Early 1

Jacob Early

Dr. Cassel

English 1201

29 October 2021

Home: The Center of Education

"He's homeschooled". That is a phrase I've heard countless times in my life. It's a joke, I

make a mistake, “he’s homeschooled”, I answer a question incorrectly, "he's homeschooled".

There seems to be a very wide and overarching stereotype that surrounds homeschoolers. Weird,

uneducated, uncultured, sheltered, and tree huggers are just a few of the words that people like to

associate with homeschoolers. But why is that? Why are people so quick to assume these things

about homeschoolers? Deciding to homeschool is a very tough choice for parents to make, and

they certainly experience a lot of scrutiny when they make that decision. Why would parents

want to make that decision if they knew they would have to answer to their friends and family,

and sometimes even be looked down upon because of their choices? Are the benefits of

homeschooling worth living off of a single income so that one parent can teach the children?

Homeschooling has become increasingly popular in America, with the total number of

homeschool students in America approaching four million [ CITATION Hom21 \l 1033 ]. Recent

events such as school shootings and the current pandemic have made many families wonder, is

homeschooling the right choice for us? While homeschooling may not be the proper fit for all

families, it provides a more personalized and hands-on approach to childhood education by

allowing parents to not only study their child's learning habits, but also stylize the way their

child is taught to best fit their needs. Because homeschooled students aren't forced to sit in a
 Early 2

classroom all day, they can experience more real-world situations and experiential learning

that better prepares them for life after high school.

While many from the outside looking in may see the practice of homeschooling as a new

thing, it has been quite prominent in America since before the formation of our nation. During

colonial times, parents and siblings were the foundational educational environment for most

children [ CITATION Bri16 \l 1033 ]. These colonists, who had just uprooted themselves from

England and other parts of Europe, still adhered to the Renaissance tradition of making the

household the primary mode of social interaction and education. [ CITATION Bri16 \l 1033 ] Of

course, some distinct societal differences set Americans today apart from the earliest Americans.

Firstly, education wasn't valued as highly by these new settlers as it is today. Many of them saw

survival as their priority, and rightfully so. As time went on and these new American

civilizations began to grow, education became a more important issue. However, the few public

schools that were established solely accommodated boys [CITATION Ray14 \l 1033 ]. Still, many

families decided to homeschool, and it remained the most popular form of childhood education

at the time. Belief and commitment about the biblical importance and role of the family

motivated them to keep home-based education as the core of the child’s upbringing [ CITATION

Bri16 \l 1033 ], this is a foreshadowing of how the Christian faith led to the homeschooling

movement of the late 1900s. To the parents of these times, educating their children was as much

about guiding their children in faith, values, and behavior, as it was teaching them to read and

write.

The high popularity of homeschooling in America from the mid-1600s to the early 1800s

was in part due to the lack of any government regulation for compulsory education. This was

until 1852 when Massachusetts passed the first compulsory education law in America [ CITATION
 Early 3

Hom19 \l 1033 ]. This law required every kid age eight to 14 to attend public school at least 12

weeks of the year [CITATION Ray14 \l 1033 ]. By 1918, every other state had enacted a law that

required school age children to attend school a certain number of days every year [ CITATION

Hom19 \l 1033 ]. Due to monetary punishments for failure to comply with these new laws,

homeschooling had become the major exception rather than the normal form of education in the

United States. Home education was still practiced after these compulsory education laws were

put in place; however, it was mostly due to necessity, such as living far away from a place of

public education.

The modern homeschooling movement was sparked in 1962 when the supreme court

ruled that school-sponsored prayers were unconstitutional. This led many parents to become

skeptical of state education and the thought of homeschooling was reborn. In 1972, religious

exemptions from public schooling were deemed valid by the supreme court in the case

Wisconsin v. Yoder [ CITATION Hom19 \l 1033 ]. The homeschooling snowball picked up speed

from John Holt, who is considered by some to be the father of the modern homeschool

movement. [CITATION Ray14 \l 1033 ] Holt began to build a network of homeschooling parents

with his newsletter “Growing Without Schooling” [CITATION Ray14 \l 1033 ]. Holt believed that

there were many flaws with the standard ways of teaching children in public schools, saying that

students were simply taught for test taking, and weren’t reaching their full learning potential

[CITATION Ray14 \l 1033 ]. Holt was driven by his thought that if children were motivated by fear,

then their journey for self-discovery would be brought to a halt [CITATION Ray14 \l 1033 ]. The

movement continued in the 1980s, led by Dr. Raymond Moore and his faith-based approach to

homeschooling [CITATION Ray14 \l 1033 ]. By the end of the decade, more than 20 states had

legalized homeschooling [ CITATION Kyl16 \l 1033 ].

