BELL RINGING OUTSIDE CLASS HOME SCHOOLING CONTINUES TO GROW.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer PEARBLOSSOM - After spending part of his morning doing yardwork and chores, 10-year-old Chad Challman comes into the house to start his school day in the kitchen. With his mother, Kim, as his teacher, Chad will work on a science project on igneous rocks igneous rock: see rock. igneous rock Any of various crystalline or glassy, noncrystalline rocks formed by the cooling and solidification of molten earth material (magma). , complete a math lesson on numbers and sequencing and take a spelling test A spelling test is an assessment of a person's (usually a student's) ability to spell words correctly. Spelling tests are usually given in school during language arts class, to see how well each student has learned the most recent spelling lesson. . In the middle of all this, he will practice the piano. ``I want to teach my child the things that he needs. I taught him how to read and how to do addition and subtraction subtraction, fundamental operation of arithmetic; the inverse of addition. If a and b are real numbers (see number), then the number a−b is that number (called the difference) which when added to b (the subtractor) equals . I enjoy providing him guidance for his studies,'' said Kim Challman, a 35-year-old stay-at-home mom who began home schooling home schooling, the practice of teaching children in the home as an alternative to attending public or private elementary or high school. In most cases, one or both of the children's parents serve as the teachers. her son last October after pulling him out of the fourth grade at Pearblossom Elementary School elementary school: see school. . ``When we are all planned and organized, he can get his school work done in three to four hours, then he has time to relax and play and do things he wants to do without the burden of schoolwork and homework,'' Challman said. ``There are days we are with it, and other days it's like pulling teeth.'' Chad is among several hundred Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley youngsters who are home schooled in school district-sponsored programs or ones affiliated with private schools or other organizations. The Westside Union School District is believed to be the first local district with such a program, started in 1986. Its program started with fewer than 20 students and now has about 40. Palmdale, Acton, Keppel, Lancaster, and the Antelope Valley Union High School districts The Antelope Valley Union High School District (A.V.U.H.S.D.) is located in the Antelope Valley area of California, in northern Los Angeles County. The district includes eight public high schools, one trade school, and two continuation high schools in the cities of Palmdale all started district-sponsored home-education programs in the 1990s. Acton's program was later halted by the state. Westside's home-school home·school or home-school v. home·schooled, home·school·ing, home·schools v.tr. To instruct (a pupil, for example) in an educational program outside of established schools, especially in the home. office is located at the district's campus in Leona Valley. That's where most of the district's first home-school children came from, although that's now no longer the case, said Regina Rossall, assistant superintendent Assistant Superintendent, or Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was a rank used by police forces in the British Empire. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held by a European officer, most of whom joined the police at this rank. for educational services. ``Reasons given by parents tend to be that they want to spend more time with their kids throughout the day. They don't want them schooled in a traditional environment. Sometimes we get parents who work odd schedules and they want their children in a situation where it's more flexible on time,'' Rossall said. ``Now there's a wider of variety of reasons. In the beginning it had to do with fundamental beliefs that children should be under the control of the parent.'' The Keppel Union School District started its home-education program in 1993 with eight or nine students and now has an enrollment of 24, Chad Challman among them. ``One of our parents, a board member, knew of families that were doing this, and we felt like we should open up a program that would allow those parents to feel comfortable to come out and be a part of a district,'' said Roberta Zapf, who started the program and is now the district's director of instructional services. ``What was interesting was it was a trust issue in the beginning. They were fearful of being turned in.'' At the Lancaster district, the home-school student population has doubled to 70 since it started about six years ago. ``The reasons are as varied as anything. Sometimes students have difficulty learning at school. Parents choose this as a temporary solution, maybe to get their grades up. I have several families who are true home-schooling families. They've been with me since kindergarten and their children have never attended school,'' said Laurel Storrs, one of two home-education teachers in Lancaster. The state canceled the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District A unified school district is a school district which includes both primary school (kindergarten through middle school or junior high) and high school (grades 9-12). In Illinois, these districts are called unit school districts. home- school program about six years ago, district officials said. Mismanagement mis·man·age tr.v. mis·man·aged, mis·man·ag·ing, mis·man·ag·es To manage badly or carelessly. mis·man  age·ment n. , shoddy shod·dy adj. shod·di·er, shod·di·est 1. Made of or containing inferior material. 2. a. Of poor quality or craft. b. Rundown; shabby. 3. record-keeping and references to religion cost the Acton district more than $365,000 in attendance allocations for its home-school program, state officials said in 1995. A private audit found that 30 of the 199 students in the Acton program followed religious-based curriculum. While parents say home schooling allows students to learn at their own pace, excel in areas of special interest, study while traveling, and let them be involved in the child's education, critics have noted students' need for social interaction, strain on family relationships due to too much togetherness, and a tremendous time commitment on the part of the parent. Officials with the California Teachers Association The California Teachers Association (CTA), initially established in 1863 as the California Educational Society, is by far the largest teachers' union in the state of California. It is considered by many to be the most powerful union in California. say they are not opposed to home schooling. They say there are fully credentialed teachers in the state who are running such programs in their school districts. But they say they prefer that students learn at school, and that home- schooled children would not necessarily receive a better education. ``We would prefer to have them in class ourselves. We think a good overall education includes being able to develop socialization socialization /so·cial·iza·tion/ (so?shal-i-za´shun) the process by which society integrates the individual and the individual learns to behave in socially acceptable ways. so·cial·i·za·tion n. skills with other students of an appropriate age,'' said David A. Sanchez, CTA's secretary-treasurer. ``I don't believe a parent who is noncredentialed can do a job better than a teacher who is fully credentialed.'' Some studies have shown that home-schooled children have scored on average 15 to 30 percentile percentile, n the number in a frequency distribution below which a certain percentage of fees will fall. E.g., the ninetieth percentile is the number that divides the distribution of fees into the lower 90% and the upper 10%, or that fee level points above the national average, and are involved in activities outside their homes, such as 4-H clubs, ballet classes, and instructional cooperatives. Kim Challman said her son is in the Cub Scouts, takes piano lessons, and is involved in church activities and sports. She also has two daughters, ages 4 and 20 months. Challman said she decided to home school her son because she felt he wasn't being challenged enough academically. ``I taught my son to read before he started kindergarten. He's always been a little bit more ahead than most of the kids in class. In the third grade, he didn't progress academically. I didn't want to go another year of him not getting a challenge,'' Challman said. She also didn't like all the homework he was being assigned. ``I didn't appreciate the homework level of an hour to two hours every day in the fourth grade,'' Challman said. ``They are at school for six hours. I don't believe they have to have a parent stand over them making sure they get their homework done.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Kim Challman, center, provides school instruction to her son, Chad, 10, right, at their Pearblossom home, while daughter Kara Kara (kär`ə), river, c.140 mi (230 km) long, NE European and NW Siberian Russia. It flows N from the N Urals into the Kara Sea, forming part of the traditional border between European and Asian Russia. It is navigable in its lower course. , 4, looks on. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion