The Home School Alternative

Chapter 2, from The Home School Manual. 7th ed.
by Theodore E. Wade, Jr.,
© 1998 Gazelle Publications
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   As parents you are fundamentally responsible for the development of your children. Any school is only an extension of the home. Education always begins at home, even when parents don’t care about their children and have no plan for guiding them. Most parents, however, do care, at least to a degree, how their children develop. And this concern doesn’t stop when the children are sent off to school. As a rule teachers, too, want good education for the children sent to them, and they work for it.

   Then why do some parents teach their children at home? Maralee Mayberry did a research study to determine why Oregon home schooling families had opted against classroom schools.1 Essentially all the parents in her study wanted to protect family unity, to guard against unwanted ideologies or influences, and to avoid control by public schools. But four motivating factors tended to classify them into groups. The proportions of parents in each group appear in the pie chart on this page.
 

Questions to answer

   You no doubt already have particular reasons for feeling that the popular system of education is unsuitable for your children. We won’t take much paper and ink [many pixels] trying to convince you about what you already believe. But is school at home really your ideal solution or might another alternative be better? Are you qualified to teach? What all is involved in a good home school program? Can legal problems be avoided? When and how should home education begin?  In this book, my co-authors and I will help you answer these questions for your own family. Then if you choose home education, we’ll provide nuts and bolts for getting started plus advanced ideas to help you lead your children on to excellence.
   Even before home schooling became well publicized, people were teaching their own children. Most of these, however, chose the alternative because they were too far from a school or because exceptional needs of a child prevented success in the classroom; while a few braved tradition to teach at home just because they realized they could do it better.
   The great majority of home schooling parents now enjoy the full cooperation or the tacit approval of the public school authorities, fulfilling a responsibility they consider to be their own - raising their children. A few have had to stand up for their rights - and yours.
 

Facing a school problem

   To help you as a parent think through the question of whether or not you should teach your own children, we will first assume that you see a problem with the school situation they would otherwise face.
   Conflicts or problems are often developed by differences in philosophy. Everyone has a philosophy. You have one, too. Your philosophy is the way you feel you should relate to the world around you. It’s what you consider to be truth - how you decide what is right and wrong. As a parent, you train your children based on your philosophy or understanding of truth.
   Before you plant your flag pole for a home school, let’s consider some other options for solving a school problem:
   # Reform the school. This is in somewhat the same category as moving mountains but there are ways to go about it if your philosophy is in harmony with that of a significant number of other parents.
   # Help the teacher see your need. This is certainly worth considering if the issue centers around the teacher. You could run into a brick wall here, but more than likely you will be surprised to learn that the teacher will have already noticed the problem and will welcome your suggestions. You may even learn that your child is contributing more to the problem than you would like to admit. In that case, solid cooperation between home and school may be wiser than running away and taking the problem with you. We will discuss this more in Chapter 4.
 # Talk with the principal if you have not been able to work out a satisfactory understanding with the teacher. Keep your mindto the possibility that you may have misinterpreted the situation. It may be possible to have your child assigned to a different teacher.
 # Consider private school enrollment. Ask about the school’s philosophy of education. Visit the school. If it’s a junior or senior high, it will likely have a school paper. Ask to see copies. Look through some of the textbooks. Study the school catalog. If you find a reasonable match with your own ideals, including what you consider to be a proper balance between moral, intellectual, and physical education, this could be your solution.
 # Hire a teacher and establish a private school. Due to past struggles for religious liberty, private schools are more or less free to teach what they want, usually with uncertified teachers.
 # Consider a home school. Probably you already have, since that’s what this book is all about. Home schools are operated in a variety of ways from being closely tied to a classroom to being entirely independent. I’ll list the general categories in that order.
 

Home school organizational options arranged in the order of increasing independence.

