Are Home Educated Children at a Disadvantage?

Are homeschooled kids at a disadvantage? That is an interesting question that I have been pondering a reasonably good answer to for a while, and the idea just resurfaced when I received an e-mail from the editor from Opposing Views. It has forced me to think about that idea again. This post does not cover all of the reasons that I believe that home educated children are not disadvantaged but actually at an advantage; this post is just the tip of the iceberg.

Families choose to homeschool their children for many reasons. Some want to provide a safe learning environment, or parents homeschool because they feel they can meet their children’s needs better than a public or even a private school. There are families who suppliment home education with services from public school. Other families choose to homeschool for religious reasons. Whatever the reason is, families are equipping their children for the real world through home education. They are doing it successfully, too, and there is research to back that statement.

The data cannot unequivocally prove that the positive results seen in home educated children are directly caused by their experiences in their home schools. I have to wonder, though, what else could be the cause of such positive results? Home education happens in the context of real life with people who are committed to their children. Who knows your children better than you do? The curriculum is tailored to meet a particular child’s needs. Children are offered learning opportunities that are delivered in ways that address their individual learning styles. Homeschools offer a tutoring situation. Imagine if you had a personal tutor all throughout your schooling!

Many people are concerned about the quality of the education provided in home schools. Unlike public and private schools, home schools offer flexibility so families can take advantage of learning opportunities that the children might otherwise miss out on. A family can go on field trips that offer real experiences that cannot be replicated in the classroom. Parents can also decide what their children learn, how long to study something, and what time of day works best for the children to complete assignments. If a child gets engrossed in a lesson, s/he can continue that work for as long as is necessary since there aren’t the same time constraints in the home school as in the classroom. Lesson plans can also be abandoned more easily if a child has already mastered a particular skill, if s/he is not ready for that work, or even if the lesson just is not working.

Socialization is one other thing that people bring up when I talk about home education, which I find interesting. Today many of our children spend the majority of their time with child care workers, teachers, coaches, and their peers instead of time with their families. Bullying, violence, and teen pregnancy are just a few of the issues that are causing problems for our children in public and private schools. Children’s interactions with each other are being shaped by their peers or other adults who do not necessarily share the family’s morals and values. However, the center of a home school is the family with siblings learning together and families spending exponentially more time together than children who are educated outside the home. Parents have more time to shape their children’s social experiences and have more opportunities to impart their values on their children. Homeschoolers provide all kinds of social situations for their children just not exactly the same ones that public and private school children have. Home educated children have time outside of the family while they participate in church activities, service opportunities, and co-ops.

I ask you, what are the disadvantages?

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