Why Home Schooling?

Guest Post by Walter E. Williams

Many public primary and secondary schools are dangerous places. The Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics show that in 2012, there were about 749,200 violent assaults on students. In the 2011-12 academic year, there were a record 209,800 primary- and secondary-school teachers who reported being physically attacked by a student. Nationally, an average of 1,175 teachers and staff were physically attacked, including being knocked out, each day of that school year. In Baltimore, each school day in 2010, an average of four teachers and staff were assaulted. Each year, roughly 10 percent of primary- and secondary-school teachers are threatened with bodily harm.

Many public schools not only are dangerous but produce poor educational results. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress for 2013, sometimes called the Nation’s Report Card (http://tinyurl.com/mn6snpf), only 33 percent of white 12th-graders tested proficient in math, and 47 percent tested proficient in reading. For black 12th-graders, it was a true tragedy, with only 7 percent testing proficient in math and 16 percent in reading. These grossly disappointing educational results exist despite massive increases in public education spending.

Many parents want a better education and safer schools for their children. The best way to deliver on that desire is to offer parents alternatives to poorly performing and unsafe public schools. Expansion of charter schools is one way to provide choice. The problem is that charter school waiting lists number in the tens of thousands. Another way is giving educational vouchers or tuition tax credits for better-performing and safer schools. But the education establishment fights tooth and nail against any form of school choice.

Another viable alternative increasingly chosen is home schooling. In 1970, there were only 10,000 home-schooled children. In 2012, according to recently released data from the National Center for Education Statistics, there were about 1.77 million children who were being home-schooled (http://tinyurl.com/ooodba7).

Parents give a number of reasons for home schooling. Many want a safer environment for their children — away from violence, alcohol and other drugs, psychological abuse, and improper and unhealthy sexual indoctrination found in public schools. Some want to teach and impart a particular set of values and beliefs to their children.

In terms of academic achievement, home-schoolers beat out their public school counterparts. In reading, language, math, science and social studies, the average home-schooler scores somewhere near the 80th percentile. The average public school student taking these standardized tests scores at the 50th percentile in each subject area. Home-schoolers also tend to score higher than their public school counterparts on college admittance tests, such as the ACT and SAT.

Home schooling is not without its critics. Some of it is ludicrous, as shown in an excellent article in City Journal titled “Homeschooling in the City,” by Matthew Hennessey. Stanford University political scientist Rob Reich has called for tighter regulation of home schooling to ensure that “children are exposed to and engaged with ideas, values, and beliefs that are different from those of the parents.” My question to Reich is: Whose ideas and values should children be exposed to? Georgetown University law professor Robin L. West worries that home-schooled children grow up to become right-wing political “soldiers” eager to “undermine, limit, or destroy state functions.” West would like to see home schooling more highly regulated and home-schoolers subjected to mandatory testing and periodic home visits in order “to give the state a window into the quality of home life, and a way to monitor signs of abuse.”

Home-schoolers have a defense against this sort of meddling. The Home School Legal Defense Association is a nonprofit organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children. The National Home Education Research Institute provides educational resources and research for home-schooling parents. Its founder, Dr. Brian D. Ray, recently published “African American Homeschool Parents’ Motivations for Homeschooling and Their Black Children’s Academic Achievement.” His findings are proof that home schooling is effective for not only white youngsters but black youngsters, as well.

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TC
TC

Anyone here who is or has home schooled, I’d appreciate any helpful links or resources you have… as we’re about to cross that bridge.

kokoda
kokoda

TPTB (including Uni’s) will generally criticize and denigrate home schooling, as it erodes their power base and funding at every government level.

Wip
Wip

@TC

Ron Paul has a home schooling curricula.

Wip
Wip
Zebra
Zebra

Funny coincidence…Our kids were home schooled all the way to college. Amazing family experience by the way. Independant thinking kids, self motivated, respectful, having multiple talents. No sheeps around here. Our son just started college yesterday and his first comment was: “teachers spent 75% of their time trying to get respect from their students”!!! This says it all.

Gayle
Gayle

TC

I homeschooled my own kids for eight years and am currently homeschooling a grandson. I have also been a public school teacher. Feel free to ask JQ for my email address if you are interested. I would be glad to help you.

Persnickety
Persnickety

@TC, we have been homeschooling our kids for several years now. It is definitely work but is worth it, and is going well. We also find our kids to be just miles more polite and mature than most public school kids at their ages.

Some resources:

First, see what your state’s laws are for homeschooling at:
http://www.hslda.org/

Get a variety of information and ideas at this site – but don’t take this or any other site as gospel:

Home

Rainbow Resource Center is the largest and probably oldest resource for homeschool materials of all kinds, secular and religious, any subject or grade level. (The name does NOT have anything to do with sexual liberation movements, FYI.)
http://www.rainbowresource.com/

robert h siddell jr
robert h siddell jr

Please support vouchers like most European countries use. Our public school system will never be able to reform itself.

Stucky

We home schooled both boys up to high school. Obviously, I support it.

I will say this, however. KNOW YOUR CHILD’S NEEDS. It’s not good for every single child out there … like some universal panacea. One size does NOT fit all.

