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We became convinced that little children are not only better taught at home than at school, but also better socialized by parental example and sharing than by other little children. This idea was fed by many researchers from Tufts, Cornell, Stanford and California. Among the more prominent were (1) Urie Bronfenbrenner who found that at least up to the sixth grade, children who spend less of their elective time with their parents than their peers tend to become peer-dependent; and (2) Albert Bandura who noted that this tendency has in recent years moved down to preschool, which in our opinion should be avoided whenever good parenting is possible. Contrary to common beliefs, little children are not best socialized by other kids; the more persons around them, the fewer meaningful contacts. We found that socialization is not neutral. It tends to be either positive or negative:

Positive or altruistic and principled sociability is firmly linked with the family - with the quantity and quality of self-worth. This is in turn dependent largely on the track of values and experience provided by the family at least until the child can reason consistently. In other words, the child who works and eats and plays and has his rest and is read to daily, more with his parents than with his peers, senses that he is part of the family corporation - needed, wanted, depended upon. He is the one who has a sense of self-worth. And when he does enter school, preferably not before 8 to 10, he usually becomes a social leader. He knows where he is going, is independent in values and skills. He largely avoids the dismal pitfalls and social cancer of peer dependency. He is the productive, self-directed citizen our nation badly needs.

Negative, me-first sociability is born from more peer group association and fewer meaningful parental contacts and responsibility experiences in the home during the first 8 to 12 years. The early peer influence generally brings an indifference to family values which defy parent's correction. The child does no yet consistently understand the "why" of parental demands when his peers replace his parents as his models because he is with them more. Research shows that such peer dependency brings loss of (1) self-worth, (2) optimism, (3) respect for parents and (4) trust in peers. What does the child have left to lose? So he does what comes naturally: He adapts to the ways of his agemates because "everybody's doing it," and gives parent values the back of his little hand. And...he has few sound values to pass on to the next generation.

So home, wherever possible, is by far the best nest until at least ages 8 to 10. In a reasonably warm home, adult-child responses, which are the master key to education, will be 50 to 100 times more than the average teacher-child responses in the classroom. Where there is any reasonable doubt about the influence of schools on our children (morality, ridicule, rivalry, denial or religious values, etc.) home schools are usually a highly desirable alternative. Home schools nearly always excel regular schools in achievement. Although most of them don't know it, parents are the best teachers for most children at least through ages 10 or 12.

If we are to believe sociologists Frederick Le Play, J.D. Unwin or Carle Zimmerman, we must spend more time with our children in the home, lest our society like Greece and Rome, be lost. The conditions are now identical to theirs. Let's have more loving firmness, less indulgence; more work with you, fewer toys; more service for others - the old, poor, infirm - which lead to, and follow, self-worth as children of God. Parents and home, undiluted, usually do this best. Home-Spun Schools (Word publishing, 1982) will tell how others did it. And Home Style Teaching (Word) will give you new confidence as a teacher whether you teach in home or school.

Reprinted with permission (Moore Report International, July/Aug 2002) For more information on research and resources for homeschooling contact the Moore Foundation: Box 1, Camas, WA 98607; Tel: (360) 835-5500 and
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The Moores were founding leaders of the modern homeschool movement.