Home-Schooled Kids Defy Stereotypes, Ace SAT Test [Free Republic]

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Home-Schooled Kids Defy Stereotypes, Ace SAT Test: News/Current Events News
Source: Wall Street Journal
Published: 2/11/00 Author: DANIEL GOLDEN
Posted on 02/11/2000 07:36:09 PST by Antiwar Republican

Home-Schooled Kids Defy Stereotypes, Ace SAT Test

By DANIEL GOLDEN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

ATLANTA -- Jason Scoggins will never graduate from high school, have a class rank or be recommended by his guidance counselor. But Oglethorpe University wants him anyway.

Jason, who is 17 years old, was home-schooled by his mother. After he scored 1,570 out of a possible 1,600 on his SAT college-admissions test -- with a perfect 800 in math -- Oglethorpe invited him to compete with other top applicants for five scholarships valued at about $100,000 apiece. Of the 94 prospects in the Jan. 22 contest, eight were home-schoolers, each with SATs above 1,300.

The high scores are no fluke. As the movement grows larger and more diverse, evidence is mounting that home-schooling, once confined to the political and religious fringe, has achieved results not only on par with public education, but in some ways surpassing it. Though home-schooling may never be feasible for most families, the data offer little comfort to those who advocate a standardized curriculum as the best hope for improving American education. After all, each home-based pupil follows a unique lesson plan.

Jason's twin brother, Jeremy, also home-schooled, scored 1,480 on his SAT. "I was afraid we were the rogues of the education community," says Jeremy, who plans to attend the University of Georgia or the Georgia Institute of Technology. "It isn't that way anymore. People know that if we've been home-schooled, we'll do a little better than everyone else."

Though it is hard to track a movement that remains partly underground, advocates say that 1.5 million children nationwide are being taught at home; independent researchers put the figure closer to one million. The federal Education Department estimated the total in 1996 at 700,000 to 750,000; it expects to issue a revised count soon. In any case, home-schoolers far outnumber the 400,000 students attending charter schools, a more mainstream alternative. Total public- and private-school enrollment in the U.S. is about 50 million.

The growth in home-schooling reflects not only religious or educational concerns, but also alarm over school violence. Soon after last spring's Columbine High School murders, one home-schooling magazine ran the headline: "Tragedy in Colorado: Isn't It Time Your Kids Were Safe at Home?" This past September, the start of the first new school year since the slayings, the number of registered home-schoolers in Colorado surged 10.1%.

The SAT and the ACT, the nation's other major college-entrance test, have begun asking exam takers whether they were home-schooled. The 3,257 ACT takers and 2,219 SAT takers who last year identified themselves as home-schoolers are fewer than might be expected if a million or more students are being educated at home. But researchers say such students often are reluctant to declare themselves for privacy reasons or for fear of discrimination. Moreover, many taught at home in lower grades later attend high school.

Nonetheless, self-identified home-schoolers have bettered the national averages on the ACT for the past three years running, scoring an average 22.7 last year, compared with 21 for their more traditional peers, on a scale of one to 36. Home-schoolers scored 23.4 in English, well above the 20.5 national average; and 24.4 in reading, compared with a mean of 21.4. The gap was closer in science (21.9 vs. 21.0), and home-schoolers scored below the national average in math, 20.4 to 20.7.

On the SAT, which began its tracking last year, home-schoolers scored an average 1,083 (verbal 548, math 535), 67 points above the national average of 1,016. Similarly, on the 10 SAT2 achievement tests most frequently taken by home-schoolers, they surpassed the national average on nine, including writing, physics and French.

Income and Achievement

With average family incomes of $40,000 to $50,000, lower than the $50,000-to-$60,000 median rung, the home-schoolers defied the demographic correlation between high incomes and high SAT scores. They also contradict the stereotype that they are strictly rural white fundamentalists. Nearly 4% are black. Another 4% are Hispanic. And their parents have more education than the national norm.

Join the Discussion: What will the trend towards home-schooling mean for the U.S. education system? Can home-schooling techniques be used in public education?

