Why would you choose to home-school your child?

Question

I am a teacher in the UK, and I am interested in the popularity of home-schooling in the US as it doesn't really happen here. Could you tell me please, for what reasons would you choose to home-school? Do you think they get a better education, and in what way? Thank you!

Answer 1

Hello from across the pond!

  I don't know much about UK schools or UK homeschoolers. I don't know why other people choose homeschool in the US, but I can tell you why my family chose homeschool. It had nothing to do with sheltering or overprotection. I had no religious motivation either. Our child had been in Head Start since she was three. We are a reading family and had read to her everyday since she was old enough to sit in a lap an listen. She was bright, vivacious, curious and intelligent. At 5 she went into kindergarten. That is when they began pushing us to drug our child. There were veiled threats. (If we refused to medicate, the school might be forced to consider us neglectful parents. We knew that a visit from a state social worker would follow.)  There was refusal to seek any other solution to the schools inability to teach our child. By third grade my kid was on uppers in the morning and afternoon and downers at night to sleep. She could not read and she could not do simple math. She was not growing and was notably smaller than the other children in her class. She had perpetual dark rings under her eyes. She was terribly thin, because the medications killed her appetite. She wanted to eat, but could not. If you've seen a meth addict try to eat, you know what it was like to watch my child at mealtime. It broke my heart. Still, the teachers never stopped asking me to have the doctor up her medication. We begged for and finally demanded an IEP. Suddenly, the school began to tell us our child was making progress; we didn't need to worry anymore. Yet, at home we could tell she still had no grasp of the work that was being sent home unfinished at the end of the day. It was clear that the school just wanted my husband and I to go away. The last straw came when a note was sent home saying that all the students had been tested and out child scored as though she had only been in first grade for one month. The note contained a list of things WE needed to do to get our child up to grade level. We had had enough. It was useles to change schools. In our area this elemetary school is considered one of the best because the majority of kids score so highly on standardized tests. We decided to homeschool. My child is now completely drug free and learning. Apparently, the problem was never with her body chemistry, but with the way she was being taught. She had started to see herself as stupid before. She had been so withdrawn and sad that she never had a chance to play because from the moment she came home until the moment she went to bed, we were trying to get her schoolwork completed. She was never able to complete it in class. She's now confident and happy.

   So here we are about two years later: She's put on a normal amount of weight. Her cheeks are pink and she is neither somber nor hyper. She is a normal, active child. She has discovered interests in; Sign Language, art, Shakespeare, Japanese culture, etc. Because of our flexible curriculum, she can explore these interests at her whim. This keeps education exciting, as it should be. She has a full and varied social life. Her PE consists of Yoga, martial arts classes, trampoline jumping and walking and biking with friends in the neighborhood. Where she was isolated before, now she is free to participate in a variety of community activities with a wider variety of people.

I'm rambling horribly, but anyway, that is why we homeschool.

Answer 2

All of my kids went to public school because I had to work and couldn't afford to home school.........But...I know several home schooled kids.

   They work at their own pace. They don't have to worry about being popular, or what to wear....all of the home schooled kids that I know are superior in knowledge.....they learn faster, do much better, are able to skip grades because they learn at their own pace......they do very well and they don't have all the issues that public school kids have. However they don't have socialization skills, field trips with lots of kids, able to be on sports teams, they do miss out on stuff.......physical education, possibly music and art, things like that. The parents of home schoolers really need to make sure the kids have a well rounded education.

Answer 3

I chose to homeschool my child because he begged for it; after taking a serious look at the schools in our area, I found out why.

My son (age 10) tests as highly gifted (average 3-4 years above grade level) and also has an auditory form of dyslexia.  These traits, as you know, are not easy to teach to in a standard classroom.  From ages 3.5-6.5, he was enrolled in a private school for gifted kids, and he excelled.  He absolutely loved it, to the point that he threw a fit when he found out that Christmas break meant two weeks of no school!

We moved to another state during his first grade year (age 6); he was easily ready for third grade (age 8-9).  We checked around to schools, interviewed several, and found one that literally promised us they could keep him challenged.  He was so excited; the first day, I dropped him off and met the teacher, and she practically swooned over him.  "You can read?  How wonderful!  We have one other little boy who can read as well!"  He looked at me sideways...in his previous school, every child started reading instruction in the 3-4 year old class.  (Not saying every child should...but a school that touts itself as offering gifted education shouldn't be ready to burst at a 6yo who can read.)

I picked him up after school, and he ran to me, crying.  His teacher had made him spend 40 minutes writing the letter "A" (not even upper and lower case, just upper) and another 40 minutes writing the number "2".  Apparently this was to be the daily practice.  (I did verify the times with the teacher the next day.)  For homework, he had to spend another 20 minutes on each.  Oh, my stars.

The next day, I volunteered to prep workbook pages for each of the kids (apparently the teachers here can't rip their own workbook pages out, they require a parent to do it), so that I could see what level of work was involved.  Everything in each of the workbooks was comparable to what he learned in Jr. K (similar to a Kindergarten class in a government school) 2 years prior.  I asked the teacher if this was for the semester, and she proudly announced that it was for the year.  She then went on to tell me that my son is an extreme problem child, with severe ADHD, and WILL be medicated if he's to remain in her classroom.  (Mind you, this was a private school, one that we were paying for, that advertised itself as a school for gifted kids.)  

