Home education soars, and families benefit
By Tanya L. Green
May/June 2001 Family Voice

It began as a trickle in the 1970s. Since then, the modern home-education (also called homeschooling) movement has grown to involve, literally, millions. Mike Farris, chairman and general counsel of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), attributes this to what he calls the “Great Kids—Average Parents Syndrome.”

“People see how great most homeschooled kids are and say, ‘I’d like my kids to turn out like that!’” he told Family Voice. They see that normal parents are successful at homeschooling and realize they can do it, too. He reports that more than 2 million children are now homeschooled. In 1978, the number was fewer than 15,000.

Vickie Farris, Mike’s wife and author with daughter Jayme of A Mom Just Like You, calls home education “a more excellent form of education. Kids nearly always do well.” She says mothers make the best teachers because they know and love their children. “They bring out the best in their kids.”

Bible-believing Christians currently comprise the majority in the movement, but this wasn’t always the case, says Dr. Brian D. Ray, president and founder of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI).

“In the early days of homeschooling, in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, some of the first people who promoted it were not talking about religious things,” he says. “[They] were talking about what’s good for children. Schools were not good places in the sense that they indoctrinated in the ways of the state. They were not taking into account the best teaching and educational practices.” He said Christians began to promote home education in the mid-1980s.

Contrary to the claims of critics, home-educated children are socially and emotionally well-adjusted. Ray says several studies now show home-educated children are typically better adjusted than those in conventional schools, by measures of self-concept, self-esteem, family strength and flexibility.

Parents choose to educate at home for many reasons. They want to build stronger family relationships. They believe public schools fail their children. They fear for their children’s safety. But mostly they want to instill in them their own values, beliefs and worldview.

Whatever the reason, an increasing number of parents see it as a viable option for their children.

She began homeschooling her daughter Emily when she was 5, after professionals labeled her ineducable. Emily experienced learning problems from medical complications endured as an infant.

A family she met at church inspired Vicki. “[They had] a child labeled ‘a slow learner,’” she recalls. “That child went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.” The family suggested Vicki and her husband Terry homeschool Emily. They “played around” with it for one year and discovered that, despite difficulties, their daughter could learn.

Today, Emily is 24 years old. She plays the flute and piano and takes violin lessons. She has worked as a manager at McDonald’s. Vicki and Terry became convinced homeschooling was the right decision. They continue to homeschool their other six children.

She prayed about homeschooling her then 5-year-old daughter Francesca and felt God leading her in this direction. “I taught my oldest daughter how to read at age 5; we used the phonics approach,” she says.

Patricia eventually sent Francesca, now 14, and her siblings (Nicolas, 12, and Casey, 10) to public school, but she returned to home education after one year. “I didn’t want to put the kids in an environment where God wasn’t exalted. They weren’t getting what they needed spiritually,” she says.

Joyce Burges says desperation led her to homeschool 12 years ago. At the time, her oldest son, Eric Jr., failed to maintain an “acceptable” grade point average in the magnet school he attended. The school gave her two choices: place him in a lower grade or send him to a school, presumably of lesser quality, far from home. Joyce found neither choice acceptable, so she decided to homeschool.

“‘I need to rescue my son,’” she remembers thinking. The school’s overemphasis on grade point averages had hurt Eric Jr.’s confidence.

Joyce says it took a year “to bring him back to life.” To accomplish this, she and her husband, Eric Sr., placed their son in “unassuming leadership roles” in their home-education network’s science and geography clubs. The younger children’s respect for him provided the needed antidote to his lagging self-confidence. The Burgeses eventually decided to homeschool their other children (ages 5 to 17; Eric Jr. is now 24).

Last July, Joyce and Eric Sr. founded the National Black Home Educators Resource Association (NBHERA). The association provides encouragement, support and resources to families who are exploring home education. It lets parents know they have an alternative to conventional education.

“A lot of parents are not even aware that home education is an option,” says Joyce. “Don't overlook this, because it may come in and rescue you. It did for us. With my son failing …, or the public school system failing him, home education was a lifeline.”

Patricia's greatest reward is seeing her children mature and enjoy learning. She tells about the time her husband and son Nicolas were in a furniture store, and Nicolas wandered off to the children's section. His father found him sitting on a bunk bed reading an old encyclopedia he discovered in a dresser drawer. Out of his curiosity, “He found information he needed for a report!” the proud mom exclaims.

Home education enables parents to teach from life. Vicki “absolutely loves” being around her children, but her greatest reward is leading them to Christ. When Terry's dying mother came to live with the family, it was not just an opportunity to tailor the curriculum to cancer, diet and health, but an opportunity to discuss death, dying and heaven. Through that, her 4-year-old daughter, Helen, came to know Christ.

Patricia knows of a single working mother who homeschooled with the help of another family. The mother prepared the lessons for her children. Before heading to work, she took the children to the home of a friend who also homeschooled, where they completed their lessons. When their mother returned in the evening, she corrected their work and did additional teaching. “She was still homeschooling, because she designed the program,” Patricia says.

Dr. Ray praises such arrangements. He also says parents are not the only ones who can homeschool. “[They]… might engage grandparents, neighbors, tutors or friends from church.”

“On average, parents are spending in the realm of $400-$600 per year, per child,” says Ray. However, he adds, some families homeschool for almost nothing by using the public library, college and university libraries, usedbook sales, and the Internet.

“Willingness, commitment and a good academic plan, not money, make [home education] work,” says Isabel Lyman, herself a home educator and author of The Homeschooling Revolution. A longtime home-education advocate, Isabel says low-income parents receiving private school vouchers from programs such as the Children’s Scholarship Fund may use the money to homeschool. But she and other parents do experience sacrifices.

“I drive an older car, I don’t do a lot of shopping, I don’t have a big wardrobe,” says Patricia. “We have one income. There were times when my husband was unemployed, [or] was doing temporary work, [but] we continued to homeschool.”

Once that is done, he recommends joining a local support group and contacting your state’s home-education organization. Subscribing to a home-education magazine and attending conferences are helpful, as well.

While the evidence shows home education has many benefits, Vicki says parents must be sure God is leading them. “If God has called you to do this …, He will enable you.”

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