Why do people choose Home education?

 

Under section seven of the 1996 Education act allows parents to home education their children and legally do not have to have a qualifications to do so.  Parents that educate come in many different forms and have many different reasons.

            Rothermel (2008) explains that one of the most popular reasons for home schooling is the issues of bullying and abuse at school. The pressure of the school environment can be too much for the child to cope with resulting in a negative effect on their education. Many parents have stated that although they reported the bullying taking place the issue has never been reprimanded.

                                                      Parents Views:

Parents may feel dissatisfied with the sizes of the class (Bartlett, 2012). Even though the Government have stated that there is a limit of thirty students to one class. I think that the worry of a bigger ratio and the child not getting the attention of education they need leads to being pulled out of school.

          Although many schools now have the equipment to educate a child with special education needs many children are withdrawn because they cannot cope with the schooling methods or need of one on one teaching that they cannot provide.   Perrot (1982) tells us that they are a number of reports that have shown parents removing children with dyslexia and parents feel that with guidance they are better suited to deal with the situation.

        The National Curriculum from the Education Reform Act 1988 also causes issues. Parents feel that it is too limited and that home education can give them a wider range of learning. Jeub (1994) concludes that if a child wanted to learn about nature they can take them out instead of learning it in the classroom. The issue of standardizing what a child can and cannot learn is also a reason. I think that home schooling removes the element of one standard for all children as each child will learn at different paces.

 

 

       Galloway (2008) discusses that religious reasons impacts parents as they feel that their children are from a specific practising religion which needs to be included in their day to day learning which the school does not practice. Also another reason may be that children live too far away from school or that they did not have a choice of the local schools in the area.

         The final reason I feel may encourage home education is problems with teaching staff.  They feel that their child has been picked on or excluded by the teacher.  Research by Durbin (2009) explained how a child was made to stand up in front of the class explaining why their homework was not given in. In this case the parent felt the child was humiliated in the presence of his fellow students.  

Percentage values of why parents choose to take children out of mainstream school and put into home education in the United States.

 

      There are many different reasons as to why parents choose home education over government run schools. I believe that home education can be very effective and research has proven that many cases have a higher level of education.