Popularity of home schooling on the rise

The numbers are eye-popping. The percentage of school-age children in the U.S. who are being taught at home has recently risen to 2%, or a little over 1 million children. While some estimate that the actual number is between 1 and 2 million, there's no doubt that the number is rising fast: at the rate of 15% to 20% annually. What's happening?

Ten years ago, congress officially made home schooling legal in all the states and indicated that parents don't need to have teaching credentials. What fueled the movement at that time was the fact that schools don't teach moral and religious values, as many parents have argued, with the rapid deterioration of the spiritual qualities of U.S. children being the focus of attention. Now, a growing number of parents say they are simply worried about the quality of education that their children are getting. Many experts warn, however, that home schooling isn't easy as it seems. Aside from the substantial effort and dedication that at least one parent must provide, approximately one in every ten children has a learning disability or some sort of a special need, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Only rarely children with special needs do well in a home schooling environment. In addition, they warn, unless home-schooled children get an opportunity to have plenty of interaction with other children, those children are at risk of developing social problems at later stages in their lives as a result of missing the experience of building social skills.

Still, homeschooling parents advocate that home schooling has numerous positives. First, it is much easier to homeschool now, with the tremendous help that the Internet can offer. Sites such as the National Home Education Network (nhen.org) and the Home School Legal Defense Association (youcanhomeschool.org) offer a wealth of information that homeschooling parents can refer to. In addition, a number of excellent publications on the subject are also now available (just search for "Homeschooling" at Barnes and Noble.com). Homeschooling parents also advocate that the success of home schooling is really in the numbers. Last year, for example, Stanford University admitted 65 new freshmen who were home-schooled. In the nationally standardized tests, home-schooled kids are typically between the 70th and the 80th percentiles, well ahead of most of their regularly schooled counterparts.

Regardless of its advantages or disadvantages, home schooling is certainly a new national trend that is unlikely to lose momentum anytime soon.