Introduction
Chapter 1 - Our Story
Jeff also gained admission to the United States Naval Academy, Boston University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. West Point put him on their waiting list. Jeff won substantial scholarship offers from Army, Navy, and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). After receiving these offers, half a dozen other colleges actively recruited him. Two of these schools, Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, offered Jeff full scholarships. More recently our homeschooled daughter Tamara received acceptances from two selective colleges, Agnes Scott College in Georgia and Stephens College in Missouri. Emory University in Georgia placed her on their waiting list. With her slightly-above-average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score, making the waiting list at this selective institution was a triumph. Tamara now attends her first choice school, Agnes Scott College, on a substantial merit scholarship.
Talk about hands-on learning experiences. We survived high school homeschooling. With few guidelines, we succeeded with college admissions. Perhaps years of homeschooling (figuring things out on our own and finding assistance in the larger community) prepared us. We began homeschooling in the late 1980's. Jeff was a seventh grader and Tamara a sixth grader at "the best middle school in Albuquerque, New Mexico," to which we had recently moved. Terrell, my husband, is a periodontist in the United States Air Force. Consequently, Jeff and Tamara had attended school in three other states: California, North Dakota, and Texas. The school in New Mexico, like the ones before it, promised to be simply another educational institution to which we would have to adjust.
Jeff and Tamara, at that point, looked like kids who had everything going for them. Each had a full schedule of gifted and honors classes in addition to the typical roster of extracurricular activities. Both took piano lessons. They played on basketball and baseball teams and swam competitively in the summer. They got along well with their peers. When asked about school, both kids were likely to say, "It's okay," without elaborating. They didn't love it, didn't hate it.
I was concerned that Jeff and Tamara did not view school more positively. I worried also about academics. Although both kids received good report cards, sometimes it seemed their abilities did not warrant the high grades. My straight-A's-in-math daughter would hesitate when I asked her to multiply six times seven. Jeff did not enjoy recreational reading. Neither child seemed to be on track to becoming a self-directed learner.
Instead, Jeff and Tamara had learned to play the game. They turned in work on time and cooperated with class activities. They were quiet when the teacher spoke. Most significantly, they were not discipline problems. Several of their teachers had told me over the years that disorderly behavior was prevalent, good behavior the exception. Mere decorum earned not just a passing grade, but an "A" or a "B". Jeff and Tamara had years of report cards with "A's" and "B's" on them. What did those grades really mean? Had the kids mastered anything?
Accidentally one day, I heard a homeschooling family interviewed on a television talk show. Never thinking we would actually become homeschoolers, I brought up the topic at dinner, just as something interesting to discuss. As I described the homeschooling family and their activities, both Jeff and Tamara listened intently. After a couple of questions and a short discussion, both said they wanted to try homeschooling. As the eager-to-get-to-it pre-teenagers they were, they wanted us to begin the very next day.
Whoa! Here were two kids who did well in school, yet homeschooling looked attractive to them. As I began questioning them closely about their reasons, I heard the words "waste of time" and "silly" and "pointless" over and over. School bored them.
We were hesitant to make any changes. After all, both Jeff and Tamara had pretty paper trails (good grades, positive teacher recommendations, high standardized test scores). Additionally, my husband and I had a long list of questions. Where would we find curriculum and other materials? How would homeschooling mesh with my attending school and teaching piano part-time? Were others homeschooling in our vicinity? How could we find them? Could the kids return to school at any time? What were the legal implications?
Library research and talking to local home educators took care of most of our questions about homeschooling. Most helpful was David & Micki Colfax's Homeschooling For Excellence. Our hesitancy about home education completely disappeared after I spent two days--one for each child--observing everything in their government school classes (government school is simply a more appropriate term for public school). Any parent considering homeschooling is well-advised to do the same. As I said, I observed for two full days. I listened and watched; I did not help out. During those days, I kept track of administrative time versus on-task time. Administrative time includes passing out supplies, making announcements, taking roll, forming groups, and disciplining (the biggest time waster of all). On-task time is roughly defined as really doing something: reading, writing, discussing issues, working problems, listening to a lecture, watching a demonstration, or participating in an activity.
The two days I attended, total on-task time each day amounted to less than one hour. Less than one hour out of six. It was appalling. Students engaged in academic activities less than 20 percent of each school day. Teachers spent most of each class period on administrative concerns. I learned later that this particular school was not unusual.
How could we do any worse? Even if our homeschooling was very basic and simple--say, working our way through math texts and reading a lot--the kids would accomplish more than if they stayed in school. Even though we had much to learn about home education, we decided we had little to lose and perhaps a lot to gain.
So we embarked on the homeschooling adventure. In 1988, with both the kids beginning middle school, thoughts of college were far off. Each year, Jeff and Tamara had the option of returning to school. In fact, we initially expected that they would return to school (surely high school had to be better?). College was not among our concerns.
Each year, we put together an eclectic curriculum (see examples in Appendix E). We built our homeschooling program around our students' interests and goals, and we used a variety of resources. These included traditional materials (texts); unit studies (in-depth, thematic projects); outside activities (4-H, sports, music, church); and volunteer and paying jobs. In addition, we scheduled substantial time for student-directed studies and activities (termed unschooling by some). From the beginning, Jeff and Tamara collaborated in planning their homeschooling.
