<<  <  >  >>

Page 9

schooling resolution was adopted by the representative

assembly.  Resolution B-63 stated that homeschooling pro-

grams "cannot provide the student with a comprehensive

education experience."  Further, the resolution noted that,

if homeschooling is chosen, "instruction should be by per-

sons who are licensed by the appropriate state education

licensure agency."30

The choice of a household to create a homeschool, even

in a nation that lauds innovation, raises many uncomfort-

able, but important, questions about family life, community

mores, children's well-being, and government regulation of

private choices.  What follows are the 10 most frequently

asked questions about home education and home educators,

questions that reveal much about the American public's

assumptions about conventional methods of education.

Why Do Families Choose to Homeschool?

An analysis of 300 newspaper and magazine articles

about homeschoolers revealed that the top four reasons to

homeschool were dissatisfaction with the public schools, the

desire to freely impart religious values, academic excel-

lence, and the building of stronger family bonds.31  Those

reasons coincide with the findings of polls of home-

schoolers.  For example, the Florida Department of Education

surveyed 2,245 homeschoolers in 1996.  By the end of August

1996, 31 percent of that number had returned the survey.  Of

that group, 42 percent said that dissatisfaction with the

public school environment (safety, drugs, adverse peer

pressure) was their reason for establishing a home education

program.32

What Types of Families Choose Homeschooling?

Americans of different races, socioeconomic back-

grounds, and religions homeschool.  Holt Associates de-

scribes its clientele as individuals who "live in the coun-

try, city, suburbs, small towns.  Some are single parents,

combining working outside the home with homeschooling."33

Given many Americans' penchant for associations, there are

national homeschooling support groups for Mormons, Catho-

lics, Jews, Muslims, the handicapped, and homeschoolers of

color.