Homeschooling 101

At certain moments, long-term decisions already in made can feel absolutely right, and other times, they feel so, so wrong. Despite momentary lapses, Kris Broquard and Pam Krall are confident in their choices for educating their children.

Whether they homeschool or send their children to public school, great sacrifices are being made for the sake of principle, by these mothers, as sacrifices were made by Dickens' characters.

One mother's children are teens, the other's are young. The Kralls have lived in Siloam Springs for seven years, the Broquards have lived here for two years. The Kralls have three children, the Broquards have two children. For the Broquards, the decision to homeschool was painstaking, for the Kralls, the decision to utilize the public schools was simple.

The decision is a personal one, and no option is perfect for everyone and every situation. Both mothers enjoy spending time with their children, both esteem quality education and conveyance of moral values, both value their children's social interaction, both strive for well-balanced children.

Read the full newspaper article here.

One of the most common accusations leveled against homeschooling is that the students fail to learn the social skills necessary to survive (let alone thrive) in life.

While it may be easy to envision such a scenario, it did not occur in my home. Quite on the contrary. My siblings and I had good friends in the neighborhood, and we spent time with them nearly every day. We often had to wait until they arrived home from school before the fun could commence, but that's another topic.

Besides having neighborhood friends, we were involved in sports and other extracurricular activities, both through the school (my brother was in band) and in the community (I was on the swim team and took home my share of ribbons).

In addition, we went on countless field trips with the active homeschool group -- from the governor's mansion (my brother nearly wouldn't stop conversing with him when it was time to leave) to a potato chip factory to the fabulous science center.

We also took computer classes at the local elementary school several years, and we sometimes took the required standardized tests at the school, with the other students.

One of the (many) things I enjoyed about being homeschooled was the schedule. Typically, we woke up around 8 or 9 a.m., and we were usually finished with our school work by noon. That's not to say we weren't studying hard or taking enough subjects: we were, but the time necessary to take roll, hand back assignments, stand in line and wait, etc., etc., were removed. And we, as students, had incentive to finish quickly, since once we were done we could move on to something else, rather than merely sit quietly at our desks and be bored.

We took the standardized tests the state required, and if we did too poorly, we would have perhaps been forced to attend school. (I'm not sure, since it didn't happen.)

This is surely not the case universally, but we did have a teacher from the local school district come to our home on a regular basis and review our work, and she was also a resource for Mom i.e., our teacher.

Perhaps some families do pull their children from public schools because of wacko reasons, but the majority of those I've seen do so for conscientious reasons.

Although while I was homeschooled (I began attending private school in ninth grade) I didn't really understand what percentages translated to what letter grades (I typically received a percentage on my work, but no corresponding letter grade), that does not mean I was performing poorly.

Perhaps my full-tuition scholarship to an accredited private college will attest to that, or will you consider my high school valedictorian honors? I hesitate to mention such accomplishments, because it was a long time ago, and they don't mean much in the marketplace, usually. Sometimes they can actually be a hindrance. However, I'm unable to think of other, relevant ways to demonstrate the quality of my schooling. Of course circumstantial evidence it is, but that's what this is, a personal narrative.

Math was one issue for those in my family. It's not that we weren't talented enought to be able to excel, but numerous textbooks failed to make it understandable. It seems one of the biggest hurdles for any kind of education is first understanding how the student learns. It's not useful to present information simply for rote memorization if that won't make sense to the pupil. Using tactile objects if possible, story problems, etc., will all help if it makes the subject make sense.