Home schooling is an alternative to public education. It is a choice that many more parents are making today, and even more are projected to make by the year 2000. It is estimated that at the end of the year 2000 there will be 2,000,000 home schoolers in the United States (Gorder 1996). There are other alternatives to Public School education. Some examples are Catholic or Private schools or a privately hired tutor. There are many reasons why people home school their children. Religious beliefs, academic achievement, social development, moral and psychological reasons are all cited (Wade 1996). However, religious beliefs are often the main reason (Gorder 1996). Some parents feel as if their children are not learning enough academics, but that they are learning moral and social values that conflict with their own (Gorier 1996). Many parents teach their children at home because they feel they can provide a better education for them. Another problem parents see with the school system is the lack of control and discipline in the schools today. “In 1996 every day 35,000 children took guns to school with them” (Gorder, p.15, 1996). Parents feel that since the government funds these schools they are used as podiums for preaching. They see the teacher using the class as an audience to preach to. There are also parents who want to teach their children so that they can spend more time with them. “The average school-age child spends only fourteen minutes a week talking to their parents” (Gorder, p.16, 1996). There are others who think that parents home school their children because they get joy out of seeing them learn and discover new things (Henger 1995). There is some history to the issue of home schooling. There are also many pros and cons, which will be addressed in this paper. Home schooling has been around for hundreds of years. There are many famous and intellectual people that have had their education through home...
