Bollenbach 1

Jaiden Bollenbach

Brower

Adv. Comp

11/28/20

Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?

Do homeschool students who go to college do as well as students in college who attended

traditional schools? Well while a serious question, theres alot of factors that go into the success
in college while being homeschool. Could be education, maybe attitude or even time, and no
doubt it affects all homeschoolers. Could thinking of college while being homeschooled scare
the students, Maybe to the point where the question comes up, “Is traditional schooling better”.

Well parents doing homeschooling can have many motives on why they want their children
doing homeschooling instead of traditional schooling leading up to college.
Romanoski, a researcher, found that parents homeschool their children due to their beliefs,
values, or skills.(Boschee and Boschee 284) Parents may believe in one thing, maybe their
christian or simply do not believe in traditional schooling. Safety could build on the foundations
on reasons to do homeschooling. “Other parents fear violence”(McReynolds 36).
Maybe where a parent lives or it could be from a past experience that they don't want repeating
or happening to their child. Skills can be another point because maybe the parents education or
the parent is a teacher, that parent can just teach them at home.

Parents choosing homeschooling over regular schooling can have many reasons. Many families
who chose homeschooling did so because of distinct religious reasons or concerns about the
academic quality of a public school education. (Drenovsky and Cohen 21) Some parents simply
believe school education is not as reliable than theirs, Simply put as they were in school when
they were younger and education can and will change over time.

Onto college, About three-quarters of colleges including harvard have policies regarding
homeschool applications, actively recruiting homeschoolers.(McReynolds 37) A Lot of colleges
do homeschool students and have requirements for homeschooling.
Every year the homeschooling option grows dramatically. Today, there are more homeschooled
students on college campuses than ever and their number is expected to grow in the near future
(McReynolds 37) A good example of colleges and homeschooling growing was in the 90’s.
“The number of Homeschooling was almost tripled in 1990-1991 and 1995-1996”.(Lines 75)

Another question is why students are preferring homeschooling in college and traditional
schools. Well school can be hard and especially college, time and what students do with it is
very valuable. Homeschooling in college allows students to follow a traditional curriculum and
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set. (McReynolds 36) Homeschooling can allow students to stretch out their time a little more
and be well organized with what they do. Work can be done a little early and students are not
stressed with leaving the house all the time. Most likely they will have to still wake up at the
same time but they'll be doing so in the comfort of their own home .

Problems come with everything, whether it’s something to do with time or mental attitude while
doing homeschooling, it doesn’t just affect students but it can also affect parents also.
Mental problems can really take a toll on people and can even affect people like co-workers,
friends or even that parents child. Stress from the parent can affect the child and their play or
work status. It can affect grades, moods, and this going into college can really affect their mental
attitude.

A study looked at the association between stress levels of homeschooling parents and their
children’s mental and physical health.(Windish and Wachob 13) Homeschooled parents were
apparently being overwhelmed and completely stressed out because of homeschooling their
children. So to find out how many parents were being burnt on homeschooling, A study was
done. Participants were multiple families enrolled in a university-based physical education
program. (Windish and Wachob 15) The results showed that a majority of parents who voted
(78.9%) were stressed or overwhelmed months before the program results. (Windish and
Wachob 15)

Being Overwhelmed can really make the homeschooling life very difficult whether it's the parent
or the child, maybe the parent getting overwhelmed with finding work or learning the work for
the child, or the child being buried in work because the parents deadline can be a little
challenging can be harsh on the child and can affect the work performance whether at home or
going into college.

Being stressed out can really affect the student, and without the proper help or guide to
overcoming it can really let them get lost and overwhelmed. Children raised in a stressful
environment can cause problems for them in the future like drug abuse, lack of exercise and
many others (Windish and Wachob 33)

If stress can be handled and controlled, students who are homeschooled going to college can
really show success. Usually homeschoolers test grades or grades in general are average or
above. On average, homeschooled students may be showing better academic performance due
to factors other than homeschooling. Therefore, homeschooled students may be a unique group
with characteristics not proportionally represented in the general student population. (Yu et al.
31) Students who were homeschooled showed that they achieved better scoring.
Back with parents, Students didn’t always learn from online, their parents helped them with
work.
Parents even with special training still had “instructional environments” at home. (Boscee and
Boschee 283)
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Now students' averages are showing that students have better grades, but it’s also showing
different things. Compared to publicly and privately educated college students, homeschooled
college students are significantly more likely to claim that they can speak and write clearly and
effectively think critically and analytically; understand themselves and people of different racial
or ethics backgrounds; develop clear career goals; acquire career or work-related knowledge
and skills; and, develop study and time management skills. (Drenosky and Cohen 22)
Showing students are successful in college and are more better at themselves and controlling
their life.

