West

Kasiopeia West

Ron Christiansen

ENGL 1010-501

December 8, 2021

Homeschooling

Homeschooling is education that is provided at home by parents rather than in a public

school taught by an educator. Homeschooling became popular in the 1960’s and 1970’s when

parents began to question the adequacy of public schooling. Brain D. Ray Ph.D. with the

National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), reports the upwards trend has continued

and by 2019, 2.5 million children were being homeschooled in the United State. This number

rose to 3.7 in 2020 due to the pandemic. With the rise in popularity, controversy has taken center

stage in the media and in state government. Is homeschooling dangerous to a child’s future?

Some urge that home-schooling is better in ways that protect children from violence, drugs, and

unwanted ideologies. Where others argue that homeschooling is dangerous to a child’s social

development and may not promote a “well-rounded” education that public school offers. While

the children, homeschool graduates, have their own experience that many overlook and do not

take into account within the debate.

(Viewpoint #1-Education experts and boards)

Education experts and school boards have brought the argument that because

homeschooling is not regulated by the government, that the children are not being taught a

formal education. They argue that parents are not educated and could very well be illiterate

themselves. In addition to the education concern, there is a large window for any abuse in the
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home to go unchecked. Researcher at the Independent Institute in California Vicky Alger who

has written several books on the history of the U.S. Department of Education states in her article

from experts interviewed, “Absent government intervention, parents control their children’s

education and upbringing…. which could be deemed authoritarian and dangerous.” Many

experts believe that homeschooling interferes with a child’s social developments as well,

claiming that a child is not exposed to community, social, and democratic values and may hinder

their ability for tolerance of other’s views. Elizabeth Bartholet, the Morris Wasserstein Public

Interest Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Child Advocacy Program (CAP), makes a

claim in her article from the Arizona Law Review that, “Children are at serious risk of losing out

on opportunities to learn things that are essential for employment and for exercising meaningful

choices in their future lives.” This raises cause for concern. Within this viewpoint, experts and

school boards also look at the financial risk for children that remain in public schools. Public

schools are funded based upon the number of students that attend. When this number is reduced,

the funding is withheld, giving children in public schools less opportunity for quality education

(Jackson).

(Viewpoint #2-Parents)

Many parents have advocated for “school choice” and this includes homeschooling.

Although homeschooling is one of the earliest forms of education, many families are choosing to

continue the trend due to concerns surrounding many ideas. Jameson Brewer, an Assistant

Professor in the Teacher Education Department, named the Outstanding Doctoral Student when

he graduated with his Ph.D. in Education Policy Studies from the University of Illinois and

Christopher Lubienski, an expert on education policy and reform who studies the effects of
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school choice policies, report in their article from Scholars Strategy Network, the most popular

concerns are religious or political content of public-school curriculum. The safety of children has

also become a top reason that families are choosing to homeschool their children. Especially

with the pandemic that began in the 2020 school year. Satisfied with the oversight of their

children’s education, parent advocates also claim their children have higher scores with the more

specialized and focused learning they receive at home. In addition, parents suggest that the cost

is significantly less claiming, “…that homeschooling costs as little as $400 per year – compared

to thousands of dollars per year spent by public schools.” (Brewer and Libienski). However,

Brewer and Libienski also state, “advocates do not include the full costs associated with

homeschooling – such as the cost of parents’ foregoing salaries to stay at home to do

instruction.” Yet many parent advocates believe the sacrifice of earnings is well worth the

advantages they believe homeschooling offers. Some of these advantages are reported by Brain

D. Ray, Ph.D. with the NHERI include; the individual curriculum for each child, the flexibility

of schedules and environment for teaching, and to protect minor children from racism or lower

expectations from public schools. Other factors include research gathered that support academic

performance of home-education scoring 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students

on SAT test and 87% of peer-reviewed studies show homeschool students perform better on

social, emotional, and psychological development (Ray). This gives many parents a platform to

stand on when arguing for “school choice”.

(Viewpoint #3-Children- homeschool graduates)

Often times the children that were homeschooled are not interviewed on their

perspectives about being homeschooled. In reality, parents are the ones who make the decisions
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for their children until they become adults. Many homeschooled children did not have a voice in

whether they were homeschooled or allowed to attend public school. Some of these children

were interviewed and had a range of feelings on the subject. (Thomas, 2021) Laura M. Thomas

is a homeschooling mother that asked herself the question about how her children might view

being homeschooled. She decided to interview three homeschool graduates to ask these

questions. In Thomas’s article, she gathered statements from a these homeschool graduates in

favor of being homeschooled:

 “I’m so very close to my siblings because of schooling with them.”

 “By being homeschooled, my perspective is broad and full…”

 “I had freedom and time.”

