Meet My Teachers: Mom And Dad

BusinessWeek Online ^ | February 20, 2006 | Michelle Conlin

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Meet My Teachers: Mom And Dad
A growing number of affluent parents think they can do better than any school

No longer the bailiwick of religious fundamentalists or neo-hippies looking to go off the cultural grid, homeschooling is a growing trend among the educated elite. More parents believe that even the best-endowed schools are in an Old Economy death grip in which kids are learning passively when they should be learning actively, especially if they want an edge in the global knowledge economy. "A lot of families are looking at what's happening in public or private school and saying, 'You know what? I could do better, and I'd like to be a bigger part of my kid's life,"' says University of Illinois education professor Christopher Lubienski.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Overall, a fairly positive portrayal of homeschooling.

[clawrence3]

Well, that's good for a change - we homeschool our 13-year-old son.

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Homeschool ping!

[TightyRighty]

I start homeschooling this year and am looking forward to it. I have no college education but I feel even I can do better than the local school system.

[TXBubba]

I have no college education

A lot of people who went to college don't have a college education. Don't let that stop you at all....as I see it doesn't.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

I never finished my college degree, but that never stopped us. My oldest just received 2 scholarships (full ride) for Mathematics, and he was homeschooled for 6 years.

It is scary at first, but DO NOT give in! The greatest decision we EVER made! Our kids are wonderful!

[moehoward]

Seriously thinking about giving it a try for my daughter.

[Idisarthur]

Congrats! I all for this... and some privatization.

[Idisarthur]

Congrats! I all for this... and some privatization.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

From the article:

[hkp037]

I'm 50 years old and went to a wonderful school and thought I got a good education. I married my high school sweetheart and we decided to have no children. I wish we lived in Louisiana instead of Pennsylvania so I could have 15 children from 14 different mothers and still get my $2000 debit card courtesy of FEMA. What a joke. People in this country are going to starve and starve big time. But big brother will take care of us-Right?

[Lizavetta]

As a homeschooler for many years I have seen the following:

Excellent homeschooling parents
Okay homeschooling parents
Crappy homeschooling parents
Turbo-religous homeschooling parents
Relaxed religious homeschooling parents
Atheist homeschooling parents
Republican, Democrat, and liberatarian homeschooling parents
Apolitical homeschooling parents
Very structured 'school at home' homeschooling parents
Moderately structured homeschooling parents
Unschooling homeschooling parents
Not-doing-a-damn-thing homeschooling parents

The only thing that ALL homeschooling families I've known have is a stay at home mother.

[clawrence3]

We know ONE stay-at-home father, but that is rare I agree.

[hkp037]

OOOPPPPSSSS, sorry, wrong post. However, my snister-in law homeschools her two boys and continually complains about taxes. Now she has to get surgery for carpal tunnel (spelling) How's paying for it?

[Don Corleone]

More than half of our grandchildren are homeschooled and they all excell at the higher education (College) levels. Three are on scholarship, both academic and athletic and all far surpassed their peers in high school. Pish on public ed.

[azemt]

Go for it! You will not regret the results!

[clawrence3]

The ONLY concern we have is going into high school, our son wants to attend the Naval Academy and we don't want homeschooling to hinder that opportunity.

[moehoward]

Thing is, we already are pretty much. Spend about 2 to 3 hours a night. I often wonder what goes on in the class room all day, and this is PRIVATE SCHOOL!

[opticks]

"Turbo-religous homeschooling parents"

Now Sally, hold the snake this way...

[azemt]

I think one of the major things they are interested in from a school experiance is evidence of leadership potential. Academics potential can be demostrated with SAT type scores, but you may actually have a better opportunity to show leadership by having him involved in community groups. Scouts springs to mind, but how about getting involved in other community activities, organizing disaster relief collection, or volunteering with the local fire/police auxilary, starting some local effort to tutor struggling grade-school kids.
Also, he'll need the recommendation of his congresscritters, so find out about volunteering for your rep's home office - maybe as a homeschool outreach coordinator :-)

This shouldn't be impossible, it will just require some initiative and hard work - which is exactly what I would think the service academies will be looking for.