What I learned

Throughout this project I was surprised by some of the research I came across.  I thought that I already knew a lot about homeschooling issues but I quickly realized that I knew very little.  This project was helpful to me personally because I found good resources through my searches for the postings.  Some of the research I did made my decision, to enroll my son in public school, more difficult because this project reinforced my belief that homeschooling is the best option. My research proved to me that public education is something that is in serious need of reforming.  As parents of school aged children we have a responsibility to make sure that our concerns are addressed and we owe it to our children to provide with the best education possible.

Writing a blog is much different than writing one essay.  You are forced to search farther to find more sources which leads you to more information than you may have gotten with an essay.  I believe that I found so much more information on homeschooling this way and it was good for me.  It was also fun to write this because I was able to take my time and write about these issues thoroughly where some of them may have been glossed over had it have been an essay. Overall, I enjoyed this type of writing and would like to do it again in the future.

Picture retrieved from http://www.reflectionsevent2009.blogspot.com/ .

Homeschooling: How easy is it?

Homeschooling is something that I believe is a good option and I have tried to show that the stereo types surrounding it are not all true.  But exactly how hard is it to home school your children?  Does it make it easier that there are so many resources out there for homeschoolers now?  It has been my experience that homeschooling is one of the most difficult and time consuming things I have ever done.  I think it is especially difficult at the kindergarten level because it is hard to go from mommy to teacher and your child may not be able to pay attention very well. So what do other homeschoolers think about this?

I interviewed a woman named Jenny who home schools her children.  She told me that kindergarten was the hardest age because they do not understand the importance of school.  They are easily distracted and the transition from mommy to teacher is very difficult for the children to grasp.  She enrolled her children in school at this age.  She is homeschooling this year again and she says that it is so much easier.  Her children understand what school is all about and they know how to read and write which makes it easier also (Gardner, 2010).

There are a lot of resources out there for parents.  Some that are free and some that are expensive.  One option is to enroll in a program where an accredited school is overseeing your child’s progress.  This is especially helpful for high school students because it gives them the transcripts they need for college (Joyce).

Some other options are programs like Hooked on Phonics, which provides parents with a curriculum for elementary school and even middle school.  There are many books that are affordable and can be easily obtained from a local bookstore. Books that contain worksheets and lesson plans.  Also, you can get a lot of information and books from the library that would be helpful to homeschooling. 

As a homeschooler you have the chance to go outside of the home and expose your children to the places in your own city.  We are lucky that Fredericksburg is so rich in history and a lot of the historic places are free or inexpensive to go to.

Even with all the resources available homeschooling is a difficult thing to accomplish.  I have learned that not all children may be suited for homeschooling.  I started off this year with a good attitude and I was motivated to home school my son but I quickly that it was not going to be easy and a few months later we enrolled him in public school. It was a very difficult decision for me but I had to do what was best for him.  He was easily distracted at home and that was frustrating for me and him.  He is doing well in public school and I hope to eventually return to home schooling in the future. 

For anyone who decides to home school they should be aware of the amount of time and patience it takes.  Some children may do better in the school setting and we all have to do what is best for our children.

Gardner, A. (2010).Interview with homeschoolers.

Joyce, M. Some homeschooling options. Retrieved on December 3, 2010 from http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Joyce  .

Picture retrieved from http://www.momepisodes.com/ .

Is Homeschooling on the Rise?



This graph is showing the projected number of homeschooled students to the year 2015.



Homeschooling has always been a popular option.  From the founding of our country to present day families have chosen homeschooling for their children’s education.  Some of our greatest thinkers were homeschooled John Adams, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, The Wright Brothers and the list goes on.  I think that homeschooling lost some popularity when both parents started working outside the home.  When our family dynamic started changing so did our way of thinking.  It has come to the point now that both parents are forced to work in most families just to make ends meet which leaves no time for homeschooling.  Even if you are lucky enough to be able to stay home it may not be right for your child.  It is difficult to transition from parent to teacher.  I wanted to do some research to find out what the trends in homeschooling are.  I wanted to see if homeschooling is on the rise.

An article in USA Today reported that the number of homeschoolers has risen as much as 74% in 2007 from 1999, bringing the number to 1.5 million homeschoolers in the U.S.  However, home school advocates estimate the number is much higher than that (Lloyd, 2009).  Gail Mulligan, who is a statistician, said “[t]here’s no reason to believe it would not keep going up.” (Lloyd, 2009).  The article also reported that the reasons parents gave for homeschooling their children is also changing.  Religious and moral reasons were still number one but the number of “other reasons” rose to 32% in 2007 from 20% in 2003 (Lloyd, 2009).

