Gathercole, R. (2005, August ). Homeschooling’s true colors: investigating the myths–and the facts–about America’s fastest-growing educational movement. Mothering Magazine. 56 In the Article “Homeschoolings true colors:investigating the myths-and the facts- about America’s fastest-growing educational movement”, by Rachel Gathercole, the author writes about common beliefs or conceptions the general populous has on home schooling. With each “myth” Gathercole rebuttals using facts that essentially disproves the common misconception.
Using experts and available public data, Gathercole illuminates the fact that homeschooling is viable alternative method of education for children k-12, and that said children are just as educated as public school students. In today’s society children are exposed to an array of stimuli, of which include: drugs, violence, mental abuse, and in-class distractions. This doesn’t include the fact that students are being taught based on a standardized method, and for many students this a challenge because they, as an individual, don’t progress as fast compared to others.
This takes a toll on their psyche and because of it they develop feelings of inadequacy and feel as if they are challenged. The flip side is that some students begin to feel what they are being given isn’t challenging enough. The correlation is due to the standardized method of teaching; that is every student is taught the same thing at the same pace with no exception. Homeschool students, however, have the ability to move at a pace that suits their learning needs.
Where public students learn in a formal setting, homeschoolers learn by being engaged in their community, at home, with their parents or independently. The idea that children who are homeschooled tend to be social introverts, or are being homeschooled due to religious beliefs, or saying that they undereducated is false and outlandish. In fact it was recorded when compared to to public school students, homeschooled children scored 20% – 30% higher than the national average (for public schools 50th percentile).
HOME-SCHOOLING: Outstanding results on national tests (2009, August 30). The Washington Times. Retrieved from https://www. nheri. org/research/research-facts-on-homeschooling. html This article by the Washington Times, by an unknown author, it goes over the a recent study conducted by Dr. Brian Ray and his findings. In his study conducted in 2009, Dr. Ray found that out of 12,000 children from all over the United States when given 3 well known standard tests: the California Achievement Test, the Iowa Basic Skills, and The Stanford Achievement Test.
The result separated into 5 sections including: Math, Social Studies, Science, Reading, and Language. Public school students scored within the 50th percentile in each subject, whereas homeschooled students scored between the 85-90th percentile. The difference between the two is staggering and vastly different, and it’s the idea that the reason is directly related to the learning environment to which each homeschooled child is exposed to.
Even when homeschooled children had parents who were certified instructors when compared to that of children whose parents weren’t certified instructors, there was virtually no difference within the test scores. When income was asked if that would factor into the homeschooling factor, on average the household income was anywhere from 35,000$ – 77,000$ annually. Kunzman, R. (2012). EDUCATION, SCHOOLING, AND CHILDREN’S RIGHTS: THE COMPLEXITY OF HOMESCHOOLING. Educational Theory, 62(1), 75–89. doi:10. 1111/j. 1741-5446. 2011. 00436. x
In this article Kunzman poses an issue of legality when it comes to the education of children between state and home. Kunzman makes a point that how children receive their education being a problem but rather how far should the state go to insure that children are receiving and education without crossing private boundaries of the children’s family life. In a sense he is trying to prove that while education is in the best interest of the child, parents, and state; the problem is finding a compromise that suits all three parties while satisfying the education aspect.
Kuzman points out that while it is called homeschooling, there are ways to educate children without a formal setting. Some of which include: Online classes, course material kits, and in some cases homeschooled kids attend a public school for a few days out of the week. Overall Kuzman makes the point that while parents have the choice to homeschool their children, it is in the child’s best interest to receive the best education possible; and it is in the state’s interest that to ensure that each child is properly educated without interfering in the personal lives of the family.
Romanowski, M. (2001). Undoing the “Us vs. Them” of Public and HomeSchooling. Education Digest, 66(9),41-45. In this article “Undoing the ‘Us vs. Them’ of Public and Homeschooling”, Romanowski looks at the two forms of education and tries to appeal to the two sides and persuade them that they don’t have to view themselves as competitors, rather they view themselves as complements of one another. The author looks at beneficial sides of trying to combine homeschooling with a formal style of a public school setting.
His intentions of combining the best of both worlds essentially. As the title implies, many school systems view themselves independent forms of education from homeschoolers. Romanowski begins offer the idea that dual enrollment is a viable option of bringing the two forms of education together. While Romanowski understands that the two forms of education are fine on their own, they still have gaps in their systems that have effects on the students; yet he feels that these gaps can be filled by way of dual enrollment.
Wichers, M. (2001). homeschooling: adventitious or detrimental for proficiency in higher education. Education;Mobile 122(1), 122(1), 145–151. In the article above Wichers reinforces the fact that homeschooled students perform very well for various reasons. One of the main reason that homeschooled students perform well is directly related to the fact that their curriculum is on an individual basis. Thus allowing students to learn what interests them, and allows them to move at a faster or slower pace if and when needed.
This study also found that when it came to comprehension of literature, homeschooled students performed just as well if not better than their public school counterparts. While there are a lot of misconceptions that homeschooling has a damaging effect on children, studies show that to be false. When in fact the studies show homeschooled students are well educated and cultured in many ways.
Some still contest that socially homeschooled students tend to be social introverts; and again this is a false claim due to the fact that many students who are homeschooled end up working in some part of their community i. . boy/girl scouts, some variance of community service. When it comes to higher education, students who were homeschooled had an easier time managing college classes and being self reliant when it came to their studies. With the increase of being taught on an individual basis and having to lean toward independent studying homeschooled students excelled in their various areas of study; only when compared to public schools.
