Homeschooling -- A Research Perspective

My wife Barb and I have been homeschooling/unschooling our son for over four years and have seen positive results on his creativity, focus, and love of learning. I have a science background so I've been interested in what the research has to say in general about homeschooling. Here's what I've found so far:

First, schooling at home can allow the child to follow more of their own interests compared to traditional schooling. This self-direction can result in motivation that is internal instead of external. Researchers Ryan and Deci have found that internal motivation can result in enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity.

Also, Utman found that a focus on the opportunity for learning and the development of competence (typically found in homeschooling) leads to better task performance than does a focus on displaying high levels of ability (typically found in traditional schooling). Tasks include word memorization, reading comprehension, pattern recognition, and creative writing.

This does not mean that homeschooling automatically produces better results. In a review of homeschooling research, Kunzman and Gaither found that compared to traditional schooling, homeschooling generally results in increased verbal skills and decreased math skills. Other studies have found more positive academic benefits of homeschooling, but can suffer from flawed methodology such as non-random samples.

For those concerned about higher education, Kunzman and Gaither also found that homeschooled applicants are accepted at roughly the same rates as their conventionally schooled peers.

This research supports a decision to homeschool, but best evidence for me is my son's own happiness and love of learning.

-Mike Matessa

References

Kunzman, R., & Gaither, M. (2013). Homeschooling: A comprehensive survey of the research. Other Education, 2(1), 4-59. (http://www.othereducation.stir.ac.uk/index.php/OE/article/view/10/55)

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American psychologist, 55(1), 68. (http://home.ubalt.edu/tmitch/641/deci_ryan_2000.pdf)

Utman, C. H. (1997). Performance effects of motivational state: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1(2), 170-182. (http://www.selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/1997_Utman_PSPR.pdf)

Wes Beach: Supporting Alternatives to High School

During his hour long presentation at the DLC, Wes Beach fielded a question from a young man in the audience:  “Do you mean to say, that all you need to be successful in college is the ability to read, write and do basic math?”  

Wes nodded and answered, deliberately,  “Yes”.

“You just blew my mind!”  The teen gushed.  

A small smile formed on Wes’s face.  Although others disagree with him,  Wes exudes unshakable assurance from 53 years as an educator, the last ten years of which he graduated more than 1,400 young people from high school early.  It’s hard to argue with the results he’s seen in that time--he’s accumulated quite a case study that high school is not necessary for success in life.

That’s right.  High school is not necessary for success in life.

High school is not necessary.

Wes taught in public junior high and high school before forming his own private school, Beach High School.  Initially, through Beach High, Wes awarded extra credits to his public high school students--credits for experiences that his students wanted but their high school didn’t offer.  By 1993, Wes left the public system to run Beach High full time.  

Wes writes of Beach High graduates: “Almost all of them have skipped a large part or all of high school, missing the academic preparation that is supposedly necessary for college and life.  They have gone on to succeed in vocations ranging from professional rock climbing to medicine.  The majority of these people choose to go to college, and many of them reach the highest levels of formal education and enter the professions.”

Beach High is not accredited, but it doesn’t seem to matter.  Wes works with students to create a transcript that reflects their experiences and goals.  He’s had students admitted straight to four year universities, including Stanford, UC Berkeley and Harvard.  Most attend a community college first. The military does not recognize a Beach High School diploma,  but that is the only institution that has posed a problem. 

Many of Wes’s students have chosen to forgo college.  Wes shares:  “they’ve been successful in dance, music, acting, photography, sports, crafts, high tech and entrepreneurial endeavors.  Among these people are a principal dancer with a big-city ballet company, a well-known wedding photographer, a successful singer and recording artist, a leading man in movies, and a professional rock climber.”

Wes is quick to point out that families can easily set up their own homeschools.  California law allows families to establish their own private high school, and create their own transcripts for their students.  http://www.hsc.org/establishing-your-own-private-school.html

The California High School Proficiency Exam (CHSPE) is another option, for those 16 or older. http://www.chspe.net/  The CHSPE is a test of basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills.  It allows students to leave high school early and attend community college full time.  The CHSPE is different from the California High School Exit Eam (CAHSEE), which does NOT allow students to graduate early!  Public high schools--including public charters and independent study programs--are reluctant to inform students of the CHSPE option, because it doesn’t reflect well on the school’s graduation rates.

