In the last month, the news media led many stories about homeschooling by pointing out Newtown and other school murders.  The buzz within the homeschooling community is the expanded interest and questions from concerned school parents. The start of a school session after the new year often seems a cleaner break from the school starting this new family adventure. We can wonder how many families actually took the leap into homeschooling.  Some parts of the country seem to have the Newtown reactive homeschooling interest, while other regions appear to have a more generalized basis for homeschooling considerations.

From Minnesota:  Home schooling steadily grows  Brie Groves

KASSON, Minn. (KTTC)–  With incidents like Columbine and the recent Sandy Hook massacre it’s no surprise that many parents have taken on the role of teacher.

In the past four years alone there has been a 54 percent spike in the number of children who have registered to be home-schooled.

It’s at an all time high and the types of families that are now choosing to home school span the demographic spectrum of backgrounds, income levels and education.

The Connecticut article below articulated the thoughts I know I had, as did many other homeschoolers, while our country tries to absorb and form some sort of solution to these horrific school murders and associated problems.

Connecticut based NHELD‘s Executive Director, Deborah Stevenson, also commented in the article with a different perspective:

Stevenson said roughly 2 to 3 percent of Connecticut students are home schooled.
“It’s clearly something that works for many people,” she said. “There are tons of resources for parents to get curriculum materials and individualized textbooks.”
She and several other representatives from Connecticut home schooling groups stressed that they have not seen an influx of new parents interested in home schooling since the mass shooting in Newtown. What’s more, they said personal safety has not been a dominant issue for parents.

Another Connecticut parent, Angelique Henderson, made this point, among many other thoughtful insights as a former high school teacher and homeschooling mom:

“Safety wasn’t really the major issue,” she said. “It was more determined by the atmosphere of schools. It had to do with the way systems just push kids through.”

More from Home Education Magazine News & Commentary about this subject:

Homeschooling Decisions After Newtown School Deaths

Newtown

USA Today Column: How home schooling threatens monopoly education – author Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame.  Reynolds is asking: “In an era when everything is customizable, why not customize your child’s education?”

Why not?

It’s fun. It works.

HT to Parent at the Helm

More Glenn Reynolds’ activities noted here: K-12 Implosion?

A Lincoln, Nebraska Journal Star article had me exasperated at first.  Starting with the title:  Home schooling: Making your house work as a classroom, too By Linda Ulrich. Our houses are not schools.  They are homes.  Some homeschooling families do have a school-like set up.  In my experience, most do not find that suitable for their family.

But, after reading about the 3 Nebraska homeschooling families’ home environment, one mom, Jennifer Geaghan, described home life well:

“I have really tried to make our home school area be free flowing and incorporated into our daily lives as much as possible,” she said. “A lot of our supplies are also what you use in the daily life of a family.”

Another mom had the practical aspects of living and learning at home figured out before my husband and  I did when we took our kids out of the school.  We bought the old school desks and chairs which sat unused, while our couches and the floor
became the prime spot for reading, drawing, playing music and writing.

Jessica Freeman, another home-schooling mom, says it’s not necessary to buy special furniture for a home school.

“We would never spend money on extra furnishings for home schooling when there are perfectly good kitchen tables and chairs, comfy couches and floors available for use. We need lots of storage in this house for our things and our collection of books, but we would need that anyway,” she said.

Jessica Freeman also noted this below.  Despite the article’s title, the houses were described as family homes lived in day in and day out.

Freeman said she feels sad when she sees “the general public having such a narrow view of home schooling, when people think that the only way to learn is to import desks and dedicate a special room so that children can sit there every day and ‘do school.’

“Life is so much more interesting than that, and home schooling is wonderful because it gives a family a chance to really experience life and learning in its own style,” she said.

Below are some examples of parents’ concerns and thoughts across the country after the horrendous Newtown deaths.  We will hope for a more peaceful new year for all families.

San Diego - Interest in homeschooling surges Fox 5 San Diego

Behana is a Lecturer in child and family development at San Diego State University.  She said parents should think twice about homeschooling.  Behana said a classroom environment provides key skills for life.

“Your socialization with peers is one of the best ways you figure out how you relate to the world,” said Behana.

She said homeschooling can be effective as long as there is a social component.

It seems odd Nory Behana is a child and family development specialist, but considers the institutional lineup of desks and controlled silence key for life skills.  There’s been many a conversation of what abilities are produced.

Fargo/Grand Forks - Connecticut Tragedy Feeds Homeschooling Debate Valley News Live

The horror in Connecticut from last Friday has prompted new interest from parents in homeschooling their kids. One Minnesota mom says her experience has taught her it’s not for everyone.

