What sort of people home school their children?

Im actually a home schooled child in America and I can tell you that its not really that bad. Usually parents only send them to home school if they have no other choice. I myself have epilepsy so i cant attend a public high school. And alot of people think that home schooling is easier but actually its alot harder. And as for academic results, its actually easier for someone to get into college if theyre home schooled than if theyre public schooled, since they spend more time learning.

In America, there are many different kinds of people who homeschool their kids.

One main group, although they certainly aren’t the only ones who homeschool, are evangelical christians who want to teach their kids a more religion-based education. This often means that classes include bible study, history is studied with particular emphasis on the influence of christianity, and biology and earth science are often replaced with creationism.

Another group that is often homeschooled is kids who aren’t doing well in traditional school settings. These kids might have physical or mental or behavioral difficulties that make it hard for them to go to school, or they may have extenuating circumstances.

Some kids who are really ahead of the curve are homeschooled too, so that they can specialize in the topics that are of particular interest to them. Sometimes other subjects get pushed aside to give the kid more room in the topic of choice.

And, some people do it just because. My best friend’s brother was homeschooled for two years in high school because he didn’t like the high school he was at, and there were no other options.

Academic results vary greatly, and depend very much on the child, the parent, and the curriculum. Some children do very poorly, some do very well, and some fall in between. The stereotype is that homeschooled kids are ignorant (and antisocial) but this is often not the case.

I’m planning on home schooling my children, but I’ll explain that at the end.

My brother’s kids were home schooled. Part of this was because one of them was shy but extremely intelligent. The school was pushing her socially, and this was causing her to withdraw into herself. Another part of it was my nephew was very tall for his age and was being bullied, attacked, and treated differently (ie, you see a boy who looks 8 years old, but he’s only 5. The kids treat him badly thinking he’s retarded, or even pull him into older kids activities and fights. Not a good situation.) Last, they lived in a high mountain town and while there was an elementary school there, it was fairly small and right next to the high way. When the kids were old enough for high school, they would have been being sent an hour bus ride down the road. Later, their mother developed MS, and the time she spent with her kids became more precious to her I think. When they became teens, they went into HS and from what I saw they were alright. I think their mom being sick affected them far more than any “lack of socialization”, since they got a lot of socialization being in sports, clubs, etc.

Now, I live in the city. There’s a school a block away (literally I can see the playground from my kitchen.) But my reasons are:

I want to keep my children from being rigidly kept to a school schedule (ie, if the family wants to travel, we’ll be able to travel on our schedule, not theirs)
I worry about the failing scores of the school
I don’t approve of some things being taught in the school for religious reasons
I don’t approve of some of the things being taught in the school for political and personal reasons
I don’t approve of things like how quick they are to diagnose a child with problems and try to medicate them
I don’t like the rising number of fights (I have yet another nephew who was in fights from elementary school onward for no other reason than his skin color)
I don’t like the drug-use I’ve seen around there, and I believe I can teach my children as well as the school (Bachelor’s degree in biology, years of tutoring both professional and non-professionally from every age from pre-reading to college levels, and being a teacher’s assistant for a while. I also have a minor in music, and am already starting my daughter on music.)

In my area, there are groups of homeschooling parents that meet at the library and have their kids socialize and also help one another. We have different organized sports, and church, and activities I plan on getting them involved with (and since they’re on my schedule, not the school’s, they don’t have to be limited to “after school” hours, but any time during the day or night, meaning night hikes, astronomy classes, early morning nature groups, etc.)

Academically, if done right, homeschooled kids do well. They get into colleges without a problem, and they do well long-term. There’s some horror stories without a doubt, but it’s not the majority that I’ve run into or seen. And it’s becoming more common and the problems are being more and more ironed out.

