Why Homeschool?
Posted by Tim Drake in Family on Tuesday, July 07, 2009 6:00 AM
Three years ago, Dean and Kim Walz, of St. Cloud, Minn., began homeschooling their youngest of three daughters because of health issues. At the time, they didn’t know a single homeschooling parent, and thought the effort would be temporary until their daughter’s health improved.
However, the following year, their eldest daughter, Tricia, a sophomore at a local public high school began getting harassed by fellow students and teachers. It came to a head over a test question in health class.
Right to the Truth
The multiple choice question asked how to prevent STDs. Tricia answered “abstinence.” The teacher marked the answer wrong and no amount of arguing about it would convince the teacher to accept Tricia’s answer.
“You can go ahead and mark it wrong, but it’s the truth,” responded Tricia.
“They weren’t giving the kids the option to disagree,” said Kim. “The teachers were pushing their values on the students, and they were being forced to follow.”
By the end of the year, Tricia had done research on homeschooling and was begging to be homeschooled.
“I wanted to protect my children’s moral values,” said Kim. So, the family decided to begin homeschooling all three of their daughters. Tricia graduated from Seton Home Study this spring and is looking at various colleges.
A National Trend
The Walz family isn’t alone. According to recent statistics provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the popularity of homeschooling continues to rise across the U.S. In addition, the numbers provided in the Department of Education’s “The Condition of Education 2009” Report also gives some indication for the increase – according to a large percentage of the parents, it’s the desire for religious or moral instruction.
“Homeschooling has been growing at 7% per year for the past 10 years,” said Ian Slatter, director of media relations for the Purcellville, Va.-based Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), an 85,000 member organization that supports the legal rights of homeschooling families. “Homeschooling is spread pretty evenly through all 50 states.”
The Department of Education has issued its reports on homeschool data since 1996. According to the recent report, based on household interviews with parents of 11,994 age 5-17 students, 1.5 million students are home-schooled full-time in the U.S. That’s an increase from 850,000 in 1999 and just over 1 million in 2003. The overall percentage of students being homeschooled rose from 1.7% in 1999 to nearly 3% in 2007.
Seton Home Study School, a Catholic home-schooling organization and curriculum provider, said that the government data reflects what they see in their own enrollment numbers.
“Our growth has not been dissimilar,” said Jim Shanley, director of marketing for Seton Home Study School. “Since 1999, our enrolled families have increased by 50%.”
Additionally, said Shanley, purchases of home-school curriculum and supplies from non-enrolled families has increased more than 300% over that same time-frame.
A Matter of Morals
The report also included information on why parents home educate.
Asked the reason why they chose homeschooling, 36% of parents cited a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. 31 percent said they had concerns about the environment found in other schools, such as safety, drugs, and negative peer pressure. This was followed by dissatisfaction with education quality elsewhere (30 percent). 14 percent cited other reasons, such as a desire for more family time together.
“Our studies reveal that while the religious aspect is center stage for most Catholic families, the academic standing that a child can acquire through homeschooling is a close second,” said Shanley.
—Staff writer Tim Drake writes from St. Joseph, Minnesota.
Resources:
- Even if you’re not considering full-fledged homeschooling, you may be interested in Resources for Catholic Educators, a site which contains thousands of links, curriculum ideas, clip art, and more for those teaching the Catholic faith. It’s a vast set of resources for Catholic educators.
- Catholic Heritage Curricula is one among dozens of companies that provide Catholic curriculum for homeschooling families.
- The Homeschool Legal Defense Association provides legal assistance to member families to protect their rights to home educate their children.
- Catholic Education: Homeward Bound : A Useful Guide to Catholic Home Schooling
by Kimberly Hahn and Mary Hasson is a great read for beginning homeschoolers and interested onlookers alike.
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