More homeschooling in our local news

From the Bothell-Reporter.com

Homeschooling makes the grade for some families
By JOSHUA ADAM HICKS
Staff Writer


Eight-year-old Nnamdi Iheke of Bothell walks just a few hundred feet to school each morning.

His classroom is the family kitchen, a place where he can learn in full-dress or pajamas, whichever suits him.

The Ihekes are one of about 450 Northshore-area families that have chosen homeschooling as their preferred form of education.

Some work completely solo. Others partner with co-op groups, private educators or even school districts to get the job done.

“There are as many ways of homeschooling as there are homeschoolers,” said Marna Marteeny, who teaches her two children, ages 9 and 12, at their abode in unincorporated King County.

Likewise, there are multiple reasons that parents embrace these methods.

Homeschooling puts the student-adult ratio at roughly one-to-one, allowing each student to get an individualized education that fits his or her unique pace, interests and learning style.

It also turns the world into a classroom, where field trips become a regular part of the learning regimen. Trips to the aquarium and even family vacations become a part of the educational experience.

“We took our kids to England,” Marteeny said. “Is there anything you can do in England that isn’t historical? It’s all educational.

“This year, we’re going to Yellowstone. We’re hoping to find wolves.”

Bothell resident Kalisa Fraser says that homeschooling will give her the flexibility for an extended visit with family in Brazil. Her kids will come along and immerse themselves in the culture while learning Portuguese.

And they won’t have to play catch-up after returning home.

“I’m definitely excited to have more control over how we live as a family,” Fraser said. “We’re big advocates of public education, and teachers have all my respect in the world. They do a really hard job, and they do it well, but it was a matter of doing what’s right for my family by controlling our time and the curriculum.”

Despite its touted benefits, homeschooling has its skeptics.

Nnamdi’s father was one of them at first. He grew up in Nigeria, where homeschooling is far from the norm.

“He wasn’t keen on it,” said Nnamdi’s mother, Gina. “We chose to give it a try for a couple of years and decided this was just working for us.”

The more unwavering doubters say that homeschooling stunts social development.

Advocates counter by pointing out that children educated at home typically attend group activities each week.

The Northshore School District even partners with the YMCA to offer art and physical-education programs that allow homeschool children to play with peers.

Proponents also note that homeschool kids aren’t segregated into age-specific classrooms.

“The kids learn to talk to adults like people,” Marteeny said. “There isn’t that separation between the kid world and the grown-up world, so they learn to interact with everybody.”

Homeschool parents do acknowledge certain challenges associated with opting out of a formal education. Most eventually run into subjects that they don’t feel comfortable teaching, for example.

Gina says she found it difficult to explain why multiples of 10 sometimes need to be carried over when doing subtraction. She bought a DVD to help Nnamdi understand the concept.

And when her son asked to learn about spiders — a topic that grosses Gina out — she signed him up for a class about insects at the zoo.

The goal, according to homeschoolers, is for parents to act more as learning facilitators than actual teachers.

That’s when networking groups come in handy.

“List serves are really important because you learn what other people are doing, and you learn about the resources that are available,” Marteeny said. “That mom-to-mom information is the best you can get.”

Several dozen networks and organizations in north King and south Snohomish counties are dedicated to the field of homeschooling.

Parents can also hire outside help or send their kids to classes through co-ops and private schools.

Marteeny’s 12-year-old son, Benjamin, meets regularly with groups that are studying Mandarin, applied government and environmental activism, as well as invertebrate biology.

The Northshore School District also provides enrichment classes and consulting with certificated teachers through its Home School Networks program, which began in 1997 and now serves nearly 600 students a year.

In addition, teens between the ages of 16-18 can take college courses on the state’s tab through the Running Start Program.

Homeschooling requires structure and time commitment, according to parents.

“It consumes you,” Gina said. “It’s a part of my life, like a full-time job. I divide myself three ways, between my house, my family and homeschooling.”

That hasn’t kept working parents from homeschooling.

Marteeny, a former nuclear engineer, tutors math part time when she’s not busy teaching her own kids and running a household.

Fraser works full time with the Microsoft Corp. sales and operations team.

“If I can do it with my schedule and the demands on my time, anyone can do it,” she said.

Washington law states that students who participate in homeschooling must learn 11 subjects — ranging from math to art — and participate in annual testing, which can be done in the form of an analysis by a certified teacher, or by way of a standardized exam.

Those who participate in the Northshore School District’s Home School Networks program must pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning exams, just like traditional students.

Parents wishing to homeschool must meet one of four requirements: either earning 45 quarter units of college-level credit, attending a parent qualifying course, working with a certified teacher or receiving approval from the superintendent of their school district.