earning
t Home
Jewish homeschooling
families prefer to learn
Aliana Schwartz
focuses on her
government studies.
Below: Some of
the books used to
homeschool AlianS
Schwartz and her
brother Itamar Moltz.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
outside-the-house parent in the fam-
ily. Moltz is a pediatric endocrinolo-
gist at Children's Hospital of Michigan.
"Homeschooling, opposed to a home-
based school [where teachers provide
materials and a set curriculum], gives
my kids the opportunity to explore what
they're interested in but still get support in
areas where they are weak:'
For the past century, most American
kids have attended school outside the
home and, for most kids, that will remain
the most viable alternative, says Michael
Weiss, assistant professor of mathematics
education at Michigan State University
in East Lansing and a father of five chil-
dren who have never attended school.
He doesn't see his personal practice of
homeschooling and his career focus as
conflicting because as long as a majority
of kids attend school, he wants to be on
the frontlines, making it the best possible
experience a child can have.
Yet he's thrilled with the way his chil-
dren are learning.
All of my children have always shown
that they are eager to learn, and there
8
February 14 • 2013
Lynne Meredith Golodner I Special to the Jewish News
"Schooling doesn't seem necessary for their
education."
- Michael Weiss, parent
didn't seem to be any reason why they
would go to school: says Weiss of Ann
Arbor. "Schooling doesn't seem to be nec-
essary for their education:'
Homeschooling Evolves
In fact, until a century ago, all children
learned at home. Upper-class or aristocrat-
ic families brought in private tutors while
poorer families were lucky if their children
learned to read and write. Weiss notes that
in 19th-century literature, a classic liter-
ary character portrayed is the private tutor
who lives in a family's home and educates
the children. Just look at the Bronte sister
novels or works by Jane Austen.
"That was an option only for the rich:'
Weiss says. "Public school was seen by
the 19th-century reformers as a way of
democratizing education, and it still is."
It was also a way to prepare the masses
for the industrial workforce. Educating
children en masse to listen to authority,
take direction and complete tasks with
minimal friction made it easy to transition
into the American workplace.
In the mid-20th century, progressives
and religious folks alike started advocat-
ing for the right to teach their children at
home. Their efforts have resulted in an
across-the-board freedom that exists today
in the United States.
Every state is different. Some are strict
about the parameters that permit home-
schooling, while states like Michigan are
quite loose. According to the Michigan
Department of Education, "Michigan par-
ents have the right to homeschool their
children:' The state does not require any
registration and doesn't keep tabs. Parents
don't even have to inform their local dis-
trict, though the state recommends doing
so.
And what's taught in the home, well,
that's the playing field of whoever's doing
the teaching. Of course, to get into col-
lege, homeschooled kids need to take
the proper steps to show that they've
completed work in order to move higher
— say, obtain a GED, which their parents
can assist with, and take the ACT. But prep
for both of those is a piece of cake when
learning has been independent-driven
all along, says Lisa Lanzkron-Tamarazo,
mother of three "unschooled" children.
While it's hard to get good numbers,
the National Home Education Research
Institute reports that some 2 million kids
are homeschooled — that's 3-4 percent
of American children. (There are no firm
numbers as to how many of those are
Jewish.)
Weiss says the reasons are many. Some
are pedagogical, where parents don't like
the imbalanced ratio of adults to children
in a classroom or their child isn't being
challenged or has a learning disability.