Jewish home-schooling
The reasons for home-schooling
Eric Eisen of the League of Observant Jewish Home-schoolers says that Jewish families teach their children at home for many of the same reasons as people of other faiths.
He argues that home education is becoming more widely accepted within the Jewish community. Within Jewish circles, home-schooling offers parents the chance to teach the Torah (Jewish scripture) in the context of daily life rather than as a subject for academic study.
Eisen explains: "Although there has always been group learning in our faith, the most important part of our creed, the Shema prayer, insists that fathers and mothers are responsible for teaching their children themselves. In recent times the industrial nature of society has forced many to designate this job to qualified rabbis."
He says that Jewish parents who opt for home-schooling are returning to the roots of their faith.
"If you look into the Jewish faith, our religion was originally a home-schooling system. The whole institution of cheder (class learning with a rabbi) came much later. In the past, home-schoolers were parents of children with disabilities or special learning needs. We have now entered an era where parents are actually choosing to home-school over the standard day schooling option."
Home-schooling for religious reasons
Jane Lowe, a trustee of the Home Education Advisory Service (HEAS), a registered charity and a support group for home-schooling parents, has noticed a growing trend in families with strong religious beliefs towards home education.
Lowe, the co-author of Educating Your Child at Home, argues that many families are concerned about the teaching of religious education in schools.
She says: "Many parents are concerned by the sociological rather than spiritual emphasis now prevalent in religious education. Some families take a very traditional view of their faith and don't see it as being reflected anywhere other than in their home. For these families, home-schooling will often be the best option."
In the US, surveys by the National Home Education Research Institute found that religion is still the most common reason for home-schooling.
Other reasons why parents home-school
In the UK, religion is usually one of many reasons why parents choose to home-school. Other reasons include:
- the academic quality of schools
- the belief that the best education is tailored to the individual
- relationships between families members flourish through home-schooling
- fear of peer pressure
- concerns about school being an unsafe environment through bullying and violence
Lowe says most people in the UK are not home educators by choice but families in trouble. Bullying is the single most common cause why parents opt for home-schooling. In many cases, teaching at home is a last resort.
She argues: "Schools seem powerless when it comes to bullying. Despite all their fine policy documents, the problem doesn't go away. Around 60 per cent of our inquiries relate to problems connected with bullying.
"It usually boils down to a child being different in some way. It could be their hair colour, their skin colour, regional accent, or learning difficulties.
"There's all manner of reasons, but it seems to be something to do with standing out in some way and not conforming to the established group. Some children are better at learning to fit in than others."