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Are You Ready to Homeschool?
Leaving the System to Create Your Own
By Tara Swords
Virginia left school in the winter and came home to start the process of "unschooling." It wasn't an easy start; at first she was interested in little more than watching music videos. But after a few months – a breakthrough.
"She started to make decisions for herself for the first time in her entire life," says mom Elizabeth. "She started calling around to find art classes, horseback riding lessons, guitar lessons, she joined Habitat for Humanity. A year ago this child would have never, ever done that."
Now Virginia has control of her own education. And under the safe roof of home where her parents can still guide her, that feeling of self-responsibility is having an effect.
"It's more fun," says Virginia. "It makes me want to learn."
"When you decide to home school you're free of the system," says home-schooling dad Michael Kasson. "But freedoms come with responsibility."
The biggest and most obvious commitment is time. But home schooling parents say energy and a love of learning are equally vital.
"You have to really like to learn and accept the fact that there are going to be times when you're going to have to learn along with your kids," says Elizabeth Bernard. "If my kids ask me about the origins of the universe, I'm going to have to learn that myself. If you aren't ready for that, unschooling isn't for you."
Indeed, home schooling isn't for everyone. Some parents simply are unable to provide their children with a good education, either because they lacked one themselves or work full time.
Moreover, home schoolers are quick to poit out that many students excel in public schools.
