| The time you will need to teach your children the | | | | week, year-round, on basics alone, logs over |
| essentials reading, writing, and arithmetic | | | | three times as many hours on task’ in |
| is much less than you think. Let me quote author | | | | a given year than does his public school |
| and former public-school teacher John Gatto from | | | | counterpart. Moreover, unlike the public school |
| his wonderful book, Dumbing Us Down: | | | | child, whose day is largely taken up by non-task |
| Were the colonists geniuses? [i.e., why did our | | | | activities, the homeschooled child has ample time |
| colonial forefathers have literacy rates close to 90 | | | | left each day to take part in other activities |
| percent?]. No, the truth is that reading, writing, | | | | athletics, art, history, etc. . . |
| and arithmetic only take about 100 hours [italics | | | | So, according to the authors, if home-schooled |
| added] to transmit as long as the audience is | | | | children study for only two hours a day, year |
| eager and willing to learn. . . . Millions of people | | | | round, they will get three times more educational |
| teach themselves these things. It really | | | | hours on academic basics like reading, writing, and |
| isn’t very hard. . . | | | | arithmetic than public-school students get. |
| To be conservative, let’s assume that | | | | Not only does teaching your child the basics at |
| because you’re not an experienced | | | | home take far less time than you thought, but |
| teacher it takes you three hundred hours to | | | | teaching these skills is even easier today because |
| teach your child these skills with the help of | | | | parents now have all the educational resources |
| learn-to-read phonics workbooks and computer | | | | available to them that we’ve already |
| software. Three hundred hours, divided by the | | | | noted. Also, bookstores like Barnes and Noble and |
| average six-hour public school day, comes out to | | | | Borders have whole sections full of books about |
| fifty school days, which is about ten weeks or | | | | teaching your child to read, write, and do basic |
| three months. | | | | math, as well as books that will interest and |
| Let me emphasize this point it could take | | | | challenge young readers. |
| you, or a tutor you pay, as little as three months | | | | Once your children learn to read well, the whole |
| to teach your child to read, write, and do simple | | | | world of learning opens to them. They can |
| arithmetic. Again, to be even more conservative, | | | | explore any subject that interests them, and read |
| most children could learn these skills in one year if | | | | ever more difficult material by themselves in |
| you (or a tutor) concentrated your instruction on | | | | books or on the computer. For a small |
| these basics. Public schools take eight to twelve | | | | subscription fee, your children can study the entire |
| years of children’s lives, yet they turn out | | | | Encyclopedia Britannica on the Internet. They can |
| millions of high-school graduates who can barely | | | | access almost every major library in the world |
| read their own diploma or multiply 12 x15 without | | | | through the Internet, including the Library of |
| a calculator. | | | | Congress. If your kids love to read and learn, the |
| David Colfax and his wife Micki were public-school | | | | Internet provides unlimited resources. |
| teachers turned ranchers who taught their four | | | | Once your children read fluently, you can point |
| sons at home in the 1970s and 1980s, and three | | | | them towards your local library or bookstore, |
| of their sons eventually went to Harvard. They | | | | supervise their studies, and see where their |
| co-authored a book titled Homeschooling For | | | | interests lie. Your job is to introduce your kids to |
| Excellence, which describes their home-schooling | | | | as many different subjects and resources as |
| experience. In their book, they compared the | | | | possible. Have them take art classes at the local |
| time a child wastes in public school to the time | | | | YMCA, library, or arts and crafts store. Introduce |
| average home-schooling parents need to teach | | | | them to different kinds of music. See if they |
| their children the basics. Here’s what they | | | | enjoy a music lesson on the piano, guitar, or |
| wrote: | | | | drums. Give them classic novels by great authors |
| The numbers are straightforward and | | | | to read. |
| irrefutable. The child who attends public school | | | | Most home-schooling parents spend about three |
| typically spends approximately 1100 hours a year | | | | to four hours a day homeschooling their kids. The |
| there, but only twenty percent of | | | | key point to remember is that you have many |
| these220are spent, as the educators say, | | | | options and a vast amount of educational |
| on task.’ Nearly 900 hours, or eighty | | | | resource material available to help you |
| percent, are squandered on what are essentially | | | | homeschool your children and quickly teach them |
| organizational matters. | | | | the basics. When you take advantage of this |
| In contrast, the homeschooled child who | | | | material, home-schooling can be fairly easy and |
| spends only two hours per day, seven days a | | | | take much less time than you think. |