Posted on 10/15/2001 6:14:36 PM PDT by Clive
Children who are educated at home have better social skills and achieve higher grades on standardized tests than students in private or public schools, according to a new report.
Contrary to the popular belief that children educated at home are disadvantaged because of a lack of peers, the study by the Fraser Institute shows they are happier, better adjusted and more sociable that those at institutional schools. The average child educated at home participates in a range of activities with other children outside the family and 98% are involved in two or more extracurricular activities such as field trips and music lessons per week, the report says.
Home-schooled children also regularly outperform other students on standardized tests.
Children taught at home in Canada score, on average, at the 80th percentile in reading, at the 76th percentile in languages and at the 79th percentile in mathematics, the report shows. Private and public students perform, on average, in the 50th percentile on mandatory tests in the same subjects.
In the United States, students educated at home also achieve the highest grades on standardized tests and outperform other students on college entrance exams, including the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), according to the study.
Parents of home-schooled children in both countries are generally higher educated when compared to the national average.
They tend to be in two-parent families and have a higher-than-average number of children than the overall population.
Patrick Basham, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a conservative public policy group in Washington, and author of the report, said he was surprised to see such positive results linked to home schooling.
"People think these children are neurotic, unsocialized and can't function in normal society. But the opposite is true. I think the fact children educated at home do better than private school students would also surprise people. It is not something that is widely debated or studied," he said.
Home-schooled children are still a tiny minority in Canada, although an increasing number of parents are opting for this style of education. In 1979, 2,000 children were educated at home. By 1996, 17,500 students -- 0.4% of total enrollment -- were home schooled. The most recent figures show the number has risen to 80,000 children.
Parents educate their children at home for a variety of reasons, including the desire to impart a particular set of beliefs and values, an interest in higher academic performance and a lack of discipline in public schools, says the report.
"Although parents home school their children for myriad reasons, the principal stimulus is dissatisfaction with public education," said Claudia Hepburn, director of education policy at the Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based conservative think-tank.
Home schooling is legal throughout Canada, but most provinces require parents comply with provincial education legislation, which means they must provide satisfactory instruction. Alberta is the only province that funds home-based education.
None of the provinces requires that parents have teaching qualifications. However, having one parent who is a certified teacher has no significant effect on the achievement of students educated at home, the research shows.
Gary Duthler, executive director of the Federation of Independent Schools in Canada, the association for non-public schools, said children educated at home likely do better and are more sociable because of the smaller student-teacher ratio and the fact students of all ages learn together.
"In institutional schools, there is social pressure for 10-year-old children to behave like other 10-year-olds and they tend to not play with any older children at school.
"In a home setting, that same pressure is not there, so it helps the children mature."
He said they probably also do well because they have access to education resources and teaching expertise over the Internet but their parents are controlling their education.
As in 2 "gazinta" 4 two times!
Of course we do. Big bump to the top.
It has been such a privilege to be able to homeschool. They (my youngest 2 sons) do take some classes outside of the home, such as Latin, Classical Studies, Logic, etc.
They keep me hopping with outside activities - orchestra, scouts, tennis, YOuth Group, on and on...
Again - I am so thrilled to have been able to homeschool all these years.
Mainly, Sir SuziQ just wanted to be able to spend more time with them. After the two older boys had gone off to college last year, he realized just how little real time he'd spent with them because they were in school and doing school activities. Now he's the Math and Science teacher, and spends a couple of hours a day just with the younger two. Both he and they love it!
One of the greatest advantages of homeschooling is how little our children are affected by peer dependence. No, they're not immune. One of mine is less immune than some others.
There's nothing "real life" about being surrounded by 25 other ten year olds who are no more mature than you. It's truly a situation where the common group tends to sink to the lowest common denominator. Very, very few ten year olds have the ability to bring out the best in other ten year olds ON A CONSISTENT BASIS. Of course, I know countless parents who think their kids do. :)
Two of my grandchildren, ages 9 and 6, are being homeschooled and can hold their own in social situations with any age group--from their own peers, to teenagers, to adults of all ages. Not only that, but their 3 year-old-brother can do the same! Though the little one is not being "formally" homeschooled, he is reaping the benefits of being with his siblings while they are learning.
I received my education at public schools as did most of my peers. While most of my friends educated their children in public schools, I chose to send my own four children to private schools. Additionally, I became a school teacher myself and taught in private schools for about fifteen years. My children are all grown and are successful, productive adults.
However, after observing the homeschooled education of my grandchildren, I have come to the conclusion that, if I could do it again, I would definitely, positively homeschool my own children.
My grandchildren are happy, out-going, and comfortable in almost all social situations. They are eager students of many subjects--from the "three R's" to history, science, music, and art. They are compassionate and caring individuals who love their family and their country.
The episode we are currently putting together is on homeschooling, and, in the intrest of the aforementioned "balance" I have sought in my reserch to find information on "both sides".
I have been shocked to find that it is almost impossible to find credible anti-homeschooling information on the web, or in libraries.
Now, mind you, I am not shocked that there is no credible evidence against homeschooling, I already knew that, but I was suprised that there weren't more ATTEMPTS to pass of psudo-scientific "reserch" in order to discredit homeschooling.
If anyone can point me to a site with something other than pure opinion speaking in the negative about homeschooling, please post a link.
Oh, BTW, 3 cheers for homeschooling and a big ol' BUMP!
Today I was in the Post Office with my two girls, the seven-year-old dividing numbers using the distributive property and reciprocal multiplication like it was cake and the nine-year-old factoring quadratics in her head to entertain the people in line. Then when they asked about literature...
LOL! I had to explain that math was their weakest subject!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.