I told her that he's bored silly and finishes in five minutes what she gives 30-40 minutes for, and asked her what enrichment work she plans for kids who finish early; there was none.  Every child is to learn at the same pace, to finish their work at the same pace, and to do so with a cheerful attitude, don't you know.  That's how children learn.  And if he'd like to remain in her classroom, he will learn how to have a cheerful heart under her regime.  And that's that.

(She had known him for a full day and a half when she decided that he's a problem child and needed to be zombied out on Ritalin; not sure how it works in the UK, but in some areas of the US, if a teacher makes a statement like that and reports it to administration, the parent is required by law to have their child tested and medicated.  If the parent doesn't, the District Attorney {the local legal official} will fine them or take them to court to require them to - it's for the child's own good, apparently.)

I wasn't sure whether the area we had just moved into was an area like that, but I wasn't about to find out.  I went to check at the local public (government-run) schools to find out what the enrollment procedure was...kids were running amok, and when I found out how low the curriculum standards were, I decided to look into homeschooling after all.

There are some incredible public schools here, but none of them exist in our district.  I've seen some of the work that comes out of the local 9th-10th grade high school (14-16 year olds) because it's next door to my neighborhood; sadly, it's the same work that my 10 year old worked on last year or is working on this year - in subjects that he's not accelerated in.  There is also a 20-28% dropout rate in our district, simply because kids don't see a point in staying in school.  Football (American football, not soccer) is king, and kids in our area are actually held back 1-2 years in elementary - not because they need remedial skills, but to groom them for high school sports.  That way, they'll be a year bigger and older when they play on the team.  If they graduate, it wll be when they're 19 or 20.  Parents voluntarily go along with this because their kids will get to play high school football and have their moment of glory.  They'll spend the rest of their life working at a factory, but hey?  What's that compared to a varsity football jersey?

Meanwhile, through homeschooling my son, I can tailor his curriculum to him.  In the subjects that he's accelerated in (math, science, and history), he can learn as quickly and as deeply as he wants to.  He'll be starting Algrebra in July along with science that is usually taught at age 13 or so; he's worked through (and excelled at) everything else.  He reads literature by Tolkien, CS Lewis, Lucy Maude Montgomery, and similar authors, and loves analyzing it.  He is also very involved in competitive sports (baseball) and Boy Scouts, and puts a lot of work toward those organizations.  His Scout badge work often takes him to a high school level in those subjects. (He's currently learning basic computer programming as well as electronics for a couple of badges.)

In the US, there have been several "educational reforms" that are really pseudo-science experiments on our kids.  50 years ago, we had a system that was working rather well - kids were getting a pretty good education.  Then, we tried things like whole language reading instruction, "new" math, outcome-based education, and over-standardization; now, our 8th graders commonly work at a 3rd-5th grade level (as evidenced by test scores), we are graduating kids that can't read or do simple math (but wow, they've got the text messaging and Ipods down pat), and colleges are having to teach remedial math, reading, comp, and writing classes to get students to work at even the minimum standards.

Yes, I know for a fact that my son gets a better education - I've seen the results.  He won't have to take a dumbed-down state test in order to fake a passing grade on standards testing, and he won't have to learn what direct and indirect objects are in a remedial college class.  He'll be able to function at a level that will enable him to excel in college, and that will allow him to achieve whatever it is that he chooses to do in life.

I know that homeschooling is not as popular in the UK, but honestly, your schools are a lot better.  There are still homeschoolers there (around 150,000 of them, I believe), but your students have better options available to them as far as education.  You, as a teacher, are likely not forced to teach Year 3 material to Year 7 students (ours, on the other hand, are often forced to teach 8th grade students at a 4th-5th grade level).  There are a lot of reasons we homeschool, but our schools are one of the biggest reasons.

Hope that helps!

Answer 4

For our family, homeschooling has absolutely nothing to do with religion. We chose homeschooling after having had our sons in the public schools for 6 years. My husband and I felt that the academics were rather watered down. The programs for kids who were above average were phased out.

We also did not like many of the social behaviors that were allowed because administrators felt they are a sort of "right of passage."  It seemed to us that kids who were not involved in sports were often getting bullied. Typical "herd mentality" type situations.

The biggest reason we homeschool is that our children have the opportunity to learn what they choose to learn, on their own time-table. We have required them to learn all of the basics (reading, writing, arithmetic, etc.). However, when it comes to other subjects, such as history, science, art, music and even computer classes, we have used more non-school types of approaches, such as internships, apprenticeships and even our older kids teaching other homeschoolers what they know about the subject (if someone can teach it, they usually know it!).

Answer 5

I home school all 4 of my children. Here are the reasons I have chose to do it.

My K is in the K for the second time around. He has dev delay, speech prob, etc. He is in Spec Ed. When you are in Spec Ed, you get a certificate of attendance when you graduate, you dont get a diploma!

My other children are not being challenged enough. They are bored of school. My 2nd oldest gets bullied and the principal cant stay out of the donut shop long enough to stop the problem. I guess I am labeled the hostile parent that actually cares about my children!

My oldest child has already passed a grade due to homeschooling.

My kids play on the city ball teams, so they dont miss out on the sports. They go on field trips. I have set a day or two aside to walk the track with them or let them go to the parks for exercise. They interact with lots of friends. Actually, as we speak, my 2 older boys have friends over for the weekend. I dont think my kids are harmed due to homeschooling. I actually think this is the best thing I could of done for my kids. I know that some parents could not afford to do this due to financial reasons. No one is labeling them, I really dont think people should label the homeschoolers for bettering themselves!

