www.superchargehomeschooling.com Copyright 2011 Why Home schooling? by Zohra Sarwari All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or… [620173]

Why
Home Schooling?

By

Zohra Sarwari

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Copyright 2011 Why Home schooling? by Zohra Sarwari

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning, recording, stored in or introduced in a
retrieval system, or otherwise circulated without permission in
writing by the author.

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Dedication

'(Our Lord! Accept this from us. You are
the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing).'
(The Qur’aan: Chapter 2, Verse 127)

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Introduction

The education of our youth is an extremely important
subject. Caring for children, teaching them, and helping them grow into intelligent and prosperous people is at the
forefront of society. Homeschooling is an educational
choice which is not always understood, yet is an option
which is growing exponentially. Many parents in the
United States and around the world are beginning to
question the motives behind public schools and private
schools and the quality of the education their children are
receiving. The decision to homeschool is a big one, but for
most homeschooling families it ends up being the best decision they ever made for a myriad of reasons. As
homeschooling becomes main stream again, it is showing
itself to be a viable, and even outstanding, educational
option.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Asalamalakium (Peace Be Upon All Of You)
“Homeschooling? Me NEVER! I didn’t go to 7 years of
College to stay at home and be a house wife. That was for
the people who were uneducated. Educated women work, and send their kids to school or hire a nanny or tutor.
However, they go and make real money to pay for others
to work for them.” This is what I said to the idea of
homeschooling when I first heard of it. I had no clue what
homeschooling was and I admit I was very ignorant of the
whole idea of it. Alhamdullilah (All praise belongs to God)
that I was enlightened and a few years later the day I
never thought would come, came, after being frustrated
with what the private schools had to offer, which was not enough for me, I decided to homeschool. Many laughed at
me first, many ridiculed me, and others said my children
would not be normal. I thought I too was ignorant at one
time, so I expected these behaviors, and thought nothing
of it. I said time will prove everything. Alhamdullilah it did,
my kids have been homeschooled for almost 4 years now.
They are each 3-4 grades ahead, very social, confident, and amazing, to say the least. Alhamdullilah. They have
written 7 books in total, and have been featured on TV,
Radio, Magazines, Websites, etc. Alhamdullilah. This
could not have happened had I chosen to take the road
most traveled. Allaah (God) knows best. I would like for
all of you to please read this book with an open mind and
you will learn so many great things, and if home schooling
is for you, great, if it is not for you, great! Either way you
will obtain more knowledge and hopefully by the end of this book have a different view on homeschooling.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Thomas Edison: Inventor and
Homeschooler

When Thomas Edison was attendi ng school, his teacher thought he
was dull and constantly confused. When Thomas came home and
relayed this information to his mot her, she promptly went to speak
with the teacher. Mrs. Edison and the teacher hotly debated
Thomas’s abilities, and when the t eacher expressed her opinion that
Thomas was simply unteachable, his mother removed him from
school. Thus began his homeschooli ng adventure. Although he was
schooled intermittently until age twelve, when he was finally
dismissed completely, he was labeled “addled”. His mother did not
agree, and she took over his schooling permanently.
Mrs. Edison taught Thomas to r ead and to conduct experiments. She
encouraged him constantly, believing that he had potential and giving
him the tools to reach it. Edison himself recalled that his mother
helped make him the man he was. She believed in him, took on the
responsibility of teaching him, and gave him goals and purpose.
Mrs. Edison believed that Thom as needed both a hands on and
thoughtful approach to learning. She let him have his own laboratory
in the basement of thei r house. The story goes that Edison’s father
was often concerned about the odd smells and frequent small
explosions which came from t he basement while Thomas worked
away happily.

Thomas Edison credits his mother for much of his success. She
taught him to never be afraid to fail; she advised him to learn from his
mistakes and just keep trying. S he encouraged him to read all types
of literature, even that which he didn’ t like, but to also that working
with his hands was valuable and t hat many important lessons don’t
come from books. Most important ly, she inspired him to keep
improving and never stop learning.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Chapter
1

The Difference Between
Public School, Private
School, Charter School, and
Homeschool

www.superchargehomeschooling.com 1. Public
Regular public schools ar e local, publicly funded
schools which are open to al l community members.
Public schools are attended by the students within
their particular geographical area. This means that if
you plan for your child to attend the local public
school, they must attend the one closest to you, in your area of the district. To attend a different school
in another part of the dist rict, generally the parent
must apply for an in-district transfer. The school
principals will usually make the decision about
whether or not your child will be allowed to attend the
other school. Part of this decision is based on what is
best for the child, and part of this decision also has to
do with school populatio n, meaning how many
students already attend each school, and funding,
meaning which school needs the money your child
brings with them. Each school receives ADMw which
stands for Average Daily Membership/ Weighted.
This is the amount of money which follows each
student to the school they attend. This amount can
vary widely between districts. If a district has a school
low on attendance, it will try to keep the students
there and allow transfers into that school. If a school
is struggling, students from that school may be denied
transfers.
If a student would like to attend a public school in
another district, the parent s must apply for an inter-
district transfer. Sinc e public schools are funded

www.superchargehomeschooling.com based on attendance, it is in the best interest of the
school to maintain its student population.
Attending a local public school means that parents
must accept the philosophy of the school and the
school’s chosen curriculum.

2. Charter Schools
A charter school is a publically funded school of
choice. Most charter sc hools are started by parents
who are looking for another educational option for
their students. Charter sc hools are grass roots efforts
to create a publically funded school which is focused
on a particular philosophy, curriculum, or style. For
instance, a charter school might be arts based,
science based, or classicall y based. A charter school
has to follow certain guideli nes set by their state and
their district and they must meet benchmarks and
align with the states curri culum guidelines. But a
charter school can also create some of its own
educational goals, guideline, and content.
Charter schools are publical ly funded, meaning that
they receive the ADMw for each student which
attends the school, although t heir sponsoring district
is allowed to keep a portion of the ADMw in their
general fund. A district generally keeps between 5%
and 15% of the money brought to the charter school
through attendance. Charter schools are a testament
to freedom of choice in education because any

www.superchargehomeschooling.com student can attend any charter school which they
choose.
The charter school movement has been gaining
momentum in recent year s. Numerous issues
influence parents to choose charter schools. Parents
who feel that their loca l school isn’t doing a good
enough job will often choos e to drive farther and
rearrange their schedules to allow their children to
attend a charter school. Many charter schools
choose curriculums and set standards that are
appealing to parents, such as curriculums or
programs that focus on a clas sical education, the arts,
science, or technology. While not all charter schools
are outstanding and not a ll succeed, they are
attractive in many ways. Charter schools have the
ability to institute dress codes, hire teachers who are
experts in their fi eld, fire teachers who do not meet
the school’s standards, main tain strict discipline
policies which include the abi lity to remove habitually
disruptive students, and maintain local control. Most
charter schools are operated by teachers and parents
of the students they repres ent and the charter school
board has a close, hands-on relationship with the
school, the students, and the pa rents. While charters
don’t fix all the problems in education, they have
made an important step in t hat direction which is
choice. Educational choice allows for competition,
which forces improvement and fosters excellence.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com 3. Private Schools
Private schools are privat ely funded and operated.
Usually a sponsoring entit y, such as a mosque,
provides the base support fo r the school, while tuition
provides the rest. Privat e schools usually will become
accredited so that the educ ation they offer will be
considered comparable to other schools.
Accreditation organizations review schools and
colleges to ensure their standards and improvement
rates. While accreditation is not the only quantifying
standard for a school it is especially important for
private schools because they do not necessarily have
to adhere to government rules and regulations for
schools. Private school s are allowed greater
freedoms since they use only private funds and they
choose not to take advantage of public funding. Most
private schools are religi ous based and funded by
religious organizations. Private schools are
universally recognized as pr oviding higher levels of
achievement and higher college attendance.

