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How Does a Family Begin Homeschooling?

Susan Nelson, a homeschooling consultant and curriculum

developer, suggests that new homeschooling parents will find

their task simpler if they decide whether their primary goal

in becoming home educators is "to provide their child with

useful and interesting educational experiences; or to pre-

pare him for [formal] schooling."46  Other advocates of

homeschooling are more practical and suggest reading home-

schooling literature, becoming familiar with the homeschool-

ing laws of one's state, attending a how-to seminar, joining

a regional support group, or spending time with a seasoned

homeschooling family before taking the leap.  Popular home-

schooling advice books include How to Tutor by Samuel L.

Blumenfeld, Homeschooling: Your Questions Answered! by

Deborah McIntire and Robert Windham, and The Original Home

Schooling Series by Charlotte Mason.47

After a period of trial and error, most families fall

into a satisfactory routine with their homeschools.  Nancy

Wallace, a homeschooling mother, said about her beginning

days of teaching her children: "Every morning we practice

our French, play the piano, and do some writing.  Every

evening we read aloud to Vita and Ishmael for about 1½

hours.  And in between?  Ishmael takes two drama classes, a

French class and a piano lesson for 1-hour periods once a

week, we go to the library, explore the woods, observe

nature and read."48

Do Homeschooled Students Get Admitted to College?

A growing number of colleges and universities around

the United States, including Harvard and Yale, are admitting

homeschooled students to their freshman classes.  One unusu-

al family, the Colfaxes of Boonville, California, have had

three of their four homeschooled sons accepted by Harvard.

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported a boom

in homeschooled students' winning admission to selective

colleges.49  In the absence of a transcript or high school

diploma, applicants can submit samples or a portfolio of

their work, letters of recommendation, and CLEP and Stanford

Achievement Test scores.  The HSLDA's study of 1,657 home-

schooling families notes that homeschooled students want to

attend college: 69 percent of respondents pursued a more

formal postsecondary education.50