Miranda Crowl
English 10600-924
Research Paper Assignment
21 February 2013
Homeschooling, is it for everyone? Have you ever wondered why people want to homeschool their children? Homeschooling first crossed my mind when I met a girl who went to my church at Wednesday night youth group whose name was Natalie. Natalie’s parents decided when she was very young that they were going to homeschool her, because it would benefit her in the future. Coming from a public school background I didn’t know much about homeschooling, and was anxious to dig deeper and research quality information about homeschooling. Before the night that I met Natalie I had never really thought much about homeschooling just because of the simple fact that I went to a public school and didn’t have to deal with that. At the time I was convinced that public schooling was superior to homeschooling. After doing weeks of extensive research on homeschooling the evidence I found changed my mind on public schools vs. homeschooling. There are many advantages and disadvantages about homeschooling, but in the end the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Children’s education is changing drastically now days. Contrary to what many believe, the facts show that homeschooling provides children with a superior education. While there are many education options out there for children, the two most popular ones are homeschooling and public schools. Homeschooling is a substitute form of education in which students are educated at home, rather than in a public or private school with other kids. Deciding whether or not you want to homeschool your child is a personal preference of yours. When a child is homeschooled they are usually taught by their parents or by a tutor that the parents bring in to teach them exactly what they need to know. Homeschooling dates all the way back to the 1800’s. At first no one thought that homeschooling would stick around for as long as it has; it has slowly grown and has become more popular because people finally decided to advocate homeschooling. Parylo, from the Department of Lifelong Education, points out that “In the 1960s, a guy named Rousas John Rushdoony began to advocate homeschooling, which he saw as a way to combat the intentionally secular nature of the U.S. public school system” (Parylo). Ever since the day when he began to advocate homeschooling, the population of parents deciding to homeschool their children has skyrocketed. People often think that homeschooling isn’t any better than public schools because the child’s parents or tutor that is teaching them doesn’t have enough education or knowledge of a subject to teach them specifically everything that they need to know. Researchers Christa and Kathleen from Vanderbilt University acknowledge that “Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parent’s level of formal education or their family’s income” (Green). Therefore, a homeschooled student’s education doesn’t depend on their family’s ability to help teach them exactly everything they needs to know. Homeschooling kid’s show better averages on their achievement test than students who are in public schools. According to Brian “The public school average is the 50th percentile; scores range from 1 to 99” (Ray). Some people think that the 50th percentile of public schools is a good percentage, but homeschooling percentages can prove that wrong. Brian D. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institution, NHERI, refutes this argument in an article released in the Homeschool Progress Report of 2009. “The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests” (Ray). Statistics prove to the people in accommodation of public schools precisely why they should homeschool their children.
A child’s education is extremely important to having a bright and successful future. In school, children learn simple