 # Ask a public or private classroom school to enroll your child as an extension student. This may be called independent study. Most any school can enroll your child as a home student. They routinely supervise home study for those who are sick and unable to come to school. However, the school principal, if not in sympathy with home schools, may refuse because even once-a-week visits mean more teacher time and increased expense. This and other options are discussed further in the chapter, “Developing an Educational Framework.”
 # Join or establish a cooperative school. This plan uses the abilities of several families. It could include some study in individual homes. The extra transportation and administrative time needed compared to the one-family school may offset some of the saving in teaching time, but for many homes there could be significant advantages. More on this in the chapters, “Planning for Teaching,” and “Teenagers Taught at Home.”
 # Arrange for a supervising teacher. In-home guidance by a certified teacher is generally a legal option. You may be able to arrange for your teacher through a controlling organization. You still do most of the teaching, but you have help a certain number of hours each week.
 # Establish a home school using correspondence courses. Several schools offer home study programs (See Appendix A). At the elementary level, the parent or tutor teaches from lesson plans and materials furnished by the school. Secondary level students follow a study guide for each course which coordinates their study from books and other materials; lessons are sent in for grading, and supervised examinations are taken at regular intervals.
 # Choose a curriculum package. A number of programs are available which provide basic materials for practically a whole learning program for the elementary grades. This option is similar to correspondence school enrollment, except that textbooks and workbooks are replaced by materials created by the organization. As a rule, you buy the package without ongoing guidance. This category includes work-texts where the student progresses through one booklet after another.
 The fact that these programs are designed for home teaching is an advantage, but they have the potential danger of not having the breadth characteristic of traditional textbooks. Textbooks do generally have more material than you may need or want, but they are designed as tools. Choosing what seems best or most interesting while skipping other parts is often appropriate. Please understand that I am not offering this as a blanket criticism, but as a possibility that you might want to be alert to.2 You may find the package still the best for your needs. You can add enrichment, as appropriate, considering your child’s interests.
 # Enroll your child with a home schooling guidance center. This may also be called a school services organization or an umbrella school. You carry the primary responsibility for your school. The center may provide such services as helping you decide what to teach and selling you some or all of the materials. It may provide standardized tests and keep your records on file. You would be expected to ask for counsel whenever you need it. Your home school may be considered a branch of the supporting organization.
 # Establish an independent home school where you do the planning as well as the teaching. This is a good choice at the preschool level for parents who have chosen to delay their child’s entrance into formal learning. Also, parents who feel that learning should have relatively little formal structure would likely choose this option. Although the independent home school which follows the typical school curriculum requires more preparation, it is possible for most parents at the elementary level. In secondary school, it might be a little more difficult to do a good job without subject matter and/or teaching expertise.
 The topic of establishing various types of home schools is discussed throughout this book.
 

Advantages of school at home

   Teaching your own children at home is a serious commitment, not a decision you can easily change from day to day like subscribing to a newspaper. You can weigh the pros and cons for your own family as you read through the pages of this book. To start your thinking, here are some points to consider. Some may not apply in your situation, and you may want to add others.

 +  In a home school you can educate your children according to your own convictions. For example, if you believe God inspired the Scriptures as a guide for living, you will certainly want the Bible to be a key source in the education of your children.
   Your child cannot live around other children who think constantly about sex and drugs, and who lie, cheat, steal, and use obscenities without being influenced. If you are tempted to think that your kids know better, that they will turn out all right in spite of their surroundings, beware! Mistakes here are for keeps. You will never be able to turn back the years to do your job over again.
   Many parents object to strategies of modern public schools. In the chapter on teaching social studies, we will examine the educational practices known as “values clarification” and ”moral development.” In the chapter, “Developing an Educational Framework,” we discuss outcome-based education, a current concern of home schooling leaders.
 +  The competitive nature of classroom schools hurts both winners and losers. Games and grades are generally dealt with in modern schools to minimize competition, but the media and Barbie dolls still teach children the wrong goals. Competitive sports still teach youth to hate their enemies, and pairing off as couples begins in elementary school. Children who have developed a degree of maturity can handle mild competition without taking it personally, but school is the major occupation for children and youth. It counts big. In a home school, the child can focus attention on achieving goals rather than on trying to be better than the rest or worrying about being a loser.
 +  A home environment enhances social development. Home schools have a more restricted social atmosphere. This most obvious distinction is often considered a disadvantage. The question deserves attention. In our chapter on early education you will see that, for the social development of small children, home is far better than school. Older children and youth are naturally more peer-oriented and certainly need to know how to relate.
 Home school parents should assure that they, and even the younger children, can be around friends. However, the most important society even for high school youth is the family unit. This association should provide the principle elements for social development: love, security, discipline, interdependence and responsibility. Friends outside the family are important, but they don’t have to be present every day for the formation of socially well-developed individuals. In the chapter on social development, I have quoted a letter describing the Woodruff family home school. Their children were obviously not socially impaired even though taught at home through high school.
 + School at home encourages what we might call “self-propelled” learning. In a classroom it’s easy to drift along with the crowd depending on the calendar to get through the year. Studying alone, the learner soon realizes that progress is a direct result of effort.
 The self-directed student selects and independently pursues objectives and projects - under supervision, of course. The greater motivation leads to more achievement. Although home school doesn’t automatically result in self-directed learning, the one-to-one relationship gives more opportunity to provide for it.
 +  Home schools educate children and youth who live too far away to attend the public school or to attend a private school with a compatible philosophy. Often even when school bus service is available, the ride to and from school takes too much time and provides too much poorly supervised association. For parents who travel extensively and for those in foreign countries, distance is an obvious reason to choose home school; authorities don’t generally question it under these circumstances.
 +  School at home is often an advantage for children with problems which threaten their opportunity to achieve. Self-confidence and self-control are easily crushed in a competitive classroom environment. Children can’t concentrate on school assignments, and they begin to fail. At the same time, their behavior problems generally increase. They can’t get along with other students. Sometimes they withdraw. They view themselves as abnormal and unable, and everyone else sees them in that same light.
   Removed from the damaging atmosphere for a year or so and given patient encouragement, the child can begin to achieve. Success builds self-confidence, and restores the normal independent psychological function of the individual.
   Some children with serious physical or mental handicaps are often better off in a special environment outside of regular schools. Attendance laws provide for this type of exception, although specially trained teachers may be required.
 +  Individualized instruction may keep efforts directed toward specific learning needs.
 +  Flexibility allows convenient scheduling of family trips and other activities. Special trips or activities may be planned around the father’s available time. Unusual learning opportunities may require being able to attend an event when classroom schools would be in session.
 +  Relief from tuition expense. If Mom works, private-school tuition for one child may be cheaper than her staying home to teach. But when there are several or when the mother’s presence at home is valued for the sake of a preschooler, home school becomes the better economic choice.
 +  School at home brings parents a sense of satisfaction. It’s not easy, but rewarding accomplishments seldom are. You can develop a much fuller relationship with your children if you teach them yourself. And as a bonus, you will sharpen your own knowledge and skills in the subjects they are learning.
 

