Home Schooling Statistics Allow You To Gauge Your Childrens Progress


When you home school your children, it can be hard to gauge how theyre doing against other children their age. This isnt the case in a public or private school setting where test scores, and the scores of fellow classmates can determine a childs progress. There are ways to determine how your children stand up against others, however, and you can gauge this progress by looking at home schooling statistics. Home schooling statistics can tell you how your child measures up against others in the country, in your state, and more. You can also determine if your child is a fast learner or a slow learner and it can also tell you how youre doing as a home school teacher. The main thing to remember is that home school statistics, like any other statistics, should only be used to give you a general idea of how your child is doing and should never be used to determine your childs intelligence.

Some Factors Arent Mentioned

When you look at home schooling statistics, you are usually looking at how your child measures against other children his or her age. However, you have to be aware that some factors arent given. For instance, do the children who are depicted in the statistics have more or less learning materials than your child? Also, who is measuring the statistics? Are all the children home schooled the same way? These are just some of the questions you should ask yourself when you view home schooling statistics. Its very important to remember that not all children are the same. Your child may learn quicker or slower than other children but that doesnt mean theyre smarter or dumber. Keeping this in mind, remember that stats are only a tool, nothing more, and should never be used against your child for any reason.

Reward Vs. Punishment

When you home school your child, you should always reward him or her for a job well done. You should also punish them somehow when they deviate from the plan, dont listen or fail to do what theyre told. However, you should never use home schooling statistics to punish or reward them. Using statistics against them, or to build their ego, may give them false impressions of their own self worth. By telling them theyre better than other children their age, according to home schooling statistics, you may make them cocky, which can cause them to relax on their studies, as they wont feel they have to study as hard. Similarly, if you punish them by telling them theyre slower than other kids their age, this could affect their self esteem, which could cause them to give up. Only use stats as a tool for yourself, to gauge how your child is doing and to gauge how youre doing as a teacher, not as a gauge for your childs intelligence, for thats not only unfair to your child but it could seriously hinder everything youre trying to accomplish by home schooling your children.