Home schooling1
Schooling At Home Does More Harm
Shannon Johnson
English 11203-02
Professor Perry
November 4, 2011
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Abstract
In the opinion of a traditionalist, a child behind a computer is not developing the
skills needed to become successful; not saying they won’t become successful, home schooling
just increases their chances. This could be due to the lack of organization, communication, and
comprehension, which will be discussed in the essay; therefore, this Cause-effect Essay will
focus on why parents decide to home school their children rather than have them attend public
school. For instance, included are certain authors that have mentioned home schooling, who
agree with and disagree with the essay. Therefore, home schooling should not be available
because it hurts communication skills, being able to follow directions, and to clearly understand
assignments and materials. Some interesting facts have been included that will persuade and
inform the reader to agree with this essay.
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The Cause and Effect of Home schooling Children
Why do parents home school their children? Home schooling has been a developing
debate that has increased over the years, and whether it is a good or bad option for schooling.
The reason parents may enroll their child in home schooling is because of bullies, grades, or to
provide a better education. However, home schooled children have lower grades usually because
of procrastination. Many philosophers, educators, and superior intellectuals criticize parents who
allow their children to be home schooled. For example quoted in Lahrson-Fisher’s book
Fundamentals of Home schooling, “Not everyone can make that kind of commitment, nor
everyone who tries home schooling finds a successful stride,” p. 183. It also takes dedication
from not just a parent to prepare the work for their child, but from the child; for instance, from
the book The Home schooling Option, “If your children also do not want to [be home schooled],
then you will probably have a difficult time making home schooling a pleasant experience.”
Consequently, a child behind a computer is not developing the skills needed to prosper; home
schooling increases student’s chances of not becoming successful, because of (the lack of
managing time, communicating, and comprehending) being home schooled.
First, managing time is crucial to success and even though there are many stressful
situations that occur in a person’s daily lives it doesn’t mean one can’t handle them, but it takes
time management. In life an older adult has to balance a job, bills, and other activities; the
purpose of public school is to not only educate a child, but prepare a child for the real world
because most students balance a part-time job with studies, extracurricular activities, and
spending time with friends. For instance quoted in Lahrson-Fisher’s book Fundamentals of
Home schooling, “Families are challenged to be flexible and patient if they want to continue their
educational plans with as little disruption as possible,” p. 184.In public school, students learn
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about schedules and managing time; for instance, a student has classes during certain times, has
lunch at a certain time, and has activities at certain times. Managing time is a students and
adult’s best friend because schedules and determining what needs to be accomplished can
sometimes become difficult. Therefore, why is this different for home schooled students? Home
schooling can be a significant thing when it comes to students not being able to deal with stress
or other students, but it does harm them in the end because home schooling has a lineate
schedule. For example, all math assignments can be due on the weekend, which leaves big
spaces for the student to do unproductive activities such as putting off homework, which
encourages procrastination. In the adult world procrastination doesn’t help a person manage
deadlines which can lead to serious problems; home schooling encourages these characteristics
which helps plan for difficult times in one’s life.
Second, another lack in home schooling is communicating with other people.
Communication is an important tool in daily life; it helps people make friends, comprehend
expectations, and discuss and handle issues. Communication is a social skill that a person will
use every day of their lives; therefore, it is important to develop communication skills as a child.
However, communication skills are more difficult to master for home schooled students because
the only communication that is provided is the computer and the parent; there is no room for
developing these social skills at home. Students who attend public school are put through many
communication tests that they subconsciously don’t even notice. For instance, Billy might take
Susan’s pencil without asking and this may upset Susan. She will either learn to confront her
issues with Billy or to not do anything. This is an example of how children learn how to
communicate with others and deal with problems on their own. A child who is home schooled
isn’t placed in situations at school with teachers and other students that will develop them. Most
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home schooled children don’t even have their parents communicate with them or help them
comprehend their work. For example, quoted in The New York Times, “The lack of supervision
of the home-schooling process, some experts say, may have made it easier last year for Ms. Jacks
to withdraw her children from school and the prying eyes of teachers, social workers and other
professionals who otherwise might have detected signs of abuse and neglect of the girls.” And
also quoted in Lahrson-Fisher’s book Fundamentals of Home schooling, “Erin did not realize
how much she was learning,” she also was, “unaware of her level of knowledge, she had no faith
in her ability to move forward in her learning process.”