Disadvantages

 On the other side of the coin, what difficulties might home school parents face?
 -  Conflicts with school authorities. This concern may cause those considering home school the greatest hesitation. Actually, only a small number of home schools are challenged and some of them would not have been if they had taken more care to establish good legal footing. There are ways to deal with the problem. We discuss them in Chapter 5, “Keeping Peace With School Authorities.”
 - Time. Although you will probably spend less time than a classroom teacher would, you cannot just give your child a book and go off to town. Quality home teaching takes time. We discuss this more later.
 - Risk from a poor home environment. Not many parents in an unsatisfactory home even consider teaching their own children. When they do, the children at greatest risk are sometimes ones whose parents are least apt to admit their own weaknesses. The biggest question to ask is, How are my children being influenced by attitudes and habits of others in the household? Let’s continue this discussion in the next chapter.
 

Public Schools

   One of the strongest motivators for choosing to teach kids at home is the feeling that classroom schools of any kind are categorically bad, public schools are worse, and US public schools are the very worst. My wife and I chose not send our kids to public school when schools were much better now. But as you and I consider all the things we hear and read, let’s remember an interesting phenomenon that tends to distort our reasoning. It can happen in any group that arises from the perceived inferiority of birds of a different feather. I’m talking about the them-and-us attitude. We see it, for example, between political groups and between religious groups. It is enhanced by fostering a spirit of competition.
   When leaders arise to expose the evils of a group we do not identify ourselves with, we tend to gobble up the bad news as fast as they dish it out. Somehow we tend to feel superior because of real or perceived weaknesses in those we compare ourselves with. Most of us don’t intend unreasonable attitudes. They just develop naturally. Politicians seek support by making people feel they would be saved from terrible opposing candidates.
   Now let’s think about schools. When US President Bush was pushing his ideas about educational reform (or being pressured to push them), he needed some facts. He apparently wanted to be the brave knight who saved the beautiful maiden. So Sandia National Laboratories took ten million dollars to look at public schools. Why didn’t people hear about what they found? Likely because things weren’t as bad as Bush had hoped.
   Here are some of the Sandia study results:4 v IQ scores of students are seven points above those of their parents and 14 points ahead compared to their grandparents. v Since 1975, Scholastic Aptitude Test scores had been increasing for individual groups (whites, blacks, Asians, etc.). Part of the apparent decline before was because more of the less able students were being included in the research studies. In other words, the lower score averages didn't mean the students were worse. v The US had the highest rate of earned bachelor degrees in the world. And it is best for women and minorities. v Our per-pupil costs were less than those of Japan, Austria, Denmark, West Germany, Canada, and several other industrialized nations. v Our dropout rate was the best in the world; 85% of our high school students graduate.
   In 1995 another major study confirmed the picture. It was conducted by the Rand Corporation which specializes in educational research. v They found that test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress have been rising slowly over the past 20 years. This is the only testing which takes a reliable cross-section of the nation’s students. Minorities had been improving. Also the report found that 87% of those entering college, graduated, while only 57% did in 1957.4
   v Of course, there’s bad news, too. And it’s not getting any better. Plenty of other people have already told you about it. I have mentioned some positive things simply to remind you (and me) to think clearly and act responsibly. We should note one negative point that gives a little different perspective from what you may have heard: Many educators interviewed for the Sandia report expressed the feeling that with more working parents, society is expecting the schools to engineer social change by meeting more nonacademic needs. Here’s more unpleasant news:
   v The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (1997) ranked the US near the bottom in the list of participating nations for 12th graders (with 4th graders slightly above average.) Numbers for science literacy, also measured by the study, were better but still 2 percentage points less then the average of the 32 nations5 . Numbers like this are fuel for school criticism, but. . . .
