Homeschooling

In the last thirty years, Homeschooling has grown in popularity among Americans, in the
early eighties there were about ten thousands homeschooled students, today there are over two million
children being educated at home.   There are now more children being homeschooled than are enrolled in
charter and voucher schools combined (West 7).   The popular reasons why children were originally
educated at home are simple in nature, religious and secular beliefs, learning disabilities and proximity to
a public school – rural locations in the U.S.   Over the last quarter century however this has changed
dramatically, the majority of homeschoolers today and by quite a margin, are devout, fundamentalist
Protestants (West 7).   Of the hundreds of thousands Protestant parents who removed their children from
public schools have done so not because of special needs or because they live too far from schoolhouses
but rather because they do not approve of public schools’ liberalism and style of teaching, not just
religious beliefs (West 7).   Some may argue that this is an extreme way of thinking that they are
punishing their children by not allowing them to be “properly” educated by certified teachers.   However
some studies may suggest a different thought.   In a landmark study, Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home
Education Research Institute, among 7,000 young adults who had been homeschooled, 74% had attained
some college courses compared with just 46%   of other young adults (Feldhahn 1).   Out of these 7,000,
82% said they would home school their children (Feldhahn 1).