Why Homeschooling Continues to Grow

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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. (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.

On the order of 90% + people who start home-schooling, abandon it within a year, not appreciating the tremendous amount of work it takes.

Being one of those people who others came to when they wanted to get started homeschooling and having watched their success and failures.......Your statistic is wrong!

Most have a special need (bad schools, kids not fitting in, teacher wanting to put kid on drugs, kid failing etc.) or a faith that back up the reason for homeschooling in the first place that seems to keep them going through the first year, and after that most having seen the change in their kids and family do not go back.

It is true that it should be the decision of the parents, provided they are qualified to do it. There have been cases of illiterate parents removing their children from school on the premise that they were going to homeschool their children, and then not doing it at all. This happens more frequently than homeschool proponents want to admit. Additionally, it generally takes two incomes to make ends meet in any kind of decent standard of living. Not everyone can afford for one parent to stay home to do this. Also, the public school systems are not all bad.

I understand that homeschool proponents are going to cite test scores, etc. etc. However, regardless of how many days the parent has failed to get the child to school, regardless of of how many times the family has moved in a school year for one reason or another (the reasons don't always reflect positively on the parents), regardless of whether or not the child was up all night because mom and dad were taken to jail at three in the morning, whether or not there was any food in the house, whether or not Mom got up to make breakfast for the kids, etc. etc. If those kids are enrolled in your school on test day, their performance is counted against your school. Yes, their are schools that do not make the grade. It's not every one of them, and it's not always entirely the fault of the people who are trying to educate the kids. This is not a knock at homeschooling. In many circumstances, it is a wonderful decision. However, there are parents who have no intention of educating their children who take them out of school because they don't care about their child's education. In those cases, it shouldn't be allowed. Homeschool if you want, but make sure you actually are educating the children.

On the order of 90% + people who start home-schooling, abandon it within a year, not appreciating the tremendous amount of work it takes.

Oh please. Give us a source. This fall will be our fourth year homeschooling (we've homeschooled from the beginning - oldest is now 8) and the past 3 years have included a very rambunctious toddler turned 4 year old boy and a baby who didn't sleep the night through for 2 solid years. Meanwhile our daughter, the 8 year old, could out-read any peers in our local public school and is more math-advanced than their requirements (according to our public school teacher friend). I realize that this is anecdotal but my point is, by and large, homeschooling parents want the BEST for their kids, and do whatever is necessary to make it happen. Most don't give up in the first year, because what got them there in the first place doesn't allow it. So cite a source for your claim.

As a scientist, I'm concerned that schools aren't teaching basic math and science skills, but most of the parents I know are even less able to handle math.

There are so many resources out there these days - remote classes, science labs in co-ops, DVD programs, early college classes - a diligent parent needs only to know how to facilitate advanced learning (and learn along with the child, if need be!), and chances are, the homeschool student fares far better as a result.

I don't see that as being a solution for everyone though...

Of course not. All kids are different. But the public school system for the most part is failing our kids, so the alternatives are looking better to more parents every year.

I have been homeschooling my children for just five years. But, in that time period, through my efforts to keep my children "well-socialized", I have met homeschoolers from just about all walks of life. I've known Christian, Jewish, and secular homeschoolers, unschoolers, you name it. Married parents, divorced parents, single parents.

I've also heard all the horror stories that the Mainstream Media and public school proponents would have us all believe. Yes, I'm sure there are abusive or neglectful parents who homeschool (though I haven't met one in person yet), just as there are abusive or neglectful parents who send their children to school (I've met plenty of them in my lifetime).

But, what you must understand - and I do realize you yourself could be a teacher - is that public school is a big government program, and like all big government programs, its motive is to fulfill a need and to increase its size by convincing the public the need is bigger.

So, they're always looking for something to use in criticizing us. First, it was academics. But, when our kids excelled academically, it was socialization. But, our kids are well-socialized, so they're looking for more reasons.

Many of the homeschool families I know tried public school first (as did I). I even know teachers and other public school employees who homeschool their children. Many do so because their kids were being beaten-up/assaulted/terrorized in school. Others do so because the schools were insisting on drugging their children (Ritalin, etc.). Still others have children with learning issues that weren't being addressed by the schools.

Every parent I know flew into a panic when removing their child(ren) from school. They doubted their own abilities. But, what they found out was that their children got better results at home - without a quote-unquote "certified teacher".

