ACADEMIC OUTCOMES OF HOMESCHOOLED VERSUS CONVENTIONALLY SCHOOLED CHILDREN PURSUING THE ACCELERATED CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CURRICULUM IN KENYA

In recent times, the Kenyan education sector has experienced increased cases of students' indiscipline in schools. However, the potential of homeschooling as a possible solution to such indiscipline has not been explored. Whereas critics of homeschooling posit that homeschooled children are inferior academically, proponents of this form of learning don’t think so. Therefore, this research compared the academic learning outcomes of homeschooled children and children in conventional school settings. The subjects in which scores were compared were math, English, and social studies. This research was anchored in the systems theory’s input-output model developed by Ludwig Von Bertalanffy and adopted the causal-comparative research design. The target population was children pursuing the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum. A sample of 316 children was drawn, out of whom 272 participated in the research. Data were analyzed using independent samples t-tests. Results revealed that homeschooled children achieved significantly higher math, English, and social studies scores than children in conventional schools. The research concluded that homeschooling as an alternative form of education enhances children’s academic learning outcomes equally well and probably better than conventional schools. Therefore, the education sector in Kenya should consider legalizing homeschooling as an alternative form of education for some parents who want to detach their children from indiscipline cases that are majorly witnessed in conventional schools. Despite this research stating the case for legalizing Homeschooling in Kenya, a significant limitation was the reliance on the ACE curriculum and academic scores derived from one term’s performance. Therefore, future studies should consider panel data that caters for comparisons across diverse curricula over time.