Why Do Many Parents Choose to Home School

The public education system has taken its lumps over the past several years. School violence, drugs, failing educational scores, overcrowding classrooms, over-emphasis on standardized test scores, unskilled teachers, lax laws protecting the rights of disruptive students, and other factors have decreased confidence many parents have in the public education system. Looking for a solution, many parents enrolled their children in private schools and found more of the same. Desperate times sometimes need desperate measures to provide relief. Today, more than at any time in history, parents are looking toward the option of home schooling to ensure their children get a quality education and find an academic springboard to a bright future.

The reasons are nearly countless. With the proliferation of the World Wide Web, parents have the option to capitalize on the educational benefits the Internet can provide. In reality, the Internet provides access to nearly the sum total of all human knowledge. With resources in schools vastly limited, the opportunity for students to learn from home is plentiful.

One of the biggest reasons that parents choose to home school their children is due to the social environment in schools. In recent years school violence such as the Columbine fiasco and other school shootings, although rare and highly publicized, have given parents food for thought. Today, there are many schools that have metal detectors at their entrances. Police are required to roam the hallways to ensure the limitation of nefarious activities within schools. Fighting and bullying is commonplace. Home schooling is a way that parents can limit their child's exposure to a stressful environment.

Drug use among school-age children has skyrocketed in recent years. School has become a place where drugs are sold and used. Since schools are so vastly overcrowded, teachers and administration often have difficulty monitoring the activities of students. Home schooling not only gives parents the opportunity to dictate the academic curriculum of their children, but it also gives them greater control over the crowd their children associate with.

One of the biggest reasons parents turn to home schooling is the fact that they believe the education their child is getting is inadequate. Home schooling provides the opportunity for parents to generate their own curriculum according to the strengths and weaknesses of their child. With the emphasis on standard test scores and the importance these tests present for a child's future, parents want to ensure their children have access to a quality education.

Parents choose to home school for many reasons. Some reasons may be more important than others to different parents. In the end the reasons don't really matter. What matters are the decision and the proper execution of a home schooling plan?