The first step to homeschooling is making your decision to home educate your child. It is important to become informed and knowledgeable about some of the main concerns you may have. Explore these areas of our website to learn more about the initial decision to homeschool.
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| Making Your Decision |
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The reasons people decide to educate their children at home are varied and can be unique to each family. Some look towards a better educational experience, others are concerned with moral and social issues, some are concerned with safety, and still others have special needs that they wish to address. Explore these reasons and others that have led families to homeschooling.
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| Advantages of Homeschooling |
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Ask anyone who loves homeschooling what the advantages are, and you'll probably hear a long list of the benefits of educating children in the home. Homeschooling is a journey and an adventure, with benefits and rewards for the entire family. Come find out what these advantages are and decide if homeschooling is right for you.
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| Teaching Your Own Children |
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Are you qualified to teach your own children? The answer is yes! It is challenging, but rewarding, to educate your children in your home. Find out what these challenges are and how to address them.
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| Socialization |
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"But what about socialization?" So the typical question goes to anyone who homeschools. Find out what socialization means to homeschooling families and strategies to engage your children and your entire family in social activities and connections.
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| Research & Statistics |
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Learn about current research and statistics involving homeschooling families, the homeschool movement, and the educational system.
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| Public School Issues |
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Many parents are basing part of their decision to homeschool on issues with public schooling, from bullying to poor academic performance to problems with governmental control.
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| Community Outreach |
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Want to help homeschooling integrate into the community at large? Are you a homeschool group leader who talks with the media or provides information to new and curious homeschoolers? Here are tips to help you present homeschooling to the public and the media.
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Socialization? No Problem! |
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HSLDA |
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Every parent who homeschools has been through the drill: “Oh, you homeschool. Aren’t you concerned about your child’s socialization?” Homeschooling parents have known the answer for years: “No problem here!” But critics demand proof. Today, the first generation of homeschooled students has “grown up,” and there are enough homeschool graduates to begin to see how they are succeeding in their homes, in their work, and in their lives.
In 2003, the Home School Legal Defense Association commissioned the largest research survey to date of adults who were home educated. Conducted by Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute, the study surveyed over 7,300 adults who were homeschooled. Over 5,000 of these had been home educated at least seven years, and the statistics in this synopsis are based on their responses. The results confirm what homeschoolers have thought for years: “No problem here.”
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Does Homeschooling Prepare Kids for the Real World? |
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Larry and Susan Kaseman |
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As homeschoolers, we are sometimes asked challenging questions. One is: Does homeschooling prepare kids for the real world? The implication seems to be that because homeschooled children spend so much time with their families, and because they are spared the hard knocks that often accompany attending a conventional school, they will not be prepared for the challenges and problems of adult life in the real world.
Sometimes, this question offers a welcome opportunity to explore fundamental questions. What is the real world, anyway? What attitudes and skills prepare one to deal with it effectively? To what extent do our expectations and our preparations for the real world shape the world in which we live?
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Homeschooling Isn't About Education |
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Chris Davis |
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Sometimes we have a tendency to lose sight of why we've chosen to homeschool. Chris Davis gives a good argument for not just "bringing school home," but looking at the bigger picture of helping to develop a whole person who is using his or her specific talents and callings. |
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Government Schooling Comes to America: The Origins of Government Schooling in the United States |
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Matthew Brouillette |
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The first step in understanding the state of education today is to review how government came to be the dominant force behind schooling in the United States. From the outset of the first settlements in the New World, Americans founded and successfully maintained a decentralized network of schools through the 1850s. Then, beginning in New England, a wave of change swept across the country, which soon saw states quickly abandoning the original American model of decentralized, private education in favor of government-funded and operated schools.
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