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Running Head: IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION? 1A Review of the Literature: Is Homeschooling an Effective Method of Education?Valerie FavelaThe University of Texas at El PasoIS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?2AbstractThere is many controversy over homeschooling, because parents want the best method of education for their children. Therefore, the literature review points out on four major topics: the reasons parents choose homeschooling, the benefits and disadvantages of it, if homeschoolers do better than their public school peers on standardized tests, and does homeschooling prepare students for college. It provides with sufficient sources of information, discussions, and statistics to help the reader gain knowledge and to help make decision of homeschooling.IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION? 3A Review of the Literature: Is Homeschooling an Effective Method of Education?Over the past five years the number of home school kids has more than doubled to about twenty thousand (Chestnut, 2008). Homeschooling has been the topic of both dispute and concern for many years. Before compulsory laws requiring school attendance were introduced in 1852, a child’s education took place at home; the effectiveness of homeschooling was not in question during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Share Faith, 2014). Some of the most famous authors and inventors were homeschooled. Thomas Edison, went only for three months to regular school, and then was home schooled by his mother. Other famous homeschoolers include Benjamin Franklin, Charles Dickson, and Beatrix Potter (Share Faith, 2014). Once it was required attendance the law became effective, America eventually relied on traditional and private schools of a form of children education. In 1976, was the turning point when educational propagandist began to question if home school was beneficial or not according to Share Faith (2014). There is many controversy of homeschooling, because parents want the best method of education for their children, therefore, people point out on these four major topics: advantages, disadvantages, test scores, and reasons why parents choose that method. In order to help people make a decision of homeschooling we will emphasize the literature review on these four questions:What are the reasons parents choose homeschooling? What are the benefits and disadvantages to homeschooling?Do homeschoolers do better than their public school peers on standardized tests?IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?4Does homeschooling prepare students for college?The following review on literature will: discuss the reasons parents choose to go through home school education method, provide information regarding the benefits and disadvantages of homeschooling, analyzing studies and facts about home school and public school students standardized test scores, and information if home schooling prepares students for college.What are the reasons parents choose homeschooling?According to Chris Jeub, of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development from Educational Leadership Journal, stated that there are various reasons why parents choose homeschooling. Social reasons is one of them, he mentions that in school the children gets negative sociability, but as in home the child develops a positive sociability. “ The child who feels needed, wanted, and depended on at home, sharing responsibilities and chores, is much more likely to develop a sense of self worth and a stable value system which is the basic ingredient for a positive sociability” (Jeub, 2009). This is important considering the children is comfortable at home, as a consequence, he or she are themselves and not pretend to talk and be someone else because they want to be like other students to fit in, and eventually develop bad habits. As Jeub goes on he explains the negative part of sociability, “In contrast is the negative sociability that develops when a child surrenders to his peers.” (2009). For this factor, several parents decide to home school their children to be themselves and communicate without being peer pressured to be someone who they are not. According to Utah Home Education Association, people think socialization effects homeschooled children which is not true, the article claims, “Home schooled children are not isolated; they merely have their socializing with the family” IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?5(2013). This factor of socialism is important because the child does have a form of communication, such as their family members.Another important consideration is family and religious reasons, which make parents consider home school the best method for their children. Jeub explains, “When the educational institution threatens the family, these parents tend to choose to educate their children at home” (2009). Parents view the family as the number one importance than any other organization in the community, therefore they chose to home school their children. “Fear of church and state laws keep schools from even mentioning the influence of religion in American life” (Jeub, 2009). Jeub explains the importance of religion in American culture that schools do not take into consideration. Therefore, families that are religious who have a problems with school not taking religion seriously, chose home school to incorporate their believes in the