| Questions and Answers About Homeschooling
Table of Contents
What is Holt Associates/Growing Without Schooling?
What Kinds of People Homeschool?
How Many Homeschoolers are there in the U.S.?
Is it Legal? How Do I Find Out the Law in My State?
How Do I Contact Homeschooling Families and Groups in My Area?
How Does Homeschooling Work? What Do the Families Do All Day?
Do I Need to Purchase a Curriculum? Where Can I Get Materials?
Do I Need to Spend a Lot of Money on Homeschooling Materials?
How Can Parents Teach Subjects With Which They Are Not Familiar?
What about Standardized Tests?
What About the Social Life of Homeschoolers?
Does Homeschooling Work for Teenagers? What About College Admissions?
What About Homeschooling A Learning Disabled Child?
I Am Interested But My Spouse/Parents/Other Relatives Are Skeptical!
Working and Homeschooling.
What is Holt Associates/Growing Without Schooling?
Holt Associates Inc. published Growing Without Schooling magazine and many books, articles, and other materials about homeschooling and the work of John Holt. John Holt (1923-85) was the author of ten books about education, including the classic of the 1960's school reform movement, How Children Fail. He founded Growing Without Schooling magazine in 1977 as a way to support homeschooling families and to provide a forum for them to communicate with one another. Growing Without Schooling ended with the November/December 2001 issue.
Pat Farenga, the publisher of GWS, and Susannah Sheffer, its longest serving editor, continue to speak at conferences nationwide and discuss homeschooling on radio and TV programs and in newspaper and magazine articles. We also run our own consultation service.
In our work we emphasize children's ability to learn without a formal curriculum, without mimicking school in the home. We focus on how people learn and how others can help them, and we stress the use of real-life, community resources. In our magazine, Growing Without Schooling, we published writing by parents and children, interviews, book reviews, and in-depth discussions about how people learn.
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What kinds of people homeschool?
All kinds. Homeschoolers live in the country, city, suburbs, small towns. Some are single-parent families. Some run family businesses, and some parents combine working outside the home with homeschooling. The homeschooling movement is growing increasingly diverse as people of many religions, philosophies, and ethnic backgrounds choose to homeschool. In addition to several groups and publications specifically for Christian homeschoolers, there are now groups and newsletters addressing the concerns of Jewish homeschoolers, Muslim homeschoolers, and homeschoolers of color. See Teach Your Own for addresses of these and other groups. See also the book Freedom Challenge, edited by Grace Llewellyn, for an in depth look at the experiences of African-American homeschoolers, and Paula Penn-Nabrit, Morning by Morning: How We Home-Schooled Our African-American Sons to the Ivy League. (Villard, 2003). You can order these materials from FUN Books.
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How many homeschoolers are there in the U.S.?
Nobody knows for sure, but a researcher estimated 350,000 in the early 1990's and the Federal Department of Education Statistics put the number at 850,00 for 1999. Estimates for 2004 go well over a million children being homeschooled. Not all states require homeschoolers to register with a central location, so not all states are able to count or even to estimate the number of homeschoolers. In states where such figures are available, it is clear that the number of homeschoolers has grown substantially over the past ten or fifteen years.
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Is it legal? How do I find out the law in my state?
Yes, homeschooling is legal in all fifty states and in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, and probably elsewhere as well. You can find actual wording of your state's law under "Compulsory Education" or "School Attendance" in a courthouse or law library, or you can write to your State Department of Education for a copy of the current regulations. In general, some states require you to submit a plan to your local district, some require you to file with the State Department of Education and some allow you to register your home as a private school. You do not have to be a certified teacher.
Local homeschooling groups are usually the best source of precise information about how to fulfill the requirements of the law in your state. Many groups have information packets for new homeschoolers which include information about laws and regulations.
In general, it is not wise to start by asking your local school district what the homeschooling law is; often they don't know, and they may give you misleading information.
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How can I get in touch with families who are already homeschooling in my area? How do I find local groups and organizations?