To take the GED, students must wait until they are 18, and the test has 5 content areas (reading, writing; mathematics; science; and social studies).

In summary, young adults--14, 15 or 16 years old--who do not want to pursue traditional high school coursework have several options.  Wes shares the stories of nine such people in his inspiring book Forging Paths:  Beyond Traditional Schooling. http://www.amazon.com/Forging-Paths-Beyond-Traditional-Schooling/dp/0615577849

Some final words from Wes: “I’ve spent time attempting to understand why people succeed who are “academically unprepared”.  The obvious answer is that academic preparation is not what’s fundamentally necessary.  It appears to me that personal strengths are what’s foundational in success, strengths such as confidence, curiosity, passion, realistic self-knowledge, a capacity for wholehearted engagement, an ability to persevere, and a sense of autonomy.”

Pam Sorooshian: Trust the Children

“First, do no harm,”  was Pam Sorooshian’s goal for herself as a homeschooling parent, over 20 years ago.  

“It sounds like I set the bar pretty low,” she joked to her audience at the Discovery Learning Center.  Surely, one would hope, she could accomplish more than not harming her three precious daughters!  

As it turned out, “do no harm” wasn’t an easy goal to achieve, and a motto Pam returned to again and again as she evaluated her parenting choices.

Extremely unhappy with the public schools, she pulled her daughters out when her oldest was a third grader.  As a new homeschooler, Pam thought she’d start with unit studies.  

And she looked for the light in her children’s eyes.  Were they shining with interest and enthusiasm, or dimming in boredom or resentment?  

Quickly, it became obvious to Pam that attempting to teach her daughters when they weren’t ready to learn resulted in apathy or struggle.  Teaching was harming her children’s curiosity, harming their parent-child relationship--and she had resolved to “do no harm”!   

She took a step back.

Pam found unschooling soon after, and the rest is history.  She’s been an advocate for peaceful parenting and unschooling ever since.  Pam answers parents’ questions on several online homeschooling groups, including Unschooling California on Facebook.

She doesn't mince words, and her words are powerful.  She challenged homeschooling parents using a charter school to throw their children’s high-stakes test scores in the trash, without even opening them first.  And to tell their children: “Mom thinks so little of this test that it’s not even worth looking at!”

As independent homeschoolers with a private school affidavit, Pam’s daughters didn’t take the standardized tests.  “But I don’t know if I could have done that (not looked at the scores),” she laughed, “That would be hard,”

One of Pam’s biggest influences is John Holt, former school teacher turned homeschooling advocate.  She quoted Holt on the topic of trust:  “To trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves...and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted,”

“Trust the Children” is the Homeschooling Association of California’s motto (Pam serves on the board), and the theme of her talk to the DLC.    To begin to trust ourselves, Pam advised, we need to reflect on our own childhoods and school history, and recognize the ways in which we were harmed.  When did we first lose faith in our own competence in math, for example ?  We didn’t start out insecure.  All two and three year olds are extremely confident in their abilities, Pam pointed out.  Somewhere in our growing up, the light went out.    “Go back to the root,” Pam advised.  Rediscover that joyful, undamaged child we once were, and our children once were.

Recognize as completely arbitrary the public schools’ timeline for skills and competencies, she said.  Just as it doesn’t matter if a child learns long division as an eight year old, it doesn’t matter if she learns to read at five or six, or even thirteen.  Pam’s children learned to read when they were ready.  One was three, one was five, and one was seven.  Research done on homsechoolers suggests that the natural age for learning to read varies from five years old to nine years old, with some children reading much younger and much later.  

Letting our children read when they are ready is an incredible gift, Pam said.  It’s the gift of confidence in their own ability to master a skill that our society deems incredibly valuable.  

Alternately, forcing our children to read before they are ready is incredibly damaging.