Maralee Mayberry, chairwoman of the sociology department at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and author of a book on home-schooling, warns that the data only document the existence of a top tier of home-school whiz kids; there also may be an unstudied bottom layer of failures. Still, she says, research has shown that the key elements in effective education are small class size, individualized instruction, and a disciplined, nurturing environment -- all characteristics of home-schooling.

Sandra Feldman, president of the American Federation of Teachers, says the test data don't cast doubt on the value of teachers. "Why draw any grand conclusions?" she asks, since so few home-schoolers take the SAT and ACT. "I just say I'm happy for them. These are parents who are very highly motivated, teaching their kids at home and doing a very good job," she says. She adds, however, that public schools need to do more to challenge gifted students if they are to avoid losing some of them to home-schooling.

Once in college, home-schoolers appear to be living up to their test scores. Those enrolled at Boston University in the past four years have a 3.3 grade-point average, out of a perfect four. Similarly, Georgia's Kennesaw State University found that its home-schooled students had higher-than-average GPAs as college freshmen.

At Kennesaw State, both the president and the vice president of the student government were educated at home. The president, John M. Fuchko III, whose mother began teaching him after he was labeled hyperactive in kindergarten, says home-schoolers will change college as much as college changes them. He predicts that they will pressure colleges to individualize instruction and stop insisting on survey courses as prerequisites for more advanced studies.

"In home-schooling, you don't have to sit for half a year studying something you already know," says the 22-year-old senior. "If you're prepared to go to the next level, you take it to the next level. Home-schooling breeds enterprising people."

That enterprise has impressed many secular colleges, and most have modified their admissions policies to accommodate home-schoolers. A recent survey by the National Center for Home Education, a Virginia-based advocacy group, found that 68% of colleges now accept parent-prepared transcripts or portfolios in place of an accredited diploma. That includes Stanford University, which last fall accepted 27% of home-schooled applicants -- nearly double its overall acceptance rate.

Valuable Skills

"Home-schoolers bring certain skills -- motivation, curiosity, the capacity to be responsible for their education -- that high schools don't induce very well," says Jon Reider, Stanford's senior associate director of admissions.

Despite such inroads, religious colleges still draw a disproportionate number of home-schoolers. For example, at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., 309 students -- more than 10% of the student body -- were home-schooled for at least a year. Oral Roberts offers a $2,000 scholarship for home-schoolers, while Nyack College, a Christian school in Nyack, N.Y., provides as much as $12,000. And this fall, Christian home-schoolers are planning to open their own college in Purcellville, Va.

Skepticism about home-schoolers' credentials lingers, however. The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers warned members last December that the rise in home-schooling creates "significant potential for conflict" with applicants because colleges may need "supplementary materials" to gauge academic preparedness.

In 1997, North Carolina and New Mexico restricted public colleges from asking home-schooled applicants to submit more test scores than regular applicants. But that same year, Georgia's board of regents tightened state-college admissions rules for home-schoolers, requiring them to pass eight SAT2 subject tests, which are entirely optional for other students; they also face hurdles in getting financial aid. Georgia's Hope scholarship program pays all tuition at state colleges for Georgia high-school graduates with B averages who don't get federal financial aid. But home-schoolers qualify only retroactively, if they earn a B average as college freshmen.

Exploiting a Niche

The disparity has angered home-schoolers -- and helped created a niche for Oglethorpe, which hopes to boost full-time enrollment to 1,000 from 800 and its endowment to $100 million from $32 million. "When we started going after home-schoolers, I thought it would be a gold mine," says Admissions Director Barbara Henry. "The trouble is, other colleges started accepting them, too."

Mrs. Henry, who says she used to dismiss home-schoolers as "crackpots" before she got to know them, has positioned Oglethorpe as their home away from home. The school hosts home-school curriculum fairs on its faux-Oxford campus, lets home-schoolers use its athletic facilities, and encourages precocious 14- and 15-year-olds to enroll part time. To stay ahead in the recruitment race, it also has started including home-schoolers in its annual scholarship competition. Last year, for the first time, a home-schooler won one of the full scholarships.

