Homeschooling - Research Paper Example

Outline Thesis ment: Homeschooling should be banned because it affects the children’s’ personality, education and their parents. Introduction l. Home schooling changes a. children’s personality a. their communication II. Effects to child development a. Less understanding due lack of expertise b. educational neglect due to lack of time. III. Parents chose home schooling for variety of reasons and advantages a Fear of school environment b. Home study program is less stressful to children V. Conclusion VI. Works cited Homeschooling should be banned because it affects the children’s’ personality, education, and their parents. Home schooling program has been legal in the United States. Its rapid growth comes as a big surprise to educators both in public and private schools. An estimate from The National Center for Education Statistics of the US Dept. of Education sets it at 1.1 million in 2003 an increase from 850,000 in 1999 and 1.1 million in 2003. Parents cited many reasons favoring this system. But there are evidences that lead me to an argument that this program needs tighter regulation, either banned or to conclude that it is an educational neglect. If you are a parent, and convinced that home study program is right for your child, see the disadvantages first and weigh its consequences after. Disadvantages Personality change. Home schooling deprives the child of the opportunity of gaining social skills that could only be gained or developed when the child is with his/her peers. A child learns to interact with other students from all walks of life in a school environment, thus leading to growth and development. Studies of Scott, White et.al. supports my argument such that their Examination of Previously Homeschooled College Students with the Big Five Model of Personality showed that the unique socialization practices of homeschooled families may impact their children’s personality development. Communication. A regular school gives children a chance to work with other people, hear different opinions, values, and beliefs. In school they learn how to exchange ideas with others, understand others’ ideas, to solve problems, and an option to effectively communicate with others. Children simply could not get this at home because communication is different between child and parents. Effects to child development. The non-traditional school program affects child development due to lack of expertise and lack of parent’s time. Parents who chose to provide home schooling for their children should be ready to accept duties and responsibilities of educating their children in a home environment. Parents should also be able to comply with the rules set by the Department of Education which is quite numerous and time consuming, They should be able to teach their children the prescribed curriculum in English. These subjects are under the Illinois Schooling program are language arts, mathematics, biological and physical sciences, social sciences, fine arts, physical development and health. This could be the same for all other states. Under the set-up, the burden of proof of the child’s learning ability lies with the parents because they should establish themselves as competent along this line. Lack of Expertise. Not all are qualified to teach. It takes a special kind of education or mastery to be able to teach above subjects to children. Not all parents have undergone this kind of special training, so how do we expect them to teach these subjects to their own children.? Teachers need to have licenses which parents do not have. Another thing is that no matter how parents have organized their curriculum, it will not match an accredited school that has examinations and evaluations. Even if parents feel qualified, I think nothing matches expertise of a professional trained teachers to give children possible start in life. As to its effects to grades, NCES detected private schooled students were more likely than homeschooled students and public schooled students to be in kindergarten through grade 5 Lack of Time. Home schooling, when done by parents entails another workload. Parents have to devote a lot of time in educating their children. Working mothers is not a faint idea today. So what will be her priority, will it be her work, or her child’s education? It is not a far-fetched idea that the mother delegates the education to a nanny or a caregiver who are not more than qualified, isn’t , or better yet get tutors to do the job, so why not do it in a proper school. Advantages of home school Parents cited many reasons favoring this system. Among them are their desire to have moral and religious instructions, concerns on school environment, dissatisfaction with academic instructions, and personal family concerns such as travel, time, and finances, or special needs of the child. These maybe valid reasons but what I consider defensible is school environment and stress. . School environment. A child normally spends his waking hours in school thus spending more hours with peers than parents. As a child moves to from being a child to adulthood, they spend it without their parents. It could not be helped that in growing they give more attachments to their peers, and from them learns moral values, ethics, and problem solving. Here, the fear of parents that bad school environment affects the child’s behavior may hold. Parents’ fear on environment is benched on drugs, safety and negative peer pressure. So the advantage here is clear. . Stress. The home-schooling differs from traditional because of its custom-designed curriculum. It is less stressful as children are allowed the mastery at his own pace and the curriculum is designed according to its academic level. This means the child can move on to the next level once he he/has finished and do not have to wait on others. The program allows them flexibility. Conclusion The education of the child is the responsibility of the parents. Although we see the trend of homeschooling is going strong, I believe nothing compares with traditional ones. The child will miss many opportunities like proms, school programs and events done in a big school that is a big part of development. A child takes pride in joining competition and events, and normal experiences of exams jittery. One can argue that these events are also covered by community events, and books and materials are available at libraries. But why spend additional resources when it is all provided in school? Parents although eager to personally teach their own children are not fully equipped to handle it. They either lack the mastery or time to fully attend to the curriculum requirements. Their time is to be allotted to work, household, children and family. Although home school program is an accepted program in the US, there are lots of other considerations that should be met here. One thing that leads me to conclude banning of home school programs is the educational neglect that can lead to a child’s inability to acquire basic skills that becomes a threat to physical growth and development especially when educational needs are not satisfied. Works cited Illinois Home Schooling. Illinois State Board of Education. 29 November 2012. web. National Center for Education Statistics. Estimated number of Homeschooled Students in the United States. Homeschooling in the United States. 29 November 2012. web -----Parents’ Reasons for Homeschooling. Homeschooling in the United States: 2003. 29 November 2012. web. -------- Students’ grade or grade equivalent. Homeschooling in the United States. 29 November 2012. Web Scott White, Megan Moore, and Josh Squires, Examination of Previously Homeschooled College Students with the Big Five Model of Personality . Home School Researcher Volume 25, Number 1, 2009, p. 1-7. web. Read More