Why Do Families Choose to Homeschool?

Written by Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

John Taylor Gatto is a renowned educator and three-time public (state) school teacher of the year for both New York State and New York City. After he had spoken in Nashville, a mother named Debbie gave him the following handwritten note:

We started to see Brandon flounder in the first grade—hives, depression. He died every night after he asked his father, “Is tomorrow school too?” In second grade the physical stress became apparent. The teacher pronounced his problem Attention Deficit Syndrome. My happy, bouncy child was now looked at as a medical problem, by us as well as the school.

A doctor, a psychiatrist, and a school authority all determined he did have this affliction. Medication was stressed along with behavior modification. If it was suspected that Brandon had not been medicated he was sent home. My square peg needed a bit of whittling to fit their round hole, it seemed.

I cried as I watched my parenting choices stripped away. My ignorance of options allowed Brandon to be medicated through second grade. The tears and hives continued another full year until I couldn’t stand it. I began to homeschool Brandon. It was his salvation. No more pills, tears, or hives. He is thriving. He never cries now and does his work eagerly.

Not many schoolteachers, administrators, or parents want to talk about things such as this. However, many who are now adults experienced that dying feeling themselves as children. They know it is part of why they hated school or still feel queasy when they think back to their school days. The happy memories of school days are, for great numbers of adults, a myth.

The stereotypes regarding who is involved in homeschooling are breaking down. Multiple studies make clear the main reasons parents choose to homeschool.

• The most frequently cited reason is concern for the development of their children’s values and way of life. They desire to teach and transmit their philosophical, religious, or cultural values, traditions, and beliefs, and a particular worldview, in a preferred moral environment.
• Concern for their children’s cognitive development is the next important reason. Parents want their children to accomplish more academically than they would in schools.
• Related to this, they want to individualize the curriculum and learning environment to meet the unique strengths and needs of each child.
• They want to enhance family relationships between children and parents and among siblings, through greater parent-child contact.
• They want to provide guided and reasoned social interactions with youthful peers and adults, thus avoiding unnecessary and perhaps harmful peer pressure that may occur in an institutional setting.
• An increasing number of parents are concerned about the safety of their children, because of physical violence, drugs and alcohol, psychological abuse, and sexuality.

Research also shows that many parents’ and youths’ reasons for homeschooling change or mature over time.

This article is an excerpt from Dr. Ray's book The Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling and is provided courtesy of Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., is the president of the National Home Education Research Institute (www.nheri.org). Brian and his wife Betsy have eight children, all of whom have been home educated since birth.