I knew Megan's strengths and weaknesses better than anyone, and I thought I could focus on them better without holding her back in language arts and spatial abilities. An ever-increasing number of families are choosing to home school their children each year. Faced with these same questions last year, I began to search for the answers. I had always thought that home education was something new, developed in these modern days out of fear and peer pressure concerns on the part of parents. However, I found that home education has been going on a long time, and in fact, has provided society with famous names such as Thomas Edison, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, Alexander Graham Bell, Daniel Webster and Albert Einstein, just to name a few.
History shows that home schooling, when done correctly, has tremendous advantages.
The child can learn at his or her own pace until a subject is mastered, rather than working at the rate of the slowest or most proficient child in a classroom. Just as I envisioned, strengths and weaknesses can be assessed and addressed at a personal level. The association further reinforced my decision by pointing out that the teaching parent can control distractions in the environment and create an efficient learning forum. I considered that because parental values and ideas are the primary daily influence, these would become the standard of excellence Megan would strive for, rather than the group values of her peers. A secure and stable home allows for a stability and maturity to develop in her that could become lost in a large group setting.