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Why some Jewish parents
prefer to educate their own children.

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR

DANIEL LIPPITT PHOTOGRAPHER

C

laire Kander loves ily's congregation, Beth Israel,
Shakespeare. She in Flint. But for the most part
feels it, lives it, these four children have had all
breathes it. She is 6 their education at home.
years old.
For years a handful of par-
Words like "for- ents, almost all of them funda-
sooth" and "whence" mentalist Christian, opted to do
tumble out as she re- their schooling at home. Re-
cites lines from A cently, they have been joined by
Midsummer Night's an increasing number of fami-
Dream, which the fami- lies who, unlike the Christians,
ly is about to perform at theaters have no quarrel with schools'
in Flint and Davisburg. As lack of a theological bent (such
Claire practices her lines, she as the teaching of evolution) or
stands with one hand across her general "absence of values." In-
chest, the other outstretched to- stead, they say, they find edu-
ward the back of her home in cation directed toward the
Holly, where a rooster calls out masses both inadequate and
sharply into the morning.
stifling. They ask: How can a
Claire learned almost every- child progress at his own lev-
thing she knows about Shake- el, free to explore and develop
speare, about grammar, about his skills, when he is in a class
math and about history from her with a set agenda where the
mother, Lisa. Her two brothers teacher-student ratio is perhaps
and sister did, as well. There are one to 30?
supplemental classes at the fam-
It's easy to glean the in-

creasing interest in home
schooling simply by picking up
any magazine that advocates
"natural" living. There, among
the advertisements for home-
opathic medicines, midwives,
and dolls made of natural fibers,
you'll find at least one inviting
you to learn all about teaching
children from the comfort of
your living room.
Inevitably, almost everyone
has an opinion as to whether
home schooling is worthwhile.
Some suggest it inhibits a
child's social development, or
assert that home-schooled chil-
dren simply do not receive a
complete education.
Advocates say the children
can study at their own pace and
focus on their own interests, all
the while learning in an envi-
ronment free of violence and
peer pressure that encourages
early sex and drug use.

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