As 58,000 Lee County students prepare to head back to school Monday, about 1,052 others will head to the kitchen table where they’ve been studying all summer.
SCHOOLING AT HOME:
Homeschool Resource Center Inc. director and homeschool mom Adrienne Diaz is surrounded by just a few of the supplies that will be used to help other parents educate their children.
That’s 13 times more home-schoolers than a decade ago, when only 78 students were taught at home.
Home schooling is growing in popularity nationwide, according to a report released recently by the U.S. Department of Education. Reasons range from a poor learning environment at school to objections over what is being taught to safety concerns.
“With the shootings at Columbine, it’s just spiraled out of control,” said Adrienne Diaz, 37, of Fort Myers, who began home schooling her five children 12 years ago.
“There are concerns that schools aren’t safe, classrooms are crowded, they’re cutting out art, music and PE (physical education) and not doing history and science because they’re studying for the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test).”
The U.S. Department of Education reported an estimated 850,000 students nationwide were home schooled in 1999.
The Home School Legal Defense Association, a Christian organization that defends parents in legal disputes with government agencies, estimates there are twice that, because some states don’t require home-schooled students to register with local school districts. In Florida, parents can register with the school district or a private school.
Test data shows that home schooling also is paying off. Home-schoolers do better on tests such as the SAT, scoring above the national average. Last year the number of home schooled students taking the SAT almost doubled.
They scored an average of 568 on the verbal section of the test and 532 on the math section. The national average is 505 on the verbal section and 514 on the math section. A perfect score is 800 on each section.
Some argue that home schoolers do better because they are predominantly white and have well-educated parents, but that profile is changing as more diverse families turn to home schooling.
As a result of the growth, more support organizations have sprung up, frequently led by parents trying to help others avoid the pitfalls they endured when they took their children out of the traditional educational system.
Problems and pitfalls
Educating children at home is no easy road. Parents must find materials, develop lesson plans and keep their children interested and well-rounded.
“The first problem was where do you get supplies,” Diaz said. “You can’t just go to the school district and say, ‘I’m here. Where are my supplies?’ ”
In a society where both parents usually work, families who decide to homeschool their children often must sacrifice one spouse’s income or career. FYI:
Some local support organizations:
The Home School Resource Center offers books, teacher workshops, a lending library and a newsletter with classes, co-ops and other activities for students. Has no religious affiliation. Call (941) 433-4825; www.flhomeschool.org
Gulf Coast Home School Association is a nondenominational support group for home schooling families. Call (941) 543-2366; www.gchsa.com
The Lee County Home School Sports Association organizes competitive volleyball, flag football and basketball teams for home-schoolers. Call Kendal Hicks (941) 368-1973.
Home Schoolers of Collier County (HOCC). Support group meets the first Friday of each month at Golden Gate Community Center at 1:30 p.m. Field trips, activities for children, information for parents. Contact Michele Sandifer (941) 513-3721.
Coming soon: www.naples.net/presents/hocc
“We don’t have a boat and we can’t go on expensive vacations, but I have a close family and I like my kids,” Diaz said.
Some parents must work and educate their children.
Mary Wedlake, 45, of Fort Myers is a single-parent who decided to home-school her 10-year-old daughter. She works at her brother’s karate studio, which gives her the flexibility to teach her daughter.
“It’s extremely difficult to keep her motivated,” Wedlake said. “But I can keep an eye on her. I don’t have to worry: Are there bullies on the bus? Are the teachers giving her the attention she needs? Is someone trying to sell her drugs?”
Home-school parents also must deal with the pressure of being responsible for everything their child learns.
“We pray a lot,” said Paula Holmes, 33, of south Fort Myers who began home schooling her two oldest children six years ago. She has six children ranging in age from 16 to 1.
Traditional home schooling
Holmes decided to home-school her children because she objected to what they were being taught in a private Catholic school. About 12 percent of parents decide on home schooling for that reason, according the Department of Education.
“I didn’t like sex education,” Holmes said.
Holmes, who has a master’s in English and used to teach at Edison Community College, began home schooling her two oldest children when they were in second and third grade.
“I didn’t want someone else being their caregiver, directing my children,” Holmes said. “It was my responsibility and I didn’t want to abdicate that.”
