Home School

by
College Directory Columnist

May 7, 2010

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Today, a home school is a school in which parents, or sometimes tutors or particular teachers, teach their children an academic curriculum at home, instead of sending them to attend schools, (either public or private formal institutions).

This type of education receives the name of homeschooling, home school, home education or home learning.-

Prior to the introduction of compulsory school attendance laws, most of education children received was at home, within the family or community, homeschooling in the modern sense is an alternative in developed countries to formal education.

Generally home schooling is a choice made by some parents to educate their children because of several reasons.

Many parents argue that they feel frustrated by different things like corrupt school boards, underpaid teachers or unsafe conditions for their children.

Most of parents who opt for homeschooling consider family togetherness as an important reason, besides having a closer control over curriculum, and over what their children learn. Also, there are many of them who have religious reasons.

Other important reasons for this choice frequently are more flexibility in adapting educational practices for children with learning disabilities or illnesses or on the contrary the choose to home school their children to focus the education more on the child's unique gifts, such as arts or mathematics.

And finally there are many parents who simply like the idea of teaching their own children rather than letting someone else do so.

Home schooling is legal throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America, Hong Kong, and South Africa, and it is legally accepted in all 50 states of the U.S., but each state has its own laws that a family must adhere to.

A home school is also an alternative for families living abroad for a lapse of time, and for those living in isolated rural locations. Home schooling is also considered an excellent alternative by groups whose jobs require frequent moves, such as military families.

Currently, it is estimated that over one million families school their children at home.

To supplement traditional teaching, a lot of families that have chosen to home school their children take advantage of technology, and online education. In addition to the Internet, which is a powerful tool, literally a container full with educational resources, online dictionaries, atlas, libraries, books and encyclopedias, they can opt among many educational software packages, to enhance the curriculum.

The home school movement is increasingly getting the attention of private and public schools.

In the last several decades, United States colleges and universities have become increasingly open to accepting students from diverse backgrounds, including home-schooled students.