Synopsis
A high school English teacher tells why he has chosen to educate his own sons at home, offering information on the academic success of home-schooled children, the meaning of education, the psychology of learning, and education in other societies.
Reviews
Despite the paradox of his position as a public high school teacher in Washington State who advocates home schooling (and provides it for his three sons), Guterson mounts a strong challenge to "the doctrine of school's necessity." He profiles the home-school movement, which encompasses more than 300,000 families in America, and probes the wide variety of motives behind its growth. The most common, he finds, is parents' dissatisfaction with the mass, prescribed and other-directed nature of public education. Guterson argues that properly practiced home-schooling produces academic success, lessens peer pressure and allows children to become independent. We see these benefits in his depiction of his own family's experience, but he scants the commitment in time and resources that home schooling requires of parents. He covers legal obstacles and community resistance that await those who embark on this traditional undertaking today. While not a panacea for America's educational malaise, home schooling as presented here should prompt educators to reflect on their own approaches.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A wide-ranging look at the benefits of parents educating their children at home. Guterson (The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind, 1989) teaches English in a Washington State high school, but he and his wife school their own three boys at home. The boys are among an estimated 300,000 or more children nationwide who learn the three Rs--plus science, geography, philosophy, literature, and more--at the dining-room table instead of at a school desk. The boys also roam far afield, visiting workplaces, museums, libraries, and nature centers; joining peers in Little League and swimming lessons or for art, music or drama; spending time with other adults in the community, including a home for the elderly. It's the flexibility to make use of the rich resources of the community that Guterson counts as a plus for homeschooling. But more important, he asserts, is the opportunity to guide children in learning at their individual paces, impossible even in so-called child-centered public schools with their crowded classrooms and mandated curricula. Here are thoughtful and well-documented answers to most of the questions asked about homeschooling. Is it legal? Yes. Some states, in fact, give strong moral and even financial support to homeschoolers. Do the children learn? Overall, they do as well or better on standard tests as children schooled in classrooms--no matter what the educational level of the parents. Are they socialized? This question, says Guterson, has many layers but, yes, homeschooled children have friends and playmates; yes, they learn- -perhaps better than peers who are isolated in classrooms--what society expects of them. Homeschooling is not for everyone, but Guterson sees it as a growing and worthy alternative in an educational system badly in need of fundamental restructuring. A literate primer for anyone who wants to know more about alternatives to the schools. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Guterson brings an interesting perspective to the question of homeschooling. Although he teaches English in a large public high school, he and his wife prefer to instruct their own children at home. Here, he articulates many of the problems of the American education system and, to a degree, makes a strong case for the role of homeschooling in contributing to the solution. The strength of his argument is the importance he attaches to the involvement of families in the education of their children. The weakness is in the idea that homeschooling might work for every family. Particularly effective is his clear presentation of the legal basis for homeschooling (the author's attorney father, though personally opposed to homeschooling, has helped many families in achieving their right to teach their children at home). This book is a useful contribution to education literature. For public libraries.
- Hilma F. Cooper, Cheltenham Twp. Libs., Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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