Home Schooling or Not?

Much of what I thought about home schoolingalthough they often do some work there to pay
was wrong. The conventional wisdom about thisthe bills, or trade off with other home-schooling
rapidly growing dimension of American educationparents when they have to be away.
is too simple, too stereotyped and too stale.Home schooling involves a tremendous
For instance, the Home School Legal Defensecommitment from the parents. At least one
Association, despite its energetic lawyers andparent must be willing to work closely with the
many admirers, is not the leader of homechild, plan lessons, keep abreast of requirements,
schooling in this country. There is no leader, andand perhaps negotiate issues with the school
no reigning ideology. There are instead at least adistrict. The most common home school
million American children - the real figure isarrangement is for the mother to teach while the
probably twice that number - whose families wantfather works out of the home. There are a
them to learn at home for many reasons, oftenvariety of educational materials geared for the
having little to do with religion or politics.home school, published by dozens of suppliers.
The common image of home-schoolers asSome are correspondence courses, which grade
lockstep religious conservatives falls apart whenstudents' work, some are full curricula, and some
you discover that some of these parents haveare single topic workbooks or drill materials in
been shunned by their fundamentalist churchesareas such as math or phonics.
for teaching their kids at home rather thanMany of the curriculum providers are indentifiably
sending them to the church's school. SomeChristian, including several major home school
home-schoolers love the new for-profit onlinepublishers such as Bob Jones University Press,
teaching programs like K12. Some think they areAlpha Omega Publications, and Home Study
a corporate plot. Some parents areInternational. A major non-religious provider of
home-schooling because their kids were learninghome school materials is the Calvert School in
more quickly than their teachers could keep upBaltimore. Figures vary as to how many home
with. Some are home-schooling because their kidsschools use published curricula or correspondence
were learning more slowly than their public schoolcourses, but the Department of Education
teachers had patience for. Some home-schoolestimates that it is from 25 to 50%; the rest use
because their children were unhappy at school.a curriculum the parents and/or child have
Some home-school because they could not meetdevised. Education writer John Holt, a champion of
their needs any other way.home schooling, suggested that no particular area
Public school educators often worry that theof study was essential. He advised parents to use
children of such people will not learn necessaryreal life activities such as work in a family
social skills. But home-schooling parents said theirbusiness, writing letters, bookkeeping, observing
children learned how to deal with other people justnature, and talking with old people as meaningful
fine, particularly with the many adults theyacademic lessons. Home schools might fall
encountered when they visited the library or wentanywhere on this spectrum, between the tightly
to church or did chores around the neighborhood.planned study of a formal curriculum to Holt's
With their parents so often at their side, theyfree-form, experiential learning.
were able to see what good manners andBut first, all the parents interested in teaching their
self-confidence looked like, rather than be forcedchildren at home need to find out what laws apply
to adopt the jungle code of the average highto their state and school district.
school corridor. In many families one parent staysLearn about home schooling. Home-schooling
at home to supervise the home schooling,programs and information blog.