   v Set this information against reading literacy comparisons reported in 1990. In the largest such study up to its time (and perhaps since), the US ranked second among 32 countries. Both the US and New Zealand showed well in spite of their whole language emphasis.6 It's partly a matter of priorities — how much math is enough for all students.
   v One more point of interest relates to reading ability. Our frequent return to the old ways of teaching, is partly based on the idea that the old methods were better. Then-and-now studies are difficult because standardized testing and record keeping have not been prevalent until more recent years. But the twenty some studies comparing spans between 1845 and 1976 point mostly to improvement over time. None give evidence of declines in reading ability. 7
   While achievement, so far, looks good in US schools, guns come to school even in more prosperous neighborhoods. In the lower socio-economic areas, police patrol the halls and kids are screened by metal detectors. Often the kids essentially control the schools. I write from personal knowledge about schools not far from where I live in Southwest Michigan. The attitude toward sex taught on TV pervades the schools and is followed with plagues of disease and suffering. I don’t see this situation getting any better. It will likely affect overall academic success, too. So listen with both ears and read with both eyes.
 

Transfer to a conventional school

   Parents are sometimes concerned about whether children from home education programs can easily transfer to classroom schools. This doesn’t qualify as a “disadvantage,” but it’s appropriate to discuss in this context. Transfer seldom presents any serious difficulty. Tests may be given if the school personnel doubt your judgment about grade placement. Faithfully taught home school students generally show up very well. The fact that your home school was unofficial or that you were uncertified is not likely to cause a problem. Most administrators would include other factors in their consideration. Accreditation would not affect elementary grades. Achievement tests and evidence of course work could validate secondary credits.
   Being placed in the wrong grade is unlikely. Deciding the proper grade should depend on more than test results. Repeating a grade may be wise, but if your child only missed studying South America and a minor math concept which the others were exposed to, and if studying extra to catch up is a realistic expectation, he or she could avoid the discouragement of being a grade behind. Of course pushing ahead when seriously lacking preparation will very likely compound the problem. You might ask for a trial period or seek wider counsel. And in any case, resist letting parental pride make the decision.
   Whenever students make a transition from one type of school to another, a certain degree of adjustment in learning style is necessary. Home schooled students coming into a classroom situation sometimes have to learn: (1) to get more information from lectures, (2) to move more with the class, performing particular learning tasks at stipulated times, (3) to move ahead in a study task without someone standing by to prompt each step, (4) not to leave their seats at liberty, and (5) that they don’t “know it all.”
   These minor adjustments may be a little more difficult than changes students make in the transition from one school to another, but you can prepare your child by: expecting self-direction, planning opportunities for learning from lectures, and by arranging for group interaction.
 

Evidence of success

   Do children taught at home really learn as well as they would in a traditional classroom school? I’ve told you they can, but how do you know I’m right? Other authors have described their success with home education, but you have to ask whether or not their cases are typical. Parents whose home schooling experience failed would not likely write a book about it.
   Research studies provide reliable indications of the validity of home schooling if care is taken not to overgeneralize from the findings. Evidence from the success of home schooled students, contrary to how it appears, does not clearly prove the superiority of studying at home. Children of parents who care that much usually do better anyway. Still, research helps us understand. Of course, in particular situations home education may clearly be an academic advantage. And we would not want to forget that the strongest reasons for home schooling do not depend on test scores.
   I asked project leader Jon Wartes for his observations on what research really tells us about the achievement of home educated students. His reply is in a side bar (below).
 
