American Home School [Analysis of American Home School]

Abstract: homeschooling education has developed rapidly in the United States in recent years and has become a bright spot in the field of basic education in the United States. The rise of home school has both its own reasons and reasons outside the school. Generally speaking, it is mainly because of the following three points: meeting the individual needs of children, the shortcomings of public schools themselves, and religious factors. Judging from the current situation of home-school implementation, home-school can obtain curriculum resources from various channels, flexibly choose teaching methods and use distance learning media. The targeted teaching mode, interconnected operation mode, excellent social environment and high-quality teaching quality of American home schools are increasingly recognized by families and society. Family education and school education should not be isolated from each other, and the partnership between family and school, parents and teachers should be established to promote the development of students.

【 China Library Classification Number 】 G78 【 Document Identification Number 】 A 【 Document Number 】1672-128 (2008) 03-0029-05

Since 1980s, the United States has set off a massive "school reconstruction movement". In this wave of educational reform, the traditional class teaching system in primary and secondary schools has been greatly challenged. Among the emerging new school models, some people call homeschooling "the fastest educational movement in America". ① Since 1985, the number of children attending home school has increased year by year at the rate of 10% ~ 15%. 1in the spring of 1999, there were about 850,000 students in American homeschools. By the spring of 2003, this number had risen to 165438+ ten thousand. As can be seen from these data, the rapid development of American homeschools is increasing day by day. The so-called home school, also known as "home school education", means that families do not send school-age children to traditional schools for education, but provide education for their children in their own homes.

First, the reasons for the rise of home schools

Compared with the institutionalized school education form with a history of one hundred years, more and more families prefer to choose the home-school form called "non-school, anti-school, family", which is due to both the school itself and the reasons outside the school.

1. Meet the individual needs of children

Public schools adopt the class teaching system, and the course progress should take into account the acceptance of all students. For those children with learning disabilities or talents, the unified progress teaching model in public schools often fails to fully consider their special needs. Parents of these children are usually very aware of their children's special needs, so they choose a one-on-one family education model. Home-school, a one-to-one education model, can not only take care of children with learning disabilities, but also provide extra time and space for gifted children to develop their talents. Children will not lose interest in learning because their learning requirements or progress are inconsistent with their peers.

Children are educated at home and parents are teachers directly. Many parents personally choose teaching materials for their children and learn from courses offered by correspondence, community colleges and computer software. In the arrangement of subjects, the children's own needs, interests and specialties are considered to the maximum extent, and there is also greater flexibility in the progress of their studies. This will help to provide children with the most targeted, personalized and humanized learning guidance. In short, home school is easy to take care of children's individual needs in education and implement targeted (personalized) teaching-or customization, which is one of the main reasons why parents choose home school.

2. The shortcomings of public schools themselves

According to the data provided by the National Education Statistics Center, parents choose home schools largely because they are dissatisfied with public schools. Parents of homeschooled children are generally skeptical about the reliability of the learning environment provided by the school. Especially with the increase of school violence, many parents don't believe that schools can provide a safe environment for their children. Some parents want to expose their children to drugs such as drugs that they may be exposed to when they drop out of college, and avoid the negative influence from their peers at school to alleviate the physical and mental stress faced by their children. According to the statistics of the National Education Association, there are about 654.38 million children in the United States who often bring guns to class. According to the information released by 1998 Census Bureau, 30 students are shot and killed every day in the United States. With the development of economy and society, parents' own quality is improving day by day, and parents pay more and more attention to their children's education in school. The disadvantages of traditional public schools weaken parents' trust in the school, so parents would rather choose to provide education for their children in their own homes than let their children be affected by the bad atmosphere of the school.