 Early 4

Homeschooling is now legal in all 50 states. However, restrictions held on

homeschooling vary between all states. New York, for example, requires that homeschooled high

schoolers take state tests annually [ CITATION Hom211 \l 1033 ]. There is also a large list of classes

that are required to be taken by homeschoolers in the state of New York, as well as a required

letter of intent from the parent(s), and quarterly and annual reports assessing a child's progress

[ CITATION Hom211 \l 1033 ]. If these reports don't comply with New York state requirements, then

the home instruction program will be put on probation and the parent must submit a remediation

plan [ CITATION Hom211 \l 1033 ]. On the contrary, the state of Ohio is much laxer on its

homeschooling restrictions. According to the Ohio Department of Education, parent must

provide at least 900 hours of instruction every year and provide the state with a letter of intent

[ CITATION Hom21 \l 1033 ]. Even still, some states have no regulations or restrictions on

homeschooling, like Oklahoma, Texas, and Idaho. In the United States in 2021, there are an

estimated 3.7 million homeschoolers, and that number is growing at a rapid pace [ CITATION

Hom21 \l 1033 ].

One question people may ask then, is why are so many parents deciding to homeschool

their children? As a homeschooler myself, I have had the chance to get to know so many other

homeschoolers and their families. The large majority of the homeschooling families I know, I

have met at a homeschooling co-op. The homeschooling co-op I go to is centered on our belief

and faith in Jesus Christ. So, as you may imagine, the sole reason that many of the parents at this

co-op have decided to homeschool their children is so they can raise and educate their kids with

a spiritual worldview. In a study conducted in 2012 by NCES, 91% of families that chose to

homeschool cited concerns with the public-school environment, with 25% of those families

saying that it was the most important factor in their decision-making process [ CITATION Hom19 \l
 Early 5

1033 ]. These concerns are related to peer pressure, violence, shootings, smoking, drugs, and

other destructive behavior found in public schools.

Parent's Reasons to Homeschool Their Child

Child has other special needs 15
Child has physcial or mental health problem 16
Other reason 37
A desire to provide a nontraditional approach to child’s education 44
A desire to provide moral instruction 64
A dissatisfaction with the academic instruction at other schools 74
A desire to provide religious instruction 77
A concern about the environment of other schools,such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure 91
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Important % Most Important %

Figure 1: Percentage of school-age children who were homeschooled in 2012, ages 5

through 17, by reasons parents gave as important and most important for choosing to

homeschool [ CITATION Red17 \l 1033 ]

The graph above shows the findings of a study done by NCES in 2012 regarding the

reason parents have for homeschooling their children (Redford et al.). As you can see,

dissatisfaction with academic instruction at schools, concern for school safety and environment,

and a desire to mold their child’s moral and religious values are leading reasons that parents

decide to homeschool their children.

Now let’s transition into some of the primary benefits of homeschooling. Of course,

many of these benefits stem from the reasons why parents chose to homeschool their kids in the

first place. Since the leading cause of parents deciding to homeschool their children is a concern
 Early 6

for the environment of other schools, let's talk about that first. Whether a homeschooling family

is evangelical Christians, Muslims, or even atheists, a concern for the environment of public, and

even private schools, is prevalent. Families of faith are especially concerned with school

environments, worried that if they send their kids to public school, they could be corrupted and

guided down the wrong path. Smoking, drinking, vaping, and many other disruptive activities

occur frequently in a public school environment, whether or not teachers and administrators are

willing to admit it. The CDC estimates that one in every four high school-age kids has used a

vaping device [ CITATION Qui21 \l 1033 ]. Peer pressure is a strong force among high school-age

students. Trying to be cool or fit in can lead someone into smoking or drinking, which can

possibly lead to life-long altercations. Unfortunately, once kids start, they have a very hard time

stopping. While public schools across the nation have permanently banned the use of vapes and

e-cigarettes, their popularity has only continued to grow. Another major concern of the public-

school environment held by homeschooling parents is safety for students. Inquiries about

homeschooling from parents surged across the nation after the Columbine High School shooting

in 1999, and the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012. It almost seems normal in today's

