Real-Life Homeschooling

The Stories of 21 Families Who Teach Their Children at Home

Rhonda Barfield

• Publisher: Touchstone
• Year: 2002
• ISBN:
  9780743445740
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Inclusive Education

The book that shows homeschooling in action!
What does it really mean when parents say they homeschool their child or children? For Rhonda Barfield -- a homeschooler for the past 10 years -- the definition is as diverse as the 21 families she studies in this eye-opening book.
Real-Life Homeschooling
From the city to the country, apartments to split-levels, you'll enter each household and see education in action. Discover the challenges and rewards of tailoring instruction to each child's needs while catering to his or her inquisitiveness and curiosity. See why the number of children being taught by their parents is growing nationwide -- at home, there are no overcrowded classrooms, no unknown dangers lurking in the halls, and no doubts as to the quality of the education.
Whether you are just contemplating homeschooling or are a veteran seeking fresh ideas and help in overcoming obstacles -- look no further: Real-life Homeschooling shows just how practical and rewarding it is to educate children and provide them with what they need most -- you!

One

Family:

Glenn (53), Ann (52), Judith (18), Rebecca (10).

Location:

Alexandria, Virginia.

Best advice:

Relax and make learning fun.

Worst advice:

Follow the steps inThe Well-Trained Mind.(This is not to discount the many useful resources and ideas in the book; just to say that while the theory is enticing, the practice is overwhelming.)

Favorite quote:

“To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciatebeauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition: to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Favorite resources:

Saxon Math by Hake and Saxon, Saxon Publishing.

History of USseries by Joy Hakim, Oxford University PressChildren’s Books.

Literature-Based Readingseries, International Fair (Grand Rapids,Michigan).

Critical Thinking Skillsseries, Remedia Publications (Scottsdale,Arizona).
“Real books” from the public library.

Some people leave their public school system and never look back; this wasn’t true for Glenn S. and his wife, Ann. The couple fought to keep their daughter in their neighborhood school until they finally felt forced out by bureaucratic indifference.

The family had long been at odds with their local public school administration, beginning with its push to create full-day kindergarten classes several years previously. The pervasive attitude at that time was summed up in a quote from the then head of early childhood education: “No matter how enriching the home environment, the public schools still know best how to educate your child.” Ann and Glenn thought that they, as parents, should judge what was best for their daughter, and firmly believed that a five-year-old child with a parent at home did not need to be in school all day. When the school converted to full-day kindergarten, the couple worked with a sympathetic principal and together arranged a half-day program for Rebecca within the system.

By the time Rebecca was ready to enter third grade, “some administrative personnel had changed, but the attitudes hadn’t,” Annsays. “Because of redistricting, many in our daughter’s rising third-grade class were slated to attend three different elementary schools in three years.” The prevailing quote now became, “Only parents are bothered by such moves; the children adjust fine.”

After several attempts to work with the school, Ann and Glenn pulled Rebecca out of her class. “Children are not ping-pong balls, to be batted about at will,” says Glenn. “Our efforts to put some common sense into administrative decisions affecting the education of children became time consuming and frustratingly unsuccessful. It was time to go. But we loved Alexandria and didn’t want to move, and we couldn’t afford the private schools in the area. So homeschooling became our only alternative.”

Rather than simply walk away, though, Glenn ran for the school board. He felt he couldn’t leave without making a statement about how the city’s schools were chasing good people away and failing those who remained.

“The decision to homeschool our daughter after second grade was for her sake,” Ann says. “The decision to run for school board was for the sake of others who didn’t have that option.” Glenn’s slogan was “Put children first.” His goals were to increase the administration’s responsiveness to parental concerns, to heighten the role of parents as partners—rather than as enemies—in the education process, and to awaken the community to the detrimental effects that frequent school changes have on student achievement. While Glenn lost the race, through his efforts and that of others, positive changes were made. Children in Alexandria are no longer required, for example, to switch schools between second and third grades.

Ann, a freelance writer for theWashington Post,educational associations, and other clients, is now Rebecca’s primary teacher. Glenn continues in his work for the General Services Administration in Washington, D.C., where he is a writer and editor who works on internal communications; he also has the role of Rebecca’shistory teacher. Big sister Judith, who graduated from a private school and is attending college, helps teach when she is available.