Answer 6

Mostly it seems people home school their children to shield them from "bad" things, eg. violence, drugs, bullying, non-religious people.

Too bad the kids are missing out on important social interaction and normal relationships.

Answer 7

Hi i left school a year ago to be homeschooled.

i find homeschooling a lot better than main stream school because main stream school didn't challenge me.

the education standards i find are slipping and i wasn't learning anything, the teachers spent most of their time shouting at the people who were being naughty and messing around.  

In the same week as I left two more people left as well, one went to a different school and the other started homeschooling aswell.

Answer 8

Actually it is somewhat popular in the UK, Australia and Canada

There are several reasons.  One major one is religion and religious studies as part of the curriculum.

One is safety in schools and we have shoot out ever year, although it only affects less than 1/10 of 1% of the schools and students, in the last 20 years we see 2-5 school shootings per year now.  There is also the bully issue, drug issue, gang issue.

A super major reason is lack of quality education in many, but not all, school systems.

Now, despite the varied reasons what people have found and what many are now seeking is a potentially BETTER alternative to public and private schools.

Some kids work all year round and start making college applications at age 15, 16 or 17 and get accepted to schools like Stanford

Stanford ranks much like Oxford does.  It's one of the top 10 rated schools.

Students are learning better and faster because you aren't stuck with a book and curriculum dictated by a school district.

You have a choice of between 20 and 50 varieties of home educational methods.

The downside is some of this costs.  Some people are paying $3,000 a year for this right and it is a right.

That's still far less than a private school which can cost $10,000 or $20,000 a year.

With the homeschooling options a parent and child can "try" one flavor one semester and if they don't like it try another flavor from another source and see if it is better.

The education is roughly the same but the method and approach is different from system to system.

The homeschooling industry is getting so large now, that about 15-20% of the US School Districts offer FREE on line homeschooling (virtual school) to state residents.

Florida will teach anyone if you pay outside the state.

And you get a Florida diploma.

Many brick colleges are now exploring this with what is called "long distance education."

We foresee a day when you can get an Oxford education in America without ever leaving Los Angeles.

Of course NOT all progarms will be done this way.  You won't learn brain surgery this way, but you can learn History, English, Anthropology and other courses at home.

The big advantage of homeschool is being able to do it in your PJs when you want, take a break when you want, not have to raise your hand or get a hall pass to go potty, kids who like to ice skate or ride horses can do this on weekdays when the crowds are few and the rates and cheaper.

Unschooling is an adjunct to some, not all, homeschool and in this avenue kids buy a telescope and learn observational astronomy at night.

You can never learn that in a Brick Highschool.

In college you have to take night courses and they have to have an observatory or planetarium teach you properly.

Homeschool also allows you time to watch educational TV (ETV, which includes PBS, Discovery, History, Science on cable since 95% of America is wired for cable and 99% of everyone has a TV set, we pay no tax on TV here).

You also HAVE to understand the American school system

It is TOTALLY geared to college a nothing but college

SOME not all, systems have alternative trade educations.

ALL systems have college prep and IT"S all done in Middle and High Schools (I am told part of the UK system transfers kids to a college for 2-3 years before they go to a university or sends them to a trade or specialty school THAT does not happen in the US until you finish 12th grade and get a HS Diploma at the age of 17 or 18 or 19).

In short there is not GSCE or GCE or A level in the US

What we have is High School with a College Major (Honors or AP courses in English, Civics, History, Physics, Chemistry, Calculus, Trig, Statistics, Economics) which happens in grade 11 and 12 (age 16-18)

OR you are NON COLLEGE which is Baby science (Earth Science), Baby History, General English, maybe some business courses

A 2nd langauge isn't required for state colleges anymore in America ONLY for private colleges

So by age 16 if you are smart enough to do Honors or AP courses (college prep) you  do baby courses and maybe take some electives or do study hall (read books, go to the library).

SOME not all, systems have auto shop, electronics shop, plastics shop, metal shop, video production, radio station, audio.

Some require you have a B average to take things like Radio, Video and Student Newspaper (press operation).

So the US school system is very BIASED about only letting the upper crust into some programs.

The rest of them just take simple classes and HAVE to stick around until they are almost 18 to get thier diplomas.

The AP and Honors classes have some weight, but mostly our colleges just look at general grades and tests like the SAT or ACT which you have to pay to take ($50).

So, while SOME school districts do train auto mechanics, many don't and they just give them Baby History, English, Math.

Some graduates think Denmark is a city

Most American's can't tell you the name of the Capital of their state!

Most can't pick out 25 of the 50 states.

Most couldn't find the UK on a world map!

I only got 20% of Europe right on an internetl blank map

I couldn't find Macedonia if my life depended on it, let alone Lithuania!

The American Education systems WORKS for 10-20%, mostly Persians, Asians, Middle Easterners, Near Asians and some whites.

Whites have actually fallen into the C catagory of 30-40%

The typical American school in an urban area is divided harshly on racial lines

the 20-30% failure rate is mostly Hispanics (Mexicans) the 30% barely passing to sort of passing is mostly Blacks and some wites.

The 25% average are largely whites

The 10% cream is mostly Asian and Near Asian

Japanese, Chinese, Hindu, PErsian, Arabic

It is the fact that whites have fallen into the spread of D-B level work that is disturbing people.

