Why Parents are Embracing Homeschooling
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Homeschooling is a better way to learn
An increasing number of parents are choosing to homeschool rather than send their children to traditional schools.
This trend is a result of discontent and quality in public schools, curriculum choice, flexibility, and personalized learning options of a home education.
Why is there less quality teaching in public education?
That is a charged question.
Honestly, I believe it is a sign of our times and a result of what parents have been asking for; they just had no idea this is how it would all manifest.
Public schools have always been designed to educate the masses; that in itself means that many children will slip through the cracks.
Trying to educate everyone is a huge “ask.”
Asking teachers to meet specific benchmarks by certain timelines, not let any child “be left behind,” and teach to age content, regardless of comprehension leaves a crippled public education system.
On top of that, we want (and I am not disagreeing), the teachers to teach to different learning styles.
25 years ago, very few parents knew what learning styles were, let alone were screaming for them in the classroom.
So-yes, it appears the quality of the educational system has deteriorated, I think it is broken.
Steps that have led to this:
- Teachers should never have been permitted to teach or voice their personal political, religious, or “hot topic” beliefs.
- Schools should not teach “non academic” topics.
- Schools should not change or add curriculum according to current “hot topics.”
While schools find a firm foundation away from political sway and back to educating the masses, parents have good reason to seek other educational resources.
I don’t like what they are teaching at school.
I love random facts.
Here are some taken from a Pew Research Poll in October 2022:
72% of the Democrats polled felt pubic schools were having a positive effect on the way things were going in the United States.
Only 37% of the Republicans polled felt the same.
52% of the Republicans polled felt that federal government has too much influence on what their local public schools are teaching.
And of the Republicans polled felt that state government (41%) and local school board (30%) has too much influence.
20% of the Democrats polled felt that federal government has too much influence on what their local public schools are teaching.
And of the Republicans polled felt that state government (28%) and local school board (17%) has too much influence.
I was actually shocked when I learned parents no longer dictated the curriculum for subjects.
I thought if parents showed up at school board meetings and voiced their concerns, the school board had to listen.
So, I think the final “straw that broke the camel’s back” when it comes to parents pulling their children from public schools and deciding to homeschool is the ability to dictate their own curricula.
You want a non secular education for your children?
There are entire curriculum sets designed for you in mind!
You want to teach everything from a STEM viewpoint?
There are homeschool curriculum companies that do this very thing.
You can stop the very significant eye roll when your child is discussing the concepts they learned for the day (because they rub against your belief system).
And instead, you can teach your children according to your beliefs and values.
Fun fact, I loved teaching sex ed to my boys.
I knew exactly what I wanted them to understand.
They were not teaching what I thought was important in the sex ed classes at school.
Mental health-this is a really important topic in my home.
We have a history in our family of depression and bi-polar disorder.
For some of this, my kids could be considered “double winners” since it comes from both sides.
My education to my kids on these topics was much more in depth and personalized than anything they could get at school.
“I’m so excited- and I just can’t hide it!”
“A really fabulous song that describes how I feel about:
““Homeschool 101: Making Time & Creating a Schedule”
“A really fabulous song that describes how I feel about:
- You’re busy-it’s on audio!
- It comes with a workbook.
- Step by step, we do this together.
- I help you - even if you work - find time to homeschool.
Find Time
I show you how to teach your children to help you-with a lot of the mom “stuff” that takes all of your time!
When can I homeschool, I work?
Homeschooling is flexible!
It is great to work out side of the conventional 8:00-3:00 hours for many reasons.
- You work and cannot also homeschool at this time.
- Your child learns and pays attention best from 10:00 – 11:30 and from 2:00 to 3:30, fabulous! Work with your child’s best “on” time for better learning success.
- Due to the individualized nature of homeschooling, you will have less “school” hours and more free time.
Learning can also look completely different.
Go to a car junkyard to learn about compression.
This is a fun way to work in algebra, story problems or the actual physicals equation for compression.
The way your child learns can be through real life applications, not necessarily out of books.
Looking at a family vacation?
You or your husband only get February and September weeks due to seniority or heavy holiday sales?
Fabulous!
Adjust your school calendar to have rewards in February and September instead of the “classic” school vacation calendar.
Oddly enough, time restrictions is one of the main reasons parents give for not being able to homeschool.
Yet, educating your children at home offers so much flexibility that once you begin you may wonder how you will ever go back to a “regular” school schedule if need be!
My child is above average in Math, but has difficulty in Reading, what do I do?
You realize this is “normal” right?
Personalized learning.
This is the best argument for homeschooling.
You are able to create the school curricula your child needs.
Not a curricula based on a bell curve of what the most kids need at that age in every subject, but what your child needs to grow and learn.
Another advantage of an individualized education is that at home, your child does not have to be bored waiting for the class to catch up on a concept they already know.
Nor do they have to waste a lot of time reviewing materials; both you and your child are quickly able to determine where they are in their learning needs from the previous year for from a brief break for vacation.
If your child wants to spend extra time, fully exploring a topic, you can do this.
This is, after all, what we wish we could do in the public schools: encourage interest and feed that desire for more knowledge.
The problem is, if 30 children all have a passion for a separate topic or if the teacher is being evaluated on specific benchmarks that she needs to teach her students, there is just no time for “irrelevant interests.”
You can also spend the extra time to find different ways to teach a concept your child is having difficulty grasping.
You do not have time restraints.
Home education allows a concept of when you learn the concept, instead of what do you know on this day?
One is a measure of constant growth, the other sets students up to either do well or to not do well, after all, after that day, it is time to learn something else.
Finally, it is really important to learn and teach to your child’s learning style.
I could be wrong, I am sure I often am, however, I believe that many of our children who are not successful in the public schools are not auditory or visual learners.
This means that if you decide to homeschool, you will need to teach in a way that matches your child’s learning style in order for them to have educational success.
Kinesthetic.
Yup…it is a difficult method to teach to.
Why else do you think most classroom teachers primarily teach to the visual and auditory learners?
Kinesthetic lessons take more time to prepare and think out so they meet your objectives, set up, and ultimately to teach.
Something many homeschool bloggers will not tell you, sometimes your child does not want to learn from you.Sometimes they do not want to do homeschool work.
Sometimes it is not all flowers and rainbows.
If you want less conflict and more success, teach to your child’s learning style.
It is sad to say, but at this moment in time, the schools are not able to do what they set out to: educate our children.
It seems that while the public schools use to teach to the masses, they are now struggling to provide a quality education to the “most” of the kids anymore.
Many parents feel that by choosing to homeschool, they are better able to set their children up for future success.
Once the child and parent educator start, they find they enjoy the flexibility, curriculum choice, and personalized learning of a home education.