The History Of Homeschooling

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

A term paper presented to Mr. Roger Garcia

English Department

By:

Brinjelou Faith Castillo

Tusian Maire Caballero

English 27 NC

Sentence Outline:

Introduction: Nowadays education has been given so much valuation.

Homeschooling today has been an alternative to the traditional education of sending children to public or private schools.

Conventional school on the other hand happens in a formal setting and it follows a very organized system.

Body: Among the two most common educational system homeschooling is better during a child’s early years.

Homeschooling is better than conventional school in the early years of a child in many ways.

It enhances family relationships between children and parents.

It gives parents the opportunity to be responsible and to keep their children safe during schooling.

Parents of homeschooled children often import their religious beliefs especially in Christians where they teach a lifestyle and an attitude towards God.

It allows parents the opportunity to select their child’s curriculum according to their child’s needs.

Conventional school demands a lot from students and they only get limited time.

The child develops independence in homeschooling rather than being dependent on teachers telling them what to do.

There is increased focus on lessons as homeschooling can provide one-on-one learning experiences with individualized attention.

In homeschool children understand the material more quickly because the attention is only focused in one child rather than in a classroom setting.

Children do the work they value and not waste time on other things.

A conventional school has advantages over Homeschool as well.

Conventional school provides many services an allows the child to participate in many activities and organizations.

Sending a child to school allows parents to have a full time job and not be with their children twenty-four hours a day.

Children are exposed to other children of the same age group and develop their socialization.

Conclusion: Homeschooling is superior to conventional school in a child’s early years because it allows greater flexibility in how learning is accomplished" provides more consistent individualized attention, and allows the chosen curriculum to be based on family’s own beliefs and values, although the conventional school has its benefits, homeschooling provides a more focused and effective education for young children and equip them well for college.

Nowadays education has been given so much valuation. The parents of this generation would always choose to send their kids to prestigious schools and get a high and best quality of education even if it means taking out big bills from their pockets. The thought of their kids being stable in the future and being able to help them someday is worth spending. However there are two kinds of schooling – homeschooling and conventional school.

Homeschooling today has been an alternative to the traditional education of sending children to public or private schools. Homeschooling began many years ago when parents could not send their children to school because the schools were far away from home. Other families decided to homeschool because of the dread of the violence that occur in school, the lack or religious instruction, and the family’s lack of trust in schools. Homeschooling is when a child is taught by a parent or a supervisor in the child’s home giving the child paces or modules that he has to finish in a school year. These modules or paces are taken from an established institutes with accredited homeschool curriculum. The child has command of his own time and there’s one to one interaction between the parents and the child to fully ensure the child’s understanding of all the topics. They do not move on to the next pace until the child has a full grasp of the subject matter. Parents have more quality time with their children to train and influence them. They are able to provide a nurturing environment for their children and give guidance in areas of morality and religion.

"The homeschool classroom filled with conversation between student and teacher promotes a stronger, more cohesive relationship between the parent and child. This relationship strengthens through the learning and modeling of lessons, both celebrating success as each goal is met" (CONKEY, D. 2003, Mar 29).

Homeschooling helps build strong relationships with the parents. It provides a quality relationship between parents and the child not just by focusing on every topics or lessons like the traditional school. In this situation, with the child and family working together, learning and achieving their main goal which is to be successful helps strengthen their relationship through this process of bonding. As their relationship grows, they are actually open to each other , make discussions and the parents can guide the child on the child’s way to success. Many children have difficulty relating to their parents, so the parents usually identify the childs behavior and make further adjustments so that the child also can adjust in their situation as a student. The parents let the child adjust by facilitating the child to be in the parents role or being a teacher to be able for the child to relate to their place and this will help the child to be able to adjust as a student by their parents at home. The Homeschool classroom allows the children to do whatever they want to act or play with the parents guidance , this will help the child to stay away from being bullied in a usual school classroom. The homeschool classroom is usually a comfortable environment for the child to be able for the parents to teach them with their religious beliefs and moral values. Home education helps produce a child of who they want to be in the future.

