Hi r2-ga,
Thank you for your question. After researching this topic, I must say
that I am very convinced that home schooling is a good thing. Here are
the major points in favor of home schooling, with supporting
references. You will also find a section on "countering the
lack-of-socialization argument". Here are the results of my research :
BENEFITS OF HOME SCHOOLING
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IMPROVED ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
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Ideas & Energy - What's Cool About Home-Schooling
http://www.ieteen.org/important/important1001c.html
"Students who learn at home definitely do well academically. Recent
statistics show that the average SAT score for home-schoolers was
1100, which is 80 points higher than the average for the general
public. Many colleges and universities, including Harvard, actually
recruit applicants at various home-schooling conferences. According to
Time magazine, Rice and Stanford accept home-schoolers "at rates equal
to or higher than those for public schoolers." "
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HSLDA Home Schooling Works!--The Scholastic Achievement and
Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998
http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/rudner1999/Rudner2.asp
"Home school students do exceptionally well when compared with the
nationwide average. In every subject and at every grade level of the
ITBS and TAP batteries, home school students scored significantly
higher than their public and private school counterparts (Figure 1)."
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Home Schooling Performance Assessment
http://www.lclark.edu/~ruggiano/netc/Advocacy/bogus/hmsch.html
"Recent data released by the Department of Education reveals some
interesting information. The performance of Oregon home schooled
children is clearly superior to that of their public schooled
counterparts. Even though Oregon public school students scored above
the national average, they were eclipsed by the home schooled
population."
[view page for statistics table]
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Performance In Home Schooling
http://www.alternative-learning.org/ale/blok-eng-summary.html
"... Rudner's study found the average hs-child to have gained a
considerable edge. Here I should add a number of observations. It is
noteworthy that these children were found to be advanced in all the
different subject areas (language, reading, mathematics, social
studies and science). In light of that, their progress can be
described as being greatly advanced. Significantly, one would find the
same scholastic advancement in making an exclusive comparison with
private school pupils, who are known to score higher than their peers
in state-run schools, or public schools as they are called in the U.S.
One can also express this scholastic advancement in terms of school
years. In that case, the average six-year-old is approximately one
school year ahead, a lead that gradually increases to roughly four
school years among 14-year-olds. In other words, the average
home-schooled 14-year-old has made as much academic progress as the
average 18-year-old high school graduate. These figures correspond
almost entirely to those that Ray reports based on an independent
sample (1997)."
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BETTER SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Performance In Home Schooling
http://www.alternative-learning.org/ale/blok-eng-summary.html
"Lee (1995) and Smedley (1992) compared the social skills of
hs-children to those of school pupils. Lee found no differences
between the two groups. Smedley, however, concluded that hs-children
had better developed social skills and were more mature. Taylor (1986)
focused on children's' self-concepts, or self-images, a major part of
which is their self-confidence. He found hs-children to have a
significantly more positive self-concept than school pupils. Shyers
(1992) also assessed the self-concepts of hs-children, as well as
their ability to stand up for themselves and to control problem
behaviour (such as fear and aggression). While Shyers found fewer
behavioural problems in hs-children, he found no differences in terms
of their self-concepts or assertiveness. Lattibeaudiere (2000)
describes a study that explores how successfully former hs-children
adapt when they enter higher education. That study found that those
students adapted better socially and emotionally than did students who
had gone through the school system. Apostoleris (2000) focused in on
motivation for learning. While motivation declined with age in the
average school pupil, it remained consistent, or even increased, in
hs-children."
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Study Finds Home Schooled Children Better at Social Skills : Oct 2001
http://www.bchomeschool.org/A/05.htm
" Despite a 1999 statement from the National Education Association
that, "home schooling cannot provide the student with a comprehensive
education experience," a study released earlier this month shows
home-schooled students are actually more socially and academically
advanced than their peers.
Patrick Basham, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of
the study, said the findings "aren't surprising in intellectual terms,
but it does turn the major anecdotal opposition to home schooling -
that it produces social retards - on its head."
