The Growth and Success of Homeschooling

Though many consider homeschooling to be a fairly new method of teaching, it is actually one of the oldest. Homeschooling was widespread in North America until the 1870's. Many historical figures were homeschooled including Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt and other famous people such as Thomas Edison, Booker T. Washington and Mark Twain.

Recent attention has been focusing on the achievements of homeschoolers as a growing number of these students participate and excel in national education events. One example is the National Spelling Bee where the top three finalists in 2000 were all taught at home.

As to the isolation issue, research shows that 98 percent of homeschooled students are involved in two or more types of extracurricular activity with the average student regularly involved in at least five activities including music and dance classes, group sports. volunteer work, Bible clubs and many more. And with the flexibility offered to homeschooling families. students frequently take daytime field trips to museums, parks and other educational destinations. These activities give homeschoolers the chance to regularly interact with kids their own age, but also with adults and children of other ages too. Many homeschooling parents prefer the wider range of social interaction, because it gives their children exposure to multiple peer groups- something that traditional schools normally cannot do. As a result, these children tend to be able to get along with children of different ages and to better relate with adults.

Homeschools are not only more common in America today than they were a few decades ago, but they are also increasing at an astounding rate. In 1985, there were only around 50,000 children being educated at home in the United States. Now the U.S. Department of Education estates that in 1999 there were approximately 850,000 students being homeschooled nationwide. However, the National Home Education Research Institute estimates the real number to be somewhere between 1.5 and 1.9 million students today.

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