Our experience was that it worked great for one son, and frankly, a huge failure for the other.

unit472
unit472

The present public school system no longer works because the America it was designed in and for no longer exists. It was possible, once upon a time, to put 2000 teens in a high school and have them behave. That was possible because the children lived in two parent households, typically with the mom at home and in stable segregated neighborhoods. Today only the most affluent communities can meet those standards.

If we are going to have public schools they need to be radically downsized and not be age segregated. Here is a good example. The School for Pittsburgh, New Hampshire.

https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/xmEyJLaxM0qeCHOtx6vkYA–/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2g9MjA1OTtxPTk1O3c9MzU2OQ–/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia
/commons/3/3d/Pittsburg_NH_school.JPG[/img]

Here is K-12 in one building ( high school consists of 33 students). It is a fully accredited public school and is this size simply because it is in a remote locate in Northern New Hampshire. Older students to not live in their own age segregated world. They have a responsibility to the younger students and you can bet a sixth grader isn’t going to try and bully a 4th grader when the 4th graders big brother or a 16 year old is just down the hallway and watching.

If the public school system isn’t willing to build these kind of schools in the local community and let the teacher’s run them without three layers of administrative overhead then we need to just take our children out of their not fit for purpose institution and vote down any and all funding for the current ‘jobs program’ for education majors and let these $100,000 per year clowns see what the real world looks like when all you have is a Masters in Education from North Carolina Appalachian State Teacher’s College!

unit472
unit472

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEV7x5EudVllUAvDgnnIlQ;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTE5NTY4NwRfcgMyBGZyA3locy1tb3ppbGxhLTAwNARncHJpZANUX29fR3pOcFQxeU0uTUlnV0c0WlVBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwM0BG9yaWdpbgNzZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMxBHBxc3RyA3BpdHRzYnVyZyBuZXcgaGFtcHNoaXJlIHNjaG9vbCBwaG90BHBxc3RybAMzNQRxc3RybAMzNwRxdWVyeQNwaXR0c2J1cmcgbmV3IGhhbXBzaGlyZSBzY2hvb2wgcGhvdG9zBHRfc3RtcAMxNDQxMjA2OTIw?p=pittsburg+new+hampshire+school+photos&fr2=sa-gp-search&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-004

unit472
unit472

PS the need to teach how to post photos to old people too because if I put the URL in the box nothing happens.

Rife
Rife

To escape the mandatory vaccination Nazis.

Dutchman
Dutchman

We home schooled 1990 thru 2001. We used a curriculum (from 1st – 8th grade) from Calvert. My wife was pleased with it.

Calvert Education

It was especially good in the early grades. Besides all the books and materials they have lesson plans which greatly helps you get started.

OP2008
OP2008

TC
We just switched to Monarch Learning. Its Christian-based. Kids range from 11 – 15.

https://www.aop.com/Curriculum

We had no experience/ qualifications to homeschool… just an average couple that didn’t trust public schools anymore. We started out with Bob Jones (too expensive), then moved on to My Father’s World for a couple years, & now that we’ve tried Monarch for a couple weeks it’s the best fit for us so far.

TC you can do this if you want to… you’ll be able to figure it out as you go along. Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect… you can always improve as you learn more about yourselves & your kids.

Backtable
Backtable

TC, what state are you in?

yahsure
yahsure

I considered doing it. I think kids lose a certain amount of training in dealing with people. Plus,What kid wants to hang out with his folks each day? Peterson method? had CD’S For teaching all the grades for 200.00. I would like to have that CD in case society and schools cease to be. Otherwise i would look to using a Bible. Having certain books for reference is a good idea. Old school books and World Atlas are good for Geography.

IndenturedServant

Gayle says:
“I homeschooled my own kids for eight years and am currently homeschooling a grandson. I have also been a public school teacher.”

Wow Gayle! I can’t imagine a better endorsement for homeschooling that a public school teacher homeschooling her own kids and grandkids! I’ll bet the teachers union don’t like you all that much.

anarchyst
anarchyst

Here is food for thought, especially for those who support “public education” and rally about the doctrine of “socialization” that they claim is lacking in “homeschooled” children.
Let’s look at what “public education” has to offer:
1. Cliques and rampant bullying, quite often the victim of bullying punished more harshly for fighting back. Many times, bullies are part of a “protected” class–racial minorities, jocks, etc. Strong official disapproval of students making friends outside their grade level. “Peer pressure” used to push conformity.
2. Teachers that don’t teach reading writing and arithmetic. Pushing communist principles such as rabid environmentalism, blaming humanity for conditions beyond our control as well as pushing “communitarianism” (“it takes a village”)–actually communism. This also ties in with teacher-recommended feminizing and drugging (mostly boys) to make them “less fidgety” and more compliant–all for the “benefit” of the teacher.
3. Non-existent moral guidance…the communist concept of “values clarification”, allowing each student to set his own moral standard with no discussion permitted as to guidelines. A student dare not mention God or the Bible in “public school”–not permitted…discussing Islam is OK…even field trips to mosques are encouraged.
4. Sex education that normalizes homosexuality and other deviant practices, actually encouraging deviant behavior and downplaying heterosexuality and abstinence.
5. Insane zero tolerance practices, punishing students for pop-tarts shaped like guns or a student having an “unauthorized aspirin” or plastic butter knife. Of course, abortions and birth control are available without parental notification.
6. Lockdowns and backpack/locker searches by police utilizing “drug dogs”, getting the upcoming generation used to random unconstitutional searches. Quite often, students “roughed up” by “school resource officers”…just because they can…Lockdowns should be reserved for prisons–not schools…
Since these “socialization” practices seem to be the norm in our “public education” systems, parents who send their children to these dysfunctional “indoctrination centers” are guilty of child abuse…

