Homeschoolers are more effective than public school teachers, and they’re not even that far removed from their own children, according to a study by an Arizona home school community group.
The study, conducted by the Institute for Christian Education, found that homeschooled students outperformed their public school counterparts by 20 percent.
The homeschool community in Arizona’s Tucson-area has grown to more than 2,500 members, with an enrollment of more than 3,200 students, according a press release.
The institute’s founder, Dan Bockelman, said that while homeschools are generally better than schools in many ways, they do have a number of advantages.
“One is that it’s very much like being a child, learning how to be a child,” Bockels said.
“You don’t get to the point where you can’t learn how to do things as a child.”
Bockels’ group also found that home-schoolers tend to be less likely to have a criminal record.
He said that home schooling has an “extremely high probability of helping children become more responsible parents and less prone to criminal behavior.”
A national study published last year by the Pew Research Center found that about 2 percent of children in the United States were homeschool or homeschool-in-training, with nearly one-third of children attending private schools.
The majority of homeschool children attend private schools, but about 6 percent attend public schools.
Homeschooling is also an option for some students with disabilities, including those who are diagnosed with ADHD or autism, as well as students who were born with disabilities.
Boccklers’ group found that the homeschool experience is a positive one for children.
“When kids get to know their teachers, they’re better,” Buckelmans said.
Homes and learning, as opposed to schooling, has a lot to do with what we’re all about.
You get to learn things that are not necessarily things that we teach them, he said.
The study was published online March 10, 2016 in the journal Social Psychology Quarterly.