Introduction
Education is the key to success and every person is entitled or has a right to be educated during his life. In this generation of literacy, education has come in handy in the enhancement of communication of ideas, cultures, and other basic information. The school systems have evolved from spending hours in class seated listening to lecturers/tutors to the present rapidly gaining favor (and economical) home-schooling trends.
Home schooling involves studying (at home) away from the school atmosphere through online syllabuses and online supervision by a teacher/tutor while the parent is the main or ultimate authority. As cited by home schooling Up (2009, p. 4) the practice of home schooling has increased with the number of home schooled children increasing steadily over the last five years. For instance, in 2007, approximately 1.5 million children had been home schooled. The presence of home schooling has been seen as the way forward to transform the society since many children are protected from adverse negative effects of schooling.
The reasons explaining the adoptions of home schooling by many parents include the impacts of the school environment, religious and moral guidance from parents and poor academic instructions in schools. Home schooling protects children from the negative influences they may encounter outside the home; helps parents transfer their values and beliefs to their children; and builds mutual and meaningful relationships in the family.
Insight
Home schooling as taken nowadays is the best means to go through elementary, junior, senior high school and college without much stress. Many parents, for a long time, had been worried about the well being of their children when they are not within their sight. The major concern was the behaviors, safety and influence of other children on them and thanks to home schooling that they can now rest assured that the children are safe and free from any negative influence.
When analyzing the importance of home schooling, it is important to recognize that it offers flexibility in learning. Camber (2009) discusses benefits of home schooling and the prospects available for parents. He indicates that there is need for different learning goals for each grade levels in school i.e. the elementary, middle, and high school. Supervisors ensure the safe delivery of the special services in home schooling through principals. Administering home schooling program in the district is done by the assistant superintendent thus enabling parents to understand who is responsible for their children.
The statutes and regulation of cyber charters have three main issues: standards are vague and the resources to enforce the standards are limited hence the government cannot gauge whether the quality of education given to the citizens is compromised or not; the local school district staff delegated mainly have conflicts with home schooling hence they may not offer high quality supervision to the ideas; and the government has no measures of assurance on the health of the child since monitoring children within the home set up is technically difficult.
Colfax & Colfax (1988) portray home schooling as multidimensional which means there are various ways in which we can understand education. Home schooling education gives everyone an opportunity of personal development using the skills to enhance human talents especially where there is a connection of personal traits with education. Home schooling furthers the main goal of education which is human freedom and growth, by giving the freedom of expression.
The benefits of home schooling
When children are based at home, there are numerous benefits that they enjoy. First, parents are able to provide for the child’s emotional needs better than a teacher i.e. since school environment makes the teachers or tutors to teach classes of many students, they may not be able to concentrate on each student’s individual needs as the teacher only gives the educational part leaving the emotional gap unfilled.
Parents are the ones who know their children better and for a long time. When on home based schooling, they are able to concentrate on the child’s studies and emotional needs properly. They can be able to establish when students have trouble in their studies and hence regulate the amount of schooling to be subjected to the child at any given time. The parent can adapt according to the child’s needs and modes of study instead of the child having torturous times sitting for long hours in class listening to the teacher. At school all the children are forced to do the same things and follow certain procedures, a situation that is likely to affect other students who need high concentration on their education.
Students in home schooling have one on one tutoring which is very effective. The one-on-one system encourages and motivates the student to perform well since all that is taught is easily understood; he also has time for answers which are catered for and answered satisfactorily.
Socializing can only be good when it is positive. When at home the child is able to socialize positively with the parents and create a bond. Blumenfeld (1995, p. 764) is on the view that student will be protected from the negative social influence of the peers when they are subjected to home schooling. Although many parents may prefer religious schools to counter this problem, the effects of the peer are always there and there will be presence of some bad elements in school which might bring the negative influence. The children are more likely to interact with few children and adults at all times rather than their peers who can influence them negatively.
Students who have home schooling programs have a chance of getting better and quality education which is all inclusive. The student is not grouped together with students who are clever than him or dumber than him thus he learns at his own pace. This can help monitor the performance and talents of the student by the parent who cares about him/her. This will enhance the development of the talent and the better performance of the child as the parent and the tutor will have specialized contact with the child. This is opposed to schools where the teacher/tutor has so many children to teach hence there is no time for each child’s preferences, while their talents may be ignored and some might learn about them when it is too late.
Tough Stance on Student Expulsion (2009) says that the parent has the right over the child he/she bears. The responsibility of the parent has been for so long passed on to the tutors some of whom do not care and are even drug addicts. Home schooling gives the responsibility of shaping the child’s life to the parents where proper discipline is supposed to be administered by the parent who also controls the child’s activities.