Lana Olson has been homeschooling her daughters, who are in sixth and third grades, for more than a year.

She says the family had to change their whole lives to accommodate their wish to homeschool the girls.

Knoxville - More parents choose home-schooling after Conn. shooting WATE 6

[Campbell County Director of Schools] Poston says he hopes parents realize the work that it takes to educate their children at home.

“Parents will be hard-pressed to stay with the national standards,” said Poston.

Both mothers feel the sacrifice to home-school will be worth it.

“There’s always a chance something bad is going to happen, but I think that having her at home while she’s young will give here a better base to go from, and then she can deal the different trials in life when she gets older,” said Jennifer Figueira.

Lubbock - Homeschooling An Option For Fearful Parents Everything Lubbock

President of the Texas Home School Coalition, Tim Lambert says, he often sees parents taking their kids out of public school to protect them.

“We see safety is an issue,” Lambert said.  ”It is not uncommon for us to get a call and say you know my child is not safe in the school and I want to take them out for safety reasons.”

But Lambert says while safety is an issue, other day to day problems are a bigger motivation for parents.

“They have decided to withdraw that child because of an already existing condition,” Lambert said. “Not something that they are afraid might happen.”

Oklahoma City – Homeschool in Wake of Shooting KOKH Fox 25

“I know so many of my friends are homeschooling their kids because of the shootings, because it’s terrifying to know those can be your kids,” said Chelsey Gravel.

Chelsey Gravel graduated from homeschool. After Friday’s school shooting, she says she’s even more grateful about her parents’ choice.

Mesa - Some consider homeschooling after Connecticut shooting CBS 5 KHPO

“It’s a knee jerk emotional response that people have right away because it’s a horrific thing,” said [homeschooler] Oliphan.

She thinks that most people will not follow through with the idea and said although it’s a decision that’s right for her family, there a lot of things that need to be considered.

For example, she said you need to evaluate your patience and think about the sacrifices that you will have to make in your own personal life.

Orlando - Parents consider homeschool in wake of school shooting Bay News 9

Even without the school violence headlines, more and more parents are making the decision to pull their kids out of public education. The number of students who are being homeschooled in Florida have gone up every year for the past 10 years.

More than 72,000 in Florida are homeschooled including over 3,500 in Orange county, but experts warn about making a knee-jerk decision due to an isolated incident.

“We don’t want parents to be making impulsive type of decisions, homeschooling takes a lot of commitment. It is work,” said Oliva. “When we get this increased response, we make an extra effort to just lead parents through the process so they know what they’re getting into.”

Houston - Parents concerned about recent violence consider homeschooling options KPRC Local 2

On Wednesday, police arrested a 14-year-old student for bringing a loaded gun to Sterling High School on Martindale Road in Houston.  Investigators said he told them he was carrying the weapon to protect himself from gang members.

That same day administrators at La Porte High School sent a letter home to parents after a threat was made that someone was going to, “shoot up the school.”

“I do see, definitely, an increase in interest for homeschooling,” said [homeschooler] Kilgore.  “Maybe those families who were on the edge, this may be the final push for them.”

I will leave readers with Connecticut homeschoolers’ display of their sympathy and support for Newtown.

The National Review posted an October article about the homeschool presence titled The Last Radicals. Homeschool families aren’t necessarily trying to do anything but live their lives every day without outside bureaucratic interference.  Which does cause us to find ourselves against the societal mainstream.  From the NR article by Kevin Williamson:

There is exactly one authentically radical social movement of any real significance in the United States, and it is not Occupy, the Tea Party, or the Ron Paul faction. It is homeschoolers, who, by the simple act of instructing their children at home, pose an intellectual, moral, and political challenge to the government-monopoly schools, which are one of our most fundamental institutions and one of our most dysfunctional. Like all radical movements, homeschoolers drive the establishment bats.

We do seem to be an irresistible target for many in the edu-industry.  Many homeschool advocates roll with it and wear the “radical” expression with pride.  The home education community even has a sub-category of Radical Unschoolers.

These terms could even be worn with a badge of honor when we were called educational anarchists by the California Teachers Association. In that 2008 state issue, the California Teachers Association thought they were insulting us by referring to homeschooling as educational anarchy.  Instead, many ran with it with some using it as a badge of honor.

Williamson points out some critics’ opinions that were confusing, at best.  Robin West (Georgetown Law School) offered concerns about people living in trailer parks, 1,000 square foot houses or with relatives, while suggesting homeschool families also bring down economic health and the tax base.  West would never let facts get in the way.