Add: Just to say it, though I have religious objections with some of the things being taught in school, I don’t plan on teaching my daughter creationism. It has more to do with how some of the kids at the school near me are dating at age 7, wearing makeup at 9, and wearing clothes I won’t let her wear at 9. If it was only that, then I’d work around it.
Add: On the note of social skills, I have to agree with the poster who says that school may not be the best environment to socialize kids. See, when you’re socializing anything, the point is to have as many GOOD experiences as possible. That means that while a conflict here and there is alright, you want the main experience to be positive (or the conflict to resolve positively.) It doesn’t mean exposing a kid to as many other kids as you possibly can. There’s a big difference. And if the kids there are angry, mean, bullying, or other things are left unresolved by teachers, then we’re talking about a terrible socialization experience. I think there’s a reason so many people in this world tend to actually **** people, are rude on the streets, and are more aggressive. Things like terrible socialization at a crowded public school is one of the causes from my point of view.

Well, we may not have “homeschooling” in Australia but we do have a long and robust tradition of “home education”.

These days 1 — 2% of kids are believed to be home educated (c. the same proportion as are “homeschooled” in America) but there have been times in Aussie history when as many as 19% of school aged kids were recognised by authorities as being educated at home. Certainly my siblings and I have been home educated all our lives, our parents were both home educated between K and Yr 7 as well as our grandparents, great grandparents and great great grandparents. My family’s experience of home-ed precedes the various states first go at buying into home education, through the provision of correspondence courses, back in 1908.

The latest figures I could find come from 1998 but at that time there were more than 26,500 registered home educated kids in Australia, as well as “many thousands of unregistered home educators” (in our state, the Dept of Education reckons that only 10% or thereabouts of home educators have “bothered to register”). That 26,500 is a figure that’s certainly been increasing, by as much as 20% per annum, ever since (The Homeschool Phenomenon (Hunter, 1994) ). A figure that’s grown so much in fact that an article from the HeraldSun, from approx. 12 months ago, claimed there were then 10,000 home educated kids just in Victoria, almost twice the number there had been in ‘98 :

“THOUSANDS of Victorian parents are pulling their children out of schools to educate them at home. About 10,000 children are being educated this way - and the number is growing fast….”

Anyways, take a peek at (Home Education Australia) the website of the national organisation for home ed in Australia for more info. or . Alternatively each state has its own thriving home ed group and presence on the web if you look e.g. Victoria’s state-wide organisation for home educators has been going strong ever since its inception way back in 1980 ( and now lives at ). In addition there are numerous local groups and organisations scattered throughout the country in both metropolitan and country areas.

Strange that you reckon it’s looked down upon. Looked down upon by whom? Apart from Fred (Ackerman) and his crones of course, but, IMO, they’re just “playing politics” in order to justify their own existence and that of their own organisation. Certainly research undertaken by Dr John Barratt-Peacock (”The Why and How of Australian Home Education”) found that home education is not marginalised in Australian society nor in Aussie politics. Personally I have never had a single negative comment directed towards me about my being home educated. In fact, far from somehow “looking down on it”, the majority of people I’ve met and spoken to, both other kids and adults, reckon it rocks that I haven’t had to go to away to school. They tend to be pretty envious and jealous of the freedom, independence and self determination that being home educated affords me, my siblings and our family as a whole.

Incidentally research has identified four central reasons why Aussie parents choose to home-educate:
1. Parental background
2. A crisis such as bullying
3. The influence of an informant-mentor
4. Witnessing the experiences of other home educating families

One significant difference that did come out between US and Aussie parents though was that whilst a significant number of American parents express the wish to protect their children from what they see as negative/potentially limiting experiences, Australian parents are more likely to cite the desire to recreate, for their own kids, the happy and positive experiences of their own childhood as a motive for home education.

Anyway more details regarding the research into social and academic results of home education can be found @ . As well take a look at the article “Why families homeschool” at

Socially though it’s already been demonstrated that home educated kids in Aus. spend an average of 4 hours each day in social activities (research from Canada also demonstrated that home educated kids there were participating in an average of 8 distinct social activities per week; and American homeschooled kids, 5.2 social activities every week whereas government schooled kids managed only 1.8). Similarly home educated kids in Australia were observed to spend 6.12 hours per day in family conversation whereas teachers in the school environment were only spending seven minutes per day in personal exchanges with their students.

