INTERMEDIATE GROUP March, 2012

Pop-Quiz 205 Time: 25 mins.

Read the text below, and answer the questions that follow.
Homeschooling — A Better Way To Learn?
1 Increasing numbers of parents in the US are choosing to teach their kids at home. In fact, the US
Department of Education estimated that, in 1999, around 850,000 children were being homeschooled.
Some educational experts say the real figure today is about double this estimate, and the number of
homeschooled children appears to be growing at a rate of about 11 percent annually.
2 At one time, there was a stigma associated with homeschooling: it was thought that homeschooling was
traditionally used for students who could not attend school because of behavioral or learning difficulties.
Today, however, more parents are taking on the responsibility of educating their children at home due to
dissatisfaction with the educational system. Many parents are unhappy about class size. Due to teacher
shortages, in many schools, one teacher is responsible for 30 or 40 pupils. The result is often that children
are deprived of the attention they need. In addition, because following a certain curriculum gets the top
priority, individual interests and needs of students are disregarded. Escalating classroom violence has also
motivated some parents to remove their children from school.
3 Advocates of homeschooling believe that children learn better when they are in a secure, loving
environment. Many psychologists see the home as the most natural learning environment. In fact,
originally, the home was the classroom, long before schools were established. Parents who homeschool
argue that they can keep an eye on their children's education and give them the attention that is lacking in
a traditional school setting. Students can also choose what to study and when to study, thus enabling them
to learn at their own pace.
4 On the other side of the coin, there are critics of homeschooling who say that children who are not in the
classroom miss out on learning important social skills because they have little interaction with their peers.
Several studies, though, have shown that the home-educated appear to do just as well in terms of social
and emotional development as other students, having spent more time in the comfort and security of their
homes, with guidance from parents who care about their welfare. In spite of this, many critics of
homeschooling have raised some concerns. According to them, many parents who homeschool have no
teacher training. They are also not competent educators of all the subjects taught in schools. Additionally,
they get burnt out easily. This is because they constantly make an effort to obtain the information that their
children want to learn about. In terms of academic achievement, however, homeschooled children do just
as well as those who have been in the classroom, and many walk the campuses of Harvard and Stanford
alongside the conventionally educated.
5 With an increasing number of disgruntled parents taking their children out of class, schools are receiving
less money from the government, based on per-pupil funding. Some experts see this as a threat to the
system and argue that schools will never be able to improve their situation and restore parents' confidence
in the educational system. Many schools have opened their doors to homeschoolers on a part-time basis,
allowing these children to attend classes once or twice a week, or take part in extracurricular activities
such as playing football or taking ballet lessons. While parents will not completely put their confidence
back into the system, many of them have reached a compromise that provides their children with the extra
benefits of peer interaction and access to a wider choice of activities.
6 Whatever the arguments for or against it, homeschooling in the US has become a multi-million-dollar
industry, and it is growing. There are now websites, support groups, and conventions that help parents to
assert their rights and enable them to learn more about educating their children. Though once the last
resort for troubled children, homeschooling today is an accepted alternative to the traditional educational
system, which many believe is failing.
 A. Answer the following questions according to the information in the text.
1. According to paragraph 2, what did people use to think about homeschooled children?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Write THREE problems of the traditional education system.
a) ____________________________________________________________________________
b) ____________________________________________________________________________
c) ____________________________________________________________________________
3. Which of the following is NOT one of the benefits of homeschooling?
a) Parents can monitor their children’s learning.
b) Children learn better in a natural learning environment.
c) Parents can follow the program used in a traditional school setting.
d) Children can decide what they want to learn and when they want to learn.
4. What THREE concerns do the critics express about homeschooling parents?
a) ____________________________________________________________________________
b) ____________________________________________________________________________
c) ____________________________________________________________________________
5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
a) According to some educational experts, there are now 850,000 homeschooled children in the US.
b) Homeschooled children’s social and emotional development is not as good as other students’.
c) Homeschooled children are more successful than those who attend traditional schools.
d) Many people believe that the traditional educational system is failing.

B. Fill in each gap below using the information in paragraphs 5 and 6 in the text. You may need to make some
changes.

P 5 More and more parents are dissatisfied with the traditional education system, so they prefer to homeschool
their children. As a result, schools face some financial problems, since they
(1)______________________________________________________ from the government. According to some
educational experts, this makes it difficult for schools to
(2)________________________________________________________________________________ and
(3)______________________________________________________ in the educational system. In their efforts to
solve this problem, many schools have developed programs in which homeschoolers can attend classes
(4)________________________________________________________. They also offer
(5)_____________________________________________ to these children so that they can play football or take
ballet lessons with other kids. Although parents do not trust the system, they agree that their children can benefit from
(6)______________________________________________ and they may have
(7)___________________________________________________.

P 6 Homeschooling in the US is a growing industry. Many websites as well as (8a)_______________________ and

(8b)__________________________ provide guidance for homeschooling parents about how to assert their rights and
how to educate their children at home.
SFL/METU
Dept. of B. E. March, 2012
Testing Office Time: 25 mins.
Pop-Quiz 205 INTERMEDIATE GROUP
ANWER KEY
A.
1.
(That) they had behavioral or learning difficulties.
2.
- (Many parents are unhappy about) class size
- Teacher shortages / One teacher is responsible for 30 or 40 pupils. / Due to teacher shortages, (in
many schools,) one teacher is responsible for 30 or 40 pupils.
- Children are deprived of the attention they need.
- (Because following a certain curriculum gets the top priority,) individual interests and needs of
students are disregarded.
- Escalating classroom violence
3.
c
4.
a) Many homeschooling parents / They have no teacher training.
b) They are not competent educators of all the subjects taught in schools.

c) They get burnt out easily. (This is because they constantly make an effort to obtain the
information that their children want to learn about.)
5.
d
B. 1. receive less money
2. improve their situation
3. restore parents’ confidence
4. once or twice a week / (on a) part-time (basis)
5. extracurricular activities
6. peer interaction
7. (access to) a wider choice of activities

8.
a) support groups
b) conventions that help… rights