In a study done by the National Center for Education Statistics, it was reported that 36% of the persons asked cited religious and moral instruction as the reason for homeschooling.  While 21% said the most important reason was concern about the school environment, 17% said is was dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools (1.5 Million, 2008).

It seems that there are an increasing number of families who are dissatisfied with the education in this country and they are choosing a different option.  Gone are the days when you could group all homeschoolers together as Christian fundamentalists who wanted to shelter their children at home.  I believe that more people are recognizing that homeschooling is the right option if it fits with your family.  I believe that there is no one better to teach your child than you.  If the numbers keep rising as much as they have been soon public education will have to change.  They will be forced to hear the millions of people asking for a change.  I personally hope that more people will stand up and fight for our children’s education so that it will be the best that it can be.

1.5 Million Homeschooled Students in the United States in 2007. (2008). Retrieved on November 27, 2010 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009030.pdf .

Lloyd J. (2009, January 5). Homeschooling Grows. USA Today. Retrieved on November 27, 2010 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-04-homeschooling_N.htm .


Picture taken from http://www.classicalhomeschooling.com/ .

Legal Issues for Homeschoolers

Homeschooling is difficult especially when dealing with young children.  I have talked about a few issues that homeschoolers face and now I would like to talk about some of the legal issues that we face. 

We are lucky in Virginia there aren’t many legal ramifications for homeschooling in our state.  In Virginia there are four options in which to homeschool legally. Option 1 is referred to as “Home instruction”.  Under this option parents must annually notify their local superintendent of their intention to homeschool.  However, approval is not required.  The parents must satisfy one of four options: Have a high school diploma, be a “teacher of qualifications prescribed by the Board of Education”, provide a curriculum or program of study, or provide evidence that the “parent is able to provide an adequate education”.  In addition to this parents must submit a “description of curriculum” Which is a list of subjects they intend to teach.  They do not have to describe the content of the individual courses (Homeschooling, 2010-2011)

Option 2 is Religious exemption.  The law states “A school board shall excuse from attendance at school any pupil who, together with his parents, by reason of a bona fide religious training or belief is conscientiously opposed to attendance at school.”  Homeschoolers may receive exemption under this statute and will be exempt from all other requirements.  Homeschoolers choosing this option need to prove they have sincere beliefs that are religious, not merely philosophical, which demonstrate their objection to attendance in the public schools.  One should prepare a letter describing their religious beliefs opposing public school attendance and submit it to the school board. Also, one should include a letter from their pastor or religious leader along with personal references that can vouch for their sincerity (Homeschooling, 2010-2011).

Option 3 is Certified tutor statute.  If a parent is certified in Virginia, he need only provide a one-time notice to the local superintendent that he will be tutoring children and verify that he is certified (Homeschooling, 2010-2011).

Option 4 is Private or denominational school.  Groups of homeschoolers can create private schools with each home a part of the campus and each parent a teacher.  Private schools are not regulated.  An individual homeschool cannot be a private school.  A private school can establish a distance program, where a child is enrolled in and under the authority of the private school, but the student is primarily taught by his parents.

Parents who choose option one must show their child is progressing academically by showing the result of any standardized test, an evaluation letter from a person licensed to teach, or a person with a master’s degree or higher in an academic discipline, having knowledge of the child’s academic progress, or a report card or transcript from a community college or college, college distance learning program, or home-education correspondence school (Homeschooling, 2010-2011).

As you can see it is very easy to homeschool here in Virginia but there are other states that aren’t so easy going about homeschooling.  The state of California doesn’t have a homeschool statute.  Instead they allow for the individual homeschool to qualify as a private school by filing an annual private school affidavit (Homeschooling, 2010-2011).  New York is one of the hardest states for homeschoolers.  They require that you submit a notice of intent followed by an Individualized Home Instruction Plan form listing list of the syllabi, curriculum, materials, textbooks, or a plan of instruction, dates for submission of quarterly reports, and names of the person/persons giving instruction.  The quarterly must provide the number of hours of instruction during the quarter, a description of the materials covered in each subject, and a grade or narrative evaluation in each subject and file an annual assessment with the last quarterly report.  The assessment can either be a norm-referenced achievement test, or a written narrative evaluation (Homeschooling, 2010-2011). 

