A movable feast: For some, the world is a classroom

CLICK to read article on TODAYshow.com.

"Evidence suggests that home-schooling in America is a growing trend. In a weeklong web-only series, TODAYshow.com reports on the challenges and creative opportunities presented by this approach to education.

Niall Gifford, 11, attends school on a sailboat in the South Pacific. Markos McFerrin, 7, has done countless math and spelling lessons on the back of a tandem bicycle. Jen and Maddie Farmer, 12-year-old twin sisters, have completed curricula in Greece and England.

These typical American kids are having exotic educational experiences for the same reason: Their parents have chosen to home-school them so they can travel.

For such families, “travel” doesn’t mean frantic vacations to Disneyland. These moms and dads want their children to see the world, experience other cultures and learn, learn, learn.

Of course, pulling it off can entail major lifestyle upheavals. Jobs need to be left behind (or sabbaticals requested), houses need to be rented out, modes of travel need to be selected, budgets need to be carefully crafted. For many parents who home-school away from home, wrenching themselves so completely from their regular lives has not been simple.

But has it been worth it? Oh yeah.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

I lost the home-school burnout battle—and I'm OK with it

CLICK link to read entire article.

"What does it take to be a great home-schooler? Passion, energy, creativity, high ideals and whole-hearted devotion to your kids.

What does it take to spoil home-schooling? Passion, energy, creativity, high ideals and whole-hearted devotion to your kids.

OK, not always. But many home-schooling moms find themselves burned out after a few years, exhausted by the very things that made the whole enterprise possible.

Some parents home-school for negative reasons like fear or mistrust. But others, like us, do it because it just feels natural to stay together as a family — and because we’re dying to pass down to our children the delightful world of knowledge and culture that makes our own lives rich. We started home-schooling when our oldest child was 6 years old. We now have eight children, and have home-schooled for six years. Now, we are ready to let someone else do all that wonderful sharing!

Why? Because passing down a whole world of knowledge and culture is a pretty tall order for one set of parents. It’s a huge undertaking with even one child, never mind six or eight.

And then there's curriculum envy. Someone's always blogging about the interactive origami diorama her second-grader made with homemade rag paper and saffron dye. (And all we did today was reading, writing and arithmetic!)

We want to prove that home-schoolers aren't the backward, tongue-tied ninnies they're rumored to be. Striving against stereotype, our kids can't simply be as good as public-schoolers -- they have to be better — smarter, happier, more sociable, more ambitious — more everything.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

As home-schooling moves to mainstream, stigma fades

CLICK to read article on TODAYshow.com

"Evidence suggests that home-schooling in America is a growing trend. In a weeklong web-only series, TODAYshow.com reports on the challenges and creative opportunities presented by this approach to education.

Fifteen-year-old Tess Rodrigues is a typical teenager: She spends her free time at the mall, hangs out with friends and stays connected on Facebook.

But unlike most 10th-graders, Tess is home-schooled by her mother, and supplements her studies in marine biology, Spanish and world history with help from a weekly home-school co-op group.

“My mom and I laugh a lot and have fun,” Tess said. “And with the work, I get to go at my own pace, unlike a regular classroom. I can speed through lessons that are easy, and take time to go over things if I don’t get them.”

Her mother, Lisa Landis Rodrigues, started home-schooling her three children when they were in second, fourth and fifth grade.

“I’m not anti-school at all — I think teachers are awesome and I think most schools are great,” said the Rhode Island mom. “But morally, I think they go way too fast. I wanted my 10-year-old to be a 10-year-old, not get caught up in how other kids dress and act, so I decided to home-school them.”

Though such students represent an estimated 3 percent of the population, evidence suggests that home-schooling is a growing trend in America. While most say faith is their primary motivation, others choose this path for a variety of reasons that include dissatisfaction with the local school system, caring for special-needs kids, safety concerns, flexibility to travel and the chance to spend more time with their children.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Homeschooling Quickly Becoming a Growing Trend

Homeschooling Quickly Becoming a Growing Trend | ThirdAge

"Homeschooling is a growing trend as more students will be “attending” school without actually having to leave their homes. The Times-Georgian reported that close to 900 students in the county alone were homeschooled last year. Across the country that number increases to 1.5 million students. According to a PR Newswire release, the growth rate is between 7 and 15 percent each year, and at least 1 million K-12 students now take all or part of their education online.

