Awesome Article on 9 Reasons to Homeschool

Thanks to Mimi Rothchild's blog for providing a link to an excellent article in the Archdiocese of Boston's paper, The Boston Pilot, by Professor Michael Pakaluk of Clark University on the 9 reasons he homeschools his daughter. They are:

1. Time efficiency
2. A fraction of the cost of private schools
3. Promotes good reading habits
4. Strengthens family bonds and reduces the risk of developing a "peer orientation"
5. Promotes getting the father involved in the child's education
6. Allows religion to play central role in the child's education
7. Promotes patriotism
8. Allows children to remain innocent longer
9. More positive socialization

I would personally add to this list the following additional benefits of homeschooling:

• Allows the student to work at the optimal challenge level for him/her. No more boredom waiting for the rest of the class to catch up or frustration that the class has moved on before he/she is ready. Homeschooling is particularly beneficial for the student with uneven abilities, such as one who is advanced in reading but struggles with writing. The typical "honors" English class likely requires too much in the way of writing but the regular English class is probably not challenging enough in terms of reading. Homeschooling gives the flexibility to work at the appropriate level in each area.
• Provides the opportunity to really engage the student by tailoring the curriculum to his/her own unique interests and preferred learning style.
• In many states, homeschooling frees the student from having to waste significant time taking standardized tests. I seriously thought it was a typo the first time I saw the calendar for my local public school where it said "STAR testing April 23rd-May 21st". That's correct- almost one full month out of nine is devoted to standardized testing!