Homeschooling grows quickly in United States

reuters via cnn ^ | 3-2-06 | none listed

[LouAvul]

Elizabeth and Teddy Dean are learning about the Italian scientist Galileo, so they troop into the kitchen, where their mother Lisa starts by reviewing some facts about the Renaissance.

Elizabeth, 11, and Teddy, 8, have never gone to school.

Their teachers are primarily their parents, which puts them into what is believed to be the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. education system -- the homeschool movement.

For their science lesson, Teddy and Elizabeth are joined by three other homeschooled children and their mother, who live down the street in their suburb midway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Before the lesson starts, all five kids change into Renaissance costumes -- long dresses and bonnets for the girls, tunics and swords for the boys.

"We definitely have a lot more fun than kids who go to school," Elizabeth said.

.................

But there is no disagreement about the explosive growth of the movement -- 29 percent from 1999 to 2003 according to the NCES study, or 7 to 15 percent a year according to HSLDA.

This growth has spawned an estimated $750 million a year market supplying parents with teaching aids and lesson plans to fit every religious and political philosophy. Homeschooled children regularly show up in the finals of national spelling competitions, generating publicity for the movement.

Parents cite many reasons for deciding to opt out of formal education and teach their children at home. In the NCES study, 31 percent said they were concerned about drugs, safety or negative peer pressure in schools; 30 percent wanted to provide religious or moral instruction while 16 percent said they were dissatisfied with academic standards in their local schools.

[wintertime]

I did let them get a taste of it and choose freely. They chose homeschooling. Results---kids age 12 who could pass a high school equivalency test with ease.
Incidentally I don't consider them geniuses, or myself a gifted teacher. Though I could be wrong. :)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Exactly! You and your children are NORMAL. It is the academically institutionalized child who is academically and socially delayed.

[wintertime]

Mountain Man,

The amount spent on each government schooled K-12 child is closer to $11,000. This is federal, state, and local combined.

The following is an explanation:

http://www.reformk12.com/archives/000174.nclk

Doing the Math Here's how we came up with the numbers used in this article.

Using the data from the 2000 U.S. Census, the US population is about 281 million, with about 72 million of these under 18 (pdf). To figure about how many school-age kids there are we divided the 72.3 by 18, then multiplied by 13 to encompass the grades K-12. This gives us an estimate about 52.2 million kids in Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Interestingly, while searching for other statistics we came across this 1999 Census report on education (pdf) with all sorts of breakdowns of the student population, including how many in each category of age. We added up the columns for Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle, and High School and reached a total 52.6 million, satisfyingly close to our original estimate.

Now what about private schools? "Public Schools: Make Them Private" by Milton Friedman, and "How Members of Congress Practice School Choice" by Krista Kafer and Jonathan Butcher from the Heritage Foundation both indicate about 10% of students are enrolled in private schools. Subtracting 10% of 52.6 million for private school and another million for homeschooled kids gives us a final estimate of about 46 million public school kids. To keep the numbers user-friendly we'll call this 50 million.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, taxpayer expenditures for education this school year is over $501.3 billion. Rounding to $500 billion this gives us a ballpark estimate of $10,000 per school-age child. (Note that this is an underestimate, since the actual number of public school students is closer to 46 million, giving us an average of about $10,870 per kid in public school.)

Subtracting persons under 18 from the U.S. population, we get about 209 million folks 18 and over, which we rounded to 200 million, since some folks don't pay taxes. These 200 million citizens pay $500 billion in taxes for education, or $2,500 per taxpayer on average, per year.

Dollar-wise, this means it takes about four taxpayers to pay the government for the education of one child.

[Fruitbat]

Let's hope this is the beginning of the end of government education as we know it.

I firmly believe it is. I also believe the post-secondary institutions will change drastically too over the next 10 or 15 years. The advent of PCs, videoconferencing, testing, etc. will pave the way for much. Once they nail down verification for people taking exams, that'll seal it.

Pubic schools will always be around b/c collecting school taxes is too big a "business." I imagine that they'll begin catering more and more to immigrants and the like.