3. Religious reasons

As we all know, religion is an important part of American culture, but public schools ignore this cultural phenomenon. There is basically no cultivation of religious belief in the teaching content, and education is almost strictly separated from religion. The reason why many parents choose home education over public schools is to pursue religious freedom. "The potential motivation of educating children at home is to control their spiritual and character development, which is God's will for them." In the eyes of Christians, public schools are not only dominated by secularism and unable to convey the truth about God to children, but also full of pop culture atmosphere and some adverse events such as violence, sexual crimes and drug abuse, which have a negative impact on children's development. It is for this reason that many parents choose to educate their children at home. According to relevant data, among the parents who choose their home school, the number of Christians is the largest.

Second, the implementation status of home schools

1. Acquisition of course resources

As the implementers of home school education, parents have extensive curriculum resources. Most home school students have at least one channel for their parents to get curriculum resources. Among many channels to obtain curriculum resources, the local public library is the most common, and the number of people using such materials accounts for 78% of the total number. Among them, 77% people get resources through home school textbooks, printing companies or personal monographs. About 50% of homeschool students get textbooks from homeschool organizations, and 37% of students get textbooks from religious institutions such as churches. In addition, some students get learning materials from local public schools or community colleges. The curriculum resources of American public schools can also be obtained by parents through various channels, or even directly from public schools. This not only ensures the right of home-school students to acquire the same knowledge, but also will not make students' future level too uneven. In 2003, the situation of home school students' access to curriculum resources or books is shown in table 1. ⑤

2. The implementation of the teaching process

Due to the one-to-one individual teaching method between home and school, the implementation of education is more targeted and teaching students in accordance with their aptitude can be fully implemented. At home and school, parents, as one of the subjects in the teaching process, are also very concerned about teaching methods. Parents take the children's actual needs as the starting point and meet the children's needs as the ultimate goal, choose from a series of teaching methods, and creatively adjust and reorganize these methods in order to achieve the best teaching effect. Compared with traditional public schools, it is easier for parents to control the course schedule and time, give play to their children's interests and specialties, and improve learning efficiency. However, the relatively large educational institutions in traditional public schools are difficult to make timely and accurate responses to individual students.

3. The use of distance learning media

With the development of science and technology, computer-based media technology is becoming more and more popular in home schools. Internet provides rich literature materials for students who choose their home school and assists them in learning various subjects, which has become one of the important ways for home school students to obtain educational resources. According to the definition of NHES, distance learning refers to the process of sending and receiving some or all course instructions through media technology. In other words, teaching and learning in the process of educational activities are independent of each other in space. According to relevant data, about 20% of home school students use media tools such as TV, video or radio to obtain educational resources. There are 19% students who get course information through the Internet, e-mail and the World Wide Web. In 2003, the situation of home school students using distance learning media is shown in Table 2.

4. Recognition and guarantee of relevant laws

1980, only 13 states in the United States officially recognized the right of homeschooling in their state legislation. By March, 1995, 34 states clearly stipulated by law that homeschooling was allowed as long as certain standards were met. At present, at least 12 states expressly stipulate that home schools can operate as private schools. Other states require home schooling to be approved by the local supervisor or school board. It is worth mentioning that Oklahoma, which protects homeschools with state constitutional amendments, has hardly granted the state any right to formulate regulations and requirements for homeschools. There seems to be a trend in American legislation: the state's intervention in homeschooling is decreasing day by day, and relevant laws are enacted to recognize homeschooling and protect its due interests.

Third, the characteristics of home school.

1. Target teaching mode

Because home school is a one-to-one teaching model, its greatest advantage is that it can provide targeted education and teaching for children in a flexible and changeable way. Parents can educate their children according to their interests and needs, and let them learn with their favorite learning style, cognitive style and suitable speed, which can stimulate their initiative in learning, change passive learning into active learning, and truly realize personalized education. In addition, as teachers, parents have more opportunities to observe their children's behaviors and listen to their voices, which is more conducive to parents' understanding of their children's ideas and generating new learning content from their lives. Parents don't need to teach strictly according to the syllabus and plan, but flexibly arrange the teaching content and choose the teaching place according to their children's needs and interests, so as to cultivate their children's ability to find and solve problems anytime and anywhere. In addition, in the arrangement of teaching time, parents can also make flexible adjustments according to their actual situation. For example, some families choose to teach at night or on weekends in order to cooperate with working hours. Some schools only teach four days a week, but because teaching can last until the summer vacation, the teaching task can also be completed. In terms of teaching methods, as mentioned above, compared with traditional public schools, it is easier for home schools to carry out targeted teaching on the basis of taking care of students' personal interests.

