In the golden glow of a rural September morning, a gaggle of fresh faced
children bustles onto a big yellow bus. The door closes and the bus rumbles
off down the road, past redwoods and apple orchards, toward school in
Occidental.
But down the lane, eleven year old Ethan is still home. He peers intently
into the bowels of a computer, readying a screwdriver as his dad strains to
push stiff metal parts together. His dad has been away at work for three
days, and they have both been looking forward to this day of catching up on
projects together.
On a hillside twenty miles away, in Kenwood, twelve year old Ramon lets
his goats out of their pens and joins his mom inside at the kitchen table,
to play with logarithms in their favorite math book.
And over in Santa Rosa, nine year old Allegra and Ashley break away from
their reading to help their mom pack up lunch for today's field trip. They
will be joining seven other families for a tour of the Petrified Forest in
Calistoga before they rush off to ballet class.
These are some of what could be as many as two million children in this
country who do not go to school.
Parents choose to educate their children outside of the traditional
setting for a variety of reasons: academic goals, religious beliefs, social
philosophy, personal needs and any number of issues. Patrick Farenga,
publisher of the popular national homeschooling journal, Growing Without
Schooling (GWS), has seen dramatic change and expansion over the past
twenty years, "We have seen the homeschooling movement grow from its
alternative schooling and back-to-the-land roots in the late seventies, to
its popularity with religious fundamentalists in the eighties, to its
current gradual acceptance by 'mainstream' families. Homeschooling is
clearly not only growing, but flourishing."
How do parents know what to teach and how to go about teaching it? There
are almost as many answers to this question as there are homeschoolers. The
HomeSchool Association of California (HSC) points out that the home setting
allows for direct personalized attention. "The teacher," they
remind us, "possesses deep knowledge of each child and can individually
tailor teaching methods to the child's learning style. Studies have found no
significant difference in the achievement of homeschooled children when
grouped according to whether the parent was, or had ever been, a
state-certified teacher. Children of homeschool parents with only a 12th
grade education have scored above the national norm on the Stanford
Achievement Test."
In fact, many homeschool parents think of their role as more facilitator
than teacher. Some of the most popular books in homeschooling libraries,
such as those by the late educator and homeschool advocate John Holt,
encourage a relationship and atmosphere where parents support children in
finding and pursuing their own interests. Traditional skills and knowledge
are best garnered in a natural way that embraces a love of learning. The
love of learning is held as an ultimate goal which can open any door.
Albert Einstein, who homeschooled for a time and was known to have had
his difficulties in school, is often quoted: "It is, in fact, nothing
short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet
entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry ...which stands mainly in
need of freedom... It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of
seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of
duty."
Resources are plentiful, and there is plenty of enthusiastic sharing and
comparing among homeschoolers. Besides books and periodicals, newsletters,
local social support groups and big state conferences put on by state
organizations like HSC, there are even electronic networks found in services
such as America Online, where homeschool parents (and kids) chat and post
notes about everything from algebra programs to Greek curricula and college
admissions.
"The world is our classroom" is a favorite theme of
homeschoolers, who are often on the go. There are outings with Scouts,
classes with 4H, visits to historical sights and museums , farms and
factories, choirs, plays and the world at large. Kids' classes are offered
at Lawrence Hall of Science, at Sonoma State's Excel program and at an
increasing number of "after school" programs around the county.
Days can be easily filled with social gatherings, drama groups, and with
science or Spanish clubs at one another's homes. If homeschoolers have a
common complaint, it is the driving involved in taking advantage of the many
tempting opportunities for enrichment.
While providing a wholesome educational setting is important, being the
primary influence in their children's lives is often of paramount importance
to homeschooling parents. As tempting as all the outside enrichment
opportunities are, most homeschooling families find that the times they
value the most are the quiet times together around home. There is time to
meander in the outdoors, to take in the sights and smells of autumn, or to
snuggle together under a quilt on a frosty winter morning to watch a
favorite film, or to stay up deliciously late on a spring night to finish a
few more chapters from a beloved book. Homeschool children also have lots of
time to be alone, and to daydream.
Gretchen McPherson, a Sonoma County homeschool mom, appreciates the gift
of time that allows her children to pursue many varied interests in the
community, "we have time to focus, to learn to truly concentrate on
something. Time to read classics by the hour or Winston Churchill's memoirs,
time to bake bread together and keep nature journals; time to do chores! But
the most precious times to me are the unplanned 'gab sessions' with my three
teenagers, when we sit up late enjoying each other's conversation and
sifting through all the world's and our own problems. All this time with my
children has knit our hearts together. That is a crucial benefit of home
education."
Mark and Helen Hegener, publishers of Home Education Magazine, a
favorite resource for many homeschoolers, are moved by this account. They
also have homeschooled their children through the teen years. "When I
was a teen," Mark remembers, "there was a big deal made about a
'generation gap.' We were all going through the same type of emotional flux.
There were new kinds of relationships, responsibilities, questions and
quandaries...but the peer group one had to draw from had no experience in
dealing with these new situations. A teenager could feel very lost and
lonely. All too often, when an adult tried to share his or her wisdom and
experience, friction was the result, because the teenager was more used to
relating with other teens. Thus the 'generation gap' was almost
inevitable."
Hegener contrasts this with his present experience, "As homeschool
parents, we don't see this big space between parents and their kids, at any
age. When the time has been taken to communicate openly, it can be just as
natural and comfortable for your teen to come to you with questions when
they start dating as it was when they needed help with a model airplane.
Families become close through living together, and build a foundation that
will last down through generations."
An unfortunate popular misconception is that homeschoolers are rather
homogeneous, sharing common religious affiliations. To the contrary, there
is a broad range of beliefs, lifestyles, and ethnic backgrounds within the
homeschooling community. Somewhere within that range there is a niche for
everyone. There are as many ways of homeschooling as there are homeschoolers--with
no "right" way. At one end of the spectrum families use packaged
curricula or follow a fairly structured plan, while those at the other end
support their children's interests in a spontaneous way. Most fall within
the many variations in-between.
Every family is homeschooling--including those who send their children to
school--but some do it for more hours of the day. Reading about other
families' homeschooling experiences in good books and magazines is very
helpful in understanding the struggles, joys, and potentials in taking on
the responsibility of your own children's education.
Allowing children to pursue their interests as a basis for education is a
philosophy widely encountered in homeschooling circles. After awhile many
parents recognize the wide, interrelated expanse of research and problem
solving skills, as well as valuable knowledge, that can naturally grow from
this approach. While the state of California does have general "course
of study" requirements listed in the Education Code, there is enormous
freedom of choice for pursuing your own priorities and interests, even when
following a more traditional structure.
Parents thinking about starting to homeschool for the first time with
older kids often worry about being inadequate as teachers, but there are
some very helpful resources for empowering the teens to educate themselves.
To name just a few, Grace Llewelyn, a former teacher, publishes a catalog of
intriguing learning resources called The Genius Tribe, for older
children, teens, and adults, as well as two books on teens: The Teenage
Liberation Handbook, and Real Lives: Eleven teenagers who don't go to
school.
Jeremiah Gingold, one of the teens featured in Real Lives, remarks
"Homeschooling has opened up a virtually unlimited array of
possibilities in my life. I've never felt as if there was anything I
couldn't learn, couldn't do. I've often run up against practical limitations
from living in a rural location, but I've never felt limited by my self, by
my age or my abilities. Perhaps this is because I've always been free to
explore and interact with the world on my own terms." This seems like
the kind of outcome that would please any parent, and homeschooling is one
good way of pursuing that goal.
~~~~~~~~~~
