Home schooling is an effective alternative to the public school system. Home-schooled children are, on average, more academically and socially advanced than public and private school students, according to a study that serves as a home schooling resource: “Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream,” released October 9, 2001, by The Fraser Institute.

“In the past decade, home schooling has proven itself to parents and researchers to be a highly effective alternative to public and private schooling,” says Claudia Hepburn, director of education policy at The Fraser Institute.

In the United States, various estimates suggest home schooling is growing at a rate of between 11 to 15 percent annually. In 2002, it was estimated that approximately 2,000,000 students were being home schooled.

Home School Statistics Back Up Efficacy of Home School Material

“Although parents home school their children for a myriad of reasons, the principal stimulus is dissatisfaction with public education,” notes Hepburn.

Research and home school statistics indicate that home-schooled children in the U.S. and Canada regularly outperform their peers in both public and private schools. The international evidence on the academic performance of students that use home school material exclusively is equally encouraging. In the United States, at every grade level, home-schooled students’ average scores placed between the 82nd and the 92nd percentile in reading, and reached the 85th percentile in math.

Overall, test scores for home schoolers placed between the 75th and 85th percentiles. In contrast, public school students scored at the 50th percentile, while private school students’ scores ranged from the 65th to the 75th percentile. Home schooled students also surpass the national averages on both of the major college-entrance tests: the ACT and the SAT. “Almost one-quarter of home schooled students perform one or more grades above their age level peers in public and private schools,” says Patrick Basham, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the study’s author.

Home Schooling and Socialization

Contrary to the concerns of the educational establishment, the typical home schooled child participates in a wide variety of extracurricular activities, including afternoon and weekend programs with public school students, day-time field trips and co-operative programs with groups of other home schooled kids.

Ninety-eight percent of home schooled students are involved in two or more outside functions on a weekly basis. Research also suggests that home schooled students are more sociable than their school
peers, as well as more independent of peer values as they grow older. “Popular belief holds that home schooled children are socially backward and deprived, but research shows the opposite: that home schooled children are actually better socialized than
their peers,” says Hepburn. “Some studies have shown that home schooled children are happier, better adjusted, more thoughtful, mature and sociable than children who attend institutional schools.”

Characteristics of Home Schooling Families

Parents choose to home school their children for a number of reasons, such as: the opportunity to impart a particular set of values and beliefs, higher academic performance, a lack of discipline in public schools, the expense of private schools for large families, and a physically safer environment in which to learn.

Home schooling parents have above average levels of education. Among American parents who home school, 81 percent have studied beyond high school compared with 63 percent of parents nationwide. Interestingly, having at least one parent who is a certified teacher has no significant effect on the achievement levels of home schooled students.

“Although home schooling is neither desirable nor possible for all families, it has proven itself to be a highly successful and relatively inexpensive alternative to public and more formal private education,” concludes Hepburn. “As such, it merits both the respect of regulators and the further attention of researchers.

By Elizabeth Smith

1. To Continue The Family-Building Process. The teen years are a strategic time to cement relationships that last a life time.
2. To Cement Family Relationships. Relationships are the most important thing in family life. When teens are away from home six-to-eight hours a day, subtle changes begin to erode relationships at home.
3. To Provide An Excellent Learning Environment. The tutorial method is the most effective way to learn. At home, academics have priority, and there are no classroom distractions.
4. To Individualize Education. You can customize your teen’s education around his/her needs and abilities.
5. To Accelerate Academic Progress. Available data demonstrates that home-schooled children are ahead of the public schools in maturity, socialization, and vocabulary.
6. To Have Direct Influence Over Peer Relationships. Peer influence is one of the greatest threats to the parent/child relationship.
7. To Protect From Pressure To Conform. Even young people trained in a Christian home will feel strong pressure from the worldliness of schools.
8. To Maintain Flexibility. Family plans, work, study, service, ministry, field trips, and vacation can work together.
9. To Promote Safety And Health. Schoolrooms are simply unsafe environments for children. Drugs and violence are escalating on campuses across America.
10. To Allow God To Show Himself Strong Toward Our Families. II Chron 16:9 “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”
    

    My Addition!

11. To Escape the Uninformed Tyranny of Some School Boards!
    ONE NATION UNDER GOD?
    Can you imagine the shock parents must have felt upon learning their children in Madison, Wisconsin, were not allowed to give a “Pledge of Allegiance” to the flag or to sing the national anthem.
    What sheer idiocy! Is it never enough? This erosion of respect and love for our country by misguided educators in a position of trust over our children must stop.My complements to the citizens of Madison who after a marathon public hearing lasting until 1:30 a.m. saw a reversal of this decision.

    Needless to say, I was angered for those families and children and thankful to be part of the Home School movement.

    The above is just one more example why many parents are choosing to home school as a matter of conscience as well as education.

    William Cook