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Home Schooling: A Choice

Home schooling has become increasingly popular, but there are many arguments to support the position that home schooled children will be ill equipped to deal with the common problems that today's and future life poses to them. As we look at the world around us, we see that it is evolving towards a world community. As such, the skills that a young person acquires through the socialization processes they experience in the institutional school setting will be invaluable to them when they leave school and begin taking part in and contributing to society. Some of them will go from high school to college, where their interactions with people of other ethnic origins and cultural traditions will be a part of their academic experience. Those students who choose paths that do not include college will find themselves in a fast paced and culturally diverse world that is very competitive. Home schooling does not provide the social experience that is gained from the institutional setting in acclimating young students to the diversity of the world around him/her. Also, the home school environment does not afford students the opportunity to experience and benefit from the diversity in thought that comes through the institutional setting. This puts home schooled children, if not at an academic disadvantage, at a social disadvantage, which will manifest itself not just socially, but in the ways in which they apply even the best home schooled learning they have acquired.

This brief essay examines home schooling vs. institutional schooling in an effort to focus on the benefits of the institutional setting in the academic and social experiences of the student. While the reasons that parents choose home schooling may be apparent -- more focused academic training in the more intimate setting of the home -- I will argue that this is more often than not a failed goal in home schooling. Home schooling is perhaps a parent's best intention gone awry.

Home Schooling is Not New or Innovative

Jane Van Galen and Mary Anne Pitman (1991) point out that it is the institutional setting and the requirement of primary education that is new in the social order, and not home schooling (1). When we consider the history of the United States, and the world at large, we must agree with Van Galen and Pitman, because compulsory school attendance for juveniles, though found at intervals throughout history in Europe and in America, became legislated into law in America in Virginia, in 1646, and in 41 other states by 1852 (Cunningham McLaughlin and Bushnell Hart (Eds.) 636). Seven of the southern states had no such laws, but did have laws limiting child labor (636). The amount of time spent in a formalized academic setting varied, but evolved over time. It was not until 1948 that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created wherein it holds that primary education is a human right (Morsink 212).

If we consider, briefly, the history of the United States as it is known to most of us: a vast wilderness that was settled over the centuries; then, we understand why home schooling was prevalent, since much of the population was scattered across the wilderness and there were no social structures for institutionalized academic settings. In the urban settings, however, compulsory education was more prevalent, especially in Europe, where it was believed that society must guard itself against ignorance (Cunningham McLaughlin and Bushnell Hart 636).

Leaders and governments came to the conclusion that education, left to the discretion of the family in the family setting did not prevail. This is the same problem with homeschooling today. While parents who choose to homeschool their children often say that their child (ren) demonstrate improved academic achievement as a result of the individualized instruction, Van Galen and Pitman cite research conducted by Brian D. Way of the National Home Education Research Institute and Jon Wartes, of Borthell High School in Washington state as saying:

"(However) Parents who teach their children at home usually do not have formal training in pedagogy, curriculum design, or learning development, and many do not even have a college degree (43)."

This lack of preparation in academic disciplines and training by the educators (parents) in the home should be a concern for those in the institutional settings, the government, and in society in general. It would suggest the academic achievements and learning skills of those children whose parents say their academics have improved as a result of homeschooling, is, at best, an exaggeration; and at worst is self-denial about the reality and gravity of the impact homeschooling will have on their children in their lives. The latter, of course, being very difficult to overcome, if at all possible should the child be homeschooled for the entire course of his or her primary education.

Ray and Wortes also mention the academic agenda in two parts: one, the academic task, or classroom content (43-44). The second is the "hidden curriculum" of socialization through the workings of the classroom setting (43). A child can receive and process information, but that information and information processing cannot prepare the child for the social skills or provide the social experience that comes to the child through the institutionalized setting of classroom diversity. As the geographical bridge diversity connects us to the rest of the world through technology and economic endeavors, it becomes essential to the socialization of students today to have that experience so that they will not find themselves inept and socially lacking when confronted by ethnic and cultural differences. The social bonding experience that children gain from the institutional setting surpasses ethnic and cultural traditional differences. Kids form friendships and relationships that are enriched by the differences between them, because they focus first, on their commonalities that bring them closer as people, and then explore one another on the level of their diversities.

