Homeschooled teens have it all

For homeschoolers, it's not hard finding a date to the prom. Got an itch for performing arts? No problem. Looking for a little pomp and circumstance? Done.

The lack of social opportunities — one of the myths of homeschooling — is not a worry for many metro-area families who have made the choice to teach their own children.

As homeschooling has shifted from emerging trend to an educational choice, resources for homeschoolers have blossomed. Homeschool students now have their own prom, graduation and theater classes. Local colleges cater to homeschooled teens with exclusive science lab classes. Co-ops arrange field trips and specialized language classes. Institutions like the YMCA open their doors for homeschool swim days.

Two statewide organizations — the Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators and Minnesota Homeschoolers' Alliance — coordinate annual conferences and networking for parents. And bookstores offer curriculum discounts to homeschool educators.

"We're a market now," said MHA President Amy Leinen, who homeschools her three children in West St. Paul.

Ariel Lopez, 18, who graduated Friday night, went to prom several weeks ago. Lopez, recently named a National Merit Scholar, will head off to Indiana's DePauw University in the fall.

Mother Linda Lopez said she homeschooled Ariel from the day he was born. Her son's extracurricular activities match his academic achievements: soccer, 4-H, choir, theater and photography.

"It's very antisocial to be in a class with 30 kids who are all the same," said Linda Lopez, a former school counselor.

Ariel Lopez said his daily structure is a perfect fit. He's been able to take college classes for homeschoolers and, he said, "I do enough activities outside of the home. I'm able to interact well with adults and 5-year-olds."

One of his sources of socialization has been Youth Educated at Home, which sponsored the commencement ceremony. Formed in 1988, its purpose is to provide outlets for fun to youth age 12 and older.

In any given month, 200 to 300 youth, mostly from the Twin Cities metro area, bowl, roller-skate, take hayrides or watch movies. YEAH also organizes a prom.

"It makes them feel part of a group, which I think is important for teens. It's a sense of belonging or community. That's where the socialization comes in," said Cher Baumhoefner, director of YEAH.

Often, parents feel ill-equipped to teach high-school courses to their children; many don't have backgrounds in science or foreign language. YEAH facilitates tutor groups as well as an academy that offers supplemental courses in subjects ranging from Greek to algebra.

Parents also receive coaching in how to prepare high-school transcripts and college applications.

The growth in homeschooling has prompted more targeted assistance: Last weekend, the University of St. Thomas hosted the Minnesota Catholic Home Education Conference.

Homeschooling can't match public high schools for the numbers of dances and student clubs, but homeschool parents are determined to provide their children with opportunities to be with other children.

In the basement of a South Minneapolis church, the set to "Pollyanna" hasn't been dismantled since the spring show. This space is home to Theatrix, a community theater for the homeschooled.

"We didn't expect it to be as big as it's gotten," said co-director Kira Bundlie, who has had to turn away kids at auditions.

"Pollyanna" starred 40 children — dozens more than the first play Theatrix produced. Participants do their own make-up, hair and sound effects. Bundlie, 22, said the theater serves youth ages 4 to 18 and appeals to different types of homeschool families.

Bundlie's mother started Theatrix in 1995 as a way for Kira and her younger sister to try acting when they were "unschooled," a looser form of homeschooling.

"I never felt like I didn't have any friends," Bundlie said. "Age becomes a non-issue. You're not always with kids the same age in homeschooling."

Roger Schurke, MACHE president, teaches a class at Northwestern College for parents on how to homeschool. Schurke, a former community baseball and softball coach, said parents should look to the community for socialization opportunities for their children, not the traditional school setting.

"Socialization is a non-issue. Kids aren't born in a litter. Why do we have to raise them that way?" Schurke said.

Savage thinks facing the hordes and having to deal with them on a daily basis can make you incredibly strong--so that they can be like Savage and not be reduced to tears if someone calls them a homophobe or racist or whatever. It is not pleasant out there when you have to make a living, etc.

Savage obviously hasn't met any Freeper-homeschooled kids...mine (12 years old) could probably tear him a new one on any issue, social, political, or otherwise. :-)

This thread only seems to focus on the great ones and forgets that wacko liberals home school too.

Not only does liberal homeschooling seem like a contradiction to their worldview, I've never heard or even thought about the idea of liberal homeschooling. And we've researched and been involved with the concept of homeschooling for 7 years. Liberal homeschooling has to be a minority group. With all the homeschool conventions, seminars and information, that's unheard of in my experience. Kinda gives me the willy's! Thanks for the thought, I think. :-)

I know people who believe that public high schools turn good tofu-eating socialist kids into mean-spirited republicans who only want to go to college to get careers to buy SUVs!!!

That has to be a minority group. All the liberals we know have never expressed that thought or any similar thought.

Back to Savage, if that's his focus group then I can somewhat better understand his view, but that's a very small sampling of homeschoolers. It's definitely not representative of the majority we hear is growing annually.

Home schoolers actually make the life of education bureaucrats much easier.

Then why do they hate it so much? If enough people took their kids out of public schools things would have to change. At the very least homeschooled kids wont be brainwashed with leftist PC crap. Looking out for your kids is more important than changing the system so that has to come first. Luckily, looking out for your kids WILL change the system but maybe public schools deserve to be irrelevant?

Taking kids out of public schools is better than a thousand votes. It is just as strong a statement as if large numbers of people stopped filing tax returns, except its legal, at least for the time being.

The bureaucrats take the home schoolers' tax money without the burden of providing any educational service. So, if everyone home schooled I think public schools would still exist but the administrators would have bigger salaries since they wouldn't have to pay teachers anymore.

Actually, bureaucrats on the local level complain about homeschoolers taking their kids out of school, because it reduces the head count and thus reduces the amount of Federal funding they get. Removing kids from the system costs the system money.

Gee, what a shame. I still pay my property taxes, though, because my neighbors don't homeschool their kids.

I forgot to add something in here. Our homeschooled kids will be taught conservative ideas and politics and they will be taught well. They will know the ideas inside and out. When you know something so well it's very easy to identify forgeries and outright lies.

As a self-described biblical apologist I can speak from experience on this idea. The more I know the context and culture of the Bible and Bible times, the easier it is to identify cults and forgeries. We're raising our kids to identify lies at the outset.

This thread only seems to focus on the great ones and forgets that wacko liberals home school too.

If there are such people, they must be very rare. Nevertheless, liberals have the right to raise their children without interference from the state just as we do.

You haven't given any actual evidence of the poor-quality homeschoolers you seem to think are so prevalent. The only homeschooled kids I've met are polite, well-adjusted, mature and intelligent...much more so that the kids that attend government school, or even private school. The homeschoolers must be doing something right.

Why, for spending their entire day in a social group of people born the same year they were, that's what. Why, for spending their entire day in a social group of people born the same year they were, that's what.

Well, that's the exact same way we're set up at work! All the 32-year-olds in one room, all the 33-year-olds in the next, etc. (/sarcasm)

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