APPENDIX

Letters received from parents of home schooled students.

Sonya Ray:

     Two years ago I would have never dreamed I would be home
     schooling my children at this time.

     But 2 weeks into school last year found us making a necessary
     change somewhere. My then - fifth grader, Adam, was so far
     behind that it was a nightmare every night with his homework. I
     was repeating the 2-3-hour stints a night that we had endured
     the year before in the 4th grade. I knew I could not endure
     another year of that. So I decided to spend that 2 or 3 hours
     in the daytime, thus freeing up my evenings for my other 5
     children.

     As it worked out, I guess we spent 1 and maybe sometimes 2
     hours doing school work. My husband wondered if he was learning
     anything at all. But he did learn! He improved on the
     standardized IOWA test 30% in reading and math, and 20% in
     everything else. Adam was ecstatic. Besides his academic
     improvement, his self esteem soared and his general attitude
     toward learning changed from negative to positive.

     When we began making plans for school this year, he pleaded
     with me to let him have home school again. We asked our other
     children if they would be interested in home school and to our
     utter amazement all but my Senior chose to have home school
     this year!

     We ordered all the curriculum and they have loved learning at
     home. My eighth grader expresses gratitude that he doesn't have
     to be around all the peer pressure and negative influence at
     Jr. High.

     My first-grader shattered all my doubts that I could teach her
     to read and write. She was half through the math book at the
     end of 8 weeks, and she has read 20 library books since school
     started.

     I love this A Beka Curriculum because it teaches wonderful
     principles amongst the facts: principles of patriotism,
     honesty, love of God, and virtue.

     I intend to do home schooling 'til my youngest graduates
     because of all the positive aspects of it. I enjoy watching my
     children learn and being a part of it. Everything in life now
     takes on a new view - we see things educationally - and we love
     to learn what we can.

Barbara Tingom:

     The main reason we are home schooling would probably be - we
     really love our children and feel that we can bring them up -
     (24 hours a day) better than someone who doesn't love them (a
     teacher). We want to spend that time with them as they learn
     and grow. The next important reason is that we don't like what
     we see in the schools - mainly the peer pressure, drugs, sex,
     violence - and low discipline and academics. This is not what
     we want for our children!

     Our children are 8 and 6 years old. They have not been to
     school - except our oldest went to a little preschool. We don't
     intend to send them to school until college, however. That is a
     decision that may change as time goes on, although I doubt it.

     Our objectives for home schooling are being met - plus some.
     The advantages are tremendous - mostly the family closeness and
     being able to let them grow on their time schedule - not the
     school's. They also have more time to do things than the
     schooled children.

     Academically -- well -- our daughter, who turned 8 the end of
     May (she would be a young third grader) could be in third
     grade, however, socially she should be in 2nd grade. In Sunday
     School she is in 2nd grade and would be if put her into school.
     She is about a 4th grade reader, 3rd grade speller and probably
     a 2nd grader in math. To measure the reading I have the
     McCall-Crabbs reading comprehension tests, in spelling the
     Morrison-McCall Spelling Scale. In math I feel she is lower -
     just by comparing to a basic skills test I have at home.
     Although she is low in math - I feel it an advantage to not put
     pressure on her - and I feel she will catch up in a year or
     two. (However, to be in 2nd grade she would do fine.)

     My son, who is 6, just started reading this week. He would be a
     first grader. He's doing well in math manipulations
     (Cuisinnaire rods) but doesn't do work on paper yet - still
     busy climbing trees, etc.

     The children love being at home. They work, they play, they
     have school and we worship the Lord. As their mother and
     teacher I love it too and could not send them to school and
     feel good about it.

     I am the leader of a home school support group of about 40
     families. We do live in an affluent area. . . I don't know if
     this has anything to do with it or not, but I would say that
     most of the home school moms that I know did well in school.

