these opinions make this a very debatable subject and
worth looking into to see which side is correct.

One reason why homeschooling is preferable is the concern for the childs safety. This reason
is the main reason for choosing homeschooling over public schooling. Over 31% of parents chose
homeschooling as their main reason and over 85% of parents had it for either the main reason or a
secondary reason (Home Schooling in the United States). The concept of safety deals with things like
violence and drug use. There have been many reports of violence in public schools. They even get to
the point of murder. Many times there have been students plotting a mass killing at their schools with
homemade bombs, assault rifles, and shotguns. Not every time they get stopped and their will

children killed. Another reason public schools are not safe are because of drugs. They are extremely
easy to get in a school setting. That added with peer pressure can lead to many bad situations. These
reasons are not really disputable for arguing that public schooling is safer than homeschooling, which
is most likely why it is the greatest reason for why children are homeschooled.

The other main reason why homeschooling is preferable is because it can be used to
strengthen ones own beliefs, by avoiding the mal influences. This was the main reason for just under
30% of homeschooling parents and when including it as a secondary reason it had a little over 72%.
(Home Schooling in the United States). This is a very practical reason because as a child, one is very
inexperienced with ones beliefs. Also, young children will pick up after anything that they see others
are doing. Having teachers with different beliefs will effect what their students believe, no matter
what. It is impossible to not be bias when teaching. Not only do parents have to worry about teachers,
they have to worry about other students if not more so. The founders of our public school system
actually openly expressed their hatred for Christianity. They wanted to create an education system
that doesnt teach the youth about God (Smithwick). This can explain how some of the materials
taught in schools are against those of Christianity and other beliefs. Two examples would be evolution
and some aspects of health. Schools are forced to teach safe sex, while some parents only want
their child to practice abstinence. These reasons are also a way to keep children safer, but instead of
protecting the physical body it is protecting the mind and innocence of the child.

The third and last main reason for why homeschooling is preferable is to give the child a
better education than what is offered at a public school. Only about 17% of parents choose this for the
main reason, but for a secondary reason it is over 68% (Home Schooling in the United States). So
this is a reason for over half of parents choosing homeschooling and is one of the most debated
reasons. Homeschooled children on average show better academic success versus public schooled
students. On tests like the SATs and the ACTs homeschooled students do better. For the SATs
homeschooled children scored and average of 1100 and the national average was a 1019. For ACTs
homeschooled students scored on average 1.8 higher than the national score (Troy). Homeschooled
children do on average do a respectable amount better than students in either public or private
schools:

almost 25% of home school students were enrolled one or more grades above their age-level peers
in public and private schools. The median scores for every subtest at every grade (typically in the 70th
to 80th percentile) were well above those of public and Catholic/Private school students. On average,
home school students in grades 1 to 4 performed one grade level above their age-level public/private
school peers on achievement tests.(Troy)

Not only do homeschooled students perform better on standardized tests, but they also do better in
academic activities. For example, they do better in spelling bees versus public schooled children. In

1997 a homeschooled student won the national geography spelling bee and every year to at least
2004 a homeschooled student has won. Also in 2004 the first and second runners up were also
homeschooled. The winner was a 12 year old who has already written for the Wall Street Journal. Also,
the percentage of home schooled students going to college is higher than that of of public schooled
students. On top of that, Homeschoolers have a higher acceptance rate in colleges and universities like
Stanford (McReynolds). All of these feats conquered by homeschooled children are quite impressive.
All these statistics should not be undermined when deciding whether or not homeschooling is better
than sending children to schools.

There are a reasonable amount of arguments against homeschooling. One of the main
arguments against homeschooling is the belief that homeschooling children creates a lack of social
skills within the child. This making the child socially awkward until they finally get into the real world.
This argument is just a myth and is not what happens on average. Tests show results that not only
refute this, but shows that public schooled children are at a disadvantage. For a masters thesis an
experiment was done where homeschooled children and Homeschooled children and public schooled
children social skills were tested with the Vineland Adaptive Behavior scales. The homeschoolers
ranked at the 84th percentile and the public school students ranked at the 27th percentile. Another
study had both types of children put in small groups and the homeschooled children were found to
have less behavioral problems (Minnesota). This is so because homeschoolers have much more
opportunity to get involved with the community. They are not limited to a set school time, allowing
flexibility in their schedules making it easier to get involved with the community.

