Why government-led "homeschooling" doesn't work

The HSLDA has been warning parents about an interesting trend in charter schools; the government provides texts and a bit of teacher consultation to those who otherwise might homeschool. What are the results? Well, they're not exactly pretty.

How is this possible? After all, most other studies reveal that home education decisively beats the government schools in virtually every measure.

The answer is simple; government sponsored "homeschooling" takes the weaknesses of both methods and combines them. Take "whole language" reading texts, "new math" mathematics texts, and then provide them to an instructor who doesn't know how to instruct with these methods, and let things come out as they will.

But, but, but...you might argue, isn't it a fact that home education succeeds despite the training, or lack of training, of the parent? Absolutely, but the vast majority of home educators use phonics reading instruction and real math based on drill in arithmetic. The ugly reality here is that whole language reading instruction is not used because it is more effective, but rather because it requires a degreed teacher to implement it.

My great aunt taught school very effectively in the 1930s with a high school diploma because the right methods were used. Teachers today have difficulty with a master's degree because the methods used go against the nature of the subject at hand.

As Ronald Reagan noted, the scariest words in the English language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you." Parents beware.