Among parents’ internal barriers to home schooling, the idea that a public or private school would do a better job appears to loom large. I admit I’m heavily biased on this subject, because we home schooled our two children from the beginning. Now successful young adults, both have thanked us for home schooling them.
But prejudice against home schooling is still strong, and I detect this bias in parents who are sure they couldn’t equal the quality of education from an institutional school.
I freely confess that our home school felt chaotic and disorganized, but this was because we discovered how much more our children learned—and how motivated and curious they were—when allowed to follow their own paths. By their teens, it had become clear that they were learning far more than they would have in any school.
We also seldom followed any curriculum, or used any coursework. Instead, as a general guide, we used E.D. Hirsch’s series, What Your First Grader Needs to Know, What Your Second Grader Needs to Know, etc. through sixth grade. By the end of most school years, our children knew much more than Hirsch’s books specified for their grade level.
Books, and their curiosity, ensured a good education for them, right up until they finished high school.
A Case of Brilliance 