Some parents wish to remove their children from the public schools because they see the public school system as failing, or as being harmful for their children. Other parents wish to teach their children at home for religious reasons, or because they want to instill specific values into their children which they see as missing from the public schools. Whatever the reason for teaching children at home, there is little doubt that the majority of parents choose homeschooling because they see it as the best educational choice for their children.



For the majority of parent there are two sides to to the homeschooling equation comprising those things which it brings to the child and those negative things which it removes from the child's environment. Both peer pressure and bullying are rife throughout the public school system nowadays and can place children under considerable pressure and, at times, even place them in danger. Teaching your children at home allows you much more control over exactly who your children do and do not come into contact with and the influences they are subjected to.

In terms of a child's growth and academic development there can be little question but that, in the majority of cases, homeschooling leads to superior results and this is seen in such things as homeschooled children winning the National Spelling Bees and the high number of homeschooled children attaining degrees (often Master's degrees) at many of our finest universities and often at very young ages.

Of course many people hold that such children are just gifted and that their success is due to their natural genius rather than to homeschooling. But, if this were to be the case then it is certainly true to say that we are blessed with an abundance of geniuses in our youth. The fact of the matter is that at the end of the day the numbers simply do not support this point of view.

The statistics, which are produced not just by fans of homeschooling but by bodies such as the United States Department of Education, demonstrate quite clearly that homeschooled children do much better than their publicly schooled peers with homeschooled children a grade ahead by the age of 12 and as much as four grades ahead by the time they get to the equivalent of the 8th grade.

Despite the fact that the majority of people believe that homeschooling is a relatively modern phenomenon it has in fact been around for hundreds of years and is a well tried and tested system which has certainly stood the test of time. Of course homeschooling has changed considerably over the decades and much of the philosophy underlying homeschooling nowadays stems from the work of supporters of the system during the 1960s.

Homeschooling is undoubtedly not an easy choice and is extremely hard work for the majority of parents, especially during the early stages, but there can be little doubt that it works and the rewards for both parents and children are well worth the effort.