[Bridging_the_digital_divide] Home-schooling up 29 percent since 1999

[bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net]

Home-schooling up 29 percent since 1999

By Ben Feller
The Associated Press

  WASHINGTON — Almost 1.1 million students were home-schooled last year,  
their numbers pushed higher by parents frustrated over school  
conditions and wanting to include morality and religion with English  
and math.

  The estimated number of students taught at home has grown 29 percent  
since 1999, according to the National Center for Education Statistics,  
part of the Education Department.

  In surveys, parents offered two main reasons for choosing  
home-schooling: 31 percent cited concerns about the environment of  
regular schools, and 30 percent wanted the flexibility to teach  
religious or moral lessons. A distant third, at 16 percent, was  
dissatisfaction with academic instruction at schools.

  The figures were released yesterday.

  "There's potential for massive growth," said Ian Slatter, spokesman  
for the National Center for Home Education, which promotes  
home-schooling and tracks laws that govern it.

  "Home-schooling is just getting started," he said. "We've gotten  
through the barriers of questioning the academic ability of home  
schools, now that we have a sizable number of graduates who are not  
socially isolated or awkward; they are good, high-quality citizens.  
We're getting that mainstream recognition and challenging the way  
education has been done."

  The 1.1 million home-schooled students account for 2.2 percent of the  
school-age population in the United States, young people ages 5 through  
17.

  Slatter said the new figures accurately reflect the growth of  
home-schooling but underestimate the number of children involved; his  
group says it is 2 million.

  In the government's view, home-schooling means students who get at  
least part of their education at home and no more than 25 hours a week  
in public or private schools. Overall, more than four of five  
home-schooled students spend no time at traditional schools.

  A separate federal report showed a rising number of teenagers are  
skipping school for fear of getting hurt, even though reported school  
violence is down.

  That anxiety — fueled by terrorism warnings, high-profile school  
shootings and a desire to keep children out of harm's way — probably  
has helped home-schooling grow, said Ted Feinberg, assistant executive  
director of the National Association of School Psychologists.

  Home-schooling presents several questions that must be considered, he  
said. Among them: Do parents with no formal training as teachers know  
how to handle a variety of subjects or to tailor instruction for  
children of different ages? Do students get the same materials they  
would have at schools, from books to science labs? Are families with  
two working parents prepared to go to a single income so one parent can  
teach at home?

  Also, Feinberg said, parents must consider whether their children will  
emerge from home-schooling with limited exposure to other children and  
various cultures.

  More federal research is needed to help resolve such questions about  
home-schooling, he said.

  "At some point, children are going to have to interact with the rest  
of the world," he said. "If they haven't had the opportunity to build  
their emotional muscles so they have that capacity to interact, how  
effective are they going to be outside their cloistered environment?"

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl? 
document_id=2001996169&zsection_id=268448413&slug=homeschool04&date=2004 
0804
---

Jason Barkeloo
President
TouchSmart Publishing
http://www.touchsmart.net
t: 513.225.8765
f: 206.666.4856

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