Searcy(LP) Across the United States, parents are offered more control over their children’s schooling. School choice programs are a major component of this development. Public school and homeschool are the two large education forms in the past 30 years in the U.S. These two different school systems have many differences and similarities. There are also some reasons for parents to choose a certain education system for their children .

Homeschooling is an educational option that allows parents to teach their children at home instead of sending them to school. Although it’s difficult to get accurate numbers of homeschoolers, it’s estimated that as many as 2 million American students are being educated at home. Parents choose to homeschool for a variety of reasons. Some parents have concerns about the social environment or academic quality of local public schools and parents with technology jobs have also embraced homeschooling because it affords their children freedom to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. Some parents let their children homeschool have religious reasons. Some parents said they want their children to have more God center education and they also want to discuss with their kids about literature, history, science and current events in light of their religious beliefs. In the contrast, some parents choose the public school because of the teachers, transportations, curriculums in the school and so on.

Not as busy as the public school, homeschool is much flexible than the public school. Alyssa Dodson, a 10th-grade student in SHS, had homeschooled for 9 years, said “homeschooling has more freedom and spare time than the public school. The schedule in public school is more strict. Homeschooling students can sleep late in the morning but public school student have to get up at a certain time.” The school environments are also different. Parents believe the home has safer and more comfortable environment with which they are familiar than the public school. Public school students ride the bus or drive by themselves, and this is one of the reasons why parents think homeschool is safer. At home, a child does not have to deal with peer pressure or with fitting in with the popular cliques. Public school is much socialized than home school. Students can learn how to communicate and cooperate with other people, and the public school also encourages the independence of students.

In contrast, homeschool students have a few chances to cooperate with others, they only study by themselves. “At the most time, we go to church to communicate with people and make friends or stay with a group of homeschoolers.” Alyssa Toye said, a freshman at Cross Pointe Preparatory, a private school prepared for homeschoolers who take part in classes two or three days per week. Public school textbooks are free for students. They use those books circularly. Homeschoolers have buy textbooks by themselves. “Usually, we buy the textbooks online, and the money depends on what kind of books we buy. New textbooks are more expensive. ” Alyssa Toye said. The two school systems have the similar curriculums. They all learn to read, write and solve basic math problems. Both sides agree those classes are the good foundations and are important for students’ life abilities. Different homeschoolers have different schedules, they have different vacations or breaks. “Some homeschoolers have summer vacation, but some not. It depends on the individual, but public school always has 3 months of summer vacation every year.” Alyssa Dodson said. There are few homeschooling students study a whole year, no summer vacation. As a result, they usually graduate earlier than the public school students.

Although two school systems have a lot of differences, they each have pros and cons. No matter what systems you choose, it will help you to gain more knowledge and teach you more about the life.