Homeschooling: No Longer A Dirty Word

By Nancy Olson

Thirty years ago, homeschooling was a dirty word. To many, it evoked images of children cooped up in their dwellings, unsocialized and deprived, forbidden to interact with the outside world.

Homeschoolers would be the first to say that this stereotype was never true and certainly is not today. Both the increase in the number of families who have chosen homeschooling and the development of the Internet offer families resources that did not exist three decades ago.

Homeschooling is now legal in all fifty states, contributing to the growth of the movement. Although homeschoolers find some school districts more “homeschooler-friendly” than others, individual states, such as Vermont , have also passed laws giving homeschoolers access to public school courses, co-curricular activities, and facilities.

In New Hampshire and Vermont, more families than ever homeschool. In 1994, according to the New Hampshire Department of Education Web site ( http://www.ed.state.nh.us ), 1,642 students were registered as homeschoolers. By 2003-04, New Hampshire homeschool enrollment was 4,343 while Vermont ’s numbered 2,140, according to information gathered from both the New Hampshire and Vermont Departments of Education. Conduct a ‘Google’ search of the word homeschooling, and in less than half a second, a list of 1,040,000 Web sites on that topic will pop up.

The reasons for deciding to homeschool are as varied as the families who choose to take that step. Two families, one in Brattleboro , Vermont , and one in Walpole , New Hampshire , agreed to talk with Parent Express about their experiences as homeschoolers.

Creating a Homeschooling Environment: The Crouch Family

Noreen and Marty Crouch of Brattleboro, Vermont, have always homeschooled their twin daughters. Their decision to homeschool was an accumulation of events.

Noreen’s primary concern centered on age.

“Five years old seemed too little to be getting on the bus without your mother,” she said. “We toyed with the idea of a Waldorf school, but when we figured out how much it cost, we realized we would both have to work full time to pay for it.”

In addition, Noreen hesitated about having people she did not know be role models for her children. She increasingly considered homeschooling.

“At that time we lived in Connecticut ,” she continued, “where homeschooling was a really weird thing to do. A friend of mine had pulled a couple of her children out of public school, and she noticed how their self-esteem had gone up. With her encouragement, I decided to try it.”

Moving to Vermont in 1996, the Crouches purposely chose the Brattleboro area.

“My priority was to be connected,” Noreen said. “We were coming from a place that had nothing [for homeschoolers], to a community that had a lot of people homeschooling. That sense of community was very helpful.”

Noreen noted that just as every family has different reasons for deciding to homeschool their children, every family does it differently. The range of choices is vast.

“Some families buy a curriculum from one of the different publishers and follow it very closely,” she said, “but they can find it very stressful keeping up. Others take bits and pieces of a set curriculum. Some families develop their own plan based on the interests of the children.”

“Some families keep a school schedule by having school every morning,” she continued. “Other families may have lessons in the afternoon or in the evening. There’s research that shows that teenagers need to sleep in the morning. Why not have lessons later in the day when they’re going to learn best? Homeschooling allows them to learn at their own pace.”

Noreen has been generally pleased with the cooperation of the Vermont Department of Education and with the response of area organizations.

“ Vermont is pretty homeschooler-friendly,” Noreen said. “When you call the DOE, they’ll send you a packet of information, and you can find ideas for field trips on-line. There are many more resources now. People are much more aware than they used to be. Even organizations have to pay attention. For example, Olde Sturbridge Village has ‘Homeschooler Days’ twice a year, in September and in June, when admission is really cheap. Also, it’s wonderful to have the Internet as a resource. Kids can take on-line courses or college courses, and they do very well.”

Next September marks a transition for Danielle and Lindsay Crouch; they will attend the dance program at the Windham Regional Career Center in Brattleboro .

“It’s a time of transition for us,” Noreen said. “The highest number of homeschoolers is in the younger grades. There’s a drop-off in middle school, and it really drops off in high school. Kids who’ve been homeschooled want to do something different. And sometimes kids who’ve been in school want to try homeschooling because they want to try something different.”

Fostering Closeness and Values: The Benik Family

Heidi and Michael Benik of Walpole , New Hampshire , have four children: Jordan, 22, who just graduated from Nyack College in Nyack , New York ; Dillon, 17, who completed high school this June; Callie, 14; and Susannah, 10. All four Benik children have been homeschooled.