The study by the Fraser Institute, an independent public policy
organization based in Vancouver, Canada, focused on home-schooled
students in North America. According to the study's findings, the
typical home-schooled child is more mature, friendly, happy,
thoughtful, competent, and better socialized than students in public
or private schools. "
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FREEDOM FROM PEER PRESSURE
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Home Education vs. Public Education
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/leclair1.html
" Peer pressure has long been a negative factor of public education. I
realize that peer pressure can be found in many places, not just our
public school system. However, school is a place where children spend
five days a week, eight hours a day with their peers, making the
chances for caving to pressures such as smoking, drinking, sex, and
drugs much higher. A member of my family attending public high school
has smoked and drank since she was 14. Raised by morally aware but
often busy parents, she turns to her friends for companionship and
guidance, and often succumbs to the pressures of fitting in amongst
the students with whom she spends most of her days.
In a home-school environment, the parents have the ability to be more
"hands on" and reduce some of the pressure children face on a daily
basis. So many people asked me while I was being home schooled, "Don't
you wish your parents were less strict," somehow equating home
education with a way to exercise stifling control. I can't count the
times some well meaning individual took it upon themselves to inform
my parents that I was suffering from a lack of social interaction that
I could only find in a public school. These people seemed to label
those who home school their children as ignorant and uninformed,
though it takes a high level of intelligence and dedication to
properly educate your children at home.
I look back at my teen years and acknowledge all the pressures my
parents kept me from having to face until I was mature enough to make
wise choices. Home education carries into more areas than just the
academics. It helps the individual to grow creatively, without the
worries of popularity and peer pressure. Due to this, I was able to
express myself in many areas without the fear of what others would
think. I developed a stronger sense of who I was and for what I stood.
"
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ED372460 1994-00-00 Home Schooling and Socialization of Children. ERIC
Digest
http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed372460.html
" From the findings of these two studies, it would appear that the
concerns expressed by teachers, administrators, and legislators about
socialization and home schooling might be unfounded. Indeed, Bliss
(1989) contends that it is in the formal educational system's setting
that children first experience negative socialization, conformity, and
peer pressure. According to her, "This is a setting of large groups,
segmented by age, with a variation of authority figures...the
individual, with his/her developmental needs, becomes overpowered by
the expectations and demand of others--equal in age and equally
developmentally needy." "
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Why Parents Home School
http://www.struggler.org/WhyParentsHomeschool.html
[begin excerpt]
Homeschooling parents had already found that children spending a lot
of time with their own age mates actually made them peer dependent,
unable to think and act independently, causing them to grow up with an
unhealthy need for peer approval. There is less pulling away from
parents by homeschooled children because peer contact and peer
pressure are reduced.
What researchers found — and what homeschooling parents have long
contended — is that children who spend more time with adults become
better socialized than children who spend most of their social time
with their age-mates. This is true mainly because when a child spends
a lot of time with adults, he observes models of a far more mature set
of social skills. He tends to become conversational and pleasant to be
with.
Researchers also found that the homeschooled child is more involved
with other children than most people assume. They participate in an
average of five activities outside the home. They have plenty of time
for such activities, because they watch only about one tenth as much
television as public school children.
The real question one should ask is not "What about socialization?"
All children will be socialized. The question that should be asked is,
"In order for our children to best learn social skills, with whom
should they spend most of their time, their parents or their peers?"
Some homeschooling parents are even beginning to ask friends who are
parents of public school children, "In sending your children to public
school, aren't you concerned about their socialization?"
[end excerpt]
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POSITIVE MORAL DEVELOPMENT
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Home Education vs. Public Education
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/leclair1.html
"Throughout my home-schooled years, many mothers of publicly
"educated" children would approach either my mother or me, and with
sincere curiosity ask about the benefits of home schooling. It didn't
take a long time to convince these concerned mothers that home
schooling has many benefits over public schools; for instance, the
ability to control what is being taught to your children. My mother
and father are religious people and do not like some of the subjects
taught in the public school systems such as evolution and sex
education. They feel strongly that these topics are best left to the
parents to teach their children as they see fit. But here's the
conundrum, folks – government-funded schools won't give parents an
option. Instead, they prefer to regulate what is being taught to
produce a self-serving pro-government viewpoint."
"Public schools are teaching high schoolers proper condom usage, while
staying away from such alternatives as chastity. Pro-homosexuality and
anti-gun sentiments are being hurrahed in schools, yet prayer is
banned. School nurses tell parents that children are not required to
receive permission before obtaining abortion referrals through the
school. Any aspect of moral education has been wiped out and replaced
with an "if it feels good, do it" mentality. As a result, the
rebellious attitude and scholastic disinterest of today's youth are
fostered by a permissive and indulgent educational system."
