LIFE LESSONS: Shelly Pond of Plantation home-schools her three children - Ally, 5; Kathy, 8; and Kyle 10 - at their dining-room table. They are among about 3,000 home-schooled youngsters in Broward. CANDACE WEST/HERALD STAFF
Posted on 08/09/2003 2:24:02 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Shelly Pond expects her children at the breakfast table at 8 a.m. for Berry Burst Cheerios and a Bible lesson, followed by servings of geography, language arts and multiplication.
The Ponds' wooden dining room table doubles as a desk for research, an art table for collages and a workbench where science experiments sometimes go wrong.
LIFE LESSONS: Shelly Pond of Plantation home-schools her three children - Ally, 5; Kathy, 8; and Kyle 10 - at their dining-room table. They are among about 3,000 home-schooled youngsters in Broward. CANDACE WEST/HERALD STAFF
The Pond children are among an estimated 3,000 home-schooled children in Broward, which has more than any other Florida county. In Miami-Dade, the number is about 2,400. As families look to the start of the traditional school year this month, more are considering teaching their kids at home.
''The School Board would like children to attend public schools,'' said Rosemary Miranda, the liaison between home-schoolers and the Broward public school district. ``But if a parent chooses to home-school their children, the state allows them to do that.''
Plantation mom Shelly Pond has taught her children -- Kyle, 10; Kathy, 8; and Ally, 5 -- for six years.
''I like the fact that I can share my values with my children, work on their character and have a strong family unit,'' said Pond. ``But as their teacher, I also know my children's strengths and weaknesses, and I don't have to wonder how my child is performing in school.''
EXPENSES, RECORDS
Parents considering home-schooling have a lot to think about. There are expenses, such as books and curriculum kits that can cost from $100 to more than $1,000. And home-schooling often means the loss of outside income for the parent-teacher.
''Somebody has to be there to do it,'' said Vivian Astray-Caneda, who heads Parent Assisted Learners, a Miami-Dade support organization for home-schooling parents. ``Many people are trying to do it in their spare time between jobs, but their children are not making it.''
Some parents have cut costs by finding materials on the Internet and using free books from the school book depository or the library.
Home-schooling parents must be organized enough to keep detailed records and ensure their students are properly evaluated. The state requires parents to keep samples of their children's work sheets, essays and artistic projects every year. Home-schooled children must also be evaluated annually, either by a certified Florida teacher who would assess the portfolio, or through a standardized test such as the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills or the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Home-schooled students may also undergo a psychological evaluation to measure their progress.
Parents who take on the responsibility of teaching their children must be prepared to give up time -- a lot of time. ''Home-school takes commitment and sacrifice,'' said Christine Bucher of Davie, who has been home-schooling for 14 years. ``It's not an easy undertaking. It's like a job -- there are good days and bad days. But my benefits are great.''
Many parents fear they aren't qualified to teach certain subjects, especially in the higher grades.
SUPPORT GROUPS
Support groups like the Broward County Homeschool Parent Support Group and Home Educators Lending Parent Support organize cooperative teaching efforts that take advantage of parents' qualifications in a particular area to teach small groups of students. This year, at the end of their co-op unit study of the human body, the Pond children will get a dissection lesson from a dentist whose children are home-schooled.
If students still have trouble with a course, parents can hire a tutor.
Dr. Mary Lynn Collins, a professor at the Fischler Graduate School of Education at Nova Southeastern University, worries that home-schooled kids don't get all of the experiences they need.
''These kids miss out on an important human-socialization factor that is not there whether you are learning alone or with your siblings,'' she said. ``Home-school is teaching a child to be by one's self in a world where we need leaders.''
Home-schooling advocates dismiss such naysaying. Support groups sponsor field trips to museums, zoos and historical sites to give children social opportunities. And teens who are part of the Parent Support Group plan a prom, publish a yearbook and host mall outings and monthly teen meetings. Home-school students may also participate in sports and extracurricular activities at their neighborhood public school.
AVOIDING TEMPTATION
''Some people feel you have to go to school to be properly socialized,'' said John Kernohan of Hollywood, whose five children, ages 3 to 15, have always been home-schooled. ``If being exposed to drugs, premarital sex, violence against teachers and students is a definition of proper socialization, that is not mine. My children are not ignorant of what goes on in the world, but they don't have to be exposed to it on a day-by-day basis in order to be properly socialized.''
Even the most ardent public-school supporter would agree that many minutes of every day in school are spent in activities unrelated to learning. Still, students must spend the day at school. At home, students end their day once they complete the assigned work, which can allow more time for other interests.
OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES
Kernohan's daughters -- Brittany, 15; Grace, 11; and MacKenzie, 7 -- are involved in dance lessons and competitions. His 9-year-old son Johnny is a Cub Scout. And all of the children, including 3-year-old Dillion, are active in their church's youth group and attend physical education classes sponsored by the Christian Homeschool Athletic Association of Florida, which provides phys ed for home-school children.
''I don't feel I'm missing out on anything,'' said Brittany. ``If anything, I get more. I don't face peer pressure, drugs or the pressure of having a boyfriend. . . . I can get along well with adults, I have a close bond with my family, and I have more time to dance.''
