[1]LUBBOCK, Texas (BP)–Several recent media reports have pointed to the growing trend of homeschooling, with Texas alone seeing a 20 percent increase in the number of homeschooling families in the past five years.
Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition, said the economy is a factor.
“We’ve talked to a number of folks who have their kids in a private school and it’s just not possible to pay those types of tuition fees anymore, and they do not want to put their kids in a public school,” Lambert told CitizenLink.com.
He added that the primary reason people who contact his organization choose homeschooling is that they want to “integrate their faith or pass on their values in the education of their children.”
The Home School Legal Defense Association reports that at least 2 million students in the United States are homeschooled, and the National Home Education Research Institute said homeschooled students typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public school students on standardized achievement tests.
The Detroit Free Press ran a feature article on homeschooling in August, noting, “With a sea of available resources and a ballooning network of supporters, homeschooling is becoming more mainstream.”
[2]“I had a lot of misconceptions of homeschooling,” Heidi Pair, a homeschooling parent, told the newspaper. “I had this vision of mom sitting down with her children for six to seven hours a day at the kitchen table. The more research I did, the more I thought how silly … that is.”
Now Pair is enrolling her two children in online classes and scheduling 4-H meetings, karate classes and Lego League, the Free Press said, as well as choosing math curricula and planning field trips.
Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute, estimated that the number of homeschooled children is growing 7 percent annually.
“[Parents] want customized education, they want more time together, they want strong family ties and they want guided social interactions,” Ray told the Free Press. “Many also see it as their job to pass on social values, not the schools.'”
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Compiled by Baptist Press staff writer Erin Roach.