Another reason why people believe homeschooling is not a proper way to educate children is
because the parents dont have to go through any training to teach. How can a parent be a better
teacher than an actual certified teacher? Parents did not undergo training for many years in college.
When looking at the world, nations who score the highest on tests are nations that only allow certified
teachers to teach (Downs). This seems like a reasonable argument. The only problem with this
argument is that homeschooled children perform better on tests and in academic competitions. There
is reasoning behind this. It is not just the parents teaching their children. They are not limited to what
they know, instead they use all kinds of resources and materials. Teachers normally hold a better
understanding of the subjects, but they stick to syllabuses and textbooks to help them teach. In home
schooling parents do the same style of teaching. They stick to a syllabus and follow along in the
textbook. So it isnt just the parents teaching what they know, but also what their resources tell them
(Sanders).

The last argument leads into this the next one. Homeschooled children dont have the
resources that are needed to learn. Schools spend large amounts of money on resources for the
students, so how can home schooled children get resources like the ones at schools. This is a dying
argument. Schools do have many text books and nice libraries, but technology helps remove
limitations. With todays technology, computers can supply almost every learning tool necessary for
teaching. It may even be more up to date than some of the old textbooks used at school. There are

many websites to help in educating children, for example Charlotte Mason, Classical Education, and
Wisdoms Way of learning (King). Also, its not just homeschoolers using these websites for help,
students of schools do the same. Another way students in school get help is by getting a tutor. Tutors
help by being able to hone in onto the childs specific problems and give them one on one attention.
This is basically the same style of teaching that homeschooling is. This is why homeschoolers can
perform better than public school students on tests and academic competitions.

I have personally seen many of the downfalls of public schools. One of my teachers was a
horrible role model. First he lost his driving privileges because of multiple DWIs. These also gave him
jail time and put him on probation. So he was teaching on the weekdays and doing his time in jail on
the weekends. Then a random drug test showed use of cocaine (Cutri-Bynoe). It is quite possible he
was on a drug when he was teaching me. This is what many parents want to have their children avoid.
At a neighboring school of mine, there was a suicide. As if that sounds bad enough, it was actually the
better choice compared to what he was going to do. The student was going to in some way attack the
school. He had ammunition in his locker, along with Molotov cocktails (More). I had many friends who
knew this person. These problems can leave huge negative impacts on childrens lives, making
homeschooling a viable alternative.

Homeschooling just has so many positives to just overlook. When it is done correctly, it can
create some of the finest and well-rounded students. Public schools just have too many negative
influences on children without offering a guaranteed top notch education. The only way to know for
sure your child is getting the best education is by doing it yourself. If homeschooling is not an option,
then at the very least parents should still get involved. Public and private schools can be effective, but
only when the students are being closely looked over by either a parent or a teacher. Homeschooling
makes the parents get thoroughly involved, while avoiding the dangers of public and private schools.

Work Cited

Cutri-Bynoe, Michele. "Midlakes High teacher fired after DWIprobation

violation ." (2011): n. pag. Web. 27 Apr 2011

Downes, Stephen. "Homeschooling, Abuse and Qualifications" ." 03/23/2008.

n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints National Research Council of Canada. Web. 5 May
2011

King, L. W. "Resources -- General or Multi-topic Resources." http://homeducate.com/resources/. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr 2011.

McReynolds, Kate. "Homeschooling." (2007): 37. Academic Search Complete. Web.

5 May 2011.

Minnesota Homeschoolers' Alliance . "What About Socialization?." 10/13/2005. n.

pag. Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 5 May 2011.

Sanders, Carletta . "Bad Things about Homeschooling." www.successfulhomeschooling.com N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr 2011.

Smithwick, Dan. "Nine Reasons for Not Using Public Schools," Home School Digest,
July 19, 2004. Copyright 2005 Wisdom's Gate.

Troy, Groberg. "Homeschool vs. Public School." Conservativefront.com. N.p.,

03/12/04. Web. 31 Mar 2011.

United States. Home Schooling in the United States. , 2003. Web. 10 May 2011.
nces.ed.gov