2. Excellent social environment

Many opponents of homeschooling claim that homeschooling is not conducive to children's social development, and they believe that children's social skills (such as cooperation, sharing, respect for others, etc. ) It is easier to get in regular schools. It is true that group communication in education is an important channel to cultivate children's socialization, but these people often ignore that home-school students also have many opportunities for social communication. Moreover, in the family environment, we can make better use of the positive aspects of the social environment-sharing, respect, communication and getting along with each other, which can easily avoid the influence of bad social aspects and effectively protect children from vicious competition and absurd and contradictory values. Some researchers think it is necessary to distinguish between "positive socialization based on stable family life" and "negative socialization that is influenced by peers and abandons family values". s？ Raymond S. Moore said: "Parents and educators often discuss social issues, but they ignore the differences in sociality itself. If a child feels needed at home and has a sense of sharing responsibility, then he is more likely to form a stable value system-this is the basic element of positive sociality. On the contrary, if children succumb to their peers and are adversely affected by their peers, it is easy to cultivate negative sociality. " ⑦ Some studies have also found that "meaningful communication" (or interpersonal communication) is realized in an environment with a small number of people. The smaller the class size, the greater the possibility of effective learning.

3. Interconnected operating system

Homeschooling is not a "lonely career" as people think. Parents of homeschools attach great importance to contact with other families and social institutions. As long as there are a certain number of home schools in an area, they will support and learn from each other and set up at least one tutor association. Home-school embodies this unity, but there is no convergence between them, and it shows diversity in teaching methods and curriculum arrangements. Different home schools have different channels to obtain and use curriculum resources. This point has been mentioned in the implementation of home school in the last section. In addition, there is not only the interconnection between home and school, but also the connection between home and school and local public or private schools. Some homeschoolers also spend part of their time in local public or private schools. Some families also use curriculum packages provided by private schools.

4. Higher teaching quality

Relevant information shows that people who oppose homeschooling still have a great concern, that is, they doubt the teaching quality of homeschooling. In the absence of relevant professional knowledge or even a college degree, it is indeed a matter of concern for parents to carry out multidisciplinary education for their children. But in fact, education is not necessarily what educators know, nor is it necessarily a special skill to cultivate students. Education doesn't have to teach different subjects. The essence of education is the inheritance of culture. Real life should be interdisciplinary, not interdisciplinary. Compared with traditional public schools, home-school education and teaching pay more attention to the integration of disciplines. In terms of academic performance, in recent years, many home school research institutions in the United States have analyzed standard tests such as the Academic Aptitude Test (SAT), the Achievement and Profitability Test (TAP) and the Basic Skills Test (TBS), and they all think that the academic performance of home-schooled children is higher than the national average. ⑧ The largest national research institution engaged in the study of children's performance in homeschools is the Home School Rights Protection Association (HSLDA). The research institute found that in standardized tests of all subjects, the average percentile of home-schooled children reached or exceeded the 80th percentile. The remarkable achievements in home-school education come from the individualization and pertinence in the education process, and parents attach great importance to their children's studies and socialization.

Fourthly, the enlightenment of home school to school education and family education in China.

