The iron control some parents want to exercise over their children is truly chilling. Who was the poet who said "Your children are not your children, they are expressions of life's longing for itself.", or something similar?
What do these parents fear so much about exposing their precious kids to a classroom's worth or even a playground's worth of other kids? Sure, every kid gets hurt and teased, sometimes, in the big wide world of school, but in the long run, that can be a good thing. They learn how to deal with difficulty, with teachers who are not fair, and classes that are boring. There will be a lot of that in their future, and if they've been isolated and protected from it, how will they deal with it later? How do you learn that you are just another kid, nothing special, if you are never allowed to experience the rough and tumble of school? How will you learn that there are as many ways to live life as there are people living it, if all you are ever exposed to are the beliefs of your own parents? In the end, who are such parents protecting? Their kids? Or themselves?

I don't think that parents are trying to keep their children away from experiences such as you describe above. I am not homeschooling my children of 5, 10 and 15. But having children at such different age levels, I have had the chance to see many different things that would make me want to homeschool. A child that was placed in remedial classes because she wasn't "smart enough" to keep up with her peers, and a child that is "too smart" so she either needed to be bumped up a few grades or placed into the "focus classes." And I won't even mention the little boy who told my 4th grader that he would like to put his beef inside her taco. O.K., I mentioned it, but I did not find it amusing, and neither did her father! And, I'm sure we would not have heard it had she been homeschooling.....

Hello all,

Julie Novak has put up some facts about home-schooling that undermine the myths and prejudices that pass for knowledge in some circles. Unfortunately, facts mean very little to people like enaj (see top post) who charges in to the debate like a bull in a china shop with words such as "iron control", "truly chilling" and "parents fear so much". Such an emotional barrage only serves to demonstrate the irrationality of people who oppose freedom of choice in education.

enaj wants our children to learn that they are "just another kid", but I don't want any child to feel that grey, especially my children, so I choose to be outside the conformist, lock-step, institutionalising, dehumanising, relativistic state educational system.

enaj, wouldn't it be truly chilling if the state had a monopoly on education? It could then dictate what every child had to learn, incalculate the (politically correct) attitudes they must have, and indocrinate our young in any way it saw fit. That would be an iron hand indeed.

Why is it that people like enaj who make so much noise about diversity and tolerance are very intolerant of those who don't fit the socialist mold?

Couldn't pass up the opportunity to contribute to this discussion! We have home schooled five of our six children for nine years now and we do not regret the decision, nor do our children! Contrary to popular and consistent belief, our children are HIGHLY social. With access to 'support networks', friends, drama, music, St John Ambulance, and other such opportunities for personal growth and social interaction, we struggle to keep up with the multiplicity and diversity of challenges to our personal values and beliefs. Our home is often the venue for 'the great debate' and the focus of that debate alters from week to week, child to child; it is, in short, an absolute delight to engage with our children in their growth to spiritual, intellectual, moral and social maturity.

All our children have identified and established their personal goals early and worked toward them with the knowledge that they are not 'just another kid' but a humble human being with the ability, potential and heart to achieve great things for others; that their legacy can and will make a difference in this hurting world.

Having said this, our first son completed his entire education in a private, Christian school and at twentyfive is a wonderful young man, happily married, a successful business, and a huge heart for others. It can be achieved both ways people, but with each choice there is a need to balance and address the disadvantages presented. Yes, people can be control freaks and create codependency in their children but hey, they can do that in the school system too as so well articulated by Mykah - which one of us would truly like to think that the 'system' was free to 'train up our children'? Scary stuff!! The trouble with this debate, as so often happens with so many, is that people are often defending their already established practices and few seem to be able to transcend their own position to see the honest worth in potential alternatives.

In humility,
Justine.

My grandaughter will be of school age next year. She is an only child and I fear that home schooling will be too isolationist for her.
Does anybody wish to comment?

(Reply to RobertG, about his grandaughter)

Dear Sir,

There are a diverse range of opinions about home-education but the research-based facts show that, on average, home-educated children are better adjusted, have more confidence and better social skills than children who are sent to "the professionals" to be schooled. So it is not just in academic skills that home-educated children have an unfair advantage but also in general life-skills. This is because they are not "socialised" by the mob but learn from the example of their parents and other influential people in their lives (such as their grandparents).

Home-educated doesn't mean "locked up in solitary confinement". Most home-educated children I know are active in community groups, sporting clubs and churches, as well as mixing often with other home-schoolers of all ages.