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Is Homeschooling A Viable Option For Education? Essay

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Homeschooling
In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of homeschooling is “To teach school subjects to one’s children at home” (Merriam-Webster). It is hard to find someone today who is not familiar with homeschooling in one way or another. After all, approximately 1,770,000 students are homeschooled in the United States; 3.4% of the school-age population (HSLDA). Due to its prevalence in our society, it is a topic for robust debate. Is homeschooling a viable option for education? Some are against its presence in our society and some believe it to be their human right to educate their children how they see fit. Whichever category, it has definitely made its mark on the education system today. Homeschooling has a rich history in our country. It is the way Americans have educated their young throughout generations, passing down trade and education through the family line. It was not until the 1600s that compulsory education was introduced (Davis 29). Compulsory education is education with required attendance and was introduced to educate orphans who did not have parents to educate them. The idea spread until Massachusetts established a compulsory public education law in 1789 and another in 1852 requiring attendance. By the 1850s, the entire country adopted compulsory education (Davis 29). Because the government had convinced families that public schools were much better, there were many supporters of compulsory education. One man, John Caldwell Holt, in 1964,

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