1. Establish an effective parent-teacher partnership.

In the first half of the 20th century, relevant scholars and experts had a heated discussion on the influence of family environment on children's growth, and then set off an upsurge of studying the relationship between family background and school performance. From 65438 to 0979, Maforibanks made an in-depth analysis of this research, and came to the conclusion that family learning has an impact on children, and parents and teachers should play the role of partners in their children's learning process. From the above introduction of American homeschools, we find that it seems that the time has come to challenge the traditional public school education, and the role of family in children's education has been paid more and more attention, but this does not mean that homeschools will replace the traditional public schools. Instead, it provides important enlightenment for modern school education: it is an inevitable trend for schools to establish partnership with families. In order to achieve the best teaching effect, it is necessary to break the isolation between family and school.

(1) Have an objective understanding of the role of schools and families.

We should not only notice that school plays an important role in children's study, but also notice that children's time at home still occupies most of their lives. Many children's skills are acquired through their families, especially in the early stages of their growth. The influence of parents on children's emotions, attitudes and values is subtle. The quality of family study will not only affect the quality of school study, but also affect children's life growth.

(2) Strengthen parents' awareness of participating in education.

At present, China has not formulated relevant policies or laws on parents' participation in education, defined the legitimate rights and interests of parents' participation in school education management and teaching activities, and strengthened parents' participation in education and their responsibility of self-education and education of children. Parents' awareness of cooperation with schools is also weak. Most parents think that teachers should be mainly responsible for their children's education. When children make mistakes, teachers will mostly seek the support and help of their parents. In view of this situation, on the one hand, the government should actively formulate relevant policies to promote parents' participation in education, on the other hand, parents should realize that participating in educational activities is both their own obligation and their own rights. In the process of cultivating talents, school education without family education is incomplete. Only by giving full play to the role of the family, strengthening parents' awareness and promoting home-school cooperation can we achieve a successful educational approach.

(3) Strengthen communication between parents and teachers.

The establishment of the partnership between parents and teachers is a two-way activity, a process of mutual understanding, cooperation and support between parents and educators, and both sides need two-way communication. Judging from the current situation in China, it is basically school-centered, and the school transmits information to parents in one direction, lacking cooperation at all levels. Parents are basically in a passive position. This is not conducive to the establishment of a partnership with breadth and depth, and the two-way communication between teachers and parents is the basis for the establishment of partnership. Therefore, schools should listen to parents' opinions, and teachers should do more home visits and surveys. Teachers and parents make suggestions for children's growth and discuss and formulate targeted educational measures.

2. Make full use of modern information technology

This not only means making full use of the achievements of modern science and technology in the acquisition of curriculum resources and the establishment of the relationship between home and school. More importantly, the team responsible for formulating the national curriculum should adjust the traditional curriculum, so that each set of book courses has a matching synchronous electronic course, so that parents and schools can share the task of curriculum teaching. As an educator asserted: "Technology makes the family courses that students need readily available, and parents are now receiving higher and higher education. They not only know what children need, but also know how to meet their needs. " With the development of modern information technology, the process of teaching and learning has undergone tremendous changes. Active and effective use of modern information technology is the only way to the success of education.

To annotate ...

① ④ ⑨ ⑩ Lu Haihong: Reconstruction of Contemporary American School Model [M], Sun Yat-sen University Press, 2004, pp. 45-68.

② ⑤ Statistical analysis report. Homeschooling in America: 2003. http://nces . ed . gov/pubs 2006/home school/multivarial . ASP，2006-9- 12

③ ⑧ Li: The revival, current situation and enlightenment of American homeschooling education [J], Foreign Education Research, No.4, 2007, p.56.

refer to

[1]Knoeles, J.G. Cooperation with homeschooling parents: a new agenda for public schools [EB/OL]. Urban education, 1989.23:68.

[2]http:///list/oii/non public/statistics . htm/，2005-6-25。

3 National Education Statistics Center. American homeschool:1999 [EB/ol] http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/homeschool/2006-9-12.

Author: College of Education, Zhejiang University

(Editor Wang Yongkang)