4. Homeschooling
Homeschooling is a growing trend here in the United
States. According to the National Center for
Educational Statistics, there were 850,000
homeschoolers in 1999, 1.1 million in 2003 and in
2007 that number had increas ed to approximately 1.5
million homeschoolers in the U.S. alone. It is

www.superchargehomeschooling.com important to bear in mi nd that these numbers are
never truly accurate because many homeschoolers
choose not to register t heir children and are not
included in surveys because they tend to be less
involved in activities wher e they would be surveyed.
Homeschooling tends to be a private, family oriented
activity.
Homeschooling is generally defined as any education
which takes place outside of a public or private school
environment. In actuality, the term “home” schooling
can be misleading. Most homeschoolers find that
they spend much of their ti me at the park, the library,
the zoo, homeschool classes, gymnastics, martial arts
classes, museums, and at the homes of other
homeschoolers. These are just a few of the places
homeschoolers roam as they take advantage of the
freedom which exists outside the walls of the
schoolhouse.
While homeschooling is legal in the United States,
each state has its own requirements for homeschool
registration and standardized testing. Any parent or
legal guardian can homeschool. A teaching license is
not required. Most parents who homeschool feel well
equipped to do so. Raising children is natural, and
homeschooling is a natural continuation from infancy
to toddlerhood to element ary age. Of all education
methods, homeschooling affords the most freedom for
the family and the student. While homeschooling,
parents can adjust curriculum requirements to fit their
child’s needs and to accommodate learning

www.superchargehomeschooling.com disabilities or accelerated l earning abilities. Parents
also enjoy the ability to embark on the educational
journey with their children, being an integral part of
the journey instead of just a bystander.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Chapter
2

Why Parents Choose to
Homeschool

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Bindi Erwin

Bindi Sue Irwin was born on the 24th July 1998 in
Queensland, Australia to her two proud parents Steve and
Terri Irwin. From the very firs t day of her birth, Bindi has
been involved with her Mum and Dad's filming and wildlife
conservation work and handled everything from spiders
and snakes to crocodiles and elephants. She has traveled
extensively all over the wo rld with her fa mily and made
numerous appearances in not onl y most of her parent's
television programs but guest spots on many worldwide
talk shows. Bindi is hom eschooled and making excellent
grades — a first class student who likes "creative writing"
best and not too keen on math. She sponsors a World
Vision unprivileged child in As ia and donates a lot of her
time and pocket money to help Wildlife Warriors Worldwide
(her dad's conservation charity) and assists at the
Australian Wildlife Hospital.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com The reasons parents home school are so numerous,
it’s hard to know where to start. When asked, most
homeschoolers will begin to get very excited about
telling their story, the r easons they homeschool, and
their experience. The reasons to homeschool range
from wanting to raise thei r children with their faith,
dissatisfaction with local sc hools, lack of challenge in
coursework, experiences with bullying, a desire for
family unity, a concern with negative socialization, a
desire to meet the needs of a child with disabilities,
and the list goes on and on. Most families
homeschool for a variety of reason and those reasons
can change as time goes on. The National Center
for Educational Statistics breaks down the reasons
parents give for homeschooling as follows:
“In 2007, the most common reason parents gave as
the most important was a des ire to provide religious
or moral instruction (36 percent of students). This
reason was followed by a concern about the school
environment (such as safety , drugs, or negative peer
pressure) (21 percent), di ssatisfaction with academic
instruction (17 percent), and "other reasons" including
family time, finances, travel, and distance (14
percent). Parents of about 7 percent of homeschooled
students cited the desire to provide their child with a
nontraditional approach to education as the most
important reason for home schooling, and the parents
of another 6 percent of st udents cited a child's health
problems or special needs.”
(http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=91 )

www.superchargehomeschooling.com 1. Moral and Religious Instruction
The most common reason to homeschool, to provide
religious or moral instruction should be disseminated
a bit. Many homeschooling parents want to provide
religious and moral instru ction, but often this
translates into the idea of raising their own children
instead of sending them off to be raised by the government. Parents feel that a child should be
shown all the love, patience, support, and guidance
that they need by their parents. Homeschooling
parents strongly believe that in the first five, eight, ten,
or fifteen years of a child’s life, they are learning the
moral and character lessons which will set the stage
for everything else they do in their life. Especially, in
Islaam this is the time to help build the child to be a
responsible, righteous, pious adult, inshAllaah
Teaching children at home is not just a story about
parents choosing full responsib ility for their children’s
education, but underst anding the greater
responsibility of molding and shaping an excellent
human being. We live in a complicated world which is
fraught with mixed messages, questionable morality,
and a lack of the knowl edge of right and wrong.
Homeschooling provides a safe haven where parents
can teach their children mora ls, values, and tools for
handling the complexities of modern life. By
homeschooling, parents also keep children under
their wing longer. A five y ear old child does not yet
have a strong base in their be liefs, nor the ability to
defend themselves. Homeschooling allows parents to

www.superchargehomeschooling.com take the time to raise and train their children in the
ways of the world, and keep them safe until they are
ready to venture out on t heir own with a mature and
grounded foundation. These parents understand the
importance of fully prepari ng their child for life before
they send that child out into the world.
The influences of public sch ool also may not reflect
the religious beliefs of the family. For example, parents who believe in creation theory may not
approve of their child being ta ught the origins of life
through evolutionary theory. Also, a family which
believes in the sanctity of marriage and that sexual
activity should be reserved for marriage may not
approve of a health class wh ich promotes the use of
birth control and sexual ex perimentation. The bottom
line is the right and re sponsibility parents to
homeschool so that they may pass on their beliefs
and values to their children, even in the area of
hobbies, interests, and issues such as conservation
or social service.

2. Safety and the School Environment
Today more than ever, safety in our schools is a huge
concern. Stories about bu llying, harassment, sexual
abuse, drugs, and gun violenc e are in the news daily.
Today’s public schools resemb le The Lord of the Flies
more than the sweet, quaint, one room school house
depicted in Little House on the Prairie. In the last

www.superchargehomeschooling.com fifteen years, school violence has become a regular
occurrence. Below is a list of school shootings:

Time Line of Worldwide School
Shootings
The following table lists the worldwide school
shootings from 1996 to the present. Find the date,
location, and a short description of each incident.
Feb. 2, 1996
Moses Lake,
Wash. Two students and one teacher
killed, one other wounded when
14-year-old Barry Loukaitis
opened fire on his algebra class.
March 13,
1996
Dunblane,
Scotland 16 children and one teacher killed
at Dunblane Prim ary School by
Thomas Hamilton, who then killed
himself. 10 others wounded in
attack.
Feb. 19, 1997 Bethel, Alaska Principal and one student killed,
two others wounded by Evan
Ramsey, 16.
March 1997
Sanaa, Yemen Eight people (six students and two
others) at two schools killed by
Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Oct. 1, 1997
Pearl, Miss. Two students killed and seven
wounded by Luke Woodham, 16,
who was also accused of killing
his mother. He and his friends
were said to be outcasts who
worshiped Satan.
Dec. 1, 1997
West
Paducah, Ky. Three students killed, five
wounded by Michael Carneal, 14,
as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School.
Dec. 15, 1997 Stamps, Ark. Two students wounded. Colt
Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods
when he shot the st udents as they
stood in the parking lot.
March 24,
1998
Jonesboro,
Ark. Four students and one teacher
killed, ten other s wounded outside
as Westside Middle School
emptied during a false fire alarm.
Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew
Golden, 11, shot at their
classmates and teachers from the
woods.
April 24, 1998
Edinboro, Pa. One teacher, John Gillette, killed,
two students wounded at a dance
at James W. Parker Middle
School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was
charged.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com May 19, 1998
Fayetteville,
Tenn. One student killed in the parking
lot at Lincoln County High School
three days before he was to
graduate. The victim was dating
the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-
year-old honor student Jacob
Davis.
May 21, 1998
Springfield, Ore. Two students kill ed, 22 others
wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-
old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been
arrested and released a day
earlier for bringing a gun to
school. His parents were later
found dead at home.
June 15, 1998
Richmond, Va. One teacher and one guidance
counselor wounded by a 14-year-
old boy in the school hallway.
April 20, 1999 Littleton, Colo.14 students (including killers) and
one teacher killed, 23 others
wounded at Columbine High
School in the nation's deadliest
school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted
for a year to kill at least 500 and
blow up their school. At the end of
their hour-long rampage, they
turned their guns on themselves.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com April 28, 1999
Taber, Alberta,
Canada One student kill ed, one wounded
at W. R. Myers Hig h School in first
fatal high school shooting in
Canada in 20 year s. The suspect,
a 14-year-old boy, had dropped
out of school after he was
severely ostracized by his
classmates.
May 20, 1999 Conyers, Ga. Six students injur ed at Heritage
High School by Thomas Solomon,
15, who was reportedly depressed
after breaking up with his
girlfriend.
Nov. 19, 1999 Deming, N.M. Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and
killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the
lobby of Deming Middle School.
Dec. 6, 1999
Fort Gibson,
Okla. Four students wounded as Seth
Trickey, 13, opened fire with a
9mm semiautomatic handgun at
Fort Gibson Middle School.
Dec. 7, 1999
Veghel,
Netherlands One teacher and three students
wounded by a 17-year-old
student.
Feb. 29, 2000
Mount Morris
Township, Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot
dead at Buell Elem entary School
near Flint, Mich. The assailant