Maggie Bryson, the winner, had become so bored in fifth grade that she refused to go back to school. Her mother, a nurse, shortened her own work hours and began home-schooling her daughter. When Maggie was 13, her mother sent her for physical education to Oglethorpe, where track coach Bob Unger had started a weekly track-and-field class for home-schoolers. Two years later, Maggie began taking academic courses there. With a 1,430 SAT score, including 800 on the verbal, she applied to eight colleges and was accepted at seven, including Oglethorpe.

Vocal and Direct

Now a freshman, Ms. Bryson has an A-minus average and is teaching herself Arabic and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics in her spare time. But she still is adapting to classroom etiquette. "We home-schoolers tend to be very vocal and talk to the professor directly," she says. "It might bother other students a little bit."

Jason Scoggins is no intellectual wallflower, either. He was so infuriated at being ineligible for a "star student" honor given by a teachers' union -- the award is based partly on class rank -- he consulted a lawyer. He has written to Georgia state universities, criticizing extra testing requirements for home-schoolers. Both he and Jeremy, who have entered into a friendly test-taking rivalry, aced the SAT2 subject tests and have taken so many advanced-placement tests, which are scored on a one-to-five scale and confer college credits, that they could enter college as sophomores.

"I've taken eight advanced-placement exams and gotten fives on all of them," says Jason. "He's taken seven and gotten fives on four of them."

"He can't stand for me to score better than he does," Jeremy shrugs. "So far, I haven't."

Financial aid is likely to determine where the twins go to college, and whether they can afford to live on campus. Their father, Mickey Scoggins, who didn't attend college, supports his wife and five children -- the twins; Joshua, 15; Jonathan, 9; and baby Joanna -- with his job as a furniture-store manager. But the Scogginses, who own a modest house on a three-acre wooded lot in Monroe, 35 miles east of Atlanta, say they don't have enough money for college tuitions.

The twins have been taught at home since fourth grade by their mother, Ellen Scoggins, who is also teaching Joshua and Jonathan. A devout Christian and former public-school teacher, with a master's degree in education, she believes that academics come first; neither twin may have a girlfriend before college.

Virtual-Reality Frogs

At first, Mrs. Scoggins used a curriculum from Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., which sells texts and educational services for home-schoolers. Later, she experimented with other materials. The family spends $3,000 a year on textbooks, computer programs and exam fees and makes extensive use of the local library. The twins use the Internet as well, dissecting virtual-reality frogs for biology. Their mother grades their schoolwork. Jason's grade-point average is 3.97, marred only by a B in Latin. Jeremy is a close second, at 3.91.

In his spare time, Jason participates in 4-H and Gavel Club, a public-speaking organization, or watches his favorite TV show, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" To his regret, he is a year too young to be a contestant. But he can pursue another lucrative prize -- the Oglethorpe scholarship.

In the lobby of the Oglethorpe performing-arts center, many of the contestants are fidgeting, aware that their comments in two seminars, and a writing assignment, will determine their financial aid. (Losers are guaranteed $10,500 a year, or $42,000.) But Jason seems serene. "It's almost like a nice philosophical debate with some friends," he says.

Once they split into groups for the first seminar, he is ready. His head cocked to one side, Jason listens as other students begin discussing a subject he has considered before: the travails of American education -- and, specifically, the work of E.D. Hirsch Jr., a leading proponent of the idea that schools are failing because there is no national canon.

Jason has another view: Public schools will never excel because they lack "intellectual capital" and have to compensate for too many social problems. "They have drug-education programs that take away from the three R's," he says. "I haven't been in real schools very often. But when I've seen them, they're wild. The parents don't care enough. I know it's said that schools should be agents of socialization. But that's not their role. Their role is to impart knowledge."

The other students gape, astonished by the attack, and somewhat defensive. "My friends are all ghetto kids," says Joseph "Jo Jo" Brisendine from Rockdale County High School in Conyers, Ga. "They're smarter than you give them credit for."

The next day, an ice storm shuts down Oglethorpe's phones. But Dennis Matthews, dean of enrollment management, reaches the Scogginses on a cell phone with the news. Jason has tied for the top score and won a full scholarship. Less demonstrative than the TV millionaires, Jason quietly says, "Thank you." Then he gives his mother, who is coaxing the baby to take a nap, the thumbs-up sign.