According to the Department of Education, the number of homeschoolers has more than doubled in the last decade. The benefits to homeschooling? A more flexible schedule, a closer student-teacher relationship, and less subjective to bullying. Just like public schools, homeschoolers must be in “class” 180 days a year.

For celebrities like Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, homeschooling is the more ideal option. “We homeschool Suri,” said Holmes. “She has a teacher who is with her every day. We like the one-on-one education.”

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

VIDEO: Guide To Homeschooling — How To Homeschool

This is an excellent homeschooling primer video by Sue Daniels, who has homeschooled her children for over 14 years. It's very straightforward with good, solid information that's general enough to be applicable in all 50 states.

Guide To Homeschooling - How To Homeschool on Howcast

Adding homeschool to your traditional school life

By Sarah Wilson / San Jose Homeschooling Examiner (CLICK to read more)

"Homeschoolers often incorporate aspects of traditional schooling into their curriculum. Whether it be workbooks, assigned reading, structured study time, or scheduled lessons, homeschoolers take what fits their child’s needs and adapt it accordingly.

So why can’t parents of traditionally schooled children do the same? The answer is, “They can!”

First, parents need to understand what homeschooling is not. It is not a simply explained teaching style. It is not an easily followed lesson plan. It is not something you 'do.'

Instead, it is a way of approaching learning that is impossible in a classroom setting crammed with 20 to 45 students. It is observing your child with the goal of understanding just how he learns. Some good articles can be found at A2Z Homeschooling. The point of this exercise is to figure out how your child needs information presented in order for it to stick. Perhaps she needs to gather it on her own. Or, he may need to experience it. Or, she may need to move around while hearing new information. Or, he may need to teach it to someone else.

Keep in mind that in order to maintain classroom management, children are often taught in one style. If a child doesn’t fit that style, she may create problems in the classroom or act out in other ways. If this is your story, you must look beyond what you’ve been told and really see your child. The schoolteacher is not the parent. The principal is not the parent. The school counselor is not the parent. The thick manila folder people keep slapping under your nose is not the parent. You are. Take some time to really learn what makes your child tick. It will make a world of difference in your lives together, homeschooling or not.

Parents always want how-to books to figure out this homeschooling thing. And there are loads of books out there to read. One good list is at A2Z Homeschooling (this is an excellent site). Another is on the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum site (many resources are not 'gifted specific). As your child is already in school with a curriculum being taught, do not bother with homeschooling curriculum books. The last thing a child who has been in school all day needs is more school."

VIDEO: Myths About Homeschoolers

Hilarious YouTube video put together by a couple homeschooled young ladies; very clever and entertaining AND definitely makes a good point! Nice job.

Getting Started With Home Schooling

Getting Started With Home Schooling | Homeschooling: "Home schooling had provided many advantages and benefits to both parents and children. That’s why many parents have opted for home schooling in providing their child the indispensable education that their children need.

However, some parents find home schooling a daunting task. So, for parents who find home schooling a bit of an overwhelming task, here is a list of some tips on how to get you started in home schooling your child"

How to Disprove Homeschooling Myths that Hold You Back from Homeschooling

How to Disprove Homeschooling Myths that Hold You Back from Homeschooling | eHow.com: "There are many homeschooling myths out there that many mom and dads believe. These myths hold parents back from enjoying the greatest adventure they will ever have with their children."

How to Answer the Question, "Why Homeschool"

How to Answer the Question, "Why Homeschool" | by mizchulita of eHow.com: "Why homeschool? This is a question that many homeschooling families hear quite often. Some people are hostile towards homeschooling, while others genuinely want to know why families homeschool. Answers differ depending on the individual family, but here are some of the reasons that I use!"

Tim Hawkins - A Homeschool Family

Found on YouTube...hilarious ;-)

YouTube description said, "Oh, the misconceptions and realities of homeschool life, from comedian (and homeschool dad) Tim Hawkins."

