students were homeschooled. Homeschooling became popular again in the 1970s and 1980s. Today over 2,000,000 American children are homeschooled (ProQuest Staff 1). Advances in technology and online learning will most likely encourage more families to homeschool their children. Many parents decide to homeschool their children because they are not satisfied with their public schools, or they want their kids to have moral and religious instruction. There are some organizations that recommend tighter control and more restrictions over homeschooling, such as the National Education Association. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in 1983 about 90,000 children in grades kindergarten through 12 were homeschooled by their parents. In 1988, that figure grew to 225,000 students, and in 1991 between 300,000 and 500,000 students learned at home (American Legion …show more content…
Although homeschooling is not always the best choice for everyone. Some people need public education because they are not taught the curriculum at home that is mandated by the government. In some states there is no mandated curriculum or a required license to homeschool a child. Although in most states parents are required to have a teaching license in order to homeschool their child, and they have to go by the curriculum of the state they live in. For many homeschooled students, there are no required subjects, but public students are tested and graded to ensure that they understand the subject that they are learning. Since there isn’t a mandated curriculum in all states, students fall behind on the things they should know for their grade level. Josh Powell was a student who was homeschooled by his parents but he wanted to go to public school. By the time he was 16, he had never written an essay, he could not solve basic math problems and he did not know that South Africa was a country (Svrluga 1). In some cases parents homeschool their children so they have more control over them and they often get angry or frustrated with their child. This could cause the parents to abuse their child if they lose their patients and then the child has no one to go to because they are stuck at home. When kids get in this situation and they are at home all the time, they do not have many opportunities to get