I also think that educational or academic credentials are going to be far more linked to actual topical knowledge and much less on nonsense liberal arts filler courses that anyone can garner an understanding of in the typical course of web surfing over a few months casually.

Should be interesting. Look for a fight against homeschooling however. They'll pull out all the stops IMO.

[TheEaglehasLanded]

Lets see, do I want to send my kids to schools with teachers getting sex changes, raping students, America hating, NEA leftwing propoganda with gang violence included.


Or have them learn something, I'll choose the latter and noone who cares about their kids should be sending their kids to public school, it's child abuse.

[mingwah]

"Let's hope this is the beginning of the end of government education as we know it."

It has occurred to me that the need to home school is a response to the public school but larger than that, it is an underground school, if you will, not unlike something you would expect in China.

[dawn53]

I have found from my experience and the experience of others that homeschooling works great until about age 15, at which point the kids get distracted. Most parents let their homeschooled kids finish out their schooling in the public school. I think it's better to have them complete their high school education by that time, which is easy to do, then get them started with online college classes. By the time they would normally graduate from high school, they have completed two years of college general education requirements.

I don't know if mine was bored, but I had maxed out on what I could teach in the way of science and math.

We have a program that allows 10th graders to take college classes, tuition free.

So my kid's a senior this year (never really attended HS, just college classes) and he's earned his AA. (actually is transferring 78 credits and is accepted as a junior next year at the university he's chosen.)

[KhanKrum]

We've homeschooled our kids since kindergarten her in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. Both of us are former public school teacher from that hellhole, California. Know 1st hand want goes on behind closed administrator's & teacher's doors. Was a union rep for our school for 1 year too. Why? No one else would do it. Test scores are regularly inflated, teachers are taught to teach answers to perforance standart tests, & here isn't a frickin' think you can do to control kids, other than do a worthless "child study," or send 'em to the school psychologist.

My princpal was principal of the year in CA back in the early 1990s. She would refuse to flunk kids, never disciplined 'em, & always wanted a "win-win situation." Talk about a stuff shirted wimp!

Public school are dangerous places. Kids are taught immorality, to dislike our nation & loads of mindless "feel good-self esteem" grap. I wouldn't give 10 cents for a public school high school diploma. Neither would most employers.

Homeschooling is the only way to go if you want your kids to learn anything of value or importance. Nuff said!

[endthematrix]

Wonderful job on those kids!

"wintertime hasn't created an about page."

So sad...I'd want to read it!

[wintertime]

What is an "about" page?

[Chanticleer]

Not in Florida. We had our law in 1984, and Christians had been homeschooling off the grid or through private schools long before the law was passed. By 1991, we had our own full-time lobbyist (Home Education Foundation) in Tallahassee.

[Chanticleer]

There are a ton of good books in the library on homeschooling. I also like Cynthia Tobias's book The Way They Learn. It's not specifically geared to homeschooling, but it gives great insights on how we learn.

She should get connected with a homeschool organization in your state and/or local support group in your area.

Don't rush formal training, no matter how much fun it seems to be. The best thing your daughter can do is to spend time with her kids -- reading outloud for fun, baking, cooking, gardening, going to the zoo, children's theater, science museum or park. Get some field guides for birds or insects in your area. Get some magnifying glasses, a notebook and colored pencils so that the kids can draw what they observe. Homeschooling isn't a method -- it's a lifestyle of learning. I believe you set the tone in those early years for finding the wonder in the world around you.

[pinz-n-needlez]

Thanks for the clarification. I seem to recall good news about Florida in the foggy recesses of my brain.

For along time, private Christian schools were feeling $$$ threatened by homeschooling. Then they figured out how to do homeschool support actitivities. No need for bricks and teachers, families would provide that. :-)

We got our Supreme Court rulings in Michigan in '93, I think. An attempt to 'simplify' the law was passed and then majorly revised in '96. Smooth sailing since then.