America to turn on the news and hear of a school shooting. While a chance of a school shooting

happening in your district is very slim, it is still possible, and it is a major reason that parents are

scared to send their kids to school. Many school shooters have been linked to bullying. Bullying

is the leading cause of school shootings [ CITATION Why21 \l 1033 ]. That also happens to be

another huge reason that parents decide to homeschool. The National Bullying Prevention Center

reports that one in five kids experience bullying at school [ CITATION Bul \l 1033 ]. Students who

are bullied are at increased risk of depression, anxiety, sleeping and eating disorders, dropping

out of school, and suicidal thoughts and actions [ CITATION Bul \l 1033 ]. Statistically, students that
 Early 7

have disabilities such as autism, down syndrome, and other health impairments endure more

frequent bullying [ CITATION Bul \l 1033 ]. Students of color and various gender expressions also

experience high bullying rates [ CITATION Bul \l 1033 ]. For kids with disabilities, homeschooling

not only prevents them from being the victim of bullying in schools, but they can also receive the

attention they need in their education process.

The other two leading causes of parents choosing to homeschool their children are desires

to provide religious and moral instruction to their children, but how do they do that? Well, there

are two parts to this answer. First, by practicing homeschooling, parents can prevent their

children from being taught certain things that public schools teach. For example, if a student is in

an astronomy class at a public school, they will no doubt be taught about how the Big Bang

created the universe. Christians don't believe that the Big Bang created the universe, they believe

that the universe was created by God in seven days. So, by choosing to homeschool their

children, Christian parents prevent their kids from being taught about things like the Big Bang

and evolution in a public-school setting. Notice how I said public school setting, because

Christian parents and Christian curriculum still desire to teach kids about secular world views,

but through a spiritual lens. That is the second part of this answer. Christian parents and

curriculum understand that it is very important to understand what the rest of the world believes,

but also know the shortcomings of these beliefs. And Christian curriculum does just that.

Christian history books teach the same history, but with Biblical applications to major events in

history. Homeschooling allows Christian families to keep Christ at the center of their education.

Homeschooling also helps children academically grow by establishing a healthy amount

of flexibility. The public education system creates very high demands and pressure to succeed.

Not only do students have to wake up at around six in the morning or earlier, but they must also
 Early 8

stay up late to complete homework assignments, especially if they participate in after-school

activities like sports. According to Stanford Medicine, high school is a real danger spot in terms

of sleep deprivation [ CITATION Ric15 \l 1033 ]. Sleep problems among adolescence are also a

major cause of suicidal thoughts and actions [ CITATION Ric15 \l 1033 ]. Public school students

must wake up early, sit in a classroom all day, go home, do homework, go to bed and do it all

over again. How does this encourage learning and development? How can we create a society

that is eager to learn by making learning the thing that kids dread the most? And yet even with

the rigorous schedule that the public school system demands, homeschoolers generally perform

better on standardized tests than public schooled students do [ CITATION The21 \l 1033 ]. How is

that? Well, it’s not that homeschooling encourages sleeping in, or slacking off with your studies,

but it offers flexibility. Public school students are required to go to school Monday through

Friday, from seven to three, August through June. It is a very rigid schedule. Homeschooling

allows you to create your own schedule, you can do school from December through September,

or late August through early May like my family does. We can do this because we don't take a

spring break, snow days, MLK Day, or Presidents’ Day off. As long as homeschooling families

meet their state’s requirements, they can school however they want, whenever they want!

Homeschoolers also don’t have to take whole weeks to complete state testing. This allows them

to shave weeks of school off what a normal public-school schedule would be. Homeschoolers

can also work ahead or take days off during the week. For example, we had family come in from

Alaska recently, so the week before we worked ahead, which allowed us to spend more time with

them. This flexibility also allows for more learning experiences. We go on field trips to different

places like Cosi, Boonshoft, and even the zoo. My family raises goats, so we have been able to

experience goats giving birth and taking our goats to different schools and nursing homes to do
 Early 9

learning activities with those that have special needs and the elderly. These are all things we

wouldn't be able to do if we had to sit in a classroom all day. These experiences have given us a

chance to learn in a real-world context, something that is not easily done in a classroom. I have

had the opportunity to learn about World War II from someone who served in the war at a

nursing home I took goats to. Going to schools and nursing homes with my goats has enriched

my people skills and communication. Being able to work at your own pace prevents students

from falling behind and not truly learning the material, but simply learning just enough so that

they can pass a test or a class. There are also many students in public school systems that are

stuck in classes learning things that they already understand when they should be in a class that

challenges them to learn new things. The freedom of homeschooling allows kids that are

academically gifted to progress through grade levels that would not academically challenge them

to grow.

