veritas: one woman’s journey

“My parents cursed me with a love for learning.”

So said Bethany Patterson with a smile. Patterson, a homeschool graduate with a 4.0 GPA at Wayne State University, furthermore said of her homeschool experience: “I owe my success in college directly to my parents’ decision to homeschool me, and I attribute my wide range of interests and self-motivation/work ethic to homeschooling.”

Patterson is not alone. There are more than one million homeschooled students in the United States, with estimates as high as two million. Homeschooling, which is gaining popularity across the nation, has become not only a viable alternative to the public education system but has also become a springboard for many homeschool graduates for a successful, fulfilling life.

Homeschooling is a force to be reckoned with. So just what is homeschooling and what does it look like?

Imagine doing your algebra lesson in your pajamas. Or imagine learning history through exploring a museum or visiting historic sites. Imagine your kitchen table was your school desk and your classmates totaled the number of siblings you have.

That’s the case for many of the more than 1.1 million homeschoolers in the United States (2005), and the numbers are growing at a rate of 10-15% per year, according to Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

Homeschooling, once a fledgling enterprise taken on by a few courageous parents, has become an academic force to be acknowledged with by both the public and private school systems. The movement has come into its own, answering critics’ questions about academic excellence and socialization concerns.

The choice to homeschool is often a response to dissatisfaction with the public and/or private educational system. While it’s actually been around for ages and public education is really the “new kid on the block,” it wasn’t until the late 1960’s and early 1970’s that home education made a resurgence as a viable option for education and has gained momentum and national attention ever since.

Homeschooling parents choose to homeschool for a variety of reasons including both philosophical and/or religious reasons; others choose to homeschool their children simply because they seek the highest quality education possible for their child.

My family is an interesting case study since there are seven children who were and are being homeschooled. Three are currently homeschool graduates, one is in highschool, one is in middle school and two are in elementary school. Of the three oldest children, who homeschooled through highschool, all three were granted full-ride, academic scholarships to the universities of their choice and carry almost 4.0 GPA’s. The next sibling in line, a freshman in public highschool, is a straight-A student and has adjusted well to public highschool, having been previously homeschooled his entire life.

You might be thinking, “So what? That’s your family.” So what about the educational quality and achievements of other homeschooled students? The statistics are in: homeschoolers score on average 30-37 percentile points above their public-schooled counterparts in all subjects. The academic achievement of homeschoolers, which used to be a concern until the stats came in, has proven to quiet critics.

In fact, many universities are actively recruiting homeschooled students because they have seen homeschooled students excel academically, and they recognize their self-discipline, drive and tendency to be leaders. These are traits that many universities are looking for in potential students. Jeff Lantis, as quoted on HSLDA’s website, said of Hillsdale College’s 75-90 homeschoolers, “Homeschoolers have to work harder thereby increasing student productivity. [They] are consistently among our top students; in fact homeschoolers have won our distinct Honors Program the last three years in a row. We tend to look very favorably upon homeschoolers applying to our college.”

Kathleen Wider, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, said of her experience with two homeschooled students that they were “so well prepared for college and seemed far better educated than most college students.”

Homeschooling works academically. However, what about socialization?

Fighting against the stereotype of a painfully shy, maladjusted child who cannot play with other kids or handle conflicts well, homeschoolers have had to face the question of socialization. Homeshcooling actually provides a better framework for learning socialization than its public or private school counterpart simply by its very nature.

Yes, you have your awkward homeschoolers, just like you have your awkward public or privately educated students. But overall, homeschooling prepares students for life better than its public or private school counterparts because it better reflects reality. For example, in public or private schools, you’re in a classroom with thirty of your peers, day in and day out; and they become your social “reality.”

Most of the kids are probably from your socioeconomic and cultural background as well. But “real” life is not like that. When you get out there in the workplace, you have to interact with people of all ages, socioeconomic, cultural and belief backgrounds. Homeschooling provides this learning ground because its very nature dictates a different framework for socializing. Your 85 year old next-door neighbor, your librarian, and family friends who have kids of all ages become your friends and social network. Thus, you learn to socialize with adults as well as kids who are younger and older than you, and you become comfortable in interacting with people of all ages and backgrounds.

