As I listened to Dr. Raymond Moore on the radio in 1985 so many thoughts zoomed through my head. By the end of the interview, I was convinced by his well-reasoned and supported arguments that home schooling was The Way to go. His most persuasive statement was that home schooling allows a child to learn in a way that is best suited for him or her. Formal education, especially learning to read, could wait until the child was developmentally ready. Our modern grouping of all children into grade levels based solely on their ages didn’t take into account variations in readiness and personality. Better Late Than Early became my secret motto as I encountered children who struggled unnecessarily in a classroom environment. So, as a young, 23 year old, beginning public school teacher, I chose home schooling as the future for my future children.

As the years passed, other reasons for home education became obvious. Home schoolers choose their own curriculum. They focus their children on family and learning rather than a peer group. Parents control not only what is taught but how, when, and who does it. Bullying, teasing, and peer pressure are minimized. The family is not held hostage by the public school schedule or calendar. Special talents can be nurtured. Medical issues can be privately and effectively managed.

At one point in our home schooling I realized that we had moved to four different towns in four years. Our lives were in an upheaval because of a medical diagnosis that required me to be close to doctors, but the moves barely effected our elementary age children. Our family was the center of their lives, not children from the local school. In those four years, we continued our studies as normal and explored our new surroundings, finding excitement and adventure everywhere, but having a relatively constant, calm, and peaceful home and learning environment. Had the children been in public schools, they would have had to pull up roots from each and then brave the new classrooms of strangers over and over.

When our oldest child was four years old, I visited kindergarten to observed for myself the content of the classes: tooth brushing, free play, read aloud, penmanship/coloring, beginning reading/phonics/whole language, lunch, beginning mathematics, more free play, enrichment activities, music/gym, and rest. If I had had any doubts or second thoughts about home schooling, these observations drove them away. Not only could I do all of what these teachers did, but I could do it much more efficiently while genuinely loving my child in the process.

Sadly, other important reasons for home schooling also exist. Home education allows children to avoid school violence, drugs, political correctness in the classroom, immersion in inappropriate music/language/ books/ movies, and eight hours away from home each day.

Evaluating home school from a strictly academic standpoint reveals a superior opportunity for learning. Children learn quickly with direct instruction from a parent or tutor in very small groups or one-on-one. Very little time is wasted at home, and an entire day’s worth of lessons can be completed in a fraction of the time that a classroom must spend.  Also, your child’s work can be quickly evaluated so mistakes can be corrected immediately.

Our reasons for home schooling have certainly changed since we first began. Twenty years ago, I would have told any curious person that we chose home schooling because we want our children to love learning, reading, and math. Now I might answer that we home school so that our children will be wise enough to know that socialism is a failed economic system,  words mean things, ideas have consequences, and vague promises of “hope and change” aren’t nearly enough to earn someone a vote for President.