Comprehension also is a part of communication that has provided one’s life with
opportunities, encouragements, and challenging student’s to work. This helps children become
more confident in learning and communicating. Comprehension is important in education
because if one doesn’t understand the material, he or she cannot continue studying the material
further. Public school increases a child’s comprehension. However, children, who are home
schooled, attempt to understand the material, but what if he or she doesn’t? In public school the
teacher is observing and helping students understand, while answering questions a student has.
During home schooling this usually doesn’t occur because parents don’t understand the material
or don’t care about their children learning. Quoted in Laura Saba and Julie Gattis’ book The
McGraw-Hill Home schooling Companion, “Schoolteachers typically prepare for their jobs
through years of academic course work and practical student teaching experiences. So how can
parents with no teaching background expect to do a job that others do only after a good deal of
preparations?” p. 10. For instance, that’s why it’s important for parents to choose whether their
child is home schooled for the right reasons; like quoted in the Southern Economic Journal, “Are
the families who choose to home school doing so because of dissatisfaction with public schools
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or because of religious preferences, or are other factors driving the home school movement? The
answers are important because they are related to the fundamental question of what determines a
household's choice of school type and the potential impact of public policy on this choice.”
Therefore, comprehension is very important in order to have a bright future.
Lastly, why do parents decide to home school their children rather than have them attend
public school? For instance, the typical student that is home schooled than public schooled
advances due to the environment. Some parents believe that home schooling is better just
because of the increase in home schooling like quoted in the book Home Schooling: An
Alternative School choice states, “Recent estimates put the home school population between 1.2
million and 1.6 million and growing at the rate of 10% per year. Home-educated children make
up about 1.5% of total school enrollment and 15% of nonpublic enrollment.” Therefore, home
schooling should not be allowed because it hurts communication skills, being able to follow
directions given, and to clearly understand assignments and materials because most parents don’t
have the time or commitment; for example, in The McGraw-Hill Home schooling Companion,
“You, [as a parent], will need to arrange your lifestyle to support home schooling, so that even
unexpected chaos, doesn’t have to interfere with your home schooling.” However, it is hard to
prepare for chaos while trying to get one’s child to focus on the material being taught.
In conclusion, home schooling is a growing option for education which is not a good idea
(due to the lack of managing time, communicating, and comprehending.) Education at home
increases bad time management due to giving a lot of time to do the material which leads to
procrastination. Also, it decreases communication skills because of not being interactive with
peers the same age or parents not helping their child succeed. Comprehension problems may
increase due to parents not being able to answer their children’s questions. Also, the may not
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supervise them, which leads to children not being able to comprehend at the levels they are
supposed to. For example, my cousin J.R., who has been home schooled his whole life and is in
10th grade, reads and writes at a 2nd grade level because his parents are not involved in his
education and doesn’t help him learn or encourage him to learn. Therefore, home schooling is
something that needs to be changed or improved child whether his or her parents are involved in
his or her education or not.
Works Cited
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Houston Jr., R. G., & Eugenia, T. F. (2003). Home Schooling: An Alternative School Choice.
Southern Economic Journal. Multimedia.
Lahrson-Fisher, A. (2003). Fundamentals of Home schooling (pp. 227-231). Carson, WA: Nettle
PatchPress. Print.
McGraw-Hill. Gross, J. (2008, January 12). Lack of Supervision Noted in Deaths of HomeSchooled. In New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2011, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/us/12bodies.html?ref=home schooling. Web.
Rivero, L. (2008). The Home schooling Option (p. 170). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillian.
Saba, L., & Gattis, J. (2002). The McGraw-Hill Home schooling Companion (pp. 10-135). New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Print.