The homeschool debate has been raging for years though as time passes more people seem to be on the side of those who choose to homeschool their children. One of the reasons for this is the belief that the public school system is failing our children. For the child who is an average student, one who has few struggles and needs few challenges the school system is seen to be adequate. But the child who may be brighter, who need more stimulation, this child is seen to slip through the cracks. The same goes for any child who has learning difficulties. In a class of thirty the above average student and the below average student are too easy to avoid dealing with. If the work does not get done the way it is expected to then the teacher must still move on. There is no time to give more to the one struggling or find something extra to stimulate the bright one who gets the work done in half the time and so is bored though much of the school day. These children do much better in a homeschool program that is tailored to their needs. The child with learning issues gets someone who knows what they need and have more patience with their problems. The brighter child will have a program designed to stimulate and challenge them. Both will learn better.
Those in the homeschool debate who are against the idea claim that a child schooled at home will have issues based on a lack of socialization. They feel that spending so many hours at home with parents, and other siblings who are also being schooled at home, is not enough. Others claim that it is not enough for a child to be taught by a parent, or both parents, because they could never have the life experiences or interests that are brought to a class by a host of teachers who specialize in each individual subject. Some people object to homeschooling because they feel it is done to protect children from the world and the ugliness that can be found in it. This includes racism, bullies and embarrassment in front of their peers. Some people feel that children are homeschooled to avoid them mixing with others who are different from them and that this is unhealthy both for them as children and as they grow up.
Other positions in the homeschool debate think that homeschooling is one way to protect children from the horrible things that have gone on in the schools over the last several years. These things include the shootings at schools, the easy availability of drugs, guns and knives as well as the potential for teenage pregnancies. Depending on your position on these issues you either support it as a good thing because children can be protected from those issues or you think it is wrong to pull children from schools to try to keep those things out of their lives.
No matter your stand in the homeschool debate if you look closely you will see that the trend is towards more parents pulling their kids form overcrowded classrooms and teaching them themselves in the hope to improve their educations.
