Benefits of Home-Schooling

Foundation and Side-Benefits from a Home-Schooling Father of Four
Keeping God, His Word, and prayer the center focus was the basis of our home-school program. After that, promoting and encouraging academic excellence and ministry seemed to flow naturally.

The following benefits may be found in home education:

Parents have more quality time to train and influence their children.
There is opportunity for each child to receive individualized attention and instruction.
Parents are able to give guidance in areas of philosophy and religion.
Children develop respect for parents as teachers.
Spending more time together increases family unity and closeness.
It provides a good environment for development of confidence and independent thinking.
There is enhanced communication between all age groups due to the diversified learning environment.
Home-schooled students demonstrate excellent academic progress.
School hours are flexible to accommodate family schedules and vacations.

Many Christian families make a commitment to educate their children at home because of a conviction that it is God’s will for them. They are concerned about both spiritual and character development of their children as well as their social and academic welfare.

On Socialization and Side-Benefits of Home-Schooling from a Teenager's Perspective
Why have many families across the nation decided to keep their children home for some, or even all, of their education? Here are the benefits of home-school and some reasons why I think it is "compulsory" for our family:

First of all, I can accomplish so much more in a day. It has been stated that every six hours of institutional school is equal to two hours of home-school; so that gives me more time to involve myself in not only academics but also Bible study, research, writing, voice lessons, piano playing, oil painting, and sports, as well as learning and using home economic skills.

Second, in answer to the question most asked of home-schoolers, "But what do you do for a social life?" I've met my best friends at our home-school support group. There are also church and sports activities where I interact with others - not only my age, but older and younger too. I feel my energies are spared the draining effect of peer pressures that I have experienced in the past in an institutional school. I have channeled that energy into learning different skills that I will be needing when I graduate and am on my way into the real world and life.

Third, we have more opportunities to take educational field trips. Over the past six years, we've taken trips to historic Gettysburg, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Boston, and Lexington. We've also gone on a five-week camping trip to the western United States, during which time we not only worked on our studies; but we were able to see our history and geography lessons come alive. Many never get the opportunity to see some of these things. Within our own state our family has visited the Valley Forge National Historical Park and toured Philadelphia, as well as many other fascinating places.

Fourth, a "social life" every day can be bad for children in schools. From my experience at school, I know that there are students who are the "picked-on" ones and are damaged by the social life. In home-school, not only are children spared unnecessary harassment by peers, but they have the positive advantage of learning to relate to their parents and other adults on a full-time basis. This is good because they will be spending the rest of their lives relating to adults.

Home-education is an important part of my life. It fills a need for more family-centered, biblical, one-on-one schooling. I am very grateful to my parents for their sacrifice of time and energy for home-schooling, to our local school district for their assistance, and to the Lord for using them to "train (me) up in the way (I) should go." -Proverbs 22:6.

From a Home-School Graduate Who Is Now an Adult:
God Used Home Education to Help Bind Our Hearts Together
In 1983 we decided as a family to leave the institutional schools to pursue a different path. My parents began to home school their children.

Our extended family members and friends had never heard of home-schooling. Our friends thought that we children would grow up to be socially dwarfed and unable to function in the "real world." Our relatives didn't seem to be very happy about the idea of home-school, but did try to be supportive.

As we look back over the years, we think of happy times, sad times, trying times, but also of the joy of reaping. The Lord Jesus, as we made Him top priority in our lives, drew our family closer to each other during our home-schooling years. At first we didn't quite know how to get along as we had been severed into segments for so many years, each of us with our own little world of situations, friends, and pursuits. Being together at home 24 hours a day brought us to see things in our attitudes and hearts we never knew were there! God worked in us, cleansed us (discipline seemed for a time not joyous, but sorrowful, Hebrews 12:11), and set our feet upon a firm path.

Homeschooling provided the sweet, secret hiding place from the persuasive temptations of the world that we needed during our young years; so we would be able to seek the Lord in our youth. My parents' prayer was that, as they have done their very best to bring us up in the Lord, the seed that has been sown will produce fruit in our lives and bring blessing to the lives of others. Their desire was that we might be able in the years to come to lead others to the fountain of life found in Christ - that others, too, might drink of the refreshment found in a living relationship with Jesus.

(To see this entire article, visit The Benefits of Home-Education on our Encouraging Words page.

Thoughts of Another Home-School Graduate
I never attended an institutional school; and, as a child, I sometimes wondered how it would be to attend a school and be around friends all day. (Funny thing - I never thought of what I would learn in school!) However, looking back, I wouldn't have had it any other way. The benefits of home-schooling are endless; and, although I made a short list below, I'm sure I'll continue to realize the blessings each day of my life.

The opportunity to spend quality time with God
The opportunity to learn from the godly curriculum of our choice
The opportunity to learn and grow under the protection of loving parents
The opportunity to form lasting friendships with all age groups
Time to study in depth the subjects that interest me
Time to get to know my family members and make them my best friends
Time to indulge my creativity

From a Mom of Four Home-Schooled Graduates

Time to make Jesus Christ the central focus of your children's lives
Time to pray together in the morning for His guidance and will for the day and for your children's futures
The closeness you have with your children from spending 24/7 with them (if you eliminate distractions such as television and harmful music)
The knowledge that, if your children do rebel in the future, that you have given everything to lay the biblical foundation to which they'll return ("Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." -Prov. 22:6)
The thrill of teaching your child to sound out his first word and see the light come into his eyes and your hearts connect as you realize you've helped him with a most important discovery (it's as exciting as when he takes his first step or says his first word)
The joy of watching God lead them on His path for their lives as you pray diligently that He will lead them in the way He wants them to go
The deep contentment of your heart connecting with your child's heart in a depth beyond the mental as you pursue a mutual relationship with Jesus

There is a deep satisfaction of knowing that, as we prioritize the children's relationship with Jesus and the Bible and teach them to seek Him, God gives them wisdom for the academics - especially the areas important to the future He has planned for them. A significant side-benefit is that, as the children learn to seek God for academic wisdom and their lives, they become humbly aware of the Source of their educational excellence and grateful for their parents' sacrifices as well.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. ." James 1:5

Where to Begin
If you live in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the following links will provide the information you need to start your own home-schooling program:

Copyright © 2003 BuxMont Parent Educators
We are not lawyers; and, while we have researched the PA home-school law in careful detail, we are not offering legal advice.
If you need legal counsel, you should consult a professional attorney or HSLDA.