By Ivy Sellers
No shoes are necessary for students attending ?Ransom Academy.? In their white socks, they meet around the kitchen table, their blue eyes bright with enthusiasm as they anticipate the next task on their list of assignments.
With mother as their teacher, Ethan, 9, and McKay, 6, explore the history of ancient Egyptian tombs and solve math problems catered to their individual interests ? Legos and farming. Gabriel, who is only 3 years old, quietly entertains himself with colorful blocks on a quilt in the corner, waiting for his turn.
Julie, who lives in Orem, teaches part-time for the humanities department at BYU and spends the rest of her time with her three sons, teaching them at home.
Welcome to the modern day world of home schooling.
The number of children taught at home has tripled since the early 1990s. An estimated 1.7 to 2.1 million children (grades K-12) were home educated during the 2002-2003 school year in the United States, according to the National Home Education Research Institute.
In Utah, 7,300 home schooling families are registered in the Utah Home Education Association.
The fact is no one knows exactly how many children are being educated at home, within the state or the nation. It is difficult to track the home schooling population because reporting rules and mandatory school requirements vary by state. The only sure thing is that the number is growing every year, according to the association.
?Home schooling appears to still be the fastest-growing form of education,? said Brian Ray, former professor of education and science and president of the National Home Education Research Institute.
Having home schooled now for two years, Julie has seen the advantages as her children pursue academic knowledge at their own pace.
?My kids have all had really good teachers but they have huge classrooms,? she said. ?My kids are pretty smart and they were bored.?
Julie said she thinks teachers in public schools have to spend the majority of their time working with struggling students, while those who comprehend concepts at a quicker pace don?t find much intellectual stimulation to keep them interested.
She said she finds home education gives her children a huge academic advantage. At home, she and her children study topics such as the history of ancient Greece and maps of the old world. They can also focus on music and art, programs that have been cut from most public schools in recent years.
?I wanted to teach that ? to my kids,? Julie said.
She is one of many mothers choosing to leave the limelight of the modern-day career woman behind in order to educate her children at home.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more women are abandoning their careers to stay at home these days and many families are yearning for a slower-paced, less frantic schedule that allows them more time together.
Mothers aren?t the only ones that show interest in educating their children at home; fathers are stepping in as well.
Don Powell of Mapleton helps his wife, Sylvia, home school their five children. Employed as a systems administrator at BYU, Powell has arranged his schedule so he can be home to teach science in the evenings to a co-op group ? a group of several home school families who meet and study a specific subject together.
Powell said he views parent involvement in education as a positive thing. His family is closer than they would have otherwise been, he said, and he thoroughly enjoys working with his children one-on-one, watching them grow and growing along with them.
Changing Times
Orem resident and home school veteran La Dawn Jacob has witnessed the evolution of home education during the past two decades.
?We have seen a lot of changes,? she said. ?When I first began ? a lot of people were really critical.?
Jacob started teaching classes to her children at home in 1980 and knew of only one other family home schooling in the area at the time.
The mother of 11 children, all of who have been involved at least for a time in home education, she received the National Young Mother of the Year award from the American Mother?s Association for her efforts in 1982.
Jacob said the benefits of having taught her children at home are innumerable.
?I think it created a wonderful harmony and bonding in our family that would not have been there if they had been gone all day,? she said.
Even though her children were educated at home, Jacob said they were still involved in co-op groups.
Today a search on the Web reveals home school associations and support groups throughout the nation; a variety of home-school curriculum is available as well, along with online tutoring on about every subject.
The ability to customize educational curriculum is a major reason for home schooling, Jacob said. Not only were her children able to study ?the finest literature, historical texts and biographies,? but they lived in foreign countries to study other languages and cultures and were heavily involved in music and art programs as well.
Jacob is one of several parents who believe that the quality of education goes up when children are taught at home.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the top reason given by parents for home schooling their children is that parents believe they can give them a better education at home than anywhere else.
The second reason given was the freedom to openly discuss religious values during the education process.
Jacob said that for her, this has been one of the major benefits of home schooling.
More important than anything, she said, was the ability to teach her children the principles of truth in a setting where they could speak freely of God and the scriptures, using textbooks of their choice.
Legalization
Home schooling is now legal in all 50 states, though regulations vary from state to state.
In Utah, policies vary depending on the school district, said Belinda Griffeth, administrative assistant to the director of curriculum and instruction at the Utah State Office of Education.
Parents simply need to fill out a release form within their school district each year requesting permission to home school, she said.
Mary Furner is a mother of five who lives in Mapleton and said the Mapleton School District enrolls home-schooled children as regular students, in order to receive full funding, and in turn allows those children to participate in whatever activities they choose, such as field trips, teacher meetings or dances.
Furner said she hasn?t ever seen a denial but that in the last five to six years, the state has required more information than in the past.
?They have gotten a bit more technical, wanting details now,? she said.
According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, Utah is a ?high regulation? state. This means parents are required to send notification or achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation as well as meet other requirements put out by the state.
If passed, a bill currently being reviewed on the Senate floor of the Utah Legislature could change all that.
Senate Bill 59 would prohibit school districts from monitoring the attendance, teacher credentials or facilities of home-schooled students. For home-school parents the bill allows more flexibility and facilitates the exemption process from district to district.
University Requirements
The process to gain admission to BYU, Harvard and other universities across the nation is almost the same as that for traditionally schooled students.
?The variables are just kind of weighed different,? said Summer Bowen, assistant to the director of school relations.
Bowen said that if students decide not to use an accredited curriculum then ACT scores and extracurricular activities are weighed more heavily.
The incoming freshman average ACT score is 27, she said. Home-schooled students? scores should be similar.
Illana Rosenberg, a Harvard College admissions officer, said Harvard views home schooled students in the same way it views more traditionally schooled students.
?Harvard is looking at the combination of students? academic, extracurricular, and personal qualities and talents,? Rosenberg said. ?We view these things as equally important for all applicants.?
Joanna Jacob, daughter of La Dawn, is a sophomore at BYU studying family science and said she didn?t have any trouble getting admitted to BYU after being schooled at home for the majority of her life.
The experience prepared her well to enter college, she said. And she didn?t mind being ?different? growing up.
Depending on the situation, she?d like to the same for her children.
?I want my kids to have that,? Joanna said. ?We shall see.?
As for the students of ?Ransom Academy,? Julie said they shouldn?t have any trouble meeting the demands of higher education
After being disappointed for years with the quality of papers submitted by her students at BYU, Julie said home schooling allows her to teach her children language fluency, among other things, in preparation for the future.
?My own experience in the college environment,” she said, “is that home-schooled students are better prepared for the responsibilities and academic expectations of college.?