There were also statements that were not so favorable to being homeschooled, such as:

 “Participating in competitive sports wasn’t easy.”

 “I didn’t want to be away from friends…”

There are still some homeschool graduates that felt sheltered from the ‘real-world’ and did not

find themselves very prepared for community and social values, yet academically still fared well.

However, there are many that thrived in being homeschooled and would not want it any other

way. Jennifer Rose Elliott, a Doctorate student at Liberty University compiled a research paper

on the influence of homeschooling for college. Elliot interviewed fourteen participants that were

homeschooled K-12, prior to going to college. Here a few things these participants had to say:

 “Homeschooling was freeing in the way I saw the world. It was more beautiful-I

like to explore things, I like to touch it, feel it, embrace it, if it’s going to be

mine.”,
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 “It was supportive in the sense that my parents were not necessarily trying to craft

a certain thing; they were trying to teach me how to think.”

 “Coming out of homeschool, I felt well prepared for college.”

A percentage of homeschool children are offered a mix of both at home learning with public

school engagement. These children seemed to get the socialization and interaction with children

in their age group and might have been more prepared both academically and socially for

adulthood (Horn). The weight of statements from home school graduates is important to take into

consideration when making choices that will impact their futures.

Conclusion

While the debate over whether homeschooling is dangerous to a child’s future or not has

been a controversy for many years, I do believe that there is plenty of room for compromise. In

taking the viewpoints into consideration I can see why education experts would be concerned

about the efficiency of parents teaching their children, but mostly the concern for homeschooling

to be a cover-up for abuse and neglect. I can also see the parents’ desire to give their children the

opportunity to learn at their own pace and protect them from undesirable encounters that go on in

public schools. The most impactful viewpoint to me is that of the children. Often times we might

feel pity for homeschooled children with the stigma that surrounds the topic. It is refreshing to

hear from the students themselves and that many of them really enjoyed the experience and felt

ready for college and adulthood after graduating. It may be very realistic to admit that

homeschooling is more appropriate for some children and not others. Some experts, including

Michael B. Horn who serves on the advisory boards of several education organizations, argue

that the mix of home, public, and online learning (often called hybrid homeschooling) seems to
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hold the most promise. In hybrid schooling, some classes are held in a public-school building,

and the remainder of learning is at home, or even in an online learning environment in the mix.

This would give government regulation to ensure educational standards are met, along with

interaction with at-risk children and socialization, but also the freedom for outdoor learning,

religious teachings and family bonds offered at home (Horn).

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Works Cited

Alger, Vicki. “Homeschooling – two views: Homeschooling a risk to children.” My Journal

Courier. May 20, 2020 Homeschooling — two views: Homeschooling a risk to children

(myjournalcourier.com) Accessed November 6, 2021.

Brewer, T. Jameson, and Lubienski, Christopher. “Does Homeschooling Improve Educational

Opportunities?” Scholars Strategy Network. November 2, 2017

https://scholars.org/contribution/does-homeschooling-improve-educational-opportunities.

Accessed November 7, 2021

Elliott, Jennifer Rose. “The Influence of Homeschooling on the Lives of College Graduates: A

Transcendental Phenomenological Study.” A Dissertation 2019. Liberty University.

Proposal (liberty.edu) Accessed December 8, 2021

Horn, Michael B. “A Robust and Timely Discussion of a New Kind of Homeschooling.”

Education Next, vol. 21, no. 4, July 29, 2021 A Robust and Timely Discussion of a New

Kind of Homeschooling - Education Next Accessed December 7, 2021

Jackson, Mary. “MORE MONEY OR MORE STRINGS? A Homeschooling Innovation Brings

Opportunity and Danger.” World Magazine, vol. 34, no. 16, August 31, 2019, pp. 36-41.

MORE MONEY OR MORE STRINGS? A homeschooling innovation brings opportunity

a...: OneSearch for SLCC Libraries. Accessed November 14, 2021

Matthews, Dona Ph.D. “Homeschooling: Is It the Best Option for You and Your Child?”

Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, September 16, 2019. Homeschooling: Is It the

Best Option for You and Your Child? | Psychology Today. Accessed November 10, 2021

Ray, Brian D. Ph.D. “How Many Homeschool Students Are There in the United States? Pre-

Covid-19 and Post-Covid-19: New Data.” National Home Education Research Institute.
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September 9, 2021. How Many Homeschool Students Are There in the United States?

Pre-Covid-19 and Post-Covid-19: New Data - National Home Education Research

Institute (nheri.org) Accessed December 7, 2021

Thomas, Laura M. “An Interview with 3 Homeschool Graduates.” Simple Homeschool, 3 Feb.

2021, An interview with 3 homeschool graduates - Simple Homeschool. Accessed

November 9, 2021