Joyce Kinmont, editor of Tender Tutor published by American Home
Academy, 2770 South 1000 West, Perry, Utah 84302, provided her
family's experiences with home schooling in this previously
published letter:

     Dear Friend,

     Like a growing number of parents, we have chosen to take upon
     ourselves the responsibility for educating our children. If you
     are concerned about this - or curious - we would like to
     express our feelings to you, not because we want to "convert'
     you to our way of thinking, but simply so that you will know
     what it's all about. We realize that once a person has come in
     contact with home schooling he may have to make some kind of
     judgment: "It's a good/bad idea." "I would/wouldn't want
     anyone in my family to do it." etc. Our hope is to provide you
     with information that will help you make a good judgment. We
     also hope that if you are a person who has contact with our
     children, you will have a better understanding of them.

     When we first began home schooling, we, like most parents, did
     basically the same things that are being done in the public
     school classroom - an hour of math, fifteen minutes of
     spelling, etc. That was all we knew. But we soon found that
     working with just our own children in our own home, very
     different, less structured methods worked better.

     We began to understand that most things can be learned in
     either a formal, classroom type situation or in an
     unstructured, natural situation. A language, for example, can
     be learned informally by living and talking with people who
     speak it, or it can be learned formally in a classroom. All of
     us learned at least one language at a very young age without
     formal instruction, and many of us also learned another
     language in a formal classroom. When groups of people study
     together the classroom probably works best, but individual
     children, such as we have in our home school, can learn very
     well in an active, informal, non-sequential manner. And that is
     basically our philosophy: Provide an environment rich in the
     things the child wants or needs to learn and then be there to
     guide, direct, interact, and help.

     So while some of us do teach reading in a structured way, many
     of us prefer to let our children learn informally, when they
     are most ready. This may be as early as age two or as late as
     eight or ten (Woodrow Wilson didn't learn to read until he was
     11) and may take a week or five years.

     The experts tell us that one child in four has a reading
     disability. Sometimes we keep these children home to protect
     them from the social pressures that come with "special ed."
     classes and to give them more time for eye and brain
     development and emotional maturity before they begin reading.
     Many reading problems do clear up this way.

     Math, too, can be learned through daily experience and through
     games. Many of us provide our children with math texts or
     workbooks but don't require them to use them on a regular
     basis. Of course we were afraid at first that children who were
     not forced to learn would not do so, but those of us who have
     had the faith to try this method have found that our children
     do learn. Some of them may learn some things later than their
     peers, but they learn with good understanding and they are less
     likely to develop mental blocks or get "burned out." When they
     then take formal math classes in junior high or high school
     (either at home or in a classroom) they quickly catch up with
     anything they may have missed, becoming excellent math
     students. Other home schoolers become math wizards at young
     ages and learn far ahead of their peers. (We are really a very
     diversified group!).

     To fulfill the legal requirements in subjects like science and
     history, many of us read to our children a lot. But we - and
     they - seldom read from textbooks; instead we use biographies
     of our country's heroes and science books and magazines about
     anything that is of particular interest to us. We also expect
     our children to do a lot of learning on their own. This isn't
     difficult; it's the kind of learning they're born doing. The
     most important part of our curriculum is the development of
     each child's individual talents and interests. We are in a good
     position to do this because we get to know our children well
     and because they have a lot of time and a wide range of
     subjects available to them.

     People often wonder how we can be qualified to teach our own
     children. Most of us do find that there are things we will
     first need to learn ourselves, but that's good for us! Groups
     of parents have formed support organizations in nearly every
     state to hold classes and conventions which are extremely
     helpful. There is also an abundance of teaching materials
     available. (Almost anything that is available to the public
     schools is also available to parents.) And then, we don't try
     to do the whole job ourselves; we often call in outside tutors
     or enroll our children in selected classes. It is not unusual,
     for instance, for high school students to take music or art
     classes or participate in sports at the public school while
     learning other things at home.