 

Findings

   Many researchers have studied home schooling. I’ll describe the largest study, one conducted by Brian Ray for the Home School Legal Defense Association.8 During the 1994-’95 and the ‘95-’96 school years, nearly 6000 survey forms were distributed to a cross section of home school families and to home schooling groups for their members. 1,657 were returned. Researchers never get 100% returns on a large population sample like this, but 28% is lower than ideal. The results may be considered fairly dependable, however, because results of several factors in this survey are similar to those of Ray’s 1990 study which had a good 70% return rate.9 I’ll comment on some of the significant results.

   #  Number of children home schooled in the US  The estimate for the fall of 1996 is 1.23 million! The number has been growing at about 10% per year.
   #  Achievement  In ‘95-’95 test scores in language, math, science, social studies, and study skills were at the 85th percentile for the basic battery (set of tests) and 87% for the complete battery. By definition, the national average is the 50th percentile.
   #  Effect of teacher certification Students with one parent who had been certified at some time achieved only 3 percentile points more than those with both never-certified parents.
   #  Effect of educational level of parents  Achievement is affected very little by their parents’ attainments. A mother without having completed high school may expect nearly the same success as one with a college degree (5 percential points less). For public schools students, there is a big difference.10
   #  Minority achievement  I was pleased to see that reading scores of minority students were the same as for whites and math scores were only 5 points lower.
   #  Cost per student compared to public school  Home school families pay on an average of $546 per child where public education costs nearly ten times that amount. Of course it's not a fair comparison. The $546 does not count the home teacher's loss of income, not having an outside job, nor does it consider the cost of owning or renting the place where the teaching is done.
   #  Effect of government regulation The degree of sate control over home  education makes no significant difference in how well the children do.
  #  Curriculum types in use  Most parents (71%) were found to design their own curriculum, hand picking their materials. Nearly 24% used a curriculum package. Libraries are visited once or twice a month by over half of the families. Another 38% visit 3 to 5 times.
  #  Use of computers 84% of families use a computer for learning.
  #  Socialization  An amazing 98% of kids are involved in 2 or more social activities. 94% watch TV less than 3 hours per week compared to 38% of public school students.
  #  Ages of students 20% are high school age.

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  1. “Why Home Schooling? A Profile of Four Categories of Home Schoolers” by Maralee Mayberry, in Home School Researcher, Sept., 1988. Published by the National Home Education Research Institute. (See appendix C.)
  2. Mary McCarthy of Lakewood, New Jersey told me: “Something that I would like to see addressed is the burnout that comes with packaged curriculums. An awful lot of new home schoolers feel very overburdened by the regimen and “must-do” of them. They end up squabbling with the kids because the lessons aren’t getting done about 6 months into it. There’s that temptation to buy everything you see without regard to actually using it. . . . We need to address the idea that we’re not all Colfaxes and expectations shouldn’t be quite so high. New home schoolers feel like failures when they can’t keep up and that’s not right” (personal correspondence, 4/12/1993).
  3. Ken Schroeder, ”In Brief,“ Education Digest, April, 1993, p. 72, reporting on a 1991 study. Also Phi Delta Kappan, pp. 718-721, May, 1993.
  4. The Rand Corporation,  Student Achievement and the American Family, 1995, Discussed in Practioner, Dec., 1996 in an article by James Haas.
 5. U.S. Showing in Twelfth-Grade International Math Study Unacceptable, But Not Unexpected. News release from National Council of Teachers of Mathematics reported by PR Newswire, Feb. 24, 1998.
 6. Robert Rothman, “U.S. Ranks High In International Study of Reading,” in Education Week, Sept. 30, 1992. The article compares this good news to the ratings in math and science.
  7. “Today's Students Read Better Than Yesterday's: Here's Proof,” Education Digest, Jan., 1994, from Journal of Reading, Sept., 1993, 28-40.
  8. Brian D. Ray, Home Education Across the United States, 1997. Available from  the National Home Education Research Institute, P.O. Box 13939, Salem, OR 97309; (503) 364-1490; http:/www.nheri.org or from Home School Legal Defense Association. $5 with postage to US addresses.
  9. Brian D. Ray, A Nationwide Study of Home Education: Family Characteristics, Legal Matters, and Student Achievement, 1990, pp. 46, 47.
 10. Similar results found by Jennie Rakestraw and Jon Wartes were reported in the Dec., 1988 issue of The Home School Researcher. Rakestraw found no relationship between the parents’ educational level and student standardized achievement test scores. It is interesting to note that, in Wartes’ research, a small positive relationship did emerge between the parent’s educational level and student test scores, but it disappeared after two years of home schooling.