Motivations for homeschooling
There are many reasons that are given as to why parents tend to choose homeschooling over the other methods of schooling. In this, it is important to note that parents tend to commonly cite two key motivations that make them to opt for homeschooling (Chang, Gould, & Meuse, 2011). One of the factors that has greatly contributed towards the choice for homeschooling over the other methods of schooling include high levels of dissatisfaction with the existing local schools as most of them have lowered the quality of education over time with the grades produced in these institution being said to have gone down significantly (Bohon, 2012). The dissatisfaction that has been recorded by parents to the existing schools is linked to the schooling environment, the curriculum used in these institutions, the quality of academic instruction, bullying and lack of faith in the institution’s ability to meet the needs of the students learning in these institutions (Houston, & Toma, 2003).
The other motivating factor that has made parents to opt for homeschooling is that of developing some increasing interest in getting involved to the development as well as the learning process of their children (Houston, & Toma, 2003). In this, it is important to understand that a good number of children tend to homeschool their children for purposes of being in control over what their students learn as well as having a know how of how their children are taught. Additionally, parents engage their children in homeschooling for purposes of catering for their kids abilities as well as aptitudes more effectively and adequately as well as taking advantage of the efficiency of one-to-one instruction (Chang, Gould, & Meuse, 2011). Homeschooling thus gives a child effective time to engage in various childhood activities like socializing and other non-academic activities that help them to be better individuals as they grow up in the society (Lubienski, Puckett, & Brewer, 2013).
Additionally, it is important to note that homeschooling has also been considered to be caused significantly by the choice of parenting style that parents tend to choose for their kids. In relation to this, it is important to note that homeschooling can generally be a matter of consistency for those families that live in isolated locations with those living in rural homes being the likely individuals to go for homeschooling as a way of quenching their children’s educational needs (Bohon, 2012). Additionally, individuals who tend to move out of their countries and go to other countries with their families temporarily may also opt for homeschooling for the time that they stay in the country where they stay. It is also important to note that a good number of actors, athletes, and musicians tend to be homeschooled for purposes of accommodating their busy schedules in a more convenient manner (Chang, Gould, & Meuse, 2011).
It is also important to note that the process of homeschooling can also be about apprenticeship and mentorship meaning that a teacher spends quite some time with the child making him or her to be more intimately acquainted with the child (Houston, & Toma, 2003). It is also important to note that engaging in homeschooling activities can be used as a type of supplemental education and as a technique of helping learners to get their education under some very specific conditions (Cogan, 2010). The system gained relevance over time to a tune where the existing jurisdiction call for those engaging in homeschooling to adhere to the country’s or region’s approved curriculum (Lubienski, Puckett, & Brewer, 2013). It is thus important to note that that homeschooling has been growing at a very fast rate and it is most likely to be one of the things that will gain grounds in the future with a good number of parents likely adopting the system for their children.
Why homeschooled students are academically sound
There are a number of reasons as to why homeschooling is considered to be of great quality as well as being effective in imparting students with the right academic knowledge just like the other students who go past the normal schooling programs. In this, researches that have been done in the past have indicated that homeschooled learners tend to have scores that are higher or equal to the scores that are acquired by non-homeschooled student on different states college entry exams (Bohon, 2012). The results of the entry exams have been compared between students who passed through the normal system and students who went through homeschooling and the difference was significant thus proving homeschooling to be effective imparting the right knowledge to the students confirming that it is surely an effective learning process. As a result of this, it gets important to know the types of motivating styles that are used to homeschool students as it will generally help teachers to improve the performance of the children using the other schooling methods (Cogan, 2010).
Another study that was carried out to note the difference between homeschooled students and students from the formal system found out that homeschooled children tend achieve similar academic levels just like the other students who pass through the private and public schools. It is important to note that the results of this study cuts across students from all walks of life irrespective of their socio-economic status as well as their originality (Chang, Gould, & Meuse, 2011). In this, it is important to note that homeschooled students have been found to get exceptionally high marks in almost all the standardized tests that are administered to them. In an example, a countrywide study that analyzed data from 1,952 different homeschooled students found out that homeschooled students averagely scored over eighty percent in all their test categories, a phenomena that could be easily linked to the environment in which the students are exposed to, the language used to teach them, and the study skills that they employ during their reading thus making them better than the other students (Lubienski, Puckett, & Brewer, 2013).
It is also important to note that State-level studies also ended up reaching to the same conclusions with homeschooled students having a score higher than students from the other schools when they sat for a common exam (Bohon, 2012). The other method that can be used in measuring the difference in the academic performance between homeschooled students and students from other schools is their academic performance and success level when they get to college. In this, it is important to note that homeschoolers tend to perform better than compared to their colleagues with all fresh homeschoolers having a higher GPA compared to students from normal schools in different parts of the world (Lubienski, Puckett, & Brewer, 2013).
Studies have found out that those homeschooled students who have parents with appropriate knowledge in education tend to get higher scores compared to those students whose parents do not have the right knowledge on education. The students whose parents have a strong education background tend to get more attention during their learning time compared to other students thus making them to perform exceptionally higher and better compared to their counterparts whose parents do not have similar backgrounds in the education sector (Chang, Gould, & Meuse, 2011). It is on this basis that I conclude that homeschooled students tend to be highly academically sound just like the other students from both the private and public schools as much of them tend to score higher marks in joint tests and in college entry examinations.