At one time perceived as a quickly passing fad, homeschooling is now considered a popular alternative to conventional education models. According to Department of Education estimates, 1.5 American students were homeschooled during the 2008-09 academic year. The National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) research team concludes the number of homeschooled students is higher than government estimates, perhaps topping two million students during the same time frame. Instead of embracing the growing homeschooling trend, education leaders have increased their anti-homeschooling rhetoric in hope of containing the flight from traditional education institutions.
A number of factors play into the burgeoning homeschooling trend. First, the quality of American public education has dramatically decreased over the past twenty years. The reasons for the decline include lack of resources, poor teacher training, and the dilution of challenging curriculum. Second, public education has gotten on board the political correctness movement that started on Ivy League campuses back in the late 1980s. The propaganda disseminated by educators appalls many parents, and thus they pull their children out of traditional education venues in order to teach what they believe should be the building blocks of a quality education. Finally parents with children who have learning problems understand their children perform better in a focused one-on-one environment.
If your child has a condition that hinders education advancement, then you should carefully consider the benefits of homeschooling. For years, children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD were pumped full of psycho stimulants and forced to endure classroom lectures, while they squirmed in their seats, eyes fixed on extraneous stimuli. Once homeschooling became a viable option, parents began pulling their ADD/ADHD children out of classroom throughout the country. Homeschooling is really for you if your child has a learning impediment such as ADD/ADHD.
Here are three additional criteria to consider before deciding if homeschooling is really for you:
Resources
Homeschooling requires a substantial financial investment. Textbook costs alone can deter a parent from homeschooling their child, but additional finance draining costs include teaching supplements, student supplies, and extracurricular expenses. Remember that homeschooling does not exempt you from paying property taxes that fund public education, so you face the same financial dilemma confronting parents who place their children in private schools. While understanding your child’s learning limitations is the first criterion for deciding if homeschooling is really for you, financial considerations follow in a close second place.
Time
Who will instruct your child in a home school environment? In the era of two income households, finding time to home school your child is an unrealistic expectation. This is even more apparent during the current recession. You can hire a professional to home school your child, but then you add another significant expense to an already expensive home school expense list. If you have time to commit, then homeschooling may be an alternative to traditional education venues. The time you spend homeschooling does not have to follow traditional models (8-5, five weekdays), but it does require at least the same amount of time. Moreover, you assume the role of teacher, meaning you will spend time planning lessons and learning activities.
Qualifications
One of the cogent arguments against homeschooling is the lack of qualifications sanctioned by a governing body. Anyone can home school their children, even if they do not fully grasp many of the subjects. The best homeschooling parents are former teachers, but they represent a small percentage of homeschooling parents. Teaching is not only about absorbing copious amounts of information, but also about how to effectively convey the knowledge in a manner that helps your child learn. Do you have the patience necessary to teach your child? Do you deliver information in a manner in which your child understands? Do you have more than a rudimentary grasp of most education subjects?
Education experts once considered homeschooling to be a knee jerk reaction to rapidly deteriorating American education system. However, homeschooling has its roots in centuries of education tradition throughout the world. You may loathe the current state of public and private education, but you cannot solely base your homeschooling decision on an unfettered disdain for politically correct propaganda. You should base your homeschooling decision on whether you have the resources, time, and qualification to provide your child with a first rate education. Most importantly, you must ascertain whether your child will thrive in a focused, one-on-one learning environment.