Are we ready to homeschool? Will my child be successful homeschooling? Will they have enough socialization? These are the questions so many parents ask themselves before making the decision to pull our kids out of the mainstream norm. In our society more and more parents are deciding to take this approach for their child’s education, whether it’s because of their child’s failing grades, the bullying just won’t stop, or they just don’t get it. Children can learn at the kitchen table more effectively that in a crowded classroom. Homeschooling can improve education in many significant ways that will have a deeper impact, not just in academia but their lives as a whole. Homeschooling provides a more direct approach on focused education for the student and the possibilities for success is great. Homeschooling has been a successful transition for many students. Parents are able to give more individual attention to one student and not twenty five. Many kids in the classrooms focus on doing the work and some have no clue as to what’s going on. What happens to those kids that have no clue and need an extra thirty minutes to figure the process out? For instance, when we chose to homeschool our boys, one of my sons needed more time to learn Math, and then we could reduce the time he spent on English. If they wanted to spend a whole day on history, we could go to a museum or plan an event with other homeschoolers. There was no set or fixed schedule to keep. That can’t be done with a classroom of twenty five kids on a daily or weekly basis. The opportunity to oversee your child’s education means a child has an advantage of spending more hours on a tough subject without the additional pressure.
Another way Homeschooling improves education is through having a positive social structure. So many people believe that homeschoolers are not socialized but in fact that opposite is true. Many homeschooling families belong to a homeschooling group for activities and field trips even their church families offer social interaction on a weekly basis, these relationships are built on the foundation of respecting each other and building friendships. There is encouragement that each mother/father brings to the group. The difference between public school socialization and homeschooling socialization is the ratio of kids to adults; 3:1 would be the norm, definitely not the 25:1 we see classrooms today. Parents instill a set of values that will yield good character and parents are around to correct behavior. In a classroom of twenty five kids, some disturbing behavior goes unnoticed and unchecked, therefore leaving one of those kids involved victimized by someone else’s lack of self control and bad behavior. It happens every day in our school system; we see the videos posted on Face book, we watch the local news and read it in the papers, kids being beaten up by some “big shot” at school trying to prove she/he’s “big and bad”. When our sons were homeschooled we knew the kids and the families they spent time with and we respected them and they respected us. I didn’t have to worry about bullying or intimidation or name calling going on. I remember when my fourth son was in fifth grade and a boy he was playing soccer with called him a “nigger”, later that evening when putting him to bed I noticed he’d been a bit odd all afternoon, when I asked him what was wrong he explained what had happened earlier that day at school. Racial terms like these had to be explained and as a mom it broke my heart to have to prepare him to defend himself at a young age. If that’s what socialization is, we have to wonder what all the rage is about.
Accountability, now there’s a word with some weight behind it, right? According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, accountability means “required or expected to justify actions or decisions.” So you’re not just reporting your actions but also telling why you chose