Neither do we have two heads or go ’round with “I’m home educated” plastered on our foreheads. As Rosie says you almost certainly have met/do know people who were educated outside of school, you just don’t know it! My oldest brother spent two years at uni and was voted Student President *BEFORE* any of the other students realised he had never been to school.

Academically home educated kids are more than able to hold their own against conventionally schooled kids (recently a former home educated kid got his PhD at 21 years of age). For those who do want to do School Certificate/Higher School Certificate, there is always Distance Education, TAFE, such alternate schemes as AYCE, Community Access, External Exams, Tertiary College, Adult Education
et cetera. Additionally it is more than possible to go to uni here with no school certificate at all — 60% plus of students gain acceptance to uni on the grounds of their life experience, not academic achievement. Indeed Qld’s Tertiary Admission Centre is completely up front with the fact that students do *not* need their Senior School Cert or even to have completed Year 12 in order to go to university (As a teacher, do you/your school tell students that??)

P.S. I realise this hasn’t really answered your question, I just wanted you to know that not only is home-education/homeschooling very much “alive and well” here in Australia, it is so healthy and thriving, it’s positively kicking!

P.P.S. You can find an interesting and informative article describing exactly what sort of people homeschool their children for yourself at )

The Australian Home Education Association estimates that 1-2% of Australian school-aged children are home educated, not that different to the US in fact.

I’m in England not the US and here all sorts of people home educate for all sorts of reasons. Married couple, single parents, grandparents, the rich, the middle class, families trying to survive on benefits, people in the countryside and in inner cities, white, black, brown, Christian, Atheist, Pagan, Muslim, Buddhist, you name it there are home educators.

Some, like me, do so from the beginning for pedagogical and philosophical reasons. Others take their children out of school because they have little option, the school having failed to provide an acceptable education or physical safety. There are even a few who have religious reasons, although in my experience they are a tiny minority.

Academic results? That’s a loaded question because it assumes that academic results are the purpose of education. Certainly there are plenty of cases of home educated students getting all sorts of qualifications, going on to university, even getting PhDs, but some people go into careers where that’s simply not appropriate. Take those children who are home educated so they can pursue acting or professional sports. A bunch of GCSEs are pretty much a waste of time if you’ve already decided to be a car mechanic, professional musician, wildlife cameraman, fashion designer or farmer. Home educated children get very good academic results if that’s an appropriate goal for them and if it’s not they don’t have to take time away from more important things to satisfy ‘the system’.

Social skills. Home educated children in my experience have much better social skills than school children. They have social skills that fit them into the real world, not the artificial one of the school yard. They learn appropriate behaviour from adults and get to mix with a wide range of people of different ages. One of the standard comments you’ll get from adults is how polite and nicely behaved home educated children are. If school children consider them odd that’s really a judgement on the school children and their peer lead environment where individuality is discouraged and even punished with violence.

OK, enough about the social skills people keep bringing up…do you really think that placing a child with his or her peers is a good idea, since that is like the blind leading the blind? Think about it…most children are foolish and need to be taught right from wrong, so who do you think can teach that, other children or adults, especially parents? Believe me, many home school students get plenty of time to make friends at church or playing on a sports team or at dance class. It is not like parents lock up there kids from the rest of the world until they reach 18 and then boot them out with out a clue of what to do. Quite the opposite.
As for “what sort of people” home school…all sorts of people…parents of special needs, parents of teens, parents who love their children and don’t want them introduced to certain harmful things that are taught in public schools ( or picking up some of the nasty habits the other kids do.) There are parents of all backgrounds, and beliefs who just want a front row seat to their child’s learning experience, and don’t want to just pass them off to the government, for one reason or another.
Hope that answers your question.

