Mainstream Schooling Versus Home Schooling by Dyslexia Toby © 2015
I would like to say that those with a learning need are more likely to be home schooled with some exception.
In America, home schooling is more evident in numbers than it is in many other countries around the world.
There are well over 4 million being home schooled in the States….with high growth rates!
What are the pluses of having a mainstream education?
The main advantages are!
Qualified teachers with a good depth of subject knowledge at primary level and very often one well-qualified teacher in their subject area in senior.
I will happily stand corrected, but I believe there is very few home schooled at third level education.
The latter maybe explains why pupils and parents choose to home school in the first place, less of a disconnect in the students chosen the subject area, i.e. art, drama, etc.
There is evidence to show that those going to school are going to gain greater life skills than those who don’t.
They are more likely to become natural gatherers and team players due to their immersion with larger groups of students.
We could point to a compromise and maybe parents could consider grouping together like-minded home schoolers, this could overcome this problem.
They get to integrate with children over a range of ages.
If streamed correctly they would be at a level where they should attain a reasonable grade.
Exceptions to this would be the smaller schools that only have one or two classes per academic year.
In Ireland, there is now a move to continual assessment, and this should to be taken into account with those learning outside of the school environment and any other country doing the same.
Parents wouldn’t be allowed to mark/grade their children/students.
Children who attend mainstream schools get access to the latest changes in curricula.
Children in mainstream schools have to conform to a set start and finish time.
Mainstream students have set disciplines to follow, and missed lessons will be documented.
Exams are less daunting/intimidating as they are amongst their fellow peers during exams.
In many countries, there are regular inspections and grading of schools to make sure standards are high.
They can also engage in after school (extra-curricular) study.
There is no child parental conflict entering the learning environment.
However, we do know that conflict/politics is evident in mainstream schools.
Parents are relatively free to pursue their career and, therefore, fund greater opportunities.
Home schooling
Home schoolers get close one to one tuition.
Parents can plan a varied and exciting curricular.
Subject to finances they can provide greater resources.
Parents don’t move on until their child has fully grasped the subject matter.
They can instantly tell when they child has reached saturation and allow downtime.
Parents can balance the workload to allow for those with poor processing skill/speed (dyspraxics, dyslexics, dyscalculics and dysgraphics).
They are less likely to become bullied in their early years.
They are less likely to get involved various types of social disorder. However, they could find this forbidden fruit.
There is a lack of integration that has a knock on effect in regard to social skills in later life.
The above can also have an effect on employ-ability!
Research
There was a study some years back, conducted by Eric Rudner in 1999 of over 20,000 students (not a cross section)
Parents had the choice to sign up or not as the case may be.
The test was slightly different in setting.
The schooled children took the test under the supervision of the school, and all home schoolers were supervised by their parents during testing.
The results showed quite a big gap between schooled and home schooled, in favour of the home schooled.
Scores were recorded with an average of the 75th percentile. Above average scholars.
Many have mentioned that the choice is a big factor in the scores and what is meant by that?
It is thought that only parents that thought their child would score well were put forward for testing.
If the test were random without parental choice, the figures would be more likely to stand the test of scrutiny.
However, a more accurate test albeit with a smaller number of students was conducted by Martin-Chang and her team. This was a smaller pick of students compared to Rudner.
The findings of the test showed that good home schooling with well-structured and planned lesson put the home schoolers between half and one academic year ahead
I would like to end by saying that some research can be vague and that the disconnect and lack of social skills must be taken into account for your child to benefit from their third level education.
However, lack of bullying and the greater sense of self-esteem is a plus in those that are home schooled.
Employability is another key factor to consider.
I think the underlying issue is the 15% (American figures used) of home schoolers go to prove that one size does not fit all. Schools could benefit from a more varied approach to pedagogy, and this would also be yet another indicator of the need for smaller class sizes.
There is also an opportunity, with good time table management to allow parents to home school in certain subjects like maths and English.
All this could be achieved by letting those children who struggle to leave school at midday or just opt out of school for one day a week.