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Alternative institutions are a moral necessity
http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/washingtontimes/familytimes/199904130.asp
"A free nation requires citizens who participate in self-government
and who embrace the moral principles which make representative
democracy possible. Political participation alone won't work. We need
to make sure that our children embrace virtue or they won't be free.
Alternative institutions are necessary to ensure that moral people
have the freedom to transmit their values to their own children. And
they are essential for today's adults to reinforce those ideas and
values that are sometimes clouded by the deluge of immorality that
surrounds us."
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The Holland Sentinel: Opinion: More kids coming home to quality
schooling 06-06-00
http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/060600/opi_cal.html
"It also earns dividends for parents who are able to shape their own
children's intellectual and moral development and not turn that
responsibility over to an agent of the state, who, no matter how good
a teacher, will always be required to teach the state's values and the
state's perspective on subjects from sex to history and biology."
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FREEDOM FROM SCHOOL VIOLENCE
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Home Education vs. Public Education
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/leclair1.html
"Since the mid 1990s, there has been an increase in violent incidents
in public schools. Throughout my years of home education, I never once
feared for my safety. From the moment I opened my textbooks until the
end of the day, I knew my one purpose: to learn (be it academic or
moral lessons). I didn't worry about knives in lockers or guns hidden
in waistbands. I never heard threats or taunts; classmates never
disrespected me. I received an environment of total and uninterrupted
peace where I was allowed to focus on learning and not on whether I'd
make it home from school in one piece. Going back to the basics, this
should be what one encounters when receiving an education. School
should be a place of learning, not a melting pot of violent, misguided
youths."
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Statistics School Violence - (National Center for Victims of Crime)
http://www.ncvc.org/STATS/SV.htm
[begin excerpt]
Student ages 12 through 18 experienced approximately 2.5 million
crimes at school in 1999. Of these, 186,000 were serious violent
crimes (aggravated assault, rape, robbery, and sexual assault), and 33
were homicides which involved school-aged children. (109)
Seventeen percent of students ages 12 through 18 reported the presence
of gangs at their schools in 1999. (110)
In a study of 15,686 youth in grades 6 through 10, 29% of the sample
disclosed moderate or frequent involvement in bullying. Thirteen
percent were involved as perpetrators, 10.6% as victims, and 6.3% as
both. (111)
The results of a survey show that 74% of children age 8 to 11 reported
the occurrence of teasing and bullying at their school. Among 12 to 15
year olds, this percentage rises to 84. Children in both age groups
ranked bullying as a problem bigger than racism, AIDS, the pressure to
try alcohol and drugs, or to have sex. (112)
Analysis of school-associated student homicides shows that an average
of one homicide event occurs every seven school days.
School-associated homicides increase at the beginning of the school
year and near the transition between the fall and the spring semester,
notably, after summer and winter breaks. (113)
Since 1974, there have been 37 incidents of targeted school violence.
These incidents involved 41 attackers, ages 11 to 21, and took place
in 26 states. (114)
[end excerpt]
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STRONGER FAMILY BONDS
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Home Schooling: An Old Idea That's Back In Style
http://imctwo.csuhayward.edu/clusters/comp/3020-2.html
"Home schooling provides an emotionally safe environment for child to
learn. They are free of both negative peer pressure and school's
intense pressure to fit a specific mold. Children also escape the
drugs and violence that has become such a part of our schools. The
time spent together also builds a stronger family unit because parents
become involved in most areas of their child's life."
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Home Schooling Series : Why Home School?
http://www.independentvoice.com/hs.html
"Her third reason is to help make the family bond stronger: "I feel
that the way to fight peer pressure is to have a strong family bond,
and I'm very concerned about my children making it through the teenage
years without turning to things like drug abuse, and other things that
peers seem to influence each other over," said Dianne. She said that
not only is she very close to her children, but she has also noticed
that the bond between her kids is closer -- they depend on each other
more. "I think children develop confidence when they come from a
strong family structure and they know their parents love them enough
to make sacrifices for them to spend time with them," said Dianne, "I
think these bonding and learning experiences will help them get
through the tough teenage years." "
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COUNTERING THE "LACK OF SOCIALIZATION" ARGUMENT
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Ideas & Energy - What's Cool About Home-Schooling
http://www.ieteen.org/important/important1001c.html
"Home-schoolers have as many opportunities for socialization as
students in public schools. Many home-schooling families join together
for classes, sports activities, or social events. Twenty percent of
home-schoolers take a class in a private or public school and some
take classes at a nearby community college, according to federal
government statistics. They participate in many extracurricular
activities, such as choir, dancing, and sports, that give them
opportunities to meet other kids their age."
