The first step to homeschooling is making your decision to home educate your child. It is important to become informed and knowledgeable about some of the main concerns you may have. Explore these areas of our website to learn more about the initial decision to homeschool.
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| Making Your Decision |
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The reasons people decide to educate their children at home are varied and can be unique to each family. Some look towards a better educational experience, others are concerned with moral and social issues, some are concerned with safety, and still others have special needs that they wish to address. Explore these reasons and others that have led families to homeschooling.
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| Advantages of Homeschooling |
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Ask anyone who loves homeschooling what the advantages are, and you'll probably hear a long list of the benefits of educating children in the home. Homeschooling is a journey and an adventure, with benefits and rewards for the entire family. Come find out what these advantages are and decide if homeschooling is right for you.
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| Teaching Your Own Children |
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Are you qualified to teach your own children? The answer is yes! It is challenging, but rewarding, to educate your children in your home. Find out what these challenges are and how to address them.
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| Socialization |
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"But what about socialization?" So the typical question goes to anyone who homeschools. Find out what socialization means to homeschooling families and strategies to engage your children and your entire family in social activities and connections.
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| Research & Statistics |
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Learn about current research and statistics involving homeschooling families, the homeschool movement, and the educational system.
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| Public School Issues |
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Many parents are basing part of their decision to homeschool on issues with public schooling, from bullying to poor academic performance to problems with governmental control.
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| Community Outreach |
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Want to help homeschooling integrate into the community at large? Are you a homeschool group leader who talks with the media or provides information to new and curious homeschoolers? Here are tips to help you present homeschooling to the public and the media.
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Home Schools: How Do They Affect Children? |
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Bridget Murray |
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This article by American Psychological Association Monitor staff writer Bridget Murray, details how psychologists look at families that have chosen to school their children at home. It is a good example of the negative stereotypes and biases towards homeschoolers that can be found in mainstream society. This is a negative critical look at homeschooling, with a bias on looking at what is considered by the educational and medical establishment as the sheltered nature of homeschooling, perceived lack of exposure to diversity, and lack of participation in greater society. This attitude clearly contradicts the experiences, research, and results that the homeschooling community has seen for decades. |
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Dispelling the Stereotype of Ethnic Prejudice in Homeschooling |
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Hank R. Kraychir |
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There is a prevailing stereotype in the United States that homeschool education is racially prejudice; that is, that white parents decide to homeschool their children because of their discriminatory opinions of other races. However, an interesting aspect of homeschooling is its universal appeal to all ethnic groups. Homeschooling has become mainstream in many ethnic communities, with more people of color now choosing to homeschool their children. Taking this into consideration, the stereotype of white racist homeschoolers must be reexamined alongside the more feasible reasons for homeschooling, including the failing condition of America’s public education system. In doing so, white homeschoolers will be revealed not as racists, but concerned parents with their children’s best interests in mind. |
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U.S. Department of Education Longitudinal Study of 2002: Homeschool Student Questionnaire |
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U.S. Department of Education |
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This is a survey sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, with a stated goal of being used by educators and by federal and state policy makers to address important issues facing the nation's schools: educational standards, high school course-taking patterns, dropping out of school, the education of the disadvantaged, the needs of language minority students, and the features of effective schools. We are including this link as an item of interest, to demonstrate what directions institutional survey writers are taking in their approach to homeschooling. In our opinion, it is a completely inadequate attempt to measure homeschooling demographics or success, focusing heavily on cultural notions of "socialization" and structured educational models. It is also invasive in terms of the amount of personal information required. |
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Special Ed: Factory-Like Schooling May Soon Be a Thing of the Past |
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Britton Manasco |
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Britton Manasco, writing for Reason Magazine, looks at the advantages of homeschooling, along with some interesting facets of home education. Discusses the benefits of encouraging independent thought and decentralized learning practices. The article also takes a look at the state of today's classrooms and the limitations of traditional notions of education. There is also a discussion of the use of technology in the homeschool environment and how this relates to the issue of socialization. |
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Social Development and the Homeschooled Child |
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Dr. Scott Turansky |
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Many people cannot understand how a homeschooled child can have adequate social interaction with others. They imagine that these children must have little contact with others, day after day. But this is really a lack of understanding about what socialization really is and how it works in a homeschool environment. In this article, Dr. Scott Turansky challenges the assumptions about socialization and explains what really takes place in the typical homeschool. |
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