Homeschooling - Three Reasons People Homeschool Their Children


Children have very powerful minds. They spend a lot of time trying to impress their parents and become more like them. When public schools and day cares take over part of that day, they begin placing their influences on these powerful minds. Are the values of the educators and care takers where children spend more time than they do with family really going to help prepare the next generation for the success that all of them have inside them?

Some families are willing to sacrifice a lot to homeschool their children simply because they feel that their children need more than the public educational system is offering. In particular, parents want their children to experience more than just a harried existence of rushing to everywhere and getting the minimum out of life. Three particular areas have many parents quitting jobs or changing job schedules to be able to educate their children themselves so that they can provide religious instruction, more advanced training than they can get in public school and finally that family bonding that is slipping away from the traditional family.

Religious Instruction

Public education is required to teach a non-religious curriculum because of the vast differences in the backgrounds of students and teachers. Parents who wish to sidestep the influences of the public education system can find help in homeschooling. It is easy to find a home school curriculum that will promote whatever religious beliefs the parent wants to teach their child. Many Christian based curriculum choices are available that provide the vast resources that children need while reinforcing the Christian values and teaching of the Bible.

As more and more families are choosing to homeschool, Jewish and Muslim (and even more than can be mentioned in this article) curricula are being developed by families and made available for sale once they have been tested. Different religious groups can also develop their own curriculum based on one of currently available, but tailored to their specific belief structure. The basic structure is similar in all of the religious curricula, but the tenets of the particular faith is interwoven into the reading, writing and history.

Advanced Training

The measure of a homeschool curriculum is whether it satisfies the criteria of the government agencies that are responsible for education. Seeing as how the majority of public schools are churning out children who are passably able to read and can barely spell, it is possible to beat the public school system by just spending more time with children, reading with them and going over their homework with them. The operative words are "with them" because quality time with children means more interaction and places more importance on doing a good job with schoolwork.

For parents who want their children to be college ready, a more advanced curriculum is required. Luckily, many advanced programs are available for home school families. Since parents who decide to homeschool come from varied backgrounds, many homeschooling materials are created by these parents to satisfy a need that was lacking in the homeschool community. As more families homeschool their children, more advanced curricula are becoming available for college prep.

Engineers, lawyers, doctors, chemists and CEOs have all contributed to the vast array of home educator materials available for parents to use for their children. These people make it possible for a child to choose whatever career path they can envision without having to attend public school. The only limitation is how much a parent can afford to invest in their own child's education.

Family Bonding

Because of the closeness of parents with their children in a homeschool environment, a special bond occurs with kids and parents that makes the experience even more beneficial. Instead of having a complete strangdr instilling their (who knows what kind) values on children, parents can form a stronger relationship and develop a more eager desire to learn in their children simply by continuing to encourage them.

Closeness with children is something that the family unit lacks, and simply showing an interest in a child's education is more important than the actual training materials on their own, since children respond to parental involvement very positively by wanting to excel. Obviously, stress and mental problems can get in the way of a positive learning environment, so before embarking on a homeschool curriculum, it is vital for parents to understand how much time they must devote to their children's education and whether they are mentally able to undertake such a task.

Some methods of homeschooling have a more "hands off" approach to teaching, by basically giving children a list of books to read and workbooks to use, but no real structure or interaction. This style is typically better for parents who are not able to deal with a structured schooling environment. Parental involvement is still crucial, but only in the encouragement of the child to continue reading and working at their own pace.

Summary

Religion in schools is a target from a lot of directions. Students are leaving school ready for a $10 per hour job. Too many families are fractured or simply damaged. It is crucial that parents become involved in their own children's education; even if it means after school religious instruction, help with homework and family activities. Homeschooling is one way to take away complete control of the preparation of children from the government (which has difficulty doing any large task effectively) and placing in back in the hands of the parent.

After seeing the results of having his 3 daughters in public school and in home school, Micheal Savoie found that home educators need more resources at their disposal to make homeschooling simpler for the parent and student. By making a website where home educators could exchange ideas and resources, the Home Educators Resource Exchange was born. Find out more at http://heregroups.com