Two decades ago, it was easy to assume that parents chose homeschooling for religious reasons or because they didn’t believe in turning their children over to schools.
Today, there are many new reasons to homeschool than in the past. In fact, many families and their children choose homeschooling for more than one reason.
Quoting directly from The National Home Education Research Institute, the most common reasons given for homeschooling today include:
- “customize or individualize the curriculum and learning environment for each child,
- accomplish more academically than in schools,
- use pedagogical approaches other than those typical in -institutional schools,
- enhance family relationships between children and parents and among siblings,
- provide guided and reasoned social interactions with youthful peers and adults,
- provide a safer environment for children and youth, because of physical violence, drugs and alcohol, psychological abuse, and improper and unhealthy sexuality associated with institutional schools, and
- teach and impart a particular set of values, beliefs, and worldview to children and youth.”
Parents who are thinking about homeschooling can feel good in knowing that they are not alone. The millions of students currently being homeschooled in the US demonstrates that other families share the same concerns and have chosen home education for the very same reasons.