I note a report claiming that ‘Homeschooling [is] growing seven times faster than public school enrollment‘. Here’s an excerpt.
A recent report in Education News states that, since 1999, the number of children who are homeschooled has increased by 75%. Though homeschooled children represent only 4% of all school-age children nationwide, the number of children whose parents choose to educate them at home rather than a traditional academic setting is growing seven times faster than the number of children enrolling in grades K-12 every year.
As homeschooling has become increasingly popular, common myths that have long been associated with the practice of homeschooling have been debunked.
Any concerns about the quality of education children receive by their parents can be put to rest by the consistently high placement of homeschooled students on standardized assessment exams. Data demonstrates that those who are independently educated generally score between the 65th and 89th percentile on these measures, while those in traditional academic settings average at around the 50th percentile. In addition, achievement gaps between sexes, income levels, or ethnicity—all of which have plagued public schools around the country—do not exist in homeschooling environments.
There’s more at the link.
I can only say that if I had children, rather than entrust them to the untender mercies of the public school system in the USA, I’d willingly pay through the nose to send them to a quality private school, or homeschool them if there was no private school available. Our public school system has become a nightmare of bureaucratic inertia, political correctness and overbearing authoritarianism. Consider these headlines:
- Outrage: Fla. Schools Conduct Iris Scans on Children Without Parental Consent
- Cops Take School Kids’ DNA in Murder Case (without parental consent)
- Police interview of student upsets parents (because they weren’t notified)
- Nurse refuses student inhaler during asthma attack
- 7-Year-Old Boy Reportedly Suspended for Making ‘Gun’ Out of School Pastry
With stupidity like that rampant almost throughout the education system, why would any parent who loves his or her child(ren) trust it to look after them?
Peter
–I'd willingly pay through the nose to send them to a quality private school —
However, one of the intended consequences of the huge run-up in school taxes is that private schools of all sorts are being forced out of business. Those that remain aren't much better than the government-run schools. Finally, the assault on homeschooling has been accelerating for some time and might yet succeed at making that alternative practically unaffordable, as well.
We're near to the point where the only way to raise free children is to conceal the fact of their birth and see to their entire upbringing, education included, in total secrecy: no easy task.
Homeschooling works… Neighbors did that with both their kids, and one is now a Summa cum laude graduate of USC and another is in Honors College there.
Given the plummeting academic requirements that have been stuffed into public schools, a lot of people are homeschooling so their kids will be able to read, write and cipher. That's something the "it's all religion" critics seem to be missing. Or rather, are willfully ignoring.
LittleRed1