Just as there are no two identical families that choose to
home educate, there are no two identical sets of reasons why many parents take
on the challenge. While the stereotype
of an “ultra religious” homeschooling family is still out there, the truth is
that parents have dozens of factors that influence their final commitment to
put their kids out of public schools – and that many of them even homeschool
each child in their family for a completely different reason.
Let’s look at some of the more common motives behind the
desire to home educate:
1.
Safety.
No one can escape the news of school shootings, bullying, and incidents
of sexual assault that can have occurred both inside the school during the supervised
school day and outside of school at extracurricular activities and with
classmates. Home education, while not
the perfect solution to keeping kids free from harm, has been a popular choice
for parents who have had enough with the worry, violence, and insecurity that many
children suffer from in today’s educational system.
2.
Special Education. Even with the laws that ensure our children
will get special help when they need it, schools struggle to provide enough
resources to give special learners the attention they warrant. Gifted kids often have no options to keep
their minds busy, and the average learner is becoming bored or frustrated by
the lack of individualized learning available in many of today’s overcrowded
schools. As more and more children
become diagnosed as having “disorders”, medication is replacing more
thoughtful, long-term programs that may prove successful in overcoming both
educational and behavioral challenges.
Home education has provided parents the ability to be the sole facilitator
in the process of addressing these issues, and it has allowed them to make sure
education is specialized to meet their child’s individual needs—whatever they
may be.
3.
Local Control.
States have long battled to keep curriculum standards that best represent
the population of their citizens, which is why broad-sweeping federal education
standards have traditionally been rejected.
Local communities that want to keep some autonomy over what they teach
in the classroom are finding it to be even more difficult to fight this battle,
however. New initiatives, like the
Common Core Curriculum, have turned the focus back to a federal standard of
education, causing concern that federal funding and a loss of power by State
Education Departments will soon follow.
Parents who want to opt out of federal education guidelines may find
homeschooling to be their only option in the coming years.
4.
Religious, Moral and Ethical Freedom. The stories of children being mocked or
ostracized for their personal convictions aren’t common, but they are out
there. Whether it be a
highly-politicized classroom environment, a ban on prayer or Bible-based free
speech, or simply the more ridiculous examples of kids being expelled for creating
guns out of toaster pastries, parents are discovering that the “political
correctness” of today’s schools is confusing and impossible to appease. Families who find themselves on the wrong
side of the argument have not only seen a slanted approach toward instructional
time, some are reporting that there is an open hostility in every part of the
school culture. This “bullying” isn’t
just allowed, it is often encouraged, as a few new anti-bullying programs have
chosen to portray certain faiths and political parties as offenders who need to
be called out for sharing “hateful” views.
These are just four of the most common reasons we hear for
parents choosing to pull their kids from a traditional, institutional
education. Other reasons may include
extended childhood illness, a death in the family, traveling for work or
missions, or other logistical issues.
What we have found, as well, is that many parents who started
homeschooling as a temporary fix have found no good reason to stop. Their children have thrived, and the family
has experienced unexpected blessings as a result of their “experiment.”
Whatever the reason you choose to pursue it, there is an
appropriate method to do so legally, according to the regulations of your
state. We encourage prospective
homeschooling families to the Department of Education website for your state to
find specific information on how to being homeschooling in a legal manner.
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