By Corey Whelan
You might assume the small children counting change at the grocery store register or hightailing it into the library at 12 p. m. on a Thursday are off from school for some unknown holiday or exotic teacher preparation ritual. Despite the preponderance of kids of all ages out there on the street, this may not be the case. The hoards of youngsters standing in line at museums and attending pottery classes, or accompanying their parents to yoga or jazz ballet during weekday hours, may actually be among the 1.5 million children currently estimated as being homeschooled in the U. S.
The U. S. Dept. of Education’ s most recent statistics show a slow, yet steady climb in the number of children whose parents eschew both the public school system and expensive, private schools, opting to take matters into their own hands and educate their kids on their own.
The reasons for this phenomena vary and may be linked to ideology or geographic region. While the ranks of homeschooling families were once comprised primarily of parents citing religious reasons for their choice, the familial demographics of those opting out of formalized education has become wildly diverse and currently includes every stereotypical parental prototype imaginable.
Why homeschool?
“ I realized early on that my daughter was a fidgeter,” says one Vermont mother whose child was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder( ADD), and who asked to remain anonymous.“ I saw so much of myself in her at that age. My inability to sit still absolutely interfered with my desire to excel in school. Watching her struggle made me remember how frustrated I felt, having to sit, unmoving, in a classroom. In those days, ADD was only something you did with numbers and not a diagnosis. When my daughter started having the same types of issues, it occurred to me that her school environment was holding her back in the same way it held me back. Rather than take the school system on, I decided to homeschool my daughter so she could move around freely without feeling shame and learn at her own pace.
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