WWH = Why We Homeschool.  This post is part of an on-going series looking into the myriad reasons we’ve decided to homeschool our children.  Please read this disclaimer before continuing to read this post.

We could decide to homeschool based on a hundred different reasons, but if we did not include researching the results of homeschooling on academic and social levels, we couldn’t really claim to have researched it thoroughly.

Of course, those who pioneered homeschooling, did not have these results.  They went the homeschool route with deep convictions that no statistical survey could have swayed.  But, today, some 40 years into the increase of the homeschooling movement, we do have these stats at our fingertips and they are well worth looking at.

The National Home Education Research Institute has done a lot of intensive research into the results of homeschooling and has come up with some interesting figures. 

Academic Performance
The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.

Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income.

Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children’s academic achievement.

Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement.

Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.

Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.

Social, Emotional, and Psychological Development

The home-educated are doing well, typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development. Research measures include peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem.
Homeschool students are regularly engaged in social and educational activities outside their homes and with people other than their nuclear-family members. They are commonly involved in activities such as field trips, scouting, 4-H, political drives, church ministry, sports teams, and community volunteer work.
Success in the “Real World” of Adulthood
The research base on adults who were home educated is growing; thus far it indicates that they:

• participate in local community service more frequently than does the general population,
• vote and attend public meetings more frequently than the general population, and
• go to and succeed at college at an equal or higher rate than the general population.

For more in depth research, go to this link: http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/HomeschoolingGrowsUp.pdf and/or the NHERI site: www.nheri.org and check it out for yourself.

Gasp!  Shock and horror! 

I am being a bit facetious I know, but truly, often, the most horrified response to our decision to homeschool has been, “but your kids will be so sheltered!”  Our response, “yes and?”

What does “sheltering” mean, really?  I believe it is a concept that has received a negative rap because it is interpreted negatively.  It seems that the most common interpretation of the concept is an environment where children are so protected from the world outside that when they eventually do face the world and all its temptations, they cannot withstand it alone. 

If this is the true sense of the word, then I am puzzled as to why many people equate homeschooling with sheltering.  I recently had a conversation with a woman who felt her Catholic school background didn’t prepare her adequately for the world and she floundered desperately once she left school.  She felt homeschooling would be a one degree worse.   But, I went to a main stream government school filled with the world and all it had to offer, and yet, when I left school I also floundered.  I can think of numerous friends from school who also succumbed to the temptations of this world and made terribly bad decisions despite their family’s values and despite their “worldly education” that was supposed to prepare them for the big, bad world.

So, what does make a person “sheltered” in the sense that they leave home ill-equipped to handle the harsh, dog-eat-dog world out there?  I believe that my friend Michelle hit the nail on the head when we were corresponding recently about this issue.  After years of absence, we caught up on each other’s lives a few months ago.  She was curious about our decision to homeschool and engaged me in an amicable discussion on the topic.  When I addressed this issue, she said that she felt that it had little to do with the type of schooling one had and more to do with what the family life was like.  She felt that her parents equipped her with the tools to make good decisions by the way they engaged her in conversation, problem-solving etc.  When I reflect on those I knew at school, especially those who claimed to be Christians, I can see, 13 years down the line that this is quite true.  Those who came from strong, supportive, open-to-discussion type of families tended to cope much better, sticking to their principles, than those whose parents didn’t equip them with the skills needed.  Funnily enough, I’ve seen similar evidence in homeschooling families – the kids that fall apart are usually those whose family lives weren’t great and the ones who thrive are those with healthy, communicative, involved in the community-type families.

So, what does this mean for us?  Well, our aim is to be the strong, supportive type of family.  We want to teach our children the truth of the gospel and instil in them a deep and true understanding of who God is and what He has done for us.  We want to give our kids what my sister-in-law and her brothers received from their parents – good, solid conversation and problem-solving skills that helped them to stand up for their faith without being crazies.  And we feel that we  can best do this by homeschooling them, especially in these formative years.

Our thought is that all children are like young saplings.  To grow into strong trees that can thrive in the harsh elements of the natural environment, we need to nurture them in the protected environment of the greenhouse.  We don’t want to take chances with the “evolutionary” approach – plant the sapling out in an unfriendly environment, and if it survives, that’s great!  We’d rather ensure that our saplings are ready for planting out in the world by carefully training them, teaching them, equipping them AND protecting them.  One could argue that schools are a type of greenhouse, but we believe that they’re not the best greenhouse for our kids.  We want our home to be the greenhouse our children grow in – tended by our loving hands.  Unfortunately,  schools in our society today are filled with  elements that are counter our home’s beliefs, values and principles and so we just don’t think that they’re the best option for our kids. 

So, getting back to my original point.  Yes, we do want to shelter our kids.  We want to provide them with the sort of shelter that, hand-in-hand with the tools, values and principles that will grow them in strength and maturity, will allow them to face the world without falling to pieces. 

So, will you pray for us and our journey?  Pray that we will make every effort to engage our kids in the world in ways that are safe and yet teaching?  And may we pray for you – that you’ll be aware of the counter-Christian value moments that arise at school so that you’ll be able to equip your kids when they’re home? 

 You can read more reasons on Why We Homeschool here.

WWH = Why We Homeschool.  This post is part of an on-going series looking into the myriad reasons we’ve decided to homeschool our children.  Please read this disclaimer before continuing to read this post.

 WWH = Why We Homeschool.  This post is part of an on-going series looking into the myriad reasons we’ve decided to homeschool our children.  Please read this disclaimer before continuing to read this post.

