Shootings a boon to home education

Fear resulting from recent violence in public schools is sparking
interest in home schooling across the United States.

While national media figures and government officials pine for more
gun control and limiting Internet access, many parents are quietly
taking actions on their own. It is too soon after recent school shooting
incidents in Littleton, Colo., and Conyers, Ga., to measure
statistically whether parents are adopting alternative methods to
educate their children, but evidence indicates that many parents are at
least considering teaching their children at home next year.

Phone call inquiries to various state home school associations
throughout the country have jumped since the Columbine High School
shootings April 20, with some parents panic-stricken in their search to
find other educational options for their children.

“One father called us and said he couldn’t do his job because he was
worried about his kids,” said Mary Jo Patterson, director of the
Georgia Home Education Association. “Parents,
after they’ve put them in school, think their kids are in some kind of
jeopardy.”

She added that there are many high school students who are calling
who don’t want to go back to school.

There is some consensus among home schooling advocates that the
Columbine incident has caused a greater rise in interest than any other
recent school shooting occurrence.

“This thing has got parents in a panic,” said Joe Adams, a
co-director of the Christian Home Educators of Kentucky.

“We had a surge (of calls) after Paducah,” said Adams, referring to
the December 1997 school shooting in West Paducah, Ky. “But not as big
as Littleton — Littleton caused a burst.”

Adams said he is receiving four or five e-mails daily from parents
who want to remove their children from public school.

The Home School Legal Defense Association
reports they are also fielding a lot more questions from concerned
parents since the Littleton incident. Many are saying it’s “the straw
that broke the camel’s back,” according to President Michael Farris.

Some state home school organizations are also seeing large increases
in attendance at conventions this year, which are traditionally held in
the spring.

Patterson said that about 2,000 people normally attend the Georgia
home school convention, but this year over 3,000 came. The event was
held on April 23 and 24, only days after the shootings in Littleton.

Likewise, Adams is anticipating a 25 percent increase in attendance
over last year for Kentucky’s convention in July.

The sense of urgency has also hit ground zero in Denver, where the
Christian Home Educators of Colorado have been
swarmed with inquiries. Calls have increased fivefold, from about 60 a
month to over 300.

CHEC holds monthly workshops that explain home schooling laws,
curriculums and philosophies to curious parents. Participation grew from
15 in February to 45 in May, and registration exploded to 500 for June’s
session.

“People are looking for solutions — not just bulletproof vests,”
said Kevin Swanson, Executive Director of CHEC.

Parents seeking advice about home schooling from advocacy
organizations are getting a consistent message: “Go for it.” However,
the message also contains a caveat: “Be prepared.”

Farris wrote in a May 4 commentary for the Washington Times that
“people should not choose to home school out of a momentary panic
resulting from watching the news about Colorado. You won’t have the
self-discipline to succeed if that is your sole motivation.”

In an interview with WorldNetDaily Farris added that HSLDA is “trying
to give parents a realistic assessment of what it takes to home school.
You won’t have the ‘stick-to-itness’ that it requires if the sole
motivation is fear.”

Some organizations are inviting parents to test the home schooling
waters in measured ways. Swanson said that he is encouraging those who
are unsure to try home schooling for one year. Patterson suggests that
students try out a correspondence school, because “it feels more like
what they’re used to.”

Vicki Brady, who co-hosts the syndicated radio call-in show Home
Schooling USA with her husband Terry, says parents should home school
regardless of their motivation.

“We started home schooling because there was nothing else to do,” she
said. The Bradys had received several discouraging assessments of their
learning-disabled child, so they seized the opportunity to home educate.
The child now excels, according to Mrs. Brady.

“(Families) may try it for a year and say, ‘Why didn’t I do this
before?” said Mrs. Brady. “Or, they might feel more comfortable putting
them back (in public school) after a year. But taking them out for a
year is not going to hurt them.”

William Lloyd of the National Home Education Research Institute
said that safety is only cited as fifth in
importance by parents as a reason to home school. He did say that if a
family has been thinking about home schooling their children, incidents
like Columbine could be the deciding factor.

“Once people see that home schooling is viable, (Columbine) might
push them,” he said.

Sherry Ferguson is one parent who did remove her daughter from public
school. Brandy, age 15, attended Bear Creek High School in Lakewood,
Colo., only minutes away from Columbine High School. Brandy has been
learning at home for the last two weeks of the school year.

Ferguson is still in the decision process about Brandy’s education
next year, but she is very interested in home schooling and is trying to
arrange a curriculum fair for area families to learn more about it. “The
more information I get, the better I’ll be able to make a decision about
it,” she said.

But she already sees a change in her daughter since she’s been doing
her schoolwork at home.

“I’ve never seen her so excited about book stores.”

Ferguson said she had “blind faith” in the school system, and never
considered home schooling until Columbine.

“It took something this tragic to make me look at it.”