The US School system has, in fact, raised the level of blacks since 1950.  They are now in the D-C level.

So while blacks have escalated into the "average" realm, whites have dropped out of the average to above average realm and are now in the below to above average.

This certainly indicates that the system is color blind.

It also indicates that 2nd language is not an issue for English is a 2nd language to 80% of the top 10% performers

This also is not an indicator the system is totally wrong, it's an indicator that the family must take better charge of things.

You also have to understand when I went to public schools there was a 3 tier system that is now illegal or frowned upon for racial reasons.

Math was allocated into remedial, average and advanced

Today that really isn't done, except for the Honors and AP courses in 11th and 12th grade.

Answer 9

I chose to homeschool my son, because the public school he attended did not challenge him.  He is now in 2nd grade, but I began homeschooling him shortly after the beginning of his first grade year.

Previously, he attended two years of public school pre-kindergarten and a private Christian home learning center for kindergarten.  His kindergarten education was excellent, and he thrived at the home learning center.  I, however, decided to try the public school system.  I applied to about 20 of the "magnet" schools, and my son was admitted to one of the best ones.  However, the first grade curriculum was "dumbed down," and he complained of boredom saying, "The only thing I like about this school is breakfast, lunch, and recess."  He said school was boring.

I pulled him out of the school and tried another public school, the Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS) which is "public school at home."  Their curriculum did not work for my son, so I pulled him out of CVCS and decided to homeschool him with the curriculum of my choice.  He is thriving academically and has many social outlets.

Some say homeschooled children miss out on a lot.  I agree; they miss out on a "dumbed down" curriculum; school violence; and an environment where secular humanism is the only practiced religion.  I belong to a homeschool support group, and the members are diligent about finding activities/classes for their children outside of homeschool, i.e., art classes, foreign language classes, PE classes, sports classes, debate clubs, etc.

My son was recently tested at the neighborhood school; when he was 7 years old, his Reading Comprehension tested at the 11-year-old level, and his written expression tested at the 11.5 year old level.  His math skills are at grade level, and he excels at word problems.

In an urban environment (and any other environment), I would highly recommend homeschooling.  It should be noted that the wide discrepency in test scores between Caucasian and minority children does not exist with homeschooled children; please see the link below:

http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/20...

I hope the above is helpful.

Answer 10

You get to learn at your own pace, and you arent rushed or pressured. I was homeschooled for 1/2 a year, and I loved it! I got to pretty much teach myself, but a teacher was always there to help me. You can go on vacations and not be tied down by school. And, you get to go to the bathroom whenever you want! ha ha. I also liked the fact that you dont get sick as much.

Answer 11

Actually, homeschooling does happen in the UK. Just last year, a statistic came out that an estimated 150 000 children in the UK are homeschooled. That's a lot of kids!

I think the reasons in the US probably match the reasons in Canada, which probably match at least some of the reasons for doing so in the UK.

One is definitely academics. There is the potential for a better education when a child gets one-on-one, can go his/her own pace, can follow interests, can have things tailored to their learning... Being in the UK, you must have had to read literature like Jane Austen? Her books paint a fairly accurate picture of what life was like back then. Who taught them all? Did they go spend their days in schools? No. They were instructed at home. How about Jane Eyre? Again--children were often instructed at home. All of the scientists and philosophers before the 1800s would have been homeschooled. Schools are a place to receive a good education, but just one place.

For us, and for many others, academics is secondary. The social aspect was far more of a reason. I was a teacher in the schools here and my husband still teaches. We do NOT like what we see. The attitudes, the clothes (no uniforms here!), the materialism, the gradual moving down of 'mature' behaviours such as drinking, smoking, s*x, partying, drugs and more. One school district in the US is contemplating offering free birth control to girls 12 and up. Why? Because the area had had an "outbreak", as it was described, of 13yo girls getting pregnant. More than that, instead of just 'protecting' our kids from that, we want to actually provide them a social environment that is healthy. We really don't feel that our schools offer that.

Those were our 2 reasons to initially choose homeschooling. We have added to those reasons to continue homeschooling: our children have more time to be kids, they lead a fairly relaxed life, we get to raise our kids, we get lots of family time together and our kids are family-oriented rather than peer-oriented. There are probably others I've thought of in the past but can't recall now.

Answer 12

Well, I'm in Australia rather than America but reasons why my siblings and I are home-educated include (but are not limited to):

> The closest school is a 16 hour drive away from our house;

> Dad refuses to spend $30,000 a year for a bunch of strangers to teach me bad habits when he can do that himself for free;

> Home-education means I get to grow up alongside my brothers and sisters;

> Home-education means we all get to grow up within our own culture and society;

> Home-education means we get a stronger, more rigorous education - I just read a news report on the bbc website that the UK's Qualifications Agency is complaining because the government wants it to stop giving GCSE passes to kids who are functionally illiterate and/or functionally innumerate!!!

(I believe that education [in the developed world] has become increasingly sloppy in the past 50 yrs or so and, personally, I do *not* want to even risk being party to the sort of education where I could still gain my School Certificate even though I could neither read nor write nor do simple maths properly!!!)

> Home-education means we can concentrate on learning those things that are going to be relevant and important to our future as opposed to following a standard curriculum that was largely designed to meet the current and future needs of city and town kids (whereas we're neither [nor will we ever be] city or town kids).  