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Mich. was identified as a six-year-old
boy with a .32-caliber handgun.
March 2000
Branneburg,
Germany One teacher killed by a 15-year-
old student, who then shot
himself. The shooter has been in
a coma ever since.
March 10,
2000
Savannah, Ga. Two students killed by Darrell
Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance
sponsored by Beach High School.
May 26, 2000
Lake Worth,
Fla. One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot
and killed at Lake Worth Middle
School by Nate Brazill, 13, with
.25-caliber semiautomatic pistol
on the last day of classes.
Sept. 26, 2000
New Orleans,
La. Two students wounded with the
same gun during a fight at
Woodson Middle School.
Jan. 17, 2001
Baltimore, Md. One student shot and killed in
front of Lake Cli fton Eastern High
School.
Jan. 18, 2001 Jan, Sweden One student killed by two boys,
ages 17 and 19.
March 5, 2001
Santee, Calif. Two killed and 13 wounded by
Charles Andrew Williams, 15,

www.superchargehomeschooling.com firing from a bathroom at Santana
High School.
March 7, 2001
Williamsport,
Pa. Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14,
wounded student Kimberly
Marchese in the cafeteria of
Bishop Neumann High School;
she was depressed and frequently
teased.
March 22,
2001
Granite Hills,
Calif. One teacher and three students
wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18,
at Granite Hills High School. A
policeman shot and wounded
Hoffman.
March 30,
2001
Gary, Ind. One student killed by Donald R.
Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student
who had been expelled from Lew
Wallace High School.
Nov. 12, 2001
Caro, Mich. Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two
hostages at the Caro Learning
Center before killing himself.
Jan. 15, 2002
New York,
N.Y. A teenager wounded two students
at Martin Luther King Jr. High
School.
Feb. 19, 2002
Freising, Two killed in Eching by a man at
the factory from which he had

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Germany been fired; he then traveled to
Freising and kill ed the headmaster
of the technical school from which
he had been expell ed. He also
wounded another t eacher before
killing himself.
April 26, 2002
Erfurt,
Germany 13 teachers, two students, and
one policeman killed, ten
wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, at the Johann Gutenberg
secondary school. Steinhaeuser
then killed himself.
April 29, 2002 Vlasenica,
Bosnia-
Herzegovina One teacher killed, one wounded
by Dragoslav Petkovic, 17, who
then killed himself.
October 28, 2002
Tucson, Ariz. Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student
at the nursing school at the
University of Arizona, shot and
killed three female professors and
then himself.
April 14, 2003
New Orleans,
La. One 15-year-old killed, and three
students wounded at John
McDonogh High School by gunfire
from four t eenagers (none were
students at the school). The
motive was gang-related.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com April 24, 2003
Red Lion, Pa. James Sheets, 14, killed principal
Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area
Junior High School before killing
himself.
Sept. 24, 2003
Cold Spring,
Minn. Two students are killed at Rocori
High School by John Jason
McLaughlin, 15.
Sept. 28, 2004Carmen de Patagones,
Argentina Three students killed and 6
wounded by a 15-year-old
Argentininan student in a town
620 miles south of Buenos Aires.
March 21,
2005
Red Lake, Minn. Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather
and companion, then arrived at
school where he killed a teacher,
a security guard, 5 students, and
finally himself, leaving a total of 10
dead.
Nov. 8, 2005
Jacksboro, Tenn. One 15-year-old shot and killed an
assistant principal at Campbell
County High School and seriously
wounded two other administrators.
Aug. 24, 2006
Essex, Vt. Christopher Williams, 27, looking
for his ex-girlfriend at Essex
Elementary School, shot two
teachers, killing one and
wounding another. Before going to

www.superchargehomeschooling.com the school, he had killed the ex-
girlfriend's mother.
Sept. 13, 2006Montreal, Canada Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with
a semiautomatic weapon at
Dawson College. Anastasia De
Sousa, 18, died and more than a
dozen students and faculty were
wounded before Gill killed himself.
Sept. 27, 2006
Bailey, Colo. Adult male held six students
hostage at Platte Canyon High
School and then shot and killed
Emily Keyes, 16, and himself.
Sept. 29, 2006 Cazenovia, Wis. A 15-year-old student shot and
killed Weston School principal
John Klang.
Oct. 3, 2006
Nickel Mines, Pa. 32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts
IV entered the one-room West
Nickel Mines Amish School and
shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age
from 6 to 13 years old, and then
himself. Five of the girls and
Roberts died.
Jan. 3, 2007
Tacoma, Wash.Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot
fellow student Samnang Kok, 17,
in the hallway of Henry Foss High
School.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com April 16, 2007
Blacksburg, Va.A 23-year-old Virginia Tech
student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed
two in a dorm, then killed 30 more
2 hours later in a classroom
building. His suicide brought the
death toll to 33, making the
shooting rampage the most
deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen
others were wounded.
Sept. 21, 2007
Dover, Del. A Delaware State Univesity
Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon,
shot and wounded two other
Freshman students on the
University campus. Brandon is
being charged with attempted
murder, assault, reckless
engagement, as well as a gun
charge.
Oct. 10, 2007
Cleveland, Ohio A 14-year-old student at a
Cleveland high school, Asa H.
Coon, shot and injured two
students and two teachers before
he shot and killed himself. The
victims' injuries were not life-
threatening.
Nov. 7, 2007
Tuusula, Finland An 18-year-old student in
southern Finland shot and killed
five boys, two girls, and the

www.superchargehomeschooling.com female principal at Jokela High
School. At least 10 others were
injured. The gunman shot himself
and died from his wounds in the
hospital.
Feb. 8, 2008
Baton Rouge,
Louisiana A nursing student shot and killed
two women and then herself in a
classroom at Louisiana Technical
College in Baton Rouge.
Feb. 11, 2008
Memphis, Tennessee A 17-year-old student at Mitchell
High School shot and wounded a
classmate in gym class.
Feb. 12, 2008
Oxnard, California A 14-year-old boy shot a student
at E.O. Green Junior High School
causing the 15-year-old victim to
be brain dead.
Feb. 14, 2008
DeKalb, Illinois Gunman killed five students and
then himself, and wounded 17
more when he opened fire on a
classroom at Northern Illinois
University. The gunman, Stephen
P. Kazmierczak, was identified as
a former graduate student at the
university in 2007.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Sept. 23, 2008
Kauhajoki,
Finland A 20-year-old male student shot
and killed at least nine students
and himself at a vocational college
in Kauhajok, 330km (205 miles)
north of the capital, Helsinki.
Nov. 12, 2008
Fort
Lauderdale,
Florida A 15-year-old female student was
shot and killed by a classmate at
Dillard High School in Fort
Lauderdale.
March 11,
2009
Winnenden,
Germany Fifteen people were shot and
killed at Albertville Technical High
School in southwestern Germany
by a 17-year-old boy who
attended the same school.

(Read more: Time Line of Worldwide School
Shootings — Infoplease.com
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html#ixzz17
uxkfPcA )

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Besides the hyped and dram atic school shooting
scenario, smaller problems which are just as deadly and destructive seem to occur at an alarming rate in public schools. Drug use is common in public schools, partly because there ar e so few adults that it
is easy to get away with wrong behavior, and partly because many children come to school bearing so
many wounds that they are looking for relief. Drug abuse is frighteningly common among children and teenagers.
According to the National Institute on Drug
Abuse:
Since 1975 the Monitoring t he Future (MTF) survey
has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and
related attitudes am ong adolescent students
nationwide. Survey partici pants report their drug use
behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month; for so me drugs, daily use is
also reported.
1 Initially, the survey included 12th-
graders only, but in 1991 it was expanded to include
8th- and 10th-graders. The MTF survey is funded by
NIDA and is conducted by the University of Michigan's

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Institute for Social Resear ch. The 35th annual study
was conducted during 2009.
Positive Findings:
Cigarette smoking is at its lowest point in the
history of the survey on all measures among
students in grades 8, 10, and 12. These findings are
particularly noteworthy since tobacco addiction is one
of the leading preventable cont ributors to many of our
Nation's health problems.
Between 2004 and 2009, a drop in past-year use of
methamphetamine was reported for all grades, and
lifetime use dropped signifi cantly among 8th-graders,
from 2.3 to 1.6 percent. Among 10th- and 12th-graders, 5-year declines we re reported for past-year
use of amphetamines and cocaine . Among 12th-
graders, past-year use of cocaine decreased
significantly, from 4.4 to 3.4 percent.
From 2004 to 2009, decreases were observed in
lifetime, past-year, past -month, and binge use of
alcohol across the three grades surveyed.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com In 2009, 12th-graders report ed declines in use across
several survey measures of hallucinogens : past-year
use of hallucinogens and LSD fell significantly, from 5.9 to 4.7 percent and fr om 2.7 to 1.9 percent,
respectively; and past-year use of hallucinogens other
than LSD decreased from 5. 0 to 4.2 percent among.
Attitudes toward substance abuse, often seen as
harbingers of change in use, showed many favorable
changes. Among 12th-graders, perceived harmfulness of LSD, amphetamines, sedatives/barbiturates, heroin, and cocaine increased. Across the three grades, perceived availability of
several drugs decreased.
Areas of Concern: Marijuana use across the three grades has shown a
consistent decline since the mid-1990s. The trend
has stalled, however, with prevalence rates
remaining steady over the last 5 years . Past-year
use was reported by 11.8 per cent of 8th-graders, 26.7
percent of 10th-graders, and 32.8 percent of 12th-
graders. Also, perceived ri sk of regular use of
marijuana decreased among 8th- and 10th-graders,

www.superchargehomeschooling.com although perceived avai lability decreased among
12th-graders.
From 2008 to 2009, lifetime, past -month, and daily
use of smokeless tobacco increased significantly
among 10th-graders.
Past-year nonmedical use of Vicodin and OxyContin
increased during the last 5 years among 10th-graders
and remained unchanged among 8th- and 12th-
graders. Nearly 1 in 10 hi gh school seniors reported
nonmedical use of Vicodin; 1 in 20 reported abuse of
OxyContin.
When asked how prescription narcotics were
obtained for nonmedical us e, about 52 percent of
12th-graders said they we re given the drugs or
bought them from a friend or relative. Additionally, 30 percent reported receiving a prescription for them,
and a negligible number of 12th-graders reported
purchasing the narcotics over the Internet.
http://drugabuse.gov/infof acts/HSYouthtrends.html