The Beniks began to consider homeschooling when Jordan was four.

“We had friends who were homeschooling,” Heidi said. “I loved the closeness of their family, and that caught our attention.”

“Heidi was first to be convinced that it was the best choice for us,” Michael said. “I’m the product of public schools myself. People were prejudiced against homeschooling then. I was, too. You grow up with something, and it’s what you expect. So, doing something different was a big change. ”

In addition to the family closeness the Beniks hoped to foster, they also wanted to impart their values to their children.

“If a family has different core values from the government schools’ values, the family doesn’t have a lot of leeway if the child is in public school,” Michael said, “yet the family ought to be able to do something differently if they want to.”

Tailoring instruction to each learner was another compelling reason in favor of homeschooling.

“Each child can be treated as an individual in a homeschool situation,” Heidi said. “I was concerned about that. For example, Jordan was easy to teach. From the age of two, he knew he wanted to go to college. If I explained something to him, he got it, and it was ‘Okay, what’s next?’ But with the next one, I had to learn a whole different style of teaching. All our children are individuals. That’s not surprising, really. As soon as you’ve been with a baby for 24 hours, you realize how much they are their own person.”

“What’s that old saying? ‘The best time to teach is when the person is asking the question,’ ” Michael said. “You can pick up on those things in a homeschooling situation.”

“If Susannah has a question, we can decide to explore it then, or wait for an appropriate break in the lesson,” Heidi said. “I couldn’t do that with a class of 30.”

The availability of resources has improved dramatically in the past 20 years, the Beniks said. Heidi noted the extensive work done by Raymond and Dorothy Moore, considered homeschooling pioneers, who had offered resources and materials when there was very little available. Their foundation continues to offer educational tools for homeschooling families.

“It’s a lot easier to get curriculum materials now,” Heidi said. “There are huge curriculum companies. Abeka is a Christian textbook distributor. Calvert School is a private school in Baltimore that offers materials for home instruction, kindergarten through grade eight. They’ve been around since 1897. And Oak Meadow, a source of homeschool curricula, recently received their accreditation.”

Fall Mountain High School has been very homeschool-friendly and a great resource, said the Beniks, as have the librarians at the Keene Public Library and the principal of Vilas School in Alstead, Carol Bennett.

Curriculum Choices for Homeschoolers

Homeschoolers, who must file an annual curriculum plan for state approval, have a choice of three different approaches, Michael explained. The traditional method, such as the Calvert curriculum, provides scope and sequence, lessons, texts, and materials, as well as access to an evaluating teacher and testing.

“It’s ‘fourth grade in a box’,” Heidi said. “We used Calvert with Jordan through eighth grade.

The unit study method, Michael continued, takes a particular topic, such as Egypt , and covers the area from all different disciplines— history, science, literature, writing, math, using primary sources wherever possible.

The third approach is the hybrid approach, which uses bits of the traditional and the unit study method, although the high school curriculum contains more textbook work, Heidi noted.

A choice of annual assessment methods also exists to evaluate the progress made by a homeschooled student and to compare that to his state’s standards and rubrics. In both Vermont and New Hampshire , homeschooling families can choose to submit work to a certified or approved teacher who has registered through the state, submit a portfolio of work to the state along with parent reports, or file the results of an acceptably administered standardized test.

“The hard part about the assessment is that you send the work in, and [in Vermont ] the Department of Education spends all that time and money evaluating it, but they don’t give you anything— no grade or piece of paper,” Noreen said. “It doesn’t necessarily encourage people to do all that work.”

But, she added, if the child’s work doesn’t satisfy the DOE, you’ll hear from them.

The Homeschooling Commitment

Both families stressed that the decision to homeschool is not to be made lightly. Homeschooling requires significant time commitment, organization, and personal sacrifice. Both parents have to agree that the idea has value, although mothers tend to be the primary educators in homeschooling families. A child old enough to have a voice in the decision should want to be homeschooled.

Marijo Varney, a homeschooler and special education teacher in Keene, New Hampshire, via an email interview, recommends that those considering homeschooling do the following prior to beginning.

