Home Schooling
Although education is compulsory
in the United States, it is not com-
pulsory for all children to get their
education at school. A number of
parents believe that they can pro-
vide a better education for their
children at home. Children who
are educated at home are known as
"home-schoolers." There are about
300.000 home-schoolers in the
United States today. Some parents
prefer teaching their children at
home because they do not believe
that public schools teach the cor-
rect religious values; others believe
they can provide a better educa-
tional experience for their children
themselves. Interestingly, results
show that home-schooled children
tend to do better than average on
national tests in reading and math.
David Guterson is an American
an
writer. He and his wife teach their
three children themselves. Guter-
son says that his children learn
very differently from children in a
regular school. Learning starts with
the children's interests and ques-
tions. For example, when there is
heavy snowfall on a winter day, it
may start a discussion or reading
about climate, snow removal
equipment, Alaska, polar bears,
and winter tourism. Or a spring
evening, when the family is watch-
ing the stars, is a good time for set-
ting up a telescope and asking
questions about satellites, comets,
meteors, and the space program. At out
dinner, if the Brazilian rain forests
are on the news, it could be a per-
fect time to get out the atlas and
encyclopedia. Then there might be
two hours or more ofeating, asking life.
questions, looking up answers, dis-
covering howrain forests influence
the climate, what the "greenhouse
effect" is how deserts are formed,
and how the polar ice caps affect
ocean levels.
Although home schooling offers an
experience that is often more inter-
esting than regular schools, critics
point out that home-schoolers miss
on many important things. The
home-schooler is an outsider who,
because he or she never attended
school, might be uncomfortable
mixing with other people in adult
Critics also say that most par-
ents are not well qualified to teach
their children and may pass on
their own narrow views to their
children. However, most parents
don't have the time or desire to
teach their children at home, so
schools will continuc to be where
most children get their formal
education.
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