LITERATURE REVIEW
Advantages of Home Schooling
The first advantage of homeschooling that emerges from literature is the need for family members to bond. According to Arai (2014), keeping children at home rather than at school helps parents to have a close-knit family. Many parents regard homeschooling as an opportunity for them to learn more about their children and for the children to learn more about them. Arai (2014) notes that parents whose children have undergone homeschooling would make comments such as “we’re much stronger as a family now” or “homeschooling has brought all of us together as a family” (Arai, 2014). Similarly, Romanowski (2001) indicates that parents strengthen their relationships with their children when they home-school them. This claim is further strengthened by the findings in Noel, Stark & Redford (2015). They indicate that 96% of students between kindergarten and grade 12 (K-12) conducted their homework outside school (Noel, Stark & Redford, 2015). As a result of this finding, one may argue that public schooling, the only alternative to homeschooling, does not provide an adequate opportunity for parents to interact with their children and bond through schoolwork (Noel, Stark & Redford, 2015). Also, the fact that a large majority of children do not complete their homework at home means that they do not spend much time at home and may not get adequate time to bond with other family members (Noel, Stark & Redford, 2015). Some parents indicate that the problems of overcrowding. Many parents list various motivations for homeschooling- among them bullying in public schools as well as other bad experiences in schools. The studies by Noel, Stark & Redford (2015); Arai (2014) and Romanowski (2001) rightly highlight the fact that homeschooling provides added time for family members to bond. The bonding process is further improved by the fact that parents and children work together to overcome the challenge of homeschooling. Parent-teachers struggle to develop the best curricula while the children struggle to grasp the course content and make the transition from viewing their mothers or fathers as parents, but as teachers. This opportunity presents the family with a more close-knit existence than that prevailing in families where the children are public-schooled.
The second advantage of homeschooling that parents mention is that homeschooling offers an alternative lifestyle away from the negative aspects of modern society. Regardless of whether parents object to the pedagogical or ideological dimensions offered by public schooling, most of them object to contemporary society’s teachings on consumerism and materialism as guiding values for the young scholar. Such parents do not want their children to grow up championing these ideals (Noel, Stark & Redford, 2015). Homeschooling, according to these parents, offers an education that teaches positive values to their children. Values such as kindness, humility, perseverance, and selflessness are passed on by parents to their children better than they would be passed on in public schooling. According to Romanowski (2001), parents who object to public schooling regard such schools as grounded primarily in secular humanist philosophies that do not capture strong religious values. They argue that such schools may not take religion seriously. The religious beliefs and the education of their children may differ, causing such parents to object to such learning. Romanowski (2001) argues that such parents have a great concern for the spiritual, ethical, and moral development. They believe that public schools do not give appropriate ethical and moral instruction or religious values. Hoelzle (2013) also supports this thinking. He indicates that most parents who homeschooled their children believed in the value of the practice in transmitting desirable values and beliefs into the children from the parents. Also, homeschooling was said to improve the parent-child relationship considerably. Most interviewees indicated that their relationships with their parents had remained strong from the duration of homeschooling to the present. Also, most participants in the study showed that they had maintained the religious beliefs of their parents. The studies by Romanowski (2001) and Hoelzle (2013) indicate that parents value homeschooling because of the advantage it has in instilling desirable values in the children. Through homeschooling, parents can expose their children to desirable religious and social values instead of the negative values such as consumerism that are inherent in public schooling. In this regard, homeschooling has an edge over public schooling.
Another major advantage of homeschooling is that it seeks to have the instructor or instructions conform to the needs of the student rather than the student confirming to the needs of the instruction. Romanowski (2001) holds that every child’s educational and emotional needs are complex. It is detrimental to try and conform the needs of the child to the classroom or school. In public schools, students must adhere to a rigid curriculum that does not always address their academic interests and needs. Only successful students or the ones suited by the curriculum can cope while others, although full of potential and intelligence, get discouraged and fail. Such students are labeled failures and left to struggle. Romanowski (2001) argues that homeschooling caters to the needs and interests of all students, allowing them to makes the most of their abilities and academic gifts. For example, students who are gifted in or show an interest in natural sciences are empowered to follow in their interest. Such students go over and beyond to make discoveries on their own and develop their interests into successful careers. According to Jolly, Matthews and Nester (2012), parents who homeschooled their children believe that they know best about the gifts of their children. As such, they tailor homeschool curricula that are best-suited to their children. Parents in the study by Jolly, Matthews, & Nester (2012) indicated that they only decided to home-school their children after their attempts to influence the curricula of their schools failed. Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt (2015) indicate that traditional schooling is not able to support learners’ needs. There are three major dimensions through which homeschooling improves learning according to Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt (2015). First, it provides one-to-one support. One-to-one support means that students interact freely with their teachers. In turn, teachers afford more time to individual students. As a result, such teachers are more in touch with the needs of the student than their public schooling counterparts. Such students are likely to benefit from the extra attention they receive from teachers by registering better understanding of issues skills. Secondly, homeschooling creates a healthy and safe environment (Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt, 2015). Parents feel that their children are safe at home away from public schooling’s negative aspects such as bullying as well as the transmission of negative ideologies such as consumerism to their children. Thirdly, homeschooling provides appropriate and adequate learning supports for gifted and special needs children. Ultimately, Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt (2015) present a series of studies that indicate that learning and space experiences at home fabricate meaningful learning to students. Learning at home is not restricted to textbook education or standardized curriculum (Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt, 2015). In this setting, learning happens both inside as well as outside the house. The dimension of learning encompassed by homeschooling caters to academic as well as practical knowledge. According to Clements (2003), some of the textbooks employed in public schooling have lacked rigor in the last couple of decades, perhaps to (or “intending to”) ensuring that students pass their exams (Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt, 2015). There has been a considerable rise in grades at this time. Homeschooling proponents value rigor and are willing to change the curricula to make sure that their children are challenged in an appropriate manner (Clements, 2003). According to Clements (2003), it is enlightening to note how homeschooling parents identified and changed curricula as well as their teaching methods. It seems that by trial and error, a bit of self-exploration and considering learning styles and abilities of children, such parents have chosen and modified their curricula and methodology gradually to suit their children as well as themselves (Clements, 2003). These findings indicate that homeschooling is favorable because it can be tailored specifically to the needs and interests of the students. Students who are encouraged to explore the disciplines in which they are best gifted or interested are likely to show more keenness in learning and produce successful results.
