By Mimi Rothschild
Do parents choose to home school their children because they are unhappy with the quality of local public school education? Do they choose to home school because they are unhappy with the lack of Christian values in the curriculum? Whatever the reason, parents who choose home school are focusing on the family and going back to God’s own plan for socialization.
More and more people across the United States are choosing to home school every year. The current numbers are somewhere over a million. This means that the concerns over certain myths about the outcome of a home school education are starting to fade, and the focus on socialization through family and Christian home school curriculum is building in force.
By taking time to build the family relationships to make this happen, home school parents are fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi; that all children’s hearts would return to their fathers and the hearts of fathers would return to their children. Rather than individualist achievement, parents are focusing on passing along the heritage of their faith and knowledge through the more democratic and family-focused practice of home school.
Besides promoting faith and the family, Christian students who are educated at home are outperforming their public school counterparts in other areas as well. Across the academic spectrum, home-educated children are getting results on standardized tests that exceed and surpass those of public schoolers by a whopping 30 to 35 percent and higher!
This means that home school kids are getting a great education, despite the certification or education level of their parents. Generally speaking, in public schools the outcome of a child’s education correlates with that of their parents. Not so with homeschoolers. No matter the level of education or degree of certification that home school parents hold, their children still outrank public schoolers by 30 to 35 percent in tests.
In the same way, no matter the race of the home school family or the level of income, home school families perform incredibly well. It is the passing of Christian heritage and the family socialization that gives home school children the maturity and discipline to not only succeed academically during home school, but after as well. The percentage of homeschoolers that head to college matches the percentage of public schoolers – about 70 percent – and homeschoolers often start taking college courses during their “high school” years because they are so far ahead academically.
The focus on family socialization in home school clearly outperforms that of individualist focus in public schools.
By Mimi Rothschild
Families with a military background believe in homeschools because they provide a secure environment for children who are constantly on the move. Homeschools are favorable because they are instrumental in developing family bonds. If a child is in traditional school, he has to constantly cope up with change in environment every now and then because military families are constantly transferred from one province to another in a matter of few years. The homeschooler’s child does not suffer from the anxiety or pressure to adjust to the new alienable surroundings which a typical student faces. One has to admit frequent transfers can hurt the child’s temperament and emotional growth. Thankfully the homeschooler’s child does not have to go through the same anguish.
The overseas Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS) had certain inconsistencies with regards to a homeschool in terms of participation policies. There were strange norms kept like allowing children to participate in all of the activities only if the homeschooler was enrolled in four DoDDS classes per day. The Home School Legal Defense Association followed blanket policy insisting on every homeschooler to take part in extracurricular activities of overseas DoDDS schools. The HSLDA categorically asked the US House of Representatives Armed Forces Committee to instruct the Secretary of Defense to formulate a specific, lucidly written policy conveying the department’s unstinted support for homeschools. The committee included the directive and submitted the report to the full House as a part of the Defense Authorization Act in the year 2000.
Following the instructions in the report, the DoDEA or the Department of Defense Education Activity has been given the responsibility to ensure that sufficient educational material are available to children of parents who are serving their country in far-off areas of the world. There is a conscious attempt made to see that the homeschooler is given ample opportunity to learn and grow in intellect, even in places where there are less educational resources compared to the ones available in the US.
The family has to abide by the country’s compulsory attendance requirements whether the child is in traditional school or if he is a homeschooler. Military families who send their children to homeschools have to follow the relevant school attendance laws of the country. If you want to send your children to homeschool, then it is not necessary to communicate the request to the base commander. You can get in touch with the HSLDA to know about the right and responsibilities of students in homeschools.
The DoDEA who have taken the neutral stand for homeschools, have voluntarily agreed to provide children in homeschools with ancillary assistance like library access, special education services, allowing them to participate in programs like sports, music, dramatics etc. However students studying in homeschools are obligated to abide by the rules and regulations regarding dress codes, attendance rules and other minimal requisites needed for every extracurricular activity. Enrollment in just one class of a DoD school is enough to participate in extracurricular activities. Children in homeschools can also expect to get loans for educational materials like books and software.
By Mimi Rothschild
While home education laws differ depending on the state, every state does have laws regarding home education or homeschool. While some state laws require only notifying the school district of your intent to homeschool your children, other states require stringent reporting and some states mandate specific testing. Still other states require a certain number of attendance days.
It’s important that you familiarize yourself with the laws of your state regarding home education. Failure to do so could subject you and your family to unpleasant surprises, such as visits from truancy officers, or even visits from your state’s Children’s Services Department’s social workers. Communication with the school district is very important.
Texas, for example, is one of the states with the least restrictive statutes regarding home education. In Texas, you don’t even have to notify the school district of your intent to homeschool. You can simply set up your homeschool and go about the business of educating your children. While the law does stipulate that the subjects taught must include reading, math, spelling, grammar and good citizenship, it is silent on the amount of days in attendance required and there are no reporting or testing requirements.
