Home-based schooling system

home-based schooling system
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22 August 2012
Executive summary
Home schooling basically refers to the act of educating children at their place of residence rather than allowing them to attend formal schools. Recent surveys have revealed that there is an increased prevalence of home-based schooling in United States. Likewise, evidence has revealed that this mode of schooling is also legal and common in California. Research has revealed that the number of students on home-based school program has continued to rise since 2003. Consequently, this calls for urgent response to provide home-based students with adequate educational facilities. In this case, there is a need to strategize an effective plan on how to provide home-based education to students who are not able to attend normal academic institutions for numerous reasons. Moreover, an overarching management should be enhanced to enable this mode of schooling to occur in an adequate manner. Additionally, for this program to be successful there is a need to establish an appropriate organizational profile, structure and home school laws to foster effective learning. It is against this backdrop that this paper intends to propose a plan on how to provide home-based schooling system, structure, and laws governing the system in United States using a case study of California. Moreover, it is imperative to mention that the proposed plan targets to help a maximum of 12 families with a number of children ranging from 25-30 and are of different ages.
   
Home School Laws, Major education standards and considerations in California laws and comparisons between geographical states necessaryFrom a careful review of history, it is definite that home-based schooling system is not a strange issue in California. This is because the public sector in the state is responsible for monitoring and providing all the necessary services for this type of education. In fact, home schools are included in all legal aspects related to education in the state (Common & MacMullen, 1996). Moreover, it is certain that the ministry of education recognizes this mode of learning. Notably, the state has established acts and regulations, which are followed by the federal and state government to ensure appropriate jurisdiction of home-based schooling system.
Luffman (1997) elucidates that there are numerous laws that governs home schooling in California. In this case, there exist a statement of policy governing this system of education and covers a wide range of issue related to it. Jeub (1994) acknowledges that the laws and policies revolve around distinct groups such as parent, teachers, students, district officers, community school board and the ministry of education. There are laws governing the eligibility of a student to enroll in home-based schooling system in California (Knowles, 1998). For instance, students who have been in the normal schooling system either in public or private schools are eligible to enroll in the system. For this case, the aim of enrolling into this program is to have ample breathing space outside classroom. Therefore, students intending to evade academic pressure in classrooms are allowed to study at home for a given period of time (Luffman, 1997).
Moreover, the laws consider students who need to be detoxified from negative social environment or peer pressure. For instance, student in boarding schools who have ventured into strange behaviors such as drug abuse and premarital sex are eligible to enroll into this system (Common & MacMullen, 1996). This helps them to deviate from negative effects of peer pressure under close supervision by their parents. Moreover, there is a law that allows students to break from the normal education setting in order to develop their natural curiosity. Knowles, Marlow and Muchmore (1994) point out that this has also been the case in other states in US. This makes the students to adventure and have the joy of learning new concepts outside classroom. Additionally, children who are physically impaired or suffering from complicated ailments are permitted to enroll into the schooling system. For instance, studies have revealed that since 2000 to present provinces more than 1500 children were lawfully incorporated into the program while more than 8000 continued to school outside the legal framework (Common & MacMullen, 1996). Nevertheless, studies have exposed that there are no explicit qualifications in terms of performance that qualify one to join home-based schooling program (Knowles, 1998). This implies that any child in California is considered eligible to enroll in the program on the merit of legislations provided by the ministry of education and in most cases, their performance is not considered.
A proposal on how to provide a Home School plan in the United States
Studies have revealed that it is hard to estimate the exact number of children schooling at home. This is because majority of them do not adhere to the established regulations and registration policies. Consequently, statistical records obtained are often underestimated. A large number of parents decline to comply with the legal frameworks making it difficult for the government to obtain accurate data. Consequently, this poses challenge to the government and the learners since it is not possible to allocate adequate amount of resources to suite the need of every child (Jeub, 1994). This has been largely observed in California where more than 7000 children are not recognized for failure to meet the legal framework (Tyler & Carper, 2000). Apart from unequal allocation of resources to cater for home-based education, there are numerous challenges facing this program. For this reason, there is a need to establish an effective plan in United States to decimate impending challenges facing home-based education. In this case, there are myriad of proposals to be made to ensure effective implementation and planning of the system so that students can gain high academic excellence (Stewart & Neeley, 2005). However, proposals to be made are meant to ensure overarching management of home-based educational system to ensure that learning occurs optimally.
One of the notable proposals is that home-based schooling in United States should be regarded as an educational option. Tyler and Carper (2000) comment that there are challenges facing this educational system due to myriad misconceptions attached to it. Therefore, I propose that this program should be recognized and incorporated in the entire regulations to ensure that student derive competitive and quality educational skills just like those in formal school settings. Beilick, Chandler and Broughman (2001) highlight that this proposal will foster equal allocation of educational facilities for children schooling in their homes. In connection to this, the legislations should acknowledge the parents responsibility to offer educational skills to their children.
Studies have shown that most of the parents shy away from paying the dispensation fee to the government to cater for distance education. In this case, I propose that this dispensation fee should be abolished or minimized. This is due to the fact that majority of the parents have got a negative altitude since they perceive it as a penalty for home-schooling (Knowles, Marlow & Muchmore, 1992). This results to conflicts and disquiet which can be eradicated if only this fee can be eliminated. Note that this proposal has been exercised in California in 2003and has been successful. Moreover, this proposal should be retrospectively validated and incorporated in the legislation acts governing home-based education in United States. Nevertheless, it is anticipated that complete eradication of the dispensation fee can make other parent to be deterrent and use this as an excuse to withdraw their children from formal education (Knowles, 1991). In this case, there should be restrictions and rules governing the registration of children into home-based programs. In this case, a parent who is allowed to withdraw her child form formal schooling should have a genuine reason and should submit valid curriculum credentials for approval.
Another proposal entails the replacement of contemporary requirements for dispensation with those for registration. This implies that there should be an annual registration where parents in the identified families who wish to have their children schooling at home get an opportunity. This regulation should be clearly defined to allow a large number of parents to apply for registration since the current dispensation processes have not been working effectively (Knowles, Marlow & Muchmore, 1994). Notably, making registration easier will enable the government to have accurate records of children who are in home-based schooling. Consequently, this makes it efficient to allocate resources that are ornamental in learning. In line with this, it is recommended that US government should ensure that all the parents register and educate their children.
Jeub (1994) proposes that home schooling parents should be allowed to access diverse resources and services both within the government and private schools in order to achieve the set goals for distance learning Research has revealed that majority of the students enrolled in home schooling are also in formal institutions (Stewart &  Neeley, 2005). Therefore, having met the requirements for registration, they should be allowed to access and enjoy the benefits just like those in formal schedules. From a careful review of literature, this proposal will help to increase satisfaction among the parents in regards to distance learning education. Cibulka (1996) admits that denying students services and facilities in formal institutions would affect thei...