Here They Go Again Bashing Homeschooling

A small minority of homeschoolers hold a very public Creationist Science Fair, and now the general public thinks all homeschoolers are creationist and that homeschooling should be strictly regulated on a national level or altogether banned. Carlo elaborates in his post Homeschooling at Musings of the Mad Biologist.

Regardless, the scariest aspect about home-schooling, in my mind, is that 'No single organization tracks the numbers of homeschoolers nationwide, but using state-by-state data, the National Home Education Research Institute estimates that 1.3 million to 1.7 million students were educated at home last year...'

Why does the author think homeschoolers need to be tracked? We aren't criminals, we aren't doing anything wrong and we certainly don't deserve to have our privacy invaded merely because we choose not to send our children to public schools.

He then goes on to ask how parents could possible teach their children everything? Apparently it has never occurred to him that homeschoolers join together with other parents in co-ops in order to take advantage of each parents area of expertise, we hire tutors, we take advantage of online courses, etc. Homeschoolers do not have to know everything we merely have to be resourceful enough to find someone to "teach" the subjects we are weak in.

He also worries that children won't be taught the "right" things. I am appalled by the number of people that think the government should be the ones to decide what children are taught. As a parent it is my responsibility to instill my values and beliefs in my children, other parents have the right to teach their values and beliefs to their children. No one has the right to decide that a parents values and beliefs aren't "good enough" to pass along to their children.

Carlo also expresses the naive belief that public school parents who are unhappy with the academic education their children are receiving could just ADD to their children's education, instead of homeschooling them. Pray tell when? My children were in public school for awhile. I know from personal experience that there isn't any free time during the school year to ADD to your child's education. When they aren't in school being indoctrinated with the local communities dogma they are loaded down with homework, which usually has no educational value but must be done for your child to get a passing grade. The public school my children attended even sent work that they didn't have time to cover during the regular school year home with them, for them to do over the summer, with their parents help.

I can only speak for the homeschoolers I know. But amongst our group the homeschoolers are all normal kids that fit in well with their public school peers. We are so normal in fact that it lead to an interesting discussion with one soccer mom who unaware that I homeschool approached a group of moms I was talking with ranting about homeschoolers. She was very embarrassed when I calmly stated that I homeschooled my kids but she was utterly flabbergasted when I told her three other boys on the soccer team were homeschooled. When I challenged her to pick them out she couldn't because, "they were so normal". I imagine that all the people that claim that the only homeschoolers they know are "weird" don't realize that they do know normal homeschoolers, after all we don't wear signs saying we homeschool.

Also the parents in my group intend for their children to go to college. As a parent who has successfully homeschooled a child into college I am often asked for advice. Since my eldest knew he wanted to major in computer science and what colleges he was interested in attending we visited their websites to find out their admission requirements. I then tailored his course work to their requirements. Since he scored a 28 on the ACT at 15 he was eligible for early admission to college and they had no problem accepting the transcripts I had made. He started college at 16 and is having a wonderful time. He has joined Phi Theta Kappa, made the Vice President's List and has tons of friends. Not only does he attend college full time but he works part time at a fast food place.

I also find it amusing that many people assume that all homeschoolers are white heterosexual Fundamentalist Christians nothing could be further from the truth. I know Atheist, Pagan, Agnostic & Free-thinking homeschoolers. I know single moms who homeschool, gay couples that homeschool and African-Americans who homeschool. Homeschooling is not restricted to white heterosexual Christian Fundamentalist couples.

More Post on homeschooling
Ten Questions About Homeschooling at FamilyEducation.com
Homeschools Run By Caring Parents at Home~Schoolers Rule
Sensationalism & Dr. Phil at Home~Schoolers Rule
All Homeschoolers are Not Christians & All Christians Are Not Homeschoolers at Home~Schoolers Rule
Social Skills & Homeschooling: Myths & Facts at FamilyEducation.com
Deep Thoughts at Alasandra
Who Decides Part II at Deep Thoughts
Hello, We don't all have big families at The Homeschool Cafe
Homeschool Quandry at The Homeschool Cafe
The Other S Word at The Homeschool Cafe

The Other S Word

For some reason in today's politically correct world, it's still OK to bash homeschoolers.