PS I wouldn't write off home-education in the UK; I've seen a figure** in excess of 3% of school aged kids in the UK are currently home-educated and that figure is growing year on year.

(**quoted in research undertaken by the University of Durham).

I do think the popularity of home-education varies from place to place in the UK though. Maybe it just hasn't taken off yet wherever you live or maybe, because you're in school yourself during the day, you just don't get to see the home-educated kids out and about during the day.

I know I saw one news article that claimed Bournemouth in Dorset was one of the hotbeds of home-education in your country with, if I remember rightly, 10% of school-aged kids being educated outside of school - I'm not sure if that reflects well on the local parents or badly on the local schools!

If you're interested in taking a closer look @ home-education in the UK, you might start by having a look at the Education Otherwise (EO) site: http://www.education-otherwise.org.uk

They have their own pages where UK families are talking about why they've chosen to home-educate their kids @  http://www.education-otherwise.org.uk/Li...

Answer 13

This is a question that gets asked very often, and I would have to say it is very difficult to answer, since families all have different reasons as to why they choose this option.

For us home/unschooling is what we choose as part of our life style.

Home/unschooling is being able to teach your children at home instead of using a conventional school, private, public, or charter to do it for you.

Home/unschooling gives the parents complete control over what is taught, as well as choosing the time, place, and method used to do the teaching.

Home/unschooling gives the parent the choice to go year round, or simply set a schedule that fits the families lifestyle.

Children quickly gain the understanding that learning is not confined to a school, certain hours, or pre-selected books, but that it is a life long process, and has only limitations when we place such limitations upon it, or allow others to place them upon it for us.

Home/unschooling is a natural continuation of any, and all basic parenting; parents simply add academics when their children are ready, and follow their children's lead when setting the pace for their learning journey.

Home/unschooling simply gives the students the opportunity to grow, and learn in a natural setting using a non-traditional approach; non-traditional meaning without an artificial school setting.

Home/unschoolers parents can take advantage of, and use many media.

Sometimes, but rarely do parents have a need for, or choose traditional school text books.

Much of the learning is hands on, working along side adults, and with the help of other organizations that have hands on training.

We use a lot of games, board games, computer software, and outdoor games.

Home/unschooling means that when our children come to a particular subject that they are interested in we do not place a time limit on them, we simply try to provide opportunities, and resources for them to learn as much about it as they would like too.

Often when children are allowed to learn in a natural way, in the form of home/unschooling, relaxed, Montessori, or self directed learning, they understand/learn the concepts much better, and score higher on any academic test they are given.

We do not learn in a strict prescribed manner; meaning you will learn/know X amount of information in grade 1, 2, 3 and so on; we look for the quality of the content, and work towards mastery, not merely passing a test to move on.

The real test comes, around high school, or graduation time, when home/unschooled students show that they are often light years years ahead of their conventional schoold peers; socially, and academically.

Addition:

Debj69121 you are right, children do not all learn the same, that is why people home school; to provide the individual education each child deserves.

This cannot be provided in a conventional school setting where all children, no matter what are to learn the same things, at the same age/grade; ready or not.

Those who can go at a much faster pace, or are bored because it is too easy have to be held back, because the schools are not set up to accomodate special needs students; gifted, or otherwise.

I agree many children miss out by not receiving a balanced education, but it is not those who are home schooled.

Answer 14

There are multiple reasons.  If I could find an affordable school that offered a good education, it would be a lot easier for me to send my kids to school!  So far, that has not happened.  I have lived in 3 different states since having children, and as the years pass I find public AND private school students getting less educated.  In the state in which I now reside, there are FEW junior high and high school students that even READ fluently.  [There aren't many adults either, just for the record.]  There are NO teen ps students that I have met here that have a decent vocabulary - they cannot understand what I would consider a 'normal' person to understand.  Now, if they can't read well or understand all the words in an ordinary conversation, how good do you think their writing, math, science, and history skills are?  And yet in junior high some of these kids are being told that they are doing high school work.  Ha, it could be true, unfortunately.  I am just using a normal hs curriculum, but when I last had my kids tested with a standardized achievement test, they were ages 10 and 11.  They scored like the average high school senior would have scored if taking the same test.  I am not saying I am a masterful teacher or the curriculum was perfect - but obviously what my kids are receiving educationally was waaaay above what the average American child receives.

Answer 15

We homeschool for several reasons, not one of them having to do with religion or protecting our children. sheesh

We unschool so that our kids can learn what they want, when they want. I know it's hard for people who have been mainstream for so long, but yes, kids love to learn and often do well in self-directed programs. Even disabled children. I have two with autism, who do just as well unschooling as any gifted child.

We unschool because the really great school district we live in cannot think outside their curriculum. If you don't fit exactly into their round hole, they file away at the self esteem of the so-called square peg until they can hammer it in. I don't want my kids to have to sacrifice who they really are in order to attain knowledge that is free and accessible to any person willing to look for it. Everyone else LOVES our schools. They have high test scores, and great playgrounds, and really well-stocked labs and classrooms. However, it's not what kids need to learn. They need love, understanding and freedom.

We unschool because we LOVE to be with our kids. There's never been a day where I've wished I could ship them off to stay with a teacher (no offense) for seven hours. I don't dread Fridays thinking, "How am I going to entertain this perfect stranger all weekend?", because I know who my kids are, and even better, they know me. We know each others likes and dislikes, we know our interests, and we respect them. The number one thing they've learned at home is respect for other people.