Now I'm an old lady in NC. lol This is all, blessedly, ancient history. The news stories about public schools now are full of physical and sexual violence like we never fathomed in the 80's. I'm glad my kids are grown. I'm praying for courage to start the whole thing over with grandchildren.

Pinz

[EQAndyBuzz]

"The schools lose money. The teachers lose face. The admins lose their arguments."

Schools don't lose money. We still pay property taxes.

What schools will lose is NCLB funding because smarter kids are leaving school to be home schooled.

[Chanticleer]

Thanks for being a pioneer. I started homeschooling in 1994. My oldest in 11th grade right now, dual-enrolled at the local community college. My youngest is a kindergartener. We owe a debt of gratitude for our freedom to home educate and for the wealth of opportunities available to home educators to the people who went before us.

[SuziQ]

the only danger I see is what if leftists get into homeschooling in a big way. No telling what kind of subversive brainwashing they'll teach.

No danger, cause they'll only be teaching it to THEIR kids! Ours won't have to listen to it!

[SuziQ]

Have her Google a search on a homeschool group in her state. Most states have them. That group could steer her toward some folks who live close to her.

I never joined any sort of homeschooling group that meets on a regular basis. I didn't start homeschooling until our younger two were in 6th and 8th grades, so I didn't need to be 'sold' on the concept. At that point, it just seemed the right thing to do, and I was finally ready for it. Folks with younger kids, or who don't know anyone yet who is homeschooling may need more moral support, so a group can help a lot.

There is a LOT of material out there to help parents educate their children. Some families don't use textbooks at all for many of their subjects like Literature, History, Art, etc. Those can be taught using 'real' books. Sometimes it's easier to use a textbook, but it can always be supplemented with real books, historical fiction, field trips, etc.

The very best thing about homeschooling is that parents can gear the learning to best suit each of their children.

[SuziQ]

I'm in Manhattan, so I suspect there will be extra hurdles here.

Yeah, NY State is a little more overbearing, but it can be done. Wow, y'all will have so many cool oppotunities for field trips just within subway range!

[SuziQ]

I have found from my experience and the experience of others that homeschooling works great until about age 15, at which point the kids get distracted.

But at that point, you can start gearing the program to what the kids' interests are. Our daughter spent her sophomore year teaching herself Japanese and Digital Video Editing. She did some Geometry, but only 1/2 of her Biology textbook. Last year, her Junior year, she finished her Biology and did a Biology lab with some other homeschooled kids. She also began attending classes at a local Community College. The best part about that is that when she goes off to college, the school may accept those credits. Not all colleges do, but if the kids end up in a state run college, it's likely to accept the grades from a Community college in that state.

Our youngest was homeschooled from 6th thru 8th grades, then we put him in the high school our older sons attended. He's in his sophomore year, and we decided to let him choose what he wants to do next year. He chose to home school, so he's looking forward to taking classes at the Community college as well. He's also looking forward to doing some electronics and robotics programs with Dad!

[SuziQ]

Hey there! Our daughter graduates this year, and just sent off her college app. There was only one school in which she was interested. Don't see any problem with her getting in. I hear that about 1/3 of the applicants this year were homeschooled.

We're bringing our youngest back home next year. He's gonna be a Junior next year and is really excited about homeschooling again.

[tyen]

But if your state is like mine, your state constitution says that the state will establish and maintain primary and secondary schools.

It sounds as if you are in Kansas. If so, you are correct that Article 6 of the Kansas state constitution and Article 7 of the Texas state constitution charge the state with making provisions for a public school system. However, as far as I can tell, they don't say vouchers are prohibited.

What exactly about a voucher turns the transaction into a subsidy? For that matter, what exactly is a public school? Is it the building, or the process? In other words, I have yet to see serious discussion in the body politic that questions the form that a public school takes to the detriment of substance. I contend that it is only an accident of history that the public school system as constituted is what we recognize as something that fulfills the mandates set forth in the constitution. If one can obtain the same result (or better) by different systems of funding, physical plant, and processes, I see no reason why the state constitutions would compel us to stay with the current set of buildings and bureaucracy.