     People also wonder if our children are tested by the public
     schools. This is required in a very few places, but it is
     probably not constitutional to require testing of home school
     students unless they are tested on their own curriculum and
     unless any penalties assessed against those who received low
     scores are also assessed against the public school children and
     their parents and teachers.

     Actually there are a very few home school failures. If a public
     school teacher discovers he doesn't like teaching or is
     ineffective, he usually continues to teach simply because he
     has to earn a living. Parents are in a different situation; if
     their home school doesn't work out they don't have any need to
     continue. The easiest thing for them to do is to send the
     children back to public school.

     A few years ago there was great concern that children taught at
     home would not be able to enter college. There are still very
     few home- educated high school students, but there are enough
     of them now attending college to dispel this fear (and many of
     them enter at younger-than- normal ages). Among the colleges
     and universities which have accepted home schoolers are
     Harvard, Hillsdale, and Brigham Young University.

     One final thing that people are often concerned about is
     whether our home-taught children will develop well socially.
     This is a natural concern since all of us were socialized in
     the public schools and assume that is the normal way. We
     forget, however, that long before there was a public school
     system people developed quite well socially within their
     families and extended families and in their churches and
     communities. Actually the idea that children must be sent out
     of the home at tender ages to socialize is relatively new and
     has been hotly disputed by parents, church leaders, and child
     development professionals. These people feel that breaking the
     family ties early not only makes children more likely to become
     peer-dependent but will, in the long run, destroy the family.
     We will have to wait and see, but it may well turn out that
     socialization is one of the best advantages of home education.

     At any rate, when parents make the decision to teach their own
     children, they take upon themselves a giant challenge. Those of
     us who are already well educated and well organized do very
     well, and those of us who are not so well "put together"
     succeed surprisingly well, too. It seems that every parent,
     wherever he starts from, stretches and grows in the process of
     teaching his children. It is very difficult, but it's exciting.

     Our children, too, benefit greatly and almost always prefer
     their home schools. Their biggest problem is that they are
     sometimes treated unkindly and made to feel that their
     education is inferior simply because it is different. This
     comes, of course, from a lack of understanding and will soon
     pass.

     And as the movement toward home schooling continues to grow,
     public school children will also benefit. It is seldom, if
     ever, in the best interest of the consumer to have only one
     source of goods or services. In the early days of our nation's
     history, many parents used private schools, private tutors, or
     taught their children themselves. As the pendulum swings in
     this direction again and other methods of education return to
     popularity, the public schools will find themselves in a
     competitive situation and will have to improve.

     Furthermore, home schools are a good testing ground for
     different methods of teaching. Many of the things we do are
     things the great educators have been suggesting all along,
     which the schools have not yet been able to implement. In the
     wake of recent criticism of public education many school boards
     are looking for innovative ideas. The Utah State School Board,
     for example, has just set some new policies which will allow
     students to progress by ability rather than grade level, to
     receive credit for out-of-school study, and so forth. These
     ideas are new to the public schools, but home educators are
     already familiar with many of them. So the next time you meet a
     home educated student, especially if he's one of ours, shake
     his hand, pat his head, or give him a hug - what he is doing
     just may be in the best interest of all of America's children!

Brent Heath:

     My daughter is 7 and son is 6. Due to studies presented by
     Raymond Moore and others, we have only informally taught our
     children at this point. When Angie is 8, we will begin
     formalized teaching of reading and phonics. Both children have
     scored above their peers when taking competency tests, (the
     peers are in school each day). Both are very good in math
     skills. Both have an exceptional vocabulary for children their
     age. We read to them a lot and involve them in our
     conversations and other around the house projects and field
     trips.

     We helped a friend brand cattle this summer. Both children
     learned how to ride horses also.

     This is a small overview of what we're doing. .

