The Homeschooling News Café

By: Michael C. Broome

Home schooling is not only a right of each and every American, it is also a joy with blessings that many home schoolers wouldn’t trade for anything. Not just the children, but the mothers and fathers that give so much of their time to ensure their children have the best life can offer.

Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Andrea Scully, a homeschooling mom from Arkansas. Andrea shared with me the joys that she, her husband (Adam) and her four children experience. And what started out thirteen and a half years ago, for them as an idea, soon developed into a six month trial before their oldest was scheduled to attend school.  At the end of this trial period, a mutual trust was formed thus paving the road to home schooling all their children. Where did that road end? So far, it isn’t close to ending; but the oldest is a first year student at a college of pharmacy. She just turned 18. The second oldest is a freshman in college. The youngest two are still being home schooled.

Andrea is a disciple of Jesus in her everyday life, and a home schooling Mom with an English degree. Their children were taught to not only acknowledge the presence of Jesus in their everyday lives, but to think of Him as their best friend, their inspiration and foundation.

Being someone that is expecting twins in just a few months, I had to ask, “How did you combat ‘burn-out’ and stay focused on your duel role as a mother and a teacher?”

“Jesus,” she said. Genuine. Confident. And knowing His presence in her life, her husband’s life and the lives of their four children. Jesus is not an entity they fear or hide from or eliminate from their daily educational activities, rather they embrace His role in their lives as their pillar of strength.

Andrea told me that whenever adversity turned its ugly face her direction, she always found the presence of Jesus offering an answer. Like the time she was searching in vain for a more “user friendly” grammar curriculum.  She took her kids to a dentist appointment and found a young girl diligently doing her grammar work on the floor. Andrea asked the young girl’s mother what grammar she was using, and the woman was more than willing to share what curriculum she used. The two younger Scully’s are still using this grammar to this day. 

“Andrea, one of the main complaints home schooling parents deal with is the question of socialization. Was this a struggle for any of your children?” I asked.

“That’s funny. I hear that one all of the time too,” she said. “Honestly, my children are comfortable around anyone. They do what kids do when they are around other children and aren’t afraid of talking to adults. I’m not sure if that is just them or the home schooling, but socialization has never really been a concern for any of them.”

We talked more about this issue and eventually the word “confidence” materialized. We talked about how home schoolers tend to have confidence without the swagger. Confidence without the ego. Confidence to be approached or approach another, without the fear that is generally associated with immaturity. My philosophical side emerged and tried to claim that public schools can categorically force a bully system based on age, size and grouping by grading that forces children to learn where they belong and squeeze themselves into that space, either with comfort and ease or with force and shame.

Andrea wasn’t willing to comment on the wrongs with public schools, but rather what worked for her and her children. We did agree though - society questions home schooling socialization. Home schooling parents don’t. And the kids tend to laugh at not fitting in, since as home schoolers they are taught to fit into the entire world, not merely the class of children their same age.

“Andrea, are you familiar with what is going on in California and home schooling?” I felt compelled to ask.

“I am, but only from what I’ve been able to follow on the internet,” she said.

I briefly explained some information about it, and Andrea responded by telling me a quote her Grandmother constantly repeats, “I don’t know what the world’s coming to.”

We again agreed.  People don’t send their kids to church anymore; it’s no wonder why there is so much evil creeping its way into their lives. Without Jesus, we are robbing the world of hope. Christianity nurtures our youth with hope. Hope for today, tomorrow and for the entire foundation that is. Without Jesus, we are without hope. And without hope, we are without the foundation to build a sound platform.

Hanging up with Andrea, I thanked her and let her know that her story is one worthy of more than merely a blog posting. It is bigger than the papers, and stronger than one person’s account of home schooling. She politely interrupted me and told me that I wasn’t only capturing her story about home schooling, because without her husband and his support, their lives just wouldn’t be the same. I was also crowning her children’s vast accomplishments.