David Tyack (2003) discusses his experience with Paul Vass and Gus Barros, two immigrants from the Cape Verde Islands, colonized under the Portuguese (67). Tyack, Vass, and Barros formed friendships and bonds working alongside one another in construction (67). Their relationship became a cultural exchange, "They introduced me to their community in Roxbury, Massachusetts (67)," Tyack says. Their friendship and the experience, especially that came from the exchange of cultural traditions, is one that fifty years later Tyack says is a vivid memory and one which he clearly cherishes from his discussion on it (67). It was not just that Tyack was exposed to their cultural differences, but he was also exposed to their perceptions as immigrants having originated from a Portuguese country, which Tyack found fascinating. Tyack gained a sense of how people from distant lands perceive America and Americans from that geographical distance, and how, once having experienced America, those perceptions take on a greater breadth of analysis through the direct experience. Tyack says:

"Long before I had heard about the 'social construction of reality,' Paul and Gus taught me how arbitrary and punitive was the American conception and practice of 'race' (67)."

It is the social construction of reality that homeschooled children are lacking, and for which they are poorly prepared to live within once they leave the confines of their homes for the world at large.

Concerns about Academic Preparedness in Home Schooled Children

Every parent wants to believe their child is gifted. We can gain that sense by spending a small amount of time in any play setting where we might overhear a parent exclaim that their child, son or daughter is a genius; and then they go on to recite the evidence that they have observed as a parent that would lead them to such a conclusion. Parents are proud of their children, but often this pride tends to blind them as to the normal development of a child, which they might mistake for genius. It would not be surprising to learn that parents who are making these remarks to other parents are parents of just one child, or that they themselves are only children, and have had limited experience and exposure to young children. They are astounded by the milestones of their children, often mistaking it for genius.

The psychological preparedness of a child to meet academic challenges is periodically evaluated in formal settings (Craighead and Nemeroff (Eds.) 1455); there is no such evaluation in the home setting. This means that in order to assess the academic progress and special needs of a child, parents must not only be prepared academically and socially, but also with some level of expertise or guidance in assessing and reassessing their child's level of preparedness to meet the academic requirements of their age in progression. If, as Ray and Wortes say, parents are often not educated or familiar with academic curricula to adequately home school their children, then it would follow that these same parents are even less equipped to deal with the psychological assessment of their children to determine their children's special needs and whether or not the child is prepared to progress in their academic training and learning.

Formal settings employ, by law, extensive testing of the child's abilities to determine preparedness for entering school, and in advancing the child through the levels of education (Craighead and Nemeroff (Eds.) 1455). Craighead and Nemeroff explain:

"School readiness is determined by assessing the developmental level of children in such areas as listening comprehension, visual perceptual and fine motor skills, expressive and receptive vocabulary, and experiential knowledge. Readiness in these varied areas is generally considered to be the necessary foundation upon which to base more diverse and complex learning skills . . . Those children who are relatively lacking in one or more of these areas are considered less ready and at risk unless some type of educational or family intervention is provided. Controlling for other factors, the chronologically older children from a higher socioeconomic background will typically achieve more during the initial school years. Depending on the ability and the resourcefulness of schools to acknowledge and adapt to the individual special needs of their students, the influence of these age and socioeconomic status differences in school readiness can be minimized (1455)."

This raises the question of by whom and how home schooled children are assessed in their readiness for beginning their education, and for progressing through the levels of educational training. Whether or not the parent has the ability to apply sound and technical judgment of their child's preparedness should be a major concern to educational authorities and to society at large. How is it possible to remove the parent factor, the emotional and psychological relationship between the parent as the homeschooler source of instruction and the child to adequately make the necessary assessments of the child's progress and preparedness for progress? The answer is that it would be virtually impossible to do that. As we look around us, we see examples in our everyday lives of the inability of parents to assess their child's emotional and mental well being, and, if they can do that, have the ability and resources to address the problems in ways that the child will benefit from. There is something to be said for the benefit of the independent assessor in assessing the child's skills, abilities, and progress.

Why Parents Choose Homeschooling

Far too often parents make the decision to homeschool their children for the wrong reasons. Their decision is oftentimes one arising out of emotional conflict: the child is not doing well in school, and rather than accept the professional assessment of the child's skills and abilities, parents react emotionally and opt to homeschool the child. They then remove the child from the formal setting, isolating the problem in the more intimate setting of the home where the child fails to thrive socially, academically, and emotionally. Ray E. Ballman, in his book supporting homeschooling, The How and Why of Home Schooling, says that the most common reason that Christian parents decide to homeschool their children is because the parents believe that it is God's will (183).

"They feel it is a return to a Biblical model of education. Secondly, parents are concerned about their child's spiritual, moral, social, and academic well being, and are cognizant of the public school tract record in this area (183)."

