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I have found no evidence that these adults were

even moderately disadvantaged. . . . Two thirds of

them were married, the norm for adults their age,

and none were unemployed or any on any form of

welfare assistance.  More than three quarters felt

that being taught at home had actually helped them

to interact with people from different levels of

society.55

Conclusion

The modern-day homeschooling story is fundamentally one

of a grassroots movement of parent educators, from Miami to

Des Moines to Fairbanks, who have taught their children how

to read and write at kitchen tables and in home offices.

Joyce Swann of Anthony, New Mexico, is one such dedicated

mother.  Armed with only a high school diploma, Swann decid-

ed to homeschool her five-year-old daughter, Alexandra, by

using the Calvert School's elementary school correspondence

program.  Ten years after that leap into the unknown,

Alexandra was on the fast track to academic success.  By age

16, she had earned a master's degree from California State

University, and at 18 she was teaching U.S. history at El

Paso Community College.  Today, seven of Alexandra's nine

homeschooled siblings also hold master's degrees.56

Stuart and Cynthia Sealfon of Brooklyn, New York,

established a homeschool to allow their three children the

freedom to devote as much time as they wanted to the sub-

jects that interested them.  Rebecca, the Sealfons' 13-year-

old daughter, was especially interested in spelling and

spent up to three hours a day studying word lists.  Her

dedication paid off when she became the first homeschooled

child to win the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.

Parents like Swann and the Sealfons have succeeded in

making a countercultural idea acceptable.  They have

achieved their goals without much applause and without a

dime of government funding.

This is not to imply that homeschoolers are powerless.

Two years ago, homeschoolers came of age, politically, when

they overwhelmed Capitol Hill switchboards in their effort

to get Congress to drop a drive to force parents to get

teaching certificates before they could homeschool.  The

House voted with home educators, 424 to 1, on that issue.