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Similarities Between Homeschool And Public School

• both can take trips or vacations during the school year
• in public schools, taking time off is more limited for children, but it is still able to be done
• the variety of curriculum choices (home economics, astronomy, and photography just to name a few).

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Positive Development: Home School vs. Public School Essay

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Introduction

Home school versus public school.

For many years, people have argued on the best system of teaching their children. The decision on whether to home school or take a child to a public school is vital to the future of the child. Public schooling is most common in United States, but this does not disregard homeschooling.

Homeschooling is considered best elsewhere hence the need to scrutinize its strengths. In that case, this paper compares homeschooling to public schooling with an emphasis on the positive development of the child.

In as much as the parent is determined to prepare the child for future challenges, home schooling exposes the child to greater social situations, appropriate behavior, positive religious decision, and curriculum flexibility.

Constantly, homeschooling has been differed with public schooling through a number of viewpoints or evidences. Poor social development is a stereotype that the public school system has attached to home schooling (Olsen, 2008).

It suggests that the child under home school system is socially confined, or lacks the amenities that enable his/ her social development. However, the home schooled child is exposed to an assorted array of social circumstances within the learning environment.

People who go for public schooling simply do not understand the home schooling plan hence do not understand that the child is exposed to greater social environment as compared to a student in a classroom.

The home schooled child has greater flexibility when accessing social issues than the public schooled child. These social issues reflect in the sense that the child is as much independent as the parent to choose on the social situations to associate with.

According to my point of view, the most prevalent different between the two systems of learning is that the parent solely manages homeschooling system while the public schooling system has to follow specific management guidelines defined by the government.

Basing our discussion on the fact that the parent is the ultimate decision maker, the child can experience a variety of social situations that the parent prefers. For instance, the child can get an opportunity to socialize with people of different ages and orientations unlike a classroom student who is restricted to follow a prearranged social orientation.

In addition, the homeschooled student can be allowed by the parent to decide on which friends to associate with depending on the marital inclinations.

In short, a student in a public school has to mingle with peers limited to situations accommodated by the laws of the particular state. For a student in a public school, it is unfortunate that he/she has to abide with the rules of standardization.

Maybe what critics of home schooling do not understand is that parents have the capacity to expose their students to the behaviors and situations they feel appropriate. The fact that public schools involve students from different backgrounds has diminished the importance of model behavior.

The norm is that of inappropriate behavior. In essence, every parent who is able to teach at home would like to act as the positive role model, offering the child the best help, instead of sending the child to a learning environment that exposes him to overall misbehavior.

Being able to monitor the child’s development on daily basis, the parent can realize when the child is deviating from the expected social and behavioral tracks.

It will always be true that a child in the public school is likely to behave more unruly than a child in the homeschooling system of learning. The parent who is the closest person to the child is the best file to refine him/her as nature may suggest.

Another issue that strongly differentiates home schooling from public schooling is academic performance. The student in the public school is entitled to the curriculum set by the state (Wagner, 2008). On the other hand, the student under homeschooling is entitled to a curriculum designed by the parent.

Therefore, systematic learning where a student moves to the other level after complete digest is only allowed in homeschooling. The age of the child is not the sole determinant of the grade level as it is in public school system. The child under parent guidance is allowed to work at his or her own pace and move to other levels without interruption.

This designed program of study can also let students to work on a number of different grades simultaneously without necessarily waiting for slow movers to draw level.

Indeed, researches suggest that home schooled students are better prepared for colleges and work than public school students due to their exposure to different grade level challenges (Christensen & Levinson, 2003; Young, 2006). What the research suggests is that the student in home school can face challenges better than the student in a public school.

Religious inclination is also a strong difference that evidence supports between public schools and home schools. Unlike home schools, public schools do not permit religion. The conviction is that religion is as important as socialization or academic performance.

When public schools disallow religion in their system, many people feel that the students are short-charged in this part. Moral positivity that is paramount to the development of a child relates to religion, and it is an obligation to all stakeholders to ensure that the innocent child receives it. How can that be achieved if public schools disallow religion?

The answer is home schools. The parent can offer whichever satisfaction he or she feels best for the child. Indeed, parents with deep religious beliefs are very passionate persons if only given the chance through homeschooling. Through this passion, the child is entirely fed with his or her educational needs.

Since the parent is the final decision maker, home schools can be based entirely on religious circumstances if the father or mother so chooses. At the same time, it is this passion that will permit the guardian to teach their child to be the best. Therefore, home schooling allows the parent who understands the child better to be in charge.

Homeschooling is the best approach to prepare a child for future challenges. The approach offers the best environment to develop the child socially. It also enables the parent to act as the role model for the child, providing the basis for positive behavior.

A system that allows the parent to design the curriculum enables the child to integrate grade levels and learn more in a shorter period as compared to classroom environments.

Being in the stage of rapid development, the young student requires social, moral, behavioral, and academic support especially from the person who has the best capacity and knowledge to nurture that development. That means the parent understands the child better and is the best avenue for success.

Christensen, K. & Levinson, D. (2003). Encyclopedia of community: From the village to the virtual world . Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.

Olsen, N. (2008). Understanding parental motivation to home school: a qualitative case stud y. New York, NY: ProQuest.

Wagner, T. (2008). Parental perspectives of homeschooling: a qualitative analysis of parenting attitudes regarding homeschooling as opposed to public schooling. New York, NY: ProQuest.

Young, T. L. (2006). Prioritized qualities, attributes, and skills of successful home educators: A Delphi study . New York, NY: ProQuest.

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IvyPanda. (2019, April 22). Positive Development: Home School vs. Public School. https://ivypanda.com/essays/home-school-versus-public-school-essay/

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Positive Development: Home School vs. Public School." April 22, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/home-school-versus-public-school-essay/.

Public School vs. Homeschool

Public school has traditionally been the collective option among most United States parents; however, homeschooling is gaining popularity in recent years, resulting in one of the leading debates on whether parents should send their children to public school or adopt homeschooled system learning. Homeschooling refers to the process of educating a child away from the typical school system, usually; it is a parent-directed education established at home. In contrast, public school outlines learning institution that allows all students to attend and acquire an education; these institutions are maintained and funded by the government using public funds collected using government-imposed taxes. Whereas public school and homeschooling have similarities, such as subjects taught to pupils, they are primarily different.  Therefore, this paper will discuss various features that present differences between these school systems, including; cost, socialization skills due to the social aspect of the learning atmosphere, learning and teaching environment, and individualization of instructions.

