According to a report from the U.S. Department of Education, since President Obama was elected, a surging number of parents across America say they are choosing to homeschool their children because public schools don't actually educate children, and worse, harbor a bad environment for children. While fewer parents are choosing to homeschool for religious reasons, they nonetheless want their children to be nurtured in moral surroundings.
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
Atheists, Satanists Force Bible Ban in Florida Schools
Florida School Teaches Islam Including Prayer Rugs
Pre-teens' Sex Lives Tracked by Feds via Schools
Pre-teen Secret Uterus Tampering in Seattle Schools
Kindergartners Taught Sex Change in Maine School
Transgender/Gay Agenda Mandated in Virginia School
Minnesota & California OK Boys on Girls' School Teams, in Showers
President Obama Forces Gay Agenda on Schools via Taxpayer$$
Obama Administration Proposes Public Boarding Schools
Homosexual, Lesbian Teachers Arrested for Sex with Students
Education Experts Say: Pornography Belongs in the Classroom
Education Experts Say: Relax Parents, Sexting is Simply How Kids Flirt Today
Abstinence Education Illegal in California, Judge Rules
Also read how public school sexualization is making criminals of children nationwide.
-- From "Home-Schooling Movement Surges 62% in a Single Decade" by Peter Jesserer Smith, National Catholic Register 7/29/15
Home schooling has experienced massive growth in the United States for more than a decade. The face of the home-education movement has also changed. Fewer parents now attribute the need to give religious instruction as the driving motivation behind their choice . . .
The Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) shows the number of children educated at home between kindergarten and 12th grade increased close to 62% between 2003 and 2012. The number of home-schooled students between the ages of 5 and 17 in the U.S. rose from 1.09 million in 2003 to 1.77 million by 2012, accounting for 3.4% of the school-age population.
[Home School Legal Defense Association staff attorney Mike] Donnelly said the “National Household Education Survey” of parents in 2012 show the reasons why most parents choose to home school have diversified beyond simply religious grounds. Ninety-one percent of parents cited concerns about the environment of public schools, 77% cited moral instruction, and 74% expressed concerns about the academic instruction. A lower number, of 64%, listed wanting to give their children religious instruction as a reason, followed by 44% saying they wanted their child to have a nontraditional form of education.
When it came to parents listing the single most important reason for home schooling, the survey showed 25% of parents said they were concerned about the environment of other schools; 22% said “other reasons” (including family time, finances, travel and distance), and 19% said they were dissatisfied with the academic instruction at other schools.
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From "Number of homeschooled children in U.S. continues to grow" By Wes Mayberry, The Daily Sentinel (Scottsboro, AL) 7/24/15
According to statistics from the National Center for Education, the number of homeschooled students in the U.S. grew from 850,000 in 2009 to almost 1.8 million in 2011. And National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) data from January says there are now an estimated 2.2 million home-educated students nationwide. An estimated 23,220 of these students live in Alabama, according to AL.com. NHERI President Dr. Brian Ray calls homeschooling the fastest-growing form of education in the country.
. . . According to Ray, the most common reasons parents give for homeschooling their kids are to customize the curriculum and learning environment for each child; accomplish more academically than in schools; enhance family relationships between children and parents and among siblings; provide guided and reasoned social interactions with youthful peers and adults; provide a safer environment for children and youth because of the physical violence, drugs, alcohol, psychological abuse, racism and improper and unhealthy sexuality associated with institutional schools; and/or teach and impart a particular set of values, beliefs and worldviews to children and youth.
. . . Ray says home-educated children typically score 15 to 30 percentile points higher than public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests. And homeschoolers have proven to score above average on the SAT and ACT that colleges consider for admission. Further, according to home-school.com, homeschooled students have an average college freshman GPA of 3.41 that rises to 3.46 in their senior year. By comparison, non-homeschooled students have a college freshman GPA of 3.12 that rises to 3.16 in their senior year. And homeschoolers graduate from college at a higher rate than their peers, 66.7 percent to 57.5 percent.
