For many reasons, homeschooling is no longer uncommon and unheard of, in fact, it has gained in popularity and acceptance in recent years. Parents who are fed up with public school behavior and learning can legally transfer their children out of a school and into the home, on a permanent basis. The curriculum can be fine-tuned (within reason) to include oft-ignored subjects such as religion, and to exclude topics that parents don't feel their child should learn yet. Even with that and the many other good sides of home teaching, some people feel that it is not a great choice. This paper addresses general trends in home education, as well as the many advantages and disadvantages of this particular way of learning.
The February 12, 1996 issue of US News and World Report contains an overview of the homeschooling growth in the United States (p. 57). The article recounts the estimation by the Department of Education that more than one-half million students learn at home, or about one percent of the total U.S. school-age population. This is an approximate 30% jump from the 1991 figure. Some homeschooling organizations claim the correct number falls closer to 1.2 million and is growing about 25 percent annually. The article also stresses that there is a significant amount of research showing that homeschoolers score as well as or better than their conventionally schooled peers, and it's no longer newsworthy when a homeschooler gets accepted by an Ivy-League college. Brian Ray, President of the National Home Education Research Institute, is quoted as saying that homeschoolers performed at average or above average levels in more than 65 studies.
One can find a list of research studies showing that homeschoolers fare very well in comparison with their public school equals in Borg Hendrickson's Home School: Taking the First Step (Hendrickson, pp. 10-12). This reference received acclaim from the Library Journal, which stated, "The book's step-by-step approach is excellentÉThis title is essential."
Socialization, or rather lack thereof, is a commonly stated problem for homeschoolers. However, parents are increasingly concerned about the "socialization" children receive in public schools. This year's Florida Education Department survey found that 61 percent of parents questioned stated dissatisfaction with the public school environment and instruction as the primary reason for homeschooling. This topped religion, (chosen by 21 percent) for the second year in a row (US News and World Report, Feb. 12, 1996). Also, consider this quotation by Hendrickson: "According to The Random House College Dictionary É the term socialize means 'make fit for life in companionship with others.' É My eighteen years of on-the-scene observations confirm that children in public schools learn that companionship with others involves bullying, gossiping, ostracizing, competing, first-fighting, humiliating É " (p. 15). Hendrickson goes on to cite statistics that more than three million crimes a year are committed in or near the 85,000 U.S. public schools and that drugs are frequently available in most every public school. The author ends by saying, "You can imagine what happens within a child as he becomes 'fit for life in companionship' with other public school children."
Most home school books point out that children schooled at home actually have more hours open to socialize with a wider variety of people and under better conditions (i.e., those approved of and supervised by parents). There are also experiments in some states where the public school system offers some services, including extracurricular activities, to homeschoolers. (Guterson, pp. 186-194).
Those educated at home can join support groups that arrange group activities, as well as organizations that supplement homeschooling. For example, the Valley Brook Academy in Silver Spring, Maryland, (see appendix) offers a day of classes weekly and field trips and activities for homeschoolers. The Learning Community in Columbia, Maryland (see appendix) also offers activities for teenagers who are enrolled in its homeschooling program. A geographical listing of support groups in contained in Home School: Taking the First Step (Hendrickson, pp. 193-224).
For families considering homeschooling at the high school level, a most critical anxiety is that of college admissions. One of the earliest celebrated cases of a child going directly from a home school to college occurred in 1983, when Grant Colfax, a boy who was taught at home by his parents for eleven years, was accepted at Harvard University. When his two younger brothers were also admitted, the family became well known as a homeschooling success story and have since written a book for homeschoolers (Colfax, 1988). They claim that "a homeschooled student who does reasonably well on a few standardized tests and can make a case for himself or herself, will have little difficulty attracting the attention of admission directors of most good colleges." (Colfax, p.98). Of course, it should be noted that homeschooling certainly can create some complications when pursuing higher education. Some colleges may be reluctant to choose a home-taught child when the other student has followed a highly credited course of study.
