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Do Not Homeschool
You are sitting in school, end of the day on Friday, watching the clock tick tick tick. You can’t wait for the bell to ring for school to be over so you and all your friends can get ready for that nights football game against your school’s biggest rival. But what if you weren’t able to do all that? What if you didn’t have a football team, or didn’t have to sit and wait for the school bell to ring, or didn’t have tons of school friends? That’s what it’s like for a homeschooler. Most children who are homeschooled lack life experience, independence and are deprived of normal school activities, all because of untrained parents who are selfish and overprotective.
Homeschooled kids don’t develop life experiences or independence that children who go to a public school would. When kids are homeschooled, they are surrounded by adults and are very sheltered from the outside world. Besides siblings, if they have them, homeschoolers don’t get interaction with others and don’t build essential problem-solving skills. If a mother bird kept a baby bird in the nest all the time, the bird will never be able to spread its wing and learn to fly. If a parent keeps their kid at home to educate them, then their child won’t be able to become independent or learn to fly. When homeschoolers get out into college or into the real world that they have been sheltered from, they are in a shock. They won’t be able to control every aspect of their lives and what people are doing around them. How will a child who is at home all day gain the same experiences or independence as a public schooled child?
Kids who are schooled through a public education system have many more activities that they can participate in over a homeschooler. Public schools have professional teacher to teach extracurricular classes such as Art, Drama, Gym, Orchestra, Band, Choir, Librarians, and much more. There are also many clubs and sports that homeschooled kids don’t have access to either, like soccer team, football teams, cross country, ski club, chess club, teen institute, and mentoring. In most high schools it is required that you have at least one year of a foreign language taken to graduate, and you have many options by professionals in that language, but as a homeschooler you normally have only one option taught by your mom or whoever your teacher is. By attending a public school, kids have more opportunities to participate in something they enjoy and have the possibility to be accepted into college over a homeschooler who didn’t.
Many parents who homeschool they child is for their own selfish reasons. Parents don’t want their kid to be around others that may be inappropriate who go to a public school. If they don’t experience it through their years of schooling, when they go out into the real world they will be in total shock from what they have been sheltered from. It is estimated that in Scotland there are 5,000 children being homeschooled, yet only 350 are registered with local authorities (Bowditch). Parents who are the ones that actually teach their children should need a teaching degree. You don’t see parents going around doing surgery or filling the teeth of their children. It is illegal to pretend to be a doctor or nurse without a degree, so why are parents who are untrained or don’t have a degree able to teach their children at home? Adults are criminals, posing as a teacher and teaching without letting authorities know. If your kid has a learning disability then a school is a much better place for them. Schools have professionals trained to be patient with kids with mild disabilities like stuttering or dyslexia, or severe disabilities like down syndrome. A study done at Harvard University said on average kids that are homeschooled do not do any better at college level as kids that were publically educated (Boyce). Parents homeschool their kids to say “Look at my child, isn’t she smart? I taught her everything she knows.” But when it comes to schooling a child, it shouldn’t be done to have a parent show off their teaching abilities, it should be to help educate a child so they can become the best they can be.
Homeschooling is a bad option of schooling because those kids lack life experiences, independence and they don’t have school activities available to them. Parents can be selfish for homeschooling and shouldn’t be allowed to teach without a teacher’s degree. There’s nothing better than waiting at the end of a long Friday at school, and hanging with all your friends. Why would you give up, or make you child give up, all the wonderful high school experiences to become a sheltered homeschooler?
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This article has 13 comments.
I wrote a rebuttal on this article.... here it is.
Summer swim team, devotions, meals with my family, and grooming my dog, all remain part of the pleasures of my homeschooled life. Spending time at home with my parents and family encourages me to “grow in the grace and knowledge of [my] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). According to Alexis Hailey, a teenage opponent of home education, kids learning at home lack independence and normal school activities. I strongly oppose Hailey’s statement that parents homeschool for selfish reasons. Do homeschoolers parents really deprive their children of a well-rounded education? Contrary to her conclusions, I know homeschoolers develop life skills and self-discipline, enjoy many activities, and have parents who care deeply about them.
Although Hailey declares, “Homeschoolers don’t get interaction with others and don’t build essential problem-solving skills,” she fails to realize that homeschoolers have many opportunities. Just because most of my time centers in the home, does not mean I lack friends and skills. She presupposes public schools as the only place to interact with others. Do all children have to develop the cookie-cutter lifestyle at a public school? “If a mother bird kept a baby bird in the nest all the time, the bird will never be able to spread its wing and learn to fly,” she goes on to state. However, my parents place me “out of nest” at the proper time, and until that proper time they train and equip me to deal with life situations. Although Hailey would think I receive no interaction with the world, she fails to realize that public school does not equate with the world. For example, my family sings at a nursing home monthly, I walk my neighbors’ dogs and converse with an ESL student whom my mother teaches.