Wilkens, Wade, Sonnert, & Sadler (2015) indicate that homeschooling students register higher tertiary calculus grades than their public schooled counterparts. Notably, homeschooled students also achieved relatively the same scores for Standard Aptitude Tests (SATs) for math as their public schooled counterparts (Wilkens, Wade, Sonnert, & Sadler, 2015). Wilkens, Wade, Sonnert, & Sadler (2015) indicated that although their study is plagued by the same problems that plague studies on the effectiveness of homeschooling, it provides important insights into the debate of homeschooling versus public schooling (Wilkens, Wade, Sonnert, & Sadler, 2015). It is interesting that the study indicates that homeschooled students had a 7% better performance in calculus than their public-schooled counterparts (Wilkens, Wade, Sonnert, & Sadler, 2015). However, this finding does not necessarily imply that homeschooled students have better math skills than public-schooled ones. Without a properly robust study and understanding of homeschooling at large, it is not possible to make definite generalizations about public schooling or homeschooling (Wilkens, Wade, Sonnert, & Sadler, 2015). However, Wilkens, Wade, Sonnert, & Sadler (2015) provide views that are consistent with other studies that indicate that homeschooled students have high success rates in college. The studies show that homeschooled students are indeed ready for the academic rigors of college such as calculus studies. These findings contrast with those registered in Romanowski (2001) and Lubienski, Puckett & Jameson (2015) that indicate that lack of social interactions leader to poor performance by homeschooled children. These findings from the literature indicate that homeschooling is desirable because it produces the same level of performance as public schooling and even better in some cases. The studies explored above show that with further development of curricula, homeschooling can produce college-ready graduates that are likely to perform better than their public schooled counterparts.
Disadvantages of Homeschooling
Perhaps the most important criticism of homeschooling is its failings in socialization. Critics of this model of education charge that children who attend home-schooling classes are isolated considerably from the outside world. They also indicate that such children are likely to be socially handicapped (Romanowski, 2001). Social interaction skills that students of the public schooling encounter are very limited in homeschooling. It is a great requirement that children interact with their peers in educational and social settings when growing up. Unless children are exposed to social life such as it exists in public schools, they may lack the skills required to adapt successfully to real-life situations (Romanowski, 2001). Although homeschoolers may argue that their children acquire basic socialization skills from social experiences that are independent of school, such interactions are severely limited in their extent and duration. For example, Romanowski (2001) argues that homeschooled children are seldom exposed to the diverse backgrounds and beliefs that would emerge in most public classrooms (Romanowski, 2001). Although homeschoolers may be involved in field trips with fellow homeschoolers, such participants are usually from a very select group with similar socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnic cultures. When such students enter the workforce in future, they may not have the same level of crucial multicultural education as their public-schooled counterparts (Romanowski, 2001). Romanowski (2001) highlights a big problem that may arise from homeschooling. Children who are homeschooled are likely to suffer from social isolation that may permeate into their studies and affect their performance. They are likely to lack the all-rounded knowledge that public education imparts.
