Educate The People

5 Responses to “Question about qualifications to home school?”

1. By Alex R on Aug 26, 2009

   They should. In my opinion most people who home-school aren’t qualified for one simple reason. If a school needs several teachers to teach several subjects, shouldn’t home schooling as well. The parents can’t possibly be experts in everything, and are probably not even competent beyond the textbook instruction guide.

   The other thing I don’t like about it is that the kid only gets exposure to one information source of reality. This makes him more likely to be ignorant or misinformed. I highly doubt parents could teach their kids without imparting their own beliefs, and in that error is made.

2. By sha_lyn68 on Aug 26, 2009

   The laws vary greatly depending on where you live, but in very few cases is anything above a high school diploma required. In fact I don’t believe that there is a single US state that doesn’t have some provision to allow homeschooling when the parent(s) do not hold anything above a high school diploma.

3. By hsfromthestart on Aug 26, 2009

   Depends on where you live.

   In Florida, state law says that they don’t need to be certified teachers and there are no qualifications other than being the child’s parent or guardian.

   I’ve read a lot of research that shows that the parent’s education level doesn’t really have much impact on the education of the child that they homeschool. A parent with a high school diploma (or even without one) can do a great job, if they are motivated enough.

   Besides, it sounds like they know from personal experience the shortcomings of the system. Many people who don’t get a higher education are smart people but didn’t fit in well in school. Schools seem to overlook the fact that not all people need to go on to college or university; the world needs people who go on and get technical training or other vocational training. We need air conditioning repairmen, auto mechanics, and so on, and schools don’t always remember that these days.

4. By i_come_from_under_the_hill on Aug 26, 2009

   In most states, no. Home schooling resources are designed for use by individuals who may not necessarily be professionals at a given subject. With DVD lessons, online/distance learning programs, self correcting software and other materials that allow the parent to learn right along with (or slightly ahead of) the child, it doesn’t matter if a parent isn’t exactly perfect in a given area. Studies and testing of home schoolers show that parents who are not certified teachers do in fact produce students that perform two to three grade levels ahead of their age group, so it doesn’t appear to be a problem.

5. By HistoryMom on Aug 26, 2009

   The answer to that particular question would ultimately depend on the State that you live in.
   Most States do not require the parents to hold any type of degree, while others want the parent to at least hold a High School Diploma. There are a few States that require you hold some sort of degree once your child reaches a certain grade level or even just starting out, but they are few and far between.

   Please pass this website on to your co-worker….www.hslda.org ( Homeschool Legal Defense Association) as they will have the laws/rules for your State.

   For the record, I Homeschool my daughter and have done so for the last 6 yrs and I do Not hold any type of ‘higher degree’. I have my High School diploma and hold a CDA in Early Childhood Education.
   For me to do my ‘job’ properly, I must constantly stay one step ahead of my daughter which means that I am forever doing reasearch. It is not an easy task, but I am comfortable with telling her if I don’t know the answer to something and then I tell her ‘let’s find the answer together’ and we both end up learning something.

   A degree of any type does not make a person qualified to teach anything. It is simply saying that person has learned everything that the Professor knows.