THE HOT TOPIC OF HOMESCHOOLING

I receive a lot of personal email from people who need information about homeschooling. Many times it's from families who are just beginning, but sometimes I get invitations to be involved in PhD dissertations and Master's Thesis papers.

Today I got a request to be a part of a PhD dissertation. The writer needed specific information about homeschooling and my homeschooling group's founding date, and so on and so forth. This is normal as far as questions go, however as I read her dissertation, I realized that she is not an education major but an ECONOMICS major! THAT is something new.

Oh how sweet it was to read her paper.

I have been speaking about the financial aspect of homeschooling as it relates to our government for years now and finally someone is batting the ball in that direction yet, I dare say, she is still not touching the base.

The Economics of homeschooling in my point of view turns to this. Homeschooling is growing by upwards of 40% each year! Can you imagine? The LOW estimates now are 2 million homeschoolers in the United States.

Her paper delves into the "why" parent's choose to homeschool and the "how" they attempt to get rooted and grounded in it, but it doesn't touch on the government's involvement in the issue.

Here is how I see it...PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong oh Economist/Teacher/Math readers of mine. I am not above learning and changing. Opinions are indeed mailable.

1. Homeschoolers save their individual States Millions of dollars each year. The government does not have to pay for our children to attend school. Our tax dollars are still spent for the school but our government does not pay for children that the school does not teach.

2. Homeschoolers test above public AND private school in every subject across Economic and Racial lines!

3. Homeschoolers are well rounded, have grown up and proven that they are actually BETTER socialized than children who have only been surrounded by people their same age 7 hours a day year after year, day after day. Homeschoolers are milling about in their community much more than their traditional schooled counterparts. Homeschoolers meet people of other cultures, beliefs and races during their escapades out in the real world as they grow up. They have more time for sports, jobs, community service, and play time. They do not wait until Summer Break and their high school graduation to live in the "real" world.

4. Homeschoolers have higher rates of community service, are more likely to vote and come from both one and two parents homes.

5. Homeschooling has been frowned upon in some states like Ohio and California so OUR GOVERNMENT implemented a GOVERNMENT FUNDED program called Connections Academy, so homschooled children receive Books, A Laptop and school supplies so they can be taught at HOME by their parents. They graduate with a diploma from public school!

You can surely understand why that has become the case, right? Low overhead+ better student test scores = win/win for everyone. The slippery slope can be felt I'm sure. Any thinking person can see that our government is slowly but surely doing away with...Shall I say it? ...Bye, bye Teachers Union. shhhh...




Ah, but you Laugh!

Here's a tidbit to chew on. What do you think auto companies are doing with the Labor Unions as we speak? I live in Detroit my friends. I'm watching my friends and their families leave this state one by one, because they were "laid off" from jobs that were "protected" by labor unions. Unions are going the way of the DoDo bird and nobody is yelling "endangered!"

6. Homeschoolers can educate their children for FREE thanks to the handy-dandy Internet and Libraries.

7. Homeschoolers can go to college at the ripe old age of 14 and graduate with associate degrees by the time they would be graduating High School, had they attended public or private schools!

Homeschooling is NOT the wave of the future...It is the "now." It is not "really" being shoved around by our government, it's being helped along.

Am I the only one who sees this?

I am a homeschooling parent. I am a very large homeschool group founder. I know teachers who have quit working so they can homeschool their children. I know teachers and principals who want to quit so they can homeschool. I am into homeschooling full force, while still holding out hope for our school systems...it's fading fast but I'm hoping.

Yes, I AM a homeschooling parent. I wonder if that is clouding my judgment or making it more clear? THAT is the question.