HOME SCHOOLING

Homeschooling is one of those subjects where people feel it is okay to give their opinions regardless of whether it is requested or without thought of the homeschooling family’s feelings. Homeschooling is an educational choice surrounded by many myths and misconceptions. Even though this method continues to provide high national test scores and well rounded, diversely educated children, many people still do not see the virtue of this system or have a preconceived notion about what goes on in homeschooling.

Reasons for Homeschooling

As a homeschooling mother of two I am frequently asked why I homeschool. I believe that Mariette Ulrich (2008) summed up the reason why most families prefer this alternative:

I prefer to make those [educational] choices myself. Not because I think I know ‘better’ than all those professional educators, but I do think I know my own children best, and consequently which programs and methods would benefit them. Homeschooling is not about rejecting other people and things; it’s about making personal and positive choices for your own family. (1)

While statistics do not show that violence is on the rise, it is hard to ignore stories in the news relating violent school events on a regular basis. Because of these perceptions of school violence, it isn’t difficult to understand why some parents want to educate their children at home. However, this is sometimes viewed as an attempt to shelter their children. Homeschoolers understand that sheltering their children would not do any good; they will still be exposed to the violence in the world through other mediums. Nevertheless, it does help to keep them safe by keeping them away from the current trend of school violence.

While school violence is now a leading factor in many parents’ decisions there are usually many different reasons for choosing to homeschool. The statistics state that 31.2 percent of home-schooling parents say that “concern about the environment of other schools” was their primary reason for home instruction while 16.5 percent stated “dissatisfaction with the academic instruction in other schools,” 29.8 percent said “to provide religious or moral instruction,” 6.5 percent was “because the child has a physical or mental health problem,” 7.2 percent said “because the child has other special needs,” and 8.8 percent gave “other reasons” (Fagan, 2007, p. 4). For my family it was a combination of the first three reasons—academic dissatisfaction being top—along with specific incidents that led us to consideration and the practice of homeschooling.