One of the main differences between sending children to public school and homeschooling them is the cost. Public schools are funded using public funds collected through government-imposed taxes; this guarantees their affordability to all children regardless of their financial status (Musaddiq ET AL., 2022). This provides a chance for all children to acquire an education despite their parents’ difficult financial backgrounds. On the flip side, parents cater for all costs incurred in the homeschooling education system; this reflects why homeschooling is more expensive than sending children to public school. For example, curriculum fees, textbooks, internet devices, and connectivity, besides other required supplies in homeschooling, are provided by parents. A single student under homeschooling requires about $1000 in a single session. Thus, the cost is one of the main features that reflect differences between sending children to public school and homeschooling them; as discussed, homeschooling is more expensive while public schools are considerably affordable regardless of parents’ financial status.

Socialization is one of the primary differences between attending public school and homeschooling. Socialization outlines how individuals learn rules of behavior, attitudes, norms, beliefs, and ideologies, allowing normal functioning to be effective in the community. Public schools enhance improved socialization by allowing children of different ages and backgrounds to interact and share the same interest, acquiring education. More so, this school setting exposes students to rules through various routines set with time consciousness to be followed during learning in public school. For instance, during communication and interaction with teachers, children must follow outlined rules, for example, raising their hands to answer a question (West and Robin, 2019). This exposure enables children in public to learn how to behave and cope with various challenges in life. On the contrary, homeschooled children lack the opportunity to socialize with other children, reflecting on the undermined socialization aspect in the Homeschool learning system as it limits the association or contact of homeschooled children with diverse persons. Thus, sending children to public school provides an opportunity and exposure to learn appropriate behavior and features necessary to be an influential member of society, such as effective communication and coping with societal challenges.

The learning environment is the other primary feature that portrays a critical difference between public school and homeschooling. Public school is characterized by a complex learning environment associated with various factors that influence effective learning. For instance, peer pressure, high diversity in children’s background and ethnicity, and other negative factors such as substance use and bullying describe the public school environment. However, this enables children to adapt and learn to cope with various societal challenges. On the contrary, a homeschool environment is characterized by a calm, comfortable, and safe learning environment that favors learning in the homeschool set-up but hinders students from coping with real-life life events and challenges. Homeschool offers the best learning environment, but challenges faced by students in public schools facilitate their learning and coping with various life challenges met in society.

Lastly, individualizing instructions to students outlines another primary difference between public school and homeschooling. Generally, the teacher-to-student ratio in public schools is significantly high; it ranges from 20 to 25 students per teacher; this means that a teacher has a massive responsibility for having a large number of pupils under the care of one teacher. This hinders the availability of an effective and smooth individualization of instructions to students in public schools, discouraging the success of those pupils in need of one-to-one teaching for their success. On the other side, individualization of instructions is enhanced in the homeschooling learning system; this is facilitated by a few students in the teacher ratio (Ray and Brian, 2015). In most cases, homeschooling has one or two students; this encourages one-to-one directive teaching by the teacher providing the required support to students in need. This reflects on homeschooling flexibility in finishing the curriculum as the teacher may choose to move on a high-level instruction or provide extra support and slow down depending on the student’s ability. Individualizing instruction promotes learning among children; thus, the homeschool system has an added advantage regarding this feature compared to the public school system.

The main differences between public school and home school include cost, individualization of instruction, environment, and socialization. The public school is affordable for all parents to take their children in, regardless of their financial status, as the government funds it. It encourages socialization among students as children of different ages and backgrounds attend and interact in public schools. On the contrary, homeschooling is expensive and hinders socialization but encourages individualizing instructions to students; this reflects its flexibility in covering the curriculum. It is an ultimate decision for all parents to choose whether they should send their children to public school or homeschool them; in my perspective, I would choose the public school as it exposes the children to real-life situations shaping their behaviors, attitudes, and abilities to cope in society.

Works Cited

Hirsh, Aaron. “The Changing Landscape of Homeschooling in the United States.”  Centre on Reinventing Public Education  2019.

Musaddiq, Tareena, et al. “The pandemic’s effect on demand for public schools, homeschooling, and private schools.”  Journal of Public Economics  212 2022: 104710.

Ray, Brian D.  Research facts on homeschooling . ERIC Clearinghouse, 2015.

West, Robin L. “The harms of homeschooling.”  Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly  29.3/4 2009: 7–12.

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Homeschool vs. Public School:

The ultimate showdown, read ahead:, a spectrum of schooling options, homeschool vs. public school: the pros and cons, do you wonder if they might be better off in public school, what about public school at home.

• Wouldn’t My Children be Better Educated by a Professional?

Since Homeschools Are Private Schools in Texas, Aren’t They Regulated the Same Way?

Is homeschooling about to become the new normal.

• Public schooling : Your children are  under the care of trained professionals  who apply a district-wide or statewide curriculum over which you have almost no influence. Children are educated in  groups of approximately 25 and are   away from home about eight hours per day  (counting the commute) for approximately 180 days of the year.
• Private or charter school : Your children are  under the care of trained professionals  who apply a specific curriculum over which you have almost no influence. However, private and charter schools offer alternatives to public school curriculums. If you choose a private or charter option, it’s likely because their curriculum or method of instruction more closely aligns with your own educational philosophy.  Class sizes may be considerably smaller. As with public school, children are away from home about eight hours daily  for approximately 180 days a year.
• Public school at home : Also known as virtual school, your children are  under your care but are under the instruction of trained professionals.  They apply a district-wide or statewide curriculum over which you have almost no influence. Instruction may be in online groups, but  your child is at home  with limited in-person exposure to other students. Students may complete their work more quickly, spending  as few as four hours daily .  Depending on the program , students with special circumstances may have flexibility to complete their work outside regular school hours.
• University-Model : This hybrid model is part homeschooling and part private school.  Your children are at home for two to three days per week, attending a kind of private school on alternate days . As for curriculum, the choice is yours on home days and you may have some influence on group days. Some programs have trained educators, while some use parents to teach group classes. Most programs have a regular academic schedule, meaning that your child will be away from home about 20 hours weekly.
• Unschooling : In this alternative method of homeschooling,  your child engages in self-directed learning with varying degrees of oversight by parents or teachers . Since the child is in the pilot’s seat, we listed unschooling to the left of other homeschooling types. Typically,  the child is at home with parents, schooling as much as the family deems necessary . (Although acceptable in Texas, other states may have minimum attendance requirements.)
• Homeschooling : This encompasses  many variations , including traditional homeschooling, classical education, Charlotte Mason, unit studies and other types. However, most share the common characteristic of  parent-taught education using a curriculum of the parent’s choosing. The class size is the number of school-age children in the household. In Texas, parents determine the school schedule.  Other states may have statutes requiring a certain number of days or hours.

