THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160386
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
NORFOLK - A colorful time line of history, punctuated by cutout figures of notable people and events from 2099 B.C. to the present, decorates one wall of Jan and Wayne McCarty's dining room.
Along one wall, two huge book shelves are crammed with books and resource materials. A Macintosh computer and printer are wedged into a nearby desk.
This is not a room meant for eating meals. It's where Jan, a former dental hygienist, and Wayne, a commercial airline pilot, educate their three daughters: seventh-grader Helen, 12, kindergartner Erin, 6, and pre-schooler Linnea, 4.
``A lot of home schoolers put school away at the end of the day,'' Jan McCarty said. ``We need to have it so we can just pull it off the shelves. We don't try to hide it.''
The McCartys are part of a burgeoning nationwide movement. For any number of reasons, more parents are forgoing public or private schools to teach their kids in the comfort and security of their own homes.
``There's a very broad category of home schoolers,'' Jan McCarty said. ``It's not just the `Christian right-wing wackos,' as most people would call us. Teaching my own children has fulfilled my life. This is the best career I could ever have chosen.''
Gov. George F. Allen on Wednesday showed his support by declaring this Virginia's first Home Education Week.
In a proclamation, Allen touted home schooling as an option that strengthens the family, promotes parental choice and involvement in children's schooling, and contributes to the diversity and quality of education in the state.
``We ought to be in the business of opening up more educational opportunities for parents and communities rather than dictating from Richmond some kind of cookie-cutter approach,'' said Allen's spokesman, Ken Stroupe.
Since the General Assembly in 1984 approved a home-schooling law, the idea has become increasingly popular in Virginia.
``It's a lot easier than it used to be,'' said Yvonne Bunn, a spokeswoman for the Home Educators Association of Virginia in Front Royal. ``There are a lot more resources for home use than there were 10 years ago.''
Between 1984 and 1994, the number of home-schooled kids in Virginia jumped nearly sixteenfold, from about 500 to nearly 8,000, the state Department of Education reports. They remain a small group, though, compared with the 1 million-plus kids in public schools.
In South Hampton Roads, the growth mirrors the state trend, this year totaling more than 1,200. Their numbers represent less than 1 percent of the estimated 172,000 public school kids in the region. Nationwide, nearly 700,000 school-age children are estimated to be educated at home.
Parents seem most sensitive to criticism that home-schooled kids don't get the socialization skills needed to succeed in today's diverse world.
``I think that's a myth,'' said Madeleine Haggard of Virginia Beach. ``I think a home-schooled child can become much more of a leader than someone who's been following the crowd for 12 years.''
As they've gained experience, parents have become more sophisticated about educating their kids and have found strength in numbers: Nearly a dozen support groups, some with more than 100 parents, have been formed in Hampton Roads in the past decade.
Many churches offer assistance. One, Norfolk's Ingleside Baptist Church, runs a popular resource center called Home School Plus. It provides an array of ``enrichment'' classes in academic topics and in such avocational subjects as sewing, karate and music.
Many parents choose home schooling because of their religious beliefs. Others say they can't afford private schools or are unhappy with public schools. But they don't consider it a last resort.
Cecilia Warren and her Navy husband, Alan, of Norfolk, decided to home school because of the special needs of their 5-year-old son. He quickly became bored in a conventional kindergarten, she said.
``They were learning their ABCs, and he already was reading on a second-grade level,'' she said. And because military life forces them to move a lot, home schooling offers him continuity, she said.
Randy and Melody Bias of Chesapeake say they eventually may enroll their two children in public school, but for now they want to keep them home to teach them Christian values.
``We'd like to have morals installed before (they go to public school),'' Randy Bias said. ``They say that by the age of 10 their morals are going to be set in them.''
Rather than getting lost in a class, home-schooled kids learn at their own pace and get individual instruction, parents say. The McCartys and three other families share the cost of a science tutor for their kids. Melody Bias, who works part-time as a freelance graphic designer, conducts art classes for several kids besides her own.
``I think that home schooling is better than public schools, or even private schools for that matter, because you have the one-on-one with the teacher and you learn more that way,'' said Chris Haggard, 13, of Virginia Beach, whose parents have taught him and his sister, Nicole, 9, at home for the past four years.
Besides that, ``My mom understands the way my moods go.''
Relatively inexpensive commercial curriculum packages for home schoolers now are available. Most parents use national standardized tests to measure their children's performance against public school students'. Many compile portfolios of their children's work to track progress.
A 1994 study showed that home-schooled kids in Virginia compared favorably to their counterparts in public school, with an average percentile rank of 81 on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills' Basic Battery. The 50th percentile is the conventional school average. MEMO: MORE INFORMATION
Hampton Roads parents who want more information about home schooling
may call:
Home Educators Association of Virginia, Front Royal, 703-635-9322
Beach Education Association for Creative Home Schooling, BEACH,
Virginia Beach, 474-0389
Bayith Educator, Virginia Beach newsletter, 474-2634
Home School Plus, Ingleside Baptist Church, Norfolk, 461-8021
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN, Staff
The McCarty kids learn about technology and nature at one time:
Helen, 12, works on the Macintosh, as Jan and daughter Linnea, 4,
identify seashells.
KEYWORDS: HOME SCHOOLING by CNB