Recent articles about declining enrollment left out an important reason: more parents dissatisfied with public schools are homeschooling. Nationwide, over 2 percent of students are being home-schooled this year.Although "cyberschool"/online school is offered through local public school districts to retain funding, many more home-schoolers are operating independently and with great success. Local home-schoolers enjoy many support groups and activities such as orchestras, speech and debate clubs, sports teams, and hundreds of classes through local co-ops and park districts.
Home-schoolers have received full scholarships to Ivy League schools, have significantly higher SAT and ACT average scores, and are sought after by universities for their strong academic skills, community involvement and independent learning skills. With home-schoolers winning many national spelling and geography bees, science contests and sports awards (Heisman trophy!), coupled with the finding that the average home-schooler is involved in 2.5 activities, the old questions about academics and "socialization" have become laughable. Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, a third of our presidents, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, Einstein, Clara Barton and Sandra Day O'Connor were all home-schooled for at least part of their education. Homeschooling is efficient, can be done inexpensively (using Internet and library), and takes much less time than people assume, thus homeschooling parents include those who are single, working, handicapped, chronically ill and grandparents.
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Elizabeth Scott
Edmonds
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