Home Education Essay -- essays research papers fc

Education is a major concern in our society, and there is good reason for this concern. Many of these problems revolve directly around the public education system and include problems with peer pressure, lack of individual attention from the teachers, problems socializing or â€Å"fitting in† with other students, and various others. Although there is no real solution to all of these problems, there are many different ways of solving them. Private schools as well as tutors are a great way to give kids the individual attention that they need, however these methods can be very costly. Something that has grown in popularity over the last decade is home schooling. This system has been around for generations; children learn at home while helping their parents out around the house. Many great men including Patrick Henry, John Quincy Adams, and Thomas Edison were schooled at home (Talbot, 2). Home schooling definitely does not solve all the problems that are brought about by educatio n, in fact it brings about its own chain of problems, but it does have a great deal of advantages. Parents are the most important influences in their child’s education next to their teacher. â€Å"†¦research shows conclusively that parents’ involvement in their children’s education confers great benefits, both intellectual and emotional, on their children† (Coleman, 1). This is why it is so important for parents to get involved in their children’s lives at an early age. Home schooling is a wonderful way to be involved. One of the main reasons that so many people are attempting to home school their children is because of the freedoms offered by it. These freedoms include religious freedom and the freedom to choose the curriculum for starters. Compared to 1985 in which there were only about 50,000 children home schooling nationwide, there are now anywhere from 1.5 to 1.9 million. Their population is growing by as much as 15-20 percent a year according to Florida’s annual survey of home schoolers (Talbot, 1). This poses an interesting qu estion. Why is home schooling so much better? It can not be just because of the religious freedoms that the students are allowed. The students are also allowed many more freedoms than regular children are. Home schoolers can choose when they want to do their studies, take a few days off when they want to, go on a field trip, etc. This makes it much more appealing for... ...ood. Home schooling opens many doors for both the parent and the student and will be a great experience if they are willing to put their time and effort into it. Works Cited Eco, Umberto. â€Å"The Future of Literacy.† Literacies and Technologies. Ed. Robert Yagelski. Addison Wesley Longman: New York, 2001. Talbot, Margaret. â€Å"The New Counterculture.† The Atlantic Monthly. Nov. 2001: 136- 143. United States. Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Home Schooling Information. 5 Nov. 2001. http://www.dese.state.mo.us/schoollaw/HomeSch/homeschool.htm Coleman, James. Parental Involvement in Education. Washington, D.C.: June 1991. Hancock, Roger. â€Å"Building Home-School Liaison Into Classroom Practice: A Need To Understand the Nature of a Teacher’s Working Day.† British Educational Research Journal. Sep. 1998: 399-415. Beresford, Emma; Botcherby, Sue; Hustler, David; McNamara, Olwen; Rodrigo, Marta; Stronach, Ian. â€Å"Room to Manoeuvre: Movilising the ‘Active Partner’ in Home- School Relations.† British Educational Research Journal. Sep. 2000: 473-500. Maiers, Angela; Nistler, Robert. â€Å"Exploring Home-School Connections.† Education & Urban Society. Nov. 1999: 3-18.