The venerable New York Times Magazine published an article on November 8, 2011 titled My Parents Were Home-Schooling Anarchists, by Margaret Heidenry:

“Tired of the constraints of the 40-hour workweek, my father, in 1972, quit his job in publishing. My parents were in their early 30s, and they had four children under 7. ‘But we still wanted to explore the world,’ my father recalled recently. They bought six one-way tickets to Europe, leaving only a laughable $3,000 to subsist on. Young and idealistic, they thought they could easily educate us along the way. ‘Life itself would become a portable classroom.’”

Margaret explains how for the next four years they “embarked on an uncharted ‘free-form existence,’ traveling through Spain, England, a Midwestern farm, Mexico, and finally settled in St. Louis. She details how her parents stretched their budget to allow for the far-flung classrooms, and writes of the family adventure, “…my parents were consistently inconsistent. There were a few interludes of standardized education, but for the most part, as my mother would later write in this magazine, ‘during all this time, the children traveled with us and received nothing that remotely resembled formal schooling.’”

“Home Is Where the School Is,” published in the Oct. 19, 1975, issue of The New York Times Magazine, was the first article in a national publication to espouse what was then still a fringe educational choice.

Read Margaret Heidenry’s entire article at the link above.

“But wait a second. Why are homeschoolers away from home, in a center taking classes? If you’re like me (and statistics suggest you probably are), then your state-mandated K-12 education happened in a public or private school. But for about 2.4 percent of Maryland’s school-aged kids, education happens somewhere else.”

The article is long, interesting, fair and balanced, and the final paragraph, while startling and unusual for an article about homeschooling, leaves true homeschoolers with a knowing smile. Recommended reading, for sure.

“When they heard about the sale of the school and its contents, Melanie and Gary Doyle thought they may end up purchasing school supplies for their home-schooled kids. Instead, they bought the school itself.”

The freedom to pursue what a parent deems best for their child is still allowed in America.

That’s the feeling of Heather DeNee of Sparta, who feels “very blessed to have the opportunity and choice to homeschool.”

This mother of three (soon to be four) added that she understands that homeschooling is not for everyone, but, “there’s an opportunity for those who have that desire.”

Read the entire article at the link above.

Twelve years ago my husband and I had dinner with friends. They were homeschooling their youngest child, then in fifth grade, and at some point in the evening the conversation turned to education. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” I said, “because you two are the exception. But most homeschoolers are freaks.”

Eleven years ago I became a homeschooler. Serves me right, really, after that remark. I certainly didn’t anticipate taking this path, but I’ve stayed on it, and last week began my 11th straight year of homeschooling.

Continue reading Sharon’s wonderful article at the link above.

Find out at the Time magazine article, Silly Bandz Bracelet Craze.

1. Most parents were educated in the under funded-public school system, and so are not smart enough to homeschool their own children.

It gets worse. But it’s not what you think. File under satire…

Muslim Home Schooling

FAW [correspondent BOB FAW]: Muslim parents say home schooling can provide a better learning experience because the work can be tailored to each child’s needs. Bilal, for example, who learned to read before he entered public school, got bored when he had to wait for the other kids in his grade to catch up.
~~~

RIZWAN JAKA: We’ve chosen home schooling for our children and our family to provide that, again, the strong values and strong foundation as well as strong academics and strong respect and understanding of our faith as well as respect for other faiths.

~~~
[PRISCILLA ] MARTINEZ: Our goal is basically to bring up our children who are contributing citizens, who feel that they can and should give back to the world and ultimately to grow up in peace and be able to live a fulfilling life.

FAW: As a sign in her living room reads, “Home is where your story begins,” here where the alphabet, arithmetic, and Allah meet.

The piece has the obligatory counter-balancing expert naysayer whose concerns, in the face of the clam wisdom of parents’ decision for their children, seem just shrill and out of touch. In fact, I found the parental wisdom voiced in this piece to be an articulation of much that drew me to homeschooling.

[HT - SR]