New York, on the other hand, has very different requirements. State law mandates that the equivalent of 180 days in attendance be adhered to, although this can be broken down by hours. For example, in grades kindergarten through sixth, 900 hours of instruction are required, and in grades seventh through twelfth, 990 hours of instruction are the requirement. Attendance records must be kept and made available upon request, but they must also be filed quarterly along with a summary of the material covered in each subject, and either a grade or a narrative evaluation of the child’s progress in each subject. There are other requirements as well. Regardless of the state in which you homeschool, check the legal obligations and ramifications.
Some parents find the interference by the government disdainful, and there has been legal action filed on both sides – homeschool parents and school districts – for decades. There is almost always pending legislation regarding homeschool laws in one state or another at any given time. Your best defense against unwanted intrusion into your homeschool is to know the law and abide by it in the least restrictive way possible. If you find the law in your state to be too intrusive or otherwise disheartening, contact your legislatures. You wouldn’t be the first homeschool parent to change home education laws.
By Mimi Rothschild
Homeschool is becoming an increasingly popular educational choice for many Americans. More than two million children are learning in a home education setting, and more join the ranks of homeschoolers every year. However, there are still some major concerns for parents when it comes to home education, and one of the biggest is carrying the homeschool program through high school.
Many parents worry that homeschool is not a viable option for high school-aged students. There are many concerns in this regard. Some believe they lack the skills necessary to continue home education through high school. Others think that their children are missing out on the important social aspects of high school, such as the prom and graduation ceremonies, by continuing in a homeschool curriculum. Further concern is over higher education; some parents believe that their children will not be able to attend college with only a home-based education.
The good news is that there are solutions to all of these concerns. Today, colleges are more accepting than ever of homeschool students. In fact ,some colleges and universities actually prefer students from a home education background, as they are generally more independent, responsible, and better prepared for the challenges of college. Additionally, homeschool students are eligible to take the GED (General Equivalency Diploma) exam, which is a document accepted for admission by most colleges across the country.
When it comes to receiving a diploma, the answer can vary according to the desires of your children. Some students may want a physical certificate that they can frame as a symbol of their completion of a home education. Others may be satisfied by the knowledge they have acquired and the portfolio of work they’ve built up. Graduation ceremonies for homeschool students can take many forms. Homeschool families often hold small private ceremonies for family, and homeschool organizations will put together group graduations for several area homeschoolers at once. Students also have the option of enrolling part-time in high school during their senior year, which will allow them to attend the graduation ceremony as well as other senior activities, such as the prom.
There are many ways to make high school a successful option for your homeschool children. Parents who wish to continue to homeschool through the high school years should investigate the options and discuss them with their children. You can achieve homeschool success throughout your child’s education with creativity and planning, and arrive at a rewarding experience for the whole family.
By Mimi Rothschild
Sometimes parents may observe that their child has difficulty with certain subjects or elements in homeschool. For example, the homeschooler may have difficulty staying focused, may have difficulty producing speech and text accurately, or maybe the child is performing in homeschool at an academic grade lower than he or she should be. Such situations are, understandably, of great concern to parents; concerns which beg some questions. Does my child have special needs? If so, what extra support is needed and what should be done in home school to create it? The following is intended as a primer on the more frequently asked questions regarding home school and children with special needs, and cannot claim to be a comprehensive guide or response. If you truly suspect that your homeschooler has special needs, it is probably a good idea to seek out further information.
One of the most frequently encountered questions has to do with academic grade level: Does my child have a learning disorder if he is working within home school curriculum a grade level lower than his age says he should? The answer at this point is an extremely tentative “maybe”. A number of tests need to be done before the diagnoses of learning disability can be applied. However, that is already jumping too far ahead. To begin, the problem may be as simple as eyesight or hearing. Some people with poor eyesight adapt as they grow, and can go for some time before they or somebody else realizes they need glasses. If academic performance in the home school diminishes, this is one possible reason why. Another has to do with the simple and inevitable process of growing up. Part of maturity is mental and cognitive development, which progresses at a different rate for everybody. It is entirely possible that a homeschooler is either too challenged or not challenged enough by the material. A learning disorder or an attention deficit disorder should never be assumed.
That said, suppose for a moment that your homeschooler is diagnosed as having special needs. What then? This of course depends on the needs in question. For example, a homeschooler diagnosed with ADHD will require a greater degree of flexibility, more frequent changes in activity, and methods of learning both engaging and fun. In other cases the homeschooler may have what is known as a problem with Auditory Processing. This means that the homeschooler hears fine, but words sound jumbled and unintelligible to his or her brain. In this case, you will want to investigate programs and specialists for addressing such cases.
Working with special needs children, whether in a home school environment or elsewhere, can be both challenging and rewarding. The key is not only patience and support, but also the wisdom to avoid the temptation of “doing everything” for the child in question. Stress the ability in disability, and encourage the homeschooler with special needs to focus on strengths, and not to dwell on limitations.