WobLog

Monday's San Francisco Chronicle has a very favorable article on homeschooling. Some excerpts:

On Education: Homeschooling is a viable alternative to public schools
by Richard Sousa

Let's hear it for the home team -- they have done it again. Last month, 13-year old Evan O'Dorney of Danville won the National Spelling Bee; Evan is homeschooled. Of those who made it to the finals in Washington, 12.5 percent were homeschooled; of the top seven finishers, three were homeschooled. Last year, 13.5 percent of those making it to Washington for the Spelling Bee finals were homeschooled.

The number of students reported to be homeschooled in 1978 was only 12,500 (many say the number was actually higher due to underreporting), the National Center for Education Statistics reported 1.1 million children were being homeschooled in 2003 -- an estimated increase of nearly 20 percent per year over this 25-year period.

This increased growth, interestingly enough, has not come at the expense of student performance -- quite the opposite. Comparisons in achievement tests of homeschooled students to national averages for all students show that homeschooled children are well above the national average in every subject and at every grade level in the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and in Tests of Achievement and Proficiency.

Why do homeschooled students do so well? Koret Task Force member and Harvard professor Caroline Hoxby has shown that, of the factors affecting student performance, home environment and family support greatly outweigh school inputs: "Families matter most." There is no schooling pedagogy where the home and the family can have more influence than they do in homeschooling. The families of homeschooled children are clearly different from those of traditional schoolchildren. Some 97 percent of homeschooled children live in married couple households; the comparable number for public school students is 72 percent. Nearly 88 percent of homeschooled parents continued their own education beyond high school.

Homeschooling may not be for everyone, but there are certainly indicators that it works well for most and extremely well for some.

The article also touches on how the Internet has made homeschooling easier by providing a wealth of resources. It also mentions some of the opposition to homeschooling among the education establishment. Fortunately, there is an organization, the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, that helps homeschoolers defend their rights.