1 What is home schooling?
A state of mind in which the parents recognize that they, not the state, are responsible for the education of their children and where the parents actively teach their children. At times the parents may employ agents to teach specific subjects, but the office is always at home.

2 Why would any parents want to teach their children at home?
For many reasons. Some parents are dissatisfied with dropping test scores, some fear for their children’s safety, and some want a religious education for their children. Still others simply want to spend more time with their children and strengthen the family ties.

3 Is it legal?
Yes, home school is a basic family right which has been repeatedly upheld in the courts. Seldom is legality challenged these days, but you should be aware that as the social planners move us toward a nationalized school system, they expect to catch everyone in their cradle-to-grave, school-to-work, seamless web.

4 Is home schooling against LDS Church doctrine?
The LDS Church has always supported private education, as do most churches. (BYU is the largest church-affiliated private school in the country.) In 1888 the LDS Church established a private school system in Utah under the direction of President Wilford Woodruff. Unfortunately, members did not support the system and it was eventually replaced with the seminary program. This sad story of disobedience is told in the book Revealed Educational Principles and the Public School by Dr. Jack Monnett. There is nothing in the doctrines of the LDS Church that would preclude home schooling, and a great deal that would encourage it.

5  What is wrong with the public schools?
The system is at fault, not the teachers. Governor Brigham Young and his associates warned the citizens of Utah that a tax-supported school system was wrong in principle. Current compulsory education laws are a further wrong. The fact that good things happen in this doctrinally incorrect system is a tribute to the caring teachers who make it work because they love the students.

6 How would I know what to teach?
By getting to know your children. Most home educators find that a relaxed atmosphere works best, and children succeed when they are allowed to learn the things they are most interested in, on their own timetables. In the BYU publication School Can Wait, author Raymond Moore, a Seventh-Day Adventist and professional educator, points out that children are not emotionally ready to leave their mothers or physically ready to spend long hours at a desk until they are at least 8 to 10 years of age.

7 How would I find curriculum materials?
Almost anything that is available to public and private schools is also available to parents. In addition, local support groups offer curriculum fairs and workshops. Many mail-order catalogs are available. Curriculum abounds!

8 What about testing?
In institutionalized teaching, testing is done in order for the staff to evaluate their effectiveness; this is not necessary at home. Where home educated children have been tested, they consistently score higher than public school children. Although testing is easily available to home educators, many parents prefer to measure achievement through personal interviews, comparing each child against his own potential rather than against his peers.

9  What about religion?
Religion is the most important part of anyone’s education, and it will be taught, either by design or default. LDS Church leader Boyd K. Packer has said that "atheism, the secular religion, is admitted to class, and our youngsters are proselyted to a conduct without morality." (Conf. April ‘94) Children from religious homes belong in religious schools. You wouldn’t send your children to basketball camp and expect them to come home as football players, even if there are great football players on the basketball camp staff! Nor should you allow outside teachers to undermine your religious teachings.

10 Don’t children need to go to school to be socialized?
Social problems are a major reason so many families are turning to home education. Children left to peer groups without mature leadership often adopt the degenerative values of the group. Children raised in healthy, uplifting atmospheres where their social development is fostered by direct teaching and the good example of family members and carefully chosen friends tend to remain strong when they do leave home for social contact.

School shootings in recent years have shown the folly of raising children in age-segregated institutionalized sub-cultures that compete with family bonding.

11 Will home-taught children be able to adjust to the "real world"?
Hopefully not. LDS Church leader Neal A. Maxwell has said, "To be too quick to adjust to the ways of this world is to be maladjusted for the next."

12  What about high school?
Unlike classroom education, home education is individualized, custom-fit to the child, taking him wherever his talents and life mission direct. This is especially good for high school students because it gives them so many options: continuing home school, enrollment in private full- or part-time high school, dual enrollment in a local public high school, concurrent college enrollment, correspondence or internet courses, mentoring, apprenticeships, early college enrollment.

13  Will employers hire home educated students?
Absolutely! Since home schoolers are usually self-motivated and capable, they have a great reputation and a strong advantage in the job market.

14  Can home schoolers go to college?
Sure. Home educated students have been accepted at many schools including Harvard, Hillsdale, and BYU, often at young ages. Many colleges openly recruit home schoolers.

15  How much time does home schooling take?
Homebound children in public school usually receive about 2 hours of teaching per week to keep them up with their class. Most home educators find that a couple of hours of direct teaching a day is plenty—then the students will keep themselves busy with learning activities and projects of their own choice for the rest of the day. Part of the experience is to teach children to take responsibility for how they spend their time.

16  What if I don’t feel qualified to teach?
You are Divinely qualified, and you love your children. Just read to them a lot from great books and you will learn too. Teach them to love learning; teach them that learning is a lifetime activity; teach them to take responsibility for their own education. You don’t need lesson plans and lectures; you are not trying to be a classroom teacher. You are a facilitator, a mentor, and a teaching parent. Relax and enjoy each other.

17  What if I haven’t got the patience?
No excuses! Your children are worth any sacrifice. This adventure is also a laboratory for your personal growth.

18  Who will check to see that we are doing a good job?
Who is checking now to see that your children are well taught? The courts won’t hold the public schools accountable; nor will St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. The job is yours by Divine Decree.

19  What if I fail?
We fear because we have become a weak, dependent people. Our self-reliant forefathers taught their children to read—with just a Bible and a few good books—as easily as they felled trees; and the country was far more literate then. You can hardly do worse than the government is doing.

20  Where do I go for help?
To your knees, of course. You have accepted a stewardship over your children, and the answers to their problems will be given to you. Beyond that, you will find many individuals and many support groups who are anxious to help.