Write to Daniel Golden at dan.golden@wsj.com

Copyright � 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

1 Posted on 02/11/2000 07:36:09 PST by Antiwar Republican
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To: Antiwar Republican

More and more, this is the future, if indeed our Free Republic is to have a future.

2 Posted on 02/11/2000 07:42:24 PST by Travis McGee
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To: Antiwar Republican

Good article. Go, homeschoolers! We made the decision years ago. It's been difficult and challenging, and we have never EVER regretted it!!

In fact, we thank GOD for it.

Dan

3 Posted on 02/11/2000 07:43:25 PST by BibChr
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To: Antiwar Republican

The public school system encourages mediocrity, and stifles excellence.

At least it wastes a ridiculous amount of money, eh? Otherwise our property taxes might be too low...

4 Posted on 02/11/2000 07:43:29 PST by ewo
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To: Travis McGee

Bump!

5 Posted on 02/11/2000 07:48:22 PST by Registered
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To: Antiwar Republican

And this is what the Public Schools are producing.

SAT

6 Posted on 02/11/2000 07:57:46 PST by Texas Mom
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To: Registered

Of course, as with most real progress, liberals will be the last ones to recognize it. And they will be the last ones to give credit to those who made it happen -- conservatives.

Liberals are defenders of the status-quo -- promoting ideas and policies that have failed America miserably. In other words, liberals are the real promoters of stagnation and opposition to change.

7 Posted on 02/11/2000 07:59:31 PST by VoodooEconomist
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To: Registered

The libs would like nothing better than to yank these kids back into line, ground them into their mold,
and train them to be controlled like all the rest of the children that have become government property
("Can you say boys & girls? I knew you could!") in the public schools today.

Keep our kids free and educated! School at home!

8 Posted on 02/11/2000 08:03:54 PST by Dubh_Ghlase
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To: ewo

As my daughter became increasingly alienated from the stifling public high school environment, I came to regret not looking into home schooling. I didn't wake up until she was already a high school junior, and the remaining time didn't seem to justify leaping the hurdles put in home schoolers' paths by the state bureaucrats. My daughter is in college now and doing fine, but if I had it to do over I would spare her the toxic mediocrity of her expensive, useless public high school.

9 Posted on 02/11/2000 08:06:17 PST by Hobey Baker
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To: Born in a Rage

Top story here.

10 Posted on 02/11/2000 15:32:14 PST by cornelis
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To: Antiwar Republican

The Clintonistas legacy is supported by the senate democrats well. Been somewhat into politics for 45 years, and used to support crats. When Kruschev told Kennedy he would win the war through our schools 1963, 1965 Johnson initiated the elementary and secondary education act, Carter the Department of education, soon the initiative was functioning. When the socialists won, down came the Berlin wall, NATO expanded power, the Repubilicans became the republicrats as they took the liberal position of the former democrats that had gone far left. Now we are in need of a 2nd party, as the republicrats have evolved into the party in control, which is a mix of few conservative, mostly centrist liberals and a few socialists, (the bureaucratic blobb with two heads). There are a few very good Americans in congress but they are losing power. We will vote 2nd party.

11 Posted on 02/11/2000 15:40:18 PST by mbb bill
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To: ewo

The public school system encourages mediocrity, and stifles excellence.

It cannot do otherwise. It's an assembly line.

The teacher has to teach at the pace that the bottom third can keep up with. If she loses more than a third of her class, she has a problem. A kid who is significantly above average can maintain double that pace without too much trouble, which would let him complete all high school material in 6 years instead of 12.

12 Posted on 02/11/2000 15:54:39 PST by SauronOfMordor
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To: Antiwar Republican

Maggie Bryson, the winner, had become so bored in fifth grade that she refused to go back to school.

It's a good thing for Maggie that her mother was willing to cut her hours back and home school. Otherwise the school would have had her doped and roped into a "special ed" class for ADD/ADHD miscreants.

13 Posted on 02/11/2000 16:00:05 PST by Jolly Rodgers
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To: Antiwar Republican

bttt

14 Posted on 02/11/2000 17:29:39 PST by jherd
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To: Antiwar Republican

Yes, but, but....but, there's an unstudied layer of failure at the bottom of home schooling.....I'm going to apply for a grant to the Department of Education to study failure in home schools. Yes, yes, that's what I'm going to do...

