Homeschooling Myths Debunked!
Myth #1: All of schooling occurs within the window of 8am-3pm.
One of the benefits to homeschooling is that your children can learn on your schedule. Since learning doesn't end at a certain hour, you can maximize your teaching time. Learning doesn’t have to fit inside a narrow window of time. And, if you’re sick on Monday, you can teach them on Saturday (if you’re feeling better, that is). They don’t have to wake up early. If you don’t cover that Geography lesson Tuesday morning, you can find a way to work it in, maybe a nighttime story or by moving a lesson to the next day.
Myth #2: Parents aren't qualified to teach.
In truth, parents are the best teachers! Your children have been learning from you ever since they’ve been out of the womb. Through your constant care and attention, they’ve learned to sit as you propped them up, stand as you held their hands, eat at your insistence, and speak a new language in your mother tongue. Just because you aren’t “certified” doesn’t mean that you aren’t qualified to teach. Through your commitment to your children, you will unearth resources and materials that will better equip you for your task. No one knows your children better than you, and no one will be more invested in them. You will model life, love, and faith for them. And, from you and your investment in time, energies and diligent effort, they will learn.
Myth #3: Homeschoolers don't receive an adequate education.
How is it that public schools continue to rank lower in academic achievement while homeschoolers outscore public school students in all subjects?! https://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp
Public school's “learn-and-dump” method causes students to learn information solely for tests, then dump that information to store the next test’s facts. On the other hand, homeschool children develop personal relationships with and deeper connections to the world around them. Instead of being exposed to disconnected facts and dry textbooks, homeschoolers are presented with noble ideas and living books. As a result, homeschoolers academic retention is significantly higher, and homeschool becomes a place of wonder rather than drudgery.
Myth #4: Children can’t be “properly socialized” at home.
We no longer live on a solitary frontier where you have to journey several days to reach advanced civilization. These days, we are awash with all kinds of opportunities for our homeschoolers to socialize: activities with neighborhood children, engaging individuals within the community (librarians, store clerks, postal workers, etc.) and involvement with others through external organizations (church groups, co-ops, martial arts, field trips, music lessons, clubs, and more).
Myth #5: Few families homeschool.
Reports show that “the number of homeschool students has grown by almost 300,000 since the last report in 2007. The new report concludes that approximately 1,770,000 students are homeschooled in the United States—3.4% of the school-age population." https://www.hslda.org/docs/news/2013/201309030.asp That's more than 1 in every 30 students!
"Homeschooling – that is, parent-led home-based education; home education – is an age-old traditional educational practice that a decade ago appeared to be cutting-edge and “alternative” but is now bordering on “mainstream” in the United States. It may be the fastest-growing form of education in the United States."
Myth #6: You must have the patience of Job to homeschool.
These are your children. If you don’t have their best interests in mind, who will? Education operates best when the mother creates “an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life” (Charlotte Mason, Home Education, vol 6). Exhibiting patience is nothing more than exercising control over your own impulses. Just as your children must learn how to control themselves, parents must model self-discipline. In doing this, we will create for ourselves, a positive homeschool environment and enjoy the privilege of ministering to our children’s needs and individual interests.