Forcing any learning is harmful, Pam emphasized.  The desired knowledge may in fact be learned, but is it remembered?  How well, and at what cost?  Pam has seen the result of coercive learning in the hundreds of students who take her college level economics classes.  Young adults who know formulas but don’t know how to apply them.  Disturbingly, they don’t know that they don’t know! Pam has too many students who don’t care to know, or do the bare minimum to get by.  

In contrast, Pam has interacted with hundreds of unschooled young adults who recognize when they don’t know something, have not lost the desire to learn, and have the confidence in their ability to learn it.  They have not been harmed; their natural learning ability remains intact.  Pam recommends Peter Gray’s book Free to Learn for an overview of how humans have evolved to learn, naturally and without coercion.

Unschooling paved the way for Pam’s three daughters to attend and graduate from college, but Pam insists that college is not “the be all and end all”.  It’s not for everyone.

If you’d like to read more, Sandra Dodd maintains a collection of Pam’s writing on her website:  http://sandradodd.com/pamsorooshian

Time to Play

As a homeschooling parent, one of the most valuable gifts I give my child is time.  Time to spend how he chooses.  There's plenty of time to eat when he's hungry, drink when he's thirsty, and use the bathroom when he needs to--basic freedoms we don't take for granted, having once been in school.

There's a lot of time to talk together, natural conversations arising from the TV shows he watches and the games he plays.  Funny stories.  Musings.  I'm glad to be there to answer his questions, and look answers up together, learning alongside each other.

Wouldn't it be absurd, as a homeschooling family, to have designated "question and answer" times, like kids have in school?  I could wear a sign, like Lucy in Charlie Brown: "The doctor is in".  Only, my sign would say:  "The teacher is in".  My son could then, between the hours of nine and ten, ask me all the questions about the known universe.  I would have all the answers.

Yet, it's a funny thing about my kid and his questions.  Sometimes our most profound and meaningful discussions happen around eleven o'clock at night.  Or when I'm changing his sister's diaper.  Or composing an email.  For me, his sparks of curiosity are often curiously ill-timed..

Fortunately, we have lots of time.  The diaper can't really wait, but the email can wait.  The dishes can certainly wait.  Increasingly, the scheduled classes can wait.

While I can't always predict when the spark of curiosity will strike, I can predict when it won't.  This is my third year of homeschooling, and I can predict with about 95% certainty that when I say "Now it's time to....", my child's eyes will glaze over and the spark will be gone.

He was fairly compliant, in the beginning.  Kindergarten and a little of first grade taught him to tow the line some.  But there was no engagement, no joy or true learning.  Not the kind that I see naturally, every day, when he chooses how to spend his time.

In his free play, my son creates, tinkers, ponders, imagines, and produces.  He reads and writes and does math calculations to support his play.  He does these things for real reasons: his own reasons.

We can provide our child time to learn through play at home, but unless we have a big family, we can't easily provide play with others.  That's where park days and the Discovery Learning Center come in!

Starting January 8th, on Wednesday afternoons, my son and I will open the DLC's doors to families who are interested in learning through play.  The DLC has a rich collection of toys and games, and children are welcome to bring their own to share.

I have no idea how this experiment will go.  Homeschooling kids have such a wide range of interests and personalities, that there may or may not be a spark of shared interest between them.  But there might be.  And we can set aside some time and some space for that to happen.

Moving blues, moving excitement!

Hi Santa Cruz Homeschoolers,

I just got back from picking up a bunch of boxes from a homeschool family who are moving to a new home and donated boxes for the DLC. I noticed a nice parallel between their lives and the life of the DLC: They seemed exhausted by the process, but happy to have their new, improved space. Their former home is located closer to the center of things, but their new home, although more remote, offers a step up for them.

That's what it's like at the DLC right now. Moving, of course, is an exhausting process. You should see the avalanche of emails on the DLC board email list. OK, maybe you shouldn't! We don't want to scare away anyone who joins. But really, moving is complicated and takes a lot of effort, which we are all putting in.