Truthfully, Jesus and Christianity would certainly remain a constant, but their road to enlightenment would have had a lot of different turns and speed bumps. The children might not be in the same places today, but all of them would have traveled together, with Christ as their guide. For some, perhaps this is a road less traveled. For the Scully family, it has been the best route from point A to point B, earth to God’s kingdom.

 By Mimi Rothschild

More and more homeschooling parents have asked me about Attention Deficit Disorder and the best way to homeschool their children who have ADD or ADHD.  I found this list of ADD/ADHD resources online, I thought I’d share it with everyone.

“Excerpted from Teaching Strategies: Education of Children with Attention Deficit Disorder.

Effective classroom teaching requires knowledge about attention deficit disorder, a solid grounding in behavioral management, skill in instructional design, and an awareness of the disorder’s medical components. This understanding is enhanced when strong relationships are built between professionals and families.

The following articles outline suggestions and strategies to use when working with students with ADD/ADHD:”

By Mimi Rothschild

Virtual schools, cyber school, online academies. These terms seemed foreign to most Americans ten years ago, but with advancements in technology and the deterioration of the public school system, virtual schools are growing in popularity. The Tucson Citizen documents the growth of virtual schools in Arizona.

Below is what some Arizona students are saying about their virtual school experience:

“I won’t have the distractions of other people in class who don’t want to do their work and who are trying to get me to join them,” said William Huston

“The flexible schedule is great and a lot less stressful,” said Rebekah Devine.

“I’d like to finish high school in three years, so the virtual classes are great. This summer I was able to do what I wanted during the day and do my classes at night,” said Diana Garcia.

Home school combined with Christian online academies is an outstanding way to educate children. Home schooling with online academies has proven to be extremely successful. While virtual schools eliminate the dangers of public schools it does not eliminate students learning about evolution and other fallacies. Instead, Christian home schooling online academies teach home schoolers the truth of the Gospel and allow parents to instill Godly values into their children.

To read Mary Bustamante’s article click here.

By Mimi Rothschild

Michael Smith, co-founder and president of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), wrote an interesting article in The Washington Times earlier this week about home schooling’s success in America. Smith is ecstatic, as we all should be, that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recognized home schooling as a viable educational option in his opinion of Morse v. Frederick.

Morse v. Frederick examined the constitutionality of public schools ability to regulate a student’s speech. The case was heavily discussed among the media. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, said Principal Deborah Morse did not violate Joseph Frederick’s rights to free speech when she took down his poster which advocated marijuana use.

In his opinion of Morse v. Frederick, Supreme Court Justice Thomas said, “If parents do not like the rules imposed by those schools, they can seek redress in school boards or legislatures; they can send their children to private schools or home school them; or they can simply move.”

The Supreme Court judge’s suggestion that parents can choose home schooling along with their right to choose private or parochial schools is a step in the right direction for the home schooling movement. Justice Thomas also put home schooling on the same level with both public and private schools which is rarely done by someone who isn’t a part of the home schooling community. Smith writes, “After 24 years, it is gratifying to read the words of a Supreme Court justice who rightfully placed home schooling on a level playing field with public and private schools. This kind of recognition is tremendously significant to the home school community.”

Read the rest of Michael Smith’s compelling article here.

By Mimi Rothschild

One of the best aspects of homeschooling is that it allows families to have flexible schedules while also allowing home schooling students the opportunity to pursue their passions. If a student wants to learn more about World War Two then he or she can learn more. If a student wants to study the affects of new media on society then he or she can study it. If a student wants to learn an instrument or play a sport then they are certainly welcome to do so.

Home schooling students in central Pennsylvania exemplify this pro-active attitude of learning and doing. The Central Pennsylvania Homeschool Ensemble is alive and well according to The Patriot News. Some people worried that the home school ensemble would collapse after Pennsylvania finally allowed the state’s 25,000 home school students to participate in public school’s extracurricular activities in 2005. The orchestra is still going strong under the direction of its conductor Barry Clay. The central Pennsylvania Orchestra has twenty-four members, ages ranging from nine to nineteen.