Hmm… As an Australian homeschooler, and a member of a couple of rather active Australian homeschooling boards, I would like to let you know that homeschooling is alive and well here. Not only that, but it is legal in every state. Here in Qld, you are required to be registered (not that everyone does, thanks to the previous draconic homeschooling laws) but the requirements are not onerous. You are NOT required to be a teacher, you are NOT required to follow the state (or any particular) curriculum. You ARE required to submit a plan and discuss your homeschooling philosophy, and to make yearly reports. There are no home visits in Qld. I believe in NSW you get biennial visits from a moderator, and go over pretty much the same stuff. Each state has it’s own particular rules, and if you have any queries, you can discuss with others in the area, either face to face in homeschool meetings, or in one of the forums set up and maintained by dedicated homeschoolers.
So… What are we like? Well, there are the unschoolers, the school-at-homers, the classicists (including the thriving sub-branch of CM-ers, even though many don’t realise that they are, indeed, classicists), the Montessori/Steiner/Waldorf types, and the just general eclectic type (actually a very large proportion of the whole.) I’ve probably missed out someone (sorry.) I tend to CM.
What unites us? Drive/passion/zeal for our children, their present, and their future. Our decision to educate ourselves, first, and then our children, to create the best possible outcomes for our children. Our rather subversive rejection of the one-size-fits-all philosophy of institutional schooling which, as it turns out, really fits very few. Our willingness to sacrifice for the sake of our children. Other than that, it’s open slather. There’s the Reform Christian, the Wiccan, and the devout Muslim. There’s the unschooler who wants to allow their children the freedom to explore, and learn at their own pace (because, after all, when was the last time you used your Grade 10 maths?) There’s the classicist who insists that little Johnny needs to learn Latin to improve their comprehension of the English language. The school-at-homer who tends to the textbook, as it’s all written out, and they are not depending on their own, meagre, institutional education. There are those who pursue the literature-based education, even though they’re reading those same books for the first time beside their children. We are everybody who cares for their children. And you don’t need a degree to teach your children. Ex-teachers tend to agree that their degree is more of a hindrance than a help in their endeavours to educate their children.
As for results, well, homeschooled students can attend university (there are homeschoolers studying medicine, science and law, to name a few subjects) or enter trades, depending on their preference. Socially, they tend to intergrate better than their institutionalised peers, as they have real-world experience with people other than their age-peers. Educationally, they tend to do better because of individualised curricula, the ability to go at their own pace, and the smaller group learning environment.
Well, I hope you learn more about homeschooling in your own backyard. We’re here, and we tend to be loud and proud.

All “sorts” of people homeschool there children in the US, UK, AU, CA etc.

Homeschoolers in the US consistently score higher than public school students on standardized test.

As for “social skills” …..homeschoolers are out in the real world around all types of people. They are not segregated by age, neighborhood, and ability as students in public school are.
Therefor they learn real social skills instead of heard mentality.

I home school my girls in the USA. I was raised going to public school, I was very social and very active with sports and friends. I decided that I wanted something more for my girls. My oldest daughter is 2 years ahead in school and very very very social. She has been involved in T-ball, Karate, Tap and ballet, Hip-hop and Jazz, the AWANA program, Sunday school and so on. My youngest daughter is only 20 months old and is rather social herself. She speaks very well and is already saying the sounds that her letters make, she is going to be very smart like her older sister.

My girls receive a lot of positive attention wherever they go because they are outgoing, friendly, sweet, caring and giving. They are pretty cute too.

My girls have more time to enjoy their day, play, not be corrupted by children who learn bad things at home and bring them to school, go on field trips and get hands on experience about what they are learning, spend time with their mom, learn about God, meet new people of all age groups and so on.

I am not the smartest person in the world and I was a pretty average student but the program I use is fool proof and everything is laid out for the parent to teach. All the research is already done for me, the lessons are prepared for a 5 day week 36 week year and all the books and materials are provided. The great thing is that it only takes a couple of hours a day and I can add my own stuff that I want them to learn on top of what has already been prepared.

