Do Homeschooled Children like Being Homeschooled?

Do homeschooled children like being homeschooled? Do homeschooled children get enough variety in their lives - are they well-rounded? How do homeschooled children turn out as adults? Can they get in to good colleges? Well, let's look at the evidence.

"I've heard other children say they hate school...my girls love it," says a 44-year-old homeschooling mother of four young daughters, married to a public school science teacher. (personal communication, February 8, 2003). She has noticed that her girls love finding out new information, and since they are not locked into the grade system, they are free to pursue what she refers to as rabbit trails. "Home school doesn't squelch their natural curiosity and processes of learning," she says, noting that when the girls are interested in something, they are free to go on a bit of a tangent and learn about it while they are interested.

The girls have been evaluated at or above grade level. Because all the children are present, the younger ones are exposed to what is being taught to the older ones, preparing them in advance. All four girls have lively imaginations and find creative ways to entertain themselves since they rarely watch television, a theme often mentioned when talking with home schooling families.(personal communication, February 8, 2003).

When I asked my youngest son what subject he enjoyed the most and how he thought it might compare to public school learning, he said, "I like history best because I don't read textbooks that tell about dates. I read biographies and watch documentaries that tell about people that were there, and what they saw and did" (personal communication, February 22, 2003). My boys also enjoyed having some say in their schedules, or the books they read, even sometimes in what electives they studied.

Children that are home schooled usually realize the depth of commitment their parents have for them, and most seem to enjoy the things they do with their families. Michael von Ansbach-Young, a 16-year-old who completed high school and now studies computer science by correspondence, wrote about why he valued his home school experience in Countryside & Small Stock Journal (1998, May 15). He notes that, while skeptical at first, he soon discovered the joys of having time for self-directed learning, since the formal subjects don't take as long to complete in a tutoring situation. He states that he and his brothers consistently scored in the ninetieth percentile on tests such as SAT, ACT, and CTBS, while the national average for these tests are in the fiftieth percentile.

He feels that, rather than being with peers constantly to develop properly, it works far better for children to learn social skills from parents, and "any society that rejects or ignores the wisdom of elderly people is apt to make more mistakes than are necessary." (von Ansbach-Young, 1998). He feels that the two main reasons why home schooling is so successful is because no one is more committed to their children's education than parents, and secondly because of the individualized instruction inherent in home education. (von Ansbach-Young, 1998).

But are homeschooled children well-rounded? Mr. Samuel A. Walker, in his 2002 article, "Home Schoolers Make Case for School Choice" for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, was amazed at the amount of home school contestants, placers and winners in national contests such as the National Geography Bee, The Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, and the USA and International Math Olympiads. "As Home School Legal Defense Association President Mike Smith noted following the contest, only 2 percent of the U.S. students are home schooled. Yet, in the geography bee, 22 percent of the national finalists and 40 percent of the final 10 students were home schoolers. Such a showing is nothing short of phenomenal." (Walker, 2002).

All right, but what about adults who were home schooled? Are they normal? And what about admission to college for home schooled children without transcripts and formal grades? Well, there is good news on that front.

According to Isabel Lyman (1998), the National Merit Scholarship Corporation selected over 70 home schooled high school seniors as semifinalists in 1998. Their good grades, disciplined approach to learning, and well-rounded lives are attracting the notice of colleges, too. According to Claire McCusker (2002), the intellectual vitality and test scores that home schooled students present are impressing college recruiters.

Stanford University admissions officer Jonothan Reider claims that Stanford has been so impressed with these applicants that their admissions office began tracking them in 1999 to discover more about them. (McCusker, 2002). As home schoolers reach adulthood, more and more of them are applying to colleges, and many web sites deal specifically with their unique questions. The College Board has an on-line Web tour called "The Path from Home School to College", according to a FAQ sheet put out by Learn in Freedom (Bunday, 2000). Just a few of the colleges mentioned were Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, several Institutes of Technology, Harvard, Princeton, the Air Force, Coast Guard, Military, and Naval Academies, Notre Dame, Vassar, and Yale. (Bunday, 2000).

As far as their future lives, J. Gary Knowles of the University of Michigan was curious, so he did a study and found that two-thirds of the subjects were married, none were unemployed, none were on any form of welfare, and three-quarters thought being home schooled had enabled them to interact better with people from all walks of life (n.d.).

Homeschooled children not only seem contented and well adjusted, but they are well-rounded, getting in to good colleges, and excelling in their adult lives. Homeschooled children and their parents definitely like it.

References

Personal experience

Personal communication

Bunday, K. M. (2001). Colleges that admit homeschoolers. Retrieved February 6, 2003 from http://learninfreedom.org/colleges_4_hmsc.html

Frequently asked questions. (n.d.). National Home Education Network. Retrieved February 9, 2003 from http://www.nhen.org/printfriendly.asp?ID=33

Harris, G. (1988). The christian home school. Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt.
Home school soup. (n.d.). National Home Education Network. Retrieved February 9, 2003 from http://nhen.org/media/default.asp?id=353

Lyman, I. (1998, Sept. 1). What's behind the growth in homeschooling? USA Today Magazine. Retrieved February 12, 2003, from eLibrary, Lirn database.

McCusker, C. (2002, Sept. 9). Homeschoolers arrive on campus. Insight on the News. Retrieved February 12, 2003 from eLibrary, Lirn database.

Moore, R. & D. (1982). Home-spun schools. Berrien Springs, MI: Hewitt Research Foundation.

von Ansbach-Young, M. (1998, May 15). Countryside & Small Stock Journal. Retrieved February 12, 2003 from eLibrary, Lirn database.

Walker, S. A. (2002, May 24). Home schoolers make case for school choice. Retrieved February 9, 2003, from Mackinac Center for Public Policy Web site:http://www.mackinac.org/4364