Texas home school
What is a home school?
I never let my schooling interfere with my education?. These words by the famous novelist, Mark Twain, help us evaluate the purpose as well as the outcome of learning. While conventional schools provide education through textbooks, classroom lectures and laboratory sessions, the concept of home schools is different. The latter signifies fulfilling a child?s education needs through the system of teaching him at home. Of course, to do this, there are certain parameters that have to be adhered to, such as that a home school needs to have a written curriculum, in a visual form. A home school propagates the belief that ?A Mother\'s heart is the child\'s schoolroom.?
The emergence of Home Schools
The idea of home schooling, though not as widespread as that of public school education, is not a new one either; it has been there since ages when people working in the foreign services, and those living in far-flung areas, resorted to educating their children at home. Children, with chronic illnesses, were not sent to boarding schools and were taught at home by parents. Later, as the concept of public schools surfaced, home schooling was relegated to the background and people began to treat regular school-going as the more acceptable approach to education.
It was only in the second half of the last century that home schooling re-emerged as an alternative to public schooling. This was, primarily, as a reaction to parents? cynicism about the effects of sending their children to regular public and private schools. Besides textbooks and the prescribed curricula, these schools were believed to teach little. Caretakers and parents started believing that they might land up doing a better job.
This was, however, no cakewalk. Parents, who chose home schooling for their children, has to face stiff resistance from legislators, school authorities as well as that from the legal perspective. Sometimes, they had to face imprisonment for taking their child away from school. Since all parents are not formally qualified to be teachers, needless to say, their credibility, as effective instructors and role models, was questioned. On the other hand, parents were of the opinion that they could teach their children nuances of refined social behavior, ethical and moral values, religion and good statesmanship - and outshine the efforts of regular teachers. Another allegation against home schooling was that the latter condemns a child to an entire life full of seclusion and illiteracy.
Home schooled children vs. students of ?brick-and-mortar? educational institutionsA survey, held by the Idaho Board of Education, revealed that students under the ?virtual system of education? were more likely to underperform than their peers, who went to regular schools. On the other hand, numerous other studies show results to the contrary. Based on the notion that parents can be the best instructors for their children, who understand the strengths and weaknesses of their children better than anybody else, home-schooled kids have brighter chances of shaping-up into well-developed personalities. A case in point is the US?s first President, George Washington. After his father died, he was home schooled by his mother. His all-inclusive and comprehensive education shaped him into becoming an example for others to emulate.
Home schooling in Texas
It was in the year 1915 that the first law, favoring home schooling, was passed by the Texas Legislature. It maintained that any school, operating to educate a child of school-going age, within or through the child?s home, was considered equivalent to a private school. But this was so on the condition that it fulfilled all the pre-requisites of a school; it should edify students in Mathematics, grammar, reading, writing, spelling and good citizenship. Home schools do not necessitate formal record keeping or holding any periodic tests. Nor is attendance compulsory in these schools. Home schools in Texas are not under the authority of the school district, either to approve the former?s curriculum or for any other reason. Texas became the most favored state in the US to espouse the cause of home schooling, way back in 1987. This was the result of ?The Leeper vs. Arlington ISD court case?, which worked on settling the curriculum of home schools.
Associations that support home schooling in Texas
The Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) is an association that protects the rights of home school families of Texas from unscrupulous government officials, ensures their freedom, lends them encouragement and support and provides legal assistance, if and when necessary. Of course, the home school member families have to procure membership of THSC to avail of these benefits.
Home School Legal Defense Association, HSLDA, founded in the year 1983, is another such association that defends the constitutional right of parents to educate their children in the way most suited to them. It is a non-profit organization and also liaises with the media and offers important and pertinent information, via knowledgeable spokespersons, to educate on the subject of home schooling. Located in Purcellville, Virginia, Besides imparting personal encouragement and moral support to home schoolers, it helps by holding educational workshops and conferences, leadership seminars and ?telephone tree networking? support groups. Its workshops, which guide home schoolers on how to get started with home schooling and preparing for college are of particular assistance to potential home schoolers on the verge of embarking on their mission. Though it is a Christian organization, it helps all home schoolers, irrespective of their religious inclination or other factors. It set up the ?Home School Foundation?, HSF, a charitable foundation, in the year 1992. The mission of the latter is to help home schoolers and promote home schooling.
All things considered, let us hope that the world wakes up to the need for a wide-ranging and an all-embracing education for their children, who are poised to lead the world of tomorrow. Let?s soak up the benefits of all the different modes of education and ensure that the coming generation gets the best from these various approaches.
Other Articles
