Primary-aged children who are taught at home learn more than those in schools, according to a number of studies into the benefits of home learning.
Ongoing research reveals that in national literacy assessments, approximately 80% of home educated children were at the same level in their studies as the top 20% of school educated children.
With education being a hot topic for nearly all parents, we need to take stock of our position on home Vs School learning.
There are, typically, prejudices about families who choose not to send their children to schools. However, the main disadvantage seems to be other people’s opinions, rather than the results of home tutoring itself. For example, the most common criticism of educating children at home is the idea that those children are isolated. Other people assume that home educating is very middle-class.
This point is also unfounded when we look at the reality. A recent report on home education found that home tutored children come from families with a wider socio-economic reach than previously thought; indeed 14% of parents were employed in manual or unskilled occupations.
Children taught at home were also found to be more confident than those taught at school. At home, more emphasis was put on learning life skills – such as communication, interpersonal skills, as well as self-esteem and responsibility – than in schools.
I’m sitting on the fence on this one, but I know from personal experience that if I look at kids I know who have been home schooled, they do exhibit some positive differences. For example, they seem to develop more responsibility and they are far more involved in what is happening in the family. That’s very different from children who are out of the house during the day time.
A 15-year-old I know from the UK, who has never been to school, says he believes school “crushes the spirit”, (although he concedes it may have been easier to be taught in one!). “Exams might be easier in school, because the system is set up that way. But I hear what people say about school and they seem to really hate it.”
With reference to friends, this particular boy says he has always had plenty of them, particularly from families of other home-educators.
OK, eventually he’d like to progress from home schooling and go to university to study biology, but for the time being he is one very happy child (and his exam results were extremely good).