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From "Homeschooled Students Increase as Concerns over Common Core Remain" by Justin Petrisek, Catholic Education Daily, Cardinal Newman Society 7/23/15
The latest studies show that an increasing number of students are being homeschooled by their parents in order to avoid Common Core, which is found even in many Catholic schools. There is no question that the link is there and that parents are extremely concerned about how Common Core will affect their children’s Catholic education, said Florida Catholics Against Common Core’s Rolando Perez.
“There is great concern about the indoctrination, data mining and constant testing that Common Core has brought to schools, including Catholic schools,” said Perez, who along with other concerned parents formed Florida Catholics Against Common Core. The priority for Common Core State Standards seems to be preparing students for future jobs, Perez affirmed. The standards then become utilitarian and distract from students’ moral and spiritual formation by placing too much emphasis on testing and performance.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Home schooling up 9.6 percent in [Florida]" posted at Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, FL) 7/19/15
The number of home-schooled children in Florida saw its biggest increase in five years during 2014-15, according to a recently released Florida Department of Education report.
Last year, the state counted 84,096 children in home schooling, up 9.6 percent from a year earlier.
The largest spike in home-schooled students prior to that, according to the Florida Department of Education data, was a 10.7 percent increase from 2010 to 2011, when there were 69,281 students from 6,714 families.
Since that time, the number of students has risen about 21 percent.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Celebrating a Homeschooling Milestone" by Dr. Terry Stoops, Carolina Journal 7/7/15
We know that the total number of homeschool students more than doubled over the last dozen years . . .
As the New York Times recently noted, state regulations often impede the growth of homeschooling in states such as Pennsylvania. For years, North Carolina’s homeschool law allowed only parents and guardians to provide instruction. Two years ago, homeschool families led a successful effort to change North Carolina’s definition of homeschooling.
. . . the homeschool movement is no longer monolithic. North Carolinians from a variety of racial, political, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds make great sacrifices to homeschool their children. Some endeavor to provide an education consistent with their family’s religious or cultural views.
Others are dissatisfied with the academic quality of their local public schools. Still others homeschool due to concerns about bullying or potentially harmful social environments sometimes found in traditional school settings.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Homeschool and online programs becoming a popular way to educate" by Arriel Vinson, Indianapolis Recorder 7/24/15
Some parents prefer their children not attend public or private schools, in fear of their child not learning at a quick enough pace, falling behind or maybe even being bullied. For these parents, homeschooling was an option they were willing to explore.
Online programs and schools are growing in Indianapolis. Some programs are more online-based, while other programs have a blended-learning approach, using online and in-person courses to teach students. . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "County homeschool enrollment growing rapidly" by Joe Callahan, Staff Writer, Ocala Star-Banner 7/28/15
Prior to 1900, homeschooling was the norm. As more public schools were built in the early 20th century, parents started sending their children to school. By the early 1970s, 30 states had outlawed homeschooling and by 1973 there were only 13,000 home-schooled children nationwide. But since then, especially since 1990, when enrollment was only 275,000 students, there has been a homeschooling explosion.
By 1997, homeschooling had reached 1 million students and today there are 2.2 million nationwide.
One big reason for a homeschooling explosion in Florida is that these students do not have to take the dozens of standardized tests that some say are now dominating education.
. . . colleges do not require a student to have a high school diploma. They only require a transcript, usually with grades from 24 courses, and a national test score such as the ACT or SAT.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Homeschooling grows in Florida, with Duval at forefront" by Denise Smith Amos, Florida Times-Union 7/27/15
. . . big reasons parents give [for homeschooling]: dissatisfaction with government or government-run schools, under-performing local schools, bullying or a fears about violence, and the need for special academic, social of physical accommodations for students.
Parents choose from a plethora of online classes, Internet-based learning materials and blended learning centers, allowing in-person and computer instruction. There also are online schools — public, private and charters — which can allow students to take one class or a series of classes.
In North Florida, home-schooling groups like HERI and co-ops let parents share teaching duties, hire teachers and tutors for elective courses, sell or swap curricula or provide group arts or science labs. HERI even hosts graduations, proms and field trips.
Under Florida law, public high schools have to open their interscholastic sports or activities such as band or choir to home-schoolers. Many schools let them attend day classes related to those pursuits.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read More Texans Opt Out of Public Schools
