In the early years of the homeschooling movement, many parents chose this educational option for religious reasons. Fast forward a few decades, and you’ll find homeschooling is practiced by many families for a wide variety of reasons. Some choose home education to support a specific ethno-centric world view. Others homeschool due to dissatisfaction with their local school system. Yet others opt to educate at home because they feel that children learn just by living daily life. Whatever the reason, homeschooling has gained mainstream popularity in general, and many in the adoption community are embracing it as well.

For the adoptive family, homeschooling offers education in a smaller, more intimate setting. This addresses several concerns adoptive families may have:

It provides for bonding with the adoptive family, whether or not the child has any attachment issues. Just the transition alone from the child’s previous care to the adoptive home can be eased by homeschooling. If there are other children in the family being homeschooled, it assists with their bonding as well, by providing tons of family time.

Homeschooling helps minimize negative socialization. A lot is made about socialization in general, and this argument is usually made out of a lack of understanding about what homeschooling really is. My son has several outside classes a week with other children, including a general park day where he plays with friends. This is in addition to the numerous Bible classes and church activities we are involved in.

However, when I say negative socialization, I am referring to the petty name calling, bullying and peer pressure that can occur in traditional school, particularly if the child is “different” in any way due to a language or cultural barrier, or special needs. Homeschooling does not “isolate” children, but rather provides for a child to be given instruction in a smaller setting, and allows the parent to provide social opportunities in a non-threatening atmosphere, based on cues the child gives regarding readiness. It helps to ease the child into social situations by reducing the overwhelming stimulus that being thrust into a large group right away might cause.

Homeschooling does support your belief system. Whether you choose a faith-based approach to learning versus a secular one, you can find or create curricula to support it. If you wish to teach from a specific ethnic or cultural perspective, you have the freedom to do so. If you are adopting trans-racially, this can be a real boone to your child’s self-esteem, in addition to easing the confusion if there are any “revisionist” or “sanitizing” leanings in our Western culture that fly against what they child may have been taught in his or her native country.

Stay tuned for How to Begin Homeschooling …

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