It hasn’t been long since parents were expected to educate their children--schooling away from the home was the alternative!

Today we have lots of options when we consider how to best guide our children through the learning process and this class is designed to help parents who are considering the option of home schooling and want to learn more about it. It’s also for those who have made the commitment and want to expand their options. And, we even welcome those who have been home schooling for a while and are always on the lookout for more information.

A Little Home Schooling History

Home schooling has a roller coaster history in this country. It was certainly a well-respected method of teaching children as the colonists made their homes on the Eastern seaboard. In the late 1800s government took over the primary responsibility of educating its young citizens with compulsory attendance laws, and public schools became a popular form of education.

It wasn't long before private schools emerged with the entrepreneurial spirit that a better education should cost a bit extra. In fact, schools were considered so much the norm that as recently as 1985, it was illegal to home school in parts of the United States.

Most children in the United States have historically attended public or private school. But parents aren’t always happy with that option and there has been a growing trend in recent years to return to home schooling as a way of educating our children.

Today, in the twenty-first century, we’ve come full circle and over 2 million students are home schooled in America, with a growth rate of 7% or higher each year. Home schooling is indeed legal and a viable option in all fifty states.

Each of those states has the privilege of laying out the boundaries and requirements for its population and they vary considerably. There are some very friendly home school states that simply require you teach your children subjects like: reading, spelling, grammar, math, and good citizenship. There are other states that have very complex and detailed requirements for parents, which require testing, portfolio submission, and parental qualifications. These standards continue to be debated and how much or how little state control there is can change.

Traditionally, Home schooling had a strong religious foundation in America. You’ll remember that one of the main reasons the colonists left England was to seek religious freedom. Parents wanted to educate their children in both academics and religion. In the 1960s and 70s, religion was no longer a part of public education and there was a rise in private Christian schools. There was also a rise in home schooling.

Today, there are home schooling curriculums that are both Christian based and secular. You don’t have to subscribe to any religious background to home school your child, but if you haven’t discovered it already, there is a large Christian-based segment of the home schooling population.

What about the rest of the world? It is not always legal to home school a child. Germany, for example, does not allow home schooling. It is illegal. We are very fortunate in America to have this choice!

Parent Responsibility

As parents, we take on a huge responsibility with each child we bring into this world. We want the best for them and we look at options for each aspect of their lives. Ballet or Swim Team? Basketball or Football? Overnight Camp or Summer Fun? Preschool or Home Time? The list is long!

There isn't any real reason why we shouldn't be the ones in control of how are children are educated. We're responsible for them in every other way and although we may decide to have a school or other teachers help us, the ultimate responsibility is ours. I like to think of home schooling as parent-supervised learning. After all, the goal is for our children to learn, not simply to be taught.

As parents of a 12-year son that we now home school, my husband and I had many decisions to make. We considered public school. After all, we live in an area that rates their public schools very highly—and they’re free! We considered private school. We considered private Christian Schools. We dutifully enrolled our son in the best of school we could find.

We thought we were doing the right thing for him. We weren’t happy and we learned that choices are not easy. Every child is different and ultimately, we as parents are responsible for each child's upbringing. They don’t all need the same thing!

For many that are considering home schooling, the option may not really have been discussed when you thought about school. After all, isn’t that for the weird folks??? I’ve had to laugh over and over again as friends of mine have approached me with comments like, Home schooling? I never thought I’d know anybody that did that! You’re so normal! and then as time passes, they start to wonder why they’re still writing tuition checks for $1000 or more a month and are unhappy with their child’s education.

Years ago, curriculum providers wouldn’t sell textbooks to individual families and home schooling was hard to do. But we’re very fortunate, today. There are many well-respected options for curriculum, online classes, support groups, and learning experiences. You’ll have to pick and choose carefully—there isn’t time to do them all!

As parents, we need to be responsible to our children and assess many options for them. Home schooling is not right for every child or parent. But I do believe that it is a worthy option that should be considered when education is being decided.

I’ll assume you have some interest in the topic if you’re taking this class. Can you do it? Should you do it? How do you start? We’ll look at lots of information that will help you answer those questions in our coming lessons.

One Word or Two?

Before we go much farther, there is a very important aspect of all this we need to discuss. Just exactly how do you spell home schooling? Is it one word or two? Well, there’s no right answer to that, just as there’s no right answer to many things in this area!

In the dictionary, you'll find it listed both ways, so you can use either. I'll use it as two words here, but your text has it as one in the title. Does it really make any difference? Only when you're searching for things on the Internet.

I'd recommend that if you're using Google or E-Bay or any other Internet based-search program to find home schooling information that you search both ways—you'll find much more information that way.

Let's take a look at some other aspects of our classroom and give you a chance to dive in to those materials.