The following is excerpted from
"Homeschooling is the smartest way to teach kids in the 21st century," Business Insider, Aug. 20, 2016: "
Alison Davis doesn't see homeschooling as some strange
alternative to traditional school. If anything, says the mom
from Williamstown, New Jersey, when it comes to raising her two
children, she's doing the sensible thing. 'You're not going to be put in
a work environment where everybody came from the same school and
everybody is the same age,' she tells Business Insider. 'In my
opinion, the traditional school atmosphere is not the real world at
all.' 'Homeschooling,' she says, 'that's the real world.'
Davis'
satisfaction with keeping her kids out of local public and private
schools is one shared by a
growing pool of parents around the US. Recent data collected by the
Department of Education reveals homeschooling has grown by 61.8% over
the last 10 years to the point where two million kids--4% of the total
youth population--now learn from the comfort of their own home.
Contrary
to the belief that homeschooling produces anti-social outcasts, the
truth is that some of the most high-achieving, well-adjusted students
are poring over math problems at their kitchen table, not a desk in a
classroom.
According to leading
pedagogical research, at-home instruction may just be the most relevant,
responsible, and effective way to educate children in the 21st century.
Davis says her son Luke struggled early on with reading. Even into
the second grade, he didn't enjoy it and found it overwhelming. In any
other school, teachers may not have been able to spend the necessary
time helping Luke become a stronger reader because they had 20 other
kids to worry about. That's not the
case in the Davis household. 'I could take that extra time with him,'
Davis says. Plus, reading time became more than just a push toward
literacy; it was Mommy-Luke bonding time--something no school could
compete with. 'Now he devours books in like a week's time or less,' she
says.
The long-term effects of personalization are equally massive.
According to a 2009 study of standardized testing, homeschoolers scored
in the 86th percentile. The results held true even when controlling for
parents'
income level, amount of education, teaching credentials, and level of
state regulation.
Research also suggests that homeschooled kids get into
college more often and do better once they're enrolled.
The biggest
stereotype surrounding homeschooling is that constant one-on-one
teaching deprives kids of the socialization they need to thrive. Not so.
Homeschooled kids are just as likely to play soccer and do group
projects as any other students.
Davis' family is heavily involved in
their local
church, so Luke and his older sister Amanda both have friends in the
choir. They both play an instrument, so they have friends in a
homeschooler orchestra.
It's not just that homeschooled kids enjoy
the upside of normal school, though; they also get to enjoy the absence
of its many drawbacks, namely peer pressure and cliques. On several
occasions, Alison says, other kids have expressed jealousy that Luke and
Amanda get to learn at home, away from the social hierarchies of normal
school."