It’s great that this ensemble is still going strong and it makes a statement too. Often times home schooling students get inaccurately labeled as not being properly “socialized”. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Home schoolers, on average, participate in five activities. That is a lot of venues for home schooling students to socialize with their peers.

Home schooling students, like the ones in the Central Pennsylvania Home School Ensemble, pursue their interests while socializing too. The bottom line is this: home schoolers are socially active amongst other home schoolers and also amongst non-home schooling students.

By Mimi Rothschild

One of the most appealing aspects of home schooling is that home schoolers receive all of the teacher’s attention, instead of sharing it with hundreds of students. Home schooling is especially effective when the parent is able to devote the majority of their attention to a home schooler with special needs, like dyslexia. The ability to solely focus on one student or a few students is next to impossible for teachers in traditional schools.

The Houston Independent School District has been in the news recently because of its inability to provide that attention to students who have been identified with dyslexia. Houston is just one example of a much larger problem within the public school system. Texas law requires “districts to identify and tutor students with dyslexia, a learning disability that affects 5 percent to 20 percent of all children” (Jennifer Radcliffe, “Schools fail to meet law on dyslexia”). This school year the Houston Independent School District only gave 256 of its 200,000 dyslexic students extra help. But who pays in end? Taxpayers like you and me. The National Right to Read Foundation estimates the nation spends nearly $225 billion a year on social services and lost income stemming from the problem of dyslexic students who aren’t receiving the proper help.

Crowded classrooms and bureaucratic policies make it hard for dyslexic public school students to receive the sort of attention they need. Home schooling students with special needs can work at their own pace and be given full attention by their home schooling teachers. Home schoolers with dyslexia and other disabilities greatly benefit from home schooling’s environment, flexible schedule, and the fact that their teachers are usually available for them 24/7.

To read more about the crisis in Houston and all around the nation click here.

By Mimi Rothschild

In a recent series of articles, Jonah Goldberg of The National Review Online and David Gelernter of The Weekly Standard both propose that America might be better off without public schools and discuss how we might decide whether to have them or not. Both writers cite public school’s well documented shortcomings.

“Americans want universal education, just as they want universally safe food. But nobody believes that the government should run 90 percent of the restaurants, farms, and supermarkets. Why should it run 90 percent of the schools — particularly when it gets terrible results?” says Goldberg.

Why not liberate all the vast resources we spend on public schools to be re-channeled to private schools chosen by the nation’s parents? Any public school offering an education that parents will actually pay for (of their own free will) would presumably be replaced by a private school offering essentially the same thing. But a vast array of new private schools would germinate also. And a vast number of failed public schools would disappear.

“In the system I am picturing, education would continue to be free and accessible to every child, and all taxpayers would continue to pay for it. Parents would be guaranteed access to ‘reasonable’ schools that cost them nothing beyond what they pay in taxes. It would all be just like today–except that public schools would have vanished” says David Gelertner.

“Many sources agree that, on the whole, American public schools are rotten. In 2000, a whopping 12 percent of graduating seniors were rated ‘proficient’ in science, and international surveys rank our graduating seniors 19th overall out of 21 nations. In 2002, the Washington Post summarized a different survey: ‘Nearly six in 10 of the nation’s high school seniors lack even a basic knowledge of U.S. history,’” says Gelerneter.

The article raises the question if private entities would be capable of providing enough new schools to replace existing public ones? Can America’s private organizations build enough hospitals to care for it’s sick, enough nursery schools to teach its very young and enough grocery stores to feed it’s population. Of course! Will these privately run schools be good enough? They would have to be or no one would attend them and they would go out of business. Competition among the newly formed schools would force them to give the public the best product at the lowest price, just like every other business in this country.

