Posted on 07/20/2005 12:13:49 PM PDT by Little Bill
Why Homeschooling Continues to Grow
by Isabel Lyman — May 16, 2005
For evidence that the homeschooling movement is growing up, look no further than the crowd - and excitement - generated by the National Christian Homeschool Basketball Championships held in Oklahoma City.
The 2004 athletic event - in its thirteenth year - drew 240 teams from 26 states, featured over 600 games, and attracted college coaches eager to scout players. In attendance was Texan Debbie Verwers, the mother of Stephen Verwers, a homeschool graduate, who currently plays for Colorado State University’s basketball team. Upshot? The extracurricular athletic activities that exist for active home scholars is only one cultural indicator that homeschooling has graduated from its fledgling, countercultural beginnings in the 1970s into a more popular choice.
DOWN MEMORY LANE
The early days of homeschooling were not without their own buzz. Grant Colfax's admission into Harvard in 1983 (he was also accepted to Yale) attracted wide attention because he had been homeschooled by his bookish, hard-working mother and father - David and Micki - on a ranch in northern California. The teenager’s acceptance to the venerable New England institution was proof that a schooled-at-home (and homesteading) student could acquire the type of education necessary to gain entrance into one of the most selective schools in the world.
While home education wasn't a new phenomenon, young Colfax, as well as his adventuresome parents, served as the catalysts to awaken a sleeping giant. A generation of baby boomers, who were in the thick of parenting and who were dismayed at the bureaucratic mindset that had overtaken American public education, now had inspiration to take the educational road less traveled. The 'Colfax method' gained even more credibility when Grant's younger (and homeschooled) brothers - Drew and Reed - were subsequently admitted into Harvard.
Twenty years later the electrifying accomplishments of the Colfaxes have been slightly eclipsed by a new generation of homeschoolers, who are also crafting impressive vitae. For instance, when Calvin McCarter, age 10, a homeschooler from Michigan, won the 2002 National Geographic Bee, he became the youngest competitor to ever win the contest. Home scholar Kyle Williams has been a political columnist for WorldNetDaily.com, since he was twelve years old. After his book Seen and Heard was published, the then 14-year-old Williams weathered a media blitz that included television interviews with Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Bill Press, and Judy Woodruff.
Besides winning academic contests and enrolling in Ivy League schools, homeschoolers have been elected to public office, managed successful businesses, played on national sports teams, made a mark in Hollywood, authored popular books, graduated from law schools, and served in the armed forces. They show no signs of resting on their laurels. For its 1999 competition, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation selected 137 homeschoolers as semifinalists, and their numbers have steadily risen each year. In 2004, there were 250 homeschooled students selected as semifinalists.
Even their small numbers, estimated by the U.S. Department of Education at approximately 1.1 million last year, only a cynic would find the achievements of homeschooled students unremarkable.
DEFINNING THE TERM
"Educating children under the supervision of parents instead of school teachers " (p. 1) is how Patricia Lines (1993), a home education researcher, has defined homeschooling. Brian Ray (2003), another veteran researcher, has written: "Some families organize homeschools like a conventional school, with structured daily activities. Others view all of life as an opportunity for learning and use a very flexible schedule. Most families provide educational experiences outside as well as inside the home.”
Homeschooling, like other grass-roots movements of the twentieth century, is largely a middle-American endeavor. Ponder this description of the 'typical' family: "…they are more likely than other students to live with two or more siblings in a two-parent family, with one parent working outside the home. Parents of homeschoolers are, on average, better educated than other parents - a greater percentage have college degrees - though their incomes are about the same. Like most parents, the vast majority of those who homeschool their children earn less than $50,000, and many earn less than $25,000" (“Homeschooling Here to Stay,” 2003).
Many families are are "kitchen-table" homeschoolers, which means that a parent, typically the mother, sits at a table or a desk helping the children with their studies. Some home educators think of their endeavor as 'family-schooling' or 'parent-funded' and want the practice to remain wholly independent of government money and control, an issue that is often debated by home education bloggers and activists.
But in an age of unprecedented technological innovation and mobility, one fact is clear: It’s relatively easy and cost-effective for a youngster to bypass institutionalized schooling and receive a well-rounded education. Online classes, homeschool cooperatives, tutors, internships, volunteer work, travel, home businesses, hobbies, sabbaticals, even the great outdoors - these serve as gateways to the examined, enriched life.
STRENGTH OF HOMEGROWN VERSUS MASS PRODUCED
One young Floridian - Jonathan Lord - has successfully combined several of these opportunities. The St. Petersburg Times reports, "Besides learning at home, Jonathan now takes math through a private tutor, creative writing classes at the co-op, chemistry through homeschooling classes offered at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, and dual-enrollment classes in English and Spanish at Pasco-Hernando Community College" (Miller, 2003).