Why does this form of socialization and learning work well? Because you learn how to interact with adults in a day to day basis that you don’t have the opportunity to experience when you go to public school for six or more hours a day. If one’s philosophy is that everything in life is a learning opportunity, all of a sudden, your “classroom” has no limits. You learn how to do math at the grocery store (while interacting respectfully with the cashier), you learn how to change the oil in a car when your parent takes the car in to be worked on, you learn how to serve the community when you volunteer your time, etc. These kind of life experiences add a depth and breadth to your academic education that is too often missing from your average public-schooled child.

So what about extra-curricular activities? What about sports and prom? Homeschoolers can enjoy the same benefits their public school counterparts do; because homeschoolers pay school taxes, legally they have the right to the same programs that public school students have. Some school districts are more open to allowing homeschoolers equal opportunity access, but in most cases, homeschoolers have no problem taking advantage of various arts, sports, or music programs within their school system.

In addition or alternatively, many homeschoolers join homeschool co-op groups, which are, in essence, large support groups of homeschool parents and their children. Parents come together once or twice a week to teach their strengths (fathers with a PhD in science teach physics; mothers with English and history degrees teach those subjects) while all the students get the benefit of other parents’ knowledge, simultaneously enjoying the vast network of other homeschooled students. Co-ops, arguably, offer the best of both worlds: parental freedom to direct the studies of their child while offering the child a classroom type setting and a great social network. Co-ops affords parents support while providing a social structure for their children.

Thus, with utilizing the school system’s programs and also local co-op groups, there are many opportunities for homeschoolers to participate in any extra-curricular activity they desire.

What are the state regulations for parents homeschooling? Each state has its own regulations for homeschoolers; some states require parents to register with the state and have their curriculum approved; other states have less stringent requirements. Michigan is one of the less stringent states. According to HSLDA’s website, there are “no requirements to notify, seek approval, test, file forms, or have any certain teacher qualifications” in Michigan.

Public opinion of homeschooling has grown in favor as students who started homeschooling in the 1970’s and 1980’s have graduated. Phil Jessmon, a graduate student at Wayne State pursuing a PhD in anatomy and cell biology, said of his experience with previously homeschooled students (he was not homeschooled but went to a private college preparatory high school), “Every homeschooled individual that I have interacted with has been intellectually ‘smarter’ than almost all of the private and public school students I have known.”

He added, “They are, in general, better-trained in how to think about life, and this is perhaps due to their precedence in thinking more critically and making learning a more personal part of their life (at home).”

While society’s opinion about homeschooling has changed over the course of the years as the evidence supporting homeschooling mounts, why should you consider homeschooling your child?

Because as the parents of the next generation, we have a grave responsibility to them. The health of our country, society, and families rests upon the health and success of our children. As parents, we have the ability to impact the world for generations to come based upon how we choose to raise our children and educate them. We have the ability to shape the next generation’s leaders.

Homeschooling offers us one of the best tools to do so.

Gritty; hardened; a diamond in the rough — Alan Fisk, towering at 6’3”, is a self-professed “dinosaur” of the journalism world. Bushy eyebrows; hints of a goatee; graying, tousled hair; and an unassuming manner of dress (he wears jeans and a dress shirt, opened at the neck most days) – marks of a seasoned journalist. His extensive resume (the list covers over thirty different publications) is impressive, including positions at the New York Times and the Detroit News. Burned out by the fast-paced demands of the journalism world, Fisk decided to retire four years ago and turned to teaching, freelancing on the side. I first met Fisk in a feature writing class at UM-Dearborn.

After the first initial classes, I was determined not to like Fisk; his distaste for tardiness, brusque mannerisms, and his pervading no-nonsense attitude rubbed me the wrong way. Even sitting informally atop a desk, legs swinging, Fisk’s presence was a force to be reckoned with: in short, he intimidated me. I was further convinced his almost lackadaisical manner of teaching had nothing to offer me.

He proved me wrong.