Sandra Navarro:

     I have four children. They are ages 15, 11, 6 and 4. I started
     teaching my children at home at the beginning of the school
     year in 1982. At that time my oldest daughter was in the 7th
     grade and my oldest son in the 2nd grade. I have been teaching
     my children at home for every year since then.

     My children enjoy being taught at home and I really enjoy
     teaching them. I enjoy it more every year. There have been many
     benefits. It has drawn us closer as a family. My children have
     become more respectful and better disciplined since we started
     teaching them at home. The accomplishments have been very
     rewarding to myself and my children.

     I started teaching my children at home because they were not
     learning in public school. My son was going to be held back to
     repeat the first grade. He could not say the alphabet or count
     to twenty. My daughter had just passed the sixth grade. She
     could not add 3+4 without counting on her fingers. Her reading
     level was fourth grade third month. Her reading level would not
     have been this high if she had not been sent to a private tutor
     after school and all during the summer for two years. After
     teaching my daughter at home for one year her reading level
     increased to seventh grade fifth month.

     I started teaching my children at home for academic reasons,
     but I now do it because it's fun, rewarding and I enjoy it. I
     would continue to teach my children at home even if I knew they
     would learn just as well in public school.

Shirley Gardner, editor of the Arizona Families for Home Education
Newsletter, indicated in her response that the newsletter has a
circulation of 150. The home school movement is growing as an
increasing number of parents realize that public schools are failing
their children (in more than one sense of the word). Incidentally,
one home schooling family in Ontario, California indicated that the
schools there have more than a 50% high school drop out
["burn-out"(?)] rate, and they educate their children at home in
order to realize academic success.

Shirley Gardner:

     I have 8 children, 6 of whom went through the school system,
     and a 15 year old son and 6 year old daughter. I took Joel (15)
     out of school when he was about 10 years old. He was below
     grade level in just about everything and did his work too slow
     (school's words). Because of this he was kept after school each
     day to complete his work and then brought another 2 hours of
     work home with no time for anything else in his day. He became
     tired, cranky, no motivation or desire to do anything. He was
     not a good reader and seemed burned out on everything.

     I took him out of school and pushed the academics aside. I
     purchased lots of comic books (good ones, if there is such a
     thing) and he started reading these. I told him he could do
     whatever he wanted as long as he kept busy (no T.V.). At first
     he was unable to self direct at all and wandered aimlessly
     around saying, "What can I do?" It took about 2 months for the
     change to come. He switched from comic books to joke books (he
     now has a delightful sense of humor) and then went into various
     books on rocketry (built & fired his own) stamp and coin
     collecting (did his own also) magic, (constantly showing the
     family his magic tricks), cage building, (built an ancient
     mouse trap from scrap materials), gymnastics (built his own bar
     in the back yard - we also have a trampoline), ceramics (did
     some painting and firing), computers (we have a Commodore 64)
     biking, dog training (2 dogs), music, (he plays tuba - we found
     one in a junk shop for $150) woodworking (he has built numerous
     things and just completed a railing around our patio),
     electricity (has fixed some of ours several times), cooking
     (loves to spend time in the kitchen), and on and on. After
     several years of this he still does not score real high on his
     tests as his slowness keeps him from completing a timed test.
     He is above grade level on most of it, though. He is still very
     slow in his work. His is a very social person who loves people.
     He feels no peer pressure and is his own person. He can do many
     things so he has a very good self image. He's helpful,
     courteous and kind, basically a very happy person.

     This year he attends the local high school and takes Marching
     Band, Apache Band, Concert Choir and comes home for the rest.
     He keeps busy and reads a lot. He's reading all of the Tarzan
     books right now and has made a spear gun from the description
     in the book. He can repair anything around the house. As far as
     the slowness that the school was so concerned in correcting --
     the other day Joel said he was thinking about going into Animal
     Husbandry. I began to think about the traits of a person in
     this field that could work and study animals and there was my
     son with his slowness and patience.