What I Like About Homeschooling

This was posted on YouTube by a homeschooled student named "grandmasterzel." VERY well-done...good job.

This is what she wrote about it:

"This is my submission to Laurel Springs' What's Cool About Homeschool contest. It was written, drawn and animated by me, Hazel Newlevant (age 15). The background music is Watchman's Song, by Edvard Greig, performed by me. It is under the public domain."

Thoughts on Homeschooling by AOEGuy

This is a video from YouTube by a guy named AOEGuy--good to hear what kids think about their homeschooling experiences. This guy seems quite genuine and very well-spoken...good for him ;-)

Here's what he wrote on the description:

"I make videos when feelings come to me. If I pass up the chance to make the video, I find that I forget an insight I have on something. I was Homeschooled up until 10th grade. If you are thinking of homeschooling your kids, then definitely check out my experiences. Peace yo."

What Does Back to School Mean for Homeschoolers

By JONANN BRADY
Aug. 30, 2005

Many Who Teach Their Kids at Home Say They Aren't Missing Out

For most, "back to school" season conjures up vivid memories: a fresh notebook, the carefully chosen first-day outfit, sizing up the teacher, seeing friends, and figuring out where you stand in the new classroom pecking order.

But what about the increasing number of children being educated at home? The U.S. Department of Education estimates there were 1.1 million home-schooled kids in 2003, and the numbers have been steadily growing.

Are these kids being deprived of a uniquely American rite of passage? Not necessarily, say many involved in the movement.

Happy to Be Learning at Home

Like the other home-schooled kids interviewed for this story, 14-year-old Ava Lowrey has no desire to go back to public school.

"I don't miss it," she said. "I enjoy working at my own pace. In public school, you're not able to do that."

Ava's mother, Tamara Knowles, of Alexander City, Ala., began home-schooling both of her children when they were in seventh grade, primarily because she wanted them to get a higher-quality education than she felt they could get at the local public school.

Knowles, 36, was herself home-schooled at a time when it was virtually unheard of. Her father was an Assembly of God minister and the family moved frequently.

When she was ready to enter 10th grade, Knowles decided to go back to public school. By the time she was entering her senior year, though, she was ready to return home. "I felt like I was spinning my wheels and wasting my time," she said.

But Knowles said her kids are free to go back to school anytime. "The option is open to my kids. I don't think public school is evil," she said.

Do Public Schools Teach Democracy?

The common perception of home-schooling families is that they are conservative Christians trying to escape secularism in public schools, but Knowles said the opposite was true for her family.

"In the South, the political atmosphere is very conservative," Knowles said. "There were times when public school teachers would make a lot of political comments that made me uncomfortable."

Dr. Michael Apple, a professor of educational policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied home schooling extensively, says that secular home-schoolers like Knowles and her kids are a growing population, but still a tiny group.

But whether home-schoolers are evangelical Christian conservatives or secular and liberal, Apple believes home-schoolers are cutting themselves off from people with different beliefs and backgrounds.

Home-schooled kids, he says, are missing out on the more subtle lessons that public schools teach students about being American citizens and interacting in a diverse society.

"Public schools are important to democracy," Apple said. "They teach people how to work with others across political, religious, class and racial lines. It would be a disaster to give up on that."

Or Does Home Schooling Teach Acceptance?

Laura Derricks, president of the National Home Education Network -- and other home-schoolers -- insist they are enriching their children's social lives, not cutting them off from the outside world.

The home-schooled kids interviewed for this story said they have many friends and plenty of activities to keep them busy. And far from feeling left out or cut off, they say they have a richer social life than most of their peers.

With home schooling becoming more popular, families are building networks to socialize and share information. Around Austin, Texas, where Derricks and her family live, there are hundreds of home-schooling families. Her kids, 14-year-old Jackson and 11-year-old Sarah, are involved in a number of organized group activities such as gymnastics, drama and city parks programs.

Derricks said the "comparing, grading and sorting" that is the hallmark of public schools can be damaging to kids. "Kids pick up on it," she said. "They know who is the best in the class and who has the money. They take that to heart and learn that really well."

