In 1982, Alexandra Swann set an impressive record for being the youngest student ever to graduate from Brigham Young University. At the budding age of fifteen, Swann had done what most adults would typically accomplished in their early or mid-twenties: Swann obtained her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts. The succeeding year, when she turned sixteen, she then received her Master’s in History from California State University. Two years later, as if her previous accolades weren’t already notable, the year she turned eighteen, the young women wrote and published her first book. So the question is, how did she do it? In her self-published book, NO REGRETS: How Homeschooling Earned Me a Master’s Degree at Age Sixteen, Swann shares her nonpareil experiences as the oldest child of ten and how her homeschooling adventure played a prodigious role in her success. Swann recounts in her book:
Individual instruction, in my opinion, is one of the great benefits of being educated at home. When children attend public or private schools, they are part of a class, and the class often dictates the level of learning. At home, however, the instruction is customized to suit the individual needs of each child. (Swann 32)
After conducting interviews and curating research from acclaimed books, scholastic journals and statistical data, I am convinced that homeschooling is better than conventional schooling. Homeschooling offers a newfangled approach on education that is superior to the traditional, institutional schooling because of the many advantages that home education gives students such as offering them opportunities to develop their social skills and also to establish their individuality. Despite the backlash that homeschool parents encounter from their adversaries, the sui generis protection which parents consciously create for their child by opting to raise them at home is key in fostering their early educational, cognitive, emotional and spiritual prosperity.
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Before we begin, let us unpack the history of homeschooling first. To many peoples surprise, homeschooling is not a foreign concept, by any means, in America. In fact, it was being practiced for years before the twentieth century. According to Christopher Klicka, author of the book Homeschooling: The Right Choice, he points out a noteworthy fact and describes, “Few Americans realize that, from 1620 when the Pilgrims landed until 1837 [when Horace Mann introduced the Common School], virtually all education in this country was private and Christian” (Klicka 10). In the early 1900s, homeschooling almost faded out after the enactment of compulsory education laws, which were laws that basically mandated children between the ages of six to eighteen to attend an educational institution (California Department of Education).
However, it wasn’t until the 1970s that the resurgence of the modern-homeschool movement started to spread and John Holt, the pioneer of the movement, had the goal of wanting to “liberate” children from the “oppressive classroom environment” by encouraging parents to “un-school” their children and have them become their teacher (Responsible Home Schooling). Today, approximately three percent of families in America choose homeschooling—not just to shield their children from the perils of public school—but because of the benefits that home-education offers, ergo what educational institutions lack.
Firstly, a benefit that defends homeschooling as being advantageous is how it fosters and reinforces positive effects on a child’s social development. While many people often criticize homeschooling and buy into the popular misconception that a home-education will negatively impact the social development of children, including child development specialists who claim, “homeschooling deprives the child of the ability to develop socialization skills,” parents and supporters of this form of alternative-education aggressively refute this contention (Lebeda). Here is why: It may seem counter-intuitive how choosing to teach children in the privacy of their own home can reap positive and flourishing effects on their social development, but the reason that this works and intuitively makes sense, is because through homeschooling, parents are now fully involved and are active participants in choosing what morally upright environments and contexts that their children are exposed to during the critical years of early development.
Unlike public schools, parents of young children are unintentionally unable to supervise and prevent any influence that may be harmful to a young child, who is by nature, still emotionally insecure and virtuously unsteady. By choosing to homeschool, parents are able to facilitate in the establishment of their child’s relationships—not just with individuals of similar backgrounds, religion, race, age, or socio-economic status—but also with peers that are rather quite different than them. The author of NO REGRETS: How Home Schooling Earned Me a Masters at Sixteen, Alexandra Swann, gives credit to her parents and asserts how, “Through homeschooling the parent is able to provide [the] child with the tools [they] will need in order to relate to people on a variety of levels…. This is true socialization” (Swann 70).
By conducting personal interviews, I learned that San Diegan mother, Alicia Rodriguez, also subscribes to this idea of what “true socialization” is. Rodriguez is a proud homeschool advocate and previous homeschool parent who concurs with Swann and other for-homeschool supporters. Rodriguez is native to San Diego and grew up in the National City area. She previously attended several public educational institutions during her childhood and teen years such as Kimball Elementary and John A. Otis Elementary. Due to the lack of resources during her upbringing, her parents unfortunately were unable to homeschool her and her siblings; however, it was because of her firsthand experiences at public schools and the unfavorable stories she heard, is what convinced to homeschool her kids when the time came. The opportunities that homeschooling gave her children, not only included equipping them with a “quality education” through one-on-one instruction and customized learning, but also by means of placing them in extracurricular adventures that encouraged the growth and maturity of their social skills.