     I will never regret having him home and enjoying learning with
     him for these years and plan to do the same with my last
     daughter. I like my children and enjoy sharing my life with
     them. I realize if I do a bad job in educating them I will
     receive the punishments and if I do a good job there will be
     rewards. The school doesn't care what happens to them once they
     are gone. I do!

     . . . Children like Joel will never score high on written tests
     but the world will be a much better place because they are
     here!

Suzanne Allison:

     This is only our 2nd year at home, but I'll tell you what
     happened with us.

     Our daughter was 5 1/2 when she entered kindergarten. She was
     eager to go at first. By Christmas, she would be in tears when
     we got to the school most days. After school, she'd either be
     very mean to her younger brothers, or curl up in a fetal
     position and suck her thumb.

     Since beginning our home school, she seems much more secure in
     strange situations. She is extremely social, and helps her
     grandparents demonstrate and sell toys at swap meets. She is
     much more helpful and pleasant. She no longer gives in to peer
     pressure regarding activities or fashions. She has also
     overcome an "I-can't-do- math" mental block and is actually
     enjoying it! She says she has no desire to attend a formal
     school at all.

     We have chosen to not formally school our sons for a couple
     more years. The 6 year old would have been a 1st grader, yet is
     physically and emotionally immature. We believe that he would
     have been placed in a special education class. The special ed
     concept seems to be abused in this school district. Yet both
     boys are quite sociable and verbal. Most of the school work
     they do is oral.

     One letter confirmed a previous observation about the reticence
     many home schoolers have about providing information: I was not
     clear about whether I was "for home school or against. Your
     second letter seems to lean for home schooling. If you had been
     clearer on your stand then you might have been swamped with
     information."

Consequent thanks to

Jenny Lind:

     Several years ago I watched friends begin home school and
     followed them through their struggles. I had believed that
     Christians had to work out school problems through the public
     school system. But . . my fourteen year old daughter who was
     "A" student and cheerleader, nice girl who knows right from
     wrong, began having trouble. She has an older brother who said
     no to drugs and alcohol, we talked about it at home on what to
     say. In his eleventh year he asked me to teach him at home
     because he said he wasn't being taught anything new and the
     teachers were very boring, but I wasn't ready to do home school
     and felt he could find interesting subjects in public school. A
     year later I apologized to him for not being more sensitive to
     teachers who were indifferent and frustrated students. But he
     survived and is now in college.

     But my fourteen year old daughter Vicki would not survive. She
     discovered she has an addictive nature and it would only get
     worse, peer pressure started it and her inability to say no.
     She asked me in the middle of Freshman year to take her away
     from school and teach her at home. My husband and I were ready
     and relieved that she willingly made the decision. We could see
     her relief that she had an option and didn't have to go to
     public school where she couldn't say no. She understands that
     she'll have to say no and being away from temptation will give
     her the ability to become strong enough to say it. After a year
     of home schooling she is at ease to learn and open, discovering
     herself and liking herself. She wants to stay in home school
     then go to college.

     We have a second child, 8 year old Katie, who has dyslexia, a
     mild disability to not learn phonics. The school system didn't
     know what to do with some one who couldn't learn phonics or
     sound out words, but if she hears a word said and sees it a few
     times she then knows it. They wanted to put her in Special Ed.
     She is very bright in math but was 6 months behind in reading.
     It was so easy to incorporate Katie with Vicki's schooling,
     though Katie needs more of my time. Katie's reading has
     improved a great deal. She also has discovered that she is
     "Smart," can learn. I have watched light bulbs coming on in her
     eyes and that is a wonderful feeling. As for my reasons for
     home schooling, I would say academic, religious and social.
     When I tested Vicki to find out exactly what she knew and
     didn't know, I was shocked at whole areas of things she knew
     nothing about. She was a top student; it wasn't that she didn't
     learn it, she wasn't taught it. So we are going back to cover
     these things. We're having fun doing this.