Here's why: School time is filled mostly with wasted time. Kids are sorted into classes based on ages/birthdates, and then they're taught an established set of lessons on a particular schedule. As it turns out, kids don't learn well that way. People learn more when they're interested in a subject, when they're learning independently at their own pace, and often that pace is quicker than the public school's pace. On the other hand, when a child needs to work on a subject at a slower pace, he/she can do so more comfortably at home, catching up later, without being labeled as "learning disabled" for the rest of their lives.

I have three children, and they do very well. At one point, I was fighting with our school to keep one child in, and now I'm glad I was pushed into homeschooling.

Regards.

What would you...consider "qualified"? There have been cases of illiterate public school teachers...There have also been reports of teachers not teaching at all. GASP!!! lol!! Please direct me to your stats...concerning your last sentence above.

Additionally, it generally takes two incomes to make ends meet in any kind of decent standard of living. Not everyone can afford for one parent to stay home to do this. Also, the public school systems are not all bad.

Really???? It takes two incomes to make a decent standard of living???? My personal experience has been that many folks would "like" to HS...but they don't want to give up their 3rd car,the "boat"...or their two fly-away vacations a year. BTW, define "generally"....because that sounds like it is what you would "like" to believe, OR..what you have been conditioned to think.

Okay...okay I see now. It isn't my wish to polarize you...as it's become clear that you more than likely are a public school teacher..and take it personal when your profession takes criticism. I understand that...been there, done that, albeit a different profession. I would like to extend a suggestion to you though....If you are going to debate the issues...please be factual, be objective, and be prudent in your arguments. I will attempt the same.

Thanks-

But your post contained a lot of signals that said you believe the state should decide who should homeschool and who shouldn't.

Quote from your post:

"...there are parents who have no intention of educating their children who take them out of school because they don't care about their child's education. In those cases, it shouldn't be allowed."

But, how would the state determine if a parent is not educating a child or not? Your post indicates that you think the state should decide what a child should learn and at what age.

Many of us have had to deal with the public school system, and we know from personal experience they'll look for any excuse to claim we're not doing the job, even when our kids are working at advanced levels.

My personal experience has been that many folks would "like" to HS...but they don't want to give up their 3rd car,the "boat"...or their two fly-away vacations a year.

Gotta laugh with you there. I stopped short of saying it myself, but you speak the truth on that one. I know people who have almost NOTHING to their name, and are homeschooling. And doing an excellent job.

I don't know if the poster is a teacher or not, but there's no reason for teachers to feel defensive. We do book our children into outside classes whenever possible. It's just not necessary to have them in class 6 hours/day for 5 days/week, at the cost of $10,000/year in tax dollars per student.

It is obvious that you come from a point of view where all public schools are bad. I personally know of a case where a father got mad at the school and removed his son under the premise of homeschooling. The boy ran the streets for a year. He did not participate in any kind of lessons or learning whatsoever. This does happen.

I am not saying that there should be no homeschooling. However, I am saying that there should be some kind of check to make sure that the parent isn't simply removing the child from school and letting him sit in front of the TV all day. I hate to tell you this, but the state is the only one who is going to be able to do that. All government is not bad. Yes, our government isn't perfect. But it has been my experience that homeschool proponents will not accept that not everyone is capable of homeschooling. Many parents are capable. Illiterate parents who barely read and write themselves are not capable of teaching. Homeschooling is right for many, but absolutely wrong for some. If we allow children to be taken out of school with no assurance that they will be educated, then the irresponsible parents will take their children out of school and rely on the Cartoon Network to educate their kids.

Responsible parents like you will of course do a fine job. I am also sure that there are many like you. As I have said before, I am not knocking homeschooling. In many cases, it is a wonderful way for children to learn. It certainly should be an option. I don't think I can assess it more fairly than that.

I didn't say public schools were "bad". The whole system just isn't very effective, and kids can get lost there.

And, for the record, I didn't say teachers were bad, either. There are many fine teachers dedicated to their profession. Teachers are absolutely necessary. But, again, they're working in a system where they have to teach 20 or so kids exactly the same lessons at the same time. There are a lot of teachers in my family, and I used to have a job dealing with teachers, too. They have a hard job, especially in today's world with all the accusations and lawsuits. (Of course, there are some who aren't so good).

Why did the father become mad at the school? And, when you say "running the streets," what do you mean? Was the kid drug-dealing, getting into trouble, etc.? (I know plenty of kids "in school" who are doing that. ;-) ).

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