Rebecca, ten, is “the proverbial little girl with a touch of tomboy,” Ann says as she smiles. “She loves dolls and anything pink, but she says her goal is to become a catcher for the Baltimore Orioles.” Rebecca is in fourth grade of the Perky Pelican School, her self-named homeschool, complete with flag and stationery. The school song, composed by Rebecca, is sung to the tune of “You Are My Sunshine”:

I love my homeschool,
My Perky Pelican School
I’m learning new things
All day long.

I love my homeschool
My Perky Pelican School
It’s fun, it’s cool, and it’s
Why I sing this song.

I do experiments
And I learn history
I read a lot
Which makes me glad!

I’m taught by Mommy,
And my sister, Judy,
And even my
Grumpy ol’ dad.

As Ann began her second year of teaching in the Perky Pelican School, her said goals remained the same as when she began.“All education should be geared to helping children become independent, lifelong learners,” she says. “Rather than memorizing a bunch of disconnected facts, children should be taught how to find any information they need and how to tellwhenthey need more information. In addition, my job is to show my daughter the myriad of wonders that are out there; hers is to latch on to her passion and take it as far as she can.”

Rebecca enjoys homeschool. “She likes the fact that she can stay with a subject,” Ann says. “In public school she said that as soon as they got into something interesting, it was time to rush off to another activity.”

They do maintain a daily routine, however. “My daughter gets up around sixA.M.on her own, so I have an assignment waiting on her bulletin board,” Ann says. “Morning homework, we call it. I’m up by seven, and we must be dressed before the school day starts: no lessons in p.j.s.” Mom and daughter take a brisk walk to get their circulation going, and then return to “work.” This might include reading about a particular topic, doing experiments, writing for Rebecca’s monthly newsletter, or filling out work sheets.

“Work sheets have never been a learning tool that worked for me, but Rebecca loves them,” Ann says. “I’ve made it a point to seek out the most challenging in various subjects. For example, I shy away from the fill-in-the-blank reading comprehension workbooks, where the answer is found word for word in the accompanying passage. Rebecca needs to be encouraged to think and read between the lines.”

Ann has found tools such as theLiterature-Based Readingseries, books that base questions and activities on well-loved books at each grade level, to be a good compromise between her desire for discussion-oriented learning and Rebecca’s love of workbooks. Ann also likes theCritical Thinking Skillsseries. “Their exercises in comparison, analysis, and application fit in well with our goals for Rebecca,” she says.

The family enjoys playing games with an educational twist, such as Chronology, in which players demonstrate their knowledge of when things happened in history; Made For Trade, a game about buying, selling, and bartering in colonial days; and Chatter Matters, to help stimulate conversation on family traditions, goals, and special moments.

Rather than following a packaged curriculum, Ann assembles a variety of tools to help Rebecca grasp a concept or subject. “We use our computer through all subject areas to research specific topics and narrow down good resources,” she says. “We belong to several homeschooling boards and find the interactions between members to be invaluable in exploring effective ways to approach any subject.” Ann also pulls resources from the library and a local teacher’s store. Virginia’s Standards of Learning serve as a guide to what is covered in each grade, but Ann thinks of them only as a guide. She uses one textbook, Saxon Math.

Many activities are hands-on, accommodating Rebecca’s visual learning style. One of her favorite parts of her language arts program, for example, is diagramming sentences. “Her writing has improved tremendously because of the way she can visualize how words relate to each other,” Ann says. “We use the Frank SchaefferBasics Firstseries. The exercises are clear and easy to follow.”

Instead of simply reading about geography, Ann and Rebecca use globes and maps regularly each day. “Rebecca automatically looks up places we hear or read about, and she is the navigator on all road trips—whether around town, to a nearby community, or to another state,” Ann says. “One of the most enjoyable resources we used was a free ‘What Do Maps Show’ program offered by the US Geological Survey in Washington, D.C. A variety of excellent maps give students experience in reading different types of maps—topographic, road, or relief.”

Rebecca studies Hebrew in her twice-a-week Sunday school classes. “We practice Reform Judaism and fi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Message
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Thanks
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 5.
• 6.
• 7.
• 8.
• 9.
• 10.
• 11.
• 12.
• 13.
• 14.
• 15.
• 16.
• 17.
• 18.
• 19.
• 20.
• 21.
• Afterword
• Index
• Biography