Virginia Capitol Connections Winter 2019

The Case for Homeschooling By Patricia Marie

Homeschooling was the principal model used to train and educate children for most of recorded human history. Although this heritage has gradually drifted from the greater U.S. consciousness since the 1800s, it has seen a resurgence in recent decades. Naturally, as homeschooling becomes a familiar educational option, homeschoolers are more often asked why they have returned to this bedrock of pedagogy. “I wanted to instill a love of learning and exploring,” said homeschooler Amanda Matthews, “so my children can learn for learning’s sake.” Added Amanda Hoyle, “We keep doing it to accommodate an out-of-the-box learning style, to personalize our children’s education to their needs and interests, and to build a family culture centered on a love of learning.” Studies reflect these sentiments—and more—and confirm that the reasons families decide to homeschool are as varied as their demographics. Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., an internationally recognized scholar and president of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), groups the most common reasons for homeschooling into six categories 1 . 1. To customize the child’s education (curriculum, environment, instructional approaches) 2. To accomplish more academically 3. To provide a safe learning environment 4. To offer healthy and guided social interaction 5. To enhance family relationships 6. To teach a particular set of values, beliefs, and worldview to their children Homeschooling’s expanse, opportunity, adaptability, and family- friendly qualities are not the only factors wooing parents to this option; it is also the results. Studies continue to prove that, whether it be standardized achievement test scores, SAT scores, ACT scores, or dual-enrollment rates, homeschoolers reliably outperform the national norm—and often by a great margin. Additionally, as they function

above average on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development, homeschoolers grow up to make for a solid citizenry. Not only are they more engaged in civic life than the general population, but they also report higher levels of overall life satisfaction. In addition to current assessments, history presents the lives of homeschoolers from the past as evidence of its success.

Parents do well in recognizing that it is this model that has contributed to the development of individuals the likes of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, MacArthur, Patton, Einstein, Pascal, Edison, Franklin, Wright, Monet, da Vinci, Berlin, Mozart, Dickens, Anderson, Frost and thousands of other brilliant and well-known “movers and shakers” whose undeniable impact remains alive and active to this day. One must consider the lives of these extraordinary human beings and wonder how they may have fared had they attempted to develop their unique gifts within our present industrial model. We may look to these as examples of the individual potential available to all when the soul is left to grow freely beyond grade levels, beyond textbooks, and beyond the four walls of the classroom. To say it differently, one size should not—and does not—fit all; humans, by nature, are not standardized creatures. It is in this fact where homeschooling serves the reality that industrial models cannot. The renewal, reinvention, continued success, and history of homeschooling stand on its own value, for at the root of this method we find the family. It is, and has always been, the family that possesses the greatest potential in setting a child’s course on a sustainable and boundless journey toward the exceptional. Patricia Marie lives with her husband and two children, whom she homeschools. She is the Facebook administrator for the Home Educator’s Association of Virginia, and she blogs at www.mamashomeed.com, a resource for homeschooling mothers.

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1 Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., Home Education Reason and Research, 2009

V irginia C apitol C onnections , W inter 2019

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