Because there is less social pressure on home-schooled kids, they are more accepting of their peers, Derricks said.

"With home schooling, there's not the same pecking order," she said. "Participation is based on interests. It's multi-age, and association is voluntary. There's a wider range of what's accepted."

Avoiding the 'Lord of the Flies'

In one way or another, home-schooling parents believe they can provide a better, healthier environment for learning than public or parochial schools can.

Julieanne Hensley, of Cincinnati, says she decided to home-school her children precisely because of the kind of socialization they would get in school.

Hensley went to Catholic school and said her studious, bookworm personality made her "bully bait."

"It's like 'Lord of the Flies,'" Hensley said of the social life at traditional schools. "The idea that kids have to deal with bullies is absurd. Adults don't have to in their lives."

Tamara Knowles agreed, saying that, in many cases, public schooling can tear down a child's self-esteem. "It happened to me," she said. "Other kids will taunt you, tease you. That socialization is not good -- it's group think. If you're different, and I hope my kids are, you're going to get a lot of that."

Barbara Theesfeld, of Williams Bay, Wis., never intended to be a home-schooling mom. "I used to think home schooling was for the birds," said Theesfeld.

But she took her two kids out of public school when her son, Jimmy, now 17, was in fourth grade, because he was being picked on constantly, she said.

"I felt like he was falling apart," Theesfeld said. "A school district's hands are tied in many ways when a child is being bullied."

Even though he is critical of home schooling, Apple, the education policy professor, says the movement is clearly a "wake-up call" for public schools.

"Public schools have to be closer to the community and more responsive to parents and kids," he said.

Proms, Dances and More

But like many home-schooling families, the Theesfeld family has had to endure other people's curiosity -- often bordering on disdain -- about their choice. Many people wonder how hom-eschooling families can deprive their kids of all the important touchstones that school seems to provide.

"The first thing my relatives said when they found out was, 'Well, they'll never go to a prom or a football game,'" Theesfeld said. "Someone was concerned he [Jimmy] wouldn't have a locker. I mean, I don't miss my locker from high school."

It's an issue that comes up frequently with home-schooling families: How will your kids ever learn socialization skills if they don't go to regular school?

It's a question many of these families find a little silly. As Theesfeld said, "We're not isolated, with barbed wire around our house."

And groups of home-schooling families are making sure that their kids aren't missing out on important adolescent rituals.

Every year in Austin on the first day of regular school, home-schooling families throw a giant "Not Back to School" party at a city swimming pool. And in the fall, they organize dances attended by hundreds of kids of all ages -- wearing everything from formal "prom" wear to Halloween costumes.

Finding a Middle Ground

Hana Bieliaukas, who is now 19 and attending the University of Ohio, attended Catholic school in elementary school. She compared the social environment there to the movie "Mean Girls," saying it was all about "popularity" and filled with "backstabbing."

"I tried to be really cool and cliquey, but it didn't work," Bieliaukas said. "I got into a lot of fights."

And academically, Bieliaukas said she wanted more creativity and less structure. So in sixth grade, she tried home schooling with her mother. It was an experiment that failed.

"I didn't want to do work when my mom told me to," Bieliaukas said. "And I'm very social. I wasn't with other kids."

In eighth grade, Bieliaukas began attending Leaves of Learning, a school for home-schoolers attended by about 100 students. She attended small, multi-age classes three or four days a week and was still able to direct her own learning.

While Bieliaukas says she sometimes thinks about what it would be like to attend a big high school "like in the movies, with more people and lots of drama," she feels better prepared for college both academically and socially than other students she's met.

But she still gets a lot of questions about her home-schooling experience.

"When you say you're home-schooled, people say, 'What's wrong with you?'" she said. "People say, 'Don't you feel like you missed out?' I say, 'No, I got the best of both worlds.'"

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

Home Schooling Is Going Mainstream

ABC News

When most kids are asked about school, scenes from school buses, rows of desks and the lunchroom spring to their minds. But not for 11-year-old Stephanie Simmens and her 9-year-old sister Molly.