The article also laid out New American Foundation Schwartz Fellow Dana Goldstein’s opinion from a  Slate article: Liberals, Don’t Homeschool Your Kids. Why teaching children at home violates progressive values.  Goldstein asks:  “Could such a go-it-alone ideology ever be truly progressive—by which I mean, does homeschooling serve the interests not just of those who are doing it, but of society as a whole.”  Unschooled filmmaker and writer Astra Taylor responded to Goldstein’s article here. A radio discussion followed between Goldstein and Taylor on To the Best of Our Knowledge.

Kevin Williamson ends the article with this:

Homeschoolers may have many different and incompatible political beliefs, but they all implicitly share an opinion about the bureaucrats: They don’t need them — not always, not as much as the bureaucrats think. That’s what makes them radical and, to those with a certain view of the world, terrifying.

You might also appreciate this article written by Margaret Heidenry:  My Parents Were Home-Schooling Anarchists

Gallipolis Daily Tribune – Homeschooling A different approach to learning in SE Ohio - Callie Lyons

“The benefits for our family are so many, it’s hard to list them all,” explained Jessamy Bright, of Middleport, who is the primary teacher for her girls, Siena, age nine, and Lucia, age three. “Freedom and flexibility in learning, opportunities for field trips, and socialization and friendships with many different age groups are a few of my favorites to bring up in talking about homeschooling. I love that we live a lifestyle of learning that isn’t restricted to a classroom during school hours. And, since I’ve been blessed to be able to stay at home and work from home, I actually get to see my children grow up and work with them on a daily basis .”

It would be awesome if many government authorities understood homeschoolers don’t need the group control deemed necessary in public schools. Homeschoolers don’t run on a bell.  We’re nested in our home  (along with our numerous field trips) and our ‘class’ numbers don’t require classroom management.  Mother of three, Nora Ellis, makes this point below.

“We’ve found our children enjoy the engagement of independent learning as well as the flexibility they have to do other things. Instead of being in a classroom seven hours a day, they are able to complete their required work and explore their interests,” said Ellis. “Two of the children use the time to study more animal and engineering science while one pursues classical ballet.”

Another form of learning at home is described below. There should have been more clarity from the reporter that both of Teresa Shiflet’s sons are in public school. Connections Academy is also a school under public school accountability regulations. Ms. Shiflet did point out the difference.

Teresa Shiflet, of Rutland, is the mother of two sons — one is enrolled in public school and one participates in a program with Ohio Connections Academy, which is one of several virtual schools offering a full online curriculum for Ohio students from Kindergarten through high school graduation.
“OCA provides their students with books, and computers for free,” Shiflet said. “The students also have teachers for every class. So this program differs from traditional homeschooling in the fact that I as a parent do not have to select the curriculum, nor do I have to teach. My son is held accountable to his teachers who report to the state just like a teacher in a traditional school setting. The education that he is receiving is competitive on a national level.”
Families have many curriculum options and use different methods to achieve homeschool success. Online or virtual schools make homeschooling easier than ever before. But, not everyone goes that route.

The parents all made appealing points about the joys of homeschooling. It’s not a perfect life, but it most definitely is a fulfilling education and family life.

Homeschoolers tend to have much in common that few understand.  The joy and rhythm of days living and learning at home with your children is hard to explain to many.  So, it’s unsettling to see a respected homeschool mentor leave the homeschool conference circuit. Even worse are the attacks against her are she isn’t “Christian enough” or “too Christian”.  This is nothing new in the opinionated and sundry homeschool community.  It’s just unfortunate.

The Wise and Bauer homeschool families are spotlighted in the Washington Post Magazine as Homeschooling Trailblazers. The article Home-schooling pioneer Susan Wise Bauer is well-versed in controversy provides some history of well regarded homeschool pioneers.

There are three generations of homeschoolers in Susan Wise Bauer’s home, and her mother, Jessie, helps out with the her grandchildren’s education. Jessie homeschooled her children in the ’70s at their Peace Hill Farm.  In 1999, Susan and Jessie co-wrote “The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home”.

This account below from the Washington Post article hits home in a most negative way.

Bauer has been a fixture behind the lectern at state and national home-schooling conferences for years. But this past spring, she announced she would sit out the conferences next year because of rifts in this once seemingly monolithic movement.

“For a number of people involved in it, their primary focus is not educating kids but a lifestyle,” she says. Whereas early home-schoolers were a freewheeling bunch forced to stick together against a hostile world because of their aversion to public schools, now it seems as if there are litmus tests for acceptance into the community.