First homeschoolers were attacked on the academic front. How could parents possibly be qualified to teach their own children unless they had teacher's certificates? But numerous articles and studies proved homeschoolers had academics covered. One example Home-Schooled Kids Defy Stereotypes, Ace SAT Test By DANIEL GOLDEN

Jason Scoggins will never graduate from high school, have a class rank or be recommended by his guidance counselor. But Oglethorpe University wants him anyway. Jason, who is 17 years old, was home-schooled by his mother. After he scored 1,570 out of a possible 1,600 on his SAT college-admissions test -- with a perfect 800 in math -- Oglethorpe invited him to compete with other top applicants for five scholarships valued at about $100,000 apiece. Of the 94 prospects in the Jan. 22 contest, eight were home-schoolers, each with SATs above 1,300.The high scores are no fluke. As the movement grows larger and more diverse, evidence is mounting that home-schooling, once confined to the political and religious fringe, has achieved results not only on par with public education, but in some ways surpassing it. Though home-schooling may never be feasible for most families, the data offer little comfort to those who advocate a standardized curriculum as the best hope for improving American education. After all, each home-based pupil follows a unique lesson plan.

Then public school advocates advanced the myth that homeschoolers are social retards, who would be unable to make it in the "real" world. Jeez I wish somebody had told me I was living in an alternate universe, I have been suffering from the delusion that my family was living in the "real" world. Of course the spreaders of this malicious lie never mention famous, successful homeschoolers like Christopher Paolini (he wrote a best selling novel while in his teens and sold the rights to the book, the movie Eragon is out now). They also neglect to mention all the studies that prove that homeschoolers are at least as well socialized as their public school peers and in some instances may have the advantage over their public school peers. From the ERIC Digest Home Schooling and Socialization of Children by Nola Kortner Aiex

Stough (1992),looking particularly at socialization, compared 30 home-schooling families and 32 conventionally schooling families, families with children 7-14 years of age. According to the findings, children who were schooled at home "gained the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to function in society...at a rate similar to that of conventionally schooled children." The researcher found no difference in the self concept of children in the two groups. Stough maintains that"insofar as self concept is a reflector of socialization, it would appear that few home-schooled children are socially deprived, and that there may be sufficient evidence to indicate that some home-schooled children have a higher self concept than conventionally schooled children." This echoes the findings of Taylor (1987). Using one of the best validated self-concept scales available, Taylor's random sampling of home-schooled children (45,000) found that half of these children scored at or above the 91st percentile--47% higher than the average, conventionally schooled child. He concludes: "Since self concept is considered to be a basic dynamic of positive sociability, this answers the often heard skepticism suggesting that home schoolers are inferior in socialization" (Taylor, 1987). From the findings of these two studies, it would appear that the concerns expressed by teachers, administrators, and legislators about socialization and home schooling might be unfounded. Indeed, Bliss (1989) contends that it is in the formal educational system's setting that children first experience negative socialization, conformity, and peer pressure. According to her, "This is a setting of large groups, segmented by age, with a variation of authority figures...the individual, with his/her developmental needs, becomes overpowered by the expectations and demand of others--equal in age and equally developmentally needy."

So after homeschoolers PROVE they aren't damaging their children academically or socially you would think they would leave us alone right? After all their mantra is "we just want what's best for the kids and we know what's best for your kids". But NO, then they attack homeschoolers for being "selfish". We may be giving our kids a wonderful education with numerous academic and social opportunities but what about the "poor" kids stuck in public schools? Tammy Takahashi at Just Enough, and Nothing More has a post, Are Homeschooler's Selfish? , on this very subject.



I find it annoying that these people expect me to sacrifice my children for the "greater good", and exactly what benefit is it to society to prevent children from reaching their full potential? While these proponents of the public school system would shudder in horror at the idea that THEY should live in public housing or receive medical care from the state health department, instead of living in nice houses in "high-end" neighborhoods (so their kids can attend the best public schools) or utilizing private health care, in order to get the best medical care available. They see no hypocrisy in insisting that everyone should make use of the public school system rather it meets their family's needs or not.



Also posted at the Homeschool Cafe