Economy, Religion Among Reasons more Texans turn to Home Schooling
As 4.5 million students return to Texas public schools today, an estimated 300,000 students will stay home to receive their lessons. The numbers in families opting to home school their children is on the rise and has reportedly grown about 20% in the past five years.
For Tina Robertson, a mom who runs a group for parents new to home schooling called New Beginnings, today's start of school is like any other day. Robertson told the Houston Chronicle that she is planning on taking her three children, who have been home schooled since kindergarten, to the park today.
“Home schooling is a lifestyle,” Robertson said. “The line between learning and living gets blurred — and it should.”
Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition explained:
“The economy does have an impact on folks. We saw families last year who had their kids in a private school, times were tough and they couldn’t afford to do that anymore, but they didn’t want to put them in a public school.”
Other reasons for choosing home schooling?
The most recent survey of parents by the National Center for Education Statistics found that families primarily opted to home school because they wanted to provide religious or moral lessons to their children. Other top reasons include parental concerns about safety, peer pressure and the academic instruction at traditional schools.
Parents in Texas are not required to register with any agency or to get their curriculum approved. Legal rulings have upheld that parents simply are supposed to have a curriculum that teaches reading, spelling, grammar, math and good citizenship.
Is home schooling the future of Texas education? Hey, what better way to avoid teachers unions?
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Home schooling
One Freedom We Still Have and Need to Protect
For our family homeschooling have brought the following blessings:
Superb education based on Christian values.
A deep understanding of American and World history without misleading liberal ideas and in a Christian perspective.
A clear understanding of who we are as Americans.
The wisdom that is obtained through the Word of God.
A very close relationship with your kids, so much that parents become the main influence in their lives.
The amazing JOY of enjoying family life ALL the time!
And the list goes on and on... what a blessing it is to live in TX!