Today is a crazy day, two different scouting events, best friends are over with other kids, spending the weekend, I have a meeting, we're planning our big homeschooling group birthday party, but I wouldn't change this big, crazy life for any other. Thanks for letting me share!

Answer 16

We enjoy the freedom it affords us-- our schedules do not revolve around school the way they once did. We get to spend much more time together as a family than we would if the children were all in school. Homeschooling suits our educational philosophies better than schooling does. Our kids get to learn at their own paces. As homeschoolers, they have much more varied social and learning opportunities.

We enjoy it for many reasons but mainly they all boil down to two: we like it, and it's working for our kids.

EDIT::: In response to the above comment about homeschoolers not getting enough socialization, not going on field trips or being on sports teams, getting music or art-- this is not necessarily true. This is an inaccurate presumption; our co-op has over 100 kids; my kids take classes with these kids once a week; my kids also take classes at community centers, the library, and other interesting things we find. They've been on sports teams, go on field trips with other kids once every week or two, have taken art, music, been on sports teams, etc... socialization is not a problem and my kids have not missed out on any of those things-- in fact they've had more opportunities than the public schools could have offered them.

Answer 17

There are far too many reasons to list as to why I homeschool, so I won't even go there.

On the other hand, when it comes to my ability to give my children a better education, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I can educate my children better than the public school system.  However, I want to make very clear that my doubts with the public schools are not necessarily with the teachers, but with the school books they are told to teach from, the pressure they have to push SOL testing or equivalent testing, and all the many other restrictions they have from actually providing a complete education for their students.  Not to mention the lack of morals being taught in public schools.  Children in the American public school system today learn far less in school than they did a hundred years ago, despite all the many incredible "advances" we have today.  My thoughts on why would not be welcome here, but the fact remains that our current generation of school students are graduating with a piece of paper, not an education.

So why am I more qualified?  I can choose the quality books my children learn from.  They will enjoy learning at home and beyond, instead of behind closed doors with four walls and few windows, and despite that, tons of distractions.  We can go on real life field trips to get first hand experience in our education.  I can teach my children at their pace.  Should they need more time learning a certain concept or what not, we can focus on that a bit more until they are ready to continue on.  Basically, there are not any deadlines, just a well-rounded, complete education.  Should I lack in any area to teach my children, I have complete control over who I allow to tutor my children, so I can ensure my children receive the education they deserve.

Those are just a select few, but the reasons are endless.

Notice I did not mention my educational experience.  I could gladly present them to you, but that comes last on my list of reasons why I can give my children a better education than a public school can.

God gave my children to me and I take full responsibility for them.  So as long as we are able to homeschool, we will continue to do so, as this is God's will for our family.  I chose to leave my Christian reasons out of this for a reason, but by far, that is the most important reason why I homeschool.  I answer to God for my children's upbringing.  What a huge responsibility, but the most rewarding one!  :)

"Train a child up in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  Proverbs 22:6

Answer 18

Home schooling is more popular in the US than the UK.  However in the US public schooling is more popular than home schooling.  Some people home school because they live in districts that aren't safe or up to par, some do it to shelter their children.  I personally think that there are some children who are home schooled that do receive a better education at home, but that a majority of the home schoolers do not receive a better education at home as opposed to public school.  I personally wouldn't home school for any reason.  I think that there are bad schools and good schools.  My husband and I chose where we lived based on the school so that we wouldn't have that issue.  A positive, secure home life paired with the experiences and diversity of school is the perfect combination for success.  Bless you for being a teacher!!

Answer 19

your a teacher in uk and you havent seen or read on bbc news and website about the huge increase in home education in uk?????....im in warwickshire, where there are home ed groups  every week for homeschooled kids.... home education is on the rise rapidly her in uk....

Answer 20

There is a much better education in homeschool settings versus public school settings.

In the states there is a huge behavior problem in public schools.  Children carry guns, drugs, tobacco and other things to school.  Teachers are not allowed to discipline problem troublemakers.  The bullies run the schools.  It's terrible. How many school shootings have occurred in the UK versus the US?

The curriculum in the US is very "dumbed" down in public schools.  We put way too much money into things that are not important versus things that are. Instead of focusing on reading, math, history, spelling, civics, etc, they spend time on unimportant things such as "character" education which should be taught at home.  

To say the US public school system is bad is an understatement.  Almost half of all little boys are on psychiatric drugs such as Ritilin in some schools.  Violence is unbelievable.  Money is spent on teacher  "perks" and a lot is funneled into union pet projects for tenured teachers rather than being spent on things like books.  In some poor urban schools children actually have to share textbooks because they don't have enough of them.

Unless you would see the US public school system close up in many areas of the nation, you could not fathom how bad it is compared to most of Europe's school systems. There is a reason we are not meeting the test scores of other nations.

While all this goes on in public schools, homeschoolers are scoring higher than their public school counterparts.  It is a much better option.

Answer 21

most of the kids that are homeschooled are not so smart like the kids that actualy go to school ! but mabe the parents want to be more protective with theyr kids.., there is a lot of violence in the US school ! ..(i live in europe too )

Answer 22

Read this, it is written by US teachers on how it is in the public schools.

Very eye opening!!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 23

Several of my current friends home-school their children.  They have to be in contact with the local school administrator to make sure the curriculum is up to state standards.  For the most part, their kids are more well adjusted and better educated than many public ed. kids. They are still quite social with others.  One difference I've noticed in them than in public ed.  They're more polite, more respectful than most.  And I'm talking about teens as well as pre-teens.  If my kids were still school age, I would have strongly considered home schooling.

