Bears' Guide to Earning High School Diplomas Nontraditionally

In a 1997 nationwide study, the national Home Education Research Institute collected data on 5,402 students from 1,657 families. In this study the students scored in the 87th percentile in reading, 80th percentile in language, and 82nd percentile in math.

According to ACT achievement test reports, while the average composite score of American high school students taking the ACT test was 21, homeschooled teens scored 22.8 (out of a possible 36).

Homeschoolers took first, second, and third place in the 2000 Scripps-Howard national spelling bee.

In a 1999 study commissioned by the Home School Legal Defense Association , about 25% of all homeschooled students are enrolled one or more grades above their age level,with the achievement gap widening as students progress. By the eighth grade, the average homeschool student performs 4 grade levels above the national average.

 

Probably the most successful homeschoolers in recent years, based on achievement, have been the Colfax family of Mendocino County, California, whose three never-set-foot-in-school sons were accepted by, and graduated from Harvard.

Their very popular book is Homeschooling for Excellence.

We lived not far from them for 9 or 10 years, in Mendocino. They were known growers of Mendocino's most popular crop, and indeed David Colfax was 'busted' for such activities.

Can there be a connection?

 

Hard evidence-
MIT admitted 7 of 21 homeschoolers who applied in the year 2000, an acceptance rate of 33%, which is twice the overall acceptance rate.

The average homeschooler's SAT score is 1100, 80 points higher than the average score. Several homeschoolers have received perfect scores. Source= Homeschooling for Success,
page 116, Kochenderfer & Kanna

Times Magazine-Sept. 11, 2000, reported that 26%=9, of 35 homeschooled applicants had been accepted into Stanford University's 2000-2001 freshmen class. That is nearly double the rate of overall acceptance.

Good enough Dennis, or do you wish more? I've plenty of sources.

 

I don't know, but I'm beginning to get the impression that distance learning in the U.S., as a whole, tends to attract more conservatives than liberals. Not entirely clear on why. It's a good question, and somebody reading this might find it to be interesting grist for a dissertation.


Cheers,

 

Sociopaths are attracted to distance learning.
Conservatives are sociopaths.

 

While Tom and I disagree on this subject, I'm sure we could engage each other in serious discussion/debate with the usual rancor demonstrated by some others present.

I consider Tom Head a valuable source of both information and judgment, and would trust his judgment above most others'.

Should everyone have a right to home school? I don't know. But I value education so much that I elevate it as a profession and equate it with other professions. I would question the right for a parent to perform dentistry or surgery on his/her child. I also question the "right" for parents to home school their kids.

But all of that is just an opinion. I'd certainly consider reasoned opinion to the contrary.

BTW, calling me "biased" because I don't agree with a particular point of view is stupid. Of course I'm biased. That comes from considering a situation and drawing a conclusion. Everyone's opinons are "biased." The question is whether or not someone is reasonable enough to consider opposing points of view. Well, I am, and more so the more reasoned the assertion of said points.

 

My objection remains that while homeschooling can work well when parents are prepared and motivated, it probably isn't scaleable to the population as a whole.

If we are going to be expecting parents to learn the whole high school curriculum well enough to teach it, from algebra and trigonometry, through chemistry and biology to history, literature and physical education, if we are going to expect a parent to learn a musical instrument well enough to teach it, to learn painting, ceramics and foreign languages... then I think that we are probably going to be dissappointed in a great many cases.

While most parents may be theoretically capable of doing those things, I wonder how many stressed-out working parents with suboptimal educations themselves, really would successfuly accomplish the task of making themselves into de-facto multiple subjects secondary teachers.

That leads me to wonder if it makes much sense to try to treat a relatively small population of homeschooling activists as if they were a representative sample of the wider public who probably don't share their qualities.

If you preselect a population, it ceases to be representative. A sample of Cal Tech freshmen will display an average math SAT score that wouldn't be replicated by the average high school graduate. In the same way, today's homescholing activists probably display a level of dedication to successful homeschooling that wouldn't be replicated if you tried to scale the process up a few orders of magnitude.

Bottom line: While I have no real argument with those who assert that homeschooling can work, I strongly question the wisdom of making it into some kind of wider social movement.

An analogy is independent study. Individuals can go to a library, start a disciplined program of reading, and come out with a self-administered Ph.D.-level education. While I have no hesitation in admitting that, I wouldn't want to use that observation as an argument that students should generally avoid university programs.

 

Given that most DL students are older working people as opposed to late teens and 20-something full-time students, you would probably expect to see a more utilitarian no-nonsense orientation. But whether that translates into real poitical/social/religious conservatism, I'm not sure.

It's true that we see conservatism on Degreeinfo, but this board might not really be very representative of DL as a whole. (We seem to have a lot more interest in doctoral degrees here than out there among the average DL students, for example.)

Assuming that the phenomenon is real, I'd speculate that it might be due to alienation.

Conservatives value education highly, but a great deal of conventional on-campus education is totally left-dominated. I mean that it is more acceptable to be a Marxist on some campuses than to be a Republican. (Literally.)

So conservatives might be expected to favor a form of education that does away with a lot of the social bullshit. They might favor arms-length programs that reduce interactions with post-60's academics to formalized discussion of safely technical subject matter, reducing the danger of professionally dangerous and emotionally draining political arguments erupting.

 

Without comment on much of what followed this kind gesture, I would like to offer my thanks to Tom Head for his continued support here (and elsewhere).

I should mention that, as a public school teacher, I fully support homeschooling as a parental choice. I should also mention that I support *most* parental choices. I have personally seen very positive outcomes from homeschooling on a personal and a professional basis.

I also offer the following: The homeschooling chapter, while an important chapter in the book, is only one of the twelve chapters and not the longest one. It also includes chapters on online high schools, independent study, charter schools, university-based high schools, proficiency exams (with an interview with our own Rich Douglas who passed the CHSPE long ago!), and more.

Boy, go camping for the weekend, and people just get all excited. Btw, for those interested, it has received its first review at About.com's Adult Education site.

And again, thanks Tom!



Tom Nixon

 

Here are a few homeschooled students.

George Washington
John Quincy Adams
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Benjamin Franklin
John James Audubon
Alexander Graham Bell
Wilbur and Orville Wright
Robert Frost
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
General Douglas MacArthur
Florence Nightingale
Agatha Christie

All seem to have survived their poor education.
More facts, not opinions!!!