I Needed Her

I needed relationships, i needed a godly worldview, but i’m not a certified teacher wouldn’t my children be better educated by a professional.

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Homeschools

• Requires that parents teach in a bona fide manner and provide a letter of assurance, if requested by the school district.
• Requires written curriculum consisting of reading, spelling, grammar, math and a course in good citizenship.

Traditional Private Schools

• Requires immunizations unless parents have an exemption for health risks or religious reasons.
• Must report names of students who are suspected of having infectious diseases.
• Must obtain records of anyone under the age of 11 for identification purposes.
• No alcoholic beverages within 1,000 feet of school.
• Requires all students to have a medical screening.
• No guns or other weapons allowed on school premises.
• Require adequate financial resources.
• Demonstrate professional management of their resources.
• Provide a clearly stated philosophy with objectives that are adequate to implement the philosophy.
• Need a physical location and facilities adequate to support the program.
• Staff must hold relevant college degrees and be qualified, by preparation or experience, for the positions and work to which they are assigned.
• Must have a minimum attendance requirement similar to public schools, either in hours per day or days per year.
• Must conduct a self-study and qualitatively assess its strengths and limitations, including achievement of objectives and compliance with state Board of Education rules.
• Private elementary schools must maintain student academic records and achievement levels required for promotion, comparable to those in public schools.

Teaching Truth in Your Homeschool Curriculum

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Great read!!! Thanks for sharing such a great read, keep sharing such a great blog. Blog like these helps each and every homeschooler in homeschooling their children in the best possible way.

Thank you! We love helping homeschool families find the resources they need! Blessings, Ashley – Customer Relations

No Thank YOU

i need more info

Dear Kimberly,

I am not entirely sure what you need more information about, but if you are trying to find out how to homeschool, check out our website, under Getting Started: https://homeeducator.com/getting-started/

Blessings, Ashley – Customer Relations

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article! I am hoping and praying that my husband will come to an agreement for me to homeschool our children. Thank you for sharing this!

Dear Michelle,

I am so glad you enjoyed it! We have some other great articles below to help equip you if you decide to homeschool.

Watch: I am a homeschooler (meet other homeschool families)

Record keeping: https://homeeducator.com/keeping-homeschool-records/

Preparing a high school transcript: https://thsc.org/homeschool-transcript/

Great article, I really enjoyed seeing homeschooling from an inside perspective. You mentioned a lot of facts on the homeschooling reasoning. However, I believe that no matter what a parent may choose to do with their child, God will be there guiding them along the way. I plan on becoming a public school teacher myself. And i do believe that God has a strategic plan to place me in a school where I will have an effect on those students like myself (christian and going through public school). I was expecting to read more about the difference between the two. But overall great read, and I appreciate the time and effort put into this article!

Thank you for your kind words! The differences between the two can be subtle or extreme, depending on the state you live in. For instance, in Texas, there are only 3 requirements families must meet, they do not have to report to anyone, and parents should oversee the homeschool, not a program, according to Texas Education Code. However, some states do have rigorous reporting requirements and families must report to the district, or other facilitators, depending on that state’s laws. Learn more about homeschool laws across the United States: https://homeeducator.com/getting-started/state-requirements/

Is Jennings the only author on this source? This page is a little hard to cite and I want to make sure I give credit where credit is due!

Dear Sarah,

Actually, I believe this article was an effort of multiple members of our publications team and our other teams to collect information. Thank you for that. Ms. Jennings one member of our team. The contributors are: Donna Schillinger, Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., Kenzie Knapp, Jeremy Newman

Thank you for sharing this article!

Blessings, Ashley – Customer Support

I’ve been homeschooled all my life and I’m going into 6th grade and I debating if I should stay home school or go to public school and this helped a lot. thank you so much!!!!!!

I love hearing that! Keep up the great work.

Well written and informative. It can be challenging for many parents to transition to homeschool but reading this article answers a lot of questions and concerns.

Thank you! We love helping homeschoolers find great ideas.

Compare and Contrast Essay: Homeschooling vs Public Schooling

A lot of people like to debate what type of schooling is best for their children. Public schools provide an environment with different types of people and help students adapt to what the world is like. Students learn very useful social skills and practice them every day to be prepared for future opportunities. Homeschooling, on the other hand, seems like a better option for many students as they struggle to balance their schedule, more often at the high school age. Now, especially with the pandemic going around, many parents are switching their children to the homeschool option. 

Money can very often be an issue when parents decide on their child’s schooling. Public schools are typically less costly than homeschool curriculums. The reason why many parents can’t get homeschool, even if they want to, is mostly because of the cost. It is very stressful juggling a job and children in need of an education, and it just seems simpler to send them to public school.

Something that moves parents to deciding on homeschool for their children, is concern for their safety. Public schools may have drugs going around and people getting discriminated against and bullied. According to the CDC, 1 in 5 high school students reportedly experienced school bullying. That leads to a higher risk of suicidal thoughts and even attempts. And parents are trying to keep their children feeling safe in their home. 

Being able to socialize in a healthy way is important to learn from a young age, so we can apply those skills in the future when you need to apply for a job interview. Public schooling includes more socialization than homeschool. Homeschool can teach some skills, but in public schooling it is “built in”, as students are pretty much required to communicate with classmates and teaching personnel. Some homeschooled students tend to feel very lonely. I myself have no friends, and sometimes think to myself that it would be way better to actually learn to socialize in a social setting instead of cooped up in a home sitting at a desk.

Schedules can be very important for teens as they start to be more involved in activities and even work. Public schools are on a pretty tight schedule and everything is laid out specifically by hours. While in homeschool, the schedule is very flexible and changeable. Having a pretty flexible schedule also helps with job opportunities. If a restaurant wants you to work from 8 to 10 AM, on a weekday, it would be really hard to juggle this and public school. While for homeschool, you can just watch the daily lessons later in the day. 

Though there are many differences in homeschooling and public schooling, they both teach relatively the same subjects. Sometimes more or less, as it depends on if it is a religious based homeschool or public school. They both offer the basics, such as math, science, reading, writing (English in older grade levels), and also foreign language can be an option for older grades. In many homeschool curriculums there are plenty of options for Performing Arts and Family and Consumer Science. Though public schools may offer more in terms of elective courses, variety of sports and other extracurricular activities. Also, both options may use many types of media and sources to teach in a more fun or “hands-on” way. If it is alright with your on-site teacher, you can get creative while doing homeschool too. It isn’t as boring as some people perceive it to be. There are plenty of classes like art and science that offer hands-on activities. 

Both schooling options can have downsides, and great sides to them. Money, safety, being social, and scheduling are all important factors in a healthy school experience, but at the end of the day, I believe what matters most is what you feel like fits you best and what makes you most comfortable.