I would like to say that those with a learning need are more likely to be home schooled with some exception.
In America, home schooling is more evident in numbers than it is in many other countries around the world.
There are well over 4 million being home schooled in the States….with high growth rates!
What are the pluses of having a mainstream education?
The main advantages are!
Qualified teachers with a good depth of subject knowledge at primary level and very often one well-qualified teacher in their subject area in senior.
I will happily stand corrected, but I believe there is very few home schooled at third level education.
The latter maybe explains why pupils and parents choose to home school in the first place, less of a disconnect in the students chosen the subject area, i.e. art, drama, etc.
There is evidence to show that those going to school are going to gain greater life skills than those who don’t.
They are more likely to become natural gatherers and team players due to their immersion with larger groups of students.
We could point to a compromise and maybe parents could consider grouping together like-minded home schoolers, this could overcome this problem.
They get to integrate with children over a range of ages.
If streamed correctly they would be at a level where they should attain a reasonable grade.
Exceptions to this would be the smaller schools that only have one or two classes per academic year.
In Ireland, there is now a move to continual assessment, and this should to be taken into account with those learning outside of the school environment and any other country doing the same.
Parents wouldn’t be allowed to mark/grade their children/students.
Children who attend mainstream schools get access to the latest changes in curricula.
Children in mainstream schools have to conform to a set start and finish time.
Mainstream students have set disciplines to follow, and missed lessons will be documented.
Exams are less daunting/intimidating as they are amongst their fellow peers during exams.
In many countries, there are regular inspections and grading of schools to make sure standards are high.
They can also engage in after school (extra-curricular) study.
There is no child parental conflict entering the learning environment.
However, we do know that conflict/politics is evident in mainstream schools.
Parents are relatively free to pursue their career and, therefore, fund greater opportunities.
Home schooling
Home schoolers get close one to one tuition.
Parents can plan a varied and exciting curricular.
Subject to finances they can provide greater resources.
Parents don’t move on until their child has fully grasped the subject matter.
They can instantly tell when they child has reached saturation and allow downtime.
Parents can balance the workload to allow for those with poor processing skill/speed (dyspraxics, dyslexics, dyscalculics and dysgraphics).
They are less likely to become bullied in their early years.
They are less likely to get involved various types of social disorder. However, they could find this forbidden fruit.
There is a lack of integration that has a knock on effect in regard to social skills in later life.
The above can also have an effect on employ-ability!
Research
There was a study some years back, conducted by Eric Rudner in 1999 of over 20,000 students (not a cross section)
Parents had the choice to sign up or not as the case may be.
The test was slightly different in setting.
The schooled children took the test under the supervision of the school, and all home schoolers were supervised by their parents during testing.
The results showed quite a big gap between schooled and home schooled, in favour of the home schooled.
Scores were recorded with an average of the 75th percentile. Above average scholars.
Many have mentioned that the choice is a big factor in the scores and what is meant by that?
It is thought that only parents that thought their child would score well were put forward for testing.
If the test were random without parental choice, the figures would be more likely to stand the test of scrutiny.
However, a more accurate test albeit with a smaller number of students was conducted by Martin-Chang and her team. This was a smaller pick of students compared to Rudner.
The findings of the test showed that good home schooling with well-structured and planned lesson put the home schoolers between half and one academic year ahead
I would like to end by saying that some research can be vague and that the disconnect and lack of social skills must be taken into account for your child to benefit from their third level education.
However, lack of bullying and the greater sense of self-esteem is a plus in those that are home schooled.
Employability is another key factor to consider.
I think the underlying issue is the 15% (American figures used) of home schoolers go to prove that one size does not fit all. Schools could benefit from a more varied approach to pedagogy, and this would also be yet another indicator of the need for smaller class sizes.
There is also an opportunity, with good time table management to allow parents to home school in certain subjects like maths and English.
All this could be achieved by letting those children who struggle to leave school at midday or just opt out of school for one day a week.
All our articles are for information only and guidance… professional advice should always be sought. Dyslexia Toby © 2015
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