     According to Vicki's achievement scores last April, she is
     above high school level in all but math; this was a year
     behind. With Katie, she was above her level in math, at level
     with everything else, but reading below level. But her reading
     comprehension was above, so according to this she can't read
     but understands it well. It would be wonderful if you could do
     a study with test scores included. I have been told that home
     school kids come out 2 grades above public school kids. Seems
     as though everyone would be interested in knowing why.

Sandra House:

     We have home schooled "officially" for four years. Sarah, age
     nine, attended a private kindergarten for three and one-half
     months. Even in a program for gifted children, she was bored by
     the repetition. At that time I began teaching her and her
     brother David with Calvert School materials.

     We found the materials to be too structured. After that I began
     developing my own curriculum using standard texts, reference
     books, library books, workbooks, and my own materials. This has
     worked out very well as they are at different levels in
     different subjects. To determine their level in a given subject
     we use standard texts. The following is a breakdown of their
     grade levels:

     Born 12/19/77 [age 9 at this writing] Sarah - Grade 4 in
     mathematics, penmanship, spelling, grammar. Grade 3 in Reading,
     phonics. Born 5/28/80 [age 6 at this writing] David - Grade 3
     in Mathematics, grade 2 in penmanship, spelling, grammar. Grade
     1 in Reading, phonics. Born 9/14/84 [age 2 at this writing]
     Adam - is working on preschool activities, can spell his name,
     count to six, recognize colors, some shapes, recite a few
     nursery songs.

     Science, history and geography are handled on a "project"
     basis. We read biographies and plot historical events on a
     time-line and locate the places they happened on maps and
     globes. Science projects are carried out individually and
     results written or illustrated in each child's log book.
     Socially, our children seem mature for their ages. They can
     converse with adults of all ages, as well as other children. We
     encourage them to participate in conversations to the best of
     their abilities. They are well-behaved and at ease in most
     social settings.

     I don't recall if you wanted information on parental
     background. My husband, Emmett, has a degree in Economics and
     is president of a manufacturing company. I am currently
     finishing my B. S. in mathematics at Arizona State University.
     after that I plan to pursue my masters and Ph.D. . . .

(Reverend) Dirk Reeck:

     There are many reasons my wife and I home school our son.
     First, I, then we, felt we were being nudged by God to home
     school. We felt it was a situation where either was all right but
     home schooling would have more positive effects. (After 3 years
     were are totally convinced of this.) Second, there are some
     strong religious convictions included. I. e. humanism (and that
     whole scenario). . . I do feel that humanism is a man centered
     religion that is more destructive to real Christianity than
     even many alarmists realize (including myself). I am
     responsible for teaching and training my own child before God.
     I can delegate the work itself but the content is still my
     responsibility. I'm not happy with the content in most schools,
     secular or Christian. My son, a 14 year old Freshman, is beyond
     the charts in the Iowa test now, so it's academic and religious
     content, also.

     His social skills are easily compatible with his peers and in
     many ways much better. Competition (sports, etc.), peer
     influence have never been God's idea of growing into maturity.
     . . .

     My wife and I are very satisfied. It has been work and my wife
     especially has spent much time in thoughtful planning,
     selection, and execution of curriculum.

     Our son, as I mentioned, was always a little above average in
     school. For three years now we have home schooled and each year
     he takes the state standardized test at the local school. He
     scored above the high school scores so that they simply said
     PHS - Post High School, in every major area. He is proficient
     (in fact helping in business) with the computer. Helps & works
     with a local veterinarian and rides & works on his own dirt
     bike. Matt is a good fisherman and hunter and last year even
     trapped animals for pelts with an old friend. As you can see he
     has much variety in his life.

     . . . My wife has had two years of college and I've a masters
     in Theology. She was fearful at first of her ability but
     everything is working out very well. . .

Many more similar testimonials about the effectiveness and
efficiency of home education are provided in the publications listed
in the additional resources list.