Stylized learning for each individualized child is something that is made possible by

homeschooling. In a public-school setting, there are about anywhere from 10-40 kids in a

classroom depending on the class and the size of the school. Not any two of those students learn

the same way. Some students are hands-on learners, some students learn better reading from a

textbook. Some students are instant learners, others take time to understand new concepts.

Homeschooling allows parents to study the way their child learns, and then mold their teaching

style or curriculum to best satisfy their needs. Parents are also able to offer one-on-one

instruction to their children. With one-on-one teaching, the class will never go on without the

student, the student is freed from the fear of failure, and there are much fewer distractions

[ CITATION Whi21 \l 1033 ].

 Early 10

Now let's consider the arguments held by challengers of homeschooling. One of the

biggest knocks on homeschooling is that parents (mothers usually do the teaching) lack the

education of real teachers, and thus aren’t adequately prepared to teach their children. Joanna

Nichols, principal of Kings Elementary in Washington state, said that "Kids need teaching to be

carefully geared to meet individual needs, [and] a teacher is the best resource for that." [ CITATION

Mit03 \l 1033 ] While a parent's lack of knowledge may not be harmful at an elementary level,

once homeschooled kids reach high school, a parent may not be the best resource to educate that

child. Another major argument against homeschooling is that homeschoolers severely lack

adequate socialization (McCabe et, al). A lack of socialization at a young age can have serious

future impacts. Finally, critics of homeschooling realize that by legalizing homeschooling and

making it possible to do with little to no government supervision, child abuse becomes a major

risk. This has been an issue that lawmakers have had to deal with. Homeschooling can work very

well but authorizing it can put children in grave danger [ CITATION Dwy19 \l 1033 ].

These arguments are all very valid, but there are exceptions to each of them. First, some

parents truly aren't qualified to teach their kids, however, there are many solutions to this. Many

homeschool curriculums require very little parental guidance. For example, Saxon and Shormann

math are two excellent homeschool curriculums created by very prestigious math scholars. They

both include detailed lectures and extensive learning activities. There are even growing

opportunities for homeschoolers to participate in online College Credit Plus (CCP) courses as

early as the seventh grade! By doing this, they not only receive a proper education, but they also

accelerate their learning process beyond high school. Homeschool families can also join co-ops.

The design of a homeschool co-op is for a bunch of homeschool families to come together to

teach each other's kids. Academic co-ops usually teach writing, science, and history. Parents with
 Early 11

experience in certain fields teach those classes, for example at my co-op, the teachers of the

biology and anatomy classes are both nurses, and the chemistry teacher is an actual chemist.

While these teachers don't exactly have a degree in teaching, they can provide proper guidance

and instruction in these courses. Co-ops also debunk the idea that homeschoolers don't receive

proper socialization. Homeschool co-ops go on field trips together and provide after-school

activities such as musical productions for students to enjoy and grow relationships. While

homeschool co-ops usually only meet once a week, they assign homework and establish a form

of structure with strict deadlines. Homeschool co-ops lack a social hierarchy that you would

often find in public schools. This allows for open interaction between students with large age

gaps.

Now that we have seen some of the history of homeschooling, as well as arguments for

and against it, let’s take a look at some raw numbers to see what type of effect homeschooling is

having on homeschoolers. In one of the largest homeschool studies ever done (20,000

homeschoolers), it was found that not only were homeschooler's scores generally higher on

standardized test, but 25% of homeschoolers were enrolled in at least one grade level than the

grade level corresponding to their age (McCabe et, al) To be more specific, homeschoolers

typically score 15-30 percentiles higher than those publicly educated on standardized academic

achievement tests [ CITATION Ray21 \l 1033 ]. In peer-reviewed studies on social, emotional, and

psychological development, 87% of the studies showed that homeschool students perform

statistically significantly better than those enrolled in public schools [ CITATION Ray21 \l 1033 ]

Not only do homeschoolers show success in high school, but they also have shown they are well

prepared and can succeed at the collegiate level. In a study of 7,300 young adults, it was found

that 76% of homeschooled students have taken college classes compared to only 46% of the
 Early 12

general population (McCabe et, al). In another study conducted of 185 college students from

several universities, students that were homeschooled viewed their college experience more

positively than the general population, even saying that some of their college classes were easier

than their high school classes [ CITATION Bri16 \l 1033 ]. It appears that these homeschool students

were well prepared for life beyond high school.

