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Add to FavoritesI have experienced both home-schooling and public education, and I found I learned far more and tried much harder in home education. Although I found the drawback to home education to be a reduction in social contact, it doesn't have to be that way.
Home education offers less distraction with the ability to work one-on-one with a teacher, be it a parent or a distance education correspondent. Being able to talk to the teacher is a big help; with large classrooms it can be very hard to ensure the quality of everyone's learning. Much of my education was through online correspondence, and worked similarly to a classroom environment without having to deal with the distraction of many other students. I was able to contact all of my teachers through phone and e-mail and they would almost always be available during regular school hours.
By working through Argyll Home School, I used a nearly identical curriculum to the public school system. The difference was a flexibility to work on subjects at leisure. I found that minimally-directed learning helped me learn time management skills essential for college. Of course, my parents were the primary force that kept me focussed on my studies, as you can't expect any elementary student just to sit and do their homework all day.
I entered the public education system for the last two years of high school. The first difficulty I found here was how enforced the learning felt. It seemed that the teachers relied more upon intimidation for students to get their work done. What I found most intimidating was the constant barrage of tests and minor assignments designed to motivate students to read the textbooks. As a studious student, I worked myself into a frenzy trying to keep up with all of the little details and mini assignments due every single class.
By the end of my second year, I had already begun to take an entirely new attitude to learning: avoidance. Most of my new friends also employed the strategy, and I found that students had trouble accepting anyone who is a hard worker, as it makes them feel lesser somehow. Combine a collective attitude with the numbing effect of constant assignments, and my grades began to slip.
Don't ge me wrong, I had to work very hard in home school as well. The difference was that the teachers would provide larger assignments and give students more time to work on them. There were also fewer small tests, so the level of pressure was much lower.
Although the public system seems geared to prepare students for "real life" by throwing as much stress their way as possible, it doesn't seem to culture a good environment for learning. Personally, I can't learn well under high-stress situations, and that described just about every day at public school for me.
As I believe learning is the entire point of education, home-schooling is a superior route. The HSLDA (Home School Legal Defence Association) provides research that shows superior academic excellence in home-schooling. They summarize an independent study that found "homeschoolers, on the average, out-performed their counterparts in the public schools by 30 to 37 percentile points in all subjects" (Academic Statistics in Homeschooling, October 22, 2004).
And as to whether public education is better for preparing students for "real life," how much "real life" do you want them exposed to? High schools are notorious for drug and alcohol use, and combined with high stress (much of it social stress), it puts many students into a slump they have trouble getting out of in time for college or university.
With home-schooling, students can still be involved with clubs and events to make friends, and their education won't be so closely tied to social distractions. Having a quiet workspace, the ability to create a well-tailored, individual curriculum and a relaxed environment make home-schooling a better way to learn.
Sources:
J. Michael Smith, President and Michael P. Farris, Chairman. Legal Research Supplement, October 22, 2004. Academic Statistics on Homeschooling.
Retrie ved Jan 14, 2009 from www.hslda.org.
Learn more about this author, Charles Fischer.
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No
Like many other things in life, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.... Nowhere is that more evident than home schooling your child. On the surface to persons with no or little personal experience in teaching, it looks like a good way to "tailor" your child's thinking. Unfortunately it turns out to be a real can of worms and in many cases, the child could end up learning less and being worse off than if they had been formally educated. Let's take a look at why this is not beneficial for your child or children.
1) No Child Left Behind Act - a monumental change in how American education is handled in public schools and dictates specific criteria and areas of learning from Kindergarten till 12th grade for each child. For example, First Graders are required to know and be able to explain specific skills such as numbers recognition, basic reading skills, understanding of scientific concepts, etc. Parents choosing to home school their children aren't required to adhere to this but are taking a chance when the child applies for college or even take the SAT, they will fail. Plus many parents who opt to homeschool their children lack a background as an educator, increasing the chance a critical skill or area will not be taught to their child.
2) Update of Information and Educational Techniques - Teachers in both public and private schools regularly attend seminars and courses to expose them to the latest and greatest techniques and data sources for use in their classroom. Those who choose to homeschool, unless they make an effort to update their data sources and techniques run a good chance of providing obsolete or incorrect data to the student.
3) Investment of time - teaching is a profession and it is not uncommon to see teachers working well over 40 hours a week to prepare lesson plans, creating quizzes, grading homework, etc. It is highly unlikely someone who is attempting to homeschool their children put in a similar or comparable effort so will end up "short-changing" their kids.
4) Subject Specialization - There are few parents that can claim to be competent in multiple fields normally taught to elementary students. It's one thing to be able to add and subtract but how about also understanding how to explain the difference between an adverb and a verb or being able to explain the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 time or explaining ratios or review the events leading up to the American Revolutionary War? Once a student heads to intermediate, high school or even college, the educational gap gets even wider because there are teachers who specialize in a single subject such as English or Math or Science. How can a parent hope to provide the same quality of education to their homeschooled child? My experience has been most adults are versed in only a few subject areas so wouldn't be qualified to be good teachers.
5) Social Interaction - My grandfather once said "Man is a social creature and does not do well on his own". Examples like Robinson Crusoe or Tom Hanks in Castaway, are more the exception to the rule. Home school children unless enrolled in extra-curricular activities like cheerleading or playing Little League, are deprived of the experience to interact with their peers. This will lead to a tendency to be introverted or shy, possibly for the rest of their lives. Having grown up without the interaction with peers till 9th grade, I would say this is a cruel thing to deliberately do to your children. Ironically, more time spent taking the homeschooled child to social events cuts down on the time spent on figuring out what to teach them. (see Item 3 above.)
Finally, the best proof that shows why homeschooling is inferior to formal education is when parents give up on homeschooling their child and put them in public school. Why public schools? Because usually the child is unable to meet the academic standards or income requirements to enter private schools. Time and time again where both the child and parents end up at odds with the teachers and school administrations because "their child is not being treated right". The real problem is the child is deficient in one or more key areas of education as compared to their peers who have always attended public or privat schools and the parents refuse to accept responsibility or do anything about it.
So if you have a friend or relative that is convinced that homeschooling is just as effective or more effective than formal education, let them know they're wrong...for their childrens' sake.
Learn more about this author, R Shimoda.
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