Conventional school on the other hand happens in a formal setting and it follows a very organized system where "education and teaching are industrial processes" (Holt, 1995). Schools follow a state or national curriculum guideline where "such a curriculum produces physical, moral, and intellectual paralysis" according to Gatto. Teachers follow identified outcomes for every lesson they teach and for grading students. The method of teaching lay emphasis on textbooks, knowledge and repetition of facts. The school setting is a building with lots of teachers, hundreds of students, a canteen, a gymnasium, etc.. Students are taught by a teacher or different teachers for every subject in a class of mostly thirty to fifty. Students have no command of their own time because the teachers provide the discussion in accordance with his or her timeline and they move to the next topic the moment the other topic is through even if some students do not fully understand the lesson because they follow a certain time frame. Some parents also recognize deficiencies in teaching based from their experiences in school when they were still students.

Among the two most common educational system homeschooling is better during a child’s early years according to some: "During the earlier years, a child’s mind must be able to grow, to explore with controlled freedom. At this time, he can learn the basic 3R’s (reading, writing, ‘rithmetic) to prepare for formal schooling. But when he is ready to learn no force must be used to teach healthily." (Moore et al.). A child learns differently from adults. They are keen observers who enthusiastically want to explore things around them or things they see that interest them. They also learn through play making use of the resources they see every day.

Homeschooling enhances family relationships between children and parents. Parents are the primary caregivers of children. They play an important role in building a good foundation for their children. The young ones especially need the support and guidance of their parents. Children often see their parents as role models that is why parents necessarily have to be there when their child is young and still to learn many things. It creates a positive response in a child as they follow what their parents say or do. "Living is learning and when kids are living fully and energetically and happily they are learning a lot, even if we don't always know what it is" (Holt, 1995).

Homeschooling gives parents the opportunity to be responsible and to keep their children safe during schooling. Parents are aware about the patterns of violence that has been happening today even in schools. Of course, as a parent who wants what’s best for their child they would do everything they can to protect them. There have already been a great deal of media attention on violence in schools. This is one of the reasons why parents decide not to send their kids to school. They are also afraid of the influences their children can get from public schools. "To provide and protect are my jobs as a parent. When there is a dangerous place which threatens my child, it is not my primary responsibility to change the dangerous place. My first responsibility is to protect my child. When I'm certain my child is safe, then I might choose to go back and mitigate the danger. Or, I might choose to just keep my child away from that place. Schools are becoming more and more the dangerous place" Moitozo, S. (1999, May 15).

Parents of homeschooled children often import their religious beliefs especially in Christians where they teach a lifestyle and an attitude towards God. They want to educate their children in a biblical way. Some of these families are also conservative in a way that they do not want their children to learn the dirty realities of the world. Children become more aware of God since they do not experience the environment that conventional schools have where they are exposed to the world’s cruelty. Education at home is also a form of ministry because it allows the child to become who they are. Children learn to develop their relationship with God at an early age. Through this, their parents are able to teach them moral values.

Homeschooling allows parents the opportunity to select their child’s curriculum according to their child’s needs. According to Robert Moon, "children … naturally bond so much better with their parents than at school…" because "parents are the ones who best understand their children" (Moore et al., 1988). Homeschooling facilitates flexibility not only in the number of hours that are spent teaching and learning but also in scheduling the amount of time that suits the children’s needs. John Holt says, "If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy, not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid the pressures we put on him" (Holt, 1995). Not all children have the capabilities that schools expect of them. Some children develop their abilities later than others. The institute’s or the government’s monopoly on education sometimes lay too much stress on students. Even children have to work in school for long hours like adults. In a Homeschool the child develops his own timing which makes him work better. The child decides as to what subject he will finish first.

Conventional school demands a lot from students and they only get limited time. As a result, students are not able to understand their lessons since in a class, the teacher moves on to the next lesson even if not all students have fully understood the topic. A homeschool has advantages over conventional school in this area because in a formal class with many students, time is eaten up fast as the teachers are usually in a hurry to finish a certain lesson in order to be in line with the orders of the school. Because of the limited time, "too much pressure and stress of formal lessons can destroy a child’s love for learning" (Moore et al., 1988). This does not allow learning, especially in young children. Even Gatto says, "nothing important is ever finished in my class nor in any class I know of" (Gatto, 2005).

The child develops independence in homeschooling rather than being dependent on teachers telling them what to do. The child is given enough time to complete his paces or modules. Through this practice the child is able to work independently on his own. He creates his own time schedule and this allows the child to fully understand his lessons and learn all of it without being in a hurry. In How Children Fail, "Children do not need to be made to learn to be better, told what to do or shown how. If they are given access to enough of the world, they will see clearly enough what things are truly important to themselves and to others, and they will make for themselves a better path into that world than anyone else could make for them" (Holt, 1995).