Using an Internet search engine or asking your local librarian for information about support for homeschooling in your area can often work. Many homeschooling books, such as Teach Your Own (Perseus, 2003), have listings of state, local, and national support groups, as well as current homeschooling periodical and book listings.
In addition to being the best source of current information about laws and regulations, homeschooling support groups can help you meet a lot of people at once and can tell you about local activities. Support groups often have newsletters and meetings and sometimes organize field trips, sports teams, writing clubs, book discussion groups -- whatever appeals to the families involved.
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How does homeschooling work? What do the families do all day?
As most families will tell you, there is no typical day. Homeschooling children learn through reading, through conversation, through play, through outside classes, through volunteer work and apprenticeships. Typically children will have some time on their own at home (to read, play, build, draw, write, do a science experiment, work on math) and some time with their parents (to get help, to talk, to do some kind of focused project together), and some time with others outside the home (in music class, in Scouts, in a homeschoolers' book discussion group, in a volunteer job at a museum). Some families set aside a part of the day for focused academic work; others do not. Often this varies for each child and the family often adapts its schedule as the children grow and Back to Table of Contents
Do I need to purchase a curriculum? Where can I get materials if I don't want to use a packaged curriculum?
We emphasize that you don't need a packaged curriculum in order to homeschool successfully. Try the FUN Books catalog for suggestions of books and materials to use instead. Several of the books noted in this web site will point you to many other resources: for example, Teach Your Own lists addresses of other catalogs and suppliers, and The Teenage Liberation Handbook describes a wide range of specific books and materials.
As well, think of the resources available in your community: libraries, museums, historical sites, courthouses, specialty shops, nature centers. Think of adults you know who can share a skill, answer a question, let your children observe or help them at work. Think of real-life activities: writing letters, handling money, measuring, observing the stars, talking to older people. These are some of the ways that homeschoolers learn writing, math, science, and history. Talking with other homeschoolers will give you further ideas.
Some families like to have an idea of what is expected of kids in school at various ages. If you can get a copy of your school's curriculum, use it as a guide but don't make yourselves follow it rigidly -- one of the biggest advantages of homeschooling is that you don't have to operate exactly as school does or make your child follow the same timetable. Another useful document is the "Typical Course of Study, K-12" pamphlet, available from Worldbook International.
http://www2.worldbook.com/parents/course_study_index.asp
Some families also find that they prefer to start out using a packaged curriculum. Teach Your Own gives names of correspondence schools and curriculum supply houses, and you can investigate which one best fits your family's needs. Generally, a correspondence school's assignments can be completed in a few hours a day, leaving time for other activities as well.The Internet is full of such resources - use your favorite search engine to discover them.
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Do I need to spend a lot of money on homeschooling materials?
No more than you would ordinarily spend on a child's interests and activities. Homeschoolers often use the library and other free or low-cost community resources. They share or barter materials and skills with one another or with other people in the community. Some families are able to barter for outside lessons and to volunteer in exchange for admission to arts events or museums. Older homeschoolers find that volunteering is a good way to learn from adults outside the family, and it is often less expensive than taking a class or buying equipment.
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How can parents teach subjects with which they are not familiar?
They don't have to. Homeschooling doesn't mean that the parents are the only people from whom the child learns. The parents are facilitators, helping their children seek out information and hook up with other people. Homeschooling children may become interested in a subject or involved in an activity that their parents don't know much about and that's fine -- there's a world of resources available.
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What if my state requires testing, or if my children need to take standardized tests later for college admissions? Will they be prepared?
First, make sure that testing really is required in your state. Some states list testing as one of several options (the others being keeping a portfolio or getting an outside evaluation, usually). If you do have to test your children, you can prepare them by working on sample tests (just as schoolchildren do) and talking about test-taking strategies. Homeschoolers who want to go to college usually prepare for the SAT or the ACT by using one of the test preparation books that are available. Not all colleges require these tests, however.
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What about the social life of kids who learn at home?
