Home Schooling

Article #1
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses Yearning to Homeschool.(Life; Education)(rule of home schooling in Germany).



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Summary:
The Romeikes were the first people granted asylum by U.S. because they were persecuted for homeschooling. The Romeikes are concerned about their children being bullied in school and feel that the curriculum taught in schools went against their Christian values. The Germany’s Federal Supreme Court also issued a ruling in 2007 that parents who continued to homeschool their children could lose custody of them, which was why the Romeikes decided to go to the U.S. to seek asylum. Homeschooling parents want to shield their children from negative influences in school. However, on the other hand, schools represent society and help promote tolerance. There are concerns that homeschooling could lead to insularity, which has caused many European countries to tighten their laws on homeschooling. Whereas in U.S. homeschooling is legal in every state.


Article #2
Homeschool battles: clashes grow as some in the movement seek access to public schools.

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Summary:
Jessica McDowell, a homeschooler hoped to perform her first dissection in a lab outfitted with $500 microscopes in a public school near her home. However, parents of children enrolled in the public school feel that it is unfair for them to want the best of what the public school has to offer without paying their dues. Many homeschoolers over the country would like to participate in public school activities for reasons such as scholastic benefits, extracurricular benefits for social reasons and college applications. Parents have also sued the school district for denying their homeschooled child access to classes. Another reason why homeschoolers want the best of the public schools is that parents are uncomfortable teaching tougher courses. Also, children love after-school activities. Things are being done to increase the public’s acceptance of homeschooling, such as the setting up of a computer lab strictly for homeschoolers and through more interaction between schools and homeschoolers.



The government should provide equal support and resources to parents who choose to home school their children. What is your view on this?

Parents care about how their children are brought up. They all want the best for their children, so why should they be persecuted for having such intent? In school their children might face many negative influences, inflexible curriculums and missing out lessons on religious values. Homeschooling removes these bad influences and provides a better environment for study. I feel that the government should provide equal support and resources to parents who choose to home school their children, because homeschooled children should be supported as well. Parents should have the right to decide on how to educate their children. Hence, the government should support them to ensure that the homeschooled children get adequate and good quality education. By allowing them to utilize the public school’s resources, homeschooled children will be able to learn more with the resources that are unavailable at home.

The most apparent part of school life that homeschooled children will miss is the interaction with peers and the school resources available. With the support of the government, homeschooled children will be able to use resources and attend extracurricular activities which are unavailable at home. Jessica McDowell, a homeschooled 15-year-old, would be able to perform her first dissection in a lab outfitted with $500 microscopes at a public school with the support of the government. The government should give their support to ensure that homeschooled children do not miss out on things that their parents cannot afford to let them experience.

However, some parents who have their children in public schools are against government providing support for homeschoolers. They feel that “it’s not fair for them to want the best of what the public school has to offer without paying the dues,” says Nadine Parsons, a parent with her son enrolled in a public school. Yet homeschoolers are still paying school taxes even though they do not attend public schools. Thus, I feel that homeschoolers have the right to use public school’s resources as they are already “paying the dues” when they pay their taxes. Since they have paid for these public school resources through taxes, the government should provide equal support and resources to the homeschoolers.

The most important reason on why the government should support homeschoolers is that parents should be given the right to home school. Parents should have the right to decide what education they want their children to have. If they decide that they want to home school their children to protect them from negative influences, they should be given the right to do so. Parents should be given a say in their children’s education as they are the ones responsible for bringing them up. Through homeschooling, they can ensure that their children are taught what they what them to learn while avoiding negative influences.

Also, studies have shown that homeschooled children score as well as or better than their conventionally schooled peers. From this we can see that homeschooling is not inferior to public schooling. It should have equal status as public schooling as it produces the same or even better results. Hence, homeschoolers should have equal rights and access to the resources available in public schools.

The government is responsible for the education of its citizens. They should be more flexible regarding what kind of education the younger population of the nation is getting, because it still produces the same or even better result. With the support of the government, homeschooled children can get even better education with access to previously unavailable resources. Hence I feel that the government should provide support and resources to parents who choose to home school their children.