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Homeschooling vs Public School (Argumentative Essay)

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Public Schooling versus Homeschooling

Education is viewed as an essential commodity to the future of every child. Parents’ desire is to give their children the best education in a favorable environment. In an attempt to give their children the best education, parents have to choose the best schooling system they feel best considering the abilities of their children. Amongst the choices available are the public education and homeschooling. Homeschool are led and managed by the parents while public schools are governed by the government. Parents make their decisions depending on their social and economic beliefs and other factors depending on the experience they have had with schools. Some parents believe that homeschooling is better than public schooling and reverse is also true to some parents.

Public schooling is the oldest education system in the educational system. It has preferences to homeschooling by some parents. In public school apart from uniforms and other requirements the government pays most of the tuition fees. Payment of tuition fees by the government guarantees most children education, whether from rich or humble backgrounds. This is not the case with homeschooling as parents are forced to buy everything from books to teaching services in homeschooling.

In public school the level of socialization is high. Children meet and interact with other kids from different parts of the country. Children get to know how to communicate to various groups of people from different parts.

Public schools have enough funds to enable students to participate in extra-curricular activities like clubs, bands, and sports. These events make the child grow up physically healthy and with confidence.

Homeschools are gaining popularity due to their advantages over public schools. Many parents see the expenses of homeschool as less than that of public schools. In a homeschool, there are no uniform requirements, and this reduces its expenditures. Also, there are no mandatory fees in homeschooling.

In a homeschool, there is family togetherness. Every child grows up knowing their family values and cultural practices. The family does most of the chores together, which is viewed as an essential part of learning. Each child is given a chance to show his worth and role in the family; this makes children feel part of the household.

Academically, the quality is enhanced in homeschools. The parents choose what curriculum best fit their children depending on children’s ability. Most parents have had education in public schools, and they have their good and bad experience about the quality of academics in public schools. Also, in a homeschool teacher-student ratio is reduced and every student can be attended by a teacher at persona levels, unlike public schools.

In a homeschool the environment is safe, and parents feel their children are secured. The children are free from the danger of drugs, unwanted religion by the parents, bullying, etc., which might not be the case in a public school. With such threats out of mind, the students are safe.

Education quality is essential to the future of each country. Therefore, all efforts and funds should be directed towards quality education. The high quality of teaching in homeschooling makes it have an advantage over the public schools. This implies that the homeschooling should be encouraged and where possible its expenses subsidized by the government. Funding the costs alone may not be enough, but a combination of it and other activities like inter school sports will see homeschooling a great success and a better option.

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Homeschooling vs Traditional Schooling: pros and cons

As a vast majority of the world went remote in early 2020 at the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic, students had to quickly adapt to remote learning from home. Due to this, many parents began to consider homeschooling for their child rather than return children to their traditional schooling methods. But what are the pros and cons of homeschooling versus traditional schooling?

Homeschooling: the pros

• No commute: Very often, students can only attend certain public schools if they reside in the right district. Alternatively, if they attend a private school further from home, the commute can be long during peak school run hours. As such, homeschooling saves time which can be spent doing further coursework, exploring personal interests, or spending more time with friends and family. 
• Tailor-made Curriculum: Although certain states/countries may have specific requirements on what it takes to graduate from high school if homeschooled, the option does give students and their parents the luxury of exploring personal interests, going at their own pace, and taking advanced courses where the student is able to. 
• Custom Schedule: The typical 8am-3pm does not have to hold true with homeschooling! While some legal requirements for a minimum number of hours may be present, students are able to have flexibility to pursue other goals such as competitive gymnastics, travel the world with their families, etc. 
• Higher performance: According to ThinkImpact, public school students received an average score of 21 out of 36 on the ACT, whereas homeschooled students received an average of 22.8. As for the SATs, homeschoolers scored a nationwide average of 72 points more than their traditional schooled counterparts in the United States in 2020. 
• Safety: The risks of COVID-19, school shootings, and other unfortunate situations are minimized at home. The extent of safety will also vary upon the neighborhood the school and home are located in. 

Homeschooling: the cons

• Social life restrictions: Students who are homeschooled do not have classmates with them daily. As such, they can be lonely unless a solid effort is made to interact with peers their age through other activities such as attending a church or place of worship, sports teams, community events, etc. 
• Pressure on parent’s time: Working a job and raising a child is already a huge time commitment for most adults. As such, being the child’s teacher is an additional burden on parents which not all are able to undertake. Furthermore, a parent will have to ensure that healthy boundaries are set between the parent and child now that the “teacher and student” dynamic is also present. 
• Cost: The cost of a homeschool curriculum can be a few thousand dollars, whereas public school is free. However, it should be noted that homeschool can be cheaper than private school, so it is up to a family to decide how to best use their educational budget here. 

Traditional Schooling: the pros

• Social life and development: At school, teens get to spend dozens of hours each week with peers their age, thus giving them a platform to develop their social skills.
• Professional instruction: Teachers at schools are qualified, trained professionals who have mastered their craft and in the later grades specialize in their area of instruction. 
• Structure:  Many children thrive on having a set routine and structure in their daily schedules, and schools are the greatest source of structure in a youngster’s life. 
• Extracurriculars: Schools, especially those with a larger student population, tend to offer extracurriculars which a student is not able to acquire at home. Be it being a part of the chess club, trying out for the football team, or running for student government, certain activities cannot be done in a home setting.
• School spirit: Being a member of a school helps develop a youngster’s identity, and students are able to obtain a sense of belonging (provided the school is a good fit for them, of course!). 
• Fostering independence: From keeping track of their own timetable (deadlines, bus schedules, etc), purchasing/bringing their lunch, and finding their way from classes, traditional schooling helps build valuable life skills which shall help students once they graduate. 

Traditional Schooling: the cons

• More traditional curriculum: Instead of exploring their own interests, students are forced to study subjects at the same pace as their classmates and course selection is more limited.
• Peer pressure: Be it wearing the latest Nike shoes, fitting in with the cool crowd, or dealing with bullies, peer pressure plays a big part of a teenager’s life and is more present in traditional schooling environments.
• Overwhelmed teachers: Many teachers have dozens of students on their roster and getting each student’s individual needs met is not often accomplished. 
• Fitting in: Perhaps the school is simply not a good fit for who your child is – be it the type of curriculum offered, the crowd present, or the overall management of the school. 

