Much of what I thought about home schooling was incorrect. The conventional knowledge about this rapidly growing dimension of American education is too simple, too stale and too stereotyped.
For example, the Home School Legal Defense Association, despite its many admirers and energetic attorneys, is not the leader of home schooling in this nation. There is no leader, and no reigning ideology. There are rather at least a million American children – the real figure is probably twice that number – whose families want them to discover at home for many factors, often having little to do with religion or politics.
The common picture of home-schoolers as lockstep spiritual conservatives falls apart when you find that some of these moms and dads have been shamed by their fundamentalist churches for teaching their kids at home rather than sending them to the church’s school. Some home-schoolers enjoy the brand-new for-profit online teaching programs like K12. Some believe they are a corporate plot. Some moms and dads are home-schooling because their kids were finding out more quickly than their teachers could stay up to date with. Some are home-schooling because their kids were finding out more slowly than their public school teachers had perseverance for. Some home-school because their children were unhappy at school. Some home-school because they could not meet their requirements any other way.
With their moms and dads so often at their side, they were able to see what great manners and self-confidence looked like, rather than be required to adopt the jungle code of the typical high school corridor. In many families one parent stays at home to monitor the home schooling, although they often do some work there to pay the expenses, or trade off with other home-schooling moms and dads when they have to be away.
Home schooling involves a significant commitment from the moms and dads. At least one parent needs to want to work carefully with the kid, strategize lessons, keep abreast of requirements, and maybe negotiate problems with the school district. The most common home school arrangement is for the mom to teach while the father works out of the home. There are a range of educational products tailored for the home school, released by dozens of suppliers. Some are correspondence courses, which grade students’ work, some are full curricula, and some are single subject workbooks or drill products in areas such as mathematics or phonics.
Many of the curriculum suppliers are indentifiably Christian, consisting of several significant home school publishers such as Bob Jones University Press, Alpha Omega Publications, and Home Study International. A major non-religious service provider of home school products is the Calvert School in Baltimore. Figures differ as to how many home schools use released curricula or correspondence courses, but the Department of Education estimates that it is from 35 to 60%; the rest use a curriculum the moms and dads and/or kid have created.
However initially, all the moms and dads thinking about teaching their children at home need to find out what laws apply to their state and school district.
A different alternative for a solid education with more specialized handling of fast and slow learners is a private school. Check out this school if you live in this area:
- https://www.dock.org/private-christian-school-near-kulpsville-pa
- dock christian school silverdale pa
- dock christian high school bucks county
In Summary
The Home School Legal Defense Association, despite its many admirers and energetic attorneys, is not the leader of home schooling in this nation. In many families one parent stays at home to monitor the home schooling, although they often do some work there to pay the costs, or trade off with other home-schooling moms and dads when they have to be away.
The most common home school arrangement is for the mom to teach while the father works out of the home. Many of the curriculum suppliers are identifiably Christian, consisting of several significant home school publishers such as Bob Jones University Press, Alpha Omega Publications, and Home Study International. A major non-religious service provider of home school products is the Calvert School in Baltimore.