“It’s a sacrifice, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
“I’m glad we did it.”
“Our family comes first.”
“It was phenomenal. I could never say enough about it.”
“You want to what?”
“But how will they become socialized?”
As many school-age children get up this coming Tuesday, pack their bookbags and lunches, and march down the driveway or street to get on the bus, a smaller percentage of them will be getting up, doing their chores and starting their day of education right at home.
For 13-year-old Kieran Clucas, who will be going into high school this year, under the supervision of his teacher and mother, Rita, homeschooling is a way of life. Instead of being influenced by other students his age, his main influence and support system is his family — and he likes it that way.
“With homeschooling, we’re not around a bunch of other kids who might influence us, and we don’t spend seven hours in a classroom all day. We might spend half that time and then there is time to practice bow and arrow, play soccer, more time for activities. And, being at home, you get to spend more time with your family,” he said.
Rita Clucas said the family did send Kieran to a traditional kindergarten, but with a commercial fishing business, it worked out better to teach him at home. Each year, the family spends summers in Alaska, where Rita’s husband, Jon, was born and raised, fishing commercially. This year, learning accounting for the business will be part of Kieran’s education, as will be starting up his own eBay business.
Lee Guarna, another local parent who homeschooled her children and who knows the Clucases, said the education a child gets from pulling in a 65-pound salmon into their net is something that holds special value. As for Kieran’s perspective, this year’s trip was simply “awesome!”
“We thought we could do a good job,” said Rita of the decision to homeschool. “And it has evolved to fit our schedule and become a way of life.”
Clucas’ younger daughter is 10 and has an interest in singing and music — something Clucas says homeschooling allows her the freedom to explore at length.
“The children get a tremendous education and get to concentrate on interests and talents they couldn’t have developed otherwise,” she said.
“And, being Christians, they get more of our moral influence,” she added.
Religion was an important factor for Lee and Paul Guarna in deciding to homeschool their third child, Kelsey. In fact it was the factor.
“We did it for religious reasons,’ explained Lee Guarna. “We wanted her to know about Jesus Christ. Can I say that?”
The Guarnas’ other two children went to Lord Baltimore Elementary School and then to Epworth Christian School for their middle- and high-school years. A bonus to a Christian education, for the Guarnas, is when students have a hard time with something, teachers can offer to “pray about it.”
“You don’t dare do that in public school,” said Lee Guarna. But, ultimately, for Kelsey, they decided her Christian education would start at home. “It was all for religious reasons. Christ is the center of our lives and we wanted him to be the center of our children’s lives, too. We prayed about it from the time I found out I was pregnant, and I knew I should stop teaching preschool [and teach Kelsey].
One of the main misconceptions about children who are homeschooled, advocates say, is that they are somehow missing out on socialization with their peers — something both Rita Clucas and Lee Guarna deny.
Guarna said that, while Kelsey was being homeschooled, they were active in many sports activities, gyms and field trips.
“You get them into as many things as possible to see where their interests lie,” she said. “A lot of times, kids are ‘socialized’ on the bus or the playground, and how many of those are positive experiences? Homeschooled kids are even more socialized, because you make an effort to socialize them and they are around other kids of all other age groups.”
Rita Clucas added that there will always be extreme cases, just as there are with public school kids.
“There will always be kids that don’t fit in or get along with other kids. In public school, that’s called ‘shy,’ but in homeschool, it’s ‘sheltered and isolated,’” she said of criticisms leveled at homeschooling.
“Many times they are very involved in sports, and even in the political realm,” Clucas continued. “It’s ironic, many of them are leaders amongst their peers. These aren’t kids that don’t know how to talk to other people,” she said.
Another common misconception, said Kim Frey, another local mom who homeschooled both her daughters before the youngest recently graduated, is that homeschoolers are somehow “backwards.”
“Someone recently said to my daughter, ‘You have an iPod?’” recalled Frey with a laugh.
Also, Frey said, no matter what the situation, people always in some way reserve a sort of judgment for the homeschooled students.
“If it was July and they’d be working on a math sheet, they’d say ‘Doesn’t your mother ever give you a break?’ And if it was December and they were out of school, people would ask why,” she recalled, chuckling.
Frey got into homeschooling after seeing that her oldest daughter was advanced in reading. At that time, there were not many homeschoolers around, so moms like Frey sort of felt their way around the system.
“The law was not clear then,” explained Frey. “It’s clearer now.”
She joined an umbrella group before starting her own when daughter Jordan was in fourth grade.
In Delaware, homeschooling is legally defined in one of three ways:
• Single-family homeschool “means the education of one’s own child(ren) primarily by the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of such child(ren) mainly in their own residence.”
• Multi-family homeschool “means the education of children, primarily by the parents(s) or legal guardian(s) of such children mainly in one or several residences, or other facilities, when such children are not all related to each other as brother or sister. A person shall act as a liaison to the Department of Education for reporting enrollment and attendance information for all families involved.”