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Sexual activity in schools has also become rampant.
Homeschooling parents, as human beings,
understand that life is dangerous and that by simply
keeping their child at home and out of school does not
guarantee their safety. But they understand and
accept their duty to care fo r and protect their child for
as long as is needed and to t he best of their ability.
Middle school youth as young as 12 years is at risk of
engaging in sexual activities.
ScienceDaily (Apr. 10, 2009) — Middle school youth
are engaging in sexual intercourse as early as age 12, according to a study by researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/09040
8145354.htm )
According to a research, it has been seen that by the
age of 12 youth has gotten in to different kinds of sex
activities such as vaginal, se x, oral or anal sex. These
statistics are threatening because such youth who
start having sex before age 14 are much more likely to have multiple sex partner s, they also use drugs,
alcohol and unprotec ted sex and because of that they

www.superchargehomeschooling.com are at a greater risk of se xually transmitted diseases
or become pregnant.
3. Individualized Education
For example, a family may homeschool because a
child has trouble keeping up in school or is slow
learning to read. It is extremely common for some
children, especially boys, to take more time learning
to read than the public school allows. A little boy may be hesitant about reading until age nine or ten, then
all of a sudden make gigantic leaps in their reading
abilities. Later on, that same child who struggled to read at age six, may suddenl y leap to a high school
reading level at age ten. A homeschooling family has
the ability to nurture that slow reading capacity, then
accelerate when the child does and begin to provide much more challenging r eading materials as needed.
When a child is schooled at home, they are fortunate
enough to have a completely individualized education
and all of the one on one help they need. No one is
more invested in that child than their parents. One of
the downfalls of public school is the lack of individualized instruction. The public system touts it,
talks about it, yearns for it, yet can’t do it.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Homeschoolers have the market cornered on it. The
homeschooling family is a ne arly perfect example of
the natural progression of a child’s education. In fact,
almost everyone homeschools for a short period of time whether they know it or not. A mother teaching her son to talk is homesc hooling. A father teaching
his daughter to walk is homeschooling. Homeschooling is just a term for anything people teach their own children. In that respect, it is a natural
instinct in almost all par ents, and, like breastfeeding,
the healthiest choice for a precious child. The individual nutrients in a mo ther’s milk are created
especially for her child, and the nutritional benefits are
numerous, just like the individualized education of a homeschooler. It is important for parents to know that
each parent is uniquely qualif ied to raise, and teach,
their own child. A mass education where one size
supposedly fits all is rarely successful, and is
sometimes damaging in the early years. When
children are very young, t hey need personal, positive,
one on one interaction more than anything else. A
homeschooling parent can provide that.
Children naturally want to learn. An individualized
education means that the acti vities are geared toward

www.superchargehomeschooling.com the child’s interests and abilities. One of the joys of
homeschooling is seeing what interests the child, and
then following their lead whol eheartedly. All of the
important basics can be covered on a path toward the interests of the child. Fo r example, for a young child
who is extremely interested in animals, may learn to count animals, learn about digestion from learning
about what animals eat, will be inclined to learn to read by being read books about animals, and learn to
write by the parent aski ng them to write about
animals. The parent may give strict instruction about what constitutes a letter, but gearing the lesson toward the child’s love of animals makes the lesson part of the child’s life and lo ve, not a “lesson” per se.
The child begins to learn im portant basics in a context
which they love, which in tu rn produces a lifelong love
of learning.

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Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright onl y attended a traditional
classroom for 4 years (bet ween the ages of 11 and
15) because he started attending the University of
Wisconsin as a "special student" when he turned 15-
years-old. Prior to this time he was homeschooled.
While at the University of Wisconsin, he majored in
engineering since there were no architecture
courses available, at the time. Nevertheless, he still
went on to become a very famous architect.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com The homeschool environment is able to nurture the
individual and set a pattern associating learning with
joy. As a child grows older and begins to face situations where they mu st learn something which
may not be exactly what they want to study, the love
of learning instinct and the web of knowledge pathways which have been created allow the student to access something in that subject which is of value to them. The individual ized education of the
homeschooler better prepares the child for tackling new and difficult subjects.
An individualized education also paves the way for a
child to actively and aggre ssively pursue their talents
and passions. In a home school environment, a
student who discovers they are good at something or
a certain topic is intrigui ng to them, they have the
freedom to pursue it wholeheartedly. A homeschooling family has the freedom to seek out specific and unconventional educational opportunities
for a child who shows specif ic talent and interest in
any area. Through homeschooling, parents have the ability to tailor the child’s education to fit the specific needs in order to enhance the true abilities of their child. A very artistic child may need only a little time

www.superchargehomeschooling.com devoted to reading, writing, and mathematics, while
needing many hours each day to explore their artistic nature. A child who craves math will need to know
how to read, but more than anything else needs time
and freedom to explore the yearning for a mathematical reality. The student who has discovered a passion and a dream who has the freedom and time to chase that dream has a remarkable opportunity to flourish and excel.
4. Socialization
Socialization is a big i ssue among the homeschooling
community. Time and time again the issue of socialization rears its ugly head when opponents of
homeschooling try to degrade the idea by saying that
homeschoolers lack soci alization. What is
socialization anyway? Social ization is the process by
which a child learns the soci al norms of their culture;
socialization includes lear ning morals, values, social
expectations, proper public behaviors, etiquette, manners, and the skills needed to function effectively in society.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com In essence, the environment where children spend
most of their time, the people they are around, and the behaviors and attitudes which are rewarded in that environment are the el ements that influence how
a child is socialized. Many homeschooling parents
look into the inner work ings of the public school
system and realize that the “ Lord of the Flies” type of
environment, where children begin to create their own social structure and hierarchy, is rampant. This occurs regularly in schools, and is not what many
parents want for their children.
Many parents understand that there is a proper ratio
of adults to children if they are to be raised properly.
That ratio lands around natur al family numbers: two
adults for roughly every one to six children (or more in larger families. More than a dozen children in a family
is extremely rare today, but even in that scenario the
adult to child ratio is still one to six in a dual parent household. Compare that to an average school
classroom, where the aver age fourth grade class
could have twenty five children and only one supervising adult. In this situation, the other children soon become the socializi ng agents, not the adult.
Children, in their ignorance and immaturity, begin to

www.superchargehomeschooling.com decide amongst themselves wh at is right and how to
handle each other. At this point, bullying, sex, peer
pressure, apathy, and lack of respect for the adult minority begin to run rampant.
Fortunately, many parents choose to take action and
be the predominant influence in their children’s lives.
But parents still have to work against the outside
influences affecting their chil dren, such as their peers,
teachers, television, and the internet. Through homeschooling, those influe nces are minimized, and
the love and respect inside the family are emphasized. By homeschool ing, parents can solidify
foundations in their child bef ore the child is faced with
too many opinions and opti ons; in this way, parents
give their child the tools they will need to navigate
through life.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was schooled at home until he was nine
years old. He spent his chil dhood enjoying an idyllic life in
rural Virginia on the edge of a new frontier where he gained
a love of nature and the out doors. At age nine, he began
his formal education studying with classically trained tutors
and was a voracious student Greek French and Latin. At
age seventeen Jefferson enrolled at the college of William
and Mary, graduating at age twenty with honors.

Many homeschoolers use A Thomas Jefferson Education
by Oliver DeMille as a guide to leadership and classical
education. The focus of a Thomas Jefferson inspired
education is more on mentor ship than professorship and
classic works instead of textbooks. TJED strives to inspire
greatness and leadership abilities in students.

