Home-school realities
Monday, January 14, 2002
By Kyle Williams© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
This week I was reminded of reasons why I'm not in public school: A report that California schools are requiring the teaching of the Islamic faith – teaching 7th graders prayers to Allah – and grabbing their attention with video games. Additionally, we all remember the school shooting stories. We know that public schools teach a one-sided view of the creation of the universe. And we know the terrible test scores coming out of the school system today.
So, what's the alternative?
Home schooling is something the NEA would like to abolish. They say it "cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience," yet it's something I've done my whole life.
In the past years, home schooling has become very popular because of the reasons I mentioned above. When you're home schooling your children, you don't have to worry about your kids being taught another religion in school, or being taught about the homosexual lifestyle, or sex education or evolution. You don't have to worry about your child being tempted with drugs, or the peer pressure that goes on.
When an organization like the NEA is down on an issue, they tend to fabricate things. One major concern is the NEA and other advocates for public schools say that home schoolers do not have the socialization skills required in life.
They're lying.
Groups like the NEA always seem to focus on the few anti-social kids to make that point, while they look at the most social kid in public school for their poster boy. There are, you know, extremely anti-social people in public schools, as there are in home schooling.
Now, if a home schooler is totally secluded with no interaction with peers, obviously their socialization skills will be lacking. But do you think a home schooling parent is going to do that? Of course not. The majority of home schoolers play sports, go to home-school groups, classes, church activities, etc.
One of the main reasons my parents put me in sports and church activities was so I could learn the necessary socialization skills. Which is what thousands of other home schooling parents do also.
Yet, some continue to say home schoolers lack needed socialization skills. In contrast, I say public schoolers lack needed socialization skills. One area home schoolers have an upper hand in, is socialization with adults. Since home-schooled children have one-on-one teaching with an adult, they naturally speak better with adults than the average child. That's one of the reasons I'm writing now, because I can connect with adults.
I can confidently say that if I wasn't home-schooled, I wouldn't be writing today.
Another fabrication of the NEA is that parents teaching their children need to be certified and tested. Apparently, they believe home schooling parents shouldn't be teaching because they don't know what they're doing. However, parents teach their children from the time they're born! For thousands of years, parents have taught their children.
Almost all the founding fathers were home schooled. If not, they were in a type of a charter school. The founders were some of the smartest people that walked this land. And many presidents were home schooled as well, including Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and others.
In addition to the advantages listed above, home schoolers generally do much better academically. According to the Fraser Institute, an independent organization based in Canada, home schoolers score in the 75 to 85 percent range on most tests, while public school students score in the 50 to 60 percent range on the same tests.
Home schoolers also have above average scores on the ACT and SAT. Colleges and universities are, obviously, looking for the cream of the crop. And it is known that some actively search for home-schooled students.
Plus, the parent of a child cares more about their own child than a teacher does. When home schooled, the teacher is always looking out for the well being of their child and doing what's right.
I'm thankful that I am home schooled. It gives me the opportunity to do things that I otherwise wouldn't be able to do.
Home schooling isn't for everyone. Especially if you're a single mother or both parents have to work. But parents teaching children at home works well for many families.
Kyle Williams is 13 years old, home-schooled and lives in a rural community in America's heartland. His column title, "VERITAS," is Latin for "truth." He particularly enjoys following current news events – and writing about them – and is extremely interested in politics. Kyle believes he may one day have a career in journalism. For now, he offers his unique perspective to the readers of WorldNetDaily.
