Some Reasons Parents Decide to Homeschool

There are as many reasons why parents homeschool as there are people! But there are some common reasons, and they can be divided into two groups.

Positive Reasons

Religion
This is perhaps the biggest reason why some parents homeschool, especially Christian parents. Their main reasoning is that God has given them the gift of children, and it is their responsibility to raise them according to God’s wishes. This includes their responsibility for teaching them their Christian beliefs. Public schools cannot teach Christianity in school, so this is one alternative. But because these parents believe it is their responsibility given to them by God, then it is up to the parents to do the teaching, not a school.

Catering to a child's learning ability or passion
This is probably the second biggest reason, and this covers many areas.

Children learn naturally, no matter what their environment, and there are parents who want their children to learn in a “natural” way. This is called “unschooling”.

Or their child is slower or faster than the normal child in school, and by homeschooling the parents can accommodate the child’s learning pace. In this way the parents can be sure their child is not left behind in a school setting, or is not bored. Special Ed or accelerated classes do not satisfy these parents, and feel they can do a much better job of teaching their child.

Or maybe their child has a passion or gift for something, like music. The parents can encourage their child in that direction, emphasizing and focusing on that passion or gift.

Negative Reasons

Dissatisfaction with the curriculum or what is being taught in school.
This is becoming more and more popular. Remember the controversies surrounding sex education? This reason is along these lines. There are many parents who do not like what is being taught in the schools, so they bring them home to teach them what they think should be taught.

Interest groups put pressure on not only the schools, but on the textbook publishers to get wording and values changed to impart to the children. A couple of examples of this are in California: Christianity is not allowed to be taught, but Islam is now inserted into history texts. "Mom and Dad" is also not allowed to be mentioned, but if it is (whether by teacher or student), alternative lifestyles are also to be discussed. Things of this nature may be perfectly acceptable to some parents, but for other parents it is not acceptable, so they pull their children out of school to teach them their own values and beliefs.

Social Environment
This is another growing reason why parents have been pulling their children out of school. Columbine in Colorado, the incidents of children carrying weapons to school, the violence in our schools – these are becoming very strong reasons for parents to pull their children out of school.