Homeschoolers are so successful in college because of their options and time management. “A
style of homeschooling that permits children to follow their own interest at their own pace”.
Students are able to focus more on goals and careers because of homeschooling.
“Homeschooled college students does not have a wide array of institutional experiences from
primary and secondary schooling to draw from while coping with the stresses of a college
environment” (Drenovsky and Cohen 20) Students because of them not having primary or
secondary schooling, routines can be hard to get into because it won’t be everyday they get up
or follow a certain path.

All students have their weaknesses in classes whether it's english science or in this case math.
Homeschoolers may be showing better scoring than traditional schooling but when it comes to
mathematics in college, things become swurvy. Well students first have been found to have
better SAT scores (Wilkens et al. 32) but ACT scores are where homeschoolers fall behind. A
study to find ACT scores for homeschoolers v. non-homeschoolers found that even though
homeschoolers are scoring better on the SAT test, they are lacking on the ACT mathematics
test while non-homeschoolers are scoring better on the ACT. (Wilkens et al. 33)

Students took the FICSMath survey near the beginning of the 2009 Fall semester. Professors
then held the surveys until after the completion of the course, at which time
they recorded the students’ grades earned in the course (Wilkens et al. 34)
This survey wanted to find students who are attending high schools and who are
homeschooling.
The vast majority of students who completed the FICSMath survey attended
public high schools, Small percentage were homeschooled (Wilkens et al. 35)

Well Homeschooling has its ups and downs but a big one is in the minds of the homeschooler
and it can dramatically decrease their motivation. Students in college can feel “marginalized”
meaning they can feel pressured, lonely, depression because students believe they do not fit in.
(Drenovsky and Cohen 22) While not in school and mostly work at home, Homeschooled
students are not left out on regular activities non-homeschoolers do. Homeschooled students
also have access to extracurricular activities. (Drenovsky and Cohen 23) Homeschooled
students can do sports, after school activities and other things that regular students attend.

From activities to sports, homeschoolers can have trouble wanting to participate since they're
not around people all the time, which can affect them in the long run. Because of
Homeschooling, children can lack the social skills they will need in college, especially the real
world. (Romanowski 125) Maybe a job interview or a group presentation in college can leave
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the student in an awkward situation because that student hasn’t had much practice with the skill
which most traditional schools would teach with some type of speech class.

Now doing homeschooling has its perks, it can create better lives, better people who will roam
the earth after college and change the world step by step. Homeschooling has been found to
create citizens who are responsible and productive. (Romanowski 127) Students being
homeschooled have a lot on their mind and stress and other mental problems were already
brought up, if the homeschooled students can overcome all the work, the challenge and the
obstacle of college then they’ll learn how to take care of themselves better.

A study surveyed more than seventy-three hundred adults who were homeschooled.
(Romanowski 127) This was between adults who were homeschooled and adults who weren’t.
The study wanted to find out if homeschooled adults were better citizens than general citizens.
“Their responses and results demonstrate that homeschooled students are excellent citizens
compared to the general U.S. population.” (Romanowski 127) Students are being better people
because they learned responsibility, and control when they were being homeschooled. All the
work in college or even high school most likely almost outnumbered them and most students
had to find solutions to their problems.

Parents are also reasons why the students are coming out as better people. Parents are the
ones teaching their children until maybe college or at least high school. Parents teach their
children manners at a young age which could be a point in why students are becoming better
civilians.

Students showed intelligence when they are homeschooling, to the point where high end
colleges are accepting them. “Every year homeschoolers are admitted to hundreds of colleges
and universities in at least five countries. Many of these schools of higher education are
selective colleges that most parents dream about their children attending.” (Romanowski 127)
Homeschoolers are even getting into colleges parents dreamed of or at least dreamed about
their children getting into.