I will admit, I have met some socially weird people who were home schooled but being that I went to public schools my whole life I met a lot more socially weird people there than I have ever met with home schooled people.

Contrary to stereotype, all sorts.
I’m an atheist, a feminist, and a liberal, and I love homeschooling my son.
I homeschool to preserve my child’s love of learning and to assure the quality of his education.
In my own public school education I found the approach to history to be haphazard at best, with gaping chronological and geographic gaps. The fascinating subject of science was ****** dry of wonder and curiosity, and the teaching of math was a Darwinian nightmare of forward momentum, with little to no regard for how many of us fell behind.
I’ve found with minimal structured, sit-down time my son is excelling, reading several grade levels above his age of five, doing second grade level grammar, 1st/2nd grade level math, and has an amazing vocabulary and grasp of the nuances of language.
He’s also an engaged learner who seeks out new information on his own.
He’s a social butterfly with several friends, able to converse easily with adults as well as children, and a flirt who will display his “cool dance moves” at the drop of a hat. : )

Oh, there are plenty of homeschoolers in Australia. There’s bound to be homeschoolers in your town, but you just haven’t run into them You are right that it is pretty much frowned upon, but that’s because it’s something different to the norm. Nearly all my relatives were against our decision to homeschool, even though they all agreed that the education system is lousy (dishing the system, not you, my hubby is teaching too.) Now they’ve decided that I’m smart enough to notice if it isn’t working, and I can always send them to school. They agree that school isn’t going to provide a great education, but at least they won’t be any worse off than everyone else’s kids. Their faith in me is touching I would agree with Hannah, most of the general public is fairly sympathetic to other people homeschooling. The negativity predominately comes from one’s relatives, not the average bod you meet on the street.
All sorts of people homeschool. You’d probably be surprised to find a larger than average percentage of the homeschooling population are teachers, or married to one. Homeschoolers tend to be low to mid middle class, from what I can tell. Upper middle and upper class people have the cash for expensive private schools, and the working class probably don’t have faith in their ability to learn how to homeschool. Then, of course, there are the remote kids who haven’t a lot of choice. People have many reasons for homeschooling, but most do it because they can provide a better academic and social environment.
The kids get good academic results and better social skills than they would in school if parents are dedicated to making it happen.
As a teacher, you can tell the difference between kids who have a supportive home environment and those who don’t. Obviously people who claim to homeschool, but refuse to teach or support their kids’ personal education endeavours will produce badly educated kids. My hubby has come across one or two of those while teaching. The courts had revoked the parent’s right to homeschool and they are sent to school. On the other hand, he also taught a girl for VCE who had been homeschooled and was wowed by her maturity and dedication to her studies. Ha ha, she did great things in helping me convince him to homeschool ours Heck, he even wanted to name our daughter after her! The same with social skills. Parents who won’t allow their kids out into the world, or let them out too much, will end up with badly socialized kids. Parents who are careful to attend the right amount of positive social activities will have happily socialized kids. Some kids need more social time, others need less. Some kids (especially those on the autism spectrum) need to be allowed to take things at their own pace and fare much better socially than they would at school, being thrown into the deep end. Everyone deals better with what life throws at them if they are able to take it at their own pace. That’s why workplaces often have induction programs. They help workers settle in and be productive faster. Homeschooling is the same. If the parents are being responsible, attentive and doing their research, they can guide their kids through academics and social events at the pace they are ready for, gradually stepping back as the kids are able to take more of those responsibilities for themselves. The “sink or swim” mentality has a lot of kids sinking, or at least gasping for breath. It doesn’t have to be that way.

A parent that is truly invested in their child’s life and education might choose to home school. I am a homeschooling mom of 6 and I am completely devoted to making sure they are learning what they are interested in learning in a way that truly makes sense to them. They do not have to learn from a textbook…in fact very little learning actually happens from a textbook. There is no need for grading work, testing, etc because I know what my kids do/do not understand. Homeschooling is an amazing thing that really allows the child to learn in a way that works for them.