Alicia Rodriguez and her husband decided to put their children in a multitude of musical programs and competitive sports teams during their adolescent and teen years. Just to name a few, their children actively pursued the piano, harp, violin and bassoon, as well as competed for the YMCA gymnastics team, played for a local youth soccer team and active members in a speech and debate team. These environments aided in developing their children’s precocious social awareness and social skills. Parents will eventually learn about their children’s interest, and with proper dialogue with their kids, they can work together in determining efficiently what environment or social clubs would best fit their personality. These spaces give children the chance to socialize, communicate, as well as form a good rapport with other children and the adults that might be there.
Secondly, another benefit that homeschooling offers contrary to traditional schooling, is that it gives students an open space to discover their sense of individuality. Albert Einstein, one of the most popular and celebrated thinkers of all time—who was homeschooled, I might add—said this famous quote about individuality: “Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom” (AZ Quotes). Individuality, and the idea of fostering individuality, is extremely crucial. Homeschooling encourages and makes tons of room for children to seek out and discover their innate and distinct qualities, while also removing any judgment that would’ve come from their peers.
Spaces of “Judgment Free Zones” from race, class, sexuality, style, political or religious stances and everything in between, are so few and far between in conventional, public school. Speaking from experience, as well as after interviewing Kim Sandino, another San Diegan mother who attended public school and later decided to homeschool, our experiences support how children can struggle in finding their sense of individuality in a traditional school due to the pressure of our peers and also the potential of being ridiculed by those around us for being different. Sandino shares in her interview a specific moment in her high school career when she felt chastised by an educational authority figure for ultimately just being her self. She shared her experience and said the following:
I was never picked on, I was always respected [by my peers] but it was a challenge because I didn’t want to go to parties and I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing. I always had my Bible with me… I had a situation where I had a teacher who, specifically in my junior year, there was a book I refused to read and they tried to fail me because of it. So, I had to go to the superintendent of the school district and petition so that in that way, I wouldn’t have to get a failing grade. (Sandino)
Sandino’s story is not uncommon; there are many stories similar to hers that share the common thread of feeling ashamed and slightly attacked by someone at an educational institution because of their individualistic differences. Homeschooling functions not only as a place to grow intellectually, but also as a safe haven for children to embrace their uniqueness and learn how to be unapologetic for who they are.
Additionally, with the rise of technology and the increase usage of social media applications, such as Instagram, SnapChat, and Twitter, the number of bullying, school violence, and abuse-related incidents has skyrocketed and has been a major “turn off” for families and their children; thus, turning to homeschool as a viable option. In a 2003 Statistical Analyses Report conducted by the National Centers for Education Statistics, the figure illustrates a graph showing the “percentage of homeschooled students, ages 5-17…whose parents reported various reasons as their most important reason for homeschooling” (NCES). The top reason according to the study why parents decided to homeschool was due to the high “concerns about the environment of…schools” which included “safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure” (NCES).
Alicia Rodriguez made a powerful statement to keep in mind how the youth today are living in a very different era compared to her youth, which was during the 1970s. She reminded me of the sad, yet truthful reality of the consequence of negative peer pressure, such as bullying, and the toll it can take on children who aren’t intrinsically grounded or secure. Rodriguez painted a distinct memory when she was an adolescent and experienced bullying because of her race and her noticeable birthmark located on the side of her neck. She said with a sigh of empathy, “ I was bullied, but [today] people are bullied to the point that they commit suicide, whereas when I was a kid, that was not so.” That was powerful.
By a parents sacrifice to choose to homeschool, they are giving their child a invaluable and intangible gift: opportunity. Parents give their child the opportunity to reach their fullest potential, whether it be academically, emotionally, spiritually, musically, athletically, etc. when they choose to give their child a home-education experience. Homeschoolers can reach their highest potential because of the steadfast love that their parents exhibit by guarding them from the negative pressures and judgment that lives in a public, pedagogical institution. To that end, it should be mentioned that there are and will be unfavorable and harmful pressures anywhere—it isn’t just limited to the confines of a public, learning space. However, the point I’m trying to make is that parents should try their best to consistently shield their kids from bad influences, especially during their vital early years, so that hopefully, they would be trained them up to becoming a resilient man or women full of integrity.
As wonderful and opportune the benefits are when a family chooses to homeschool, the truth is it’s not attainable for everyone. Choosing to homeschool is the road less traveled by, but not always by choice. Some families are simply unable to due to the lack of resources or financial means. But if there is one thing that I took away from conducting my research, I learned that it doesn’t take a homeschool family to train up an honorable and virtuous son or daughter. What it takes is consistent love and respect from the people around them including the interior and exterior of one’s home, such as the community. Rudy Guevarra Jr., author of Becoming Mexipino, shows how the camaraderie and community between two different ethnic groups, Mexicans and Filipinos, is what enabled “generosity for each other [which was] the cultural glue that cemented [their] relationship” (Guevarra 64). Whether a person comes from a homeschool or public school bathroom, at the end of the day, we should try our best in fostering the sense of camaraderie and community. Our commonality as residents of San Diego should encourage us to spread this message. It all starts in our individual homes.
