Did you know that across Canada there are approximately 60,000 to 80,000 children who are homeschooled? That number is on the rise. Despite the fact that homeschooling has become much more mainstream in our society, there still seems to be an underlying misunderstanding and prejudices surrounding this method of schooling in the general population.
Here's some of the most common myths:
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1. Homeschool students aren't socialized properly.
This is one of the most common misconceptions of homeschoolers. The reality is that instead of being separated in groups according to age, these kids can interact with many different people in many different settings on a regular basis.
Homeschool groups and activities typically are filled with a wide age-range of children involved. Extra-curricular clubs and sports or other similar activities offer the opportunities to learn how to work under a leader in a group setting. Volunteering puts kids into new settings with people they might not have encountered before.
Socialization is much more than just spending time in a classroom with other kids -- it's a skill learned and taught when allowed the opportunity to interact with other people.
2. Parents aren't qualified enough to teach their children.
It is easy to understand this concern, but it's actually rather insulting to most of us. We might not all have teaching degrees, this is true, but we typically are skilled enough to be resourceful in our education plans. Even teachers don't know everything about every subject -- but they can find tools, lesson plans, and resources to help teach their classes. So can we.
One of the best things about homeschooling is the network that you can tap into. Yes, there are times and subjects that we can't teach to the amount needed. Using the community and the network available allows us to find experts and better equipped teachers than ourselves. Workshops, co-ops, classes, online courses and programs, distance studies -- there are lots of ways that homeschoolers can learn about something their parents can't teach. Education is not limited by what a parent knows!
We also get the opportunity to learn along with our children. It's a great way to keep the brain active, pull up the lessons we ourselves learned while schooling, and show our kids that learning is fun. It's our goal as homeschoolers to create a passion for learning and to equip our children with the tools to research, discover, and absorb information for themselves.
3. Homeschoolers are weird and different.
Homeschoolers are no different then anyone else. Some are shy, while others outgoing, there are homeschoolers who like to be on their own and the ones that love large groups. Just because the education we teach and receive is outside the conventional box doesn't mean there's anything wrong or weird about us.
4. Homeschoolers are lazy and don't leave their house.
There's a joke in the homeschool world that homeschoolers are rarely home. There are classes and programs, volunteering and sports, field trips, and so much more; homeschoolers are usually busy and active in so many interests that there is no chance to be lazy. There are lessons to plan, prep and finish, just like our public school counterparts. Typically, though, we are finished a lot sooner, allowing us the opportunity to get out and do something else, or just relax at home. We don't HAVE to leave our house and can spend the day in our pajamas, if we want. But it's not the every day norm. It's just a bonus.
5. Homeschoolers are extreme in their religion and want control their children in every aspect of their life.
The school system is a secular institution and teaches what they believe is right. This doesn't always line up with religious beliefs. Because of this, there is a large community of faith-based home educators. But that doesn't make every person who homeschools a fundamental, isolating Christian. Yes, some are, but not all of us! In fact, secular homeschooling has been emerging rapidly in the last few years.
Most homeschoolers chose to teach at home in order to focus on their child's needs and learning styles rather than religion. The homeschooling community includes a huge range of belief systems, but we all have one thing in common: wanting the best education possible for our children.
6. Homeschoolers can't go to college/university.
With the recent increase of students taught at home, post-secondary schools have begun to amend and open their admissions policies to homeschoolers. If university or college is the path a homeschooled child wants to take, there are options available: from taking time off from school and applying as a mature student, to registering with an open university first before transferring to a different program, and even just doing online classes.
7. Homeschoolers won't ever be ready for real life.
"Real life" looks different for every person. It's important for us as homeschoolers to provide our children with life skills -- finances, household maintenance, cooking, self-sufficiency -- areas that have been cut out of most public school settings due to lack of funding. Adults everywhere are able to find and hold jobs, have families, and follow their dreams. There's no reason to believe our children are unable to do the same. Some studies point to the fact that adults who were homeschooled are typically more content with their lives than their peers.
Homeschooling is outside the typical social norm of education and it's easy to understand that there will be misconceptions around how it works and how it is affecting our children. Remember, though, that different isn't always the same thing as bad. Take the time to get to know some homeschoolers. Ask questions. Become educated in what we're doing and why. Don't make assumptions. We want the same as you -- to see our kids be the best that they can be.
What questions do you have about homeschooling?
We homeschooled three of our kids at different times, two of them to leave vicious bullying. It worked well for all of them.
It seems that anything outside of the norm has dispersion cast upon it due to baseless assumptions, regardless of evidence to the contrary, simply because the concept is not predictably normal.