15 Posted on 02/11/2000 17:38:45 PST by Jabba the Tutt
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To: Antiwar Republican

Get the kids out of our socialist/commie school system...

16 Posted on 02/11/2000 17:46:09 PST by shield
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To: rdf

All hope is not lost.

17 Posted on 02/11/2000 21:55:18 PST by cornelis
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To: Antiwar Republican

Intelligence is simply the ability to learn; public schools presume to think it is a learned skill, therefor they are bound by their faulty reasoning to fail.

Intelligent peolple will learn absent schools or teachers in any formal setting, for they are driven to learn inherently.

No amount of effort will teach any great level of knowledge or skill to a person unfortunate to have been born with low intelligence, we just don't like to accept the harsh reality of this fact.

18 Posted on 02/11/2000 22:39:59 PST by Old Professer
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Saturday morning bump.

19 Posted on 02/12/2000 06:18:26 PST by cornelis
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To: ProtectRUnborn

PRU, I thought you would want to see this and pass it on.

20 Posted on 02/12/2000 06:44:12 PST by Becket
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Saturday afternoon bump.

21 Posted on 02/12/2000 12:14:04 PST by cornelis
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To: Antiwar Republican

Homeschoolers for over 15 years and counting. Six kids. Do it, folks. Believe me.

22 Posted on 02/12/2000 12:28:23 PST by RightOnline
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To: Jabba the Tutt

Ahhh, so what. There's a bottom layer of failure in public schools, too.

23 Posted on 02/12/2000 12:31:08 PST by NoDemocratsIn2000
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To: Antiwar Republican

This rocks!

I have seen anecdotal evidence of the efficacy of home-schooling, but this is the first statistical evidence that I've seen! I do believe that we're on to something here. I am a fan of the home schooling option, and this is further proof that it should allowed and, if these statistics repeat, unfettered!

If these statistics repeat themselves (preferably more than once), those Georgiacrats won't have a leg to stand on! Hee-hee! I love it!

Not to mention, I get the impression that at least some public schools' focus has turned from education to indoctrination. If that's so, screw the idea of public certification for home schoolers, as an accreditation process could be used to influence what home-schooling parents teach.

24 Posted on 02/12/2000 12:38:11 PST by NoDemocratsIn2000
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To: Jabba the Tutt

By all means, do the study of the underlayer of home school "failures", surely with 1.5 million, there must be some. I know of a family that gave up, it happens. But I imagine that if there were many failures, the popular media and teachers unions would have them front and center.

25 Posted on 02/12/2000 14:18:38 PST by jnixdorf (jnixdorf@yahoo.com)
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To: aspasia

"In home-schooling, you don't have to sit for half a year studying something you already know,"

And we can add, "in homeschooling, you learn what they keep from you in the public school."

26 Posted on 02/12/2000 18:39:23 PST by cornelis
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To: NoDemocratsIn2000

this is the first statistical evidence that I've seen

Pass it along bump.

27 Posted on 02/12/2000 20:04:02 PST by cornelis
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To: cornelis

Bumpity-bump!

28 Posted on 02/12/2000 20:20:11 PST by NoDemocratsIn2000
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To: NoDemocratsIn2000

I am a fan of the home schooling option, and this is further proof that it should allowed and, if these statistics repeat, unfettered!

More accurately, I'm a fan of home schooling as an option.

Should allowed = should be allowed.

Me no write good!

29 Posted on 02/12/2000 20:23:40 PST by NoDemocratsIn2000
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To: NoDemocratsIn2000

We are in our 8th year of homeschooling. No regrets here!!

Our oldest son is now a junior in high school--he's preparing for his SAT's--I can't believe how fast the years have gone.

30 Posted on 02/12/2000 20:27:40 PST by MasonGal
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To: MasonGal

MasonGal...

They are doing well because of Mom.....

31 Posted on 02/12/2000 20:40:07 PST by cynicom
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To: MasonGal

It goes by fast. My daughter, if I don't watch the time, will miss out on my efforts to teach her violin, Latin, Greek, and German.

