Debating Homschooling

If you want a hot topic for discussion you should bring up homeschooling in America. For most people the issue is black and white: A) Homeschooling is highly beneficial for most children because parents can adjust the speed at which their child’s curriculum progresses (i.e. if their child is in 2^nd grade but has a 7^th grade reading level, they can give them lessons to support that and not have to hold them at a certain speed because of lesson plans)  or B) Homeschooling is detrimental to children because they’ll develop a lack of social skills and won’t get as good of an education through parents rather than trained educators. Let’s talk about argument A for this blog post…

Homeschooling has been a viable option for education in America for a long time. Many people decided to homeschool their children in the past based on religious reasons, but now homeschooling is becoming more and more about improving the quality of education children will receive, safety, and convenience.  Public schools have been struggling for a while in terms of being able to serve large numbers of children on various learning levels who learn differently from one another. Some kids excel in the social environment and are able to keep on pace with lesson plans and learning in a mainly auditory based system. Other children slip through the cracks because either they are bored to tears and aren’t challenged academically or they become victims socially through many forms of bullying. Safety in schools is another issue parents are leery about. The rise of school shootings and drug sales amongst students is enough to help parents consider how much safer it would be to have their child at home rather than in an area that may turn out to be a ticking time bomb. Also, the convenience of homeschooling plays a major factor in its popularity. Families that move around a lot (such as military families) can save their children a lot of strife by homeschooling them. In addition, certain families that own home-based businesses may feel their children would benefit from going to school at home, while also learning the family trade at the same time.

“According to a report by the U.S. Department of Education, about one and a half million students were homeschooled in 2007, an increase of about a half million students from four years ago.” (http://news10now.com/content/all_news/473821/homeschooling-on-the-rise/) . Huh, definitely something to think about, right?