“The evidence shows overwhelmingly that these children perform extremely well, above average, when

Evidence of the Superiority of Home Education over Conventional Schooling Here are 22 items that should be useful. (Compiled in 2005). Regards, Craig Smith Home Education Foundation PO Box 9064 Palmerston North New Zealand Ph. (06) 357-4399 craig@hef.org.nz www.hef.org.nz 1) “The evidence shows overwhelmingly that these children perform extremely well, above average, when they re-enter formal education. That appears to be across the board, whether they sat at home and had formal lessons...or whether they were up-a-tree hippies who had no formal learning pattern. On any measure you like, socially or academically, they will do better.” -- Jeff Richardson, Monash University, Melbourne 2) How do we pass on all this knowledge to infants and young children? Well, from birth, almost instinctively, we as parents provide our children with a kind of communication support system. We even respond to babies’ burps, gurgles and wind as if they’re conversation openers, which in a sense I suppose they are! As children get older, we answer hordes of questions, we point out things we think might be of interest and talk about them. And we take up anything our children show an interest in and talk about that, all in the course of day-to-day living. In other words, we are constantly in tune with the Child’s Theory of Learning, which they have to abandon once they start school. This has been graphically described in the celebrated study by Professors ...