Other enterprising teens have used the flexibility of schedule to pursue extracurricular pursuits that range from the flashy to the altruistic. Emoly West, a homeschool graduate and college freshman, will be competing in this year‘s Miss Oklahoma competition. She has used past pageant prize winnings to pay for college tuition. At 17, Iowa homeschooler Kelby Fujan, passed the written test to obtain his airplane pilot's license while accruing almost 50 college credits. Sam Goodman, a young teen-aged homeschooler from Indiana, regularly volunteers at a community food bank and has earned an award for his service.
In contrast to public school students, who are grouped by age and not ability, who are expected to arrive and depart at particular times, and who are labeled “learning disabled” regardless of potential, homeschoolers can receive their instruction in a highly-individualized fashion, often beginning at an early age. Their parents have a clear idea where their interests lie and the style of learning most suited to them, without being hampered with worries about bullies, politicized curriculum, teachers’ union squabbles, or the air quality of the buildings.
Parents and students with a bent toward high achievement at the tertiary level have even come to view homeschooling as a ticket to success in college. Writing in Signatures, a publication of Anderson University, Maryann Koopman (2003) reports that the Indiana school admits a "fair number of homeschoolers each year." Jim King , director of admissions at Anderson, offers this: " ... homeschooled students are better prepared for the 'independent learning' atmosphere of college than the typical school student ...." (Koopman, 2003).
While these heartwarming stories have, no doubt, nudged families toward the school-free lifestyle, my own analysis of 300 newspaper and magazine articles revealed that the top four reasons to homeschool were dissatisfaction with the public schools, the desire to freely impart religious values, academic excellence, and the opportunity to build stronger family bonds. Those findings coincide with the reasons advanced by the National Home Education Research Institute, which includes “controlled and positive peer social interactions, quality academics, alternative approaches to teaching and learning, and the safety (e.g., physical, drug-related, psychological, emotional, and sexual) of children and youth” (Ray, 2000).
When it’s all said - and by now a countless number of articles, commentaries, and research papers have been written about homeschooling - perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned is how important the concept of liberty is to the delivery of education. Parents must have opportunity to do what is right by their children and not be limited by geographic location, punitive state laws, or societal prejudices. When freedom and choice peacefully exist, students thrive, and, ultimately, society benefits. As Dr. Lines (2000) has stated, "The hard evidence suggests that the vast majority of homeschooling families are more active in civic affairs than public school families."
It will be interesting to observe, in the coming years, what a generation of such civic-minded homeschooled individuals bring to the education reform debate.
References
Homescholing is here to stay. (2001, August 20). CBSnews.com. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/
Koopman, M. (2003). Homeschoolers pass the test and the torch. Signatures. Retrieved from http://www.anderson.edu/.
Lines, P.M. (1993). Homeschooling: private choices and public obligations.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Research.
Lines, P.M. (2000). Homeschooling comes of age. Discovery Institute. Retrieved from http://www.discovery.org/.
Miller, M. (2003). Homeschooling: drop the stereotypes. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved from http://www.sptimes.com.
Ray, B.D. (2000). Fact sheet IIb. National Home Education Research Institute. Retrieved from http://www.nheri.org/.
Ray, B.D. (2003). Home schooling. World Book Online Americas Edition. Retrieved from http://aolsvc.worldbook.com/ar?/co/ar260563.htm.
Cite This Article as: Teachers College Record, Date
I have two questions for you.
1. Who decides if a parent is qualified?
2. What is your profession, since you said you were giving your professional opinion?
Dear SALChamps03,
"Under federal law, all teachers must be highly qualified in their field. Otherwise, they cannot teach any longer. The process will be complete within a year. This is every state."
I believe that practically speaking, that means that a teacher must not openly drool while teaching. Vast numbers of public school teachers are incompetent. A federal law is not going to change that.
sitetest
Dear SalChamps03,
"But it has been my experience that homeschool proponents will not accept that not everyone is capable of homeschooling."
It isn't that we don't accept that not everyone is capable of homeschooling. It is that we don't accept that the government is capable of adequately overseeing homeschoolers. The government has proven itself incompetent time after time in trying to educate the children already under its control in many, many public schools.
Thus, as long as the government fails in its own assignment, I scarcely see the sense in it overseeing the assignment of homeschoolers. In fact, if anything, it is the successful homeschoolers who should oversee the unsuccessful, incompetent, evil overlords who run most public school systems. And, since turnabout is fair play, and at times homeschoolers have been unjustly harmed legally by the scum that run the government schools, homeschoolers, in their oversight of the public schools, should have the power to imprison incompetent public school teachers and administrators.
