By: Daniel Nardini
It is a growing trend in the United States. There are parents who believe that the best way to “protect” their kids from the violence, gangs and learning “bad stuff” is to home school their children. Until ten years ago, this trend was largely among the deeply religious-oriented. Now a growing number of families even in suburban and urban areas are taking their children out of school to “educate” them. Of course, the parents have to receive the proper accreditation from the district authorities, and all textbooks and learning materials in certain counties must match what students are taught in public or even private schools. The child or children are not just with their parents all the time. They participate with other families who are also home schooling their children. These families hold their own sports events, have special learning contests, and when their children complete all requirements hold graduation ceremonies. For many parents, this seems to be the ideal solution.
Yet, in my experience with home schooled children, there are some serious drawbacks. Yes, they may be in a safe environment (usually the home is one of the safest places for children normally), they do learn something, and many of these kids show real enthusiasm for learning. They may even score well on national or state standard tests. But home schooling is missing some key things. First, as well intention as the parents may be, they do not have the professional education to be teachers in a classroom situation. We must remember that it takes four to five years for a teacher in Illinois to receive not only the professional training but also certification to be a teacher. Professional teachers have to deal with situations that are meant for the classroom—something that parents (unless they are teachers themselves) are unprepared for. Second, home schooling may expose children to other families and they may hold all kinds of outside of the home activities. However, such children and their parents do not have the necessary facilities of a public or private educational institution. Schools were built to provide the education children need, and they are usually staffed with people who are dedicated for this purpose alone. Parents do not usually have the experience nor the professional background to give their kids the education they truly need.
Third, home schooled children normally only deal with families and children of similar background and mindset. In a public and private school, there is a great deal more variety of children. Yes, there are bad elements, but there are also good ones. Part of the school experience is for educators to deal with the problem students (it does not always work as we know). In home schooling the “bad” student has no future, and usually the problem student is a further extension of trouble within the family. Finally, one major problem I have seen with home schooled children is that most colleges and universities will simply not accept them. Since these kids were not in an official educational institution, colleges and universities do not have grade evaluations, no information on academic performance, and no counselor reports of what a student may excel at. For most colleges and universities, they do not even have SAT scores, and these kids have no report cards from accredited schools. How can any college or university accept them? I used to be a teacher, and through my observations home schooling is a very limited kind of schooling indeed.
On Home Schooling
By: Daniel Nardini
Yet, in my experience with home schooled children, there are some serious drawbacks. Yes, they may be in a safe environment (usually the home is one of the safest places for children normally), they do learn something, and many of these kids show real enthusiasm for learning. They may even score well on national or state standard tests. But home schooling is missing some key things. First, as well intention as the parents may be, they do not have the professional education to be teachers in a classroom situation. We must remember that it takes four to five years for a teacher in Illinois to receive not only the professional training but also certification to be a teacher. Professional teachers have to deal with situations that are meant for the classroom—something that parents (unless they are teachers themselves) are unprepared for. Second, home schooling may expose children to other families and they may hold all kinds of outside of the home activities. However, such children and their parents do not have the necessary facilities of a public or private educational institution. Schools were built to provide the education children need, and they are usually staffed with people who are dedicated for this purpose alone. Parents do not usually have the experience nor the professional background to give their kids the education they truly need.
Third, home schooled children normally only deal with families and children of similar background and mindset. In a public and private school, there is a great deal more variety of children. Yes, there are bad elements, but there are also good ones. Part of the school experience is for educators to deal with the problem students (it does not always work as we know). In home schooling the “bad” student has no future, and usually the problem student is a further extension of trouble within the family. Finally, one major problem I have seen with home schooled children is that most colleges and universities will simply not accept them. Since these kids were not in an official educational institution, colleges and universities do not have grade evaluations, no information on academic performance, and no counselor reports of what a student may excel at. For most colleges and universities, they do not even have SAT scores, and these kids have no report cards from accredited schools. How can any college or university accept them? I used to be a teacher, and through my observations home schooling is a very limited kind of schooling indeed.