Homeschooling isn’t perfect, nothing is, but homeschooled students have proven that

homeschooling can be very effective. Some changes could be made to the system that would

make it safer and even more beneficial. For starters, laws could be made that would prevent

homeschooling to take place in homes with ex-convicts. Homeschool parents could be required

to attend state-run teaching seminars to better prepare them to school their children. And more

states could pass laws that make it easier for homeschoolers to participate in school activities

such as sports and clubs, as many states already have. The most important thing to magnify about

homeschooling is the behavior of the parents doing the teaching. They are the ones that

determine if their child receives a proper education, or if they academically fall short of their

public-school peers. Homeschooling allows parents to better take advantage of learning

experiences that naturally take place in the home and community life [ CITATION Kyl16 \l 1033 ].

When parents realize that it is their sole responsibility to educate and grow their child into a

socially acceptable adult, they take it more seriously. Every child has the potential to do amazing

things, maybe it's time that we let students take control and responsibility for their education. It's

time that we as a society make learning fun and desirable, and not something that kids dread

having to do every day. Homeschooling makes that possible. "He's homeschooled". Maybe that

doesn't sound so bad anymore.

Early 13
 Early 14

Works Cited

Ed. HomeschoolConnect Inc. 2021. 29 October 2021. <https://www.homeschool.com/articles/state-

homeschooling-laws/>.

Bullying Statistics. n.d. <https://www.pacer.org/bullying/info/stats.asp>.

Dwyer, James D. and Shawn F. Peters. Homeschooling : The History and Philosophy of a Controversial

Practice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019. 20 October 2021. <https://web-s-

ebscohost-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE5NDExNDVfX0FO0?

sid=e499987b-b7a6-4d0d-ba0c-c714e56f84a7@redis&vid=7&format=EB&ppid=pp_89>.

Greenwalt, Kyle. Here’s how homeschooling is changing in America. 11 September 2016. 13 October

2021. <https://theconversation.com/heres-how-homeschooling-is-changing-in-america-63175>.

Homeschooling. 2019. 13 October 2021. <gale.com/apps/doc/PC3021900082/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark->.

Homeschooling. 17 September 2021. 13 October 2021. <http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Ohio-

Education-Options/Home-Schooling>.

McCabe, Marta , et al. "The gift of homeschooling: Adult homeschool graduates and their parents

conceptualize homeschooling in North Carolina." Journal of Pedagogy. Vol. 12. 26 July 2021. 13

October 2021. <https://www.sciendo.com/article/10.2478/jped-2021-0006>.

Quick Facts on the Risks of E-cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults. 30 Septmeber 2021. 29

October 2021. <https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/Quick-Facts-on-

the-Risks-of-E-cigarettes-for-Kids-Teens-and-Young-Adults.html#>.
 Early 15

Ray, Brian. A brief history of homeschooling in the United States. 6 August 2016. 28 October 2021.

<https://carm.org/homeschooling/a-brief-history-of-homeschooling-in-the-united-states/>.

---. Left, Right, and Online: A Historic View of Homeschooling. 10 July 2014. 20 Ocotber 2021.

<https://www.nheri.org/home-school-researcher-left-right-and-online-a-historic-view-of-

homeschooling/>.

---. Research Facts on Homeschooling. 9 September 2021. 29 October 2021.

<https://www.nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/>.

Redford, Jeremy, Danielle Battle and Stacy Bielick. "Homeschooling in the United States: 2012." National

Center for Educational Statistics, 2017. 28 October 2021.

<https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2016096rev>.

Richter, Ruthann. Among teens, sleep deprivation an epidemic. 8 October 2015. 29 October 2021.

<https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/10/among-teens-sleep-deprivation-an-

epidemic.html>.

Stevens, Mitchell L. Kingdom of Children : Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement.

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. 20 October 2021. <https://web-p-ebscohost-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ehost/detail?sid=49503e0f-639a-4656-bd10-

91fb40ee4eae@redis&vid=2&format=EB&ppid=pp_108#AN=273016&db=nlebk>.

White, Kimberly. 8 REASONS WHY ONE-ON-ONE INSTRUCTION BENEFITS STUDENTS. n.d. 29 October

2021. <https://www.cmasas.org/8-reasons-why-one-one-instruction-benefits-students>.

Why do Shootings Occur? n.d. 29 October 2021. <https://www.alfred.edu/about/news/studies/lethal-

school-violence/why-do-shootings.cfm>.
Early 16