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Twenty Reasons To Choose Homeschooling

I am a fierce homeschooling advocate. Why?

I taught in a public school for thirteen years.

I know the institution of education inside and out. I know what teachers go through. More pertinent to this article, I know what kids go through.

And much--dare I say most?--of it is not pretty.

"But what about private schools?" you may be thinking. "Aren't they worlds apart from government schools?"

Yes and no. For example, student to teacher ratios are usually smaller in private schools. But not always. I student-taught in a Catholic elementary school, and that class had around twenty children.

In addition, I recently heard that private school teachers are typically much more satisfied on their jobs than public school teachers, despite the smaller pay. However, the young children in private schools are put through academic rigors that are inappropriate for their level of development.

Are private schools safer? I know of one where bullying and fighting was a chronic problem.

And it was not a high school. It was a private elementary school.

Forcing large groups of children to spend all day, day after day, together in a relatively small room is unnatural. Trying to get them all to learn the same thing at the same time is ludricrous. Private as well as public schools are guilty on both counts.

Here are twenty other reasons--in no particular order--to seriously consider homeschooling as the best education option.

1. Education as an institution is unnatural, unprecedented in history, and unbiblical.

2. Children were meant to be raised by their parents.

3. Force-feeding children knowledge leads to lack of ability to think creatively and problem solve.

4. Homeschooling groups abound these days, providing plenty of opportunities for children from different families and neighborhoods to socialize.

5. Homeschooling equals freedom and flexibility for the family.

6. Children learn best through play.

7. A schoolteacher cannot give the attention that each student needs in order to fulfill her potential at each stage of growth.

8. Major university studies have proven that most children are not ready for formal academics until around age ten (see Better Late Than Early: A New Approach to Your Child's Education by Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore).

9. Cramming twenty kids in one room and making them sit quietly all day is NOT "socialization."

10. Parents who homeschool often develop stronger bonds with their boy reading with parents

children than those who do not.

11. Most parents who homeschool do not have any sort of teaching credentials. Some have never even gone to college.

May I elaborate for a moment? Because if I hear one more mother tell me, "But of course, you can homeschool. You're a teacher," I am going to turn purple, teal, and olive green, and then...I am going to...

SCREAM.

There are only three qualifications for homeschooling your children:

You love your children,
you can read, and
you know how to hunt down resources.

There are only three instances in which you should not homeschool your children:

You are in jail/prison,
you are psychotic, or
you hate your kids.

Get my point? Good. On to the next one.

12. Educating your children at home does not require expensive curriculum or equipment, although it is certainly available. Your public library, garage sale finds, and a lot of creativity can meet most, if not all, of your childrens' educational needs.

13. When you keep your children at home, they will learn your values. You will not have to deal with confusion and doubt when your children are taught something contradictory to your family's belief system.

14. Homeschooling is legal in every state.

15. Children have the opportunity to develop their personal talents to the full.

16. Homeschooled children do not suffer nearly the amount of stress that their peers in school do.

17. Children can study the topics that interest them at depth.

18. You get to stay in charge of your childrens' nutrition the entire day.

19. Older students can learn the art of entrepreneurship at an early age, giving them a better opportunity to "make a life" instead of just "making a living" when they become adults.

20. SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY. No worries about your children being approached by drug-pushers, or about some kid going crazy with a gun at school.

(Don't deceive yourself--this kind of thing happens in elementary schools as well. One year at my previous school a first grader brought a gun to school and threatened to kill a classmate. Luckily, the gun wasn't loaded.)

May I coach you? The best place for your children to learn is in the real world. Schools are anything but.

For further information on the individual states' legal requirements for homeschoolers, see http://www.hsdla.org.