Does homeschooling teach Christian beliefs well?

Is the Christian Faith Properly Taught in Homeschooling?

Dr. Gregory Cizek published “The mismeasure of homeschooling effectiveness: A critique” in 1993, about 30 years ago. Nothing, he said, has been done to evaluate results relating to the movement’s core, self-selected purpose, which is “… the perceived spiritual, moral, or religious requirements of their children” (p. 2). According to Cizek, researchers should broaden their focus beyond traditional metrics of success like grades and standardized tests to include things like social and emotional growth (e.g., Ray, 2017).

As a result, one would wonder how the Christian homeschool community does in comparison to those who send their children to public or private schools in terms of passing on their religion to the next generation. There are two notable studies that sprang to mind.

Methods

The two studies were conducted in different countries. In the first place, Pennings, Sikkink, Van Pelt, Van Brummelen, and von Heyking (2012) analyzed data from a sample of 2,054 Canadian adults to learn more about the differences in results between public and private education. 34 people in their sample were labeled as “religious home-educated pupils” (p. 18). Family life, involvement in the community, willingness to help others, participation in government, and religious faith were all discussed.

In contrast, Ray (2022) looked at adults between the ages of 18 and 38 who were churched as children to identify the factors (such as family relationships, church experiences, cultural inputs, and parental school choices like homeschooling, Christian school, private secular school, and public school) that either led to or discouraged them from believing and practicing the Christian faith of their parents. Approximately 8,794 people took part in this study.

Findings

It was discovered by Pennings et al. that “religious home education graduates show qualities of religious conviction, spiritual development, and practices that one would anticipate of persons who are religiously motivated (with schooling impacts having contributed favorably to those outcomes)” (p. 6). That is, homeschooled students fared better than their public school and Catholic school counterparts on these measures.

According to his findings, Ray found that consistent and positive predictors of Christian beliefs, Christian behaviors, and having similar beliefs to one’s father and mother in adulthood include involvement in Christian practices as a child, positive relationships with parents as a teenager, and the number of years homeschooled. On the other hand, the more time one spends in youth group or private secular school, the less likely they are to develop Christian views or actions or share their parents’ worldview as adults. There was no statistically significant correlation between the number of years spent in public education and Christians’ views, Christian practices, or agreeing with one’s parents’ beliefs.

Final Reflections

Dr. Cizek’s request for research into the spiritual lives of those who were taught at home 30 years ago has hardly been responded to. More research, both quantitative and qualitative, is required. In terms of passing on one’s Christian religion, the few available data supports the idea that a home-based education guided by one’s parents is the best option for doing so.

Even while the Bible makes it clear that neither parents nor homeschooling are responsible for a child’s salvation or subsequent conversion, there does seem to be a correlation between homeschooling and a more fervent Christian worldview in maturity. Researchers (or theologians) in the future will be able to validate or refute this discovery and provide light on the underlying theory of action.