During home schooling, there is bonding of the family. Strengthening the family ties translates to a strong society which ensures that the child is free from many negative impacts when at home. Moreover, bullying cannot happen when the child is at home which means that physical harms are minimized when at home since potential dangers and hazards are minimal and the child is mainly under supervision. Students are also guarded against drugs and harmful substances when at home, that could otherwise be introduced by their fellow students who are spoilt. Harmful behaviors and practices e.g. watching pornography may be introduced to the student while in the school system but the home setup has no space for such vices.
According to Foley (2008), the changes have occurred in home schooling e.g. the choice of curriculum and the potentials and impacts it has for the numerous social classes, thus makes home schooling more safe and effective when practiced to protect the child from social negative pressures. Home schooling enables the child to be upright and think straight and evade negative effects like low self esteem, lack of confidence, and lack of identity – which is common in many children who attend schools.
Families have a major thing in common which includes the preservation of sanctity of childhood. Home schooling gives parents a chance to bring up their children in a more parental, social, natural and caring environment. The school environment is not liked by most children as they feel like it tends to make the child feel nervous, diffident, and downright mean. All these negative effects are not present during home schooling.
The parents have a right over the child’s religious background. Religion will help shape the future of the child through good behavior and social fitting. In addition, the child is taught the best values of religion as well as the upholding of these values thus helping in creating a bright future for them.
According to Tough Stance on Student Expulsion (2009), many students are expelled from schools leaving their parent no options but to look for home schooling. With the rise in home schooling, there have been reduced incidences of arson fires, and suspensions.
Attendance of school to some children may cause negative effects e.g. racism. Students who do not attend school in their homelands may experience racism or alienation because they may be treated differently from the others. He/she may be discriminated against just because of his/her skin color or difference in race, a situation that will impact negatively on the child’s educational life. This may instill a mind in others that some people are more equal than others. When a society grows through such ideologies, then it becomes a racist society in future. According to Tal (2009) “there is a correlation between racism and the geo-temporal diffusion of home schooling legislation.” Home schooling helps to eliminate racial discrimination and segregation especially on the people of color, who have in their history, experienced the worst discrimination.
When students are at school, many a times they spend their time waiting in long lines for other students to complete their work, waiting for recess, waiting for the teacher to move on to another subject, waiting for lunch and so on. Home schooling utilizes this time efficiently thus making the children to learn many things within a shorter period of time. They are able to take enough time and work at their own pace and save more time for other activities such as relaxing, playing games, jogging around, drawing and socializing around (Lois, 2009).
Studies have shown the relation that for students whose parents are involved in their education endeavors are more likely to excel. Students under home schooling have very flexible schedules which can be tailored to suit their lifestyle. The student starts to study at the best time of his convenience and enjoy the best timetables. In addition, the child does not have to worry about missing lessons at the school since everything is planned effectively through individual evaluation of time (Moore, 2009). Therefore, the student need not to worry of tutors missing lessons and wasting that lessons time in other non academic activities.
The student is not overworked by the many assignments and homework that will be given each day, which even at times is never marked. The student’s flexible timetable will leave him/her a flexible time to attend religious gatherings which may not be allowed by the school administration due to time constraint. The flexibility of the student helps him/her to achieve the best in a specified period of time as he/she is focused on the main goal and is supported by loving and caring parents.
Online home schooling
When talking about home based schooling online learning should be included, as well as its advantages to the learning process of the children. There are many advantages associated with online schooling which include Sharing of perspectives and ideas and discussions boards and chatting available in the internet which enable the students to discuss academic as well as religious issues online. Students can get ideas through the response given by other students hence getting new opinions and solid formation of learning in real time.
Equality, all students are given an equal base and platform to study hence no student is favored in any way. Those who are shy will feel confident to post ideas online during discussions and may bring new inventions since everyone works to be unique. Tutors are accessible and available which solves the problem of situations where most tutors sometimes get committed elsewhere in meetings, conferences and family matters hence may not be available for lectures and lessons (McCloshey, 2008). While away, they can give online notes and guidelines to the students hence continuing with the learning process uninterrupted.
Many learning styles are taught since online studies involve many unique learning experiences including audio notes – where the student can listen and understand, written notes which the students can read directly, and demonstrations of processes among others. This enhances online learning a lot and gives students a better understanding and knowledge. Exploration is also enhanced as the students can use related web pages to enhance knowledge that they have and work on any assignments given. Online learning gives an array of information and proper explanations which the student needs. If the student needs further information, he has the opportunity to explore the internet at his own pleasure.