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The Ridiculous Misconception of Socialization in Homeschooled
Children, by Leah Snyder
http://www.pregnancy.org/sections.php?op=printpage&artid=28
"This is an essay on the misconception of lack of socialization in
homeschooled children and other general false impressions surrounding
home schooling. I will admit that public-schooled children have a
school life. Inside their little circles, everyone knows them. But
that doesn't necessarily mean that they have more social skills or
opportunities for social interactions than home-schooled children. I
am sixteen now. Like public-schooled children, I do my schoolwork. But
it doesn't take me eight hours. In my spare time, I can interact with
others and truly develop beneficial social skills."
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Performance In Home Schooling
http://www.alternative-learning.org/ale/blok-eng-summary.html
"In reviewing these outcomes, one would conclude that hs-children are
as socially well adjusted as school pupils, if not more so.
Incidentally, the assumption that hs-children would grow up isolated
from other children is probably incorrect. Ray (1999) observes that
many hs-children have siblings and participate in a variety of social
activities, including sports and cultural pursuits (e.g. music,
ballet, church). Bashem (2001, p. 13) also notes that hs-children take
part regularly in numerous activities outside the home (on average
some five regular or frequent activities per child). Almost every
individual hs-child participates in at least two such activities per
week. Networks of home schooling parents probably also play a role.
Virtually every American state has an organization for home schoolers.
These organizations offer parents and children the opportunity to meet
or go on excursions together."
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ED372460 1994-00-00 Home Schooling and Socialization of Children. ERIC
Digest
http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed372460.html
[begin excerpt]
The stereotypical home-schooled child is often portrayed as being shy,
passive, and lethargic because of his/her isolation from the normal
socialization found in formal schooling. Critics further allege that
the self-concept of the home-schooled child suffers from lack of
exposure to a more conventional environment (Stough, 1992).
Another socialization-related accusation faced by home educators is
that of overprotecting their children from the real world. If this is
true, however, at least one researcher (Bliss, 1989) does not consider
this to be a serious problem. She argues that "Protection during
early, developmental years for purposes of nurturing and growth is
evident in many arenas: plant, animal, and aquatic. Why should it be
considered wrong or bad in the most vital arena, human development?"
Stough (1992),looking particularly at socialization, compared 30
home-schooling families and 32 conventionally schooling families,
families with children 7-14 years of age. According to the findings,
children who were schooled at home "gained the necessary skills,
knowledge, and attitudes needed to function in society...at a rate
similar to that of conventionally schooled children." The researcher
found no difference in the self concept of children in the two groups.
Stough maintains that "insofar as self concept is a reflector of
socialization, it would appear that few home-schooled children are
socially deprived, and that there may be sufficient evidence to
indicate that some home-schooled children have a higher self concept
than conventionally schooled children."
[end excerpt]
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Home Schooling: An Old Idea That's Back In Style
http://imctwo.csuhayward.edu/clusters/comp/3020-2.html
"Lack of socialization is the most common argument against home
schooling. Yet, many parents feel that this is actually another
benefit of the method. They feel that the socialization found in
schools is a negative influence. They want their children to be free
to grow without pressure to conform to society's norms. Traditional
schools put children in strict age-homogeneous groups. Many parents
feel that age segregation is not in their children's best interest.
One former home schooler told The New York Times, "My parents had the
attitude that the world is not made up of 30 people your own age"
(29). Instead of just relating to their age group, home schoolers get
more chances to interact with people of other ages."
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HOME SCHOOLING GROWS IN POPULARITY
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ABCNEWS.com Poll More Give Pub. Schools Good Marks
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/schoolspoll010822.html
"Support for home schooling continued to gain ground in the survey.
Since 1985 — the first year the question was included in the study —
support for home schooling has jumped from 16 percent to 41 percent."
