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Hear from a Home School Graduate

Home What?

by Leah G. Driggers

Texas Home School Coalition REVIEW© November 2000

The sun poured down on the playground.  The blonde children floated around a merry-go-round, while two mothers smiled from a wooden bench.  “So, where will your children attend school this fall?” one mother asked.

The other mother suddenly stiffened, sat up straight, and stated, “Well, um, we are going to homeschool them.

“Home what?”

“Homeschool them.  We are going to teach them at home,” Lynette Driggers answered with more boldness.

“What is that?  I’ve never heard of home school.”

Seven years later, the same home school mother sips a glass of cold, Texas ice tea at the home of a new friend.  The new friend, a wealthy mother of two, sits down beside her and makes polite social chitchat about children and, of course, their education.  “Your daughters are so beautiful.  What high school are they attending?” asks the friend.

“Well,” states Mrs. Driggers, a little more prepared, “we are home-educating them.”

The friend’s smile freezes, “Home school?”

“Yes,” nods Mrs. Driggers and takes another swallow.

The friend pauses, looks away, and then turns back, clueless.  “Why would you do that?”

Five years later, Lynette Driggers sits watching her fifth-grade son, Adam, whack a backhand at a junior tennis tournament.  The mother of Adam’s opponent scoots her plastic chair closer.  “Your son is an incredible player.  Does he play for his school?”

“We home educate our children,” Mrs. Driggers returns, eyeing Adam’s serve.

“Really!” The woman throws her hands up. “My sister started doing that last year, and she really loves it.  I think that is so neat.”    

Lynette Driggers is my mother.  I am her home schooled (from pre-school) graduate.  She was not the only one with awkward conversations in the early days of home schooling.

Thirteen middle school ponytails gathered around our softball coach.  “Now, everyone gets out of school around 4:00, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, everyone but Leah, because she’s homeschooled,” teased one of the girls.

“Hey,” I grinned.

“Man, I wish I was homeschooled.” One of my teammates shoved her hands on her hips, “You get to sleep in till 10 a.m. and watch cartoons all day.”

“Really?” all the girls chorused.

Home on the Range

When Mother jumped into the untried waters in 1982, home education was an unusual phenomenon.  That was the year of State v. Short (Dallas County), when Richardson ISD took the Short family to court for homeschooling their daughters.  Those were the days when we children stayed indoors until 3:00 p.m.  When concerned Wal-Mart clerks asked the dreaded question, “Why aren’t you in school?” we returned, “We’re on a field trip.”  Many had never heard of home education, and a great number of folks were upset that people were pulling their kids out of the established educational system.

Now, according to a 1997 study by Dr. Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute, there are approximately 1.23 million American children being taught at home.  In Texas alone, the Texas Home School Coalition estimates there are over 75,000 families home educating their children, or 175,000 Texas home schooled students (based upon an average of 2.3 school aged children per family).[1] 

Home schoolers are not only academically keeping up with normal schools, but they are surpassing them.  A 1998 independent study of 20,760 student achievement test scores, by Lawrence M. Rudner, Ph.D., director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation, found the following: “In every subject and at every grade level of the ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) and TAP (Tests of Achievement and Proficiency) batteries, home school students scored significantly higher than their public and private school counterparts.  Because home education allows each student to progress at his or her own rate, almost one in four home school students (24.5%) are enrolled one or more grades above age level. It should be noted that home school scores were analyzed according to the student’s enrolled grade rather than according to the student’s age level. In other words, a 10-year-old home school student enrolled in 5th grade would have been compared to other students in the 5^th grade-rather than to his age-level peers in the 4th grade. Thus, the demonstrated achievement of home schoolers is somewhat conservative. On average, home school students in grades 1-4 perform one grade level higher than their public and private school counterparts. The gap begins to widen in grade 5; by 8th grade the average home school student performs four grade levels above the national average.”

Politics in Progress

Anyone in America can legally homeschool, though laws vary from state to state.  You can be glad you home educate in Texas.  Early Texas home schoolers pioneered a trail to gain our current “private school” status, which is lenient compared to other state standards.  As long as Texans teach, use a curriculum, and study five subjects (reading, spelling, grammar, math, and good citizenship), they are considered legal private schools in the eyes of the State of Texas.

In the wake of first-grade murder, Columbine, and failing national test scores, home education has gained acceptance even in secular circles.  National magazines and newspapers like Newsweek, Washington Post, and USA Today are running positive home school articles.  More and more, home schooling is being recognized as a worthy mainstream educational option. 

Instead of hiding from the government, we are being honored by our country.  Our own famous governor, George W. Bush, has proclaimed the first full week in May Texas Home Education Week for the last six years.

The Hole in Home School

Of course there was always the big “s” word in home schooling circles.  Everyone, from a stern, public school teacher to a concerned, kind grandpa, collectively asked, “What about socialization?”  I remember one well-wisher wrinkling her forehead and wailing, “But what about the prom, honey?” 

USA Today printed a 1999 article titled “Are Homeschooled Children Social Retards?” by William R. Mattox, Jr. that lauded home schooled children because they “tend to interact more with people of different ages.  Not only is this more like the ‘real world’ – what businessperson’s social interaction is largely restricted to those born in the same year? – but it also reduces the degree to which children find themselves constantly and obsessively being compared to – and comparing themselves with – other children their age.”     

Happy Days

I used to dread the question, “So, what school do you go to?”  How I wished I could have a normal answer.  It was never a one-sentence conversation.  I had to explain how it worked, the curriculum Mother selected, and if I even liked it.  Now, when my brothers say they are home-educated, it brings wreaths of smiles and encouragement.

When I was in kindergarten, the majority of curriculum vendors would not sell to home schoolers, because they thought we were both illegal and a small market.  Now, every year in May, our family attends the Arlington Home School Book Fair, one of the largest home school book fairs in America with over 100 exhibitors.  Mother used to create her own curriculum with library books.  Now her mailbox is flooded with glossy, thick catalogs for home school curricula.

You Texas home schoolers are enjoying the fruit of hard labor and lobbying.  It is because of the efforts of many individuals, organizations like the Texas Home School Coalition, and local grassroots lobbyists that home schooling is legal and well-received. 

Never lose sight of the vision these citizens have sketched.  You hold the education of tomorrow’s leaders in your hands.  Pursue your work with excellence.  Oh, and try not to watch too many cartoons in your efforts.

Bio at the time of printing:

  Leah Driggers is a freelancer residing in Fort Worth, Texas.  She has attended Telos Institute, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and World Journalism Institute.  She enjoys tournament tennis, golf, and chess.  In the future, she hopes to either climb the corporate ladder to become the CEO of IBM or raise eight children.

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