There is also increased focus on lessons as homeschooling can provide one-on-one learning experiences with individualized attention. Children do not work entirely on their own when homeschooled. Their teacher also guides them, but not like in conventional schools where most of the time students are dependent on teachers, constantly asking questions because they do not understand the lesson. In homeschooling a child learns better because the focus is only on one child’s needs rather than the huge number of children when you are in a formal classroom.

Children do the work they value and not waste time on other things. Children should be provided with all the kinds of learning they can have since they are still young and tend to explore things. It is best for them to learn at home because often, sending children to school places them in the strict training of professionals or "experts" which they only follow since it is compulsory. Children should learn education and life in an environment that is healthy for them, grounded in moral values and religious beliefs. They shouldn’t be pressured in the standards of the world or exposed to it at an early age.

"In homeschool children doesn’t know how to socialize because their environment is only focus at home and their parents as their primary teachers. Children doesn’t know how to relate with other people outside their home because the child has boundaries limited to learn new things and able to relate them with other people. In this circumstances the child will be able to develop anxiety with regards to dealing with people when they reach college" (Wagner, T. J. 2008).

Children cannot also relate to other students when the time he/she reach college because all the child can relate is about his/her environment where the child develops. The child can’t relate to other students in college because some students in college might experience activities in their high school that the homeschooled child doesn’t have an idea. "The child may become loner in college and the child may have difficulty coping to interact with other persons or students as well, while conventional school child will be able to develop social interaction because the conventional child is being exposed to many people with different types of personality, conventional school will have no difficulty dealing and relating with new people because some of them know how to interact with other people or they can relate because maybe they have same experiences when they were still in high school or grade school.

"homeschooled students report that they achieve higher academic success in college and view their entire college experience more positively than traditionally educated students" (Cynthia, K. D., & Cohen, I, 2012).

In conventional schools, it provides many services and allows the child to participate in many activities and organization. With this the child will learn new things and experiences that a homeschooled child has not, because homeschooled children has limitations, being at conventional school, the child can have development toward different activities. Some children who are educated at home are educated alone, by a tutor or a parent, whereas children educated in conventional schools have the opportunity to make friends and attend classes with other children. Advocates of home schooling claim that children who are home schooled do not have to cope with aspects of a traditional school such as drugs, peer pressure or violence. There are advantages and disadvantages to either side; however, students who are home schooled are not usually allowed to participate in extracurricular activities in local traditional schools. Thus, they lose a very important aspect of their social development.

Sending a child to school allows parents to have a full time job and not be with their children twenty-four hours a day. In this case, "parents can have a job and they can earn money and saving it for their child as the child will reach college, there will be no problem with financial things" (Wagner, T. J., 2008).  Parents in homeschool can have financial problems, their finances may not be enough to provide their children with full support towards their education and when the child reaches college. The students who are home schooled are more likely to be shy compared to public school students. Being around your peers helps you build up your self esteem.

Physical fitness is something that students need to do to stay healthy and in shape. Public schools have recess   where the student gets to run around and play with their classmates. Every child needs to get some kind of exercise   in each day. Home school students are less likely to get exercise because they do not have anyone their age to play   with unless their siblings are home schooled as well.

Homeschooling is superior to conventional school in a child’s early years because it allows greater flexibility in how learning is accomplished, provides more consistent individualized attention, and allows the chosen curriculum to be based on family’s own beliefs and values, although the conventional school has its benefits, homeschooling provides a more focused and effective education for young children and equip them well for college. Children have the influence of their parents as they are the ones who best understand children. They can see and learn to express themselves respectfully. Home is important to young children as it "is the environment that best produces outgoing, happy, healthy, and creative kids" (Moore, 1988). Homeschooling is more effective than conventional school since children in public schools have many problems – morality, character,and behavioural problems which are due to the influences they get in school, the lack of instructions of parents and pressure in school, especially in other children.

"Homeschooling does not suit for everyone, the child may prefer being enroll at the conventional school where the child wants more interaction with other children same as his/her age. Homeschooling is an option by the parents and also by the child as he/she grows up, the family should consider the needs of the child to learn new things at home or in a conventional school"(Homeschooling,1996).

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