Junior and senior home-schoolers may dual-enroll at Florida community colleges to complete a few of their core college courses at no cost. Home-schoolers are also eligible for the state's Bright Futures Scholarship Program.
Home-school graduate Mallika Bucher, 19, completed some of her core courses at Broward Community College and will enter Miami-Dade Community College this month to train as a nurse/midwife. She has positive memories of her home-school experience.
She was president of the 4-H Club, a camp counselor for her church's sleep-away camp, a member of the Parent Support Group's prom committee. She even had enough free time to work as a full-time supervisor in a Plantation health food store.
''Home-school helps children have self-discipline,'' she said. ``They're respectful to adults, and they get along with children of all ages. It certainly did not take me away from anything socially, and it was such a positive experience that I want to do this with my children.''
You're kinder than a LIBERAL would have been if the situation had been reversed.
That is quite an indictment of public education when those who are not 'professional educators' do most of the teaching which others are being paid to do.
When Shanna got her Tsongas scholarship, we were at the Mass. Statehouse, where the brain trust of Massachusetts' state schools--and the requisite state pols-- had gathered to present the awards.
I naturally took advantage of the situation to point out to every congressman/gal and college executive I spoke with that a homeschooler was among that year's crop of the state's best and brightest....always trying to plug away and soften attitudes.
I was shocked, SHOCKED!, by the sincere positive reaction among the folks I thought would have been most off-put by the circumstance! It seems that there is only a small vocal minority (actual commies) in the state that attacks homeschooling.
Homeschooling is, aside from a couple nitwit districts, easy and accepted; very much legal, and supported by a lot of pols and college administrators. There is a strong recruitment among private and public schools. Their problem is finding the kids and getting them to apply.
Let's not condemn all liberal educators and pols with a broad brush: they're keeping the whackos at-bay....quietly.
Happy thought to share with you, friends. Even Tom Finneran thinks homeschooling is boffo.
Shan is kinda' irked by me making a big deal of her accomplishments: she feels that if she is exalted, she will be humbled. (like I done teached 'er). However, she realizes that I'm trying to encourage others to make the committment to homeschooling.
So she has reconciled herself to the fact that she is being assayed: an additional pressure she could do without; but she takes that burden upon herself for my, and others', benefit. Great kid. She's prolly gonna smack me upside the head when she gets home.
You wouldn't believe one of the homeschool boards I visit and contribute to. It's about 50/50 Christian Conservative/Flaming Liberal.
We have a ladies'/gentlemen's agreement to avoid political discussions (although gentle teasing is permissable), but the point is that homeschooling is no longer a Conservative-only movement. That's a good thing IMO.
Well, she'll understand when she grows up. *grin* What an achiever. I imagine she's proud of you too.
Brown Alumni Magazine - Homeschooling Comes of Age
I don't doubt it. 25 years ago, a friend got me and my son involved in a doctoral thesis study of three-year-olds' speech patterns at none other than the Nova Southeastern University referenced in this article. The young man doing the study strongly advised me to keep my son out of nursery school, and to home school him, if possible. His studies showed that toddlers who showed an advanced degree of speech capability and inquisitiveness tended to lose those qualities when regimented in a school atmosphere.
I couldn't home school -- by temperament and economic necessity -- but I did send my child to private schools, where he proceeded to manipulate almost every teacher he ever had, such that even failing test grades and sloppy grammar/spelling were considered by private school progressives as insignificant compared to his "creativity," a view influenced in no small way by his social/verbal skills, I suspect.
As a result, I found myself tutoring him in grammar and math up through his high school years, (and politely reading the riot act more than once to permissive teachers) -- with significant resistance on his part, since he had learned that he could skate very nicely without my help.
He attended college on a full academic scholarship, and is successful now, but I often think back on the advice of that doctoral candidate (as opposed to the NEA type quoted now at Nova), and wonder where his path would have led if I had had the temperament and resources to home school full-time (instead of the part-time role I had to assume while also paying tuition). The movement was barely in its infancy in Broward then (I knew only one parent who homeschooled in our area), but I'm glad to see, considering the non-standards of our public schools (and, to some degree, even private schools) that it is alive and well.
Indeed. Our world *does* need leaders. Undoubtedly this indictment of homeschooling will morph into something more sinister as the NEA, et al. sees the moral, confident and competent leaders that homeschooling produces.
"''Some people feel you have to go to school to be properly socialized,'' said John Kernohan of Hollywood, whose five children, ages 3 to 15, have always been home-schooled. ``If being exposed to drugs, premarital sex, violence against teachers and students is a definition of proper socialization, that is not mine. My children are not ignorant of what goes on in the world, but they don't have to be exposed to it on a day-by-day basis in order to be properly socialized.''"
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Sounds like a well-informed Freeper to me..!!!
Bumper Sticker: "My kid doesn't get beat-up for his lunch money. He's home-schooled..!!"
FRegards,
Don't these kids play with kids from other families, or have Boy Scouts, or something like that?
Translation: Human-socialization factor == Sitting still with folded hands, drugged into it if necessary.
The woman was honest enough to share academic data that disagreed with liberal political ideology. What would be the value of trying to embarass her? Sport? Spite? No thanks.
Dr. Collins is ignorant.
The above link shares news of a former homeschooler now serving with our military in Iraq...and earned the bronze star. Very nice article.
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