Their homeroom is actually their home. And when it's time for science, their younger brothers
Chris and Sean join them for class and the labs are held in their backyard. For the Simmens kids, it's just another hands-on class taught by their one-and-only teacher: their mom.

"This gives you an opportunity to take control of your child's education and you give them what you think they need and give them the best start that you can," said Melissa Simmens, who has been homeschooling her children for nearly a decade.

Education's Hottest Trend

Simmens is part of one of the fastest-growing trends in education. According to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Education, the number of homeschoolers has risen from 360,000 in 1994 to 850,000 in 1999. Many experts put the figure closer to 2 million. In earlier years, most homeschooled children came from either ultrareligious or politically liberal families, but now all types of families are teaching at home.

Professor Pearl Kane of Columbia University's Teacher's College says homeschooling is teaching everyone a thing or two.

"The most important lesson we can learn from homeschooling is how important it is to involve parents in their own child's education," Kane said.

"It gets the entire family involved in the family's business," said homeschooling father John Simmens. "We're all there helping one another. And that's probably one of the best things that I like about homeschooling."

What's Lunch Money?

And then there are the little conveniences.

"You don't have to pay for your lunch and you don't have to got to a locker to get certain things," Stephanie Simmens said.

John Simmens, who labels himself the principal of his kids' school, thinks their home school works better. And he's not alone. The No. 1 reason parents teach their kids at home? They claim the children get a better education at home. The next reason is religious convictions, followed by a desire to avoid bad schools.

Studies suggest the parents may be right about getting a better education. Students taught at home consistently score higher than the national average on the SAT and ACT standardized tests. And other studies have shown that homeschoolers tend to do better in college, because they are more motivated and curious, and they feel more responsible for learning on their own.

Critics of home schools have said that homeschooled kids miss out on learning things like how to get along with peers, tolerate differences and make new friends. But Melissa Simmens disagrees.

Real-Life Field Trips

"My children are not isolated. As a matter of fact, I feel they're a lot less isolated than kids in school because they are out there learning, and they're out there in the world," she said.

Most homeschoolers recognize the importance of plugging into a network of other kids and families, and they use field trips and the Internet to make connections with other students.

And while the homeschooling movement grows, educators are poised to see what happens when a new generation of homeschooled kids go away to college.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

Reading, writing and rebellion? Homeschooling takes on tradition, but some wonder if students are seeing benefitsBy

By Inness Asher

Rather than the title of an often-controversial federal program, the phrase 'No Child Left Behind' might very well be the rallying cry for the contemporary homeschooling movement. On the rise nationally -- and with a prominent presence in Acadiana -- it's evident that among those with the will and determination, home teaching is a rich and satisfying experience.

Unfortunately, because the nature of homeschooling is still somewhat a tacit act of rebellion -- one which sometimes doesn't lend itself to voluntary information disclosure -- statistics are somewhat dated and limited.

As reported by the National Center for Education Statistics, the most recent national survey estimated the number of homeschooled students increasing from 850,000 students in 1999 (about 1.7 percent of the total student population), to 1,096,000 students in 2003 (approximately 2.2 percent of the total student population). While such a rate of increase doesn't yet endanger the current U. S. educational systems, it should create some reflective moments in wiser school administrators.

As an alternative to traditional school programs, the reasons for moving away from institutionalized education are as varied as those who homeschool. Some find a home environment a preferable alternative for religious reasons; others, however, say they are seeking a quality of individualized education lacking in schools run by an increasing oligarchy of professional administrators whom they often find more interested in the current lover's knot of test scores and government funding than in providing education to individual students.

Two Lafayette parents, Kate Corkern and Marie Diaz, members of the Magnolia Home Educators community, have had ample experience with children and their education. According to Corkern, the traditional school system was definitely more concerned with adapting her child to fit their mold rather than finding an individualized approach to his needs. To her, homeschooling is a way to provide a rich education to her children, while bypassing the increasingly programmatic instruction in today's schools.

"But it quickly becomes more than that," she says. "The family dynamics are natural and there's no interference."

In addition to how she views homeschooling as a natural extension of the family, she also cites a variety of reasons other homeschoolers she knows have undertaken the education of their own children.