We are Christian parents.  We believe that the bible mandates that parents educate their children.  Does this mean that all Christian  parents need to homeschool?  No.  It merely means that parents are responsible to ensure that their children grow up knowing God and what He has done for us.  We parents are responsible to see that our children are educated.  If we choose to outsource this education for whatever reason, it is within our right and responsibility to do so.  If we choose to educate our children ourselves, then that too is within our right and responsibility to do so.

Our decision to “do it ourselves” at this stage is also driven by our Christian conviction.  The bible places much responsibilty on a parent to bring his child up in the ways of the Lord.  For example, in Deutoronomy 6:4-7 “ 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ^[a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  We feel that teaching our kids about the Lord all day long is best done, well, all day long!  We have the best opportunity to do this when we are teaching them at home. 

When my child is away from me for 4 to 8 hours a day, being taught from a secular humanist worldview (which accounts for much of the government’s curriculum basis), I not only don’t have all those wonderful opportunities to point them to Jesus, but I also have to deal with what the government is dishing out as “truth” (more on that in another post).

Schooling our kids at home means more time spent together to learn so much more.  It means we can ensure that our kids learn from a young age what our values and principles are.  It means that we can enjoy them and be a part of their discoveries. 

I’m looking forward to this initial phase and hope that we can continue into the next.

WWH = Why We Homeschool.  This post is part of an on-going series looking into the myriad reasons we’ve decided to homeschool our children.  Please read this disclaimer before continuing to read this post.

Before we even started thinking about having kids, we decided that I would stay home to raise them.  Our thinking was that it was our responsibility as parents to bring up our children according to our principles, world view and standards.  Sending them off to daycare at an early age would mean that they would spend the majority of their days learning  these things from other people, many whose views, principles and standards we wouldn’t know anything about.  Besides, we wanted the joy that goes with loving, feeding, caring, teaching and growing one’s child.  When Kiera was suddenly a growing bean inside me, Craig and I had a bit of a startling reality to face.  We couldn’t afford to raise a baby on just his salary.  However, we were still convicted within our hearts that this was the best decision we could make.  So, we continued to pray about it, despite there being no foreseeable solution.  Being a white male in South Africa at that time (and still) makes getting jobs difficult.  Craig had put out his CV the year before, for other reasons, and the job market proved to be dismal at best.  But, we kept praying and trusting that if I was going to be able to stay at home, God would provide the way.  Shortly before Kiera was born, Craig got a job offer out of the blue.  It was a job that provided not only a salary that would allow me to stay home, albeit still on a tight budget, but it was also a job that brought Craig’s work closer to home, with better hours and even better challenges.  God in his infinite grace certainly did provide.  Ever since then, with each child we’ve had, God (and I am happy to attribute this to God, because there was no way we could’ve orchestrated it so mysteriously coincidently) has provided us with the finances needed at just the right time.  (Hey, should I test this theory and keep having kids?  We could be millionaires!)

When Kiera was around one, I was beginning to hear talk of play schools and having to enrol one’s child in good primary schools before the ink on their birth certificates dried if one even had a hope of getting them in.  The norm seemed to be that all kids headed to play school around the age of 3.  This idea just didn’t sit well with our reason for me being a “SAHM” (stay-at-home-mom).  We want to be the ones filling our children’s heads with our values, standards and world views.  When our child begins to spend four hours a day with other adults and children, they are bound to be exposed to and learn from other world views and standards.  Sure, we expect that what we’re teaching at home would combat that.  We hope that in discussion with our kids that we’d be able to diffuse some of the negative things that they are learning from their peers and/or teachers.  Sometimes even these experiences will be positive in that they’ll allow our children to see how other people operate differently from us and yet we can still be friends… or these situations give the kids an opportunity to apply our family principles to what they’ve been faced with.  However, we didn’t (and don’t) feel that these possible positives outweighed the potential negatives. 

Kids learn a lot from their peers.  In fact, the most influential teachers are one’s peers.  I’m sure you’ve noticed how kids quickly pick up on other kids’ mannerisms, speech etc when they hang around each other a lot.  These aren’t necessarily bad things, but they have the potential to be.   Given that society is becoming more and more fragmented in terms of value systems; more families are suffering from dysfunction; abuse is more commonplace than not; and kids are oftentimes bringing themselves up, we decided that we’d rather give our children the protection of our home in which to learn how to relate to others; how to handle conflict; how to think through issues and problem-solve them well etc. 

We could send our kids to a wonderful playschool, with teachers and kids who, despite our crazy culture, are like-minded, loving and encouraging.  Our kids could “thrive” at a school like this, being happy, cheerful little children with lots of friends.  That would be wonderful and if that is your experience, I am very glad for you (honestly! no irony in my tone!) – because some kids suffer from bullying, learning disabilities etc and are not happy at school.  But, we’ve decided that because we’re the parents, we don’t want to outsource this part of the job.  Thankfully, we can do it.  Thankfully, it’s our decision to make and not our peers, parents or others.  And thankfully, homeschooling is not so diametrically opposed to schooling that our children will lose out in terms of relating to their peers, learning in groups, having fun, enjoying sports and extramurals etc.  In fact, the homeschooling community is such that we have access to this and much, much more.    

So, our decision began, if you like, before our kids were even a twinkle in their daddy’s eye.  We homeschool because WE are our kids’ parents and pretty much every other reason stems from this one too.  Keep posted for those!