| Many parents are disgusted with the dismal | | | | "In contrast, the homeschooled child who spends |
| education their kids get in public school, but think | | | | only two hours per day, seven days a week, |
| they wouldn't have the time to homeschool their | | | | year-round, on basics alone, logs over three times |
| kids because both parents (or single moms) have | | | | as many hours 'on task' in a given year than does |
| jobs. | | | | his public school counterpart. Moreover, unlike the |
| The good news is that even working parents can | | | | public school child, whose day is largely taken up |
| homeschool their kids. Parents don't have to | | | | by non-task activities, the homeschooled child has |
| depend on vouchers or charter schools, which are | | | | ample time left each day to take part in other |
| few and far between. The time you will need to | | | | activities - athletics, art, history, etc..." |
| teach your children the basics - reading, writing, | | | | So, according to the authors, if home-schooled |
| and arithmetic - is much less than you think. | | | | children study for only two hours a day, year |
| Most parents are not aware of the fact that for | | | | round, they will get three times more educational |
| over 200 years in this country, before we ever | | | | hours on academic basics like reading, writing, and |
| had public schools, most working parents taught | | | | arithmetic than public-school students get. |
| their kids to read and do arithmetic at home. Let | | | | Not only does teaching your child the basics at |
| me quote author and former public-school teacher | | | | home take far less time than you thought, but |
| John Gatto from his wonderful book, "Dumbing Us | | | | teaching these skills is even easier today because |
| Down": | | | | parents now have tons of education resources |
| "Were the colonists geniuses? [i.e., why did our | | | | available to them such as the Internet and |
| colonial forefathers have literacy rates close to 90 | | | | computer learning software. Also, bookstores like |
| percent?]. No, the truth is that reading, writing, | | | | Barnes and Noble and Borders have whole |
| and arithmetic only take about 100 hours [italics | | | | sections full of books about teaching your child to |
| added] to transmit as long as the audience is | | | | read, write, and do basic math, as well as books |
| eager and willing to learn. . . . Millions of people | | | | that will interest and challenge young readers. |
| teach themselves these things. It really isn't very | | | | Once your children learn to read well, the whole |
| hard. . ." | | | | world of learning opens to them. They can |
| To be conservative, let's assume that because | | | | explore any subject that interests them, and read |
| you're not an experienced teacher it takes you | | | | ever more difficult material by themselves in |
| three hundred hours to teach your child these | | | | books or on the computer. For a small |
| skills with the help of learn-to-read phonics | | | | subscription fee, your children can study the entire |
| workbooks and computer software. Three | | | | Encyclopedia Britannica on the Internet. They can |
| hundred hours, divided by the average six-hour | | | | access almost every major library in the world |
| public school day, comes out to fifty school days, | | | | through the Internet, including the Library of |
| which is about ten weeks or three months. | | | | Congress. If your kids love to read and learn, the |
| Let me emphasize this point - it could take you, | | | | Internet provides unlimited resources. |
| or a tutor you pay, as little as three months to | | | | Once your children read fluently, you can point |
| teach your child to read, write, and do simple | | | | them towards your local library or bookstore, |
| arithmetic. Again, to be even more conservative, | | | | supervise their studies, and see where their |
| most children could learn these skills in one year if | | | | interests lie. Your job is to introduce your kids to |
| you (or a tutor) concentrated your instruction on | | | | as many different subjects and resources as |
| these basics. Public schools take eight to twelve | | | | possible. Have them take art classes at the local |
| years of children's lives, yet they turn out millions | | | | YMCA, library, or arts and crafts store. Introduce |
| of high-school graduates who can barely read | | | | them to different kinds of music. See if they |
| their own diploma or multiply 12 x15 without a | | | | enjoy a music lesson on the piano, guitar, or |
| calculator. | | | | drums. Give them classic novels by great authors |
| David Colfax and his wife Micki were public-school | | | | to read. |
| teachers turned ranchers who taught their four | | | | Most home-schooling parents spend about three |
| sons at home in the 1970s and 1980s, and three | | | | to four hours a day homeschooling their kids. The |
| of their sons eventually went to Harvard. They | | | | key point to remember is that you have many |
| co-authored a book titled Homeschooling For | | | | options and a vast amount of education resource |
| Excellence, which describes their home-schooling | | | | material available to help you homeschool your |
| experience. In their book, they compared the | | | | children and quickly teach them the basics. |
| time a child wastes in public school to the time | | | | The Resource section in my book, "Public Schools, |
| average home-schooling parents need to teach | | | | Public Menace" lists a wealth of education |
| their children the basics. Here's what they wrote: | | | | resources parents can take advantage of right |
| "The numbers are straightforward and irrefutable. | | | | now. You do not have to depend on vouchers or |
| The child who attends public school typically | | | | charter schools. When you take advantage of all |
| spends approximately 1100 hours a year there, | | | | the education resources available to you, |
| but only twenty percent of these-220-are spent, | | | | home-schooling can be fairly easy and take much |
| as the educators say, 'on task.' Nearly 900 hours, | | | | less time than you think. |
| or eighty percent, are squandered on what are | | | | Don't your kids deserve the great education you |
| essentially organizational matters." | | | | can give them? |