HOME SCHOOLING

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

This is a very short article on a most important subject. It is meant only to introduce the topic of home schooling, especially to some parents who had not considered it before.

A movement that is growing throughout the United States and in some other nations, as well, is the home schooling movement. It began in earnest in the 1960s, coincidentally when prayer was taken out the school and many other changes came to public education. Since that time, it has grown steadily in the USA.

While some will disagree, I feel that public education has been deteriorating in the USA and elsewhere, while its cost has skyrocketed. Test scores in the public school have decreased or remained stagnant, and the influx of billions of dollars of tax money and federal government intervention has not changed this situation. This is the context in which the home schooling movement has grown, offering an alternative for thousands of children who would otherwise be compelled to attend failing and dangerous public schools.

WHY EDUCATE YOUR CHILD AT HOME?

1. Home schooling does a better job, in general, than the public schools. This is clearly true based upon statistics concerning college entry, standardized test scores, and more. Home schooling can often accomplish as much as the public school in terms of learning, in less than ¾ the time. And the college entrance rates are as high or higher.

Many children in the public schools are bored if they are very bright, as all are made to go at the pace of the group. Home schooling, in contrast, allows all children to go at their own pace without stigma and without holding back the faster students.

2. It is much safer. Today the public schools are targets for shooters, often places to get illegal drugs, places where girls get raped or at least spotted by sexual predators, and more. Bullying and peer pressure are other problems. Intellectually, the schools today teach revisionist history, politically correct left-wing thinking and more that is clearly dangerous to one’s mental health if you love truth.

3. Parents can control what the child learns. In particular, home schooling has become popular among Christian families who do not want their children learning anti-Christian and secular values that are now ‘mandated’ or forced upon all the children in the public school system.

4. Other reasons. These include controlling your child’s diet during the day, for example. Sadly, many children eat junk food at school, and learn about junk food from their peers.

Another reason is to control your child’s socialization. Too often, in the public schools, children learn foul language, slutty ways to dress an behave, and other bad attitudes, these days. All of this can be easily controlled with home schooling.

Another reason to keep children out of public schools is to control the spread of diseases that move through the schools, at times. In addition, the public schools make it hard to avoid toxic medical procedures such as vaccination.

IS HOME SCHOOLING FOR EVERYONE?

Perhaps not, although rapid advances in communication technologies such as the internet, interactive technologies, DVDs and much more have made it easier than ever for parents to provide children with a high quality education, even if the parents have not had a good education themselves.

Of course, a parent must be available for home schooling. This does not mean that a parent has to do all the work with every child. Many areas have home schooling groups and parents can work with several children for a morning or afternoon, freeing some parents for other activities.

If two parents must work every day, home schooling becomes more difficult. However, I think it is worthwhile for these families to try to have just one parent working and have a lower standard of living in order to home school their children.

Vouchers or other ways to reimburse home schooling parents. Also, I believe the government should give home schooling parents the money that would have been spent on their child in public school if that family decides to home school. I know this would be a horror to the teacher’s union and others who are invested in the public school system. However, this is the only way to force the public school system to compete openly and change with the times, something it does not do easily.

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