Education is a very important concern in the hearts of Americans. What is the best form of education? Home schooling has gradually made its way into the education field as an acceptable but controversial form of education. Home education is one of the fastest growing alternative forms of education to public schooling. Approximately one million children or more are being educated in their homes because of the success of home schooling. (Home Education; A Natural Learning Experience) The increase of students does not seem to be slowing down, and with growing concern over the public schools, the growth of the home schooling movement seems inevitable.
Home schooling can be defined as educating children at home rather than at school. Home schooling started thirty years ago because of two men, Raymond Moore and John Holt. Both men felt that the public education system was wrong and emerged as founders of the home schooling movement in America. Moore believed that children were being pushed in school to learn things they were not ready to learn. After extensive research, he concluded that children in schools become extremely dependent on their peers. (Guterson, D). Holt viewed schools as places that produced "obedient, but bland citizens (Guterson, D). .
There are many parents who are home schooling right now that are not qualified. In a public school children are guaranteed that their teacher has a college degree. Home schooling also deprives children of real-life situations that develop cooperation, problem-solving skills, and interdependence with their classmates. Because families spend their time at home with family members, it is harder for them to learn how to work with others. At a public school children are exposed to social, culture, and gender differences that could help them work and live after school. One parent who was debating whether to home school or not, decided against it because out of the five most important events in a person's life; high school prom, marriage, death of a loved one, high school graduation, and the birth of a child, the home schooled will miss out on two of them automatically.
