Ok, Lets first look at the numbers…
Homeschooling in San Diego and in the United States in general is growing popularity faster than I predicted 4 years ago. According to Dr. Brian Ray, one of the leading homeschool researchers, estimates that homeschooling has increased on average 15% per year over the past several years.
His estimates are based on the U.S. Department of Education’s National Household Survey program.
In 1999, The Department of Education estimated that there were aproximately 850,000 homeschooled children in the U.S. and had increased to around 1.1 million in 2003.
It is now estimated that there are between 2 and 2.5 million kids between the ages of 5-17 that are homeschooled in the U.S.
So why is it so popular and growing so fast?
Let me share my personal point of view of why we chose to homeschool our kids:
- We are able to monitor what our children are learning every day
- The curriculum can be adjusted based on their areas of learning strengths and abilities (custom made curriculum)
- Nobody has a better interest in our children than us (Their own parents)
- Flexibility in schedule. We are able to travel anytime, anywhere without notice
- Our 5 and 7 year old LOVE being homeschooled (Yes, they actually told us that)
- Studies have shown that most homeschooled kids learn to read and write earlier than traditional educated children and are on average academically 1.5 years ahead of their equivalent traditional schooled peers
- They are not exposed to potential weapons or drugs that seem to be more common today in public schools.
One of the misconceptions of homeschooled kids is that homeschooling produces social misfits. The assumption is that traditional educational systems provide “normal” socialization activities.
According to Dr. Raymond Moore, in his book titled “Better Late Than Early”, he wrote the following:
“The idea that children need to be around many other youngsters in order to be ‘socialized’ is perhaps the most dangerous and extravagant myth in education and child rearing today.”
There is extensive research that shows that since homeschooled children are exposed to a much wider variety of situations and people, they will learn to get along with a variety of people as well. This in turn makes them socially mature and allows them ample room to adjust to new scenarios and situations.
Below, I will post some interesting numbers that can help get a better picture of how homeschooled children do within their own communities. This is part of Dr. Ray’s survey of over 7,000 adults whom were homeschooled, which was then compared to traditionally educated peers.
- 95% of homeschooled children had an adequate comprehension of politics and government, compared to only 65% of U.S. adults.
- 71% of homeschooled graduates participate in ongoing and continued community service activities, including politics, this is compared to only 37% of adults in similar age group.
- 88% of homeschooled graduates are members of organizations (church, community groups, or professional organizations) compared to only 50% of adults in the United States.
- Here’s an interesting one: 76% of homeschooled graduates voted in a state or national election in the past 5 years, this is compared to only 29% of similar adults in the United States.
So, What Are The Cons of Homeschooling?
Homeschooling isn’t for everyone. There are certain commitments a parent must make in order to make this work for their children. In our case, my wife is a stay at home mom. She has the time to plan and dedicate a portion of her day every day to homeschool our two older sons. She is very ogranized and loves to plan in advance.
For those that don’t like planning (like me) and need more structure and assistance, there is still an option if you still want to homeschool your kids. In San Diego, there are homeschool charter schools. The concept with this is that once a week kids attend a traditional classroom scenario to go over several subjects.
The curriculum in this case is provided by the State. I would believe that in other States there are similar arrangements. For us in particular, we didn’t like this scenario because we had to be bound to whatever the State was telling us to do and teach our children. Which is why we decided to go 100% homeschooled.
Primarily, homeschooling has provided us much felixibility to travel anywhere we want on short notice. 
And now, within a short few months, since I was able to generate a full time income with this blog, it will now allow me to become more involved with my children as well.
Spending just few hours a day on this blog, allows me to sometimes help in the education of my own children. And as I said before, there’s nobody else that has a better interest in my kids than my wife and I.
We want the best for them, which is why we take our time to provide them with the best. Our actions today will reflect on their future tomorrow.
For this and so many other reasons, do what you need to do to be able to spend more time with your kids. Time flies and when we least know it, they are off to college.
Let me teach you how I generate a full time income with this blog and how you can do the same for your family starting TODAY, clilck on the yellow button below.
Please comment below and share this post with your friends. Our personal testimony on homeschooling may help them make a more informed decision.
Until my next post, Bye for now.
~Leonel Castro