Home schooling has received some positive press lately and it may be due to the fact that the media has begun to expose the inadequacies of the public school system. It is frightening to think that entire generations of Americans aren’t being properly educated.

Home schooling offers world-class educations to millions of American students, but unfortunately homeschoolers are still in the minority right now.

Read David Gelernter’s article: A World Without Public Schools.

To read Jonah Goldberg’s article: Public Ed 101.

By Mimi Rothschild

What are your homeschoolers doing this summer? Going back in time? Sailing on the high seas? Hanging out with the three little pigs? Summer is the perfect time for homeschoolers to improve their readings skills and have a blast while doing it. We’ve compiled a comprehensive summer reading list for each Grace Academy grade so that your homeschoolers can improve their reading skills over the summer and have fun reading a variety of amazing stories. Encourage your homeschooler to read everyday and see their reading skills improve dramatically over the summer!

Homeschool parents should also check out our homeschool summer school program. Our summer school program helps homeschoolers grow their minds, gain credit toward a high school diploma, and surge ahead academically instead of developing lazy habits. Have a great summer!!!

By Mimi Rothschild

On April 10th two different speakers encouraged students at Boulder Valley High School in Colorado to have sex and use drugs at a required attendance lecture entitled “STDs: Sex, Teens and Drugs.” State lawmakers are furious over what was said at the lecture and are trying to fire Superintendent George Garcia.

What was actually said is quite shocking and disturbing. Read two of the quotes from the speakers below:

“I’m going to encourage you to have sex and I’m going to encourage you to use drugs appropriately. Why I’m going to take that position is because you’re going to do it anyway, so my approach to this is to be realistic, and I think as a psychologist and a health educator, it’s more important to educate you in a direction you might actually stick to.” - Joel Becker, associate clinical professor of psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles

“Find some balance with having the fun and experimenting, and enjoying what you’re doing — whether it’s learning or sexually or with drugs and alcohol and hanging out with your friends — but keep focused, because it is your life.” - Andee Gerhart, Ernst & Young International Accounting Firm

While some parents, teachers, and politicians are angry at this lecture it still shows that certain individuals in public schools will go to certain lengths just to get their agenda across, especially to vulnerable high school students. Telling high school students to have sex and try drugs is an absolute disgrace, but it certainly isn’t the first time public schools have embarrassed themselves.

Public school teachers and administrators are constantly trying to push their agenda onto the young people of America. Homeschool students don’t have to deal with any of that nonsense or the rest of the chaos that comes with a public school education. Homeschool students have already proven to be better students and learn more than their public school counterparts.

The question in 2007 shouldn’t be “Why homeschool?” It should be “Why not homeschool?” Public schools are failing the young people of America and confusing them with lectures like “STDs: Sex, Teens and Drugs.” Does anyone else find it amazing that students can be encouraged to have sex and do drugs at public schools, but cannot be taught The Bible?

Read more about the lecture in Colorado here.

By Mimi Rothschild

Some of the most famous artists, composers, writers, judges, inventors, religious leaders, and presidents in the world were homeschooled. It’s no coincidence that some of the most brilliant minds in history were developed and challenged in homeschools.

A homeschooler’s education isn’t limited by one dimensional curriculums like those offered by public schools. Homeschool students learn in unique and education focused environments which are why homeschoolers, on average, test 30-37% higher than public school students in all subjects! A homeschooler’s mind is challenged academically on a daily basis because the curriculum is custom made to fit their strengths and weaknesses.

Homeschoolers don’t have to deal with the consistent distractions that plague public schools. Homeschoolers can learn in a quiet setting that allows them to interact with adults in a mature way.

Some of the greatest leaders, artists, and writers ever, who are fervently studied in most schools, excelled because of their homeschool educations. It is exciting to think about which one of our Grace Academy homeschoolers will become the next Thomas Edison, Leonardo Da Vinci, C.S. Lewis, or Abraham Lincoln.

Click here to see the complete list of famous homeschoolers.