• Single-family homeschool coordinated with the local school district “means the education of child(ren) primarily by the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of such child(ren) mainly in their own residence using a curriculum approved by the local superintendent or the local superintendent’s designee. The local superintendent shall determine in writing that the student is or will be provided with regular and thorough instruction by the student’s parent(s) or legal guardian(s) in the subjects prescribed for the public schools of the State and in a manner suitable to children of the same age and stage of advancement.”
Delaware’s laws are presently liberal, said Frey, which is something that allows Delaware homeschooling families to breathe easy, for now. All that is required of the home-based schools is attendance information, although there have been unsuccessful movements to require homeschoolers to take tests from the Delaware State Testing Program, which are required annually in some grades of the public school system.
Elsewhere in the nation, there has been more stringent regulation of homeschooling. A February ruling in California said that homeschoolers there could only be taught by their parents if the parents had a teaching degree — a ruling that could have affected 200,000 students. Just this month, that ruling was overturned by the same judges, after much outcry from homeschooling advocates, as well as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In a TIME magazine article, Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying, “This is a victory for California’s students, parents and education community. I hope the ruling settles this matter for parents and homeschooled children once and for all in California, but assures them that we, as elected officials, will continue to defend parents’ rights.”
The Indian River School District does recognize the desire for some parents to educate their kids at home. The district refers interested parents the Delaware Department of Education so they can register and homeschool in accordance with Delaware law.
But homeschooled students are not eligible to participate in any of the school district’s extracurricular activities. That includes students who were at one time IRSD students but who withdrew to be homeschooled. They lose eligibility for IRSD sports and clubs, and must instead turn to community activities and sports venues available to the general public, with homeschooling families sometimes working together to organize activities for their children.
Many of the Delaware families interviewed by the Coastal Point for this story were, at least at one time, part of an umbrella group. But, for the most part, they have maintained a lot of independence as well. They all have tried a myriad of curriculums and agreed that a mixture usually provides the best outcomes. That process, they said, is evolutionary, with the student leading the way.
For example, both of Frey’s children graduated from homeschool, just as the Clucases plan to do with their own children. But, for the Guarnas, they decided a traditional Christian high school was a better choice for Kelsey.
“At about ninth grade, Kelsey came to us and said she thought she would be better prepared for college if she went to a [traditional] school, and I agreed,” explained Guarna.
But, for the family that continues homeschooling all the way through high school, Frey said colleges are more than happy to accept homeschooling as a great base of education.
“Most colleges are open to homeschoolers, and others actually go after them,” she explained.
Frey’s oldest daughter attends Patrick Henry College, a school made up almost entirely of homeschoolers. She also attended Del Tech for some classes.
For the Harrell family of Ocean View, homeschooling was more about spending time together as a family than about religion. When they first moved to the area, they saw that there were not as many alternatives to public school as they had had in the city where they had previously lived.
“At first, I wasn’t a big fan,” said Roy Harrell, “but my wife had seen others, and we wanted to give the best possible prospects to our children, and we’ve gone through an evolution with it.” That’s a sentiment all the families echoed.
The advantages for the Harrell family are that they are proud of the education their children are getting, without the downfalls of the public school system, and value the freedom it brings them as a family. The Harrell children are very involved in competitive surfing and travel a lot, and homeschooling allows the family to accommodate such schedules, as well as allowing their parents to be the central support system for their children.
“Our family comes first,” said Harrell. “And we have the ability and the responsibility to be the primary influence in their life. It gives us the freedom to choose and gives us a lot of options, and the results will be significant in their lives.”
“It takes some sacrifice, but if you are willing to invest the time, it’s worth it,” he continued. “A lot of people are starting to utilize it as an option. It’s something we felt was important.”
A common thread among the parents is the sacrifice they make in deciding to homeschool and the hard work and determination involved in carrying out that decision. As with anything involving people’s lives, it is not something to be taken lightly, they emphasized.
“As with anything,” advised Guarna, “don’t do it alone. Get support. There will be days where you are ready to pull your hair out because they are driving you crazy, and you need to vent that to people who understand. It truly is a sacrifice, but the connection you get with your child, you can’t explain it. It’s the difference between nursing your baby and giving it a bottle.”
And, along with support, a balanced outlook helps, as well.
“Some people think homeschooling is the only way to go,” said Clucas. “And others think the kids are totally missing out. People have to be balanced. Homeschooling, for us, is fantastic. I love the fact that we can recognize gifts and talents of our children. To have four children in the house all day, living with their brothers and sisters and adults, and have peace — that’s socialized. It’s great that I have four kids that get along and love each other. This time together is fantastic.”
For more support or information on homeschooling in Delaware, visit the Delaware Home Education Association online at dheaonline.org.