Answer 24

Much of it is religious based but it also has to do with quality.  Many of the US's schools do rather poorly at preparing children for a decent future.  So some parents feel that they can better teach their children.   Other parents readily disagree with the schools methods of completely eliminating religion from the classroom.  The teaching of evolution and s*x education are very controversial to many people.  Those are the main two reasons that ive heard.

Answer 25

Hi there!

I was homeschooled here in New Zealand, not the US, I know, but it still counts!   Here are the reasons I think homeschooling helped me and secured a great future for me;

1.   Education.

Homeschooling allowed my to learn at the pace that was best for me.   As I have mild dislexia, a disability that isn't catered for in our school system effectively, learning at home meant one on one tutoring, resulting in me being able to read not only forewards, but right to left and upside down!   And for the reccord, I'm no less 'smart' than any one who went through the public school system.   In fact I'm told I have a high IQ, and in my first year of College (Uni) I have an A grade average.  

2.   Focus

Being homeschooled enabled me to focus on my strengths.   After learning the basics of education, I could spend more time on the things I was good at and acheiving in those areas.  

3.   Social life

Being homeschooled exposed me to not just a peer group of all the same age, but to all ages, giving me excellent inter-personal skills to relate to people from birth to elderly.

4.   Creativity

As a very creative person, I had all the time and encouragement to pursue all sorts of art forms, from painting and drawing to music to theater and drama to film-making and photography, some of which won competitions.

5.   Self discipline

Working at my own pace also meant having to set in place a good schedule, and my responsibility to keep to it.

6.   Future

Being homeschooled has helped me to gain university entrance, suceed in higher education, and find work easily.

Being homeschooled has given me a lot, I never lacked in friends or boyfriends or anything else.

Answer 26

It depends on what your definition of education is.  If it is just rote memorizing and then repeating it then I guess home -schooling is a good education.  But, if your definition goes farther than that then homeschooling falls short of being a good education.  I for one am against it.  There is no curriculam for kids with disabilities of any kind.  Eveyone know that not all kids learn in the same way.  Kids are not robots so why teach them as if they are?  I think homeschool kids get cheated out of a balanced education.  They don't get the opportunities that other kids get to participate in extracurricular acitivities, learn how to resolve conflicts on their own, how to take responsibility for their actions, being able to reach outside their comfort zone to others that are different, etc.  There is so much more to education than reading, writing, and arithmatic now.  I have heard that home school kids are smarter than those who arn't but sadly those that I know personally have not gone on to be balanced and well adjusted in their adult life because they did not have the chance to grow in these other areas.

Answer 27

Home schooling in the US is used, not always, but a lot of times, for kids who have emotional and behavioral problems and are unable to focus or learn in the group environment. The problem with home schooling is that kids don't learn how to deal with the social environment effectively and they lose that time interacting with peers. People will always work in groups and it is good for kids to learn how to interact with others. I don't think a kid gets a better education. Most of the kids in the US I have worked with who are homeschooled are behind their counterparts in educational achievement. But this is only my experience, and my opinion. Good luck in your decision!

Answer 28

I home school my two sons and have for 3 years, they started out in a church school, and have never been to a public school. the main reasons are a higher education level and also to teach Christian values, yes this includes some protection form all the drugs and s*x in school today, but this is not isolation as we do keep them busy with others that homeschool and with the church youth groups

There are a number of different curriculums that private and church school use that are also available to homeschooling, I use one that is computer based and offers a high level of standards.

Answer 29

My Children are already grown, but if I had some young ones, I would home school them to prevent our Public Schools from brain washing them into their Human Secularism. I was raised in Public Schools and it was hard to grasp God because I was taught that evolution was fact, more or less. They are taking our Christian Heritage out of our text books. They are teaching our children to memorize instead of teaching them to think for themselves. One very big reason also is that Children that are taught Christianity in School do much better than Public Schooling. Not to mention all the troubles Parents have when they let other people raise their children and instill someone else's morals and values.

Answer 30

We have one main reason, and if you go back through my previous answers, you can get more info.  When my son was 4 and in a public preschool, his teachers were the ones who told me public school was not going to work for him in Kindergarten (1st year- age 5-6).  They told me to look at other options.

Long story short, I decided on HS'ing, but only comitted to one year at first.  At the end of what would have been my son's 1st grade year, I had the school district test him.  It turns out he is profoundly gifted.  They yet again told us to continue HS'ing him.  Why would they say that...and lose the $7K of tax money they could get if he was enrolled?....

Because the American school system is set up as an assembly line.  Many states (my former and current one included) do not mandate gifted education, or even encourage "grade skips".  My son would have lost all his love of learning if he would have had to sit through hours of lessons he already knew.

So for us, HS'ing allows my son to not only mix and match grade levels in his coursework, but it also allows him to have many hours a day of independent, self-directed learning about topics he craves to learn about (astrophysics, solar weather, etc.).

As for field trips and the person who mentioned that.  HS'ed kids get MORE field trips...alone or with groups.  I challenge anyone to go along on a public school field trip and see how the kids act and just how much time they really have to learn.  Not much.  My son gets so sad for the PS'ed kids whenever we see them on trips.  They have to quickly follow along in a straight line, not talk, not ask questions of the docent or teacher, etc.  They have to get done and get back to school so they have all their "seatwork" done in time for the 1 hr+ bus ride home.