“Make sure that you check out your state law before pulling your child out of school,” she said. “Get involved with a support group at least six months before you begin the journey of homeschooling. Learn everything you can before you start. Know what kind of learner your child is.”

Homeschooling does have some drawbacks of which people considering it should be aware.

“For some people, always being together, siblings always being together, means there can be some tension,” Noreen said. “You always have to be checking your stress level. You have to make an extra effort to see that each child has a group of friends and that you can have time away from your child.”

Other stressors include the opinions of others concerning your decision to homeschool. “When you’re first starting out, you may get a lot of criticism from grandparents,” Heidi said. “They may be nervous and resentful. It’s not what they did in parenting you, so they may see your decision as an implied criticism of them as parents.”

“Although my mother has been wonderful,” Michael hastened to interject.

“We always tell parents who call us for advice not to expect an easy first year, especially if the child has been in public school,” Heidi said. “You should make your first year’s goal getting to know each other. And we always tell parents to do the prep work before they pull the kid out of school, not the other way around, unless it’s a real emergency.”

With those caveats in place, both families enthused about the advantages of homeschooling, not only for their own children, but also for the other families in the homeschooling network.

“The first and most impressive benefit to me is the high self-confidence level of homeschoolers,” Noreen said. “I chuckle to myself when I hear people ask if homeschoolers get socialization. I think, ‘If you only knew how socially deprived kids in school are.’ Homeschooled children can communicate with all age levels. Their social interaction is not limited to their own age group.”

“Sensible, supervised socialization takes place,” Michael said. “When peers socialize peers— that’s not always the most positive model. In homeschooling, all ages interact.”

Another benefit has to do with the instilling of values.

“Character reigns,” Michael said. “You can teach your child about core values and what you believe about God and faith. We want our children to be individuals with integrity who can think and problem-solve. We’re doing this to open their minds. That makes for good citizens.”

“We’re training the heart,” Heidi said. “Life is more about our relationships with each other. It’s about attitude and balance. Character has to be formed early.”

“You really know your kids and they really know you,” Noreen said. “The bond is pretty close. Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be about?”

Homeschooling can be done, both families said.

“It’s a lot of work, but you can do it,” Michael said.

“Even single parents are doing it,” Noreen noted.

“Take it one year at a time,” Heidi said. “There is lots of support out there-— families to talk to as well as support groups. Trust your instincts as a parent. You know what’s best for your child.

Besides, she added, “You can always put them back in school.”

Homeschooling Resources:

Christian Home Educators of New Hampshire
CHENH is a Christian organization to serve and support Christian home educators. In part, they coordinate a state-wide network of homeschooling information and resources and keep members informed of state and national homeschooling legislation. Its website provides information on homeschooling resources, field trips, and support groups.
www.chenh.org

Home School Legal Defense Association
The Home School Legal Defense Association is an advocacy organization to defend the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children. Website includes information on beginning homeschooling, research links, and a library.
www.hslda.org

LAMP (Loving Affirming Ministering Parents)
Christian-based support organization for homeschoolers.
Contact: Brian Leighton, (603) 352-8504

The Moore Foundation and Academy
The Moore Academy assists parents who wish to educate their children at home. Website offers Christian resources, seminars, and an on-line catalog.
http://www.moorefoundation.com

New Hampshire Department of Education
101 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301 -3860
Telephone: (603) 271-3494
www.ed.state.nh.us

New Hampshire Homeschooling Coalition (NHHC)
The NHHC is a volunteer organization to support all varieties of homeschooling in New Hampshire. Website information includes “Why Homeschool,” “Where to Begin,” “Finding Support,” and “Homeschool News.”
P. O. Box 2224
Concord, NH 03302
Telephone: (603) 539-7233
www.nhhomeschooling.org

Vermont Department of Education
Contact: Julia Stone, Independent Schools Coordinator.
120 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05620-2501
Telephone: (802) 828-3138
www.state.vt.us/educ

Windham County Homeschoolers
Support organization for homeschoolers in Windham County to share information.
Contact: Becca Martenson, (413) 648-0542

Nancy Olson is a recent first-time grandmother as well as a teacher and free-lance writer who lives in Putney, Vermont. This is her first article for Parent Express.