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Performance In Home Schooling
http://www.alternative-learning.org/ale/blok-eng-summary.html
"Over the past decade, home schooling has gained considerable ground
in the United States. In 1980, it was prohibited in thirty states. By
1993, however, it had been legalised in all fifty states under
pressure from home schooling organisations. The number of
home-schooled children (aged 5 to 18) swelled from a few tens of
thousands in the 1980s to some 850,000 by 1999. In terms of
percentages, the latter figure represents 1.7 percent of all children
in that age group. This estimate is based on official figures from the
US Department of Education (Basham, 2001). Organisations such as the
National Home Education Research Institute place the estimate for the
same year significantly higher at 1.5 million children, or three
percent (Ray, 1999). Whatever the case, home schooling has grown by
leaps and bounds in the United States and is still on the rise."
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Staying Home From School
http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-15/38home.h15
" Traditionally, home schooling has been branded as a fringe
activity--the domain of Bible-toting parents and off-the-grid hippies.
The most vocal home-schoolers--and best-organized politically--have
tended to be the religiously motivated, often conservative Christians.
And by nearly all accounts, they still make up a lion's share of the
growing home-school ranks.
But as these family portraits illustrate, the movement is nudging its
way into the mainstream. A new breed of home-schooler is emerging,
motivated not by religious doctrine but by more practical concerns
ranging from school violence to poor academic quality to overzealous
peer pressure. "
"Home schooling has begun to be perceived as a viable educational
option," says Scott Somerville, a lawyer with the Home School Legal
Defense Association in Purcellville, Va., a national, nonsectarian
membership group with Christian leadership. Somerville calls home
schooling the biggest education-reform movement in America. "It's not
just 'religious freaks' anymore. I think educators find it easier to
just write them off as a bunch of medieval throwbacks or 'just a bunch
of fundamentalists.'"
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ED372460 1994-00-00 Home Schooling and Socialization of Children. ERIC
Digest
http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed372460.html
While a Department of Education study in 1990-91 concluded that
between 250,000 and 300,000 school-age children were being educated at
home, "USA Today" recently cited the Home School Legal Defense
Association figures for 1994 as between 750,000 and 1 million--up from
only 15,000 in the early '80s (Thomas, 1994).
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What You Should Know About Home Schooling Today
http://www.nd.edu/~mtardy/Nojo.html
"Home schooling has greatly increased over the course of recent years,
and estimates put the total number of those home schooled at
approximately 1.5 million students in 1998, as opposed to only 300,000
in 1990 (Kantrowitz and Wingert). This number represents the current
movement into home education, a number that has been increasing since
the mid 1980's by an astonishing 15-20 percent each year. In the big
picture, home schoolers comprise about 2 percent of the overall
student population."
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CNN - School violence helps spur rise in home schooling - August 17,
1999
http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/17/home.schooling/
[begin excerpt]
A growing number of Americans feel the same way, but the reasons given
by parents are varied.
Ramona Peterson looked into home schooling after realizing that her
children had "different learning needs and different learning styles."
Home School Facts
About 1.5 million U.S. children are being taught at home.
That's about 2 percent of all U.S. school-aged children.
Growing in popularity by 10 to 20 percent a year.
Other parents cite religious guidelines, the desire to spend more time
with their kids, a better education, concern about morals taught at
school and fear of school violence.
[end excerpt]
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OTHER INFORMATION/ARTICLES
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Train Up a Child Home Schooling - Chuck Missler
http://www.khouse.org/articles/personal/19950801-65.html
" Let's look at the roster of home school graduates:
They include seventeen of the delegates to the original Constitutional
Convention. Other notables include Patrick Henry, John Q. Adams,
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, George Patton, Douglas MacArthur,
Franklin Roosevelt, "Stonewall" Jackson, Booker T. Washington, Andrew
Carnegie, Mark Twain, C.S. Lewis, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison,
Claude Monet, William Penn, Daniel Webster, John Wesley, Dwight Moody,
Alexander Graham Bell, and Charles Dickens. . . just to name a few! "
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Benefits and Reasons to Home School
http://www2.netdoor.com/~nfgcgrb/brohshecm.html
A good long list of benefits and reasons to home school.
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I hope this research has been helpful to you. If anything is unclear
or needs further research, please do not hesitate to post a Request
For Clarification and I will be happy to help. Thank you for using
Google Answers!
Regards,
kyrie26-ga |
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