Easy grasping of information and rehearsal is also enhanced through online schooling such that when students are studying things on their own, they tend to understand them better. In addition, their involvement in the activity of typing and taking short notes enhances their understanding and comes in handy when revising for their exams. Online studying is flexible in terms of time since it is the only place that one can get information 24 hours a day. This will help the student in planning the time he/she will be working or studying.
Online information is updated daily and this will enable the student to get the best and most current information available and hence work on recent developments rather than where schooling depends on books that take long to write and publish. The internet also gives practical guidelines for the process hence the student does not need to attend practical lessons at school. With the above points it is beyond doubt that home schooling has many inherent benefits despite its being fully incorporated in the education system and it may thus be regarded as a “sleeping giant in American education system” (Lips, 2009). This is expressed in the form of abundance time that the children have to be with their parents and the bonds they create within the family. This bond does not allow the child to get time to do negative things and get in harmful activities. The family set up is the best grounds that people have to shape the society since the child pays attention and respects the family and parents. Moreover, the children can be taught good morals of courage, endurance, faith, love, peace, and faithfulness. The culture will also be passed on from the family to the child thus traditions and norms will be enhanced.
The parent also gets to choose the best curriculum for the child especially the one that the child is interested in and enjoys to study (Miners, 2008). This will enhance better learning and studying of the child as well as talent development. The parent models the child in the best way possible in the education with enough discipline to support him/her in future. The parents are more concerned with the child’s future, which is why they teach the child survival skills. They make the child reliable in future and thus build a strong reliable society.
Home schooling can be seen as detention for some but the benefits are many and limitless. Once the children gather at school, they become vulnerable to any form of ailment outbreak, especially the transmissible diseases since proper and closer attention may be lacking. This can bring a risk to the society and particularly to the family especially in terms of contamination and expenditure that has to be incurred to treat the ailment.
According to Moore (2009) safety at schools is of real importance. Research indicates that many youths become violent since they feel that rebelling makes them strong. They rebel against tradition, tutors, and against the school system claiming that rules at schools are strict, stiff, and definitive. Some rules include; wearing a common uniform – which they consider old fashioned, restriction on smoking, restriction on expression of individual views and formal procedures during lessons. Indeed, “Home schooling would help parents to protect their children and transfer their own values and beliefs to their children” (Moore, 2009).
Miners (2008) describes home schooling from district administration perspective by noting that parents feel schooling to be unacceptable. Competition among many students to gain entry and admission to prestigious schools is high and tiresome not forgetting the race to be admitted to elite universities. Home schooling eliminates the burden on school system admission and also helps produce very elite graduates in the systems that are not affected by peer pressure and have the good morals that the society needs.
According to Cambre (2009, p.61) the issue of religion is one of the major reasons that contributed to home schooling. He notes three problems with the courts decision to give the parent exclusive rights in home schooling which include parental right to bring the child in a religious and educative background is not followed up by the courts; circuit courts are not united over the matter; and there is an ambiguity in the supreme court. The problems of schooling can hence be solved by home schooling especially where the parent is committed to the progress of the child.
Conclusion
The presence of home schooling has made the society transform in various ways. Many say that the child is limited in exposure and tends to be less social, but the positives of such limited exposure and social life can help the child build a more confident, religious, and moral lifestyle. Although home schooling has its negative effects, it can be said to be the best since it transforms the child for the future which is a more lasting solution to changing of the society. With the trend in education industry being distance learning, home schooling offers a good platform on which the future of the child can be shaped and directed. Home schooling requires loving, caring, committed parents who are ready to sacrifice their time for the child so that it can be effective.
References
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Cambre, B. M. (2009). Tearing Down the Walls: Cyber Charter Schools and the Public Endorsement of Religion. TechTrends, 53 (4), 61-64. Web.
Colfax, D. and Colfax, M. (1988). Homeschooling for Excellence. NY, Grand Central Publishing.
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Homeschooling Up. (2009). Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, 22 (2), 35-35. Web.
Lips, D, Feinberg, E. (2009). Homeschooling: The Sleeping Giant of American Education. USA Today Magazine, 138, (2772).
Lois, J. (2009). Emotionally layered accounts: homeschoolers’ justifications for maternal deviance. Deviant Behavior, 30 (2), 201-234.
McCloshey, L. (2008). Dropping Out: the rewards of homeschooling. Commonweal. Web.
Miners, Z. (2008). Homeschooling Victory. District Administration, 44, (11), 26.
Moore, D. (2009). Homeschooling and Safety. Schooling Planning and Management, 48 (1), 11-11.
Tal, L. (2009). Homeschooling and Racism. Journal of Black Studies, 39 (6), 905-923. Web.
Tough stance on student expulsion. (2009). American School Board Journal, 196 (8), 10. Web.