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Chapter
3

How to Homeschool

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Homeschooling is first and foremost a unique and
fluid endeavor. No two people homeschool quite the same way. A parent ma y even homeschool siblings
differently depending on what is appropriate for each
child and the natural tendencies of the individual child.
There are some basic cat egories of homeschooling,
but it is important to note that mixing styles, using one
for a time and then switching to another, and changing styles as children grow and mature is ok. In fact, no child stays the same forever and the flexibility afforded by homeschooling is one of its gr eat benefits.
Using all of the styles and switching when appropriate
is common, healthy, and should be encouraged.
A common story in homeschooling is for children to
start out Unschooling, ve ry free, open, and child
based. As the child grows and becomes more mature, a tighter struct ure becomes useful to
introduce more difficult or academic topics and to
prepare a child for the discipline and rigor of college. However a parent tackles homeschooling, the ability
to do whatever your child most needs at any given time is one of the beautiful parts of the decision to
homeschool.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

1. Unschooling
Unschooling is a very common form of
homeschooling, especially when a family first starts to
homeschool. The term Unschooling is somewhat hard to define, because by its very nature it is completely determined by the individual. In the homeschooling community, when a parent realizes Agatha Christie
On September 15, 1890, Agat ha Christie was born in
Torquay, England to Frederick and Clara Christie.
Frederick was very outgoing, but Clara was quite shy.
While Agatha’s older sisters received regular
schooling, Agatha was very shy like Clara, and Clara
felt that Agatha should be ta ught at home. Her father
taught her arithmetic until his death in 1901. Agatha
taught herself to read at age 5, even though her
mother had scheduled to teac h her to read when she
was 8. The Christie hom e was full of books and
newspapers, and Clara taught Agatha history and
general studies. In her teen years, Agatha delved into
the stories of Sherlock Holmes.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com that they must pull their ch ild out of sch ool, there is
almost always a pronounced adjustment period where the child just needs to “de- school”, meaning that they
need time to let go of what school has always meant and to be open to something new. Often parents need to allow a period of time where they allow their
child to be free to simply relax and pursue their own
interests unencumbered by a strict regime. This
usually leads to Unschooling, which in its simplest terms means learning without school. Unschoolers know that most learning happens organically without a school building, textbooks, or certified teachers.
In 1964, John Holt wrote Ho w Children Fail, and then
in 1967 wrote How Children Learn . Holt was a great
advocate of the idea that children will learn no matter
what. He felt that the mo st important thing adults
could do was to be with their children, talk with them,
listen to them, and follow t heir lead. The idea that
learning only took place inside a school building was repugnant to Holt. He was a huge advocate for including children in the lives of adults instead of separating them into age segregated groups with only
each other to look to for guidance. In How Children
Learn , he wrote:

www.superchargehomeschooling.com "Birds fly, fish swim , man thinks and learns.
Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into
learning by wheedling, bribing or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make
sure they are learning. What we need to do, and all
we need to do, is bring as much of the world as we
can into the school and cla ssroom (in our case, into
their lives); give childr en as much help and guidance
as they ask for; listen respectfully when they feel like talking; and then get out of the way. We can trust
them to do the rest."

In essence, to unschool means to be open to any and
all learning possibi lities. The role of the parents or
adult is mainly to be available to support the child, have discussions with them which often lead to opportunities for passing on knowledge. The adults
need to create a rich learni ng environment filled with
books, art supplies, trips to the library just to browse,
time to wander through museums with no agenda in mind, and time outside to explore nature.
Unschoolers see learning as life and life as learning.
Education happens while livi ng, not while set apart

www.superchargehomeschooling.com from life and sequestered in side a school building.
Unschooling means to go bac k to our most basic
inclination as humans: to learn.
2. Classical Schooling
The core of a classical educational model is the
Trivium, which simply means a model which addresses the appropriate m ode of learning for the
corresponding age and maturity level. The grammar
stage corresponds to elementary school. This age is open to absorbing facts and memorizing. During this stage young children are bu ilding a large database of
facts and skills; they are amassing a strong foundation of knowledge on which to lay higher level
thinking in higher grades. The grammar stage focuses on tools such as understanding language, numbers, and basic laws of sci ence. Children love to
learn, this phase takes adv antage of that natural
ability to absorb facts by filling the child’s mind with
important facts which wil l be analyzed in the next
phase. A classical model includes a lot of memorization and drilling. In recent years memorization and drilli ng have been downplayed,
labeled as harsh, cruel, and unnecessary. The focus

www.superchargehomeschooling.com has turned to “authentic” education and “child-
centered” learning. This organic child centered education has its place, but parents who use the
classical model also under stand that to be truly
creative and to have the abil ity to really succeed, one
needs tools and a certain am ount of rote, automatic
knowledge. It is hard to build a beautif ul bridge
without excellent math skills. It is hard to move to
higher level math without a firm grasp of addition,
subtraction, multiplicati on, and division. A student
can never do simple addition if they do not first memorize their numbers. Classical education understands that without a fi rm grasp of basic skills
and knowledge, a child will always be at a disadvantage.
The second phase is the logi c phase, where the child
begins to take the knowledge they have amassed and analyze it. During this phase, the middle school years, children naturally beg in to question everything
from their parents to their t eacher to their textbooks.
The logic phase comes al ongside the student and
helps them to focus their questions into logical answers and how to properly analyze information to come to logical conclusions.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com The final stage is the rhet oric stage. In the high
school years, students learn how to take their broad
base of factual knowledge and their ability to analyze and conclude logically to now form their own suppositions and learn how to express their thoughts
and conclusions coherently and authentically. The final phase of the trivium focuses on the student not only expressing themselves, but doing it eloquently in
both written and verbal form.
It is important to understand that although in a school
setting the stages are loosely categorized by age level, the trivium is a life long process. When a person
begins to learn a new skill at any age, he or she will start at the grammar stage, learn the basics, and
move on from there. Classical homeschooling emphasizes mastery of the facts of a subject before using those facts to ask intelligent questions and analyze the world around them.
The classical education m odel places high emphasis
on the arts, history, and lit erature, particularly
Western civilization and ancient civilizations. A classical education usually includes Latin, and
sometimes Greek. Latin is included because it is the

www.superchargehomeschooling.com foundation for the Germani c and Teutonic languages.
For the student who knows Latin, all other language
study becomes easier, and exposure to Latin increases comprehension in the study of science,
medicine, and law. Latin increases SAT scores,
improves logical thinking ski lls, and improves ordered
thinking as well.
Original sources are an impor tant part of a classical
education. Students use fewer textbooks and more
novels and essays. Reading what Homer or Benjamin Franklin actually wrote takes the place of
reading about them in a textbook. Students learn
about time periods through t he writings of the people
who were there. A classi cal education emphasized
reading classic works in their full form, not excerpts or
abridged versions.
3. Eclectic Homeschooling
The eclectic homeschooler looks around and takes
bits and pieces from any and all styles and curricula. The truth is that most home schoolers are at their base
eclectic. Drilling the AB C’s but allowing freedom to
explore whatever element of science suits the child’s

www.superchargehomeschooling.com fancy is typical of eclectic homeschooling. It takes
some courage on the part of the parent to boldly take responsibility for tailori ng each area of a child’s
education and having the courage to try a new
curriculum, but dump it two weeks later because it just isn’t a good fit for the student. It is not uncommon for new homeschooling parents to start out with a specific
curriculum to give themse lves and their child some
structure and guidelines. Later on the parents may
see that the math in this curriculum suits their child
perfectly, but they would rather generate English and
writing assignments themselves to fit their child better.
Sometimes a curriculum will spur a family to head off in another direction for a while before returning to the original plan.
For eclectic homeschoolers, nothing is off limits and
all possibilities are welcome. Eclectic homeschoolers
may spend most of their time Unschooling and following the lead of their chil d. But when it comes to
math, they realize the necessity of drilling and math fact memorization. Or a parent may bemoan their own lack of historical knowledge and be very diligent about teaching their child historical facts and
important dates in history. Knowing when to drop

www.superchargehomeschooling.com something that isn’t working and knowing when to
stick it out because even t hough it’s hard, the student
is showing progress, does take some time to figure out. But flexibility is key in eclectic homeschooling,
and in homeschooling in general.
Realizing that your style is ec lectic is usually just that:
a realization. Along the homeschool journey, parents
begin to see that they have naturally learned how to
follow what works, drop wh at doesn’t, and when to
persevere. Families rarely choose a style and decide that is what they will do. Most homeschoolers end up a bit eclectic.

4. School at Home
Sometimes a family will choose to create school at
home which mimics the regul ar school day. While
this is a more uncommon way to homeschool, it can work for different reasons . Sometime a parent will
only be planning to homeschool for a specific amount of time and therefore wants to maintain a school atmosphere so that their chil d will be ready when they
go back to school. Sometimes a family is just naturally very structured and is very comfortable

www.superchargehomeschooling.com starting at a specific time each day, reciting the
pledge of allegiance, working on specific subjects for
specific times, and breaking for lunch at exactly 11:45 each day. If this style works for a family, then they should do it.
Having school at home also lends itself to the use of
the local schools curriculum and resources, which can
make the child’s re-entr ance into the local school
much easier. The family schedule and other personal obligations may make a strict school at home format the only way to successfully homeschool.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Maeda Hanafi
While she is just like other 13 year olds in many respects,
Maeda Hanafi entered the University of New Haven in the fall of
2009.
Maeda’s father has a marine eng ineering degree and degrees in
computer science and her mother has training in economics. By
second grade, Maeda was bored in her local elementary school,
and her parents decided that she woul d do better at home. After
five years homeschooling, Maeda was ready to attend college.
She already had 15 co llege credits by the time she would have
finished seventh grade.
In school, Maeda found that she played too much and really
wasn’t learning very much. Homeschooling helped her to
concentrate on learning. He r parents feel strongly about
teaching a love of learning and also about teaching their faith
and values. For them, building good character and morals is
very important. Maeda is in volved in her mosque and has
tutored her peers in Arabic.
Maeda also enjoys playing with her friends and doing all the
usual things that a 13 year old does, but she also is a step
ahead in planning her future and preparing for success.

