Home Schooling: More Than A Million Kids And Growing: Can It Work For Your Family?

"Despite these new resources, no one really knows how this new generation of home schoolers will turn out." I'm a lifetime homeschooler who now carries a steady 4.0 GPA in college. I am not socially stunted nor am I academically unprepared. My homeschooled peers and I are turning out just fine, thank you, and we are on our way to changing this world.

You say there are no national statistics, but there are, in fact, many, and and many far more reliable and unbiased studies than Mr. Ray???s, including the National Center for Education Statistics 2003 report, "Homeschooling in the United States" (http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/); Education Policy Analysis studies (http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/) and many more (http://www.geocities.com/nelstomlinson/research.bibliography.html) As generally complementary as this article is, however, it presents no new information about homeschooling or homeschoolers.

You interview the same people who say the same things in answer to the same questions about home education. That???s all well and good, but home education is not the same, and is itself changing the face of public education. The proliferation of more individually tailored learning programs, charter schools and virtual schools is deeply influenced by the education consumers who want a greater say in their learning experiences, who recognize that knowledge is more universally available to everyone, including to informal educators, and who are willing and able to create the learning environments that best suit their needs. Homeschoolers may be using more public education resources, but public education is taking more than a few pages from homeschooling.

Our organization, Learning is for Everyone, recognizes that the bottom line is not educational methodology but knowledge access, and that we the best way to improve education in America is to come together on the common ground that motivates all families: a desire to provide the best learning opportunities for their children and their families. In that respect, we are all far more alike than we are different.

Among our efforts is the ongoing Tapestry of Homeschool survey (http://learningisforev.HomeschoolTapestry.sgizmo.Com , developed by homeschoolers for homeschoolers, in an effort to give more people a voice in dispelling the many myths about home education. The survey seeks to create a more well rounded view of home education, and to create a more holistic understanding of how homeschoolers use community learning resources, an understanding that can be helpful to everyone in a community, not just homeschoolers. And perhaps homeschoolers can be seen for what we truly are ??? people who love their kids, just like everyone else.

Theresa Willingham
Vice president
Learning is for Everyone
www.learningis4everyone.org