Posted: 09 Mar 2010 12:06 AM PST

Homeschooling expanding beyond kitchen table
Homeschoolers find educational resources more readily available today

By Kevin Carbery
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 3:12 PM CST

Every time Lydia Wood visits her mother and siblings, it's a class reunion.

From the sixth grade until college, Wood, 23, was homeschooled by her mother, Jo Ann Powers, in the family's Ballwin home.

Wood's sister, Gracie Powers, 17, and brother, Luke Powers, 13, are currently being taught by their mother.

Homeschooling worked for Wood, who earned a bachelor's degree in intercultural studies in May 2009 from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., attaining summa cum laude honors. Now married and living in south St. Louis County, she is working on a nursing degree from the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College in St. Louis.

"I loved homeschooling," Wood said. "I've felt better prepared than my peers in college."

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Powers, 48, began homeschooling her children in 1998. Her son went to private school for a few years at his choice, but later decided to attend his mother's classroom.

"Mostly, I wanted to see my children get the best education possible," she said. "If I could tailor it to their strengths and weaknesses, I could give them the best education possible."

Powers is among a growing number of parents who choose to homeschool their children.

Because Missouri does not require those who homeschool to register with the state, the exact number of homeschooled families in the St. Louis area is unknown. However, Laura Kostial of Ellisville, who operates the St. Louis Homeschoolers website, said she is aware of 50 major homeschooling groups in the metro area.

"We tried to come up with a ballpark figure five years ago," Kostial said. "We totaled each of our groups' numbers and pulled out duplicates - people could be in more than one homeschooling group. We came up with 1,200 families for the metro area, which includes people from Illinois to Farmington to Rolla.

"I'm going to say there must be about 1,400 families by now. I think that's a safe guess."

Kostial believes that the greater availability of educational resources for homeschooling has helped inspire more families to try it.

Cathy Mullins, 59, of south St. Louis, is the leader of S.H.A.R.E. (St. Louis Homeschooling Activities Resources and Encouragement), a homeschooling support group. She homeschooled her sons, Joshua and Jesse, who has Down's syndrome.

She said she began homeschooling Joshua in 1985 to keep him from having to be bussed to a public school far from their neighborhood.

"But after homeschooling all these years, my reason for doing it changed to keeping my family close," Mullins said. "I felt it made a stronger parental-child bond."

Mullins also is the director of Homelink, a fee-based learning center for homeschool families that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at Grace United Church of Christ in St. Louis.

"We have degreed teachers teach classes once a week and they're available online," she said. "It provides assistance in classes we may find too difficult to teach, such as biology, chemistry, algebra."

Although Michele Kerans, 39, moved from north St. Louis County to St. Peters, she remains involved with HELPS (Homeschoolers Encouraging Learning & Providing Support). HELPS consists of about 60 North County families who meet at Florissant Valley Baptist Church.

Kerans homeschools her three kids, ages 10, 8 and 2.

"I like the one-on-one attention," she said. "I can adjust the curriculum to their learning styles.

"We homeschool because we want to choose the right environment and the right type of curriculum that meets their needs. If a state agency were involved, we would lose some of those choices."

She said she can see how well her children are doing in their learning.

"Most of the curriculums have tests built in," she said. "There are also opportunities through different support groups to do standardized testing."

Jo Ann Feldges of Hillsboro is involved in ARCHE (Arnold Region Christian Home Educators), a group based at First Baptist Church of Arnold. She homeschools her two children, ages 16 and 13.

"We like that it's a different approach to education," Feldges said. "We feel it works for our family. I encourage others to do it."

5th Annual Greater St. Louis Area Home Educators Expo

WHAT: An exposition with guest speakers, workshops and seminars focusing on issues important to those involved in homeschooling.

WHEN: April 8-10

WHERE: First Evangelical Free Church of St. Louis County, 1375 Carman Road, Manchester.

MORE INFO: For more information, visit www.stlhomeschoolexpo.com or call 314-791-0000.

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Records required of homeschoolers (Suburban Journals)

Posted: 09 Mar 2010 12:05 AM PST

Records required of homeschoolers

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 10:40 AM CST

Homeschooling children is more than simply teaching. Parents must maintain records to show that the schooling is comparable to that of a public education.

According to state law, parents must comply with a list of requirement:

* - Those who homeschool must offer 1,000 hours of instruction during the school year - July 1 to June 30.

* - Children must complete at least 600 hours of basics such as reading, language arts, math, social studies and science.

* - At least 400 of the 600 hours must take place in the home.

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* - A completed credit toward high school graduation is defined as 100 hours or more of instruction in a course.

* - A parent or guardian must maintain a written record indicating the subjects taught and student activities.

* - The parent must keep a portfolio containing samples of the student's academic work.

* - The parent must evaluate and record the student's academic progress.

* - Children with disabilities being homeschooled may receive special education services provided by the local school district.

* - A parent or guardian may notify the superintendent of schools or the recorder of county deeds of the family's intent to homeschool prior to Sept. 1 annually. Homeschooled students do not register with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

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Bullying fuels home school trend (The Courier Mail)

Posted: 09 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PST

THE increasing number of children being home schooled in Queensland is being fuelled by frustrated parents fed up with the amount of bullying in schools.

Homeschooling Association of Queensland president Robert Osmak said surveys of Queensland parents who chose to home school an estimated 11,000 students found bullying was the No.1 reason parents took on the job of teacher.

"They do not choose to home school because they are committed to it for whatever ideological reason," Mr Osmak said.

"Rather, they see the schools as failing and in desperation they turn to home schooling."

Mr Osmak is a registered teacher in Queensland who has home schooled all of his nine children, with his youngest daughter, aged 13, still learning from home.

Mr Osmak said it was difficult to know the exact number of students being home schooled because not all parents followed the Education Queensland rule of registering with the Home Education Unit.

While there were many parents who turned to home schooling as a last resort, Mr Osmak said the results were positive.

"There are many advantages," he said.

"The children are happier – they're not being bullied, for one thing.

"They learn more, they learn better and the family unit becomes stronger as a result."

Mr Osmak praised the Say No To Bullying campaign, run by The Courier-Mail and radio station 97.3FM, for highlighting an issue that was so important.

"I get calls all the time now about bullying," he said.

"That's become problem No.1. Parents are desperate.

"Little kids, six-year-olds, are being bashed about and the schools can't do anything."

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Homeschooling

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

“Homeschooling expanding beyond kitchen table (Suburban Journals)” plus 2 more

“Homeschooling expanding beyond kitchen table (Suburban Journals)” plus 2 more

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