What would be a reason for a parent to home school their children?

Question

especially if the children to not want to be home schooled?

Answer 1

stupidity and arrogance.people think they know whats best,when obviously they have no clue.

Answer 2

if the child HAS NO PROBLEM WITH GOING TO SCHOOL; I SEE NO REASON NOT TO SEND HIM/HER--APPARANTLEY THEY ARE DOING WELL IN SCHOLL AND GET ALONG WELL WITH OTHERS. BUT;, IF THE CHILD HAS MENTAL ISSUES,OR PHYSICAL ISSUES HOME SCHOOL IS THE BEST OPTION FOR HIM/HER. WE BOTH KNOW HOW CRUEL OTHER CHILDREN CAN BE. I THINK THE PARENT SHOULD ACESS THIS SITUATION THEMSELVES;. SINCERELY PERRY PARMER

Answer 3

well if the child has problems interacting with other children or you live in a sketchy neighborhood and you don't want your child to interact with some creeper.

Answer 4

The only reason I could imagine would be that the child was not learning in school.

Answer 5

If they are already having issues at the school they are in.

If the school system is awfull (like Cleveland City School District; I would NEVER send my child there no matter how cornered I thought I was)

If they feel that they can provide a better education in a safer environment than the public/private schools in the area.

...and, last but not least, they are the parents of the child.  When you have children you have the right to raise them how you see fit...when the children are all grown up they can have their own kids and proove their parents wrong (I am laughing as I type this..)

Answer 6

You might check out:  http://www.connectthethoughts.net generally, or review the article in the source below to get the answer to this exact question.

Best,

RAY

Answer 7

There are lots of reasons a parent can choose from to homeschool a child. I'll leave that aside since you are looking specifically at a child who doesn't want to be homeschooled. In such a case, it would be a rescue attempt of some sort on the parent's part--rescuing the child from detrimental social influences at school (which could be as much as developing a negative attitude towards family or as severe as getting involved with drugs), for example, or even poor academics (either due to the school itself or issues within the child that s/he isn't doing the required work). In such cases, the parent is really doing it because s/he feels it's the best way to help the child. The child may not see it that way, but children are children, not adults. A parent is going to have a very different, long-term outlook rather than the here-and-now outlook typical of most kids (since the ability to abstract in such a way is a developmental thing).

Of course, unfortunately, there are parents who also homeschool their unwilling children for selfish reasons, like "forced labour" (helping with a family business, or even babysitting younger siblings). These would not be good reasons to force a child to homeschool.

Now, if you mean that the family is homeschooling and at some point, the kids don't want to be homeschooled *anymore*, then reasons could include the above, but also cluelessness or fear of sending the kids to school.

Answer 8

The reasons for home schooling are as varied as the families doing it. Your first two answerers obviously show no love for it so I will ignore them.

We started home school after my children were beat up on the bus for the third time and nothing was done about it. We had looked into it before and decided it was time to go for it. Our kids were all for it and a year and a half later still love it. We have moved to another area and still chose to continue. Why because we all enjoy it. My kids are happier and so are we. As a unit our family is closer. We continue because we believe that our kids deserve more than what the PS can give them. A life without the oppression of free thinking is great. Our kids question EVERYTHING now. If the history book says the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock (we're studying Am. History this year) it WILL be questioned. Where is it? How big is it? and so on. They were disappointed when they saw how big it is! We enjoy the freedom we have not worrying about how many absences they have had. Can they stay home sick again or are they going to fail if they do? We simply make up the work when they feel better and move on. A lot of times they chose to do the school work even when they are sick just because they enjoy learning and they are bored with being sick. When my oldest was in first grade we ended up having her tonsils removed. She had strep so many times that the only way to stop the cycle was to remove them. She just kept catching it from the kids around her until she became a carrier. Since we have pulled them the only reason for any of them to go to the Dr is for their physicals. Even the Dr's can tell us that our visits to them have dramatically decreased.

We spoke with our kids about HS first and they were excited to try it. We all went into this with the attitude of if it doesn't work we know where the PS is and will enroll them. We all went in with our eyes and minds open. Now we wouldn't change it for the world.

Answer 9

Religion, school safety, quality of education.

Answer 10

Well, if the child had ADD or ADHD and it was affecting there grades, if they had social/interacting issues, the discipline methods were inappropriate, the system wasn't fitting your child's needs, there was an issue with someone from the faculty  or a student, they weren't getting the one-on-one attention they needed, or the environment was too distracting for them. My best is homeschooled (due to issues with the faculty) and was reluctant at first but now she loves it. She says it's great because it's not scheduled or controlled and she can learn at her own pace.

Answer 11

I can't speak for everyone, but I homeschool my kids not for just one reason, but many.

I received a lousy education at Public school.  I had to study for years as an adult just to bring myself where I should have been when I left High School.

I was teased mercilessly, beat up, excluded, and pushed around the entire time I attended Public School.  And teachers did nothing to help me, in fact I had one teacher join in the teasing.

In second grade I was once grabbed by the hair and dragged out of my chair by a teacher, my crime?  I was tapping in time to the music that the visiting music teacher was playing.

