Why Parents Home Educate Thier Own Children

Socialization
True or false: Children should spend a lot of time with other children in order to grow up learning how to get along with other people? Researchers* say “false” and have concluded that spending a lot of time with one’s own age mates actually makes children peer dependant, unable to think and act independently, causing them to grow up with an unhealthy need for peer approval. Children who spend more time with adults become better socialized than children who spend most of their social time with their agemates. Perhaps this is why two-thirds of homeschool graduates end up self employed, a direction that
takes a great deal of self-esteem.

Moral
One of the reasons children should be socialized mainly by their parents is that the moral foundation of one’s life is laid down through hundreds of small interactions on a daily basis. It just makes sense that children should spend most of their time with their own parents if those parents want their children to grow up with a godly life perspective.

Safety
Violence is increasingly becoming a way of life in our schools. Children are offered drugs and sex as if these were normal “growing up” experiences.

“Real” Learning
Most education is theoretical knowledge. One reason why homeschoolers do so well in college— and why more and more colleges are aggressively recruiting homeschoolers—is that children taught at home tend to have a more real-life approach to
learning. They have not spent large amounts of time doing busy-work.

Identity
God gives each of us a specific “who we are” as well as “what we are to do.” There are no “generic” children. The two things a child must be given in order to become truly good at what God has called him to do are Time and Resources. Public schools cannot make education specific enough to treat students as other than “generic children.” Yet, if each person is uniquely gifted for a specific life work, that individual must be given some very specific “tools of the trade” as well as a lot of time to spend becoming good at his/her talents or giftings.

The Goal of Education
Today, the end product of all education is a job. Let’s be honest. When asked why we are putting all this knowledge into our children’s heads, the honest answer is, “ We are preparing our children for employment.” This is not the goal of homeschooling. What homeschoolers want for their children is for them to come to terms with what the Lord has placed in their heart. Education means finding out what God has created for you to do and then have enough experiences to be good at that.

Financial
The government estimates the cost of providing a year of public school education to be about $9,500.00. The estimated cost of a year of homeschooling is less than $500.00 per child. This difference in cost is all the more remarkable when considering the next issue, below.

Educational
On nationally standardized tests, the average public school student scores at the 50th percentile. Taking the same test, the average homeschooler’s score will be at the 85th percentile. Also, statistically, the longer a child remains in the government school system, the less well he or she will do academically.

Spiritual
Many homeschooling families believe that the Bible is clear about who has the authority (actually, the mandate) to raise children. Raising children is not the job of the State, no matter what the State thinks.

Relational
When all is said and done—when your children are grown and have left home—what you really want is to have had a relationship with them. If they are gone all day, every day, as they are growing up, the chances of that happening are not as good as if they are at home with you.

For the Future
Nelson Mandela said, “Every now and then a generation emerges with a mandate to lead.” As the world grows more dangerous every year, we believe God is using homeschooling to prepare a generation who will emerge ready to lead. God is giving home educating parents the faith to do what other parents are unwilling to do: take responsibility for all areas of raising their own children. This generation of young people will emerge from our families with an uncomplicated faith in their God, an unmovable disagreement with Darkness, and an unmistaken sense that they were born for such a time as this.

*Statistics taken from www.hslda.org & www.nheri.org