<< Back 10/16/02 Most notions about home school are simply wrong By Marshall Frank Count me in as one of the cynics. Home school is nothing but a lazy way of beating the school system, so they say. Kids lose out on education, socialization skills suffer, they don’t get to participate in extra-curricular activities, they can’t get into college and many parents use home school as an end run around the system to put their kids to work or save them from the rigors of study. Wrong. All wrong. According to the most recent surveys, there are over 900,000 kids in the United States between ages 6 and 17 who are being home-schooled, with each state varying in rules and regulations, though all similar. That’s about 2 percent of the total student body. And the numbers are growing each year. In Haywood County today, there are nearly 600 kids being taught away from a traditional school setting. If you think these children are not getting an adequate education, think again. In the year 2000, the average SAT score for home-schooled students was 1,100. The general student population averaged 1,019. The key? Parental attention. Here’s how it works. Parents who decide to home school their child must notify the State of North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, who then sends a packet of legal and guidance information that must be followed in concert with the laws of the state. This includes text book requirements, core subjects, testing criteria, attendance records and grade submissions. It doesn’t really matter who does the teaching — parents, tutors, friends, etc. — as long as the child attends home school study 180 days a year, with five hours of instruction per day. Attendance sheets must be documented by parents or the organized home school administrator. Children must be tested in, and pass, required subjects for their grade level at the end of the school year with results sent to the state before June. Just like public schools, the kids must also have a record of their immunization shots. This works best when there is one stay-at-home parent who attends to the child’s education. In most cases, that’s the mother. Parents often do the instruction, or contract with tutors for those subjects they are less capable of teaching. Parents can take on the responsibility by themselves, or join an organization of home schooling, such as the Haywood Christian Home Educators, a group of more than 100 families who hold tutored labs at a local church near Lake Junaluska. They meet once a week, giving their kids an opportunity to work together as a group and then receive instruction from a roster of parents including many former teachers and experts in various subjects, all contributing their time and knowledge to making the project work. Socialization? According to Tamara Fairchild, her eighth-grade daughter, Hannah, has many friends and she often participates in several community-based activities, including dance, baseball, soccer, drama, writing, quilting and sports. The group even has a field trip coordinator for out-of-school excursions. Hannah has been home schooled since first grade, and claims she much prefers it over a traditional school environment as do her friends. Why home schooling? Tamara and other parents who I interviewed say that the quality of education is simply better. The child is given more individualized attention. Where many public school kids are not fortunate enough to receive quality involvement of parents, these kids have no escape. Children’s schooling is a number one priority. There are no problems with class size, disciplinary disruptions, stressed teachers, social status, nor do kids feel the pressures of peer influence, like wearing brand name clothes. Distinction between the haves and have-nots is non-existent. According to national surveys, the top reason parents home school their kids is for a better education. Second place is religious reasons. Third is a better environment than at public schools. Other reasons down the list: public school is not challenging, student behavior in schools, child or parent disabilities, parent’s career, and the inability to afford private schools. Can kids, or even parents, fudge on the tests? Not so, according to the State of North Carolina. Most testing is administered at a central location, such as the Orton Academy in Asheville. Parents, friends and relatives are not permitted to oversee the testing of their own children. Many home-schooled kids go on to major universities. Tamara claims she was often snubbed when others heard she home schooled her daughter. “People are uninformed,” she says. “They don’t understand how home schooling works. We’re doing something different from the norm, and that’s scary to some.” Besides Tamara and her daughter, I was impressed with the zeal and enthusiasm of other home-schooling parents, like Adele Wilkins and Rebecca Lile, the president of the Haywood Christian group. They each echoed the same endorsements of home schooling, yet all the moms were cautious not to criticize public schools. “Many parents work full time, or with other family problems, it’s simply not an option,” said one. Something is going right. Not only do home-schooled kids score better on SAT tests, their overall performance on core subject testing is considerably higher than public school averages. The average reading score for fourth-grade minority students attending public school in the U.S. was 49 percent. For home-schooled minorities, it was 87 percent. Math scores; 77 percent for home-schoolers, compared to 50 percent. Is it any wonder that virtually all studies concerning juvenile crime, poor academic performance and psychological disturbances find a direct correlation to the home environment and the relationship with parents. The success of home schooling can be attributed to one glaring factor: dedication of the parent. The more dedication, the less behavioral problems and greater achievement levels. What’s the down side to home schooling? When I asked Hannah Fairchild that question, she pondered a moment, then replied, “We don’t get snow days.” Her mom was fast to retort, “If power goes out, that’s what candles are for.” (Those who wish more information of home schooling will find information on the at web at: http://www.hslda.org/ (Marshall Frank is a retired Miami Dade police officer and a novelist who lives in Maggie Valley. He can be reached at mlf483@aol.com)