children’s daily lives.Table 1 IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?6Table 1 above is a chart depicting a survey from Valerie Favela (2014), it provides the responses to the question, “What is the main reason parents choose homeschooling?” The majority of the responses chose dissatisfaction with academic instructions at other schools with a percentage of fifty two. This survey demonstrates how parents are not delighted with the academic preparations at schools, and prefer to take a different method of education such as home schooling. This relates to Jeub’s article on “Why parents choose homeschooling”, because he emphasizes a great deal on parents discontent with the school program. What are the benefits and disadvantages to homeschooling?According to KidsHealth website, as part of The Nemours Foundation’s Center for Children’s Health Media, there are various benefits of homeschooling to take into consideration. The website claims that homeschooling is the only method of education that parents have complete control of their child’s education. Since the population is growing there are overcrowded schools in many cities. Including the economic struggles we are suffering today, with various schools firing teachers. KidsHealth mentions as well, teachers are now having about forty students to handle. Therefore, teachers do not provide as much as attention for each child. Individual teaching attention in KidsHealth is a good benefit because of the one and one teaching method. Another important consideration is personalized learning, it is the ability to make your own lesson plans to your child. From the book Homeschooling- Is It Right For You?, by Debi Chestnut, a full time writer who actively goes to communities and performs investigations to educate the public, explains that in traditional schools they make lesson plans for the whole IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?7class, where everyone is learning the material at the same amount of time. “This helps slower learner’s stay on track with the class, but often leaves bright children bored and distracted” (Chestnut, 2008). Therefore as it says, if your child is home school you can make their lesson plans according to their own speed.KidsHealth mentions, perhaps the biggest argument in favor of home school is the guarantee of your child’s safety. “Safety is one of the main reasons of home schooling, because of public schools being full of bad influences such as gangs, bullying, and drugs.” (KidsHealth, 2014). It mentions that in the United States public school systems suppose to be safe, although over the last years, it has not been properly provided. Homeschooling can avoid these problems that can prevent your child to get wrapped upon them. Moreover another factor is religious freedom, according to Chestnut; many families who are religious and have spiritual beliefs are an important part of who they are. “Homeschooling provides the opportunity for parents to incorporate their beliefs into their daily lives” (Chestnut, 2008). Parents cannot teach their home school child values, and can choose academic materials written from the philosophical and religious viewpoints. Therefore as it mentions on the book, their child can live a spiritual life as their parents as it mentions on the journal.On the other hand there are also various disadvantages of homeschooling, according to Debi Chestnut, lack of social development is a tremendous unbeneficial factor of homeschooling. As it mentions, keeping your child out of a regular school environment it inhibits their social access to other students. “Even if your child gets plenty of playtime and other opportunities to meet and interact with people his own ages, this is a bound to add up to far less contact than the IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?830+ hours in a normal school week and can lead to home school socialization issues” (Chestnut, 2008). It also says that the child will not learn how to interact within a group, and can result in social and behavioral issues, this is important because it affects the student throughout their future.Another important consideration is missed experiences, which is a component of the whole adventure of life. Lana Hope, who was homeschooled from first to twelve grade, explains in her blog that the friendships of classmates that the student builds may be limited in a homeschooling environment. “School life is filled with plenty of exciting opportunities for children, from field trips to the prom” (Hope, 2012). This is important because the children will miss those experiences that are valuable on their stage of life. She also mentions, although a home school children can make memories and experiences it is not the same as they would experience within a group of friends. The social interactions that regular schools provide in their environment, the opportunity to participate in special events or organizations can help the children “better adjust” in the community (Hope, 2012).Moreover another factor is reduced competition, according to Chestnut, competition can relate to achievement, and homeschooled children do not face this stage. “Traditional schooling fixtures such as team sports, spelling bees, and school play tryouts all encourage your child to do very best” (Chestnut , 2008 ). This example gives the children something to endeavor for as it mentions on the book, unfortunately home school environment do not provide any of these. “While you and your child can