I was passed from grade to grade even though I didn't know how to do basic arithmetic.  It would have been much better to hold me back or send me to a remedial math class early on, but instead I was pushed along until I was so thoroughly confused that I gave up.

The U.S. scores very low on international tests of academic skills, some third world countries score higher.

Those were the negatives, here are the positives:

I knew I could make sure my kids would learn what they needed to know.  If I didn't know something, we would learn it together and both benefit.

I could incorporate my family's values into the curriculum.

I could make sure my kids were treated as individuals.

I can, with effort, make up for anything positive the school has to offer, and avoid the negative.

My kids are being allowed time to be kids.

I could go on, but I have to serve lunch!

As for kids not wanting to be home schooled, I think it depends.  My kids are happy with it, if they weren't I would take their concerns into account.  I might still decide that homeschool is better, but I might not.  Sometimes kids don't always know whats best for them.  For example, my kids would live on Ice Cream, Pizza, chocolate, and McDonalds if I allowed it.  Just because they want something doesn't automatically make it best.  I would have to sit with them and look at the options, the problems they were having with homeschool, what the public schools in our area are like, etc. before I decided whether to continue against their will or not.

Answer 12

They can make sure you are getting excatly what you need out of your schooling. Instead of it being one on twenty it can be one on one learning.

It's much easier and you don't spend as much time schooling either.

I'm homeschooling this year.

Answer 13

There are plenty of reasons to homeschool.  Most importantly from my perspective is that there are more opportunities to learn and experience life and a rich environment.  There is time to do what you want, when you want and make it what you desire.

Now, if the children do not want to be homeschooled, well, that would imply to me that there is some dysfunction in the family unit that is making homeschooling unenjoyable.  

If there is such an issue, then maybe the parents think they can fix it, deny it exists or are oblivious to the problem.

I don't have any first hand knowledge of this from my own family or any close friends.  Either the problem isn't widespread or it's only amongst the homeschoolers that don't hang with the rest of us.

:D

Answer 14

Well, in my instance my parents homeschooled me becuase we lived in South Carolina, which rated at the time I think 52nd state in only 50 U.S. states.  It was a matter of necessity.

Answer 15

There are so many different possible reasons.  Here are a few.

Failure.  Bad influences.

I know a mom who took her child out of school because the child was failing.  The child needed more attention than the schools could provide and needed to be separated from some bad influences in her school.

Safety.

Another mom withdrew her child due to fears for the child's safety.  In a 2 week period, three incidents happened.  The child and a friend had a man try to pull them into his car as they walked home from school.  And on two separate occasions, she found police officers just outside the school in the morning looking for criminals with guns.  When the second gun incident happened, she immediately took her child home and didn't want the child back there.

Poor education.  Troubles with the school.

I've known people who withdrew their child after too many troubles with the school that weren't resolved to their satisfaction or who realized that their child wasn't getting a decent education and that they wouldn't be able to change that soon enough for their child's sake.

Bullying.

Some have removed the child due to too much bullying or other problems with other children.  Especially when it seemed that school officials weren't dealing with the problem appropriately.

Morals.  Religious reasons.

Some parents remove a child when they get fed up with the immoral stuff that often goes on in schools these days.  When they see that their child is being taught that immoral things are good or that moral things are bad, they can get fed up enough and realize that the child will be better off outside of the negative influence of the school.

Medical reasons.

Some remove the child because of medical issues.  The child may be in and out of the hospital so much that homeschooling will provide a more consistent education than a school can.  Or things at the school may be aggravating the medical condition and it may be better for the child to get away from the problems.

Answer 16

My parents decided to home school me and my 3 siblings because of the bad experiences they had in regular school. I don't really like home schooling but I know it's the best thing for me.

Answer 17

1) They think they can do a better job than school teachers.

2) They are evil.

3) They are worried that their children won't fit in or will get picked on by other school kids.

4) They are overprotective.

5) COMPLETELY INSANE.

Answer 18

Some parents thing the school system is bad and think they could do better.  and some people can do better.  Or it could also be that the world is so crazy now they don't believe it is safe to send their children out

Answer 19

Well, my kids want to be homeschooled.

The reasons we pulled them from school include

1. our gifted children were not learning anything new, they were bored, and didn't want to be there.

2. our disabled children weren't learning anything new, the teachers and assistants consistently underestimated their ability and broke federal law in regards to special education.

3. i overheard the speech path and prek teacher discussing ways to get me to MEDICATE my four year old BEFORE HE WAS EVEN A STUDENT because he was hyper. Duh. Four year olds have energy because they aren't meant to be stuck in class for three hours at a time.

Those are specific reasons. Increasingly, I do not believe that state-mandated education is appropriate at young ages, when children learn best while receiving tactile and proprioceptive input. I do not believe that it's appropriate at older ages. I honestly believe that people are smart enough to learn without being manipulated by grades, rewards and punishments. One-on-one education will always be more appropriate, and while some children do well in groups, it's not ideal and not historically how humans have learned. It's the primary cause for disconnect in families, not TV, not peers.

