There are 2.3 million home-educated students in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2010
Kai Schwoerer/Getty ImagesLast month, a schoolteacher in Texas made headlines when she decided to try “something new” and said she wouldn’t assign homework this academic year.
Her reason? Research had shown that children and families thrive when they’re able to spend more time together — reading, eating meals or even just playing outside — and she had been unable to find data showing that homework actually improved outcomes for kids. A lot of families loved her idea and wished the teachers in their schools felt likewise.
Each school year brings new teachers and new classroom practices, which can mean learning (and then unlearning) new routines, rules and classroom dynamics. Some families have decided to sidestep all of this and customize their children’s learning experience by home schooling.
Each year, fewer students head back to traditional classrooms during back-to-school season, and are learning at home instead. According to March 2016 data from the National Home Education Research Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Oregon that does research on home schooling, there are about 2.3 million home-educated students in the U.S., up from approximately 2 million children (in grades kindergarten to 12) in the spring of 2010. The home-school population has grown about 2% to 8% a year over the past few years, the NHERI document says.
The increase in the number of children being home-schooled is largely attributed to the fact that home schooling today is similar to regular schooling in many ways.
“Several states have adopted the common core curriculum which makes it easier to take to home schooling,” said Jim Mason, Director of Litigation at Home-school Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), a nonprofit that defends the constitutional rights of parents who home-school. Other resources to help parents get started, and ensure that they are following the law, are available now, making it easier to adopt home schooling, he added. The number of families home schooling is growing such that there is always a network available wherever one lives, he says.
In terms of academics and extracurricular activities, home-schooled children get as much as other children do, parents say.
“It is no longer isolating,” says Amy Kelley, a mother of seven from New York who has home-schooled all of her children. She and her children are part of a large home schooling group, and her children are exposed to all kinds of activities such as tennis classes, book groups and clubs for girls. “The number of children home schooling is so large now that they have their own basketball and volleyball teams.” While Kelley initially got into home schooling because she had a child with special needs and felt home schooling would be better, she soon saw the advantages of home schooling and decided to take her other children down the same route.
Home schooling may appear to circumvent the debates on homework, but it isn’t an escape. In fact, few parents decide to home-school their children so they can avoid homework. It’s often academically rigorous and home-schooled high-school students who wish to take advanced courses take classes at community colleges or classes online to bolster their learning at home.
And advocates of home schooling say there is often less time wasted, which means home-schooled children are able to accomplish more in a day. According to research by NHERI, home-educated students typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.
“There is no wasting time with things like attendance, walking from one classroom to another, etc. and since there is no wasted time, children are able to get more work done,” Kelley says.
Also, since siblings spend the day together, the family is more cohesive, she adds. And this is what the schoolteacher in Texas hopes will be the outcome of her decision to not give her students take-home assignments this year.
The role of the family, and the opportunity for parents to have a larger say in what children learn, is one of the main reasons many parents today choose home schooling.
That’s the case for Nora Merriam, a mother of six living in New York. Though she and her husband are both schoolteachers, they chose to home-school their children because they wanted to teach them their religion and faith within the academic setting. “Faith formation was the main reason, but we also realized that it was a great choice because with home schooling you teach children a lot more. There is experiential learning and scope for creativity,” Merriam says. In a survey done by the U.S. Department of Education, in 2012, 64% of parents whose children are home-schooled said they chose to home-school their children because of religious reasons.
Although choosing to home-school and to opt out of traditional schools isn’t always easy, and some families wind up clashing with their local districts.
This back-to-school season, Mason of HSLDA said he has been hearing from parents who need help with legal issues.
Families in several states, such as Connecticut and Hawaii have had issues that were then sorted out by the HSLDA.
Also, while other resources such as curriculum are now available for families that choose home schooling, many high school graduates who have been home-schooled may find it tough to land jobs in the military and law-enforcement agencies. The HSLDA is working toward ironing these troubles out, Mason said.
We both suffered through ‘government schools’ – growing up in Pennsylvania. We were not going to put our children through that uninspiring / monotonous / indoctrination.
So in 1990 my wife began home schooling. We used Calvert Home School curriculum. It was very helpful go get the ball rolling. All the kids in the neighborhood wanted to be home schooled.
In the end, I made transcripts, they took SAT’s, and were accepted at several colleges.
What used to piss me off the most when idiots would ask: “well what do they do for socialization?” I would counter: You mean socializing with little niggers in the classroom who use ‘fuck’ in every other sentence? You mean the metal detectors? You mean the police in the halls? You mean zero tolerance? You mean crap food in the cafeteria? You mean putting up with little thugs on the school bus? And this is mild Minneapolis. Just think what it must be like in Chicago.
Google:
John Holt – Growing Without Schooling
Neil Postman – Amusing Ourselves to Death, The End of Childhood, The End of Education
I am with you, and I fully congratulate you for your ethics and
efforts!
I would like to mention the heroin epidemic. The locals tell me
the middle school age children are fully exposed. There was a near
death OD last year. I am living in small town rural. Towns w/ 1K
or even less. Chicago? Parents are lucky their kid gets home alive.
When I was in middle school my mother gave me the option of being homeschooled. It had a significant impact on my life. In public school kids are taught to go to a person for answers and direction. They are reliant on other people telling/assigning them what they will learn and being the source of the answers. In homeschooling, you choose what you learn then compile data and research to come up with the most probable answers. There’s nobody telling you what your learning is wrong or your answers are wrong.