"The reasons are as varied as people are," she says. "Some are religious, some kids are brilliant or slow or weird or persecuted in school."

Corkern's assessment aligns accurately with the NCES survey findings. According to the survey, 31 percent of parents responding cited school environments "as the most important reason for homeschooling." Another 30 percent noted a need for religious or moral instruction they found lacking, with 16 percent citing "dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools."

Or as Corkern simply states, "Most people would say they're homeschooling because they want to offer their children something different."

Diaz has had experience in both local public and private schools. A Tulane graduate, she nevertheless found that when the time came to introduce her daughter Ruth to the traditional school systems, neither were sufficient.

"We looked at public and private schools where my daughter was accepted," says Diaz, "but it just wasn't right. It just didn't feel right."

Beginning with Holy Family Home Educators, the local Roman Catholic homeschooling organization, Diaz eventually joined what was then only a mailing list begun by Corkern and a few other interested parents. As the list grew and others found an open network of like-minded parents, Magnolia Home Educators was born. Three additional children later (Joseph, Martha and Annette), Diaz is pleased with the choice she made back when her family was just beginning.

"We began as a group of interested parents," she says. "We were lucky enough to network with a couple who had homeschooled and they were reassuring."

Speak to any dedicated homeschooler and you will eventually hear of the need for such a connection. Without the support of others within a community, the very idea of homeschooling can be so intimidating as to welcome either poor practices or outright failure. With mutual support, however, Lafayette homeschooling parents can begin undauntedly teaching their children, and continue as the experience achieves academic results.

"Based on skills ranking my children, (they) haven't done too badly," Diaz modestly admits.

By anyone's account, the scholarly success of each of her children is remarkable, even by the standards of traditional education. Indeed, those are the standards by which most serious home educators gauge the progress of their pupils. With a 4.0 grade point average, Diaz' eldest daughter qualified for acceptance at a variety of both public and private universities; at the senior high level, her son Joseph is a college scholarship recipient and a National Merit semi-finalist.

Was this the kind of success she envisioned when she began homeschooling her children?

"We home schooled kind of one year at a time," says Diaz.

With support and dedication came the positive affirmation of academic success. One year led to another, she says, until at one point she eventually realized "the chances of not doing it are kind of slim right now."

Despite the enthusiasm engendered by almost every successful home-schooling parent, most traditional school participants have some serious and legitimate concerns when considering homeschooling.

How does one acquire the qualifications for imparting knowledge to one's own child on a wide variety of subjects even parents sometimes find daunting?

"Teacher's guides," says Corkern, "are essential."

Also, thanks to a free-market economy and the rapid expansion of an initial cottage industry, homeschooling parents now have an expansive array of educational material to choose from -- unlike those parents who often had to make do with used texts and subject guides less than a decade ago.

"You start out with 'school-in-a-box', everything prepared for you, but you quickly move on," says Corkern. "You start shopping around. The marketplace has really expanded to fit so many different people. Most people who do it for any length of time get the hang of it."

Not unlike teachers themselves, she adds.

Modern homeschoolers also dismiss that oft-cited bugaboo some bring up time and again: The lack of socialization homeschooling provides in contrast to the traditional classroom and playground.

"We haven't found a problem with socialization skills," says Diaz. "We see other children a fair number of times, above and beyond having friends."

She cites numerous community organizations and activities in which her children and others participate, again illustrating that a community of caring parents plays a key role in educating one's own children. The list grows rapidly as Diaz recounts the extensive extracurricular activities of the Magnolia Home Educators.

"We do field trips together, have group meetings, we sometimes meet at the park," she says. "The only thing they [the students] do alone is study. Generally most of their academic work is done at home with their brothers and sisters, if they have them. But for most other activities, there are ways to meet people, and we take those opportunities."

One example of socialization is the monthly meeting of the Magnolia Home Educators held at the Main Branch of the Lafayette Public Library.

"The library has been very welcoming to us," says Diaz. "A lot of the teenagers are involved in the Lafayette Teen Committee at the library. This year they had Book Buddies, and several of the homeschooling kids were involved in that."