For most homeschoolers out there our current President is a threat to homeschooling.  He hasn’t really said much about it but his actions have made people question where he stands.  He agrees with the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of a Child, which was drafted by the United Nations and in my opinion gives the government too much power over family life in any country.  In Articles 28 and 29 the child’s right to education is written out, here are a few of the points (Convention, n.d.):

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:

Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;

 Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need;

 Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child's human dignity and in conformity with the present Convention.

Article 29

1.     States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:

 The development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential;

 The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;

  The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin;

 The development of respect for the natural environment.

While these two articles don’t mention homeschooling specifically it does say “No part of the present article or article 28 shall be construed so as to interfere with the liberty of individuals and bodies to establish and direct educational institutions, subject always to the observance of the principle set forth in paragraph 1 of the present article and to the requirements that the education given in such institutions shall conform to such minimum standards as may be laid down by the State.”(Convention, n.d.)

The government wants all children to be in public school where they can teach them what they feel is important.  I think that parents should be able to decide what their children are learning and if they choose to homeschool the government should stay out of it.  I think that the government has gotten too big and has too much power over our everyday lives.  They couldn’t possible know what is good for my child.  I agree that there should be standards on some things like math and science.  Beyond that, if a family chooses, it should be up to them what their children are taught.

I obviously have strong feelings about this and it comes from my upbringing.  My father always told us that we have to stand up for what we believe in and he was very vocal on his opinion of the federal government.  It scares me to think that sometime in the future the government may decide to make homeschooling illegal “for the good of the children” and then we, as parents, have no control of our children.  I hope that people will stand with the homeschoolers to keep their freedom of choice in this matter because it has the potential to affect more than just homeschooling families.

Convention on the rights of a child. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm

Homeschooling in the United States: A legal analysis. 2010-2011. Retrieved from http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/New_York.pdf.

Picture retrieved from http://www.squidoo.com/Home-School-1 .

Are homeschooled students being held back?

For some people homeschooling holds a negative connotation.  A lot of times I have heard people say that homeschooled kids are stupid or they are sheltered and have no friends.  It used to bother me because I was homeschooled and I would wonder if these people really believed that I was stupid just because I learned at home. 

I remember talking to a woman on a discussion board who told me that I was going to make my children just as ignorant as me if I homeschooled them.  What could be more of an insult than to tell someone they are ignorant, I was shocked that someone would say that.  Now that I am in the process of homeschooling my children I am sure that I will hear more of that sort of thing.  I would like to think that in this time people would be more open minded to the idea of homeschooling and not look down on families who choose it. 

The opponents of homeschooling would say that homeschooled children aren’t as smart as other children.  They want more laws put on homeschooling or outlaw it all together.  They don’t think that parents should be trusted to teach their own children.  I think that is ridiculous.  Who is better able to teach children then their own parents?  A parent knows exactly what their child needs.  A parent knows the best way to get their children to learn.  Opponents will use the argument that if parents aren’t certified teachers and there is not control on what the children are learning then those children are at a disadvantage and may not be learning on the same level as children at public school.

Research shows that homeschooled children perform as well or better on standardized tests.  A study was done in 1999 involving 20,000 homeschooled students.  It showed that those students scored in the 70^th or 80^th percentile, depending on their grade, on standardized tests (Homeschooling, 2000) (See graph).  The study also showed that the median income among homeschooled families was $52,000.  Lawrence Rudner, who authored the study, said that the income level and the level of education of the parents may be the reason for the high test scores (Homeschooling, 2000).  This may be the case, but it could also be that a family whose income is higher has a better opportunity for one parent to stay at home and teach their children.

Another study done by Paul Jones and Gene Gloeckner evaluated first year college performance of homeschoolers and traditional public school students.  They found that there was no real difference in the performance of the two groups.  It led to the conclusion that homeschooled students are just as prepared for college as traditional high school graduates (Lips, 2009) (See graph).

I am lucky, I have the ability to stay at home and teach my children.  I understand that there are families that don’t have that option or just don’t want to do it.  Homeschooling isn’t for everyone.  I believe that it is necessary to have public school in a free country.  We need to educate our children because without that we won’t truly be free.  I would like to see the same respect for families who choose to homeschool.  I understand both sides of the argument but the research shows that homeschooling is just as good, if not better, than public school if done in the right way.