While these are just a few of the pros and cons seen in traditional schooling vs homeschooling, I would like to remind you that there is no direct answer as to which option is better. A family needs to consider their own needs to make this decision, including their time, teaching capabilities, educational budget, location, future goals, and resources. Here at Crimson we are always happy to discuss these options and also work together to advise a hybrid model if necessary – where students may take some courses outside of school in addition to the courses in their regular schooling. The pandemic has made more families consider homeschooling after seeing how their child has been handling remote learning – but before you jump the gun, make sure to consider all the pros and cons thoroughly! 

Your friendly neighbourhood Rise blogger, 

Learn more about Crimson Rise’s strategic mentorship, academic support, and extracurricular coaching for young students, and request a free consultation on your child’s journey!

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How Does Homeschooling Compare to Public School?

Rick Gomez / The Image Bank / Getty Images

Basic Differences

Test results, grade point average, college placement, emotional adjustment.

Many parents considering a homeschool education over a more traditional experience want to know how homeschooling compares to public school—especially when it comes to academic performance.

You're not alone if you've considered removing your children from regular school in favor of homeschooling. When you think of the advantages of teaching your kids at home , you likely envision the freedom of making your own schedule, focusing on particular areas of interest, and going at your child's pace.

But does a home-based education offer a leg up for kids in terms of scholastic advancement? It depends. Here's how educating at home stands up to public school for test results, GPA, college placement, and more. 

An education at home differs from a traditional public school education in some basic (but significant) ways that may impact academic performance. Individualized attention from a parent-slash-teacher can make a world of difference for a student who is struggling academically or has a learning disability , for example.

Working independently may also allow more advanced students to go at their own pace, not having to wait for others to catch up. On the other hand, depending on the challenge level of subject matter, you may have to learn about certain topics alongside your child (or access someone with the appropriate expertise).

Many factors you might expect to affect academic success at home have surprisingly low impact. Whether or not a parent has earned a teaching degree or certificate is not associated with their child’s academic achievement, and neither is the degree of government control in their state . Parents’ level of formal education and household income are also not correlated with children’s scholastic proficiency.  

While test results aren’t the only indicator of a child’s academic prowess, they can be an important benchmark of learning—and they do matter for college placement. The effects of homeschooling on test results are promising.

As far back as 1998, one study found that homeschool children’s median scores on standardized tests such as the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills landed in the 70 th to 80 th percentile.

Similarly, according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), students educated at home typically score 15 to 30 percentile points higher than public school students on standardized tests for academic achievement.

For Black students, the numbers are even higher. Black children who homeschool score 23 to 42 percentage points higher on standardized tests than their counterparts in public schools.

On the ACT, a test used nationwide for college admissions, composite scores for homeschooled students fluctuated between 22.3 in 2007 and 22.8 in 2014. (The highest possible score is 36.) Though not as high as scores from private school students, these rankings were 1.4 to 2.2 points above the average public school student.

Grade point average, or GPA, is another common point of reference for academic performance. Because many homeschool families don’t calculate GPA, limited data exists comparing grade point average between home and publicly educated kids. However, research has been conducted on the GPAs of college students who homeschooled during their K-12 years. 

One study conducted at an unnamed private university in the American Southeast found a statistically significant increase in the college GPA of students who were homeschooled versus those who were not.

In another study from an unnamed university in the Midwest, students who had homeschooled finished their freshman year of college with an average GPA of 3.37, compared with the 3.08 average GPA of other students.

The academic advantages of homeschooling continued throughout the college years. As seniors, the same students earned an average GPA of 3.41, compared to the 3.16 average GPA of non-homeschooled seniors.

Other, more in-depth research tells a somewhat different story, however. A 2016 study analyzed data from nearly 825,000 students at 140 colleges and universities and found that students who had been homeschooled did not achieve higher GPA in their first year of college, nor were they more likely to return for a sophomore year.  

For many colleges and universities, admissions are handled very similarly between students who have had a traditional education and those who have homeschooled.

With the rise in various nontraditional forms of education, even institutions like Ivy League schools have acknowledged the value a home-based education can provide their potential students. (However, many do not publicize statistics about their homeschool admissions.)

Homeschooled students may need to emphasize certain aspects of their education in a college application to improve their chances of admission. Applicants may need to provide extra information about their academic curriculum and take optional tests to establish their academic abilities.

On the other hand, because homeschoolers can often earn college credit before high school graduation, they may have an advantage for college placement—or, at the very least, for finishing a degree sooner than students from public school. 

A comparison between home and public education isn’t all about academics. Your child’s emotional development matters, too. Stereotypes about homeschool education may have you believe that homeschooled kids are more likely to be socially awkward or emotionally stunted. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be the case.

According to the NHERI, homeschoolers often rank above average in measures of social, emotional, and psychological development.

The degree to which your child grows emotionally will largely depend on the environment in your home and the activities you expose them to.

Consider how you might involve your child in volunteering, participating in academic or extracurricular cohort groups, playing league sports, or taking lessons on an instrument. These outside-the-home extras can all expose your child to other people of various backgrounds, as well as help them make friends.

A Word From Verywell 

Only you can decide if homeschooling is the best choice for your family. If you do choose to teach at home, there are no guarantees that this form of education will produce better results, academically or emotionally, for your child.

In large part, the success of homeschooling depends on you as an educator and your child as a learner. However, much of the research indicates that homeschooling can provide your child a greater likelihood of academic achievement.

Ray BD. Homeschooling: The Research . National Home Education Research Institute. 2020.

Rudner LM. Scholastic achievement and demographic characteristics of home school students in 1998 . Educ Policy Anal Arch. 1999:7(8). doi:10.14507/epaa.v7n8.1999

Ray BD.  African American homeschool parents’ motivations for homeschooling and their black children’s academic achievement .  Journal of School Choice. 2015; 9:1, 71-96. doi:10.1080/15582159.2015.998966

ACT, Inc. Trends in ACT composite scores among homeschooled students . 2015.

Almasoud S, Fowler SR. The difference in the academic achievements of homeschooled and non-homeschooled students . Home School Researcher . 2016;32(1).

Cogan M. Exploring academic outcomes of homeschooled students . Journal of College Admission. 2010;208:18-25.

Yu MC, Sackett PR, Kuncel NR. Predicting college performance of homeschooled versus traditional students . Educ Meas . 2016;35(4):31-39. doi:10.1111/emip.12133

U.S. News & World Report. How homeschooling affects college admissions . 2018.

By Sarah Garone  Sarah Garone, NDTR, is a freelance health and wellness writer who runs a food blog.

How Home Schooling Will Change Public Education

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, paul t. hill paul t. hill founder - the center on reinventing public education, research professor - the university of washington bothell, former nonresident senior fellow - the brookings institution.

June 1, 2000

• 14 min read

More than 1.2 million students are now being taught at home, more students than are enrolled in the entire New York City public school system. Paul T. Hill reports on the pros and cons of learning at home—and the effects home schooling will have on public schools.

