Report: Homeschooling Growing Seven Times Faster than Public School Enrollment

Report: Homeschooling Growing Seven Times Faster than Public School Enrollment

www.breitbart.com

As dissatisfaction with the U.S. public school system grows, apparently so has the appeal of homeschooling. Educational researchers, in fact, are expecting a surge in the number of students educated at home by their parents over the next ten years, as more parents reject public schools. A recent report in Education News states that, since 1999, the number of children who are homeschooled has increased by 75%.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Recent studies laud homeschoolers’ academic success, noting their significantly higher ACT-Composite scores as high schoolers and higher grade point averages as college students. Yet surprisingly, the average expenditure for the education of a homeschooled child, per year, is $500 to $600, compared to an average expenditure of $10,000 per child, per year, for public school students.

There goes the myth that lack of money is the problem with our education system. The problems have nothing to do with money. They have much more to do with incompetent and uncaring teachers and administrators, federal intrusion into a historically locally controlled institution; the teacher's union making it impossible to get rid of the incompetent or even the malicious forget about the lazy; time/money/effort wasted teaching "non-core" subject material when they should be teaching kids reading, writing, and mathematics(add in extras like phys ed, science, and civics after they can read and write. leave out the "I'm ok, you're ok crap. Let the parents teach that). The quality of education has gone down in inverse correlation to the increase in federal intrusion. As intrusion at the federal level has increased, quality of education has seriously decreased. The "no child left behind act" has gone beyond ensuring mediocrity, how we long for the days of mediocre students, and has resulted in an education system that caters to the lowest common denominator.

The dept of education needs to be completely disbanded. Teachers unions, all public unions for that matter, need to be disbanded. Bad, incompetent, lazy, and malicious teachers and administrators need to be canned and replaced by good teachers like our own SmileyGirl(I hope I remembered her handle correctly. Apologies if I got it wrong). She seems to truly care about the students. The curriculum also needs to be revamped. Let's concentrate on the "3 R's" for the next decade to get our students up to par. Then we can go back to adding sciences, civics, and phys ed. We should never add the other crap. Make art and music "electives" that parents/students who desire to participate in can pay for themselves. Same with organized sports.

Let's get schools back to actually educating our children, or disband them and allow parents to take complete charge of educating their children without governmental interference.

www.breitbart.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by DarthMuerte


Well, good. The government doesn't teach important life values, or morality so we're going back to the old system of things before public schooling became the norm.

I am glad that this is a new trend, parents needs to take care of what their children are learning this days, schools are full of agendas and those agendas are base on each individual counties and states.

Most children that are homeschooling seems to have a better and broader understanding of education.

The do better in test, some complain about social interaction, but is better to know who are the ones around your children influencing them that sending them to a place where you have not control.

Homeschooling might be cheap if you can teach them yourself, but what about people like me?

One of my girls just passed 3rd grade, and got an award for being top of her grade. She's been a strait A student since she started school, and is way better at math than me, and to my frustration constantly correcting my grammar I use to argue that I think I know how to speak (according to google I don't) now I just let her educate me...

How much would someone who could teach your kids cost? I think I'd like that if I can afford it.

Oh yeah, exactly what they want; collect the same amount of taxes while educating less kids in the system. Let the taxpayers pay for schools, let the corporations pay for schools, let the politicians pocket the money, and the kids will learn only from their parents, who are working hard to pay the taxes in the first place. It's ideal...for the politicians.

Most teachers really do care about their students, but they are being bound and gagged by politics and administration.

Having said that, home schooling should not even be separate topic. It should simply be under, the "raising children" umbrella where it has been, up until recent times.

Ideally, you raise your kids, you educate them yourself, and you send them to a proper school. It's never a single, simple solution.

Originally posted by terriblyvexed
Homeschooling might be cheap if you can teach them yourself, but what about people like me?

One of my girls just passed 3rd grade, and got an award for being top of her grade. She's been a strait A student since she started school, and is way better at math than me, and to my frustration constantly correcting my grammar I use to argue that I think I know how to speak (according to google I don't) now I just let her educate me...

How much would someone who could teach your kids cost? I think I'd like that if I can afford it.

I am sure that there is something you are good at? Maybe you and a neighbor or friend could get together and teach your children and theirs?

reply to post by terriblyvexed


It's the beauty of the information age! No longer are we subjected to the miniscule amounts of information that books provide. Math and science are the only true languages in the World that don't indicate an exaggerated form of learning/communication.

With this new found abundance of information available to us and children, it would be a heavy disservice to our children to not allow them to think and analyze things for themselves. We should fully expect our children to outsmart and outpace us adults in all areas of learning.

The best part of it all, is that we don't need to be smarter than our children for them to reach areas of higher intelligence. If our children have our encouragement and support, then answers to things we as adults have no clue of, will be more easily obtained.