Children who are homeschooled actually do much better in life as they are comfortable with people of all ages. True socialization takes place outside the classroom.

James the Wanderer

Been there, done that. Started one year after cliques and tribalism made junior high (6th? 7th?) living hell for our elder (female). Took the younger out of elementary school the next year. Could do it because I made decent money as an engineer and didn’t absolutely need wifey working to make ends meet.
Kept it up the rest of the way – elder graduated B.A. Eng. ’13 (it’s what she wanted, now trying to make it as a writer) and the younger is now a junior studying computers.
We used lots of resources from Cox math to old college textbooks of ours (physics, chemistry, geometry don’t change THAT quickly) to library books / tapes to PBS TV shows. If you live near a good public library you can get VHS tapes (or maybe now CDs) of any subject, from Shakespeare to philosophy to geography. The Learning Company does a FANTASTIC job of taping the best professors teaching their favorite subjects (can be pricy; even better, Learning Company tapes from the public library!) and the best of them were BETTER than my profs in college (some of whom, sad to say, were there for the ride and not to inspire or teach more than they had to). If you have a thrift store / thrift bookstore nearby, see if other parents have donated texts they just finished with; you can go by some and find texts for a dollar that originally cost tens / hundreds.
Best of luck; it’s quite a journey, and those who can make it benefit greatly from it. Your kids might respect you more once you TEACH them the Pythagorean Theorem, derivative calculus, basic chemistry, Shakespeare or real economics.
(Full disclosure: Daddy has three degrees (including a doctorate) in the Engineering disciplines, Mommy has a B.S. degree in Engineering Science and Mechanics; YMMV, but your kids will still learn more from you than a place-holder in a public school).

TC
TC

We’re in NC. I’ve heard the socialization argument from multiple people, but from what I can tell the modern meaning of socialization is wanting to dress and act like a tramp or hoodlum, etc.

Backtable
Backtable

TC, we’re in Florida. I don’t know about NC but here we have what are known as “umbrella” schools, which are entities registered with the state as private schools. As such they provide students with a guideline of the required state standards, a record of attendance (submitted bi-annually by the parents), and official transcripts. (www.allendaleacademy.com). Enrolling your child in such a program immediately removes them from the requirement to provide annual home school assessments at the end of the school year. Some states don’t have this requirement, Florida does.

In effect, the parents are the “teachers.” Again, the particular program we use follows state recommendations (x amount of math, language arts, history, etc.) but the specific curriculum used is up to the parents. In elementary school we used an online curriculum (www.time4learning.com) supplemented with some additional material. Also my kids take the CAT-5 (California Assessment Test) every ear which is $25 and allowed to be proctored by the parents. This can be done online at home the paper version mailed to the home (http://www.academicexcellence.com/complete-online-california-achievement-test/) Do I think this test is a good barometer of academic preparation? Hell no, but the states do…my kids’ school requires them to take it (Florida has as similar exam), but if I were a pure homeschooling parent. I’d have my kids take it every year anyway a.) because it isn’t very difficult, and b.) just in case outside state meddlers wanted to cast doubt on the adequacy of my children’s homeschooling education.

Now that all of my kids are in high school we use Coursera (www.coursera.com) edX (www.edx.com) and The Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University ( http://oli.cmu.edu/learn-with-oli/see-our-free-open-courses/). These are all free, college-level courses (typically $49 if you want a certificate) provided by major universities. My kids study these courses online from home, usually introductory college level that typically last 6-12 weeks, and then sit for CLEP exams in that subject. This way they satisfy the high school requirement and by passing CLEP get 3-6 semester hours of college credit for $80. Not a bad deal.

My middle son is 14 and wanted to attend a local college for certification in cyber-security. Becuase of his age they wouldn’t let him attend. So now he’s enrolled online here; http://oli.cmu.edu/learn-with-oli/see-our-free-open-courses/, in a 36 semester hour program that is free, and that prepares him to sit for one of several national certification exams in cyber security ($250 per exam, here: http://certification.comptia.org/getCertified.aspx.) He also recently studied Pearson’s free online C+/C++ certification training here ( http://www.cppinstitute.org/) and sat for his CLP certification in C+ at a local college ($149.00, which included a $100 discount for finishing the course in less than 11 weeks.)

Point being there are a myriad number of ways to gain an education and/or certification cheaply, online. And more ways to do so coming out on a regular basis.

I don’t know how NC handles homeschooling, but if a program like ours here in Florida is available where you are it may well be worth looking into?

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