Secondly, homeschooling is conducted primarily on women and may be regarded as gendered labor. Women bear almost the entire burden associated with homeschooling according to Apple (2007). This work includes cultural, physical and emotional labor. Women are often tasked with finding and planning materials, charting progress, teaching, establishing as well as maintaining the conducive environment. They also have to endure the emotional labor of taking care of the children as well as instructing them. Mothers as the select “caretakers” are required to take on issues like educational choice and planning. In some cases, they are required to do the actual teaching themselves. This work is intensive and adds considerably to the already intensive work in which women have to engage while bringing up their children. This case is even worse in highly religious homes where men are only “helpers” within the home. Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt (2015) also indicate that mothers face a daunting task to prepare themselves become teachers. They also have to choose the material that they believe to be suitable for their children (Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt, 2015). Mother-teachers that have no prior teaching experiences are particularly more adversely affected than those who are repeating mother-teachers. The study also explores homeschooling practices in countries such as Turkey that have only recently legalized homeschooling. Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt (2015) indicate that parents in such countries face considerable difficulties because they do not have workable models to emulate in their countries. According to Apple (2007), the demands from this intensified labor have contributed to women engaging in creative ways to deal with work in their lives. According to Jolly, Matthews & Nester (2012), there are challenges associated with homeschooling that is felt particularly by women. The first year of getting used to homeschooling can be very difficult (Jolly, Matthews & Nester, 2012). Mothers struggled to come to terms with the new identities stipulated by the education transition. Mothers feel conflicted as they attempt to juggle the entire set of domestic responsibilities (Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt, 2015). When a mother stays at home, she has to make financial sacrifices. Also, the effective resources that would be effective for gifted children are expensive. Another disadvantage associated with the gendered labor is the difficult time that children face (Jolly, Matthews & Nester, 2012). Children have to learn how to be self-starters and accept correction from their mothers. The studies by Jolly, Matthews & Nester (2012); Jamaludin, Alias & DeWitt (2015) and Apple (2007) indicate that homeschooling is undesirable because it presents a heavy burden for mothers. Mothers are likely to suffer the burden of educating the children at home in the absence of their husbands.
One of the major disadvantages of homeschooling is that it does not produce as academically all-rounded students as public schooling. Lubienski, Puckett & Jameson (2015) refuted the claims that homeschooling produced better academic performers than public schooling. These researchers indicate that homeschooling presents numerous difficulties in measuring the students’ academic success as well as costs. As a result, there is very little empirical evidence that can be used to demonstrate that homeschooling is effective (Lubienski, Puckett & Jameson, 2015). The available data in this regard only represents a small non-representative sample that does not cater to all the traits and metrics of all homeschoolers (Lubienski, Puckett & Jameson, 2015). Academically, the education of homeschooled children is adversely affected by the lack of proper peer interaction in classroom settings. Students should interact in discussions, competition and sharing of ideas for them to experience a complete education (Romanowski, 2001). Competition helps bring out the best out of individual students because they push themselves to the limit. An active and competitive classroom defines how students confront problems and forms the manner in which they view the world. It also influences their goals and aspirations (Romanowski, 2001). More importantly, students in such classrooms acquire a means by which to analyze their performance by comparing and contrasting it with that of their peers. This comparison and contrasting go beyond standardized test scores to other broader aspects such as confidence, oratory skills, and debating skills. The homeschool, therefore, stands in lonesome contrast to public schooling’s energy-filled, active and bustling classroom environment. In public schooling class environments, students actively and constantly enjoy each other’s company and exchange ideas in a manner that improves their academic performance and overall growth. The studies by Lubienski, Puckett & Jameson (2015), Jamaludin; Alias & DeWitt (2015) and Romanowski (2001) indicate that the studies that elevate homeschooling as fostering better performances by students than public schooling are not rigorous enough. They only utilize a small and non-representative sample from homeschoolers that does not cater to the characteristics of all homeschoolers. Coupled with the detrimental effect that the social isolation of homeschooling has been proven to produce, these scholars call for rigorous studies and methods to eliminate the statistical difficulties that arise in the process of studying homeschooling.
References
Apple, M. (2007). Who Needs Teacher Education? Gender, Technology, and the Work of Home Schooling. Teacher Education Quarterly, 34(2), 111–130.
Arai, A. B. (2014). Reasons for homeschooling in Canada. Canadian Journal of Education, 25(03802361), 204–217.
Clements, A. D. (2003). A variety of teaching methodologies used by homeschoolers: Case. East Tennessee State Univ., Johnson City: n.p.
Hoelzle, B. R. (2013). The transmission of Values and the Transitions into Adulthood within the Context of Home Education. Journal of Research on Christian Education, v22 n3, 244–263.
Jamaludin, K. A., Alias, N., & DeWitt. (2015). Research and Trends in the Studies of Homeschooling Practices: A Review on Selected Journals. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology - TOJET, v14 n3, 111–119.
Jolly, J., Matthews, M. S., & Nester. (2013). Homeschooling the Gifted: A Parent's Perspective. Gifted Child Quarterly, v57 n2, 121–134.
Lubienski, C., Puckett, T., & Jameson, T. (DEC2015). Does Homeschooling "Work"? A Critique of the Empirical Claims and Agenda of Advocacy Organizations. Does Homeschooling "Work"? A Critique of the Empirical Claims and Agenda of Advocacy Organizations, v88 n3, 378–392.
Noel, A., Stark, P., & Redford, J. (2015). Parent and Family Involvement in Education, from the Nationa Household Education Survey Program of 2012: First Look. NCES 2013-028.Rev. National Center for Education Statistics.
Romanowski, M. (Nov/Dec 2001). Common arguments about the strengths and limitations of homeschooling. The Clearing House, 75(2), 79–83.
Wilkens, C., Wade, C. H., Sonnert, G., & Sadler, P. M. (2015a). Are Homeschoolers Prepared for College Calculus? Journal of School Choice, v9 n1, 30–48.