“Universities and colleges all over the nation realize that homeschooled students are well
prepared for the academic rigor of college life.” (Romanowski 128) Homeschooled students can
adapt to the college environment and show they can hold their own when switching over to
college. Which shows why their grades in college are better than non-homeschoolers. These
students scored higher than the national average in English, reading, and the overall composite
of the ACT. (Romanowski 128)
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Going back to socializing and manners. Most of children’s social relationships are formed in
school. (Guterman and Neuman 2783) Children usually get active and more front forward on
talking to people at a young age and in school, but homeschooling kids miss out on this and can
really affect their grades either in high school or college.

Being well awkward can affect students in ways that could lead to embarrassment and doubt.
Marginalization can also be a problem here; homeschooled students not having interactions in
class can make things worse and the college life will be difficult. But a percentage showed that
students who got out of college successfully succeed in life. 94 percent of those surveyed stated
that their home education prepared them to be independent persons, (Romanowsky 127) A
huge number of homeschooled students got help from their “home educators” most likely
parents.

Since Parents are pretty much the homeschoolers teachers, their relationship is different when
in school. “Most of children’s social relationships are formed in school., the interaction between
parents and children is more intensive than usual (when
children attend school), because the parents and children
spend much more time together” (Guterman and Neuman 2784) Meaning by intensive, the
parent and child's relationship is focused on one area most of the time because the parent is the
teacher.

But why? Well a study to see the relationship between the homeschooler and parent and social
encounters. (Guterman and Neuman 2785) This study is between male and female. The
parents completed a demographic questionnaire about themselves and their family, including
features such as number of children in the family, education, and family Income. (Guterman and
Neuman 2785) The results were that Pearson correlations showed that attachment avoidance
was negatively correlated to the child’s social encounters. (Guterman and Neuman 2785) This
means it showed that if the Mothers attachment avoidance was higher than the child's social
encounters was low.

Finally while homeschooling may sound difficult to maintain and control, and may need certain
Requirements but homeschoolers in college showed that grades are slightly better than
students who are not homeschooling in college. ACT is where non-homeschooled students
scored higher but the SAT, the homeschooling students scored higher. But students can always
lose control in college since getting behind can cause issues like mental problems but
homeschooling students showed that can are responsible and productive with their time,
another thing is a lot of students are not getting enough social encounters and may be a little
awkward, but most home schooled students proved that in and out of college they are up for the
challenge.
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Work Cited

MLA Citation: Lines, Patricia M. “Homeschooling Comes To Age.” Public Interest, no. 140,
Summer 2000, p. 74.

Drenovsky, Cynthia K., and Isaiah Cohan.”The Impact of Homeschooling on the Adjustment of
College Students”. International Social Science Review, Vol. 87, no. ½, Jan. 2012, pp. 19-34.

Yu, Martin C., et al. “Predicting College Performance of Homeschooled Versus Traditional
Students.” Educational Measurement: Issues & Practice, vol. 35, no. 4, Winter 2016, pp. 31–39.
EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/emip.12133.

Windish, Lance S., and David A. Wachob. “Homeschooling Parent Stress Levels and Its
Association with the Mental and Physical Health of Their Children.” International Journal of
Health, Wellness & Society, vol. 7, no. 3, Sept. 2017, pp. 11–21. EBSCOhost,
doi:10.18848/2156-8960/CGP/v07i03/11-21

Boschee, BonniF., and Floyd Boschee. “A Profile of Homeschooling in South Dakota.” Journal of
School Choice, vol. 5, no. 3, July 2011, pp. 281–299. EBSCOhost,
doi:10.1080/15582159.2011.604982

McReynolds, Kate. “Homeschooling.” Encounter, vol. 20, no. 2, Summer 2007, pp. 36–41.
EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=25742733&site=ehost-live&scope=
site.

Wilkens, Christian P., et al. “Are Homeschoolers Prepared for College Calculus?” Journal of
School Choice, vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 30–48.

Romanowski, Michael H. “Revisiting the Common Myths about Homeschooling.” Clearing

House, vol. 79, no. 3, Jan. 2006, pp. 125–129. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3200/TCHS.79.3.125-129.

Guterman, Oz, and Ari Neuman. “The Role of Family and Parental Characteristics in the Scope
of Social Encounters of Children in Homeschooling.” Journal of Child & Family Studies, vol. 26,
no. 10, Oct. 2017, pp. 2782–2789. EBSCOhost