Homeschool is simple it is education at home! There are many reasons to be in favor of homeschooling and the homeschool community is growing! This article is gonna talk about some benefits of homeschooling, and some famous people that have been homeschooled! Also, some concerns and hesitation about homeschooling.
Do a lot of people homeschool their children?
In 2003, just over 1 million children in the U.S were homeschooled (1.1 million). Now in 2007, this increased to 1.5 million children. In just 5 short years this has now increased to 1.8 million in 2012. I think we can see where this is going! 3.72 million homeschooled children in the 2020/2021 school year! I think we all know the reason for the big jump in 2020! (Covid).
The elephant in the room – Covid!
I do not wanna make anyone mad with this section. I will keep it as neutral as possible. Covid did a lot of things. One it brought virtual learning to light. There were shutdowns obviously and schools were not allowed to be open. Kids couldn’t go without school. What options were left? They had teachers, teaching from home via zoom classes. Keep in mind every school is different and so is every teacher. For every good apple, there are some rotten ones too!
Some parents discovered their children weren’t learning much of anything via these classes. I know for a fact my pre kindergartner in 3 hours of school was only getting about 15 minutes of education. To be fair this was not the teacher’s fault. She was wrangling 3-5-year-olds via a tablet. I honestly do not envy her on that!
Now as far as older kids go, parents were listening in on a class and discovering their child’s teacher was spending more time talking about their own personal lives or actually yelling at students. It really did change parents’ perspectives about public schools and teachers.
Personally, I realized what my child was learning and how it took 3 hours to get 15 minutes done. I thought to myself, pfft this is easy I can do this! Let me be honest, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was gonna be, but homeschooling is completely doable.
What motivated parents to start homeschooling?
In recent years, Covid. But let’s move on from that topic. Every parent has a different motive or multiple motives for homeschooling. A common motivation is that you are able to work at your kid’s pace. If your child cannot figure out how to add 2 + 2, then you obviously are not gonna move on to fractions or division the following day. If your child is doing Math at a 5th-grade level then you are obviously gonna put them in a 5th-grade Math class.
Keep in mind with homeschooling a 10-year-old might be at a 5th-grade Math level, a 3rd-grade English level, and a 4th-grade Science level. The thought of this baffled me when I first started. I am obviously like no if they are in 3rd grade they are in all 3rd-grade classes. If they are 6, they are in first grade.
Throw that all out the window, that is public school thinking. With homeschooling, you do what fits your child and family best. Personally, I still struggle with this concept a little.
The other reasons are:
- Religion
- Disabled or Gifted children
- Bullying
- Drugs
- Social Pressure
- School Violence
But what about socialization?
Funny enough, my mom just gave me this lecture tonight! I truly believe 90% of the time homeschooled children actually get more socialization than public school children. This is why:
- Co-ops
- Sports
- Clubs
- Field-trips
- Church
- Community events
I could literally book my child over 20 hours a week in all these programs if I so chose! Remember children can only socialize in school during lunch and recess! Plus with school only taking 0 – 4 hours per day, there is a lot of extra time to accomplish these things.
Some notable home-educated individuals.
The following is a list of actors, scientists, governors, U.S. presidents, and more!
- Thomas Edison
- Alexander Graham Bell
- Hillary Duff
- Charles Evan Hughes
- Rosa Parks
- Woodrow Wilson
- George Washington
- Abraham Lincoln
