The Fraser Institute, an independent research and educational organization based in Canada, released its latest report on homeschooling today. Its conclusion?
"Home schooling appears to improve the academic performance of children from families with low levels of education."
"Poorly educated parents who choose to teach their children at home produce better academic results for their children than public schools do. One study we reviewed found that students taught at home by mothers who never finished high school scored a full 55 percentage points higher than public school students from families with comparable education levels."
There's more, too, and quite positive. Go check it out if you need to reassure someone.
7 comments:
I like it when PhDs agree with me. : )
Thanks for this link! Your thumbnail about homeschooled children of parents with low educational achievement puts to rest another argument that is a favorite among those who oppose homeschooling.
Thanks for the link. I hope teachers in public high schools read it. Generally teachers at K's high school have been respectful, even interested. A math teacher K has this year said, "well, she doesn't seemed to be falling behind." I decided to be gracious about this -the underlying assumption was that I could not possibly have done a good job teaching math. (In fact she used Jacobs algebra & geometry & was self-taught). Later he asked if she would be taking calculus next semester. I said no, she would take it next year. There was a pause & then I explained that K had skipped Grade 10 math & had taken Grade 11 & Grade 12 math in Grade 10. Will he be more respectful of our homeschooling efforts with our other kids??? Hmmm.
I also thought it was funny that the average amount spent on homeschooling was $4000??? In the last year I've spent $400 to homeschool 4 kids & that includes overdue library fines.
Yeah, that "how much it costs" always seem way off.
The cost evaluation for homeschooling seems to me to be as distorted as the one put out (at least here in the U.S.) by the government on the overall cost of raising a child. Any official number for "out of pocket" expenses seems way high in both cases.
As for the study, I'd like to read the whole thing but won't be shelling out for it. I'm interested in what it has to say about homeschooling in families with high levels of institutional education. My husband and I are degreed out the wazoo and we typically get one of two responses when we address homeschooling (which we're not currently doing but to which we may return):
1) "How could you when *you* of all people *know* how valuable education can be?"
- or -
2) "Well, if anyone can do it, it's you guys. But not everyone *has* all that schooling and I wouldn't trust just *anyone* to homeschool..."
Both infuriate me, not only for their implications but because no amount of "educating" seems to undo them. Intractible, they be.
Boy, this is getting confusing--two different Marshas!
Interesting reactions, Marsha from Hot Water Bath--oogh, that one about "you of all people" just makes you squirm, doesn't it? Maybe it's because "you of all people" DO value education that you can see outside the classroom box.
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