Many parents saw traditional schooling as conservative and strict, and wanted their children to experience a more broad-minded form of education. Holt, who founded Growth Without Schooling, believes that American education is actually damaging to students. Because children are motivated by fear—fear of taking tests, not passing classes, and not measuring up to other students—fear “obstructs children’s self-discovery and natural desire to learn” (qtd. in Drenovsky and Cohen 20). While there are parents who are “ideologues” and who teach their children at home based on religious reasons, most homeschooling parents are “pedagogues” and teach their children at home because they “share a respect for their children’s intellect and creativity [and have] a belief that children learn best when pedagogy taps into the child’s innate desire to learn” (Romanowski 128). These parents believe that public schools categorize and label students in a very generalized way. Instead of sending their children to public or private schools that are highly structured, such parents believe that experimentation with alternative teaching techniques and materials will develop better critical thinking skills and independence in children (Rockney 4). Parents who make the decision to homeschool represent many types of families, including all income and education levels, ethnicities and religions, as well as both single and two-parent families (Ray 50). These parents want their children to have well-rounded educations, and want to have more control in how their children are taught. Many times, parents who homeschool their children do not want strangers to raise their children, and believe that as their child’s parent they are more suited to not only raise but to teach them as well. As not only their parent but also the teacher, homeschooling parents can monitor their students’ progress and have the ability to customize teaching specifically for each child (Ray 51). Not only do parents want to customize their child’s education, they want to protect their students from drugs, alcohol, sex and psychological stress. While schools do provide socialization and education for students, many argue that school does not always provide the most positive environment for them. Parents not only want to customize what their children learn, many want to customize how their children learn. These parents are not as prevalent in numbers as the general homeschooling parents, because their children aren’t either. Parents who decide to homeschool their children to customize their education are often parents of special needs and gifted and talented children. Children with learning challenges are unique, and many parents identify conventional schools as “providing nominal levels of personal attention and hands-on learning for students” (Duvall, Delquadri and Ward 141). While some may argue that trained professionals are better suited to educate students with special needs, a study performed on students with ADHD proved this assumption incorrect. The study was performed in order to determine if parents could provide a better instruction for their children with special needs. Pre- and post- standardized tests were given to both the homeschooled and traditionally schooled children in order to analyze the progress made by both sets (Duvall, Delquadri and Ward 140). Overall, the classroom environment of homeschooled special needs children was rated equal or better than that of public schools, and the homeschooled children received more personalized attention. Even without formal training, parents of special needs children did a better job of creating a more functional learning environment for their children, as well as engaged students more efficiently while teaching (Duvall, Delquadri and Ward 153). It was also observed that special needs children who are homeschooled participate in the same number of extracurricular activities as other children, and on
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