Safe and Sheltered

With parents raising their children in the twenty first century it is easy to see the reason why homeschooling is on the rise. It seems like very day there is another Columbine High School or the University of Virginia Tech coming on the news. Keeping your children at home to teach them keeps them safe but will keeping them sheltered just hurt them worse when they enter the real world?

Homeschooling has many advantages and disadvantages. One of the main advantages is homeschoolers can be taught one on one much more. They can also be taught in the way that the child learns the best. According to http://www.blankslate.net/, “One of the biggest problems with public education is the mold. In a class of thirty or forty students, a teacher cannot possibly cater to the individual needs and must create a stereotypical student which hopefully represents the class.” One of the biggest disadvantages of homeschooling is that homeschoolers are not around their peers socializing much.

Nolan Adams a home-schooler said, “I really love getting done with school a lot faster everyday, but I do wish I had more friends and more things to do some times. I am really glad I just turned sixteen I can now go and get out and do more things on my own. I love my parents but I feel like since I am around them so much they control and are everything my teacher, providers, and I sometimes feel my only friends. Lisa Deal, a homeschooling mother, said, “It is easy for her children to be around their peers. All homeschoolers have to do is get involved. Churches have youth groups that go on trip that my children can go on. One of the biggest ways for them to get out is to play a sport with the local recreation department.”

If homeschooling is so much better then why do more people not do it? The biggest reason most of the time is both parents work and don’t have the time. Another big reason is that it is hard for students to get into college. They have to go on SAT scores alone in most places. Here at Piedmont 8% of the students were homeschooled. This is a large number for a college. Piedmont tries to get these students to come here because no other schools will cater to them. This is probably the biggest draw back from being homeschooled, but with more colleges accepting these students it would be safe to say that more children are going to started homeschooling.