Home schooling, not a present threat to public education, is nonetheless one of the forces that will change it. If the high estimates of the number of children in home schools (1.2 million) is correct, then the home-schooling universe is larger than the New York City public school system and roughly the size of the Los Angeles and Chicago public school systems combined. Even if the real number of home schoolers is more like 500,000, less than the lowest current estimate, there are more children home schooling than in charter schools and public voucher programs combined.

Home schooling is not a new phenomenon. In colonial days families, including wealthy ones, educated their children at home, combining the efforts of parents, tutors, and older children. The rural one-room schoolhouse was created by families that banded together to hire a teacher who could substitute for parents but who would use the same mixture of direct instruction, tutoring, and mentoring by older students.

There is nothing un-American about home schooling. Home-schooling families are, however, breaking a pattern established since colonial times—education has been becoming increasingly institutionalized, formal, and removed from the family. How important is the contemporary home-schooling movement and what does it portend for American public education? No one can say for sure. It is difficult even to estimate the numbers of children being schooled at home, and evidence about student learning and other outcomes is mostly anecdotal.

It is, however, possible to draw three conclusions about where home schooling is likely to go and how it will affect the broad public education enterprise—which for the purpose of this article includes charter schools and publicly funded voucher programs as well as conventional district-run public schools.

• Home schooling is part of a broad movement in which private groups and individuals are learning how to provide services that were once left to public bureaucracies.
• As home-schooling families learn to rely on one another, many are likely to create new institutions that look something like schools.
• Although many home-schooling families are willing to accept help from public school systems, the families and the schools they create are far more likely to join the charter and voucher movements than to assimilate back into the conventional public school system.

Developing New Teachers

Parents who decide to school their children at home commit time and energy to an activity that was once left to specialized professionals. Even in the states with the most permissive home-schooling laws, parents must learn what is normally taught to children of a given age, find materials and projects that teach specific skills, and learn how to use their own time and that of their children productively. The vast majority of home-school parents hope their children will attend college and so must also learn how to assess their children’s progress against higher education admission standards.

Even a casual perusal of the home-schooling literature reveals the scale and intensity of home-schooling parents’ search for ideas, materials, and relevant standards of performance. Home-schooling web sites continually post new ideas and materials for teaching subjects from math to drama. Parents can find advice about what kinds of programs are likely to work for their own children and can enter chat rooms with other parents struggling with the same issues.

Without making a quality judgment about these resources, it is clear that many serious people are putting in a great deal of effort. The materials available are not amateurish: They come from universities, research institutes, mutual assistance networks, school districts, and state education departments. People who contribute to home-schooling web sites and association meetings are also conducting serious research and development. Home schooling is a very large teacher training program, and many tens of thousands of people are learning how to teach, assess results, and continuously improve instruction. It also must be one of the biggest parent-training programs in the country.

Like charter schooling, home schooling depends on the creation of new human capital. People have to learn how, in new contexts and under new rules, to teach and motivate students, take advantage of complementary adult skills, find resources, and make effective use of scarce time and money.

Critics charge that much of this effort is wasted and that at best all the new human capital developed at such cost can only duplicate what already exists in conventional public and private schools. Unlikely. Although the new people will undoubtedly reinvent some wheels and some may go down blind alleys, these initiatives bring new blood and new ideas into a stagnant education sector that was previously dominated by civil service cartels and was thus rule-bound and risk-averse.

Collaboration and Evolution

Home schoolers are not all recluses living in log cabins. Growing numbers of home-schooling families live in or near cities, are well educated, and hold down normal jobs. They are not all afraid of the modern world; many are inveterate users of the Internet, and large numbers of West Coast home-school parents work in the computer and software industries.

Although large numbers of home schoolers are Christian fundamentalists and Mormons, many other religions are represented as well. There are active home-schooling organizations for Lutherans, Catholics, and Jews. In Washington, Oregon, and California, many of the new urban home schoolers are not active members of any church.

Home schoolers’ fierce independence rarely leads to isolationism. Increasingly, parents are bartering services—the mother who was a math major tutors children from several families in return for music or history lessons. Families come together to create basketball or soccer teams, hold social events, or put on plays and recitals. Growing numbers of home schoolers value the expertise of professional educators and are readily accepting help, advice, and testing assistance offered by school districts.

In such an atmosphere, it is highly likely that parents will come together to collaborate, specialize, and exploit comparative advantages. It is too soon to say whether many such collaborations will ever become elaborate enough to include cash payments for services or the hiring of coordinators to schedule, integrate services, and exercise quality control. But some home-schooling collaboratives have already advanced to the point that groups of parents find themselves running organizations that look much like schools. In Colorado, Arizona, and Michigan, several such groups have won charters and are operating as new public schools. Some home-schooling groups have also created management firms offering to create new schools that coordinate parent efforts and incorporate many of the values and processes of home schooling.

The advantages are obvious: Parents can limit their time commitments and get for their children the benefits of others’ expertise. They can also get public funds to pay for materials, facilities, management time, Internet hookups, and testing. Those that have mastered a subject or learned a great deal about instructional methods can even decide to become paid teachers.

However, home-schooling parents would be skittish and demanding clients. Many have learned exactly what they want for their children and are unlikely to stick with an arrangement that does not deliver. But all the preconditions exist for the emergence of new schools based on what home-schooling families have learned.

Although growing numbers of home schoolers are receiving valuable assistance from local public school systems, mass returns to conventional public schools are unlikely. Most home-schooling parents fled something they did not like about the public education system—variously perceived as lax discipline, bad manners, low standards, unsafe conditions, or hostility to religious practice.

In general, their web sites make it clear that home schoolers dread bureaucracy, unions, and liberals. Parents complain about teachers who would not adjust to individual children’s needs and about principals who insist that district rules prevent using better methods, changing children’s placements, accelerating instruction, or replacing bad teachers. Web sites also complain about liberal social agendas, particularly those associated with homosexuality and perceived attacks on the family.

Although home-school web sites are full of ideas about learning projects and what conventional educators would call “authentic” performance measures, parents are openly suspicious about forms of student-directed “progressive” education used in public schools. They strongly favor reading, writing, and debating. Web sites are full of resources for teaching classic liberal arts subjects (including rhetoric) and suggestions for study of primary sources.

Complaints about state standards and performance-based education are far less prominent in home-schooling materials than in religious-right political agendas. Educated home schoolers are concerned about preparing their children for the real world and are open to state standards and testing programs that guide action and give measures of progress.

