Twenty years ago, perhaps 10,000 or 20,000 children were home-schooled, and many states frowned on the practice. Bridget Barker pulled her daughter, Maggie, out of public school in Portsmouth, N.H., three years ago, after failing to win permission for the girl to work above her grade level. She hopes the growth of home schooling sends a message to those in charge of public education. Hello, this is a wake-up call. The motives for home schooling have multiplied.
Some parents view public schools as godless or unsafe, breeding unwholesome peer pressure.
Others say teachers are too overworked or inflexible to bring out the best in a child. For all their diversity, home-schooling families have some common traits. It's a chance for really knowing who your kids are, seeing how they learn, what excites them. Though she likes the sociability of Portsmouth's public schools and expects to attend a regular high school, she's excited now about drafting her own seventh-grade curriculum, focusing on English literature and European history. Glenn and Cheryl Mitchell of Cumberland Center, Maine, had their first taste of home schooling in May, pulling daughter Jen out of ninth grade to finish the semester at home.