Home schooling

THE STATE DOESN'T REGULATE PARENTS WHO TEACH

by Frank Vinluan

Lawmakers failed to approve an education reform package this spring, but thousands of Illinois parents have already cast their votes. They're staying home to teach their kids. And there's nothing to stop them.

As the number of parents who choose to turn their homes into schoolhouses rises here and elsewhere, Illinois remains one of eight states that do not regulate "home schoolers." In fact, the State Board of Education doesn't monitor the quality of the education these parents are providing or even track the number of home schooled children.

"It would be like guessing the number ofjellybeans in ajar," says board spokeswoman Kirn Knauer.

Because home schoolers aren't required to register, even advocates can only venture an estimate of 15,000 home schooled children in Illinois. Indeed, home schooling has quietly become the education alternative of choice for roughly a million students nationwide. Yet while home schooling is legal in all 50 states, regulations vary widely.

Illinois officials approved charters to allow schools to design their curriculums and have debated the merits of vouchers to enable parents to send their kids to the schools they choose. But home schooling is considered private schooling and, as such, is not regulated. "Our whole philosophy on private education has been no state involvement," Knauer says.

Parents who wish to teach their kids need not notify the board or the local school district. They don't have to be certified. And they aren't required to clear their curriculums with the state.

Home schoolers must meet one standard, though: The education offered at home must be comparable to a public school education. If not, the district superintendent can approach the state's attorney to file truancy charges. But, according to Knauer, that has never happened.

Critics of home schooling argue for some oversight. While few condemn home schooling outright, they make a case for certification of parents and approval of the curriculum. "If there is no standard, no curriculum, then home schooling is a total crapshoot," says Gail Purkey of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

Education groups also bemoan what they see as the absence of socialization associated with home schooling. "There's a lot more to school than filling a kid's head with facts. These kids have to learn to function in the real world," says Susan Whitmore of the National Education Association.

But for many home schoolers, the world is their classroom. Dorothy Werner, a representative of the Adhoc Coalition for Home Educators, has been home schooling her children for close to 20 years.

Werner disputes arguments that learning at home fosters social

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isolation. "My kid is in the real world all the time, not shut up in a room where he has to ask permission to go to the bathroom."

Still, there has been no legislative move to impose home-school regulations. Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw, a Naperville Republican, says she knows of many families in her district who home school and would not want state oversight. "Why would we want to tinker with something that works?"

Rep. David Phelps, an Eldorado Democrat who chairs the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, agrees. He says most lawmakers accept that home schooling is unregulated.

That's just fine with home school advocates, who say home schooling works best unfettered by government mandates. "We want to make sure that the law [in Illinois] stays just the way it is," says Debbie Thompson of the Christian Home Educators Coalition.

Low Regulation
No state requirement for parents to initiate any contact with the state.

Moderate Regulation
State requires parents to send notification,test scores, and/or professional evaluation of student progress

High Regulation
State requires parents to send notification or achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation, plus other requirements (e.g. curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualifications of parents, or home visits by state officials.

Source: Home School Legal Defense Association

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Advocates say the advantages of home schooling far outweigh the criticisms or the costs, It's not for everybody. Not everybody can do it. But it works for those who do.'

Home schoolers argue that while public schools are subject to state standards, that hasn't ensured quality education. Regulations, they say, only stifle the creative and individualized education achieved at home. Home schooling works best, they believe, when the parent and the child can work out academic objectives for themselves. And many home schooling parents fear regulation would defeat those efforts. "It goes completely against the reason why home schoolers are doing this in the First place. You might as well have your children in a public school," Werner says.

And home schoolers have been able to put some political muscle behind those beliefs.

A federal education plan nearly failed in 1994 when a teacher-certification provision was interpreted to apply to home schooling parents. Pressure from the home school lobby compelled lawmakers to amend that section to clarify that the federal government would not exercise control.

As a result, controls on home schools have come at the state level, ranging from explicit regulations to no regulation at all.

Minnesota, for example, has some of the strictest home school regulations in the country. Home schooled children there must register with their school district and file periodic reports with the superintendent. And if parents are teaching children other than their own, they must meet state certification requirements.

Among the other states that don't regulate home schools are neighboring Missouri and Indiana.

Meanwhile, in spite of the lack of regulations — or perhaps because of it — home schooling has taken root in Illinois. Bill Schubert, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago who home schools his own children, says home education has grown throughout all regions of the state.

So why do they do it? The reasons for choosing home schooling, Schubert says, are as diverse as the people who do it. Ultimately, parents home school because they think it will better serve their child's needs, whether those needs are academic, religious, cultural or health-related.

Parents who home school say, at worst, public schools are rife with drugs and gangs. Even at their best, they say, schools just aren't providing rigorous academic training.

"Parents want to take responsibility for their children's education," says Rich Shipe of the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Home school advocates are quick to point out that teaching at home is the oldest form of education. But contemporary home educators still struggle to overcome stereotypes.

"When I started home schooling, the perception was that I was a flower child hippie that didn't want my kids in public schools," says Werner, who began home schooling in 1978.

The anti-establishment image of home schooling — pervasive in the '70s — gave way in the '80s to the notion of home schooling as a religious movement. Today, home schooling is still perceived as the province of religious groups that count religion among education's three R's. Outside of the religious context, home schoolers are often assumed to be primarily rural residents.

Yet, while parents have and still pursue home schooling for those reasons, the practice has long included a cross-section of Americans.

Just as there are many reasons for home schooling, there are myriad ways to do it. Parents might cover the same materials the local school uses or create their own curriculum. Many get information or seek advice from a loose national network of home schoolers.

In fact, as home schooling thrives without regulations, home schoolers have found an unexpected ally in the Internet, a medium that also exists with few rules. A number of home school groups have established homepages that contain a wealth of information ranging from curriculum suggestions to help with legal questions.

Home school advocates are proud of their success, but they are careful not to depict the practice as a cure-all for problems in American education. Home schooling, they believe, is merely one option.

And it can be an expensive one. "When someone asks me what it costs to home-school, I say about $50,000," says Werner. "If I were in the work force, I would probably be making that much, maybe more."

In fact, cost is perhaps the biggest barrier to home schooling. Nevertheless, advocates say the advantages of home schooling far outweigh the criticisms or the costs. Home-educated children get individual attention designed to address their strengths and weaknesses. "It's the ultimate form of parental involvement in children's education," says Rich Shipe.

For those who have chosen it, home schooling has been worthwhile. According to Brian D. Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute in Salem, Ore., home schooled students, on average, outperform their public school peers by 30 to 37 percentile points across all subjects.

Advocates say they have no intention of replacing the public school system. They just want freedom for those who choose it.

"It's not for everybody. Not everybody can do it. But it works for those who do," Shipe says.

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