Fisk expects from his students their very best and is not afraid to tell it like it is. He pushes his students to better their writing and critical thinking abilities, and he does so in an unconventional way. His wisdom and vast experience in the journalism field offer what other professors cannot: real-world know-how. That expertise, however, comes with a price. Fisk’s voice is marked with weariness and suggests a cynical worldview that is revealed through classroom discussion of world events. But he’s not as grumpy as he sometimes projects, and his honesty and humility are endearing. He’s a father with an estranged, adult daughter; a man with disappointments and hopes, successes and failures; a liberal-leaning, old-school journalist — in other words, an average-Joe who possesses an above-average ability to write and teach.

Fisk’s teaching ability is amazing; perhaps it stems from the fact that he wasn’t shaped to be a “teacher.” Perhaps it’s just innate, but one isn’t aware that Fisk is teaching. In fact, it almost seems too easy, his classes. But you find yourself walking away from his classroom with your writing skills vastly improved, and you don’t know quite how he did it.

Fisk’s editing is one of his best tools; his real-life work experience and knowledge-base offers what other journalism professors cannot offer, and time flies in his classroom. You find yourself continually wishing class lasted longer.

By the middle of that first semester, Fisk’s ability to teach and his expertise demanded my respect; by the end of that semester, he had won my affection. However crusty Fisk may appear upon first meeting, one discovers that not only does he reign supreme as one of the best teachers of the written word, but he also is really a giant teddy-bear with a heart of gold.

[Originally published in The Michigan Journal, 9/16/03]

As an ambitious young student headed towards law school, I surprise most people with my unabashed answer to their question, “What do you want to do with your life?”

Society teaches us that our aim should be to find the ideal fit career-wise for each of us. For those of us who are idealists, we search for the careers that not only will be financially rewarding but will also, more importantly, be the most fulfilling: careers that will allow us to make a positive difference in this world.

There are so many options available to us as students at the University of Michigan; the list of careers we have to choose from is endless. Yet I believe for those of us who are women, we often overlook one of the greatest career options: motherhood.

The vehicle of motherhood offers a mode of opportunity that I would argue can leave a woman more fulfilled than any other career.

I’m not just talking about having children, for there is a great difference between having children and actually choosing to mother them. The law may view a mother as a legal custodian and caretaker of her child, but to truly mother that child involves mental, physical, and emotional effort that extends well beyond what the law requires. Thus, while a daily dinner of boxed macaroni and cheese and a steady diet of Saturday morning cartoons or video games six hours per day (especially during those first critical years of a child’s development) may not land you in court, the price your child will likely pay for your perfectly legal but morally negligent mothering will be costly.

Motherhood provides an enormous opportunity for those of us who are women to make a lasting difference in this world. We are given the gift of being able to shape a child’s life and instill in him or her a strong, lasting foundation. We are the ones who are raising the next generation. Our influence is great. Our power for good, incredible. Our task, challenging.

Too often we gloss over motherhood as a career option because as a society, motherhood is not given the place that it should be given. Mothers are taken for granted, their job is too often overlooked by a world which denotes value by a monetary scale, and what is one of the highest callings a woman can have gets short-changed.

As a result, women pursue the careers that offer them rewards that are tangible, overlooking the incredible, lasting satisfaction that motherhood has to offer them.

Ultimately, they risk missing out on what could be one of the greatest experiences. What an honor it is to have the opportunity to equip a child with the life skills to not only excel in this world but also contribute to society, and to know that it is chiefly your influence that shapes the person your child will become as an adult.

Such a realization is not only exciting, but also humbling, for it is a huge undertaking which should not be taken lightly.

Just as the best careers are challenging and require you to be sharp in order to excel, motherhood is also challenging. Some would argue it is the toughest job that exists. It is a full-time task, and the demands are high.

Mothers become superwomen out of necessity. Experts at multi-tasking and managing, they learn to wear many different hats, including nurse, playmate, chauffeur, cook, housekeeper, role model, teacher, mentor, friend, nurturer, etc. The skills one needs to raise a child successfully can compete with any of those listed on the best resumes.

Of course, having children is what we make it to be, and for those who do not have the vision of what motherhood can and should be, it may not be for them; but for those of us who see the importance of the job and are willing to take on the responsibility, we should embrace the job for what it is: an outstanding career.

-Christen Patterson