No, Homeschooling Is Not the Problem

An editorial from May 14, 2024 in, of all places, Scientific American recently came to my attention. While short, it managed to proclaim many of the worn, incomplete, misleading statements about homeschooling, while reserving most of its real estate for references to isolated, tragic mistreatments of children who also happen to be homeschooled.

Its conclusions? The same tiresome ones you would expect to find: homeschooling parents don’t necessarily have the right credentials and, therefore, children are being deprived of their rights to education. Uniformity is lacking. Thus, bring in the government and regulate, regulate, regulate.

Generally, I stay away from this kind of topic . . . and maybe I should today. Yet, such myopic outpourings make me wonder if the presumably investigative minds of such writers ever, ever, ever accorded the vibrant, diverse world of homeschooling even 20 minutes of their attention.

Has this writer ever dropped down into a bustling homeschool convention, such as the annual GHC conferences held in South Carolina, Ohio, Missouri, California, and Texas? Has he or she overheard the discussions of curriculum and pedagogy that parents (and grandparents) conduct with other parents, or listened to the interchanges between these adults and high-schoolers considering the merits of new programs? Have such critics observed the passionate conversations between these parents and speakers and curriculum providers?

To continue, has such a writer spent even an hour walking the aisles of these conferences’ exhibit halls, where heads are drawn left and right to engaging, masterfully laid out curricula and extra-curricular offerings? Has this writer attended sessions of speakers who frequently are the creators of said curricula (yours truly being one). And, finally, has the writer sat and talked with actual homeschool kids? Because if such writers had done any of these things, they could not write what they write.

Is everything perfect in the homeschooling world? No, of course not. There has always been, and always will be, abominable things that happen in families, and often right under the noses of the people in official institutions who are supposed to be on the watch for them.

Yet when entire schools cannot boast numbers to show the majority of students hitting grade-level achievement in math, reading, or history, things are not okay in the public-school system. And when posters can appear on the walls of public schools listing the points young children should know about Drag Queens, “not okay” falls away and “catastrophic” appears in its place.

How I wish the journalists could see even part of the rich spectrum I have discovered about homeschooling. A head-to-head comparison of academic achievements between public and homeschooled students misses the point (although studies consistently show homeschoolers leading their public-school peers in this arena).

Instead, I would like critics to discover the ever strengthening, diverse currents of this movement, starting with curricula addressing the needs of Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox audiences, Mormon families, Muslim families, Hindu families, Jewish families, as well as devotedly secular families, and even “Unschoolers.” The Scientific American editor would be well-served to learn about the growing curricula under the rubric of Special-Needs that embrace the spiritual identity of these children and support them in upward progress to levels unfathomable in most public-schooling institutions.

Also, let this editor meet families where parents are homeschooling some of the siblings, while sending others to public or private schools because this is the best call for those children. And then the editor needs to experience the highly creative and successful ways communities of homeschoolers have set up alternative systems for sport and arts’ activities or launched exceptional community projects impossible for kids to accomplish who spend their days in public schools.

Addressing the simplistic descrying of homeschooling parents as “unqualified,” do these critics realize the conscientious way many parents learn avidly along with their children, staying one step ahead (which is what all teachers do in the early parts of their careers)? Do they understand that it is homeschool moms, dads, and grandmas who are fueling a big part of the movement to resurrect phonics, memorization, cursive, copybook work, and Latin—the traditional keys to learning that public schools scratched in the mid 20th century (although some do seem to be waking up to the damage this has caused)? Do they know about the rising number of excellent on-line homeschool academies (K-12) or the dual-credit programs with colleges that allow homeschooled high-schoolers to bypass wasted time in college and pile up less student debt?

If only such writers could soar above the rooftops to observe how certain homeschooled students are able to pursue talents and interests at a far higher level than if they were trapped inside a 7-hour school day: violin students who can take lessons from top members of the professional orchestra precisely because they can arrive in daytime hours when these musicians have time to teach; teenage dancers who take morning classes along with the ensembles of their area’s professional ballet or contemporary companies. I could spin forth many more dramatic examples.

But consider too the quiet, less dramatic examples of kids who are avid readers, aspiring authors, artists, or junior craftsmen that, because of homeschooling, can spend substantial hours with classic literature, pen their stories, cast their pots, or master their tools while their peers are riding school busses or enduring pointless hours in homerooms and assemblies (not to mention fighting the din of disorder prevalent in many public-school classrooms). Finally, there are the entrepreneurial kids who already envision starting a business one day. They train for, even launch fledgling versions of, their dreams while still students.

All of these things address the editorial’s closing statement:

We need to make sure kids have chances to investigate what makes them curious, study history and science and reading, and ask questions and learn from others. We want them to reach adulthood ready to take on the world.

So . . . yes, absolutely. I agree. Consequently, parents who want their children (how was it worded?) to “investigate, be curious, study, ask questions, and learn from the broadest possible sources and resources” as they, year by year, “get ready to take on the world in adulthood,” may find today’s world of homeschooling provides an inviting, affordable, fascinating avenue that assures many of these outcomes.

One thing is certain: homeschooling is strengthening an ever-increasing number of children, enriching their home life, and driving a hope-filled revival of true and solid education, particularly in the United States. And it is this momentum that will help save us from the dreadful mess that has mired and damaged two generations of precious young minds.