Of course, that will never happen. Our society couldn't afford to build that many new prison cells.
"Homeschooling is right for many, but absolutely wrong for some."
Perhaps. But government oversight (which really boils down to demonic NEA oversight) of homeschoolers is wrong for all.
And not only, or even principally because the government is incompetent at providing education, but because the folks who run the public schools are a special interest group - they are public school "professionals." Their bias is for public schools, and they are threatened by homeschooling (why shouldn't they be when the average high school-diplomaed mom can achieve ten times what most public school teachers can achieve, in terms of actually educating children). It is permitting the fox to guard the henhouse. That the foxes are congenitally incompetent doesn't exactly enhance their position.
sitetest
possible ping?
Reference our education discussion.
I will agree with that.
That's a a good thing. It will only benefit the children.
Dear politicket,
Perhaps podkane is a troll. He/she/it signed up on July 7, 2005, made the ridiculous troll-like attack two days ago to which you (and several others) replied, and hasn't been back since.
Hmmmm....
sitetest
I simply don't buy the into the notion that "teaching is a profession." That's the angle that the education establishment pushes to surrounding teachers and teaching with an aura of mysticism.
The ability to teach requires two things: subject matter knowledge and the ability to communicate. The idea that there's a skill set called "teaching" is utter nonsense.
I highly recommend Thomas Sowell's "Inside American Education." Public school teachers, as a group, are on the bottom of the totem pole in terms of academic achievement. They're overpaid, underworked, undereducated and overrated.
LNGOP'r
I was a teacher trainer for several years in one of Phoenix's largest school districts. After teaching for eight years, I had assumed that all teachers were like me -- hard-working, striving to excel, etc. Boy, was I wrong. I was in more nightmare classrooms than I could believe. Yes, many teachers are excellent, but no kid deserves to be in a classroom with an incompetent teacher for nine months, and it's so difficult to get rid of poor teachers that principals seldom try. The only time I saw that happen was with a male teacher who was one year from retirement. Now, wasn't that a courageous principal. /sarcasm off
I now homeschool my own kids, and we are loving it.
Dear ChocChipCookie,
The dirty little secret is that in many public school systems, large numbers of teachers with school-aged children send their children to private schools.
A ringing endorsement of these school systems.
sitetest
1. State law places the responsibility of deciding the curriculum with the state department of education (in any state). Whether we like it or not, we are a nation of laws. Therefore, whether the homeschool proponents like it or not, the state decides.
2. I am a teacher. I have a degree from one of the top programs in the nation. I do understand that being a teacher automatically disqualifies me in the minds of some homeschool proponents. As I said before, I am not against homeschooling. I have however, personally seen what happens when someone who is not qualified to do it attempts to do so, and what happens when a parent merely removes their child from school without educating them.
Therefore, I stand by my view that homeschooling is a great choice for some, but absolutely a wrong choice for others. I am not criticizing anyone for wanting to homeschool, nor am I criticizing the many fine parents who take it seriously and do an excellent job.
That is an opinion. It isn't scientific fact.
Once again, this is opinion. It isn't scientific fact.
Dear ChocChipCookie,
Here are a couple of quotes from one article I found while googling on that subject - public school teachers who send their kids to private schools:
"A study done by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found that nationwide, public-school teachers are almost twice as likely as other parents to send their children to a private school."
"For example, in Philadelphia, 44 percent, and in Cincinnati, 41 percent of public-school teachers sent their kids to private schools."
Ouch. That's gotta hurt.
From, http://ezinearticles.com/?Public-school-Teachers-Know-Best-----They-Send-Their-Kids-To-Private-Schools&id=45797
sitetest
As well you should be. We started out in CA and my wife and I made up our minds that our kids would never see the inside of a public school. That was when my daughter was 3. My daughter is 11 now, we are Texas, but have no intention other than to see it through to college.
Well done on your part, Kalee. I pray that our school will be as successful as yours has been.
My sister, a public school teacher, sent her son to a Montessori preschool. $500 per MONTH. I know she would love to send him there, or somewhere similar, for kindergarten and beyond, but they don't want to pay tuition anymore. So, she's seeking out the "cream of the crop" in her school district and "interviewing" two principals next week. Sheeesh. And she BEGGED me to not homeschool. Go figure.
Dear SALChamps03,
Yes, I exaggerate when I say "10 times."
However, homeschoolers, statistically, are far more successful at educating children than public school teachers. They have higher standardized testing scores, much higher rates of high school or equivalent completion/graduation, and higher rates of college attendance. Even though homeschooling families have lower median incomes than non-homeschooling families.
The typical homeschooling mom (who typically has only a high school diploma) does a better job of educating children than the typical public school teacher.
sitetest
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