Home-schoolers happy to grow and learn together

The Virginian-Pilot
© April 1, 2009

By AnnaLisa Michalski

Correspondent

SUFFOLK

In the past, home-schoolers generally were of two opposite groups: those who wanted a strictly religious curriculum, or those who valued liberal, commune-style schooling. Today’s home-school population is much broader than those extremes.

For Gary and Gail Barker, the home-school journey began when their oldest son was diagnosed with a mild learning and speech disability. But the limited services available in their small, rural town were inappropriate for his needs. They decided to teach him themselves and never looked back.

Now living in Suffolk, the Barkers continue to home-school all four of their sons, ages nine to 18.

Special needs influenced Mollie Baker’s family also. Mollie was already a home-school mom when her seventh and youngest child reached school age.

Because he has cerebral palsy, Mollie enrolled her son in Northern Shores Elementary School’s special education program. The school was excellent, but Mollie was thoroughly exhausted by the classroom and bus schedule after a year and a half.

“We really needed more flexibility,” she says. The solution? Add special education to her home-school repertoire. Flexibility is one of the hallmarks of home schooling. Students learn at various times of the day and year rather than being bound by schedules. Continuity is a major draw as well.

For military families who may need to move in the middle of a school year, home schooling is appealing. That’s what motivated Mary Ellen Bebermeyer’s family to home-school. Despite not having been relocated in seven years, Mary Ellen says, “we have no incentive to stop home schooling now.”

Home-school programs vary from the fluid to the heavily structured. One structured model is Virtual Public Schools. This program allows motivated students to learn at home while taking full advantage of public school resources including instructors and materials. This arrangement gave Adriana Fuentes, 12, of Harbor View uninterrupted learning when her family moved here from Florida.

Virginia is one of 25 states that offers the program. “It works great,” saidAdriana’s mother, Sharon Fuentes. “I wish more people knew about it.” (Learn more at www.k12.com.)

Despite doing much of their learning privately, home-schooled families are not isolated. Most make a point of interacting through places of worship, Scouting and community league sports.

Other group programs are designed by and for home-schooling families. Locally, Renaissance School for the Arts meets at Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Eclipse to offer theater, dance, music and visual arts.

Co-founder and home-school mom Norma Andes explains the healthy socialization offered by the program: “Children are not separated by age. You’ll see bigger kids helping the younger ones. They play together and forget to keep score.” She says there are other social advantages as well. “No one really cares about brand-name clothes.”

Gary Barker agrees. Home-schooled kids, he says, have “an openness, an innocence. Not like the hardness you sometimes get with public schooling.”

And most importantly, he says, they learn well, too. “Our youngest son was the fastest to learn reading because his brothers helped.”

AnnaLisa Michalski, churchland-corner@adminmaven.com

The article is at http://hamptonroads.com/2009/03/homeschoolers-happy-grow-and-learn-together

UPDATE: There was no homeschooling segment on the show today.  The AIG exec scandal predominated the hour, probably because the CEO is on the hotseat before Congress right now as I type. If I find the homeschooling segment is rescheduled I’ll post it here.