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Chapter
4

How to Advance While
Homeschooling

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Once a family decided that homeschooling is right for
them, they face many questions and concerns. One concern is how to manage their time and be sure that they are moving at a proper pace. The way a family
chooses to homeschool has a lot of influence on this question because unschoolers often feel that
“advancement” is not as important as the child
developing in their own way and picking up the information they need to know on their own timeline.
One thing to consider when deciding to homeschool is
where do you hope to end up? While no parent
knows exactly where they are headed with their child
and cannot foresee what the future holds, usually the
parent and child have an idea where they want to end
up. Considering where you and your child plan to be
in a year or two will help you plan your advancement
If you know that you will only be homeschooling for a
short time and that your child will most likely be
returning to school, then it may be to your advantage to plan to advance right alongside the school. Get curriculum and lesson plans from the school or other teachers. Follow the sc hools plan with regard to
subjects, time spent on each subject, and project

www.superchargehomeschooling.com timelines. This will help k eep you in line with the
school and help to ensure that your student has a smooth transition back into school.
Most homeschoolers find t hemselves having no idea
how long they will homeschool. They feel that homeschooling is right for them now, but maybe their
children will go to school so me day. Maybe. Or
maybe not. The key to homeschooling is flexibility. But you still need to be able to manage your time and keep your student on the right track.
1. Talk to Other Homeschoolers
This may be the very best advice in any area of
homeschooling. Getting together with other homeschoolers will help you see what other people are doing and how it is wo rking for them. Most
seasoned homeschoolers will be able to help you to compare what you are doing to what others are doing
and how your child is do ing compared to other
homeschooled children. But do not misunderstand this thought. The idea is not to compare and make a
judgment call on yourself or someone else. It is to
gain valuable information about where others are,

www.superchargehomeschooling.com where you are, and to help you see that maybe you
need to step things up a bit, or maybe your child is sailing along ahead of the others. Having a gauge
simply helps you realize that you might want to focus more on a subject that y ou hadn’t thought about until
a fellow homeschooler mentions that they have been studying that topic.
Most homeschoolers will tell you that watching and
spending time with your child will be all that you need
to know if they are advancing.
2. Testing
Most states require r egistered homeschoolers to
periodically take standardized test just like their public
schooled peers. These tests are useful for showing where a homeschooled student stands in relation to the other entire st udent their age or in their grade.
Testing can be very useful for showing parents where
the gaps are in their child’s education. It is not
uncommon for a homeschooling parent to say “Oh my! I hadn’t even thought abo ut studying that area
yet.” Test can also show where a child has a real
weakness, such as in multiplication facts.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Testing is NOT the greatest factor in assessing your
child’s abilities or educati onal level. Mandated state
tests should be seen as one measuring tool which
can be useful in the tota l evaluation of a student’s
progress.
3. Time Management
While each person needs to find their own personal
way to manage their time, there are a few techniques which help. Just remember that when you first start homeschooling, your entire fa mily is entering into a
learning process. A lar ge part of homeschooling is
integrating learning into everyday life; homeschoolers
understand that teaching and learning should be part
of our everyday life, not separated from it. Embrace
your own part of the pr ocess as a student of
homeschooling. Don’t expec t that everything will go
exactly as you picture it imm ediately. Adjusting to the
new processes that are taki ng place in your home will
take some time. Consider your and your child’s natural tendencies, then c onsider what you hope to
accomplish. Be patient and stay flexible. Again, it’s very important to realize that this is a process , and the

www.superchargehomeschooling.com journey is the important par t, so just relax, do your
best, and keep improving
Purchase planners and cale ndars. Think about how
your want to organize your household and your homeschooling schedule. It is helpful to have a large monthly calendar where you and your children record
all of their activities and obligations. Teach your
children to plan ahead and to be organized. Teaching
a child how to use a planner is a wonderful skill. Implementing the discipline to use a planner regularly
will help them to stay organized throughout their lives.
Keeping a planner will save them time and frustration
and help them to r each their goals.
Backward scheduling is a great tool on a long term
basis and on a daily basis. Look ahead at the end of
the year and think about where you want to be and
what subjects or skills you want to have covered. Work backward to create a map of how you want to get there. Not only will you feel more secure that you
are covering everything you need to cover, but you
will be motivated daily to do what you need to do to reach your goals. It is ok to follow the local public school’s schedule, or to adjus t your plan to fit what

www.superchargehomeschooling.com you feel is important. Also, remember that this is a
guide, but it is not set in stone. It is like using a map
when you go on vacation. You have a destination in
mind and a plan to get ther e. That doesn’t mean that
you won’t decide to take a more scenic route for part of the trip or that you wo n’t see an attraction that you
weren’t aware of and decide to stop and experience it. But you will know where y our destination is and how
to get back on track to end up in the right place.
Plan ahead for dealing with distractions. The
telephone is definitely one of the greatest distractions
known to modern man. An d not only do we now have
our home phone, but our ce ll phones to manage as
well. It’s a good idea to tu rn the ringer off during
homeschool hours. There is no law saying that you
have to answer the phone or that anyone who calls
deserves your immediate att ention. Use the vibrate
setting on your cell phone so that you will be notified
of important calls, but the call won’t interrupt your
children while they are working. Text messaging can be a benefit here, since y ou can quickly and quietly
answer important communication with minimal disruption to your learning environment. Also, once you have established a routine, let the people in your

www.superchargehomeschooling.com life know when you are ava ilable to talk and when you
will not communicate with them because you are schooling. Be firm. If peopl e know they can interrupt,
they will. Some telephone companies offer a service which allows you to set s pecific times during the day
when you will not be accepting phone calls. The caller will receive a message stating that the number is not taking calls at this time. However, you will have a code that your spouse or anyone who truly may
need to contact you may use which will allow their call to come through. Check with your local telephone company to see if this is an option. It will save you a
lot of time wasted to interruptions.
Discipline yourself regardi ng e-mail and internet.
These are huge distractions that usually end up sucking much more time than you plan. Give yourself a limit, or set one time each day to check e-mail. Put it in your schedule so that in your head you know you will be able to get to it, then set a timer so that you will not lose track of time.
Set goals. Look ahead and make yearly goals,
weekly goals, and daily goals. Having a goal helps
you remember where you are headed. Involve your

www.superchargehomeschooling.com children in setting goals fo r themselves. One child
may want to master cursive writing by Summer. Another may plan to read the entire Seerah series by next spring. Goals can be an ything, such as grasping
algebra, doing household chores, flossing daily, covering the 1400 years ago, or measuring rainfall every day for a month.
Assess your progress regularly. Check in on whether
goals have been met and become aware of subjects which take much longer than planned or are going much faster than planned. Regular consistent
assessment of your progre ss will help you adjust the
schedule accordingly. This also helps you see where
you are losing time so that you can take action to
remedy the situation. Just as importantly, you will be
able to clearly see where you are meeting your deadlines and how much y ou and your children are
accomplishing. Homeschooling can be a fairly solitary endeavor, and seeing th e strides your children
are making and having a clear record of their
accomplishments will inspire you to keep going. Another side benefit will be your abilit y to clearly state
what your children have learned so far when you are confronted by naysayers and doubters. That good

www.superchargehomeschooling.com feeling of accomplishment and the confidence you will
have is priceless.
Create a Do Not Disturb sign. It is a simple strategy,
but can make a huge differenc e. Your sign might be
as simple as black sharpie on a piece of paper; or you can have your children create an elaborately
decorated sign. Stick it to your door every morning
before you start working. Better yet, put a nail or hook in the wall next to y our front door to hang your
sign on. Put the Do Not Disturb message on one side, and Welcome on the other side. Neighborhood
children will get the mess age and stop ringing your
doorbell as soon as you start studying. Other stay at
home moms will get the message that you aren’t
available for coffee and chit chat until later in the day. Salesman will think twice bef ore bothering you. The
Do Not Disturb sign puts you in control of the interruptions which will show up at your door.
Make your goals public. After joining a
homeschooling play group or support group, share
your goals with other member s of the group. Making
goals public adds a sense of responsibility and also
opens you up to encouragement and support.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Homeschoolers can be a fri nge group and they tend
to band together to support each other. You will have no problem finding other homeschoolers who will
agree to hold you accountable and will be willing to get together regularly to a ssess their progress. Your
new homeschooling friends wil l also be there to help
you get through difficult times. When you have periods where you feel like you are hitting a wall or can’t seem to get through a subject, your homeschooling cohorts will help you brainstorm new ways to approach the topic. They will share their own experiences and share different strategies which they have found useful and may even share resources, such as books or curriculum they are finished with. Soon you will find yourself sharing and helping other
new homeschoolers as well.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Chapter
5