32 Posted on 02/12/2000 21:01:18 PST by cornelis
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To: NoDemocratsIn2000

I had to move to another state so I could continue the freedom of homeschooling.

I will not place my children in the government sanctuaries to be raised up in the image of the state and into the belief system of the state-sponsored religion of atheistic secular-humanistic evolution.

I encourage all parents to get 'em out - NOW!

33 Posted on 02/12/2000 21:25:39 PST by knowquest (freedom?not@UScoloniesanymore)
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To: Antiwar Republican

Home schooling is not for everyone.
I know of a family that has a mother who is not well schooled, and her children are 2-3 grades behind in reading, math, science, and composition. Social studies are the least of their concerns.
My wife and I have tried to give some help, but what they need is full time help, not part time.

As an ex-school teacher, I know full well the problems of public schooling; however, a poor public school is better than home schooling with parents who don't take the required time and have little competency.

34 Posted on 02/12/2000 21:37:06 PST by Shropster
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To: Travis McGee

We've been homeschooling for 11 years. My daughter just took her SATs and beat my score by 250 points. Now the colleges are attempting to fill up my mailbox on a daily basis.

By the way, in conversation with people about the school system, it is best to refer to public schools as "government schools", which I believe is a more accurate description.

35 Posted on 02/12/2000 21:47:38 PST by wolf359 (we will not be assimilated)
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To: Shropster

Sorry, I have to disagree. Even though there may be a few homeschoolers who are not doing well academically (and who is to say they would do any better in public school?), the best thing about homeschooling is that it keeps kids out of the horrible social morass that public schools have become. There are things I would have done differently to better educate my kids, but the way their character, their ability to think for themselves, and their self-reliance have developed because of homeschooling makes up for anything they might have missed.

36 Posted on 02/12/2000 22:07:17 PST by Pining_4_TX
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To: Pining_4_TX

You disagree without knowledge. People who are not well schooled cannot do an effective job.
It is better to have a second rate education in a public school than a sham that doesn't rise to second rate.

37 Posted on 02/12/2000 23:59:06 PST by Shropster
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To: Pining_4_TX

38 Posted on 02/13/2000 00:00:14 PST by Shropster
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To: Shropster

Sorry about the repetiton. A third scotch does that.

39 Posted on 02/13/2000 00:01:45 PST by Shropster
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To: cornelis

We've incorporated the Latin - he's had 6 years of Latin, as well as my 13 year old son. My 13 year old has taken violin since he was 7 - and now my 8 year old is beginning cello and he will be taking Latin next fall.

My 17 year old still wants to learn German, though.

40 Posted on 02/13/2000 03:56:45 PST by MasonGal
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To: BibChr

Good article. Go, homeschoolers! We made the decision years ago. It's been difficult and challenging, and we have never EVER regretted it!! In fact, we thank GOD for it.

Good for you Dan. I graduated from government school around 20 years ago and I'm still bitter about it. Homeschooling is the best thing you can do for your kids. We're beginning now with our 4-year-old. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

It ticked me off when the writer said that few parents could do it. Yeah, as long as the government takes half your income, it's tough for someone to stay at home with the kids!

41 Posted on 02/13/2000 04:25:41 PST by Aquinasfan
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To: RightOnline

Homeschoolers for over 15 years and counting. Six kids. Do it, folks. Believe me.

Bravo!

42 Posted on 02/13/2000 04:29:30 PST by Aquinasfan
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To: NoDemocratsIn2000

This rocks!

I have seen anecdotal evidence of the efficacy of home-schooling, but this is the first statistical evidence that I've seen! I do believe that we're on to something here.

It's been known for a long time that homeschoolers perform at the 85th percentile on standardized tests, compared with children in government schools. Don't see it mentioned much in the media. Hmmmmmm...

43 Posted on 02/13/2000 04:31:23 PST by Aquinasfan
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To: Shropster

I disagree. No schooling in a godly home is better than godless schooling. Schooling without God is child abuse.

Besides, look at the historical record. Literacy was more widespread before the advent of compulsory schooling in the mid 1860s. The only reason why children went to school was so that they could learn to read the Bible, with a little arithmetic thrown in.

