J - - Home Education as an Option

After completing what I thought was the final chapter, the literary
agent I engaged to assist in finding a publisher very helpfully
suggested that what I had written would prove to be very
controversial and I needed evidence that that which I recommended,
technological tools in the home, were indeed viable as options to
traditional educational procedures. "Where's your proof?" she
anticipated from publishers. Consequently, I began mentioning my
quest to associates and asking where sources of case studies and
documentation of controlled experiments could be found. Initially I
intended to blend my findings of the benefits of a combination of
home education and educational technology, but now realize that the
blend is not yet [1987]. There is evidence available that EACH
option can contribute to more effective education, but only the most
progressive home educators are using computer technology at this
point in time. The benefits of another technological educational
tool, ubiquitous television, are obvious.

I have found home educators I have met to be the type of people that
Alvin Toffler mentioned, [see a previous chapter] " . . parents are
intellectually equipped to assume some responsibilities now
delegated to the schools. . . many parents are clearly more capable
of teaching certain subjects to their children than are the teachers
in the local school."

I also found that they have developed a certain degree of paranoia
from the harassment local school and truancy law enforcement
officers have imposed on them. They are very reluctant to share
information. I was required to supply my complete professional
resume to one eventually very helpful source of addresses of home
educators before I was provided the information requested. One home
educator to whom I expressed this dilemma explained that most are a
little "gun shy" and do not want any publicity.

A John Holt Associates' information sheet contained newspaper
articles and commentary about Grant Colfax from Booneville, CA, who,
in 1983, entered Harvard after not having had any formal schooling.
I inferred that he did not enjoy the publicity he received from this
success. Perhaps I did not have notable success getting responses
from those from whom I requested information because home educators
are somewhat reclusive; they don't like publicity. However, later
Grant's younger brothers did the same and the Colfax family's home
schooling success has been reported by ABC News and Parade Magazine.
The parents authored a book scheduled for publication in October of
1988.

Nevertheless, ample evidence that home schooling provides a better
education than institutionalized schooling was found.

A research report made available quite late in the quest was found
in the March/April 1987 issue of The Parent Educator and Family
Report, in an article, "Wartes Studies Washington Home Schoolers."
Researcher Jon Wartes found that "...426 home schoolers equaled or
surpassed their peers across the nation on virtually all of the six
test scales measured by the Stanford Achievement Test series..." The
complete report is available from him at 16109 NE 169 Place,
Woodinville, WA 98072 ($10.00).

             `````````````
     One-on-one instruction is the ideal form of education. . .
     There is no credible study which indicates that a teaching
     certificate says anything concerning a person's ability to
     teach others.

           - - - Dr. Donald Ericson, UCLA Graduate School of
           Education.

             ``````````````

My first meeting with a home educated family occurred soon after I
began this research. Roseanne received her degree in elementary
education in the mountain west and taught in a school in her home
town for three years. During these three years she provided pupils
with enrichment activities that caused other teachers to complain
because they did not wish to take the time to prepare similar
beneficial activities for their pupils, and the custodian was
irritated and uncooperative because the desks were frequently
arranged in an unconventional manner. Educational buildings are
apparently designed more according to the needs of custodians than
the needs of students. During the last of the three years, Roseanne
had sufficiently few students to allow her to provide the type of
optimum individualized instruction that all teachers should be
providing, yet she was inexplicably severely criticized by her
colleagues and administration for so doing.

She discontinued teaching to serve a proselyting mission for her
church, following which she married and had three daughters within a
three year period [Angela (1977), Tamara (1978), Allena (1979)]. The
oldest child read at the age of three and a half years and was
reading at the sixth grade level while in the first grade. Needless
to say, the conventional public school could not provide her the
type of reading program her abilities demanded. Furthermore, the
school officials would not cooperate in allowing time for her to eat
lunch at home, necessary because of food allergies exacerbated by
school cafeteria food, and a negative social environment caused
trauma: nine first grade boys, whose "low-life" parents watch
pornographic videos in the boys' presence, attempted to undress her
on the school grounds during recess.

The second child started kindergarten in a class of 50 pupils for
the first two weeks of her only school year. When an additional
teacher was hired and the class was divided, all of the second
child's friends were placed in the other teacher's class. This was
not the only traumatic aspect of her kindergarten experience. The
pressures created by her having to sit still longer than necessary
and longer than she could endure caused her to release the
consequent anxiety by having long screaming spells when she returned
home. The school environment proved to be too restrictive and
stifling for this active child.

The third child never started school because of the unfortunate
experiences of her older sisters. All three are affable, demonstrate
a rapport with adults, get along well with friends in the
neighborhood and at church, and continue to learn at a faster pace
than their school educated counterparts. This is due to the
individualized attention they receive at home and the real-life
experiences they are provided by a caring parent. The only obstacle
to their continued progress is the school's curriculum specialist,
whose supervision is required by the state law that makes home
education legally possible. The curriculum specialist is supposed to
provide support to the parents of home educated students, but will
not cooperate with them.

Later I was invited to visit with another home schooled family whose
parents are both well educated. Gregg, age 7, answered the door and
very graciously invited me into the living room to meet his younger
brother, Michael. While Michael gregariously made me aware of some
of his interests, Gregg went to tell his mother, Debby, that I had
arrived. His father, Dan, an optometrist, arrived soon thereafter.