But the result of this move is going to be great. Yes, we did love our old location, which was more convenient for many members. But our new location offers a step up for us. Before, we were restricted to one room which was damp and crowded. Now we'll have not only our library, but classrooms, a kitchen, and a gym that we can access on a regular basis.

Before, we had to know what our schedule would be a month ahead of time in order to reserve our space. Now, we will have our space 24/7. Do you have a support group you've really been wanting to start? Have an idea for a class that you're willing to run for free? Are you a professional teacher who wants a great space dedicated to lifelong learners? Just looking to throw a party?

Well, here we are! Or, here we will be, starting August 31. The new DLC is waiting for your inspiration to help fill it with life.

• If you have a few hours in the next week, please check out our website for ways you can help with our move
• If you are interested in joining our board or just helping out on a committee, please come to our board meeting Monday, August 19 at 7 p.m. at our Roxas space
• If you have ideas for classes, support groups, or any other sort of event, please contact us!

We're looking forward to seeing everyone at the new, improved DLC! Don't forget our Open House, Wednesday, September 4, 10-2.

Summer camp.... homeschool style!

This week has heralded the first ever Discovery Learning Center summer camp experience. This year we are offering two camps, all volunteer-led, very homeschool-friendly. It's an experiment, and so far, a successful one.

For some reason the lines on the map don't show up here.
The kids are having a great time interacting with the
floor map of the US.

This week's camp is Camp USA, with a focus on the United States and its geography. Heddi is doing the geography part with games and activities, including a huge US map she made on a rubberized table cloth. The kids are having a great time getting down on the floor and interacting with the states.

Heather is doing crafts, games, and food. She's outside with each group getting messy and having fun. Today, to fit the Midwest theme, she had the kids make potato people, create paper quilts and watch this hilarious take on Gangnam Style, Midwest style. (A homeschooling aside: we adults discussed how amusing it is that our kids see the parodies, such as the Mindcraft Gangnam Style parody, before they actually hear the original pop song!)

I am doing folk stories and songs. So far the biggest hits have been a tale told from the point of view of Davy Crockett, The Erie Canal, and Camptown Races.

At work on Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs.

How is a homeschool summer camp different from others? Well, actually, it's not THAT different. First of all, it's cheap, because we know that homeschool families need to watch their budget. Second, all of us are donating our time - the three of us every day, with parents coming to camp for one day to help out. Finally, it's a mixed-age camp that assumes that learning is fun and interactive is always the way to go. My daughter was complaining the week before about how she didn't want to go, but she's been perfectly happy learning geography in the middle of the summer.

Whether your a homeschooler or not, we have more to come. Check out our upcoming Worldview camp, which happens next week.

Fun Summer at the DLC

Ah, this blog has been a bit lonely. We've been busy! Just a few notes about what's happening this summer at the DLC:

Tomorrow we're ending a 3-week set of fiber arts classes led by Vaiva. It's been great! We want more! Each class is self-contained, so come on by tomorrow to weave on hula hoops. Really.

Heather has been leading a new weekly club, Tech Club. In this club, kids bring their computer-related projects, from programming to art, to share with other kids who like to use computers. Your children can attend whether they have something to share or not. Also suggested is that kids bring mentors who can give everyone ideas for further exploration. Usually on Thursday mornings, but note next week's rescheduling for the 4th of July.

Collectible Card Games on Mondays has been fun - some older kids have been playing Magic the Gathering, and some younger kids are starting up Pokemon. Come on by and check it out.

Starting July 8 we have the first week of a new addition to DLC summers: Summer Camp, homeschool-style. July 8 to 12 we're offering Camp USA for 5 to 12-year-olds. July 15-19 we have Making Sense of the World for 8-and-up. Our camps are cheap - $50! - and parents are asked to stay only one day to help out.

We are thrilled to announce the first week of cartooning classes with wonderful local cartoonist and author Jon "Bean" Hastings, July 8-12 after Camp USA. If there is interest, he will offer a second week for more advanced artists later in the summer. Check out his work here.

Finally, August is board election time and we are looking for homeschooling parents and community members who are interested in helping out. Please e-mail us if you'd like more information.