I was reading on Zerohedge (yesterday?) about the lack of “soft skills” and the absence of critical thinking skills. This is entirely the reason why schools are failing students. They ask the questions and provide the answers. Students can go throughout their whole entire education (and in college) without being curious or teaching themselves anything.
As the public schools have seemingly become little more than Marxist indoctrination centers, and hunting grounds for the various and sundry homosexual pedophiles in education, home schooling your children is your only option.
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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.
correct X 100%
My fore mentioned homeschooling neighbor just brought us a pan of fresh cinnamon rolls. The 4 year old got to socialize with my giant Doberman and regular sized pug. Socialization takes place
outside of school.
The Wife and I have Homeschooled 3 children from birth to graduation. 1 child has two years till graduation. Our oldest was from 10th grade to graduation. No tequila or do overs with the BEST decision of my-our lives.
My wife and I have home schooled our 3 boys for 14 years. Best decision we ever made.
Most home schoolers are nice people, probably way too nice for this world. So here’s the straight info: If you are a parent and actually care about your school age children, home school them if your IQ is above room temperature.
Yes, it is hard. Yes, you will not make as much money. And yes, you and your children will all become better people for it.
If you’re a greedy, selfish prick who only cares about yourself, then send your kids to the government indoctrination centers they call public schools. And, in time, I’m pretty certain you’ll get the kind of kids you deserve.
The decision is really that simple!
Any of you guys used/looked into the Ron Paul home school courses? I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Khan academy, too. We are seriously considering doing this with our children. My oldest is 3, so that means two things: one, we have a little time to decide. Two, since things keep getting worse, by the time our unborn one is school aged, just imagine how fucked up everything will be by then.
Stay away from any type of schooling that does not allow you total freedom to choose what you do, when you do it, why you do it. I guarantee you will purchase or start some type schooling or curriculum and in a short period of time realize it is not going to work for you or your child. Over the Years, 20 or so, we have used multiple sources for individual subjects for each child. I am totally opposed to any type of schooling that does not leave YOU the parent in complete and total control of the content and the learning environment. The overwhelming amount of material that is available today is amazing, take your time read, study and ask questions. Do not be hasty. Discover each of your children’s learning style, because all children are different.
I can not recommend the Homeschool Legal Defenses Association enough. HSLDA.org
Hey Gator – we’re in the same boat, and I too was wondering about the RP stuff. Not sure if it was recommended here or not, but I’m working my way through “A Well Trained Mind” – it’s kind of the reference standard for home schoolers. It suggests subjects, timing, source materials, etc. Take a look.
You won’t read about this on CBC news.
It is a no brainer and why is it. Well that is easy. They aren’t learning a whole lot in “school”. I have friend, who teaches, or tries to. Tells me that it has become nothing more then a warehouse for teenagers. Accomodations galore and nothing too extreme.
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I mentioned this before in another post. At the time the young boy was in Grade 7 in Truro Nova Scotia. He will likely be starting Grade 8 next week seeing as nobody fails anymore. A report was released recently documented that 89.9% of students who graduate from Grade 9 finish High School in 3 years.
But back to this fellow going into Grade 8. The accomodation he has is cringe worthy. He has anxiety problems. Likes to jerk off when stressed. So what did the school board decide to do. Well they put a tent for privacy in classroom.
How in the fuck is a teacher supposed to educate students under these conditions. Home schooling is the only sane choice.
Government schools are nothing more than daycare.
I was homeschooled, except for a short year and a half of highschool. I didn’t like the highschool. Some of my siblings were also homeschooled at different times; my mother tried to tailor it to our individual needs. My brother who started college classes at 12 had no need to waste time on highschool, and never got a diploma. He makes 6 figures in technology. Another brother needed extra help and she taught him from 3rd grade to 8th. Homeschooling was great in many respects. I like that she was able to take us to countless museums, libraries all over the country, or that we could go on trips at all times of the year without having to worry about school. In my case, my love of books meant that I churned through 2 or 3 books a day, so I never really needed to study to pass the state tests. I mainly just ran around and played, read a book, then ran around some more. I turned out fine. I’m not rich, but I’m successful and trusted by my employer and my subordinates. I’d recommend it to any parent with a functional brain.
My eldest was suffering from “junior high school girl bitchiness’, as a receiver, not as a giver. The schools could / would do nothing. We homeschooled her from the seventh grade on, she took a G.E.D. from West Virginia and graduated with an English degree (her choice) from Utah. She is working now, trying to save enough money to take a trip to Canada.
The boy started homeschooling in third grade. He is studying I.T. and should graduate Dec 2017 at current plans (delayed by a truly Byzantine system of pre-requisites: this semester he found out for Class XXXX he was expected to have prior knowledge of C++ by the instructor. How this little tidbit escaped both the catalog and the first-day curriculum sheet is beyond me, but at least he knows and we can find him a book or two to learn it from). And if Class WWWW is a pre-requisite for Class YYYY and isn’t being taught when you need it, then you wait for a semester when it is being taught. Isn’t formal education wonderful?)
However, the point is that they were both homeschooled, primarily by the wife (B.S. Material Science & Engineering) and backed up with me (engineering degrees). So high school math and science was not a problem, but nearly everyone can do it if they try.