Home Schooling

Image Gallery Whe deciding whether or not to home school, parents must first make sure they have the time to devote.

Country Skills

Being taught at home made my family closer and my education an adventure.

By D. S. Smith.

It's almost September, and 46,000,000 kids across the country will be grabbing their milk money, bagged lunches, and blank notebooks and heading back to school. But according to Chris Klicka, Senior Council for the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), approximately one million children in the United States won't be going anywhere—they'll be schooled right at home.

Many of us have mulled over the pros and cons of home schooling and perhaps considered doing it ourselves...but there are still basic questions many of us share: How effective is this type of schooling? How do parents discipline their children during class time? How do kids learn to socialize with others their own age? How do colleges and universities rate this type of education come admissions time?

While there are two sides to every story, we thought itd be interesting to hear from someone who has been through the homeschooling process and looks back on it with enthusiasm. We asked D. S. Smith, who was taught at home by his mother and father, to share his individual experience.

— The Editors

Before I reached school age, everyone assumed I'd head off to school like all the other kids. Who would expect anything else from a supervising principal's son in suburban Toronto, Ontario? After all, he was in charge of an entire school district of seven schools. But Dad had other plans. His job within the administration had left him dissatisfied and disillusioned with the system. He wanted a change; he wanted out. As a result, he abandoned his teaching career, packed our worldly goods into a rented three-ton truck, and hauled us 1,000 miles east to rural New Brunswick. There he installed us in an old colonial farmhouse with a cavernous living room and massive fireplaces.

The decision to teach me at home was not an easy one — Mother and Dad discussed the options for more than a year before finally reaching it. You have to realize that, at the time, this was uncharted territo ry. In those days before home schooling was a cause célébre — complete with its newsletters and national associations—nobody taught their children at home. The only exceptions were those kids whose parents were stationed overseas, lived far in the backwoods, or were born to millionaires who hired personal tutors for them.

Dad's first step was writing a formal letter to the Department of Education. In his letter he stated his qualifications, his intention to teach me at home, and the course of study he would follow. He chose Calbert School, figuring it would cause less trouble with the department if he followed a recognized course of study. He also extended an open invitation to the school inspector to drop by whenever he wished. So we made the break and stepped off together on a journey into the unknown, with no map or preconceived plan.