What is the Main Reason Parents Give For Homeschooling?

Homeschooling is a method of teaching where parents teach their teens at home rather than sending them to private or public school. Parents opt to homeschool their teenagers due to numerous reasons. Sometimes a student is sick and cannot go to a traditional high school. But more often, parents homeschool their teens since they feel that they can give them better education compared to a regular school. Also, parents might opt to homeschool their teens since they want the education of their teenagers to include religious instruction, which is not offered at regular schools.

If you do not like traditional high school, homeschooling may be your best solution. But it is better for every person if homeschooling is not selected just as an escape from public school or problems there, like bullying. Looking for the solutions to the issue ought to be your initial step.

There has been an increase in the number of homeschooling families in the U.S. over the years. According to education scholars and the United States government, the number of homeschooling learners has doubled in the last decade. With the closure of schools due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, homeschooling and online learning have become the norm of learning.

In this article, we explore the top reasons why more parents are homeschooling.

Top 5 Reasons Why Parents Homeschool Their Teenagers

Here are the top 5 reasons why parents choose to homeschool their teenagers:

• Change from a Negative Traditional School Setting

According to the National Household Education Survey (NHES), a survey undertaken after four years by the United States Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the greatest reason why parents opt to homeschool their teenagers is the negative school environment of the teens’ traditional school. More than 26 per cent alluded to a negative learning environment as their main reason, and more than 90 per cent cited it as one of the major reasons that make them shift to homeschool.

So, what environmental factors are a concern to parents?

Usually, parents have a concern regarding bullying. To a large extent, bullying is hard for parents to notice since, unlike a letter or report card from an educator, it’s hard to find out whether your teen is bullied online or at school by colleagues. Cases where learners inflict physical harm, steal money or food, tease, use hurtful or abusive language are usually dismissed by educators and are not reported by high school students who experience such forms of bullying.

Bullying together with their effects become more severe as teens get older due to the increasing peer pressures in high school. Bullying can result in lower self-esteem and grades, depression, and poor sleeping habits.

Obviously, parents have a concern regarding other things that affect the welfare of their teenagers in high school, like school violence. Although there has been a rise in school violence over the years, the has been an increase in assault and theft.

So, how can a homeschool assist?

Homeschooling is a solution for most students and their families since it eliminates the physical and psychological torment which is associated with bullying. The other benefit of homeschool is that it removes the fear that comes from bullying and other challenges students experience in high schools currently.

Parents who decide to homeschool their students due to bullying usually report significant improvement in their academics and personal happiness. What is more, concerns regarding socialization are typically reduced since parents can eliminate bullying from their teens’ lives and establish new social experiences for their teenagers. Also, they can control positive relationships that their teens already had.

• High-Quality Education

With the enactment of Common Core in most states, increased enrollment of students, decreasing education budgets of the state, and other factors, most parents have a belief that the quality of academics in public learning institutions has declined. According to the NHS survey, learning dissatisfaction is the other reason why parents opt to homeschool their teens.

Online homeschooling enables parents to have a say on what their teens are studying. Most homeschooling parents believe that a public-school curriculum does not offer the appropriate skills and knowledge for their teenagers. Studies show that less than half of high school learners are academically ready for university or college.

With fewer resources and crowded classrooms, it’s more challenging for educators to offer one-on-one teaching to students. Nevertheless, with homeschooling, parents can utilize a state-approved homeschool curriculum and offer personalized instruction that is usually missed in the current public schools. Also, parents can supplement the learning of their teens with extra lessons. Parents can spend much time on every subject to make sure that their teens are studying the material and feel confident that they have mastered their lessons. Additionally, homeschooled learners perform well on federal and state standardized tests. This is true irrespective of the income of parents or if they are experienced in teaching.

• Enhance Your Teen’s Social Interactions

The other reason why parents homeschool their children is that they need less exposure to peer pressure and bullying in public schools, as well as more personalized social interactions that support their values.

Parents who homeschool their teens can achieve this by taking the high school homeschool curriculum and taking their home to the classroom. Whereas many public school learners spend a lot of time in classes listening to educators, homeschooling learners have a lot of activities that usually occur outside their home. With a homeschool curriculum that is flexible, families can visit historical sites, parks, museums and take part in community activities as part of their academics.

So, homeschooling enhances the psychological and emotional development of students. Also, it strengthens family relations when learners homeschool with their brothers and sisters. What’s more, teens gain greater awareness of their environment, and they can develop a stronger sense of civic responsibility.

• Support Disabled Students

Students with physical handicaps or learning disabilities don’t often prosper in public high schools. With limited time and resources, it’s challenging for most teens to get the specialized learning they want to learn.

By homeschooling online, parents can utilize the specialized curriculum, such as that of High School of America, that takes into consideration different learning differences. The other advantage of homeschooling is that students can utilize available public school resources. For instance, services for music, art, remedial classes, physical handicaps, dyslexia, and speech therapy are available for homeschoolers. This gives homeschooling parents greater flexibility to ensure that their teens have the best world.

• Educate Teens When Shifting to Another Country or State

According to the United States census data, families with teens and younger Americana are the highest to relocate to other places.

At High School of America, we have many families that cope with regular movement from one area to another due to jobs. One of the most challenging elements of moving is the maintenance of consistency in learning. The major advantage of homeschooling is that homeschool courses can be done from any part across the globe. This helps in ensuring that there are no interruptions in schooling.

High School of America has a flexible learning schedule, and lessons are created to be compatible with national and state guidelines. This helps in ensuring that teens don’t take steps backwards when shifting to other places.

Other Reasons Why Parents Homeschool their Teens

There are other numerous reasons why parents opt to homeschool their high school students for them to acquire a high school diploma. There are learners who are athletes who travel regularly. Other students are in theatre, music, and fine arts, and they have rehearsal, work, as well as performance schedules that make it impossible in traditional high schools. The flexibility at High School of America’s homeschool curriculum enables parents to manage their teens’ schedules better.

The other reason why parents want to homeschool is to set up a setting where their teenagers enjoy learning.

Students experience a lot of pressure in public schools. Many teens are becoming stressed due to the volume of their coursework and projects, the day-to-day routine of doing things without input into their studies, and the need of memorizing a lot of information. Here, learning stops being engaging and fun.

Homeschooling parents with High School of America have seen that they have a lot of time to focus on lessons and activities that motivate them to learn.

In case you have any questions regarding making a transition to homeschooling your teens, you can reach out to our support team.

To learn more about homeschooling, you can visit our website (www.highschoolofamerica.com) or just give us a call at +18882424262.

Resources and References:

• Rise of School Violence and Crime in the United States
• Common Core Standards
• One-on-One Teaching
• Why Parents Choose Homeschooling