Rachel D. says her friends usually have the same question when she tells them she doesn’t go to public school but is taught at home.
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“They always ask me,
‘Do you do your work in your pajamas?’ “
Her answer? “Sometimes I do, but most of the time I get dressed.”
For Rachel, 9, of Oak Park and other home-schoolers, getting up and going to school means getting up and staying home. They don’t ride a bus or sit in a classroom or eat cafeteria food or wait for a bell to ring.
What do they do? To find out, two public-school kids–KidNews Scoop Troopers Andy Q., 11, and Cara P., 14, both of Lake Forest–came up with questions for two home-schoolers, Rachel and Sam D., 11, of Vernon Hills. Here are the results:
1. Cara: How is your time at home divided between your studies and relaxing?
Rachel doesn’t follow a set schedule but said, “I do have to finish stuff in my assignment book. There’s a minimum I have to do each day.”
She usually starts at 7:30 a.m. and does math and writes on her own. Then she and her brother, Zach, 11, work together, either doing a craft project or studying a unit on a topic they pick. “We spend about two or three weeks on each unit. We just did the human body and are doing a new unit on Vietnam,” Rachel said.
Rachel finishes school at 2:30 p.m. “Because I’m home-schooled, I think I get more time to practice the cello, play and rest and read.”
For Sam, school begins about 8:30 a.m. in the basement with his brothers, Max, 9, and Jack, 6. Sam’s mom, a former public school teacher, teaches spelling, thinking-skills problems and algebra from textbooks and workbooks. Twice a week, Sam also joins other home-schoolers for lessons in physical education, social studies, writing and science. The afternoon that Sam talked to KidNews, he was typing a report about Gen. Robert E. Lee for one of his home-school groups, which was doing a unit on the Civil War.
“I definitely have more free time,” Sam said. “I have two or three hours of homework that I get done by noon or 1 p.m. Most kids get home at 3 p.m. and have homework for three hours.” In his spare time, Sam works on his Web page and reads.
2. Andy: Do you enjoy having your mom as your teacher? Do you get into many arguments with your mom on homework-related issues?
Sam: “I really look forward to school with my mom–it’s really fun. Other kids think I have it all easy but it’s a lot of work.”
He also likes the individual attention. “Usually a class [at public school] has 20 kids and it’s 40 minutes long, so you get two minutes of one-on-one time with the teacher, if that. With Mom, I get a whole day and have time to really understand what I’m working on.”
Rachel enjoys the flexibility of home-schooling. “There’s no bell. I get to do things at my own pace and I don’t have specific times for each class.”
When she gets frustrated with her mom, she cools off by taking a break. “I usually do the hardest stuff first in the day and I can get tense or mad. If that happens, I run up to my room.”
Sam said he argues with his mom sometimes but tries not to let it interfere with school. “Basically because you’re living with your teacher, you have to talk about differences other than at school time. We talk about them when it’s over.”
3. Cara: How are your “grades” determined?
Rachel: “We don’t get grades unless we ask for them. And there’s no homework–well, it’s all homework, really. There’s just no homework we take to our rooms.” She also doesn’t take tests.
Sam: “I have tests and Mom grades them. I also get homework from Mom and my home-school groups.”
4. Cara: Do you participate in community activities with other kids your age?
Rachel: “I just finished floor hockey and am starting softball. I play cello and have met friends there.” She also is signed up for a gymnastics camp this summer and wants to try horseback riding.
Sam: “I’m taking baseball this spring and my dad’s assistant coach. In the winter and fall, I play basketball. I also go to my church’s youth group.”
5. Andy: Do you find it hard to make friends other places, since you cannot make them through school?
Sometimes, Rachel said. “A lot of my friends know more people and play with more friends. They get to see them during the day at school.”
Sam, though, said it’s not a problem. “I see kids pretty often” through his activities, he said.
6. Cara: Have you ever attended public school or do you wish to?
Rachel and Sam have never gone to a traditional school but want to try. Sam has applied to a private school for next year, and Rachel is considering a public school.
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Sam: “I thought I’d try out something different than walking downstairs each day. I’d be getting on a bus and going to a regular classroom.”
Rachel: “My friends keep telling me school’s so great. I just want to give it a try and find out for myself.”
Report card
The numbers:
A September 2001 report on home-schooling by the U.S. Department of Education found an estimated 850,000 students ages 5 to 17–or 1.7 percent of all U.S. students–were home-schooled in 1999, the last year numbers were available. That’s more students than attend public schools in Iowa and Nebraska combined. It’s also a big increase from 1994, when it was estimated 345,000 students were learning at home.
The law:
Regulation for home-schooling varies from state to state. Some states require students to take standardized tests yearly or have a certified teacher oversee students’ curriculum. Illinois law only requires that students take the same core subjects that are taught in public schools and kids be taught in English.
Critics say all home-schoolers should meet minimum standards. The National Education Association recommends that home-school educators be licensed and curriculums be approved by state education departments.
The choice:
In the Education Department report, parents gave a wide variety of reasons for home-schooling. Almost one-half of parents surveyed said they’re able to give their children a better education at home; 38 percent cited religious reasons; and about one-quarter said a poor learning environment in school factored into their decision to home-school.
The academics:
As a group, home-schoolers score better on standardized tests than public-school students. For example, on the ACT, a standardized test for college admission, home-schoolers in 2001 had an average score of 22.7, compared with 21.0 among other students. Ed Colby, an ACT spokesman, said home-schoolers have outperformed other test-takers every year since 1997, when ACT began tracking their performance.
What’s going on? “One theory is that home-schoolers’ parents represent a certain population of society, people who can afford to do home-schooling,” said William Schubert, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Kids whose parents have more education and higher incomes tend to perform better on tests, he said.
“Another theory is the parent’s personal attention, love and shared learning” boost achievement, he added.
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