Some trained educators call parents who home school their children "well-meaning amateurs."
10/25/2006
Ivanhoe Broadcast News
Parents who teach their children at home say public schools could never provide the love and individual attention their child needs.
Two million children are home schooled in the U.S., according to the Nation Home Education Research Institute.
NHERI reports homeschooled students typically perform 15 to 30 percentile points above public school students on standardized achievements tests.
The NHERI also reports homeschooled children perform above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents' level of formal education or their family's household income.
In response to those who say homeschooling does not prepare students for life in the real word, the NHERI reports surveys have shown adults who were home educated participate in local community service more frequently than the general population and go to and succeed in college at an equal or higher rate than the general population.
Critics of homeschooling say it is impossible for a parent to know how to teach a wide array of subjects without training.
"We are professionals," Dianne Birdwell, a high school history teacher, said.
She responds to the idea that public schools do not teach enough about faith or religion by saying that parents need to teach their children about those subjects after school.
"We know how to teach and you need to be their parents," she said.
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