Interestingly though......the concept of "normal" shifts over generations. The only constant is change and if you embrace change and the possibilities that may come along with it, you are actually the ones to experience the least amounts of adjustments to societal norms and those who are wildly grasping to the past for stability are the ones that experience the greatest turbulence.
Enjoy the ride.
How do two income parents home school? Is it only for voluntarily poor and the rich?
Food for thought: Homeschoolers pay education tax too. How do we know the school system isn't brainwashing your children into brainwashed, "government - approved" zombies? (FYI - this is not what I feel, simply a reversed example).
There are 2 income families that homeschool. It takes creativity and commitment - dividing work schedules, outsourcing lessons with other homeschool families, and thinking outside the box.
I am a professional with several degrees that chose to educate my children as opposed to fopping them off on a questionable, at best, education system. Our family still pays taxes to the school district with no return to us.
It is about priorities. Putting your ego in check and looking out for the best interests of the children that you helped to bring into the world.
2. There's nothing stopping you from teaching your kids whatever religious dogma you like on your own time, or about other religions or anything else you like.
3. There is no guarantee that your kids will ever have the same basic, universal education as those that go to school if you keep them out of public classrooms, or be qualified to do anything afterwards like university, or even trade school.
4. There's no such thing as a "qualified home educator", the whole point is that there are no qualifications or formal training to do it. The only person calling you "qualified" is yourself. At least public teachers, flawed as some of them are, have a basic understanding of what they're doing.
Yeah 'cause that's exactly what I said. Straw man much?
"I suggest you meet a few more families out there before using the one example you actually know of to draw judgements."
I suggest you actually read what I said -in my first sentence I explicitly stated that home schooling might be the better choice - and no where did I state that I only knew one. I had space for one example which I felt illustrated the down side to homeschooling - that no one checked to make sure these kids were actually learning anything. These kids can barely read, and as such are unemployable. That's a travesty.
My point in all of this is let's not judge based on what we may think we know or what we have seen once or twice. I have seen the public school fail time and time again as well as see it succeed with some kids. The same goes for homeschoolers, although when looking at the stats that are out there, homeschoolers tend to thrive in all areas of their lives.
I do not homeschool my children for any religious reasons and I don't wish to shield them from any ideas and in fact they have a much broader view of the world then most people, as do the majority of homeschoolers in the community I know.
Who better to educate our children but the people who know how to motivate and stimulate them? We can tailor fit differing education models for each child, as opposed to one model used for the masses.
We have a library, a lab, a gym, all in our home, in addition to 12 biosphere tanks, an art studio and an observatory.
Our colleagues are also professionals who can mentor or assist with projects that may stretch our limits. We can travel the world and expose the children to experiential learning or do a myriad of local projects that typically would not have school aged children involved (palliative care, wildlife rehabilitation, municipal planning).
Really, when you think about it, why would we send our children to an underfunded, understaffed, mass modelled, regurgitation creating schools?
I've known highly educated home schooling parents but it disturbs me that they may be closing this door for their own children.
And yes, i found them to be weird.
But unfortunately, the reality is that homeschooling has become dominated by socially regressive religious fundamentalism.
Some genuinely do want their kids to get a better education - but for a large number the motivations are of sheltering children from perspectives the parents disagree with. Sometimes being in school is the only place children can escape from abusive home situations, or even realize that other perspectives even exist beyond what they were raised with.
Public school may be far from perfect, but the dangers of the homeschooling model are too acute to promote it as a desirable alternative.
If you seriously think that "Public schools teach children that their perspective is right and religions or people who believe otherwise are bad or wrong", I'd really wonder whether you ever attended one.
Considering how wrong your view of public schools is, I'm not sure you'd really qualified to teach anyone about what anyone else believes.
Do Christian Creationists who fight over teaching evolution in public schools actually teach evolution with the same open-mindedness as they teach creationist thought?
Why is sheltering children something inheriently wrong? Protecting our children is part of parenting. The truth is that there are a lot of things available, taught to and exposed to our children in today's world that would never have been acceptable in the past. It's not necessarily a bad thing to want to preserve the innocence of childhood.
On your point #5 about religion, however, please consider something. You are correct that the public/State school system always “teaches what they believe is right.” Furthermore, all parents and citizens of “free” and “not-so-free” nations should realize that whenever a person or system (e.g., State-run schools) teaches what it believes to be “right” it is promoting religion. This is religion in the sense of an “institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices” and/or “a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith” (merriam-webster.com). In addition, many scholars have pointed out that “public schooling functions as our established church” (Carper & Hunt, 2007). So, general public and parents, please know for sure that all children who are sent away from home to State/public schools are being taught the normative faith-filled religion that the professors, curriculum deciders, and policymakers have delivered to the masses.