The whole compulsory education thing has been a socialist/humanist experiment from its inception.

Did any of the Founding Fathers go to school? I don't think Franklin attended any school. Washington was "homeschooled."

44 Posted on 02/13/2000 04:38:14 PST by Aquinasfan
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To: MasonGal

WOW! The cello is beautiful. Long ago a teacher introduced me to playing Bach's cello suites and I am forever grateful.

Of course your 17 year-old is not too young to start German. For German, Bach helps us out again. We learn his choral works in German. We type out the text on the computer, figure out the vocabulary with a dictionary, place that on a clip-board at the breakfast table, and then throughout the day the Bach choral sings through our mind.

Our 6 year-old is working through Beatrix Potter's in German. Tale by tale, and never bored. Hard work. But Beatrix Potter is entertaining for me so we "make learning fun."

Best of luck--you'll probably be teaching grandchildren.

45 Posted on 02/13/2000 06:59:45 PST by cornelis
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To: Antiwar Republican

GREAT article! Also, home-schoolers have become proficient at winning the National Spelling Bee.

I'm going to use this article in my next Home-School Newsletter, if you don't mind.

46 Posted on 02/13/2000 07:21:00 PST by 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember (Reagan_Fan@Hotmail.com)
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To: Antiwar Republican

'Skepticism about home-schoolers' credentials lingers, however. The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers warned members last December that the rise in home-schooling creates "significant potential for conflict" with applicants because colleges may need "supplementary materials" to gauge academic preparedness.'

In other words, 'Quick folks, we must come up with a way to keep these home-schoolers out, before they prove our public education system is failing miserably'.

47 Posted on 02/13/2000 07:24:30 PST by 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember (Reagan_Fan@Hotmail.com)
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To: Shropster

'As an ex-school teacher, I know full well the problems of public schooling; however, a poor public school is better than home schooling with parents who don't take the required time and have little competency.'

I presume you mean ex-public-school teacher.

People with ties to the public school system always presume that a child is better off in a 'poor public school' than at home with parents.

I don't care how 'far behind' you think these children are. I guarantee they are better off at home than in a government endoctrination camp.

48 Posted on 02/13/2000 07:44:09 PST by 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember
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To: wolf359

'Government indoctrination camps' is even better.

49 Posted on 02/13/2000 07:48:17 PST by 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember
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To: Pining_4_TX

Absolutely correct! Home schooling doesn't just teach subjects. It teaches how to learn. It teaches how to find out what you want to learn and know. Once you can read and know how to find information, you can learn anything....on your own!

50 Posted on 02/13/2000 07:53:09 PST by 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember (no more government indoctrination camps)
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To: Jabba the Tutt

Re post #15 I got the feeling you were trying to express how libs deal with anything that makes them look wrong. Commission a bogus study, latch on to a few examples of failure, and then trumpet these anomalies as representative of the whole effort. Am I reading you correctly?

51 Posted on 02/13/2000 07:54:16 PST by patriot x
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To: Shropster

'You disagree without knowledge. People who are not well schooled cannot do an effective job.'

Talk about disagreeing without knowledge!
I once worked for a woman who could barely spell her own name. She knew one thing, however. She knew that what her life would become was up to her initiative and she learned THAT at home. She started her own business which grows every year. She is now very successful. She still can't spell, but she has employees to do that for her.

52 Posted on 02/13/2000 08:00:20 PST by 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember
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To: Antiwar Republican

The 3,257 ACT takers and 2,219 SAT takers who last year identified themselves as home-schoolers are fewer than might be expected if a million or more students are being educated at home. But researchers say such students often are reluctant to declare themselves for privacy reasons or for fear of discrimination. Moreover, many taught at home in lower grades later attend high school.

I'm surprised that the reason for probably the greatest number here is not mentioned: the homeschooled kids that don't intend to go to college, or their parents can't afford to send them. I know several families home schooling just among friends. I think the number is higher than 1.5 million.