Patience While
Homeschooling

www.superchargehomeschooling.com All parents know that having children requires
patience, but when a parent considers
homeschooling, they often w onder if they will have the
patience to be with their ch ild all day every day and
be able to accomplish everything they hope to accomplish.
Relax. It’s not as hard as it sounds. First, remember
that having and raising a child is natural. Our society has programmed us to think that our tiny 5 year old should be trucked off to anot her building to be taught
and that we as parents don’ t have the training to
handle, teach, and raise our own children. But we do. You do. InshAllaah. (God-Willing)
Just like with everything else in life, there are times
when you experience smooth sailing and everything
just falls into place perfec tly. But there will be days
when the people around you, your child included, will
not cooperate and will seem to want the opposite of
what you want and ar e determined to undermine
everything you have set out to do. Realizing that
having bad days and going thro ugh difficult times with
your child is NORMAL will help you remain calm and
stay the course. Having a di fficult child or a hard time

www.superchargehomeschooling.com sticking to a teaching schedule is ok. Having days
when you think you can’t do it or think you are ruining
your child are NORMAL. Wondering why you decided
to do this and fantasizing about all the fun stuff you could be doing if you would ju st stick your kid on that
bus every morning is NORMAL. DO NOT let any of these thoughts or feelings det er you. Remember that
what you are doing is an investment, and just like all investments, it can be painf ul at times. We don’t
always want to exercise, but it is an investment in our
health. We would rather buy something fun than put money in the bank and save i t, but it is an investment.
Each parent will need to find their own way to stay calm and save their pati ence while homeschooling,
but there are a few things that will help, inshAllaah.
1. Network
The most important resource you will ev er have while
you homeschool is other homeschoolers. This cannot
be stressed enough. As soon as you decide to
homeschool, or better yet, as soon as you start thinking about it, find other homeschoolers and get
connected. These days most areas have homeschool groups and classes where homeschoolers can get to

www.superchargehomeschooling.com know each other and share t heir stories. The word
“home” in homesch ooling is a bit of a misnomer,
because most homeschoolers spend more time out in the world than their public schooled counterparts.
Don’t try to homeschool in a vacuum! Feeling alone
and isolated can make anyone feel depressed and
anxious. Get involved, meet new people, and get
your child involved in acti vities outside your home.
Meeting with other homeschool ers, getting involved in
homeschool classes, planning trips to the zoo or local museums with other home schoolers, and joining
online forums to share information about homeschooling will save your sanity and keep you excited. Homeschoolers in general love to share their experiences and are very supportive. Getting to know others and developing a support system is indispensible. Every parent begins to lose patience
and feel stressed out at times. Getting involved in a local homeschool class, whet her it be Quraan, Arabic,
martial arts, science, or any other topic, is incredibly
helpful. Knowing that you have some time when you know your child will be l earning something useful, at
the same time and you will be able to relax and talk with other homeschooling parents about your

www.superchargehomeschooling.com struggles and triumphs is in credibly helpful. You will
find that a little time ea ch week when someone else
takes over and you can connec t with other adults will
refresh you and give you renewed patience and strength.
2. Read and Research
Stay active in your search for knowledge about
homeschooling.Reading stories about other
successful homeschoolers wi ll help keep you excited
and renew your resolve. Also, while reading and
researching you may stumbl e upon just the right new
idea that you need for your child. Or you may read a
story about a homeschooler who struggled through a
situation just like yours and seeing how they handled it will help you handle your own situation. You never
know when a particular book or article about
homeschooling will trigger an “ah ha!” moment and
get your out of a rut or inspire you and renew your
strength.
Take Time for Yourself
Homeschooling requires a lot of your time and
energy. Just like the emer gency instructions on an

www.superchargehomeschooling.com airplane when the flight a ttendant reminds you to put
your own oxygen mask on before helping your children, you need to have your own well being in
mind so that you are able to take on the task of homeschooling. Other parents who send their
children off to school may not truly understand the sacrifices of time and energy which you will be expending while you homesch ool. Schedule a small
amount of time each day if yo u can to be alone to do
whatever you want to do. A half hour of exercise,
reading, walking in the w oods, napping, listening to
music, or whatever feeds your mind and soul makes a huge difference in your pers onal well being. Whether
you need to be soothed or en ergized, take the time
and make it a priority. Do not make yourself a martyr
for the needs of your children. Sacrificing too much of
yourself won’t do any of you any good. Many homeschooling parents find t hat trading an afternoon
of babysitting or play dates works great. Knowing that
you will have, say, every Wednesday afternoon to yourself can help keep you in shape for the great
journey of homeschooling.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Chapter
6

Socialization

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Socialization seems to be the question which comes
up regularly, especially from those outside the homeschooling world. In today’s world most people are programmed to believe t hat children need to be in
groups of other children to learn how to socialize.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Socialization
is first and foremost the responsibility of parents. Children aren’t born knowing how to properly socialize
with others. Certainly t hey are born with a need to
socialize and naturally want to socialize. The
question is how they socialize and who do they socialize with. When you decide to homeschool, you
also are choosing to take t he bulk of the responsibility
for the socialization of your children and the influences which you allow and the influences you encourage in their lives.
For homeschoolers, socia lization takes on a true
world view. Instead of sitting in a classroom full of students who are all the same age, live in the same
area, and probably have a si milar socioeconomic
background, homeschoolers ha ve the world at their
fingertips. The freedom of homeschooling allows your
children to interact regularly with people of all ages and backgrounds. Some homeschoolers take their

www.superchargehomeschooling.com school on the road and travel extensively, exposing
their children to a wide ra nge of experiences and
people. Even taking your ch ildren with you while you
run errands expose them to the folks at the post
office, your friendly bank te ller, or the kindly produce
manager at your favorite grocery store.
Having control of your daily schedule without having
to work around the public school schedule means that
you can plan a morning of volunteering at the local
senior center where your children can interact with elderly people. An experienc e like this allows your
children the opportunity to not only learn from people
who have a wealth of life experience and a host of
interesting stories, but to feel comfortable with people
of different ages. Teaching your children the importance of spending time with elderly people and
showing respect and deference to the elderly is a truly noble goal. Many homeschool ed children are at ease
with people of all ages, more so than their sequestered public school counterparts.
Your children will need time with other children, but
not nearly as much as society would have you believe. Again, YOU are the main influence in your

www.superchargehomeschooling.com children’s lives. But it doesn’t take too much effort to
be sure you children have time to play with other children and have the opportunity to make and have friends. This is another area where getting involved
with homeschool support groups will be indispensible.
Spending time with other hom eschoolers will give you
and your children a chance to make friends. Homeschool groups also oft en plan activities such as
a trip to the zoo or to the local museum. Getting together with other folks of like mind is a wonderful
experience. You will have a chance to hook up with
people who share your values and education philosophies. Homeschool ers always share great
classes they have found for homeschoolers, such as Quraan, Arabic, martial arts, science, sports, and art. Don’t forget that your child can also participate in
sports and organizations like boy scouts and girl scouts, along with Mos que groups and volunteer
groups. However, as a homeschooling family, you
have the opportunity to watch other people’s children and decide whether you want to encourage those friendships your child cr eates. Sometimes you will
find that your child may gravitate toward other children who don’t behave properly or who don’t

www.superchargehomeschooling.com share your values. This is a great time to teach your
children how to be discerning and particular about who they let in to their inner circle. This isn’t to teach discrimination, but to pr actice maintaining proper
space between people. For example, you may enroll your child in a martial arts class. As you watch the class, you will notice how different children behave, and a child who is out of c ontrol and has anger issues
may not be the child you w ant to be your child’s best
friend. Certainly in the class setting, you want your child to be friendly to all th e other children and to treat
them all fairly. But you can encourage your child’s friendship with children wh o show the qualities you
want for your child. By homeschooling, you virtually eliminate the common dilemma of discovering that
while at school your child has formed a strong friendship with a child who is a bad influence. While
your child is at school, you have no control over how
your child interacts with problem children or how
much time they spend with t hat child. Again, please
remember that you are not teaching discrimination,
but discernment. Teaching your child to gravitate
toward people who are good influences and will build
your child up is essential. Guiding your children as

www.superchargehomeschooling.com they choose friendships and relationships is crucial
and very rewarding.

Christopher Paolini

In 2003, Christopher Paloli ni published his first book,
Eragon . Christopher’s mother, Talita, stayed home to
raise her son and began educating him using the
Montessori Method. Due to the cost of curriculum
materials, she began developing her own lessons and
activities. When the time came for Christopher to attend
school, his parents were concerned that he would be
bored in a regular classroom, so they made a conscious
decision to live a simple life so that they could devote
most of their time to home schooling their children.
At the age of fifteen, Chri stopher graduated from high
school, and had begun working seriously on his writing.
He has always been fascinated by science fiction and
fantasy, and was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien and Anne
McCaffrey. In 2002, he first published Eragon. The
family struggled during that first year, but in 2003 Eragon
took off and became a major success, bringing in a six
figure income. Christopher has also written two sequels
to Eragon and the book has been ma de into a major
motion picture.
Christopher credits the suppor t of his parents and the
environment they created for him as the key to his
success.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Chapter
7

Which Curriculum Should I
Get?