Instead, my son and I, alone or in groups, can spend HOURS at a museum or historical site.  We were just at the children's museum for four hours this week meeting another PG HS'ed boy.  I have many stories about PS vs HS field trips, but I'll stop.

My son gets a TON of great art, music, history, P.E., etc., both in his curriculum, and out in the community.  He learns from REAL artists, not some P.E. teacher masquerading as an art teacher.  Same with history, etc.

Okay, I'll stop there since the other HS moms already did a great job answering!  :-)

Answer 31

I find your question funny, because I regularly exchange e-mails with several UK homeschoolers, so it does happen there, though I don't have statistics to tell me how often compared to the US.

Now to answer your question, I homeschool my children for many reasons.  I will list them below, though not necessarily in the order of importance, rather in the order they come to mind right now.

* The education I received from Public School was so shoddy that I needed three years self study after High School and two years of Community College classes to bring myself to the level where I really should have been after High School.  In fact, even after all of that, I was still behind in math.

*Speaking of Math, I never received an F in math during my entire time in school, yet after High School my Math skills tested at 4th grade level, so how did I pass 5th grade math, 6th grade math, etc? The fact is, it was easier to pass me along than to teach me.

*Most of my time in Public School was spent trying to hide from, or defend myself from bullies.  Not learning.  That was a long time ago, and things are worse now with guns making regular appearance in the schools.

*Public Schools in the US rank near the bottom on international tests of science and mathematics.  I don't see how I could do worse with homeschooling.  My oldest daughter has surpassed me in Math, and has excellent self study skills that enable her to go far beyond my knowledge in anything she sets her mind to study.

*I love my kids and enjoy spending time with them.

*I want my kids to love and enjoy learning.  I remember in school always reading the science books, but never doing the experiments.  I always hated that.  It seems that they set out to deliberately eliminate anything that would have made the subject fun.  They did the same with other subjects, but it stood out most with science.

*I think it should be a very rare occurrence for a child to be told to put down the book and do school.

*I believe that each child is unique, therefore fitting every child into the same program doesn't work well.  My oldest daughter was reading before her third birthday, and by the time she was Kindergarten age she was reading 3rd grade material, however she didn't get math right away.  My second child is currently working in second grade level math and excelling, and is moving slowly through first grade level reading.  My youngest is flying through her Kindergarten curriculum, and will probably finish it early, at which point she can move ahead to first grade level work instead of waiting until she is the "proper age".  If my kids were in Public School, they would have been bored in some classes, and struggling in others, with homeschooling they can be put exactly where they belong in each subject.

*The last answer reminded me of school again.  I was a veracious reader and enjoyed writing, I was always bored in all Language related classes.  I would finish the reading in 1/4 of the time it took the rest of the students, and then would have nothing to do.  However in Math I always felt like people were speaking to me in a language I hadn't learned... nothing made any sense at all.

*I don't want to be hindered in passing on my values and beliefs to my children.

*I want my children to receive both sides of such issues as macro-evolution verses creation and micro-evolution.  There are scientific evidences for abrupt appearance of life, a young earth, etc.,  but in school kids get only one side.  In our homeschool we study both, we do study the theory of macro-evolution and the support for it, we also study the evidence against it.  I want my children to know that both macro-evolution and creation with micro-evolution require faith to believe, and they have to examine the facts and decide for themselves which one has more support, and which one they will put their faith in.  My kids know more about the theory of macro-evolution than most kids, but they also know more of the problems with it than most adults, they can also explain the difference between macro-evolution and micro evolution, while most Public School students seem to be surprised that the two terms exist in the scientific community.

*I want my children to have time to just be kids.  The kids now days grow up so fast.  Twelve year old children are having s*x, in fact sometimes 9 year old children are.  I see twelve year homeschool girls playing with dolls... not obsessing over boys.  I think the former is healthier.  They have their entire lives to get into the opposite s*x, childhood only lasts a short time, why be in a rush to end it.

*My kids can get school credit for doing things that interest them.  For reading books they like, for running a small business, for watching birds, raising chickens, growing a garden... these things do not make up their entire school curriculum, but they can be incorporated into it.

*I really like to be able to plan school around our schedule.  My husband works evenings and has Sunday and Monday off of work, and on Sunday time is taken up in Church activities.  So we get to spend Monday together as a family doing fun things.  If my kids went to school, they would rarely see their father, he would be sleeping when they left for school in the morning, and would be gone when they got back.  He would work Saturday, and spend time with them only after his deacon responsibilities at church were met.

*Homeschooling works!  Standardized test results show Homeschoolers to be better educated in academic subjects, my kids are no exception to this.  Despite the fact that one has special needs, they all score in the 90th-99th percentile  on standardized tests every year when compared to other kids their age/grade level (national average is 50th percentile).  None of my kids has ever scored below the 90th percentile on any standardized test, this is true even though my second grader is working through a first grade reading curriculum (the homeschool curriculums are typically a year ahead of what Public Schools teach at each grade).

There are other reasons, but this answer is already a wall of text, so I'll stop.

P.S.  As to the remarks about homeschooled kids not being socialized, those are false.  My children belong to a co-op, go to church, belong to a boys and girls club, belong to a scouting-type of organization... if they were any better socialized we wouldn't have time for homeschooling.