Those two children, ages 14 and 15, now attend Canterbury School, a private college preparatory school in Fort Myers. Her four younger children still are homeschooled.
“I think of my home as a sanctuary where kids can be protected until they can stand on their own,” Holmes said. “Sometimes kids don’t get that. They’re thrust out into the world before they’re ready.”
Holmes and her husband, an audiologist, didn’t have much difficulty getting started because they sought help from local homeschooling groups. There are now 12 home-school support groups serving Lee and Collier counties.
“It’s easier to get materials now because so many more parents are doing it,” Holmes said.
The home schooling conventions are getting bigger and the amount of information available can be daunting, she added.
So can being at home with four children when the oldest one is 10 and school is in session year round.
“It can be overwhelming sometimes, especially with little ones,” Holmes said. “It’s a constant balancing act.”
The children have a more lax schedule because it’s their summer break. They can play video games and entertain themselves for a few hours while their mother teaches herself the Spaulding method of phonics for speech, writing and reading.
“It’s the greatest job and the hardest job,” Holmes said.
Home-schoolers networking
Diaz has created a resource not available when she began home schooling 12 years ago — she got together with six other mothers and opened the Homeschool Resource Center in October to help other parents get started. The center’s grand opening will be Sept. 1 at its new office in Fort Myers.
Diaz chose home schooling because, like 49 percent of parents who decide to home school, she felt she could do a better job educating her kids.
Diaz has a degree in nutrition, but stopped working and stayed home when she had children. Her husband is a computer programmer.
Diaz balked at putting her son into kindergarten because he could already read.
“I didn’t want him to be bored so I went to the library and found a book on home schooling and I said ‘I’ll do this for kindergarten,’ ” Diaz said.
But when first grade arrived, the same problem raised its head. Diaz’s daughter, on the other hand, was not interested in reading.
Fearing her daughter would be left behind and her son would be bored, Diaz decided to continue home schooling them.
But deciding to home-school opens up a new world full of confusing information for parents.
“How am I going to know that they’re adequately prepared? That’s the biggest concern,” Diaz said. “You have to spend a lot of hours digging up and tracking down home schooling information.”
She hopes the center she started will be a clearinghouse for parents who need basic information, textbook catalogs and help from other parents.
“We want it to be a place where you can find out what the curriculum companies are offering and what the community is offering,” Diaz said.
Diaz’s resource center will be the newest one in Lee County, which currently has three organizations without a religious affiliation that serve home-school families. Collier County has one. The organizations provide everything from help with curriculum plans to sports activities.
Diaz knew she disliked certain subjects and worried that she wouldn’t teach those subjects well, so she looked to others for help.
“A teacher’s job is not to be the sole resource,” she said. “Higher math is very intimidating to me. I can either hire a tutor or swap with another mom who likes teaching math.”
She makes use of co-ops, groups of five to 25 mothers who are willing to teach other children. Online courses and video courses are another avenue for stumped parents.
“There are days when you’re standing at the front door asking, ‘Where’s the bus?’ It’s not going to be fun every single day, but that’s normal,” Diaz said. “I did give up having a career, but I think the investment I’m giving to my kids is going to be a great payoff.”
Mary Wedlake home-schools her 10-year-old daughter Serena although her husband died nine years ago and she became the family’s breadwinner. She decided to home-school her daughter for many of the same reasons as Diaz.
Serena, who is in fifth grade, reads at the level of a 14-year-old and Wedlake said she’s very happy with the decision.
But home schooling as a single parent does have its drawbacks.
“I call it the Siamese twin effect,” Wedlake said. “She’s with me all the time. Some parents have that six- to eight-hour break. I never have any private time.”
Wedlake works six days per week, mostly in the evenings, so she can’t go to many of the parent meetings for home-school associations. That limits her options when it comes to co-op classes or swapping classes with another mother, but she usually takes advantage of home-school association field trips.
She spends $600 to $700 per year on supplies and textbooks because she doesn’t have a computer to download free homeschooling resources.
“I pay taxes, but I don’t get any textbooks,” Wedlake said.
Serena’s grandparents are buying her a computer. Wedlake is saving up to buy her a desk.
“She needs a good desk. We’re always on the floor or on the kitchen table,” she said. “It does make it tricky, trying to feed her right and pay for the house. You can’t work a zillion hours if you’re home schooling.”