Wanna Be a Steader!

Troy Daily News Article...

Back in 2004, a friend of mine and I were interviewed for our local newspaper about homeschooling.  Of course, the reporter they sent out admittedly didn't know ANYTHING about homeschoolilng - and he misquoted and misunderstood a few things, but all-in-all, it was a pretty kind article.  Thought you might enjoy.

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><

Homeschooling on the Rise ~

County parents work together on lesson plans, field trips

By Chuck Soder

Troy Daily News; Troy, Ohio

Feb. 8, 2004

     Kim Wolf never liked the idea of handing her children over to strangers for eight hours a day.

     Those strangers – teachers and peers at public school – aren’t going to teach her children the way she wishes them taught, Wolf said. 

     And that’s why she began homeschooling her children 11 years ago. 

     Wolf, coordinator of Miami County Christian Home Educators of Ohio, said she knew she wanted to homeschool her children when she saw her niece go through a personality change shortly after entering public school in the late 1970’s.  Family activities became “weird” or “so stupid” to a girl who once enjoyed them, according to Wolf. 

     When she was to have children, Wolf knew she wanted them to learn in an environment with more teacher attention and less peer influence.

     But at the time she was not a Christian.  Nor did she know anyone who actually taught their kids at home.

     Both changed in 1982.  Through the campus ministry of Gregg Harris, she became a Christian.  His son Joshua was the first child she ever met who stayed at home for school.

     About a decade later, Wolf’s oldest daughter entered school.  Wolf was teacher, principal and groundskeeper all in one.

     Since then, homeschooling has been on the rise in Miami County, according to Wolf.  With a total 57 participating families, McCHEO is one of the fastest-growing homeschool organizations in Ohio, she said.  [CORRECTION:  actually that’s NOT what I said.  What I said was that Miami County is one of the fastest growing homeschooling counties in Ohio.]

     With so many families in the group, those who teach at home are not the “lone wolves” they [are] perceived as, she said.

     Parents can set their own lesson plans and schedules, but the group coordinates on projects such as field trips and in general serves as a place for homeschoolers to seek advice.

     “We’re all very independent…but it’s still no place to be an island,” she said.

     Being part of a group lets parents consolidate resources, according to Wolf.  For example, one parent with a bachelor’s in music education teaches choir and band to McCHEO students.

     The group can help them save money, too.  At the end of each, for example, members swat text books, often bought from catalogs made just for homeschooling.

     Saving a few bucks is important for homeschoolers because, like Wolf’s family, they often live on one income while both paying for their children’s educations and giving taxes to public schools.

     The group also serves as a good place for homeschooling parents to get advice, according to Kelly Snyder, McCHEO administrative coordinator for two years.

     Snyder described a time when she once needed it:  Her daughter, then in first grade, was struggling with reading.  Snyder didn’t know what to do.

     “I remember almost being tears,” Snyder said.  “I thought I was failing.”

     After talking with the group, however, Snyder not only found she wasn’t alone, she found a solution.  Now her fifth-grade daughter is reading at a 10^th-grade level, she said.

     The students aren’t alone either, according to Wolf.  Though critics blast homeschooling on the basis the children don’t socialize, Wolf said students make friends with other in McCHEO, neighbors and church members.

     In some ways, according to Wolf, homeschooled children socialize more.  While many other public schools students don’t mingle with underclassmen, homeschool friendships aren’t split by grade, Wolf said.

     “They socialize with all age groups, from infancy to old age,” she said.

     Extracurricular activities make socializing easier.  McCHEO has a crafts club, a drama club, a chess club and more.  For sport, there’s McCHEO volleyball for girls and McCHEO basketball for boys.  [CORRECTION:  Golden Angels girls’ volleyball and Miami Valley Saints boys’ basketball are NOT sponsored by McCHEO, although many McCHEO members participate.  He took our sponsorship for granted.]  Each team plays against other groups of homeschoolers and teams from Christian schools.

     Though McCHEO is a Christian group, not everyone joins for religious reasons.

     Snyder signed up for academics, citing lower drop out rates and better test scores for homeschool students.

     Wolf reinforces Snyder’s reason with statistics:  The 2 million U.S. children who are taught at home score an average of 30-35 percent higher on the SATs.

     Wolf made her decision to have greater control in raising her children.  Even a well-meaning teacher, she said, won’t teach children the way a parent wishes them taught.

     “There are moral differences, there are religious differences, there are philosophical differences, there are academic differences and there are disciplinary differences,” she said.

     Some things, however, are the same in both public and homeschools.  Ohio students must study language arts, geography, U.S. and Ohio history, government, math, health, physical education, fine arts, first aid and science.

     They’d better lean the material – the state requires children either pass a yearly standardized test or be assessed by an accredited teacher.  Wolf chooses the first option, Snyder takes the second.

     “What you cover shows through you assessor’s evaluation or standardized test scores,” Wolf said.

     Though they don’t have all the resources that public schools do, parents and their children use the library a lot, often running into other homeschoolers in the process, according to Snyder.

     McCHEO also plans trips to places like the Brukner Nature Center, the Hayner Cultural Center, the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton and the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta.

     “They help fill in the gaps,” Snyder said.

     With homeschooling, education extends not only beyond the house, but also beyond school hours, according to Wolf.

     Her children watched the State of the Union Address last month, read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and saw the movies – all educational activities, according to Wolf.

     Wolf added that colleges often favor homeschooled children.  By that age, her children should be ready to be taught by strangers, she said.

     “Hopefully, by God’s grace, they’ll have a strong enough moral foundation by then,” Wolf said.