Homeschooling is a teaching method where students are taught from home as opposed to institutional (Harding 2003). Parents in many countries worldwide decide to educate their children from school and either hire a private teacher or do it themselves. Parents have their varied reasons of not taking their children to schools. The key question in this essay is if homeschooling as a method of teaching a cause of student failure or success. To be able to answer this question, the essay will look at the genesis of homeschooling and some the reasons why parents decide to home school their children. The survey studies on student performance based on their teaching mode or approach carried out in U.S and other countries will also be reviewed.
What is homeschooling? According to Gorder (1990), home schooling is defined as
“Home education occurs when the parents choose to educate their children from a home base. The choice is the outcome of a conviction that home based education will better meet the child’s needs, and may not simply be the result of the child being unable to attend school because of disability or geographical isolation. The parents plan, implement and evaluate the child’s learning program using a variety of resources” (13).
Christians in 1960s raised concerns about the raise of secure public schools which become a strong force in social and political arena (Bienart 1998). The above changes in education show that homeschooling has undergone numerous changes to its current state. Before formal schooling, home schooling was the only option for many in the society. Later, schooling based on institutions and teachers came up and took the country by storm. Educational officers went home to home searching for absent children in schools and prosecuted parents practicing homeschooling. In the recent years homeschooling is not only being registered by the same offices but also becoming a norm in many families. In the past, homeschooling was associated with families that are disadvantaged on the society or those who are at periphery of society (Bolick 1987). Today, homeschoolers are from a diverse which is surprising, the reason for homeschooling rangers from ideologies to social factors.
Homeschoolers according to Bienart (1999) are composed of whites and middle income earners. However, recent studies further indicate that homeschoolers are drawn from all ethnic and class groups. Homeschooling parents are drawn from diverse; some of them are doctorates while others never completed high school. Apart from the diverse background of the parents the key question is do this student succeed or fail in their examinations.
According to the study in 1997 entitled “Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America” the study demonstrated that home schooling students performed better than those in public schools with a margin of 30-37 percent in all subjects. The study further found out that student who had been homeschooled for two years perform better than those schooled from one year hence longer period in a homeschooling environment improve their results. According to Lawrence (1998), students who have been homeschoolers in all their ages had a much better performance and achievement compared to their counterpart in public schools.
According to the studies race is not a cause or factor for homeschoolers performance. This means that minority and majority groups did not matter when it came to homeschooling. There was insignificance difference between the homeschoolers performance of the white and other minority races. The study findings show that if parents put in their efforts, their children will perform highly regardless of race.
The findings from homeschooling approach demonstrate that the method of teaching like homeschooling and institutional based learning is a cause of students’ success or failure. Studying from home eliminates many obstacles that student face while in school. They get full attention and proper affectionate of their parents hence they are more encouraged to achieve. Public schools have challenges of dealing with racial segregation and discrimination leading to poor performance of minority groups. Therefore, it can be concluded that the failure of minority students is as a result of discrimination.
The finding in the “Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America” further shows that government regulation do not have effect on the overall performance of the students. In all the states that they conducted the survey there were no approved curriculum or other regulations on the students but they all performed averagely compared to students on public schools.
References
Bienart, P. “Home (school) improvement”: To pioneer chagrin, a movement goesfrom outlaw to mainstream. Time Magazine (American Scene), 152(17), 6, October 26 1998.
Brian Ray, “Strengths of Their Own”: Home Schoolers Across America, National Home Education Research Institute, Salem, OR1997.
Gorder, C. “Home schools: An alternative”. Tempe, AZ: Blue Bird Publishing,1990.
Lawrence M., R. The Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in, Home School Legal Defense Association, Purcellville, VA 20134, ERIC is sponsored by the National Library Services of the U.S. Department of Education 1998.
Rakestraw, J. &Rakestraw, D. “Home schooling”: A question of quality, an issue of rights. TheEducational Forum, 55(1), 67-75. 1990.