For example, she says, Peace Hill Press came under fire from home-schooling creationists — at conferences, on the Internet and via e-mail — for publishing the work of scholar Peter Enns, who argues against a strict literal reading of the Book of Genesis.

Bauer has been asked “to swear I won’t bring certain books for my book table; to mention certain words,” she wrote on her blog in April. “None of which, I should say, have anything to do with what I normally talk about: grammar, history, writing, reading, learning. I have been told that I am not welcome, in some cases, because I talk too much about the psychology of learning, and not about the Bible. Or because I have a theological degree and am obviously pushing a Christian agenda. Because my ‘professional associations,’ however loose, are too liberal, or too secular, or too Christian.”

I did cringe at the reporter’s notion homeschooling was started as a “mostly religious fringe activity” that turned chic.  Homeschooling my kids never felt chic, for goodness sake.   John Holt was out there with the unschooling concept in the ’70s, even as there were “religious” folks homeschooling too.  The modern homeschooling movement was diverse from the start.

The Wise/Bauer family team has been personally successful, along with their business.  Their accomplishments help many children learn in an engaging manner. Public and private schools, along with non-homeschooling families also use their curriculum.  The Story of the World series has a spot in our public libraries here, often with a waiting list for checkout.  I have friends who deeply appreciated Susan Wise Bauer’s thoughts and insights at conferences.Disclaimer –  The Story of the World is on my bookshelf and my boys loved it.  That’s it.  No money exchanged.

It’s wonderful Virginian Susan Bauer will be starting up a new endeavor helping out would-be farmers learn the trade and the land.  It’s a shame she was bullied into this by restrictive world-views.  Despite this black spot, families interested in education can hopefully continue to benefit from Bauer’s present contributions and possibly, future ones.

ht to Homeschool Buzz

Prime Minister of Jamaica is a homeschooler

Exciting news from Linda Dobson, an HEM columnist, author of many books on homeschooling, and founder of the website, Parent at the Helm:

“I became aware of Prime Minister – and Education Minister – Holness’ decision to homeschool last week when a friend in Jamaica contacted me. She let me know she had loaned Prime Minister Holness one of my books. She said he still hasn’t returned it yet, kindly insinuating that maybe the book (and hers!) had something to do with the minister’s announcement.

“Thrilled with the news, I wrote a letter to the minister and his wife that appears in yesterday’s Jamaica Observer.” An excerpt from Linda’s letter”

“We get only one fleeting childhood, and you can make it count for your children. Cherish each heartwarming experience as your children’s eyes light up with their “aha!” moments, and their questions fill your days with curiosity and wonder.”

Click this link to read Linda’s wonderful open letter to the prime minister and Mrs Holness.

In an blog post for the Greene County Daily World, which serves several counties in Indiana, Lisa Luper shares an article titled Why I Homeschool–Part One: (Because I was homeschooled), writing: “I wanted to take the next few blog posts to answer the classic question of why I homeschool. This is a question that I have been asked over and over when people find out that none of my children have ever been to a public school. There isn’t one, quick answer to that question. Not only that, the reasons I homeschool today aren’t necessarily the same as the reasons I started homeschooling years ago.”

Looks like some interesting reading as Lisa shares her experiences in growing up homeschooled.

Update Dec. 3: Why I Homeschool, Part Two – I Like Being With My Kids

A Nov. 11th L.A. Times article for L.A. at Home, which seems to focus on architecture and design for southern California homeowners, carried the cutsy title, “For home-school parents, classroom design is the subject du jour.” The first part of the article does, in fact, focus on parents with a severe yearning to replicate school in their homes, quoting one parent who “…demolished a galley-style kitchen in her home to create a school setting. The house had to be extended into the backyard, with a brand-new kitchen built in.”

Another parent, who the article describes as ‘striving for structure and routine,’ states, “It seems there’s a whole new group of us that I refer to as ‘contemporary home-schoolers…’” The article goes on to explain that she is “so committed to the idea of replicating a traditional school experience for her son that she has given her classroom a name: University School for Children, with uniforms, a logo and school IDs.”

This beginning part of the article almost had me passing it over for mention here, but the second part highlights an entirely different approach, and quotes a longtime friend and author: “Tammy Takahashi takes an ‘unschooling’ approach with her three children, ages 7 to 13. The classroom might be an art table at home, a recycling center or the beach. The inherent appeal of the approach is that the style of teaching can be tweaked to accommodate what works best for the student, said Takahashi, who has also written two books on home schooling.”

There are some good arguments for both structured and non-structured approaches, and lots of food for thought and discussion.