Debby was trained as a professional educator with emphases in
bilingual education and Hispanic culture. She taught elementary
school for 3 years and consequently has the confidence and legal
credentials (in her school district in California) to teach her
children at home, but she emphasized that parents who care, even
without training as teachers, can be effective in teaching their
children at home. Caring is the essential ingredient of any teaching
endeavor, an ingredient that is a rarity in both public and private
schools.

Dan and Debby became home educators primarily for religious reasons,
recognizing a Biblical mandate that it is their responsibility to
train their children, something they feel that can best be done by
not transferring this responsibility to the schools. Many parents of
home educated children prefer home education because it provides a
better atmosphere for academic achievement than is available in the
school systems. Even though neither a primary motivating factor nor
objective, academic achievement has nevertheless been realized in
Gregg, who, according to the results of G.A.T.E. (Gifted and
Talented Education) tests, qualifies as such even though he has not
had formal school education.

Coordination of the home education movement is provided, in large
part, by the CHEA (Christian Home Educators' Association), members
of which are similarly religiously motivated. The Teaching Home is a
bi-monthly magazine whose editorial board is made up of state heads
of CHEA and others, published by Christian Home Schools, 8731 N.E.
Everett Street, Portland, OR 97220. Debby allowed me to borrow a
copy of the April/May 1986 issue, which contained several articles
helpful to the home educator: "Teaching Your Child to Read: One of
the Most Valuable Gifts You Will Ever Give Him," "How to Teach
Reading in Less Time," "Can Your Child Really Read?," "Phonics
Resources," "Why Teach Art?" and others. The article "Why We Home
School" by Raylene Keating mentioned what seems to be typical of
home educated children:

     "Academically our children have fared well. The first year we
     home schooled, our son was pre- and post-tested. The results
     showed that he had advanced two years in reading and two years
     in mathematics with a year and a half growth overall . . .

     "Talking with other home-schooling parents, we found out his
     progress was not unusual. Their children showed similar growth,
     if not more, in one academic year.

     "Our daughter took off in her reading, math and other academic
     subjects without the pressure of having to compete with
     children older then she. " . . At the very beginning of this
     school year, Trwst scored 1-1/2 years above his grade level and
     Tamarind scored 3 years above her grade level.

     "We have also been delighted with the benefit of being able to
     severely limit the effects of negative peer pressure, . . . ."

Gregg avoids the negative socialization that occurs in the
competitive educational environment, even in the primary grades. For
example, he recently had entered into a "contract" with his mother
to have several books read by a certain date, in return for which he
would receive a small reward (meaningful extrinsic motivation). A
chart was hung on the family bulletin board which kept a record of
his progress. Gregg's neighborhood friend studied the chart and
accused Gregg of reading "baby" books. In his short first year in
the school environment the friend had acquired the habit of issuing
insults ("capping"). He could easily have been complimentary and
stated how great an idea he thought it was. But he jealously
belittled the accomplishment. The reading level of the books was, in
fact, above the ability of first grade pupils.

In our discussion, this incongruity became apparent: Although
recognized effective primary grade teaching procedures are learned
by primary grade teachers when they attend teacher training
colleges, the educational system does not permit them to apply what
they know. Experiments by researcher and psychologist Jean Piaget
have demonstrated how one can ascertain whether or not children are
ready to comprehend certain abstractions. Even though teachers are
taught how to tell that a child is not ready, the educational
system, because of its rigid structure, requires that the unready
child, even though he cannot benefit from them, be exposed to new
ideas, wasting the teacher's time and society's resources, and
frustrating the child, exacerbating learning difficulties in the
child. Why do educators who know better conform to a system that
contradicts what they know?

Dan, Debby and other home educators can maintain the resiliency
necessary to allow implementation of effective learning experiences
at the time each child is ready for them and motivated to benefit
from them. As an example, while visiting a pet shop recently the
children decided they wanted to own some pets. The parents wisely
realized an opportunity to have the children do some research about
the animals in which they were interested. After doing some reading
about hamsters and goldfish, the children's later research included
asking approximately an hour's worth of questions of the pet shop
clerk.

Formal institutionalized school settings cannot provide the type of
individualized attention conscientious parents give their children.
It is amazing that not more parents get involved. Indeed, according
to a 1985 Gallup Poll, 75% of the parents of children attending
public schools are opposed to the trend toward home education. In
light of the accusation and observation that public schools' primary
functional value is considered to be that of day care center, the
results of the poll should have been expected.

Typical of an increasing amount of news coverage regarding home
schooling is an article from the 12 November 1986 issue of a
university newspaper, from which the following information was
taken:

     The David Skousen family, which has been teaching their
     children at home, has a son and daughter that have gone back to
     public schools after four years of home schooling. Kathyrn, 14,
     is in the eighth grade and an honor roll student. David, 12, is
     in the sixth grade and gets straight A's. "David's teacher
     would like to have 30 more students just like him," said
     David's mother, Judy Skousen." . . .

The university admissions officer stated that they "feel just as
comfortable with the home study students we admit as with any other
student" who achieves satisfactory scores on the SAT and ACT tests.