In Hailey’s opinion homeschoolers miss many normal school activities with professional teachers; however, any homeschooler can participate in homeschool co-ops, online classes, community college classes, and sports which not lack professional expertise. She uses faulty logic that just because homeschoolers may not eagerly wait for a bell to ring so they can watch a football game, their life dooms miserable with no friends. True, I may have not have a school team, but I enjoy participating in a community swim team and volleyball league. Also, just because I do not have a professional teacher does not mean that I will not have success. I enjoy the flexibility of studying on my own and not having to wait for a class of 30 other kids to finish their test. These conclusions of Hailey reveal a lack of exposure to homeschooling.
Hailey claims parents homeschool for selfish reasons, but I have observed homeschool parents devotedly sacrifice their time and own interests for their children. Completely opposite from selfishness, these parents invest their lives in their children. When she states, “Parents who are the ones that actually teach their children should need a teaching degree,” does she realize how much her parents have taught her outside of school? Research has proved that no statistical difference exists between test scores of homeschoolers who have parents with college education versus high school education. Additionally, the vast number of public school teachers who send their children to other private school reveals what they know of public schools. Contrastingly to homeschool moms and dads, parents who send their kids to public school turn them over to the government and have their day all to their own time.
To conclude, Alexis Hailey’s article comprises faulty conclusions and rash opinions. Why does it matter whether I study at home or in a secular school? Deuteronomy 6:7 affirms, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” In other words, God designed that parents instruct their children continually and carefully, so that we may better face the world. I believe homeschooling fulfills this command perfectly.
Hm, well as a sixteen year old homeschooled student, I have to wonder if you actually know any homeschooled kids. I have had all the experience of real friends, real independence, and school activities are in fact available. I love being home schooled.
I respect your opinion, however I hope you realize not all homeschooled students are the streotypical socialite outcasts you seem to think they are:)
"Most children who are homeschooled lack life experience, independence and are deprived of normal school activities, all because of untrained parents who are selfish and overprotective."
Certain aspects of your main points are just flat out untrue. For example, as opposed to having less independence, I actually had more independence than many public schoolers who were, for the most part, tied down to their school and homework. For most of my life, I was allowed free reign over my town, and would spend my free time taking long walks, conversing with acquaintances and friends, and doing exactly what I wanted to do.
Additionally, being homeschooled has allowed me a distinct flexibility. Because I'm not tied to a strict school schedule, I've gotten to do a lot of things I wouldn't normally have been able to in public school during the week days, such as hone my hobby-related skills, hang out with others homeschoolers, work during hours regular school students would not have been able to, and participate in classes and groups almost entirely reserved for adults who are out of school.
Having this independence has allowed me to amass a wealth of knowledge in my preferred non-school subject (computer troubleshooting and maintenance) far, far before others my age ever could have. As it stands now, I regularly fix computers during any hour of the day my clients desire, and offer support at all times. If I was in public school, my window of opportunity for learning this subject would have been much, much smaller, and I would not have been able to perpetrate my computer services nearly as well.
The deprivation of regular school activities has never been a problem for me. I've had every regular class - even Physical Education, Music Appreciation, Art, and other such classes outside of book-work - in some form or another. Additionally, being homeschooled has not affected my ability to socialize or act appropriately around others my age, and I've had a healthy and positive group of friends most of my life. The main difference - which you note with "they are surrounded by adults and are very sheltered from the outside world", but in a more negative light - is that the largest portion of my friends have always been at least somewhat older than me! But, surprisingly, that's not such a bad thing, as having older friends has allowed me to mature as an adult much more easily and smoothly than the other kids my age that I know.
You make an interesting point about the transition to college being harder for homeschooled students. I've heard a lot of people say that before, but almost none of them have ever homeschooled a child. I already take multiple college classes at a local community college at my age. I have been doing this since I was sixteen. Homeschool has not provided me a with a fundamentally different classroom experience than regular school. In fact, almost all of my classes, whether they be outside home, taught by my parents or taken online, have essentially the same structure as a college class: a teacher figure explains the subject at hand, often assigns work of some sort, and does their best to help you understand, all while you do your best to learn, ask questions, and take notes. Because of this, my transition into college classes has been inherently smooth. I'm going to get my Associate's Degree in IT, and, while I have no doubt there will be problems (as with every college experience), I also know I'll have no problem keeping up with the other students, as my school experience and standard set of knowledge will remain highly similar to theirs.
My parents never forced me to homeschool, except at a very young age, when I was afflicted with a severe form of an unfortunate disorder. Ever since then, I have chosen to homeschool. I've had experience with a few other, more regular types of schools, but my experience as a homeschooler has always been better, because of the freedom, independence and flexibility in learning it has offered me. If I was able to start my life over, I would still have chosen to homeschool, as homeschooling has assisted me in becoming a mature, responsible, and intelligent person. I would not give up my experience for anything.