Answer 20

Those are two different questions, imo. Neither have easy answers. I can tell you why I homeschool, but the next person's answer may be different than mine. (My reasons are improved academics, health and lifestyle.) It is the same as if I asked what a reason would be for sending a child to public school. Public school parents would have different reasons for why they chose that method of education for their kids instead of private school, cyber-school, traditional homeschool, charter school, educational co-ops or cyber school. There are many choices and no one choice is right for every student or family situation. Some kids do want to homeschool, but the parents keep them in public or private schools. Some homeschooled kids would rather use a different method of homeschool than their parents provide for them. Parents all want the best possible education and overall lifestyle for their children. It is only natural that what is best for one person, may not be for the next. Sometimes kids would make different choices from their parents if they could. But, it isn't always possible for the parent to acquiesce and it is not always in the child's best interest either. Sometimes the kids are right and the parents should consider changing the way the child is educated, but parents are only human and we do make mistakes.

EDIT: Please excuse the bigots who think it is acceptable to call other people insane or clueless without ever knowing them or even giving informed thought to how they live their lives. It is sad that such bigotry persists in our age, but it is actually quite common. I am sorry that you received such ridiculous answers to your question. You should be able to ask an intelligent question here and receive intelligent answers.

Answer 21

There are many reasons for parents to homeschool their children (and children to ask to be homeschooled); they are as varied as the number of homeschool kids.  Everyone homeschools for a different reason as each child has different needs.

If a child didn't want to be homeschooled, that would narrow things down a bit.  Perhaps the child's grades were in the gutter, and after trying everything possible with the school, the parent decided that the child's grades and future were more important than being around their friends all the time.  Perhaps the child has fallen in with a rough group, and after taking various steps, the parent feels that it is best to remove the child from the situation and help them focus on what they need to.  Perhaps the school is very dangerous and the parent would rather not get the phone call that their child was knifed in the hall or beat to pieces on the playground.

And sometimes, yes, parents homeschool their children because that's what everyone around them seems to be doing - they jump in headfirst without finding out what it really entails.  Some of those parents do just fine, while some of them really shouldn't homeschool - they should learn to truly be a parent first.

But quite honestly, I see a far greater number of parents completely turning their child over to the school system to be raised, and then blaming the teachers when the children have discipline problems and fail.  If I'm going to err with my child, I'd rather err on the side of being a strong and supportive parent.  But that's me :)

Homeschooling isn't for everyone, and not everyone should homeschool.  In the same vein though, public and private school aren't for everyone, and not every child does well - or even wants to be - in a classroom.  We homeschool because our son asked (actually begged) to, and it's the right learning and growing environment for him.  Other families make their choices for other reasons.

Hope that helps :)

Answer 22

I homeschool my child, we do it because the public school in our area is horrible and is not a safe place at all.(gang activity, drugs, etc. and this is the JR high) The private school is to expensive but his enrolled in an Islamic academy on Sundays. Also my son had ADD and Dyslexia and learns faster one on one. We have been doing this for a year now with great success.

Answer 23

Too many schools are having violent situations.

Answer 24

When my son started having mood swings at 13 and failing work he had always had no problem passing, we found through therapy that he was in the beginnings of Bipolar disorder. His mom recognized it as she had the same problems he did at that age but nobody recognised it for years. She wasn't diagnosed until she was in her 30's.

The therapist recommended that we try homeschooling. We had talked about it in the past but she never felt that she could do it. But when he said that was what he thought was best she did it.

Turns out she couldn't and the marriage broke up shortly after that. However he stayed with me and I continued to home school him as we had purchased a program that was on VCR that was filmed in a classroom. We lived in a rural setting with family living close by and I was by the house several times a day so he was never far from an adult. He got himself up, fixed breakfast and popped his tapes in.

At the time he was very active in BMX racing and we traveled at least once a month to out of town races. If we had a race I would tell him if he was caught up with his work we could leave early. Great incentive. He could easily do a weeks work in 3 days and on Thursdays we were packed and on the way out.

There are a lot of reasons to do it. Disagreement with the school system. Religious reasons. Just feeling you can do a better job than the public school system.

As to the child not wanting it, you have to make sure they have  proper social activities. If you are in a large church, as we were, then that is taken care of. You can join a homeschool support group that provides outings and social interaction with other children. In many school systems, the law requires that homeschooled children be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports, cheer leading, band and chorus.

Research all the options before saying yea or nay.

Answer 25

I think everyone has a different reason to actually get started. In our case, our eyes where open to the lacking public school system soon after my daughter went to 6th grade. In a nutshell, my child had come from a very disciplined private school and was having a hard time with the fact that none of the kids at her new school would even listen to the teacher. The final straw was when she was "propositioned" (to put it nicely) by a boy in her class who had been held back a couple of times. The solution that the principal thought was appropriate (after I threatened to call the cops due to NO returned phone calls) was to bring my child AND the boy into the same room and ask them together what happened. I pulled her out the next day.

I looked into home school and did a lot of research finding that kids who do this work at their own pace, follow there interests and usually end up with better test scores. We have found all that to be true and have benefited in having a closer family, happier kids who have great friends and many interests.