An article in the Washington Post entitled “Outlook: A Home-Grown Solution to Bad Schools” refutes the stereotype that homeschoolers are “all religious or socially maladjusted.”
With the American homeschooled population now topping one million, studies are still showing that homeschoolers are poised to change education as we see it and even the world. Studies also show that in states with poor education choices, homeschooling seems to be growing that the fastest rates.
My state of Georgia for example, has a large booming homeschool community with numerous options for educating homeschoolers solo or in groups. While I finally began homeschooling after a particularly tough year in public schools, I feel blessed to be in a state where it is not difficult to find other homeschoolers and resources for my kids. In addition, there have been increased inquiries about homeschooling in Georgia in this past month since an entire county is threatened with loss of accreditation for its public schools. Homeschooling may turn out to be the best solution for education for children in Clayton County Georgia.
Sadly, studies, trends, and proof on paper and in real life does little to stop the nay-sayers from seeing homeschooling as problematic. Even in the Washington post article, a commenter suggested that instead of selfishly homeschooling their own children, homeschooling parents should be working to teach in the schools to help improve public education. If it were only that simple!
In most cases the problems with public schools does not originate in the school, the classroom, or even with the qualifications of the teachers. The problems with education today are state wide and largely standards based. This means that if every homeschooling parent were to enroll their kids in public schools and then volunteer full time at the school, the only improvement would be more bodies to police children. I strongly doubt that the quality of education would improve at all.
*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.
* Have you seen the homeschooling curriculum glossary?