Difference between revisions of "Homeschooling"
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The primary reason for homeschooling is to give the child a better education. A close second in reasons, however, is to avoid the culture of public school and its many adverse effects of hostility to Christianity and parental control, political bias, boredom, confusion, depression, etc. | The primary reason for homeschooling is to give the child a better education. A close second in reasons, however, is to avoid the culture of public school and its many adverse effects of hostility to Christianity and parental control, political bias, boredom, confusion, depression, etc. | ||
| − | + | In the United States, opting out of public schools is not new. Thomas Edison's mother took him out of public school when his teacher said he was "addled" and schooled him at home. But because of compulsory education laws—the first was passed in Massachusetts in 1852, and by 1918 every state had them—schooling at home was a violation of truancy laws, and was rare until the 1970s. | |
The origin of the U. S. homeschooling movement is often credited to John Holt and his 1964 book ''How Children Fail.'' Holt was "a left-winger who regarded schools as instruments of the bureaucratic-industrial complex." However, the movement was also catalyzed when social conservatives became alarmed at the 1962 U. S. Supreme Court ruling banning prayer in school.<ref>Micklethwait, John and Adrian Wooldridge, ''The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America.'' Penguin, 2004. pp. 190-1</ref> | The origin of the U. S. homeschooling movement is often credited to John Holt and his 1964 book ''How Children Fail.'' Holt was "a left-winger who regarded schools as instruments of the bureaucratic-industrial complex." However, the movement was also catalyzed when social conservatives became alarmed at the 1962 U. S. Supreme Court ruling banning prayer in school.<ref>Micklethwait, John and Adrian Wooldridge, ''The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America.'' Penguin, 2004. pp. 190-1</ref> | ||
Revision as of 01:14, March 1, 2007
Homeschooling is opting out of formal public and private schools in order to educate children in the home or in specially arranged classes or cooperatives. Parents take a more active role in the education of their children when they homeschool.
The primary reason for homeschooling is to give the child a better education. A close second in reasons, however, is to avoid the culture of public school and its many adverse effects of hostility to Christianity and parental control, political bias, boredom, confusion, depression, etc.
In the United States, opting out of public schools is not new. Thomas Edison's mother took him out of public school when his teacher said he was "addled" and schooled him at home. But because of compulsory education laws—the first was passed in Massachusetts in 1852, and by 1918 every state had them—schooling at home was a violation of truancy laws, and was rare until the 1970s.
The origin of the U. S. homeschooling movement is often credited to John Holt and his 1964 book How Children Fail. Holt was "a left-winger who regarded schools as instruments of the bureaucratic-industrial complex." However, the movement was also catalyzed when social conservatives became alarmed at the 1962 U. S. Supreme Court ruling banning prayer in school.[1]
Truancy laws brought pioneering homeschoolers into conflict with local officials. The first New York Times story on "home schooling" appeared in 1974, and concerned two parents charged with "educational neglect" by the Westchester County Department of Social Services. Tests showed that they performed at or about grade level "except for one who is a little slow in reading," and the parents received strong support from a state senator.[2] By the mid-1980s the Times was running articles with titles like "Schooling in the Home: A Growing Alternative" and "There Are Benefits In Homeschooling," and states were legalizing homeschooling[3] A 1997 article said "It's not only Christian fundamentalists any more" and a 2003 article noted "Unhappy in Class, More Are Learning at Home."
High-achieving Christians who were educated at home
A disproportionate number of high achievers have throughout history have been Christians who were educated at home. Here is a list of some of them:
Leonardo da Vinci
Claude Monet
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Stonewall Jackson
John Paul Jones
Robert E. Lee
Douglas MacArthur
George Patton
Alexander Graham Bell
Thomas Edison
Cyrus McCormick
Orville and Wilbur Wright
George Washington
John Quincy Adams
James Madison
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Joan of Arc
John the Baptist
Jesus Christ
William Cary
Jonathan Edwards
Dwight L. Moody
John Newton
Charles Wesley
John Wesley
Brigham Young
George Washington Carver
Pierre Curie
Charles Louis Montesquieu
Blaise Pascal
Bernhard Riemann
Booker T. Washington
Adam Yahiye Gadahn[1]
John Walker Lindh[2] Checkered educational history, in and out of public schools, partly homeschooled
Franklin D. Roosevelt[3] (private tutors at home through age 14, then entered Groton)
Winston Churchill
Patrick Henry
William Penn
Henry Clay
John Jay
John Marshall
John Rutledge
Hans Christian Andersen
Pearl S. Buck
Agatha Christie
Charles Dickens
Bret Harte
C.S. Lewis
Sean O’Casey
George Bernard Shaw
Mark Twain
Daniel Webster
George Clymer
William Livingston
George Mason
Charles Pickney III
George Wyeth
Ansel Adams
Clara Barton
John Burroughs
Andrew Carnegie
George Rogers Clark
Florence Nightingale
Leo Tolstoy
Charles Fletcher Lummis
Christopher Paolini
Footnotes
- ↑ Micklethwait, John and Adrian Wooldridge, The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America. Penguin, 2004. pp. 190-1
- ↑ "Parents Accused in Home Schooling," The New York Times, July 28, 1974, p. 45
- ↑ Belluck, Pam (1998), "Life After Home Schooling," The New York Times, November 1, 1998, p. ED26: "Some 15 years after states began legalizing home schooling in earnest, these early graduates are starting to make their way in the world."