Book Buddies is a confidence-building program in which independent readers aged 7-10 are paired with more experienced readers. Initially part of the Summer Reading Series, the success of the program has it resuming in October. Among home schoolers, as well as the public, it is the literate and educational activities that make local libraries community focal points.

"The Children's Department has been wonderful," says Diaz. "I think in most communities homeschoolers will gravitate to the libraries."

Do-It-Yourself Education

By Jason Overdorf
Newsweek International

Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue - In India, education is supposed to be free and universal through age 14. In fact, it often doesn't work out that way. Consider Dhiraj Sharma, the 10-year-old son of a bicycle rickshaw driver in Dehli, who was forced to stay home last year after the local state denied him admission because he didn't have the right papers—a common problem. So Dhiraj is now applying to a private school. For just $6 a month, the R.S. School offers a much better education than the state, says Dhiraj's father, Ramesh, complaining that his son "finished class three in government school, and he can't read anything!"

Such problems have sparked a boom in private schooling throughout the developing world. In 2000, James Tooley, an administrator for Orient Global, a Singapore company that invests in education for the poor, went walking in Hyderabad, India, and was startled to find private schools on virtually every corner. He launched a full-scale study in India, China and Africa, and everywhere, officials and aid agencies told him such schools for the poor didn't exist. But when his researchers explored the villages and slums, they found that not only did they exist, they were flourishing. "It's a tremendous success story," says Tooley. "Entrepreneurs are catering to poor, low-income families, and they're achieving better than the government at a fraction of the cost."

The story was perhaps most dramatic in China. Tooley and his chief researcher, Qiang Liu, traveled to the poorest, most remote villages of Gansu province. Officials there insisted there were no private schools. And so it seemed, until Qiang woke up one morning at dawn and canvassed the vegetable market. Sure enough, women who'd traveled there from the neighboring countryside told him about private schools farther up in the mountains. "In the end, our survey found 586 of them in these remote villages, where the government and [aid workers] said there were none."

Elsewhere the private schools were easier to spot and even more numerous. In Delhi, hand-painted signs advertise low-cost private schools at every twist of the narrow lanes. In Hyderabad, 60 percent of the schools serving poor neighborhoods are private. None of them get state aid, and two thirds are not recognized by the government at all—meaning they are essentially black market. In the hinterlands of Accra, Ghana, Tooley's team found the same phenomenon: 65 percent of kids there attended private, unaided schools. In Lagos, in three different slums, the figure jumped to 75 percent.

The numbers suggest that despite the low prices (as little as $1.50 a month), parents believe such schools do a better job than the government. And they're generally right. Harvard's Michael Kremer found that though private-school salaries were lower in India than in public schools, teachers at the former skipped fewer classes (absenteeism is a notorious problem in India's state-run schools). Similarly, a 1999 survey conducted by Delhi University's Centre for Development Economics found that while teachers in state schools spent their time sitting idle, the makeshift private schools enjoyed "feverish classroom activity."

Harder-working teachers, of course, get better results—even when they lack qualifications. Kremer's 2002 study of Colombia's PACES program, one of the largest school-voucher projects ever implemented, found that three years after switching to relatively low-cost private schools, students had accomplished more, repeated fewer grades and scored higher on tests, and were less likely to have dropped out to take jobs, than were their counterparts still stuck in the government system. Other studies have reported similar results in Thailand, Tanzania, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and elsewhere.

Indeed, it's remarkable how many cheap private schools manage to do more with less. In Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorer Indian states, for instance, Oxford University's Geeta Kingdon has found that private, unaided schools are about twice as cost-effective as government schools, achieving better results in math and comparable results in reading at half the cost. The explanation lies in basic market forces. Competition forces these schools to work effectively. It also produces greater accountability.

In India, teachers' unions are so powerful that educators are almost never fired or transferred for transgressions. And parents are powerless. "At government schools, parents won't even be allowed into the compound, let alone to meet a teacher, but in private schools, in most cases, they have parent-teacher associations," says Parth Shah, president of New Delhi's Center for Civil Society and coordinator of India's School Choice Campaign—a program that promotes vouchers to allow poor kids to attend private school. "Parents feel they have a right to ask a question of a private school."