The first article I used “Homeschooling” talks about homeschooling in general.  It gives some good information on the statistics of homeschooled students and that is why I chose to use it. It does give some viewpoints from both sides but ultimately doesn’t choose a side. 

Homeschooling. (2000, September 1).  Issues and Controversies on File. Retrieved October 3, 2010 from the  Issues and Controversies Database.

Lips, D & Feinberg, E. (2009). Homeschooling: The sleeping giant of American education. USA Today Magazine, 138(2772), 22-24. Retrieved October 3, 2010 from Academic Search Complete Database.

Homeschooling : A Viable Option

This cartoon is showing that there is more

good than bad about homeschooling.

  However, there will still be people who will fight against it.

Is Homeschooling a Viable Option?

My homeschooling experience as a teenager was good.  It was the best option for me as I was miserable in public high school.  I was in charge of my own work for the most part but my mother made sure I did it.  When I was sixteen I got my G.E.D.  I didn’t go to college right after that, instead I got a job.  I think my experience in public school and my experience with homeschooling shaped my opinion on it. 

Now I am homeschooling my children.  At first it was for religious reason but now it is more for their good.  My father-in-law is a public school teacher and I hear about how bad it is from him.  He has to teach a test and that’s it.  Schools are overcrowded and there aren’t enough supplies for everyone. 

In 1998 there was approximately 850,000 homeschooled students, today that number has reached 3,000,000 (Lips, 2009).  I think that it is interesting that so many families are choosing to homeschool.  Several years ago there weren’t many resources for families wanting to homeschool.  Now there is an abundance of resources out there.  There are many things you can find for free or at a low cost.  You can buy whole curriculums at a lower price than private school and there is also the option of private tutoring for families who can afford it. 

It is a fact that schools cannot accommodate the amount of students they have.  Imagine if all those homeschooled students were to enroll.   Would the public school be able to handle it?  The number of homeschooling students is saving the taxpayers 9,900,000,000 each year (Lips, 2009).  The percentage of homeschooled students will likely grow increasing that number.  Technological and societal trends may make homeschooling a viable option worth pursuing (Lips, 2009). 

Homeschooling has always been an option but it used to be the main education in America.  George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were both homeschooled.  Over time it became less popular, but since the 70’s and 80’s homeschooling has gradually gained popularity again (Lips, 2009).  With the resources that are available now homeschooling is definitely a good option for families that can do it.  It has a positive impact on the family as well as the community.  I believe that homeschooling is better for children because it gives them the attention that they need.  It gives them one on one instruction and they are not held back by other students. 

Obviously it is my opinion that homeschooling is a good option.  I was homeschooled and my children will be homeschooled.  I believe that homeschooling gives children more opportunities to pursue things that interest them.  It gives them the freedom to further explore ideas and theories because they aren’t held back by time constraints.  They also have the freedom to advance as quickly as they can so that they are never bored. 

I gave a few of the reasons I chose to homeschool.  After I researched homeschooling I found an article that gave some basic information on homeschoolers.  The article “Homeschooling: The Sleeping Giant of American Education”, Showed that homeschooling is on the rise and tells why this is good for tax payers and schools.  It is a very informative article.

Lips, D., & Feinberg, E. (2009). HOMESCHOOLING: The Sleeping Giant of American Education. USA Today Magazine, 138(2772), 22-24. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Is homeschooling better for children than going to public school?

My research topic is homeschooling, more specifically, the issues surrounding homeschooling. I was homeschooled for most of my school age years and I am now homeschooling my children. As a child, I enjoyed being homeschooled. I decided my freshman year that I wanted to try public school and it didn’t work out for me, I didn’t go back the next year. Homeschooling was the best decision for me so naturally when I had my own children I had to make the decision whether to send them to school or not. Based on my son’s personality and his needs we decided to home school him. As you can see I am very attached to this topic and I have already done a lot of research about it and would like to do more.




I have received different reactions to my homeschooling my son. Some people think that it is great and some think that he will end up being uneducated and sheltered. This is a common misconception about homeschooled children and I would like to show that homeschooled children have the potential to be as “normal” as other children. I would also like to research the legal issues with homeschooling and would like to show the reasons why there are legal battles going on all the time in different states on whether to keep homeschooling legal or not.


Education is a current issue in the United States whether public or not. It is an important issue in my life as you can see and I would like to be able to share with you some of these things so you may better understand the reason for homeschooling.