As homeschoolers from the 1980's enter their high schools years, colleges are paying more and more attention to them. Phone conversations placed for researching this paper revealed that the admissions offices of several local universities (Maryland, American, Georgetown, Catholic, and George Washington) all were willing to consider homeschoolers for admission. All require that the SAT be taken, and Georgetown advised that homeschoolers use an accredited correspondence program. Due to the fact that that homeschooling curriculums can vary greatly, standardized tests such as the SAT and SAT II become considerably more important.
A list of more than 300 "Colleges That Admit Homeschoolers". This list indicates that "colleges that accept homeschoolers rely on various materials in place of high school grades, including portfolios of student work, SAT scores, grades from open admission community colleges, and personal recommendations." ("Colleges That Admit Homeschoolers", web site). It should be noted that it is not necessary in all cases to take the GED high school diploma-equivalency-test to enter college; indeed most colleges do not require a diploma for entrance.
Many of the books on homeschooling address the issue of college admission. The Home School Manual, 5th Edition devotes two chapters to high school level study at home and one dealing with preparing for college. (Wade, pp. 257-267). The author recommends an early meeting with admissions officers at colleges being considered so that special requirements will not be overlooked. Participation in volunteer and extracurricular activities, ample preparation for the SAT testing and for the interview with the admissions officer is recommended. Two books suggested for college preparation are College Admissions: A Guide for Homeschoolers, by Judy Gelner, and Choosing a College: A Guide for Parents & Students by Thomas Sowell.
The need for a transcript can be satisfied either by parents keeping a detailed record, or by enrolling in a correspondence program that issues transcripts and diplomas. The National Home Study Council, 1601 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009, has a list of home study schools. Also noteworthy is Home Studies: An Alternative, which lists many correspondence schools (Gorder, pp. 148-149). The State of Maryland will send a list of state-approved programs.
An alternate path to college admissions is first to enter a local community college which must accept students over 18, and then transfer to a more academically demanding institution.
The home-educated nationwide are being greatly assisted by fairly recent inventions such as the personal computer and the internet. On a local scale, computers equipped with multimedia CD-ROMs can provide a fantastic spectrum of information at very detailed levels. An encyclopedia CD-ROM such as Microsoft Encarta presents a substantial selection of data, and other titles like A. D. A. M. Software's ADAM: The Inside Story go into great depths of details (in this case, the human body). No longer is the quality and quantity of information learned so dependent on the instructing parent.
When connected to the internet, a computer can do even greater wonders for those taught at home. The internet connects homeschoolers nationwide, allowing the opportunity to collaborate together and share ideas, opinions, and observations. Through this vast world wide network of networks, homeschoolers are able to download (or purchase) learning materials, research a seemingly unlimited array of topics, and equally importantly, keep in close touch with "peers". Homeschoolers are no longer required to be isolated, lonely creatures that quietly lay around the house. With little effort one is able to find a vast array of web sites, e-mailing lists, electronic bulletin boards, and more&emdash;all, quite literally, at one's finger tips. (Refer to the appendix for more information.)
In researching this paper, I have become aware of the numerous advantages and disadvantages that are associated with home schooling. For one thing, home education allows for very personalized and productive learning. Not only is the course of study quite individualized but the methods of learning can be fine-tuned to the learning style of the student. While home schooling certainly does bear some down sides, I believe several of them to be over emphasized. For example, while the home-educated may not be in the presence of their peers as often as other students, this in not entirely a bad thing. Without so many external pressures and influences, home-schooled children can pick up genuinely good values from their parents. There is essentially no threat of getting into trouble due to peer pressure. On the other hand, there are indeed real problems that must be dealt with if one learns at home: Substantial amount of motivation is needed to keep one's self on task. A major consideration is that it is easily possible to exclude items in one's course of study, whether because teaching the subject is difficult (as is often the case for foreign languages) or simply because an item was overlooked. For these reasons, some colleges may be hesitant when asked to admit a homeschooler to their institution.