There are many ways for homeschoolers to meet other kids. Studies have shown that homeschoolers have a more positive self-concept than their schooled peers. They are more likely to have friends of different ages and to be free of the cliquish, exclusive behavior so common in school. Here are just some of the ways that homeschoolers meet and socialize with other young people: In the neighborhood, in church, in Scouts, in 4-H, through community sports teams, in community theater, in music or dance or gymnastics or art classes, through participation in some school activities, through homeschool support groups and activity clubs. A teenage girl who left school and became a homeschooler wrote to GWS , "I think that homeschooling has allowed me to develop my social skills a lot more than school did." A mother told us about a local group for teenage homeschoolers, in which the kids have gone to museums, studied biology together, and done all sorts of other activities. She said, "The kids are meeting people from many different backgrounds, with many different kinds of life experiences, and the friendships really cross those lines." Homeschooling does not make kids socially deprived.
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Does homeschooling work for teenagers? Can homeschoolers get into college?
Yes, and yes. More and more teenagers are leaving school and becoming homeschoolers. There are also increasing numbers of teenagers who have homeschooled their entire lives. These kids are studying subjects in depth, learning from apprenticeships, work, and travel. They enjoy the independence of homeschooling and the time to discover what they really love to do. Homeschoolers now attend many of the selective colleges and state universities , and others are pursuing work or apprenticeships instead of going to college. See the following article written by several homeschooled teens in GWS 32.
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I'm interested in homeschooling, but the school has labeled my child "learning disabled" or "ADHD" and I worry that I'm not qualified to teach such a child.
It is noteworthy that many children who are labeled learning disabled in school turn out not to be disabled once they've been homeschooling for a while. Too often, the "LD" label is a result of group instruction; a child who does not follow the expected timetable, or learn in the expected way, does not thrive in a classroom setting. In school, for example, a child who is not yet reading at age 7 would be labeled LD, but in a homeschool setting such children learn to read when they are ready and become fluent readers within a short time. Before dismissing yourself as unqualified to teach a child who has been labeled LD or ADHD, read The Myth of the ADD Child ,In Their Own Way, and Teach Your Own.
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I love the idea of homeschooling, but my spouse/parents/other relatives/friends are skeptical about the idea. What can I do?
This can be one of the biggest challenges a homeschooling family faces. Remember that many concerns about homeschooling are based on ignorance or misinformation. For example a friend may worry that your child is being deprived of access to group experiences, not realizing that homeschoolers can participate in Scouts, community groups, homeschooling groups, etc. A skeptical relative may fear that this is simply your outrageous idea, not knowing about the thousands of successful homeschoolers who have gone before you. Many skeptics are reassured when they learn that homeschoolers do have friends, do get into college, do have a wide range of learning opportunities. When you have done some reading about homeschooling you will be able to select the passages that best address your critic's concerns. Some people are also reassured by meeting other homeschoolers or listening to talks, workshops, radio interviews.
Remember, too, that it can take time to feel comfortable with homeschooling, and sometimes you may simply have to live with a friend's or relative's uncertainty for a while. Often people report to us that with time, as skeptics have a chance to see how homeschooling works, their fears lessen.
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I'm intrigued by the idea of homeschooling, but I don't want to have to give up my own work or interests. Will I have to?
Homeschooling doesn't have to mean sitting with your children six hours a day and giving them lessons. Some parents combine part-time work with homeschooling, and some even manage to work full-time and still allow their children to learn at home. Even parents (more often mothers, but sometimes fathers) who forego paid work to be home with their children do still have time for their own pursuits. You may find that your children become interested in what you are interested in. You may also find that you enjoy learning along with them. Other children typically have several outside activities, and sometimes relationships with adult friends or mentors, so you will not be the only one working with your children or helping them learn.
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Email questions to info@HoltGWS.com or contact us at Holt Associates, PO Box 89, Wakefield, MA 01880-5011
Copyright © 2004 Holt Associates, Inc. Page updated on 3/26/04.
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