still seek non scholastic teams and other competitive hobbies, this generally requires prior interest in a topic” (Hope, 2012). It depends on your children, if he or IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?9she is attracted or passionate of a certain sport or activity to have that competitive side of the children. Plus, the article says that the school systems have all this various competitive opportunities to try without provocation.Do homeschoolers do better than their counterparts on standardized tests?According to Brian C. Anderson, from City Journal, wrote about the largest study of standardized tests between public and private schools versus home schools. Lawrence M. Rudner a University of Maryland statistician tested about twenty thousand homeschooled students from all the United States (Anderson, 2000). Rudner stated, “These students scored higher on standardized tests than public and private school students in every subject and at every grade level” (Anderson, 20000). It mentions the more time students had been homeschooled the better they did on the tests. Rudner also found that homeschooled kids scored better than 70-80 percent of the entire test takers on City Journal (2000). Something that shocked him was, “By eight grade, the median performance of home school students is almost four grade levels about that of students nationwide” (Anderson, 2000). Ultimately, the largest study of standardized tests results were homeschooled students were better than their counterparts, it is important to take into consideration because it was a study of the entire United States.Moreover, statistics from college entrance exams, SAT and ACT, proved according to Rudner that home schooled students scored above average on both tests. “Sixty nine percent of home schoolers go on to college, compared with 71 percent of grads from public high schools and 90 percent of private school grads” (Dewar, 2014). According to Gwen Dewar, PhD, home IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?10schooled students maintained a 3.3 grade point average out of a four, which is a good college grade percentage. Does home schooling prepare students for college?According to Dr. Arthur Robinson, who works on the development of home schooling techniques, explains how he emphasizes preparation guidelines to prepare students for college. “A homeschooled student should be prepared for high performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and on the College Board Advanced Placement Tests (AP)” (Robinson, 1997). The home school students take several practice SAT exams to familiarize with the style and timing of the test. Dr. Robinson explains how these practice test help improve the performance by making the home school student accustomed with the examination method. He also mentions, if the parents and student follow good study habits at the very start of the program, then the student will be well prepared for college.Kelsey Sheehy, an education reporter from the U.S News & World Report, reported that the community of home school declares parents and students are independent, as a result, they are better prepared for college life. Studies show that home school students who attend college will outperform their counterparts. “ Students coming from a home school graduated college at a higher rate than their peers—66.7 percent compared to 57.5 percent—and earned higher grade point averages along the way, according to a study that compared students at one doctoral university from 2004-2009” (Sheehy, 2012). From this examination it proves that home schooling prepares students for college. As has been mentioned, both of these sources agree on preparing home school students for college.IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?11Conclusion Overall, this research can help parents have a better sense about homeschooling, and if they wish to take this education method into consideration. The literature review pointed out four important topics: reasons parents choose home schooling, the benefits and disadvantages of it, if homeschoolers do better than their public school peers on standardized tests, and if home school prepares students for college. To get a good overlook of this education program it was provided with various sources of information, discussions, and statistics of studies. As a final point, the literature review can help the reader have a better knowledge and help make a decision of homeschooling.IS HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?12ReferencesAnderson,B.C. (2000). An a for home schooling. City Journal .Retrieved from, D. (2008). Homeschooling- is it right for you. Washington, DC: Cato Institute.Dewar, G. Homeschooling outcomes: How do they compare?. Retrieved from , V. (2014, March 3). Homeschooling survey. Retrieved from , L. (2012, December 16). Potential drawbacks to homeschooling [Web log post]. Retrieved from , C. (2009, September). Why parents choose home schooling. Educational Leadership, 52(1), 50-52. Retrieved from . (2014). Homeschooling. Retrieved from HOMESCHOOLING AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF EDUCATION?13Kinmont, J. (2013). Reasons parents choose to home school. Retrieved from, A. (2014). History of homeschooling in America. Retrieved from , A. (1997). College preparation in the homeschool. Retrieved from, K. (2012). Homeschooled students well prepared for college, study finds. Retrieved from ................
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