Later this year, my daughter will be entering the ninth grade and she will be homeschooled. She approached me about 1.5 years ago and told me it’s what she’d like to do. Her reasoning being she wants to finish school a bit earlier and the freedom to move at her own pace, which tends to be fast. I already knew a lot about homeschooling, but told her to think about it for a year, do some research and if she was still interested, I’d make that happen. She was and so I went through the steps needed to get her registered with an accredited Christian homeschooling program.
Of course, the question I hear most often is socialization. What about that? It’s always nice when people parrot whatever they hear, right? But I don’t say that, I usually laugh and say what about it? What exactly does that mean? How is her socialization going to change? My daughter is quiet but interacts with a small circle of friends as well as others. In fact, her ‘socialization’ is much more well rounded than most her age since she interacts with all age groups based on the various ministries I’m involved with. But back to socialization, she’s still going to continue interacting with old friends and also develop new relationships with others she meets during her homeschooling experience. We became actively engaged in a few local homeschooling communities a little over a year ago.
A few months ago, my daughter told me she wanted to start homeschooling “right away.” I questioned her, but she was firm and gave me her reasons behind that and I support them. Her main reasoning being she’s has never ‘taken off’ in the summer. My daughter has a thirst for knowledge. The beauty of it is, that if she wants to ease up she can since she will be working at her own pace. Earlier this week, I followed up with the school where she’ll be attending, and told them our plans. I registered her towards the end of last year, but then the plan was fall. She’s now a student, just waiting for the full transcripts from her Lutheran school. She’s taking a few weeks off of school and then she’ll be in school. Working during the summer isn’t new to her since I have always had her do ‘mom assignments’ throughout the summer. NO, she doesn’t need a break. She doesn’t take a break from strictly fun activities during the school year, so why should she take a break from education just because she’s out of school? Also, her Lutheran school had summer work assigned to the students. There reasoning was similar to my own. Students within the USA, are lagging behind many other countries. Knowing this, I’ve always made sure that I gave my daughter all the support needed at home and when she’s at school.
“Academic Performance
The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests. (The public school average is the 50th percentile; scores range from 1 to 99.) A 2015 study found Black homeschool students to be scoring 23 to 42 percentile points above Black public school students (Ray, 2015).
Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income.
Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children’s academic achievement.
Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement.
Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.
Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.
Social, Emotional, and Psychological Development (Socialization)
The home-educated are doing well, typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development. Research measures include peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem.
Homeschool students are regularly engaged in social and educational activities outside their homes and with people other than their nuclear-family members. They are commonly involved in activities such as field trips, scouting, 4-H, political drives, church ministry, sports teams, and community volunteer work.
Adults who were home educated are more politically tolerant than the public schooled in the limited research done so far.”