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Homeschooling, Home Schooling
or Home-Schooling (one of these spellings is probably right)
Why home schooling for my son?
The overwhelming answer for me was in response to the level of violence and bullying that has come to be considered
"acceptable" in public schools in Quebec. Each school board, commission and school will tell you that
they have a code of conduct and that they don't accept violence or bullying - but that's what they say, not what
they do.
I simply got tired of seeing my son come home covered in bruises, all scratched up and with a bloody nose. One
time he fell down on the ice and was set upon by six other students who kicked him until some of his friends could
intervene. He ended up with a scratched cornea. I went to the police and they said that they could do nothing as
the schoolkids were under the age of twelve. It was the responsibility of the school to discipline the students.
Discipline today means staying indoors for recess, which, when it's - 20 celcius outside, isn't so bad anyway.
Another time he was attacked from behind by two older kids with a broken hockey stick. Really, enough is enough!
For some reason the level of bullying, violence and intimidation is less in private schools. I suspect that
the reasons that parents send their children to private schools are pretty similar to the ones that the parents
of homeschoolers give as reasons for homeschooling. Over the last year in Quebec there have been two deaths due
to schoolyard fights in public schools. In the most recent case it was an eleven year old girl who killed a twelve
year old boy. Youtube is full of videos that students upload from their cellphones of kids fighting in schooyards.
The schoolboards can't seem to figure it out. "Why are we loosing students to private schools?", they
complain. Duh!
My son is in grade three. I wasn't looking forward to the day when his peers would try to introduce him to marijuana
or worse. He's being home-schooled - that's it.
What about socialization?
To quote a youtuber who homeschools her children "When I wan't my son to have the same sort of socialization
he would get in school, I'll push him into the bathroom, beat the crap out of him, and offer him drugs".
I'm going to control my son's social interactions with other children until he is older. At present he is attends
catechism, does karate at a dojo, plays with other kids from our boat club, goes to swimming lessons and has friends
from camping.
The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) talks about socialization here. It's worth taking a look at.
Home Schooling and Academic Achievement
It's hard to find a research study that doesn't show that homeschoolers tend to score higher on standardized
tests for college admission (SAT) and other standard tests. This was a concern of mine until I read the results
of the research that has been conducted into this area. If you want to examine the research for yourself a good
place to start is simply to type "Homeschooling and academic achievment" into any search engine.
The study that convinced me was "Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream" by the Fraser Institute.
Here is a recent news release from the Fraser
Institute:
Home
schooling improves academic performance and reduces impact of socio-economic factors
Release Date: October 04, 2007
TORONTO, ON—Home schooling appears to improve the academic performance
of children from families with low levels of education, according to a report on home schooling released today
by independent research organization The Fraser Institute.
“The evidence is particularly interesting for students who traditionally fall through the cracks in the public
system,” said Claudia Hepburn, co-author of Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream, 2nd edition and
Director of Education Policy with The Fraser Institute.
“Poorly educated parents who choose to teach their children at home produce better academic results for their children
than public schools do. One study we reviewed found that students taught at home by mothers who never finished
high school scored a full 55 percentage points higher than public school students from families with comparable
education levels.”
The peer-reviewed report, co-written with Patrick Basham and John Merrifield, builds on a 2001 study with new research
and data. It examines the educational phenomenon of home schooling in Canada and the United States, its regulation,
history, growth, and the characteristics of practitioners, before reviewing the findings on the academic and social
effects of home schooling.
Hepburn said evidence clearly demonstrates that home education may help reduce the negative effects of some background
factors that many educators believe affects a child’s ability to learn, such as low family income, low parental
educational attainment, parents not having formal training as teachers, race or ethnicity of the student, gender
of the student, not having a computer in the home, and infrequent usage of public libraries.
“The research shows that the level of education of a child’s parents, gender of the child, and income of family
has less to do with a child’s academic achievement than it does in public schools.”
The study also reports that students educated at home outperform their peers on most academic tests and are involved
in a broad mix of social activities outside the home.
Research shows that almost 25 per cent of home schooled students in the United States perform one or more grades
above their age-level peers in public and private schools. Grades 1 to 4 home school students perform one grade
level higher than their public- and private-school peers. By Grade 8, the average home schooled student performs
four grade levels above the national average.
Hepburn said a growing body of new research also calls into question the belief that home schooled children are
not adequately socialized.
“The average Canadian home schooled student is regularly involved in eight social activities outside the home.
Canadian home schooled children watch less television than other children, and they show significantly fewer problems
than public school children when observed in free play,” she said.
The report concludes that home schooling is not only a viable educational choice for parents, but can also be provided
at a much lower cost than public schooling. The report notes that in the U.S., home schooling families spend less
than $4,000 per year on home schooling while public schooling in the U.S. costs about $9,600 per child.
“Canadian and American policymakers should recognize the ability of parents to meet the educational needs of their
children at home, without government involvement,” Hepburn said.
“While home schooling may be impractical for many families, it has proven to be a successful and relatively inexpensive
educational alternative. It merits the respect of policy makers, the attention of researchers, and the consideration
of parents.”
Other Famous Homeschoolers
Artists:
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Claude Monet
- John Singleton Copley
- Andrew Wyeth
- Jamie Wyeth
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Composers:
- Irving Berlin
- Anton Bruckner
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Francis Poulenc
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Educators:
- Frederick Terman (Stanford University President)
- William Samuel Johnson (Columbia University President)
- Frank Vandiver (Texas A&M University President)
- John Witherspoon (Princeton University President)
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Generals:
- Stonewall Jackson
- Robert E. Lee
- Douglas MacArthur
- George Patton
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Inventors:
- Alexander Graham Bell
- Thomas Edison
- Cyrus McCormick
- Orville and Wilbur Wright
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Presidents:
- John Quincy Adams
- William Henry Harrison
- Thomas Jefferson
- Abraham Lincoln
- James Madison
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt
- John Tyler
- George Washington
- Woodrow Wilson
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Preachers & Religous Leaders:
- Moses
- Joan of Arc
- John the Baptist
- William Cary
- Jonathan Edwards
- Phillip Melanchthon
- Dwight L. Moody
- John Newton
- John Owen
- Charles Wesley
- John Wesley
- Brigham Young
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Scientists:
- George Washington Carver
- Pierre Curie
- Albert Einstein
- Blaise Pascal
- Booker T. Washington
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Statesmen:
- Konrad Adenauer
- Winston Churchill
- Benjamin Franklin
- Patrick Henry
- William Penn
- Henry Clay
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U.S Supreme Court Judges:
- John Jay
- John Marshall
- John Rutledge
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Writers:
- Hans Christian Andersen
- Pearl S. Buck
- Agatha Christie
- Charles Dickens
- Bret Harte
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