Ballman does not address the "why" of parents choosing homeschooling any further than that, which alarmingly frightening. It is recognizing the desire to isolate the child based on the most emotional factors of human experience: religious ideology. This is increasingly alarming given that the world is in a time and place when it is more important than ever to be understanding of the religious ideologies on a greater scale than oneself, and when those ideologies held in a compartmentalized fashion that does not allow for the tolerance or acceptance, nor express the confidence in ideology, as to allow other ideas and experiences to help form one's social development have indeed led us to tragedies like the events of September 11, 2001, and the ensuing eight years of war. To elect to homeschool based on religious affiliation or ideology, is rejection of the social reality in its worst manifestation. It also gives rise to concerns as to whether or not the home is psychologically stimulating enough to provide a full and diverse education when the child's education is being guided by strictly religious ideology.

Still other parents might not be emotionally or mentally prepared to deal with a child who has special needs, and cannot assimilate to the social setting of the school. Perhaps the child is a behavioral problem, combative, or not cooperative, or disruptive in the classroom setting. We have all heard these kinds of stories about how even though the teachers believed Albert Einstein to be learning disabled, he became one of the most well-known geniuses in the world. Unfortunately, not all children are geniuses on the level of Einstein, and these kinds of behaviors are often indicative of other underlying problems. Here, again, parents would be making emotional decisions to homeschool, as opposed to addressing the underlying issues that are at the root of the child's behavior or problems. They are reluctant to confront what might be their own problems that might be manifesting through the child's behavior in school.

Choices to homeschool a child based on denial of greater problems, parental problems, economic problems, drug and alcohol related problems are damaging to the child's overall well being. They are indications, too, that the child's homeschooling will be inadequate, and will not prepare the child for the role that each of us must take in society: working, abiding by society's laws, and developing social relationships free of bias and racism. In extreme instances, decisions to homeschool arising out of fanatical religious ideologies or extreme social alienation can be construed as child abuse, because it is preventing the child from the nurturing development to which each child is entitled by birth and by law.

Successful Homeschooling

It is important to acknowledge that not all endeavors at homeschooling are failures; they are merely the exceptions, and they are accomplished by exceptional parents. These would be instances where parents make the decision to homeschool their children based on academic goals for their children. In these instances, the parent must first make an assessment of their own abilities: do they possess the education and training that would allow them to provide a diverse course of instruction to the child; are they structured and organized in their own lives as parents, members of their communities, employees in their work, or business owners, or financially secure enough to take on the responsibilities of time and resources to devote to providing their child's education themselves? If, as many decide, they are, then it requires a self-discipline, patience, and an ability to draw the line between being a parent and being an educator to their child. These are perhaps the personal assessment a parent must make when deciding to become the homeschool teacher to their children.

On the academic level, they must be prepared to go through a daily process of organizing a curriculum for the child's education, and implementing the curriculum in accordance with their state's standards for education. They must be prepared for to deal with their child's progress, or lack thereof, in a professional and constructive way of identifying the problems in the child's learning process, and working through the problems to the child's success in overcoming those learning problems. It means keeping abreast of what is new in educational materials, the use of those materials, and it is a constant process of self-learning and education in order to be able to impart that knowledge to their child. It is a sacrifice of personal time, social engagements, and other life interests in order to pursue that which benefits the most important person in their life: their child. It is a balance that few parents are equipped or socially or economically prepared to achieve; but it can be done.

The parent who is committed to providing a more intimate and a more focused academic experience to their child might find that the best way to achieve that is to bring in a tutor or home teacher professional. This gives the parent the opportunity to examine the educator's credentials from a personal interview and a review of the educator's resume to determine of the person is the right fit for their child and the goals they have for their child academically. There is, of course, a cost associated with hiring a home teacher, because they make their living this way and it would be reasonable to believe that the home teacher would be seeking a financial arrangement that would be equal to or even greater than that which they would receive in the institutional setting. The benefits, however, would be numerous: the teacher is a professional and is prepared to work with the child in a way reflective of the state's teaching standards on a one-on-one basis with the child. They are prepared to develop and organize daily teaching schedules in the disciplines as required by the state, and they are trained to impart those areas of knowledge to the child. They would be expected to provide the materials for teaching, testing, and assessing the child's progress and readiness for advancing through the levels of learning. If the child has learning problems or is not advancing, the home teacher can confer with the parents on a more intimate and personal level, and make the appropriate recommendations and work with the parents to resolve or provide the appropriate resources to address the child's problems in discipline, behavior, or learning. These issues conceivably being the basis for which the parents elected to do homeschooling would result in meeting the needs of the parents and the student.