This higher standard is on view at Priya Adarsh School, another low-cost private operator in northeast Delhi. Here the principal—keen on keeping customers—watches his teachers on a closed-circuit television while he pecks away at a spreadsheet on his desktop PC. The standards aren't perfect, of course; when NEWSWEEK visited, the camera caught one teacher whacking a pupil with a ruler. But at least every teacher was in his or her classroom teaching, and every student was sitting at a desk and paying attention.

Skeptics decry this "at least they're trying" argument. In many regards the cheap private schools are substandard—with poor infrastructure, high teacher-student ratios and poorly qualified instructors—even if they are better than state schools. R. Govinda, head of the department of schools and nonformal education at New Delhi's National University of Educational Planning and Administration, says embracing cheap private schools is defeatist.

"I'm not ready to settle for a substandard alternative," he says. "Comparing them is like comparing two people who are drowning. One is drowning in 20 feet of water, the other is drowning in 30 feet of water. Does it make a difference?"

Other opponents, both in India and elsewhere, argue that ceding the educational field to private players will put an end to any hope of an equal education for all. A study based on a survey of parent satisfaction published earlier this year by researchers at Columbia University found that relying on private markets can undermine educational equity and universal access.

Furthermore, it argues, private schools strive for superior quality only where they compete with government schools; otherwise they offer "lower-quality, second-chance" educations to children without any other option. "There is no reason to assume that private markets will necessarily improve the quality of education," the study concludes.

School-choice advocates respond that it is a fantasy to suggest public education is providing a quality education to all. "You can't compare the reality of private education with some myth of what public education has been like," says Tooley. At least cheap private schools are responsive to parents, and the more parents who choose this route, the better private schools will get, thanks to increased capital, higher demand, more competition and economies of scale. "These are [now] small cottage industries," says Tooley. "They're mom-and-pop stores. There are thousands and thousands of them. Some of them are beginning to consolidate, and you're getting small, embryonic chains."

That's where he's looking to invest much of the $100 million education fund he manages for Orient Global. Already the fund has given grants to six private-school associations or institutions in Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Nepal, and Tooley's team is conducting research in India ahead of opening a chain of budget private schools for the poor there that would set new benchmarks in quality. "It's an inadequate analogy," says Tooley. "But when I go shopping in a supermarket, I go to one of several chains, and poor people also go shopping there. Poorer people. They have the same diversity of choice and the same quality. The chain doesn't discriminate between us. Also, some of them have food stamps or social-security payments, which are like school vouchers. So when you have competing chains of schools, when the market system develops, that inequality will become less relevant." In the meantime, as the slums of Delhi, Lagos and Accra show, black-market schools will continue to thrive, ensuring that, even in places where government has failed them, poor kids can get an adequate education—on the books or off.

© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.

How Home Schooling Will Change Public Education -- Paul T. Hill

How Home Schooling Will Change Public Education -- Paul T. Hill -- Paul T. Hill reports on the pros and cons of learning at home—and the effects home schooling will have on public schools.

Taking Charge - Communicating the Strengths of Homeschooling (Home Education Magazine Online)

Taking Charge - Communicating the Strengths of Homeschooling (Home Education Magazine Online) -- As homeschoolers we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to provide others with accurate information about homeschooling. As one step in this process, a recent one-page piece about homeschooling is worth our consideration.

It is titled Homeschooling Families: Ready for the Next Decade. A Foundation for Ongoing Conversations

Distributing this piece gives us a good opportunity both to share some of the key points about homeschooling with other homeschoolers and to introduce some of the most important aspects of homeschooling to people to whom it is a relatively new idea.

This column will discuss why information about homeschooling is needed and in demand, why we homeschoolers should take responsibility for providing it, why distributing this piece is a good idea, and how it can be done. Then some of the points included in the piece will be explored in more detail.

The Ten Most Important Things You Need To Know About Homeshooling

I've been looking for a Top Ten List like this one for homeschooling. Visit www.homeschool.com.

The Ten Most Important Things you need to know about Homeschooling - Homeschooling Articles - Homeschool.com - Your Virtual Homeschool