These concerns, and the fact that many families began home schooling after what they perceived as “takeovers” of their local public school systems by “progressive” academics and left-of-center parents, make it unlikely that large numbers of home-schooling parents can readily return to public schools. Some home schoolers will get by with the help available from public school systems, and others will seek to create charter schools. Some—the numbers depend on costs and the availability of private subsidies—will also be attracted to specially constructed private schools such as those now being created by the conservative Christian Heritage Schools.

Given American families’ reliance on dual incomes, it is unlikely that home schooling will continue to grow indefinitely. But it will almost certainly continue to attract families that cannot find comfortable places in conventional public schools, and it will continue to be a channel through which parents become attached to private and charter alternatives.

What’s the Harm?

What could be wrong with a movement that leads tens of thousands of people to spend vast amounts of time and money learning to teach, working closely with children, developing new instructional materials, and subjecting them to real-world tests? Critics charge that three things are wrong with home schooling: harm to students academically; harm to society by producing students who are ill-prepared to function as democratic citizens and participants in a modern economy; and harm to public education, making it more difficult for other parents to educate their children.

• Student Learning. The very nature of home schooling makes it difficult to quantify student performance. But the best available evidence is strongly positive about home-school student learning. Consider these results from the Bob Jones University testing service for home schoolers:
• Almost 25 percent of home-school students are enrolled one or more grades above their age level peers in public and private schools.

Home-school student achievement test scores are exceptionally high. The median scores for every subtest at every grade (typically in the 70th to 80th percentile) are well above those of public and private school students.

Students who have been home schooled their entire academic life have higher scholastic achievement test scores than students who have attended other educational programs.

However, these results are drawn from a small, self-selected group of home schoolers who sought a university’s help in assessing student progress. Although there is no known profile of home schoolers against which to compare the sample, it is almost certainly a better-educated, higher-income, and better-supported (e.g., by church membership) group than home schoolers as a whole.

Thus, it is still impossible to say whether, on the whole, home-schooling students are doing much better than their public and private school counterparts. However, it is also totally unwarranted to argue that home schoolers are doing badly. The available evidence certainly seems to indicate otherwise.

Preparation for Adult Life. Nobody knows whether home schooling produces any different mixture of geniuses, socially adept individuals, academic failures, or misfits than do conventional public schools. For that matter, nobody has a good grasp on what the distribution of those outcomes is—or ought to be—in the population as a whole.

Some educators worry about the agendas of conservative religious leaders and parents, assuming they want children to become intolerant, insular, hypercompetitive, or convinced of religious or racial superiority. There is little basis for these fears, other than the long-standing tensions between religious groups (both conservative and mainstream) and the academic left.

Others avoid the trap of assessing schools in terms of current pedagogical orthodoxies but worry that home schooling (along with private schooling, charters, and vouchers) pulls children away from the socially centripetal experience of the common school, in which people of all races and backgrounds are educated together to common standards. This concern too has little empirical basis. Home schoolers certainly do not experience “common schools,” but neither, apparently, does anyone else. Whether they attend private or public schools, the vast majority of students are likely to attend classes and associate with others very like themselves.

Moreover, contemporary public schools do not meet the aspirations of those who expect them to be incubators of young democrats. Graduates of private (including conservative Christian) schools are more likely than demographically similar public school graduates to express tolerant attitudes, volunteer time and money for social causes, and participate in civic debates.

None of this proves that home schooling meets every aspiration Americans have for their children. But it does place the worries about home schooling in perspective, and it suggests the basis on which home schooling should be evaluated: It needs to be compared to the real performance of conventional public schools, not to some idealized aspiration.

Harm to Public Education. Home schooling limits public school enrollments and therefore reduces the amounts of money state governments provide to local school districts. It also reduces the numbers of parents who expect to enhance their own children’s education by voting for taxes and bond issues. On the other hand, home schooling reduces the burdens on public school systems and, in areas with growing populations, decreases pressure for new buildings and staffs. Unlike charters and public vouchers, home schooling does not force an overt transfer of public funds from an incumbent bureaucracy to a new rival organization.

Like charters and vouchers, home schooling is also criticized for weakening the common civic enterprise represented by the public school system. To some, deliberation about education is a necessary means of making one society out of many groups. They think that people who demand freedom from regulations, educate children themselves, or pay for private schools weaken critical public forums. A contrary view is that intellectual and values diversity are so important to a democratic society that questions about education should never be settled authoritatively. People who hold that view point to legislatures’ susceptibility to capture by interest groups and their inability to settle deeply controversial issues. They have reason to think that state standard-setting processes have degenerated into logrolling sessions among advocates for different subjects and that states have pretended false clarity about what skills young people must have in our boisterous, competitive, fast-moving, technology-driven, and unpredictable society.

Again, in a situation where so little is understood, the potential harms of home schooling seem far smaller than the harms of trying to prevent or thwart it. Every issue raised here is amenable to evidence, but abstract arguments and fears do not stand up against home-school parents’ First Amendment rights and their evident willingness to back up conviction with money, time, and effort.

The issues raised above are far from resolved. Scholarly and political discussions about home schooling are burdened by an unrecognized ambiguity in our use of the term public education, which in some instances refers to a commitment to use any means necessary to ensure that every child learns enough to participate fully as a citizen, earner, and parent and in other instances refers to a specific set of political bargains, rules, programs, job rights, and bureaucratic oversight mechanisms. The difference between these two definitions of public education is evident everywhere but most painfully in the big cities. There, aspirations for student learning, racial justice, and introduction of disadvantaged students into the mainstream of society are high. Political and educational leaders talk endlessly about the importance of high standards. But students fall farther behind the longer they are in school, and more than half of them drop out before gaining a regular high school diploma.

Our dialogue about home schooling, charters, and public vouchers, then, is frozen by confusion over means and ends. The people who run and staff conventional public schools are convinced that the current arrangements are public education. The question—put into play by home schooling and related reforms—is whether that definition is too narrow. It is time to ask whether home schooling, charters, and vouchers should be considered parts of a broad repertoire of methods that we as a society use to educate our children.

A longer version of this essay will appear in a future issue of the Peabody Journal of Education.

Paul T. Hill is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution; a member of Hoover’s Koret Task Force on K-12 Education; and a research professor, Center on Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington.

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Homeschooling Versus Public Schooling

How it works

This paper discusses the differences between homeschooling and public schooling and the effects on the students and families. The paper shows research that homeschooling is a more beneficial form of education than public schooling. Arguments opposing homeschooling will also be addressed.

Many studies have been conducted on the differences between homeschooled students and those who attend public school. The most fundamental difference that sets the two apart is, of course, that homeschoolers receive the majority of their education at home, usually from one or both parents.

