Homeschooling Myths

Home educating is gaining in popularity all over North America, with Ivy League schools in the U.S. choosing Homeschoolers for scholarships without much trial, as homeschoolers are proving themselves to be better educated time and time again.

However, there are still a lot of myths and mystery surrounding homeschooling; probably mostly due to the fact that all of the education is taking place behind closed doors with no standard testing or scoring to see how the parents are stacking up as teachers.

With that in mind, I would like to dispel some of these myths...
(Myths and stats quoted are from Mothering magazine's issue #131, July/August 2005
Most information is taken from this issue whether directly quoted or not, unless I put a personal slant on it. All Ontario information is from me.)

#1 - Homeschooling is a fringe movement
The number of children homeschooled in the U.S. is approximately 12 percent of the population. This is not a huge percentage, but it is still a large number of children, and the movement continues to grow. In Ontario, more and more families are choosing to home educate for a number of reasons, including children not getting enough help from over-worked teachers, class sizes too large, not enough time for extra-curricular activities, important subjects being cut, and a dozen other reasons personal to each family.

#2 - Homeschooling is primarily a religious phenomenon
According to the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources, only 33 percent of families said that religion was their primary reason for homeschooling. 50 percent stated that they believed their children would get a better education at home, and 29 percent stated that the school system offered a poor learning environment. 11 percent said their children were not being challenged enough at school. Again, there are dozens of reasons why parents choose to home educate. Religion plays a part in some cases, but not in the majority.

#3 - Homeschooled children are undereducated
Homeschoolers outperform conventionaly schooled peers in all subjects and at all grade levels by at least 70-80 percent. They are now sought by many colleges (in the States - in Canada we are farther behind in being recognized for our accomplishments).

#4 - Most homeschoolers learn through a formal curriculum, taught to them by their parents.
Homeschoolers learn through variety of methods, which may include some "teaching" by parents, or working through workbooks and following a curriculum, but much of a homeschoolers education is what I like to call, "Life Education". Everything is a lesson. Every outing, every natural occurance in your backyard, every meal preparation, everything! There are also self-directed projects, volunteer activities, cooking, sports, and classes with other homeschoolers. "The majority of homeschooling families do not purchase prepackaged curriculums but instead use a combination of methods."

#5 - Homeschooler are stuck at home
"Per week, the average homeschooled child participates in at least five outside activities, such as sports teams, scouts/girl guides, classes in the community, volunteer activities, etc."
In our home, our daughter is registered for two sports at the moment, and we are considering another activity. We also make a point of meeting with other homeschooled families on a regular basis (every week, or every other week), and we are still able to use community resources such as the Early Years Centre (this will change as our daughter gets older).

#6 - Homeschooling deprives children of proper socialization
This is the most used myth by conventionally schooled families, and it ties in with the above myth. If you understand what homeschooling actually entails, and what it actually is; the philosophy of a whole life of education, then you would understand how much of a non-issue socialization actually is. Homeschoolers are actually BETTER socialized than their conventionally schooled peers.
"Homeschooling affords children plenty of time and opportunity for social interaction and friendships, as well as time to learn appropriate social behaviors from their parents." They are around children of all ages and not just put into a large group of kids their own age. I believe that because of this they learn to care for the younger ones, and help them learn, as well as playing with kids their own age. They are also around more adults for longer periods of time than the kids in school who mostly deal with one teacher all day. Homeschooled children tend to be better behaved around adults because of this. They are also known to be far more mature. This can actually cause discomfort with some adults as they are used to children acting up around them. This is where I think some people view homeschooled children as "odd". They are not used to having young kids speak so eloquently and on an adult level with them, that it makes them uneasy.

#7 - Homeschoolers are insulated from the real world. (The "Bubble" myth)
"Homeschooling families live and learn in the real world, typically interacting with real people of various ages and backgrounds on a real-world basis rather than just with peers in a classroom...homeschoolers are a diverse population and often have lots of freedom to travel to diverse locations for both eduational and social purposes."

#8 - Homeschoolers have a hard time applying for, getting into, and adjusting to college
"College admissions officers now seek out homeschoolers due to their excellent preparation for academic success at college...Standford has "special interest" in homeschoolers." This of course, is American, and unfortunately does not yet apply to Canadian Universities, although the tide is beginning to turn.

#9 - Parents withouth teaching certificates, college degrees, and so on are not qualified to teach their children
"In Rudner's large study, he found that there was "no significant difference" in homeschooler's achievement according to whether or not a parent was a certified teacher. Homeschoolers on average score in the 76th percentile or higher in reading, language, and math, and it made no difference whether the parents were teachers or not."
From personal experience and talking with others, I know that regardless of what education you have, you can still teach your children. At the early stages it's fairly easy as you spend time with your kids and teach them simple math, learning to read, and other important skills and lessons. As your children get older, and the lessons get harder and more complex, if you don't know the answers, you find them out! You wind up learning right along with your child.

#10 - (my own myth) You are required to send your children to school by law.
In Ontario, children who have reached the age of 6 are required to attend school, unless the parent is providing their child with a satisfactory education at home. In Ontario, we have the legal right as parents to educate our children at home as we see fit. We do not have standardized tests for our kids, we do not have to follow a specific curriculum. If the Board of Education sees fit to "check up" on us, we only have to show that our children are actually learning something.
Some people may be bothered by this, to think that as homeschooling parents we can do whatever we want. The bottom line is this: Homeschooling is not easy. It is an extremely time-consuming, and sometimes exhausting task. Parents who homeschool do not do it lightly. A great deal of thought and preparation goes into being a homeschooling family, and because of all that, do you think we're just going to toss our kids a book and tell them to learn something from it while we watch TV? No, of course not. Our primary objective is to give our kids the best education possible, to provide them with a positive and fun learning environment, to basically, give them the very, very best. And that, my friends, is why "check ups" and becoming standardized with the public school system is not only unneccessary, it is a waste of tax payers money.

The bottom line is this: Don't be afraid of homeschooling! It is done for a myriad of reasons, by a myriad of different kinds of people. It is fun, it is educational, and it is a very special way to bond with our kids.