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1. Is home education legal in Kentucky?
2. Why do families home school?
3. Are parents qualified to teach their children?
4. What about socialization?
5. How much time does home schooling take?
6. How can we teach several children at once?
7. What are some difficulties?
8. What are higher education & career preparation options?
9. How do we get started in home schooling?
1. Is home education legal in Kentucky?
Kentucky home education is legal and Constitutional. There are a few minimum requirements which we feel are reasonable. However, parents have the right, and we feel the Biblical responsibility, to train and educate their children in the proper manner without unwarranted interference from the state. Kentucky's Constitution, Section Five, states that "…nor shall any man be compelled to send his child to any school to which he may be conscientiously opposed." It also states, "No human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience."
One can refer to the Best Practices document elsewhere on this web site for specific requirements under the law.
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2. Why do families home school?
Many Christian parents are committed to educating their children at home because of their conviction that this is God's will for their family. They are concerned for the spiritual training and character development as well as the social and academic welfare of their children.
Specific advantages have been expressed as follows:
- Parents can present all academic subjects from a biblical perspective and include spiritual training.
- "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." (Prov. 9:10).
- Home schooling makes quality time available to train and influence children in all areas in an integrated way.
- Each child receives individual attention and has his unique needs met.
- Parents can control destructive influences such as various temptations, false teachings (including secular humanism and occult influences of the New Age movement), negative peer pressure, and unsafe environments.
- Children gain respect for their parents as teachers.
- The family experiences unity, closeness, and mutual enjoyment of one another as they spend more time working together.
- Children develop confidence and independent thinking away from the peer pressure to conform and in the security of their own home.
- Children have time to explore new interests and to think.
- Communication between different age groups is enhanced.
- Tutorial-style education helps each child achieve his full educational potential.
- Flexible scheduling can accommodate parents' work and vacation times and allow time for many activities.
3. Are parents qualified to teach their children?
You know your children better than anyone else and have the deepest love and concern for them.
You also have the most direct and long-term responsibility for your children before God, who commands parents to teach their children His Word, the most important thing they will learn (Deut. 6:6, 7).
Educationally, one-to-one tutoring has many advantages over a classroom where one teacher tries to meet the needs of many children at different learning levels.
You do not need to know everything in order to teach. Your example and enthusiasm in learning with your children will motivate and encourage them.
Dr. Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute (Box 13939, Salem OR 97309), conducted an analysis in 1994 of the standardized test results for 16,320 home-school children nationwide. He found these children to average at or above the 73rd percentile in all subject areas. (The national average is the 50th percentile.)
A 1997 nationwide study, Strengths of Their Own, by Dr. Ray demonstrated that there is little relationship between the parents' education levels and their children's scores. He also found that whether the parent is a certified teacher or not has no bearing on a child's scores.
Dr. Ray says, "The tutorial method of teaching has always been the superior method. Home education epitomizes this method, providing essentials for success-a close student/teacher relationship, family-consistent values, motivation, flexibility, and individualization."
Several resources are available to give home educators on-the-job training:
Home-school conventions, workshops, and book fairs at local, state, and regional levels provide practical instruction in teaching techniques.
The Teaching Home presents articles that inform and encourage you in various principles and techniques of home teaching.
State and local home-school support groups can greatly encourage and help you as ideas and information are exchanged.
God promises His wisdom and assures you that He will supply your needs as you follow His leading.
"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. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." (James 1:5-7).
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4. What about socialization?
The issue of "socialization" is quite possibly the most misunderstood aspect of home schooling.
Popular opinion assumes that children need periods of interaction with a group of peers to acquire social skills. By contrast, however, many believe that extensive peer contact during childhood can cause undesirable peer dependency.
"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." (I Cor. 15:33).
Young children are more likely to be influenced by the majority than to be an influence on them. Children who receive their education outside the home are prone to accept their peers' and teachers' values over those of their parents.