Public schoolers, on the other hand, attend a government-funded school 5 days a week and usually are given homework to be completed at home and returned later. Homeschooling is a growing movement in the United States. According to Brian D. Ray, PhD, the number of families that opt to teach their children at home in the U.S. is increasing by 2% to 8% annually (2015). Something is clearly drawing in these families. I was homeschooled through 10th grade and I very much enjoyed it. When I began taking college classes, I found the workload to be an easy transition, while many public schoolers I knew had a more difficult time adjusting. This led to my interest in research regarding homeschooling. I found that the research agreed with my personal experience. Homeschooling is healthier and more effective than public schooling and should be used by more families.

Parents take into account many factors, and there are many reasons to consider home education, but one of the major ones is the amount of time they will get to spend with their children. Parents of homeschoolers teach their own children, and because of this parents and children spend more time interacting with one another than they spend apart. In contrast, Public school children spend more time at school than they do with their own parents. More time together means more time to establish and build good relationships. According to Zakaria, homeschoolers generally have better and closer relationships with their parents and with their siblings (2017). This is very important and becomes increasingly so in the teen years when conflict arises. If children and parents have a good foundation for their relationship, they will be better able to work through conflict and maintain a healthy relationship and respect for one another despite disagreements. Also, if children learn how to build good, healthy relationships at home, they will be able to use this valuable skill in every part of their lives until they die.

Of course, the main function of any school system is how it functions academically. Here homeschooling and public schooling are fundamentally different. In public schools, all students do the same work, on the same schedule, in the same environment. Homeschooling, on the other hand, has a completely customizable schedule and can be done anywhere. It’s adaptable on a day to day basis, based upon the needs of both the child and the parents. Homeschoolers go on field trips frequently, as even a trip to the grocery store is considered an opportunity for education. The child is able to learn at his or her own speed in the best environment for the child’s needs. They also have a parent mentoring them one on one in each subject as needed. This is beneficial for all students but especially for students with disabilities. The system can be modified to fit a child’s particular style of learning, helping them to learn more efficiently than the one size fits all system used in public schools. Because of this, homeschoolers excel academically. According to Smith, homeschoolers score 15 to 30 points higher on standardized tests in all subjects than did public schoolers, and their scores were not correlated to the parents’ level of education. This means that even parents with a lower level of education can successfully homeschool their children and watch them achieve great levels of education. Homeschooling even has health benefits. These are often linked to the flexibility of the homeschool environment. One such area is sleep. According to a study done by Meltzer, Shaheed, and Ambler, homeschoolers have better sleep habits and sleep longer than public school students (2016). Sleep is vital for life and for success in school, yet teenagers are known for being tired and for consuming large amounts of caffeine to stay awake. Such a crucial part of development cannot be ignored. Sleep even impacts mental health. In the same study, Meltzer found that public school students, who got less sleep on average than the homeschooled students, had higher rates of depressive symptoms than did the homeschool students. One reason homeschoolers can get more sleep is because they have a flexible schedule. They can begin schoolwork at a later time than public schools begin, allowing them to sleep later.

Many stigmas and stereotypes have been placed on homeschooling which deter people from adopting the practice. One very common stigma is that homeschoolers are unsocialized or socially awkward. According to Smith, homeschoolers are actually better socialized than their public-school peers. This may be due to the previously mentioned relationships between homeschoolers and parents. Homeschoolers also have access to extra-curricular activities just like public schoolers. Some take part in sports and after school clubs provided by public schools. Others take part in other activities like dance or music lessons. Co-ops also contribute to extracurriculars and social activities for homeschoolers. Co-ops consist of groups of homeschool families that meet once a week and form their own group classes. These can be anything from art to band to history to physical education or cake decorating. The classes are usually based upon one parent’s area of expertise. That parent will teach the class and sometimes send the students home with homework to do during the week. This gives students an opportunity to interact with other homeschoolers and to participate in activities they might not have had in a home setting with no classmates.

A part of homeschool education that is not included in the public school system is the idea that anything can be a learning experience. Homeschool families take every opportunity to learn something new. When I was homeschooled, my mom would take my siblings and me grocery shopping with her. While she shopped, she would teach us how to find the best price on an item. She would also teach us about budgeting. She would tell us how much money was in the budget for that shopping trip and the kids would be in charge of adding up the total as we added each item to the cart. As we got older, she also taught us how to account for sales tax to make sure there were no surprises when we reached the register. These trips taught me the importance of budgeting and gave me the skills to do so for myself. They also taught me to be very fast and accurate at adding decimal numbers in my head and at rounding prices up or down. This is just one example of the attitude towards learning that homeschooling gives to students. Every part of life is a learning experience, if only we choose to learn. Homeschool families recognize this and their children reap the benefits.

As stated at the beginning of this paper, Doctor Ray found that homeschooling is growing rapidly in the United States (2015). I believe that this trend will continue into the future as people learn more about homeschooling and the social stigma is destroyed. My hope is that people will learn about the benefits homeschooling has for relationships, academics, and health and begin to homeschool their own children. As homeschooling spreads, children will grow up to be better educated, intelligent, healthy adults, resulting in an overall healthy society whose members are better capable of forming healthy relationships with each other. One significant struggle parents have with homeschooling is an inability to pay for a curriculum and support the family with only one working parent. I believe this could be easily solved if the money that would be given to a public school for the child to be educated were instead given to the parents to support their endeavor to homeschool. Perhaps someday this will be the case and homeschooling will become the norm instead of the exception. Until then, may it continue to grow, and may homeschoolers continue to transform our society for the better.

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Homeschooling — Why Homeschooling is Better than Public Schools

Why Homeschooling is Better than Public Schools

• Categories: Homeschooling Public School

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Words: 1308 |

Published: Oct 2, 2020

Words: 1308 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

Works Cited

• Clemmitt, M. (2014). Homeschooling. CQ Researcher, 24(42), 1005-1028.
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• Online, blended and distance education in schools. (2015). Routledge.
• Ray, B. D. (2017). Research facts on homeschooling. National Home Education Research Institute.
• Riley, K. J. (2015). The costs of homeschooling. Phi Delta Kappan, 97(3), 54-58.
• Smedley, T. C. (2018). Advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling. Nova Science Publishers.
• Thomas, J. B. (2016). Homeschooling: Advantages and disadvantages. Global Journal of Human-Social Science: E Economics, 16(6).
• Wichers, M. (2001). Qualitative research on homeschooling. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 3(3), 1-17.
• Wizner, S. (2016). Homeschooling: Back to the future? Educational Leadership, 74(7), 60-64.
• Wurzel, J. S. (2017). Homeschooling in the United States: An exploratory study. Journal of School Choice, 11(1), 23-42.

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