Should Parents Homeschool (Part 1)?

I have been having a discussion with some friends about homeschooling. They believe that homeschooling isn't good for children. Most people have a serious misunderstanding of why people homeschool and the benefits of homeschooling.

Here are some of the arguments people will say against homeschooling and some comments my friends have said that I want to address:
(Some information is taken from naturalchild.org)

1) They will lack social skills. Children shouldn't be so sheltered. If you don't send your children to school, how are they going to fit into a mass society?

2) After they move out of their parents home, they most likely will rebel.

3) The homeschooling parents aren't as qualified to teach as teachers in the classroom.

4) The homeschooled student won't be up to the standards in math and science especially in highschool.

5) Keeping your children home to teach them your values is a form of brainwashing. Children should make up their own mind when it comes to religion and politics and not be brainwashed by their parents viewpoints. If you don't send children to school, how are they going to be exposed to any values other than the commercial values of a mass society?

6) If you have good values, you should send your kids to school so other kids can have good peer pressure. If only the kids with bad values went to school, there wouldn't be any good kids in school. How are we going to prevent parents with narrow and bigoted ideas from passing these on to their children?

7) Children in public schools are able to meet and get to know many children very different from themselves. If they didn't go to public school, how would this happen.

I strongly support homeschooling, but I do not necessarily think that every parent should homeschool. When it comes to brainwashing, I would much rather be the one to “brainwash” my kids than the government. I am going to address each one of these concerns in my coming posts.

I am not coming from the perspective of having homeschooled. I do, however, have two brothers who are teachers. One teaches high school math, and one was a principle of a school in Morocco. I have also taught highschool at a private school for a year. One of my brothers homeschooled his children for a couple of years. Another brother of mine has so far homeschooled his two kids almost through elementary school. I also have a sister who homeschooled her three children through high school and they are currently attending college. Another sister has currently homeschooled her three boys almost through elementary school as well. All the kids that have been homeschooled in my family are doing well socially which amounts to 5 children for a couple of years, three children through highschool, and 5 children through elementary school. By the way, my family grew up in Los Gatos California and not on a farm.

Go To Part 2