Some advantages of freedom from peer pressure can be self-confidence, independent thinking, the ability to relate to people of all ages, and better family relations.
Godly principles of interaction can be taught, demonstrated, and reinforced at home by parents. Children can learn needed social skills by interacting with siblings or other children and adults under their parents' supervision. Young people who have had this type of training have adjusted very well to adult life.
You can help your children build lasting Christian friendships with people of all ages as they interact with church and family friends.
Dr. Ray reports that numerous studies have found that home-educated children are well adjusted socially and emotionally.
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5. How much time does home schooling take?
Home schooling requires a time commitment, but not as much as you might expect. One-to-one tutoring is more efficient than classroom instruction and thus takes less time.
Time requirements vary according to the methods used, the ages of the children, and how many children are being taught.
Academic instruction might begin with one-half to one hour for the early grades and work up to a few hours of instruction and/or independent study for upper grades.
Most correspondence courses state that their work can be completed in four or five hours per day.
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6. How can we teach several children at once?
Subjects such as Bible, science, history, and literature can be taught to several grade levels of children together.
Lessons can be presented in an amplified manner with explanations that enable all children to understand.
Older students can do much of their work independently while younger ones receive necessary tutoring in basic skills.
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7. What are some difficulties?
The following are some common difficulties along with some suggested solutions.
8. What are higher education and career preparation options?
Approximately 700 institutions are listed on HSLDA's informal survey of colleges and universities which welcome home-educated students. "Many of these schools actively recruit home-educated graduates because of their maturity, independent thinking skills, creativity, and extensive academic preparation," says Inge Cannon, executive director of Education PLUS.
In preparation for college entrance or vocational training programs, parents should prepare a transcript of high school work, award a diploma, and specify an actual high school graduation date. Occasionally SAT, ACT, or GED tests may be required by a college or employer.
For military enlistment and some employment, if your student completes 15 credit hours of college work, a high school diploma is not necessary.
Many colleges offer nontraditional programs for off-campus study. It is possible for students to study at home for college credit through distance learning. College credit can also be earned with CLEP tests.
Some home schoolers are entering their chosen fields through apprenticeship programs designed and supervised by parents and professionals.
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9. How do we get started in home schooling?
Here are some suggestions to help you get started:
1. Seek the Lord and agree as husband and wife on your decision to home school.
2. Research home education by reading one or two basic books on home education, such as Christopher Klicka's The Right Choice (available for $12.95 from HSLDA, Box 159, Paeonian Springs VA 20129), and back issues of The Teaching Home magazine.
Meet and visit with experienced home schoolers in your church or local support group and make an effort to attend your state's home-school convention.
3. Contact your state home-school organization to learn of local support groups, events, and publications as well as your state's laws governing home education. HSLDA has state law summaries.
4. Make arrangements to comply with the law according to your conscience and recommendations of state organizations and/or Home School Legal Defense Association. Consider joining HSLDA.
5. Get your home and life in order by establishing discipline in child training and your use of time. Get rid of unnecessary or little-used possessions to make way for learning materials and study space.
6. Choose methods and teaching materials that you feel comfortable in starting with and that would be appropriate to the age and number of your children. If you feel overwhelmed by the choices you must make, you may want to use a prepared curriculum from a textbook, worktext, or unit study publisher for your first year.
Re-evaluate and experiment with different materials and methods and make adjustments as you gain experience.
Throughout the educational process you will want to give priority to your children's spiritual and character development.
Home schooling is a way of life in which the home is the center of life and learning. Through home education, parents can experience in a unique way their responsibility to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
7. Join and support the work of Christian Home Educators of Kentucky (CHEK) to keep home education free and legal in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. CHEK may be contacted at:
Click Here to View Our Get Started! Page
VISIT: www.theteachinghome.com web site for more information.
© 2001, The Teaching Home
Box 20219, Portland OR 97294
by Sue Welch and Cindy Short,
co-editors, The Teaching Home magazine
& © 2001, CHEK
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