Chew on this!

I wrote this for my English class. The assignment was to write a persuasive essay, with 2 or three points supporting your thesis and having a counter argument which was thoroughly defeated. Anyway, offer suggestions if you want.... Just try not to make me cry! :)

What is homeschooling exactly? Homeschooling is basically parents teaching their children at home. There is a proven success rate for homeschoolers. Homeschoolers are overall more involved in their communities and in politics as noted in Dr. D Ray’s Homeschooling Grows Up study. There is much debate about homeschooling, some people believe that homeschooling does not provide enough educational or social opportunities. On the other side of the debate is the pro-homeschoolers, these people believe that homeschooling provides ample educational and social experiences. In fact, pro-homeschool people believe that homeschooling is better than public or private education and prepares their children to deal with others on an adult level. Homeschooling is an excellent way of teaching a child.

First, homeschooling is an excellent way of teaching responsibility to children. Successful homeschooling requires personal discipline and responsibility. This discipline is taught by the parents, first by telling their children that they have to do their work. After some time the child knows that in order to be done with school by a certain time of day that they need to apply themselves when working. I have learned to apply myself during the day to be done with school and have fun later in the day. I have also learned to be responsible for turning in my work on time and by doing that being diligent. This responsibility and diligence homeschooled children learn in their early years, taught by their parents, will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Homeschooling is excellent at teaching children diligence and responsibility.

Next, homeschooling is excellent at teaching children at their own pace, without labeling them as special needs. So many times a public school teacher will label a child only because the child does not learn in the way that the rest of the class learns. When a child is homeschooled their parents will be able to spend one-on-one time with the child and go at the best speed of learning for the child. For ADD affected children it is easier to learn at home without all of the distractions at a school. The parents also know their child better than a teacher would and are able to help their child in ways a public school teacher just wouldn’t have time to do. Homeschooling is excellent for teaching children at their own pace.

Homeschooling is excellent at teaching children how to interact with older people. In public or private school the majority of contact a child has, is with people their own age, this hinders their ability to interact with older people. There is no aspiration to learn more from people with more knowledge than them, with only peers there is no higher standard to wish to achieve. In my own life I have had higher standards to achieve, my siblings are all quite a bit older than me and I have learned a lot from them. Instead of just learning things from people my age I’ve heard new perspectives and learned about issues that are bigger than the usual 7 year old talks about. My vocabulary when I was young surprised my sister, who is an elementary school teacher, because not too many children my age knew big words and would actually use them correctly. Because I was homeschooled I was able to talk to adults on a higher level than my peers. Having a home education is excellent at teaching children how to intermingle with people of all ages.

Some people, however, believe that homeschooled children have trouble interacting socially with others because they don’t go to school. This is simply not true. Homeschoolers do not “live in a box” as some people think, since homeschoolers generally are able to be done with their homework quickly (due to the fact that since there aren’t 30 children in a classroom the school day goes quickly) and are able to participate in several activities. In the Homeschooling Achievement survey by Dr. Brian D Ray the mean number of activities homeschoolers participate in is 5.2. These activities include many things, sports, scouts, church, dance, music and the list goes on. There are groups for homeschooling families that involve sports or that offer classes to supplement the homeschooling process. Homeschooling is excellent at offering opportunities to learn and play due to having more time.

Homeschooling is an excellent way of teaching a child. Homeschooling teaches children responsibility, diligence and discipline. The traits (responsibility…) a child learns while a child is young will benefit that child for his or her whole life. Children are able to learn at their own pace when they are homeschooled. Children also learn how to interact with people of all ages because they learn at home, with their families (who happen to be different ages). Some people continue to believe that homeschoolers don’t get enough opportunities to learn, they are wrong. When homeschoolers go out into sports, or co-ops (supplemental classes are offered at these places) they get opportunities to learn. Homeschoolers are in no way limited because they do not go to public or private school.

Works Cited

“Homeschooling Grows Up” by Dr. Brian D Ray (http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/HomeschoolingGrowsUp.pdf)

“Homeschooling Achievement” by Dr. Brian D Ray

(http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/comp2001/HomeSchoolAchievement.pdf)