1. Homeschooling
Kelli Hoffman

2. History:
Education started at home, before the first public school that was how every child was educated.
First public school in the U.S. opened up in 1821 in Boston.
In 1870 research shows about 65% of children 5-17 yr olds were enrolled in elementary or public schooling.
By 1970 homeschooling was nearly extinct with 87% of 5-17 yr olds were enrolled in public schools.
By 1980 there were only 13,000 students being homeschooled, 0.03%.
In 1998 homeschooling came back and boomed, there were 850,000 students.
million 2.2% of school aged children
Today there are roughly 2.2 million children in homeschooling from K-12 (2015)
-Up until 1821 everyone was homeschooled. It was also voluntary not necessary.
-Then it became more popular to be in public schools but only attended school 78 days of the year and still spent majority of the year with family. Voluntary not necessary. School days lasted up to only a few hours a day.
-Around 1900, immigrants started coming at a faster rate and schools became more state controlled. They used these common schools as a way to form them into our ways of a good american citizen. “What became an intense feeling for the state shaping citizens’ thinking and behavior would have a massive impact on home-based education because Mann and others abandoned the idea of changing society by affecting adults and decided to go after the hearts and minds of children: “Men are cast-iron, but children are wax” (Glenn 1988, p. 79). They wanted to build, via state-run schooling, a new vision and praxis propelled by their understanding of the good American and the good society.”
-In 1970, the days attended in schools rose up to 162 days. The other 13% were almost all in private schools.

3. Numbers Show This:
Homeschooled children actually perform academically very similar to children in the public schooling system.
The median scores of homeschooled students on the achievement test are in the 70th and 80th percentile, which is roughly the same for public schooled children.
25% of homeschoolers are enrolled in one or more grade levels higher than their public school peers.
For college preparatory exams like the ACT, homeschoolers composite score was 22.8 where the national norm was 21.0
Between race, researchers found only minimal differences between reading and math skills of african american and white students, whereas there is a more distinct gap in public schools.

4. “Long-Term Effects”
Due to the recency of the “boom” in homeschooled students there isn’t much on the after effects of homeschooling. Of the few cases that researchers were able to follow this is what they found:
Homeschooled kids are more likely to report “happiness” in their careers with 61.4% reporting very satisfied and 34.5% being moderately satisfied
Available research finds that homeschooled adults also participate in community-based activities much higher than those of the general public.

5. General Trends of A Homeschooled House
2-Parent home with one parent as teacher and other attending a job.
Average family income is below $75,000.
At least one parent has earned a college degree
Most common race to participate in homeschooling is caucasians.
researchers reveal that low-income children in homeschools often achieve at or above national norms while low-income children in public schools on average score considerably below national norms
Children of poorly educated parents score higher on achievement tests in homeschools than they do in public schools.

6. Discussion One: Parent Qualifications/Homeschool Stereotypes
In order to homeschool your kids, should there be a minimum school degree to have?
Do you think there should be a requirement for parents to pass a teaching class?
Is there a worry about credentials that a homeschool may not have over public schools?
Is there a worry of the credentials that a homeschool may not have over a public school? The mindset that public schools have more credibility behind the teachers and educational system and the worry that home schools are not given enough credit. Are test scores the only way to evaluate these potential set backs? Does homeschool put children at a disadvantage.

7. Discussion Two: Socialization
Definition: the process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society. (Examples all used schools)
Do homeschoolers not get enough opportunity to socialize?
Is it wrong to put so much reliability on one institution to learn socialization?
Is the best way to learn how to socialize be through public schools?
What important ways of socialization are missed when not in public school?
What are potential pros and cons to both public and home schools about their ways of socialization?
Hit this point if they don’t mention it,
How will kids learn social norms
Will they become naive to different ways of life?
What key aspects of public schooling would a homeschooler miss out on? Ex) competition
In 20 states public schools offer homeschoolers a chance to be involved with extracurricular activities.

8. Discussion Three: Research
Throughout multiple articles I found a trend that the research is never concrete because of the difficulty of finding a controlled group to compare.
Why can’t we use public schools as the control group?
If not public schools, what would be an idea of a good control group to conduct a more reliable research experiment?
Do you think the achievement findings are enough to prove homeschools are successful?

9. Let’s make a list
What are some key aspects needed in order to create a successful homeschooling experience?

10. Difficulties of Studying:
“The decentralized nature of the homeschooling population limits researchers' ability to draw conclusions about the specific effect of homeschooling on various outcome measures such as academic achievement.” - (A1)
No controlled experiments have been conducted but there have been studies on the performance of homeschoolers.

11. Where do you stand?
Write down on a piece of paper your stance on homeschooling, for or against. Backup your answer with something discussed here in class today and turn it in. You don’t have to put your name on this.