53 Posted on 02/13/2000 08:02:34 PST by William Terrell
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To: Antiwar Republican

bump...this is why i support vouchers for homeschoolers too...the way of the future...a way to save our kids education...please support educational vouchers...

54 Posted on 02/13/2000 08:02:47 PST by thewildthing
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To: Aquinasfan

Amen to that. I keep hearing these liberal ideas for helping families, all of which boil down to taking money from all working couples to give a very little very-"iffy" help to some families. GOVERNMENT DAY CARE, God help us all. (As if that's not what public schooling amounts to, as well as statist indoctrination camps.) And I always think, if you really want to help, the GET OFF OUR BACKS so one of us can stay home full-time.

For some, HSing is tragically beyond their situational reach. But for many couples, I do think it boils down to lifestyle choices. Do they really need a brand-new car, rather than a good used? Do they really need that big a TV? Do they really need to vacation abroad? And so forth.

At the cost of their children's souls, and immediate futures? In our case, the answer was, "No way."

And BTW, good for you! Hang in there: it's challenging, but extremely rewarding. And time and time, as your child dashes past his peers educationally and otherwise, you and your wife will look at one another and say, "Of course, a GOVERNMENT-CERTIFIED teacher could have done much better."

And you'll laugh.

Dan

55 Posted on 02/13/2000 08:10:46 PST by BibChr
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To: thewildthing

Vouchers are OK and I don't mean to strain at gnats, but tax credits or an abolition of income tax and an institution of a tax that would not apply to schooling materials would be even better.

Vouchers tend to carry federal restrictions and mandates with them.

Vouchers are definately a good start, though.

56 Posted on 02/13/2000 08:22:40 PST by 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember (no more government indoctrination camps)
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To: Antiwar Republican

As a homeschool fan, I would also mention that getting into college is rapidly becoming less of an issue as well. More and more institutions are offering degrees through online study.

57 Posted on 02/13/2000 08:33:39 PST by OK
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To: patriot x

Ah, yes and thank you. I was disappointed that the two replies missed the sarcasm. I got the bottom layer of failure stuff from the first couple of paragraphs. Some sociology professor insisted on the existence of a bottom layer of failure. I thought that term was so funny to use to defend government schools, I picked up on it. I debated whether to respond and I decided not to. But, you got it.

58 Posted on 02/13/2000 08:51:49 PST by Jabba the Tutt
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To: Jabba the Tutt

I thought so.

59 Posted on 02/13/2000 09:04:24 PST by patriot x
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To: Shropster

It is better to have a second rate education in a public school than a sham that doesn't rise to second rate.

Dear Shropster, correct me if I'm wrong, but there's something fishy in this statement. I will give an analogous reasoning which should ring the alarm button:

It is better to have children in government foster care if their parents don't rise to second rate.

60 Posted on 02/13/2000 10:59:42 PST by cornelis
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To: Aquinasfan, Shropster

Well, so much for not trusting the parents!

61 Posted on 02/13/2000 11:20:12 PST by NoDemocratsIn2000
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To: Aquinasfan

So you're saying that the home-schooled kids, on average, perform better than 85% of public-schooled kids? That's my guess, anyway.

62 Posted on 02/13/2000 11:22:00 PST by NoDemocratsIn2000
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To: knowquest

Lemme guess: you moved from Kalifornia.

63 Posted on 02/13/2000 11:22:38 PST by NoDemocratsIn2000
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To: OK

More and more institutions are offering degrees through online study.

I bet that disappoints the libbies in charge of most campuses.

64 Posted on 02/13/2000 11:33:21 PST by NoDemocratsIn2000
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To: Shropster

But of course, we can't teach our kids to be responsible for their own learning, can we?

School is Dead, Learn in Freedom!

65 Posted on 02/13/2000 11:36:56 PST by Hotline
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To: Antiwar Republican

What's this? Children being educated WITH NO BRAINWASHING?No indoctrination in Socialism,or even EXPOSURE TO PERVERSION? Why,their parents are probably even filling their heads with a lot of religious nonsense!We can't have that,what would Hillary or Lenin say?

Better check the book,now where is that copy of "It Takes A Commune"?It was here a minute ago.

66 Posted on 02/13/2000 11:41:45 PST by NYCON
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