Tuesday, September 9, 2008
As more homeschool, state could track kids
Mich. among 10 states that don't keep tabs; some parents wary of proposal
Candice Williams / The Detroit News
LAKE ORION -- School is just at the bottom of the stairs every morning for Haley Gernet.
The 15-year-old Lake Orion girl is among an increasing number of students nationwide and in Metro Detroit who are being taught at home, a trend that has some state lawmakers interested in knowing more about exactly how many Michigan families are choosing homeschooling and why.
A bill pending in the state House would require Michigan families, for the first time, to register their homeschooled children with their local school district superintendent by name, age and grade level. Backers say it's the only way to get an accurate picture of the number of students being educated in Michigan.
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But Gernet's mother, Tarla -- who also homeschooled daughter Deanna, 18, now a computer programming student at Baker College -- is skeptical about the state's motives. She fears the new legislation could intrude on the freedom that's at the heart of the homeschooling philosophy.
"I think it would be a slippery slope, and we don't want to get on that," Tarla Gernet said.
Kimberly Fanelli of Macomb Township, who has homeschooled her two elementary-age daughters for about a year, says she has mixed feelings about the bill.
"On the surface it doesn't seem intrusive, but I think it's step one to regulation with someone telling you what you need to do to educate your child," she said.
Michigan is among 10 states that do not track homeschoolers; others monitor them at varying levels.
The only homeschoolers required to register with the Michigan Department of Education are families that receive special-education services, said department spokeswoman Jan Ellis.
Rep. Brenda Clack, D-Flint, said she introduced the bill earlier this year to allow for a complete picture of the number of students being educated in Michigan. Clack taught in the Flint school district for 32 years.
The bill is not meant to intrude on parents and the way they teach their children, Clack said.
"There's this fear out there from especially those that are homeschooling that there is going to be an infringement, that this will lead to something else," she said.
"As a former educator, all I need is accountability in terms of numbers of students being educated."
Many children who are homeschooled in their elementary years transfer to public schools in middle or high school "because they want to be mainstreamed with everyone else," Clack said. But without any accountability as to the "number of students that are being homeschooled, it could pose a problem in the future. (Registering) gives information for districts to plan in the future, even the building of new schools."
Clack said the bill, which has 23 co-sponsors, is awaiting discussion in the House Education Policy Committee. It is not clear whether the bill will get attention this session, because the committee is focused on schools that aren't meeting federal academic standards, said Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, committee chairman.
"We're fully focused on the schools that are failing," he said. The bill will need to be reintroduced if it's not acted on by the end of the year, but Clack -- who is term-limited -- said she believes her co-sponsors will carry on.
Homeschool advocates say testing has borne out their contention that children taught at home do as well as, or better than, their peers in traditional schools.
Studies show that, on average, homeschooled students score 15 percent to 30 percent higher on standardized tests than their public school counterparts, said Brian Ray, director of the National Home Education Research Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Salem, Ore.
"I'd say there are a lot of reasons why they score higher," he said. "In homeschooling, the parents get to customize each student's curriculum to address their learning style, dreams and interest. There is more interaction between teacher and child. The student does it at his own pace and does it until he learns it."
Metro Detroit organizations that support homeschooling say their numbers are on the rise.
The Macomb County Christian Homeschoolers, for example, has increased from 40 to 227 families -- most new to homeschooling -- since its inception four years ago, and the number keeps growing.
In Oakland County, participation in Enrichment Hub, a homeschool support group, has jumped from 42 to 98 families in a three-year period. Home School Connections in Rochester, which provides a la carte classes to homeschool families, has expanded the 14 classes it offered five years ago for 65 students to 50 classes for 225 students.
The number of children homeschooled nationally also has increased, said the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Association, from 1.1 million to 2 million since 2003, and it continues to grow at a rate of about 7 percent each year, said Jeremiah Lorrig, deputy director of the association's federal relations.
Parents homeschool their children for a variety of reasons, Lorrig said, including frustration over failing public schools, the high cost of private schools or the desire to include religious instruction alongside academics.
Fanelli, who homeschools daughters Sofia, 8, and Emilia, 6, chose to do so because it allows her to give them more individual attention and manage their food allergies. The girls previously attended a Christian school.
"I dedicated a whole room (of the house)" to teaching, said Fanelli, a stay-at-home mom with a degree in health systems management.
"They have all of their books and little tables. They have posters of their own interests and artwork on the walls."
Homeschooling is a big undertaking, but it can work, she said. She asked her parents, both of whom were public school teachers, for advice.
"This past year has been the most rewarding year of my life as a mother," she said.
"My children experienced more and learned more."
You can reach Candice Williams at (586) 468-0529 or cwilliams@detnews.com.
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