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Stephen Zachary Donald, nine, would have to concoct the tallest of tall tales to convince his teacher that he couldn’t find his homework.
You see, Zach’s teacher is also his mother.
“It would be a little difficult for him to lose his homework, at home,” acknowledges Hazel Donald, with a chuckle. Hazel and Zach are about two-thirds of the way through their
second year of homeschooling. In a time when parents, administrators and public officials lament that class sizes aren’t getting any smaller, the Donalds have achieved the optimal instructional ratio: one-to-one. If he has a question, or the answer to one, Zach doesn’t have to wave his arm more frantically than his classmates to get the teacher’s attention.
 Zach and his mother, Hazel Donald, complete an assignment in the Donald family kitchen. |
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The youngest of Hazel and Arnold Donald’s three children, Zach is the first to be homeschooled. His sisters are grown and gone, both in Chicago; one teaches at a city high school, the other is enrolled in a doctorate program.
Which brings up another of the advantages Zach has compared to his peers in public and private schools. While his mom might have been hesitant to pull him out of classes for a family visit, homeschooling means have
curriculum, will travel: “School can go with him,” says Hazel.
“That’s pretty unique, from a developmental standpoint,” Arnold Donald points out. Chairman of the board of Merisant Corporation, he travels extensively, with wife and son in tow when and where appropriate. Zach has had the opportunity to learn about Europe not only from textbooks, but from firsthand experience.
Week in and week out, of course, Zach’s coursework is not art appreciation at the Louvre and physics instruction at, say, an English university where Sir Isaac Newton
once taught.
It’s school. Hard work, that is, for both teacher and student. And as anyone who homeschools will tell you, developing a curriculum isn’t “sort of making it up as you go along.” There must be 1,000 hours of instruction in a given academic year, with certain percentages devoted to science, math, social studies and language arts. Although there is no mandated format, one must be able to demonstrate that the child is making appropriate progress.
Parents who homeschool may feel like they’re stumbling in the dark, especially when first starting out. Hazel Donald says she realized not long after embarking on her educational journey with Zach that she was not alone in her plea of “Help! How do I do this?”
Help, both religious and secular, is close at hand. St. Louis Science Center offers how-to sessions for current and would-be homeschooling parents, as does the Butterfly House in Faust Park; the Botanical Garden is looking into it, Hazel says.
St. Louis offers support groups, play groups, field trips, you name it, for homeschoolers with either a secular or religious bent. Here are just a few; a more comprehensive listing is just a few clicks away. This is what we came up with by visiting Google and entering “homeschooling resources St. Louis.”
• Christian Home Educator’s Fellowship (CHEF) has numerous local affiliates in St. Louis City and County and other metro-area locations. Contact: Jon & Candy Summers, 314-521-8487
• St. Louis Secular Homeschoolers Co-Op, not religiously or politically affiliated, offers
support, field trips, idea exchange and classes. Contact: Dannielle, dannielle@stlsecularhomeschool.org, 314-298-3778.
• HomeSchool Families of Greater St. Louis offers monthly meetings and field trips; bimonthly playgroup. Contacts: Denise, KAurora0614@aol.com.
• Families for Home Education (FHE) claims to be the lobbying group for all home educators in the state of Missouri. Not affiliated with any religious, political organization or special interest group, FHE works to win support for home education among the
general public as well as lawmakers and public officials. Focused on monitoring state legislative activity through their registered lobbyist, FHE also provides legally accurate information to anyone interested in home education. Website: www.fhe-mo.org
Lisa Nichols, who just handed over the chalk and responsibility for the Three R’s to
husband Greg, says she was worried at first about finding homeschooling resources for son Jordan and daughter Paige. What she discovered, instead, was an embarrassment of riches: “There is so much out there that you have to pare it down!”
Jordan, 12, and Paige, 11, had attended a private Christian school until their parents began to wonder whether homeschooling might make their hectic lifestyle a little less so. The option was working out for friends, so why not them?
Greg and Lisa own Technology Partners, a
St. Charles consulting firm. Give and take is key to their partnership, at the macro and micro level. For example, since office and home are not that far apart, Greg was able to come home for lunch most days. Now, Lisa can.
The decision to homeschool has been a
wonderful learning experience for parents and children alike.
“We’ve always had that flexibility, which is a great blessing,” Greg says. “I’m able to spend a lot more time with my children than most fathers have.”
On a recent Thursday evening, Greg says his two students had worked hard to get their schoolwork finished by 5 p.m. Since they got rolling as bright and early as any area classroom, that may seem like a long day. But when they were done at 5, they were done. “They can look forward to doing whatever they want to do,” says Greg. By and large, that’s not sitting in front of the TV.
| Zach enjoys extracurricular activities. |
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“They do a lot of extracurricular activities,” Lisa points out, noting that the kids can give these their all. “It’s not like he (Jordan) is
coming home from football practice and still has three hours of homework ahead of him.”
Some districts allow homeschooled children to be on school teams, says Hazel Donald; Zach plays football and basketball. This is not to say that his dad is the coach... the piano teacher, watercolor instructor, drama consultant... Even such high achievers as the Donalds and the Nicholses don’t attempt to be Renaissance men and women in giving their children a well-rounded education. They may call upon qualified experts for instruction in
disciplines beyond the core curriculum, and who better to notice a special aptitude and
recommend additional attention than the person who dedicates eight hours a day (at least) to the student’s highest achievement?
Lauren Bakker gave birth to her four daughters at home, so homeschooling seemed to make sense, too. She only homeschooled Haley, her eldest, however. Haley wanted to be taught at home; the three others chose public school. Much has changed in the Bakker household since Haley spent third grade at home with her mom.
Haley is now a senior in high school. Lauren works as a parent educator with Parents As Teachers. Her husband, Peter, a senior vice president with U.S. Bank, is a school-board member in Webster Groves. Suffice it to say, education is a top priority for the Bakkers.
“It was very intense, which is why I didn’t do it again,” Lauren recalls. But if she had to, she’d not try so hard to do it all herself. Indeed, she took advantage of many area resources, such as coursework available through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, but still scrambled to get ready for each school day, often staying up until
11 p.m. to prepare.
“That’s the big mistake I made—I did not purchase curriculum,” Lauren admits. But an unexpected benefit of Haley’s experience was its impact on her youngest sister Julia, who was then a pre-schooler and at home the whole year: “Julia wanted to do everything Haley did!”
One reason Lauren decided to homeschool Haley was because of a boy who had picked on her during second grade—Haley was to have been in the same third-grade class as her tormentor. In any case, Haley went to fourth grade at public school without missing a beat.
Greg and Lisa Nichols say homeschooling has pulled Jordan and Paige together in a special way. Their relationship has truly evolved into a kinship.
Hazel Donald’s original rationale for homeschooling Zach was to challenge him more.
“He’s been challenging me back!” she says. |
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