For growing numbers, the classroom is at home

By Stephanie Neil, Globe Correspondent | June 26, 2005

Plymouth students left their classrooms behind last week, heading home for summer vacation. But for at least a few dozen students in town, and hundreds regionwide, the transition was a bit subtler.

Students such as Matthew, Jonathan, and Christina Jaros have been home all year. The three -- ages 12, 11, and 9 -- are among the dozens of students in Plymouth who are schooled by a parent. Their learning will continue over the summer -- integrated, as always, into daily life experience.

As another school year ends, and parents take a deep breath as they again assess their educational choices, the Jaros family experiment offers a glimpse into what appears to be an increasingly popular alternative.

Paula Jaros's decision last year to pull her children out of public school was not an easy one. As the head of the elementary school's PTA-equivalent, she was deeply involved in the town schools. But town budget cuts, depleted school resources, overcrowded classrooms, and the stress-inducing mandated MCAS tests caused her to step back and evaluate the quality of the education offered her children.

One son was bored at school; the other always anxious. Her daughter was asking for change. For Jaros, that was enough motivation to try home schooling. ''It's not about doing it better than the public schools, just differently," said Jaros, whose youngest son remains in the public schools.

The Jaros family is one of an estimated 4,800 families in Massachusetts who choose home schooling. That figure is based on a survey of superintendents across the state last October by the Family Resource Center in Salem, a private business that sets up educational field trips for home schoolers across New England.

In Plymouth, the Family Resource Center survey indicates there are 54 home-schooling families, but the organization knows from its interaction with local support groups that there are more. A sampling of numbers from other area communities shows at least 26 families in Brockton as well as at least 26 families in Sharon. In Hingham, officials say there are 10 home-schooling families.

Not only is it hard to get precise town-by-town figures, it is difficult to gauge how fast home schooling is growing because there are no prior statistics to measure it against. But anecdotal evidence, both locally and nationally, suggests it is quickly becoming a viable alternative to public and private schooling. Nationwide, more than one million children are home schooled, and that number is growing rapidly.

''Today I hear more families are just not feeling satisfied that their children's needs are met in public school and even a growing percentage of private schools," said Tammy Rosenblatt, executive director and founder of the Family Resource Center.

''Parents are feeling more confident in their own ability to provide better academic resources for their students. They can do it themselves with the support of statewide and local organizations," said Rosenblatt, who is also a volunteer for the Massachusetts Home Learning Association, an advocacy group working with legislators to ease the approval process for home-school families across the state.

Getting started with a home-school program in Massachusetts simply requires a letter of intent sent to the school superintendent. But each district sets its own policy. Some school administrations may request a copy of the educational plan, ask about the teaching experience of the parent, and require a status check at the end of the typical 180-day school year.

If the agreed-upon criteria are not met, a superintendent may involve the Department of Social Services or take a family to court. But those instances are rare, in light of two Supreme Judicial Court decisions. The 1987 case known as the Care and Protection of Charles said school committees can set conditions of education only if they are essential to the state interest that ''all children shall be educated." In 1998, Brunelle v. Lynn Public Schools said home visits may not be mandated as a condition of approval of a home education plan.

The image of home school is certainly evolving. Not too many years ago, it was thought to be rooted in religious sects, and socially isolating. But about 10 years ago, that perception started to change. And in the last four years, with the introduction of online and outside resources, home schooling moved more into the mainstream.

The reasons parents educate at home range from concern over moral values to the need to free up more time for family and athletic activities. Beth Bent, class coordinator for Cape Cod Homeschoolers, a support group serving Cape Cod, Plymouth, and Wareham, says she began home schooling four years ago because she felt her children were not getting adequate attention. ''It wasn't acceptable any longer," she said. Another family in Bent's support group pulled their children out of public school in order to dedicate more hours to a gymnastic group, she said. But more often than not, the reason has to do with parents' fear that their children will fall through the cracks academically.

Today home schoolers have a multitude of resources at their disposal that take them beyond the standard subjects and immerse them into everything from local government to oceanography. They go at their own pace -- sometimes through the summer -- and even though home schoolers don't take MCAS tests and don't get a high school diploma, they do take standardized college admissions exams. There are also online educational programs that maintain student records, apply credits (typically 180 hours of work per credit), offer guidance counseling, and even issue a private school diploma. As a result, colleges are often quite willing to accept home-schooled students.

Rosenblatt's 17-year-old daughter, for instance, who has been home schooled her whole life and directing her education since the fifth grade, has traveled to Spain and just returned from a three-week trip to India, in which she accompanied another home-schooling family returning to their homeland for a visit. She learned the basics of the language of Marati and wrote a paper for a cultural elective course credit. Now, she is considering a trip to Japan, preparing for her SATs, and applying to Northeastern University.

In the Jaros's kitchen on any given weekday, Christina may be working on vocabulary at the table; Jonathan may be calculating fractions at the counter, while Matthew builds a rocket in the living room. They don't move on to the next level until they prove they grasp the material in front of them. It might take an hour, a day, a week, or a month. They learn at their own pace.

And, contrary to how many see home schooling, these students are not isolated from their peers. Jaros's daughter participates in early-morning chorus class every Tuesday at Plymouth South Elementary school, while her sons play basketball, baseball, soccer, and football.

''Some people assume the kids are locked up in a closet," said Bent, who has three children, two in home school and one enrolled in a charter school. Education is not just about hitting the books for six hours a day, she says, but incorporating learning into life -- for example, going to the store and figuring out price per pound.

''You learn that everything in life is educational," she said, ''and you use it to your fullest."