Our job as adults is simple! Ask our children questions that may seem years beyond their age of intelligence, allow them to research all the possible answers for themselves, tell them how proud of them we are of them and how smart they are, and question their answers further so they keep searching for more information. Removing the limits of their knowledge is the key to advancing intelligence! It's also important to indicate to our children that we as adult aren't always right, and that our decisions for raising them a certain way stem from our love for them more so than the fact that 'we are right and they are wrong'. It's time to teach our children that the limits to their learning have been removed!

I have many friends who home school their kids, and if I had my own, I would also home school them.

When I think back on my time in school, I hated it because to me it was like a cloning cookie cutter machine spitting out a bunch of clones. Once I got to high school and teachers and others saw that I was questioning the accuracy of the books being used to teach, was when some of the Seniors handed me "Behold The Pale Horse by William Cooper, Socrates, Pythagoras, and other alternatives on what's really going on.

This is the way to go because the system SUCKS. They need to let the kids choose what interests them first and focus on that. I'm glad this is happening because then we won't be manufacturing zombified-IQ_80's.

Originally posted by terriblyvexed
Homeschooling might be cheap if you can teach them yourself, but what about people like me?

One of my girls just passed 3rd grade, and got an award for being top of her grade. She's been a strait A student since she started school, and is way better at math than me, and to my frustration constantly correcting my grammar I use to argue that I think I know how to speak (according to google I don't) now I just let her educate me...

How much would someone who could teach your kids cost? I think I'd like that if I can afford it.

What I would LOVE to do....teach home schooled kids. Say, about five or six. I could do it in my own home, charge $100 a week (less than the cost of daycare)...provide a real education AND make more money.

Dang. I just might look into this.

I see stories like this and I have real mixed feelings. To those parents who have the intelligence, patience and natural God given talent to teach? I applaud them and hope more of them do take their kids out of public school.

It's the other kind who just THINK they have those traits who I think do far more harm to their kids than any positive thing gained. Those parents who think the TV or, these days, internet are perfectly good and wholesome babysitters, They scare me on this.

So Home Schooling is growing at a very high rate? Well, the half which have the good and loving parents make me feel real good about that. The losers who never should have been parents really make me wish there were ways to prevent this. In those latter cases, home schooling is an excuse to perpetuate ignorance and stunt their kid's growth in social skills outside the family itself.

Mixed feelings..indeed.

reply to post by smyleegrl


A teacher who is also awake to government encroachment! I'd pay the hundred a week in a heart beat.

reply to post by ttobban


Couldn't agree more, I make out smarting me a game the kids think it's hilarious to prove me wrong.

We're home schooling our 10 year old.

Best darned thing we've ever done!

reply to post by smyleegrl
More good teachers should do just that. Just imagine, a free-market solution to a real and growing problem. Teachers who really love teaching could teach smaller classes of like 8-10 students out of their own homes and in less time than wasted by traditional schooling.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


I'm a jack of all trades, and a master of none.

I was never a good student, but I was always a quizzical sort of mind, so in my own way I'm an intelligent guy.

I can give information on all kinds of subjects, I just never been real serious about it.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


Okay, I'm seriously looking into this now. NC requires you to open a " non conventional school" if there's going to be more than two families involved. Here's a link to the requirements, in case anyone is interested. Looks like you have to get approved through home inspection, sanitation, etc. that's not a problem.

I need to crunch some numbers and see what's really feasible. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, so if anyone has some suggestions I'd love to hear them.

I am so tired of teaching in the public system. The incompetence, the government red tape, the apathy of some parents...I'm getting to the point that the bad outweighs the good. I've been considering a career change...maybe this would be the way to go.

Imagine....teaching kids in a small group setting. I could cover every subject, including art and music, within five and a half hours easy. This would be a dream come true.

Help me out, ATS...would you pay for a master's degree teacher to homeschool your kids?

reply to post by smyleegrl


I would pay for it in a heartbeat! I would homeschool if I was more confident in my ability. If I had pursued a teaching education, I would definitely homeschool. As it stands, I would worry that I wasn't providing her the best "right" education. It would be great to be involved with a group of other families doing the same things to make sure that the kid's education is well balanced.

reply to post by smyleegrl

I would pay $100 per week for a good teacher if s/he was not too liberal. I am sorry, but liberals just "think wrong" imo. I also would not want a "bible thumping neocon" either though. Know any libertarians who teach and are willing to forgo mention of "social issues" in favor of general education?

reply to post by smyleegrl


I doubt that doing that can provide you with a living, except inside a community that supports you in other ways (non-strictly monetary). I guess that as complement for retirement it could be a good concept (as to keep the mind active) but otherwise you would have a very hard time keeping it providing for your daily life and no way to get any savings...