01/05/98

Readers' Ideas About Home Schooling

Several SNET Internet readers, in response to last week's article about Home Schooling, wrote about their frustrations with public school education. As a result, many plan to or do teach their children at home. Others are demanding that school teachers and administrators change their ways in order to meet the individual needs of their children.

• My fiancee and I plan to home school our children because of the disasters members of our family endured in school. When adolescents challenge school rules they are often labelled disruptive, even if their questions make sense. We don't want our children to experience punishment for intelligent dissent. --- Encourage Independent Thinking

• There is a Connecticut Internet connection for homeschoolers called TEACH, which covers homeschooling laws and procedures; provides useful links to state and national homeschooling sites; and describes a recent video called "Homeschooling in Action" based on three CT families' experiences with home schooling. The Internet address for TEACH is: http://web0.tiac.net/users/raysheen/teach/ --- Network with Other Parents

• In some cases home schooling may be best for a child, but what about interaction with other children to learn social skills? Since parents who choose to home school their children still pay taxes, their children should be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities at their local school, as long as they can show that their grades are up to par. This would enable them to interact with other youngsters their age. --- Home Schoolers Pay Taxes

• Teachers and social workers repeatedly insist I have my son evaluated for behavior problems. I have not and will not give my consent. I insist they back off and let my son grow up like all the other children. Teachers repeatedly and unnecessarily embarrass him in front of his peers. I believe that if we look hard enough we can find fault with any child. No one is perfect in this world and I'm tired of teachers and other staff acting as judge and jury when it comes to my son or anyone else's. Years ago, a principal once told my parents I would someday end up in jail. I never did. I grew up to be a responsible, independent, caring and loving mother of two children. I do not have the money or resources to home school my child. The school staff must do the job, despite our differences of opinion. --- Demand More from the Schools

• As a home schooling father I want to note that it is extremely important that the child being home schooled 'wants' to be home schooled. This is our fourth year home schooling our older children. Both attended public school and then private school before becoming home schoolers. They were tired of the group punishments used by public school systems. You know, everyone loses play time because 75% of the class was bad. Both children were straight "A" students and felt they did not deserve the punishments. We began home schooling them at their request. They take SAT tests for their grade level every year and so far have shown consistent improvement. I hope my five-year-old chooses home schooling next year, but it is not my decision. --- The Child's Choice

• I chose to home school my son long before he was of school age. I am a single mother of two boys, ages 2 and 7. My older boy is doing 4th grade work. I have not pushed him into anything. He loves to learn and learns mostly on his own. We do not emphsize letter grades. He either gets the work right or he corrects it. We also use the community. He takes Spanish lessons, dance, swimming and karate. He has made a committment on his own to do these things. He goes to each class, practices and loves them all. As I said earlier, I am a single mom and sole supporter of my two boys. They have no interaction with their dad. We spend a lot of time with immediate family and good friends. I have to work to support them and have chosen a field which allows me to be home with them on weekdays. I work primarily nights and weekends. Homeschooling is wonderful and I wouldn't have it any other way! --- A Single Parent Can Homeschool

• For some families home schooling can be a blessing. It allows kids to progress at their own pace. Bright youngsters often do poorly in a school where the class can only progress at the speed of the average student. As a result the bright ones get bored to tears. They then daydream and lose focus, leading to the suggestion that they suffer from "attention deficit disorder," (the latest fad). If parents have the time and talent to pursue it, home teaching makes sense. It gives them an added opportunity to stress respect for law, order, and neighborliness -- principles that seem to be lacking in today's curriculum. --- A Grandmother's Perspective

• I just went through a year of investigating home schooling scenarios for my 5th grader, after her '96-'97 academic year was everything but positive. She asked me to take her out of school last winter to home school. Two of her other classmates are also currently home schooled. I loved the idea and was looking forward to what could have happened. Because we have two daughters, each with different personalities, social skills and academic interests, we decided to send them both to a private school instead. My younger child was both chronologically and developmentally young and not at all interested in the discipline necessary to succeed, coupled by the fact that she was not reading at grade level. She would have advanced to the next grade level without having mastered what was necessary to succeed. We entered her into the new school at the '96-'97 grade level to be with children her own age and academic level. She's happy and succeeding. The older child is ecstatic and thriving. Each person needs to do what's best for their own situation. I would have loved to home school, but would not have been able to handle both children with such diverse needs. -- Chose Private School

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.