by Traci Knoppe

Created on: February 15, 2009

I have been a homeschooling parent for 12 years. We started the homeschool journey a bit late when I removed my 3rd child from public school. The reasons for doing so were varied, but one reason was she tested in the gifted level and by the end of 5th grade had completed all of the 5th grade AND 6th grade English curriculum and the teacher had HER grading papers. They didn't know what to do with her. I had the same issues with my oldest two children and the 'gifted program' was a joke!

So I pulled her out and homeschooled her through to her graduation in 2004. She went on to be accepted to three different colleges. I am now homeschooling my three youngest children. All are doing very well in their studies. Teaching children is not rocket science and even if you wanted to teach rocket science there is enough tools, curriculum choices and learning options to make that possible for the homeschooling family. The beauty of homeschooling is that children are free to learn without limitations of grade level or being held back by a class of peers or limitations that a teacher is held to for a specific grade level. The same is true for those children who need extra help and tutoring: in a homeschool setting, it's all personal tutoring!

While there are always exceptions to every rule, many homeschooling students have proven, through testing scores (even spelling bee competitions), to be above academic levels of their public school peers. Many colleges seek out homeschool students - as the educational environment within the homeschool lifestyle encourages independent learning and excellent study habits. Homeschool students are really learning, not just memorizing facts just to pass the next test, only to forget them. They are taught how to seek and find information and their natural bent toward learning and curiosity can be encouraged to it's full potential.

Homeschooling has been around for hundreds of years; many of our American presidents were schooled at home. However, homeschooling as we now know it, has been around for over twenty years, with a surge in growth since the 1990's. It is reported that over 1 million children are homeschooled in the United States at this time, and I would bet that there are quite a few more than that number, as some states do not require homeschoolers to report to anyone. I fully expect the number of homeschooled students to continue to grow rapidly.

With the rapid growth of homeschooling has brought a plethora of homeschooling options and curriculum choices. There are homeschool co-ops, where families share teaching duties, to distance learning options where homeschool students are technically enrolled in a private school, but taught at home by the parent, with the curriculum provided by the school complete with grading the student work and sending report cards. There is homeschool software that has lessons plans, built in testing and grading and record keeping too. Many communities even have classes for upper level homeschool students where higher math and science classes, as well as public speaking, debate and more are taught, often by certified teachers.

Options for parents choosing to homeschool are plentiful. Parents do not need to be certified teachers to provide their child with a well rounded academic education. The best thing a parent can do for their child is to homeschool and let them learn and explore to their full potential.

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