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Choosing a curriculum for homeschooling is tricky
business. When a family starts thinking about homeschooling, one of the fi rst questions they ask is
“what do I use?” Homeschool ing requires a different
mindset when it comes to gigantic questions, such as “What do I teach?” “When do I teach it?” “Am I
covering everything?” While these are good
questions, they aren’t alwa ys the most important
questions. What you t each, when, and how, depend
a lot on you, your child, t he ages of your children, and
the interests of everyone invo lved. It is a good idea to
familiarize yourself with many curricula so you know what is out there, and then consider your own needs.
The best way to begin looking into curricula is while
networking. Veteran homeschoolers are a wealth of knowledge regarding curricu lum. As you begin to
make friends with other homeschoolers and begin to
gravitate towards those who are of like mind, they can
give you information about what they have tried, what
worked, what didn’t work, what they liked or didn’t like, and how different curri cula works for different
kids.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Another great bonus regarding networking and
curricula as you network is that you may run into people who are nearly finished with their curriculum and are willing to pass it on to you for free or a very low price. This is a great way to try out a curriculum
and see if it will work for you. Networking online can also open up avenues for finding used curricula which you can try for minimal cost.
As you think about the tools you will use for your
homeschooling, take into consideration your own
personal situation. Your ch ild may already show that
they are a very visual l earner, and therefore you want
to look for a curriculum which is geared in that direction. A curriculum which is mainly online or computer based may appeal to you, or you may really
want your child focusing on reading real books and writing on paper with a pencil for now.
There are some good books out there which will give
you an overview of what y our child should learn at
each age level. By reading these books before you begin, you will have a better understanding of what you need and want to cover. Using these books may
also convince you that you don’t need to purchase a

www.superchargehomeschooling.com curriculum and that you can find most of what you
need at the library or loca l bookstore. Following are
just a few of the excellent books available which will
be very helpful throughout your homeschooling journey
Cultural Literacy: What Every American
Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch
The Core Knowledge philosophy is based on the book
Cultural Literacy by E.D. Hirsch. Hirsch stresses the
idea that knowledge build s on knowledge, and that
every child needs a base of knowledge in order to
function well in society and to pursue higher education. Reading Cultural Literacy will give you a
well rounded view of what you will want to cover by
the end of your homeschool journey. You may want
to add or leave out topics or reading materials, but this book is an excellent guide.
The “What Your ___ Grader Needs to
Know” series by E.D. Hirsch
This series of books also by E.D. Hirsch lays out the
necessary skills and knowledge a student should know by grade level from kindergarten through eighth

www.superchargehomeschooling.com grade. These books are anothe r excellent resource
for finding gaps in knowledge which your child may have. It is a good idea to peruse the grade level both before and after the “grade” your child should be in. For instance, if you have a child who would be in
second grade, reading What Your Child Needs to
Know in First Grade, What Your Child Needs to Know
in Second Grade, and What Your Child Needs to
Know in Third Grade will be very helpful.
Homeschooling allows for, and encourages, education to be personal. You may need to address kindergarten math skills with your second grader, but find that your second gr ader is ready for reading
materials at the third grade le vel. This series of books
will help you find out where you need to focus your attention for your particular student.
The Educated Child: A Parent’s Guide from
Preschool Through Eighth Grade by
William Bennett
William Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education,
wrote this book as a guide for schools and parents to
understand the basics that need to be addressed at
every age. The Educated Child is another excellent

www.superchargehomeschooling.com tool which parents ca n use as a guide to be sure they
are covering important as pects of their child’s
education.
The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise
Bauer
This is another excellent re source for finding out what
you need to address while hom eschooling. The Well-
Trained Mind is a classicall y based guide to what a
child needs to know at eac h age level. Using the
Trivium, a guide to the thr ee stages of learning, Bauer
lays out what children need to know at each grade
level and also how to approach the knowledge
according to the stage of l earning that your student is
in. The Well Trained Mind is unique in that it covers topics which may not be covered in modern curricula, such as logic and rhetoric, and also focuses on using
classic literature to teach important lessons.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Alex and Brett Harris

Alex and Brett Harri s are the authors of Do Hard
Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low
Expectation which was published in 2008. The book
is a battle cry calling out to teenagers to resist the
temptation to accept low expectations. The Harris
brothers believe strongly in the abilities of teenagers
to do more than play video games and hang out. In
2005, the Harris br others founded
TheRebelution.com, a we bsite which promotes a
rebellion against the widel y accepted idea that
teenagers are lazy and spend their time causing
trouble.
The boys were homeschooled by homeschooling
pioneers Gregg and Sono Harris. Brett and Alex feel
that homeschooling allowe d them the freedom to
follow their interests and to really focus on whatever
project was important to them at the time. They also
feel that their parent’s r easons for homeschooling, a
yearning for excellence and higher standards, led
them to their philosophy and paved the way for their
accomplishments. The Ha rris brothers currently
attend Patrick Henry College in Virginia, and they are
regular contributors to numerous magazines and
speak at conferences nationwide.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Sample Curricula Used by
Homeschoolers:
SuperCharge Home Schooling
This curriculum is designed and done for the Muslims,
but Non-Muslims may also benefit tremendously from
it. The curriculum is still being completed, inshAllaah it will be from teaching your 3 year old to read to Pre K-12th grade. Right now it has “The Power of
Reading,” Pre K, and K. By the end of 2011 inshAllaah they are hoping to have grades 1-8 done.
By the end of 2012 their hoping to have high school
finished as well, inshAllaah.
This curriculum is differ ent than others because Zohra
Sarwari is actually homeschooling her 3 kids, plus
one more child right now. She has gone from
teaching them to read to the 8
th grade level right now.
She is particular about how they learn, and what type
of knowledge should be in books. Due to books having so many bad themes even early on, she knew
that Muslims needed a righte ous curriculum. Since
Muslims do not date, drink, eat pork, and do other

www.superchargehomeschooling.com unrighteous behavior, literat ure would have to be
taught in a righteous way, not based on what a few
thought was literatur e. This curriculum is for every
parent who wants to teach their child to be righteous, pious, and obtain knowledge th at will help them with
those character building skills.
Calvert
The Calvert school began in 1905 when the Calvert
Day schools headmaster, Virgil Hill pushed for the sale of the school’s curriculum to families who were unable to send their children to the day school. Harvard trained Hillyard believed that a good education should be available to everyone and that “the whole realm of knowl edge is the true field of
study and that school is not he preparation for life-it is
life.”
Hillyard continued to pr omote the sale of the
curriculum for five dollars, and found that there was a great demand for a curriculum which could be used in the home. Soon the Calvert curriculum was in use
around the world. Childr en overseas with missionary
parents were receiving Calvert lesson, as were

www.superchargehomeschooling.com children in remote areas where their lessons were
delivered by boat or airplane. Calvert has also been
used for many years m ilitary families around the
world.
Today Calvert is more popular than ever and has also
kept up with technological advances, offering computer based software. Also, each Calvert student
has personalized access to valuable online resources, enrichment courses, technology support, and
educational advising.
Oak Meadow
Oak Meadow is a homeschool resource and has a
physical school in Vermont. They have been in business for 35b years, and have developed a whole child approach to education, and believe that education should speak to every aspect of the child. Lessons integrate all learning styles, encourage the use of multiple intelligences, and accommodate all types of learners, including visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Children are encouraged to express their knowledge
through writing, painting, drawing, building, and
creative play. Oak Meadow supports age appropriate lessons and is highly aware of each child’s
developmental needs. Par ents can choose to use a
complete curriculum, including 36 weekly lesson plans, teacher manuals, ac tivities, and supplementary
materials, or choose only the specific books and lessons which you need. Oak Meadow offers
flexibility and homeschooling support to
homeschooling families all over the world.
Connections Academy
Connections Academy is tool which can be used by
homeschoolers, but is also a fully accredited public school which is accessed from home. By enrolling in Connections, your child is technically enrolled in a public school. Connections offers a quality curriculum
and utilizes certified teachers.
Perhaps the best thing ab out Connections is that
because it is actually a pu blic school, it is free.
Connections is a good choice for parents who feel comfortable with what public school offers, but are too

www.superchargehomeschooling.com far from a local school. Pa rents who want to maintain
family togetherness and to be closely involved in their child’s education may choose Connections. Families who have been homeschooling and feel prepared to take a step toward school will also find Connections a nice bridge to the stru cture and requirements of
regular school.

www.superchargehomeschooling.com

Chapter
8

History

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Homeschooling is an educational option which many
people don’t know about or don’t understand.
Compulsory public educatio n is a fairly new idea
which has only been around for about 150 years. From ancient times up until the 1800’s, education was
mainly the responsibility of the family. Children were
raised by their parents and taught the necessities of surviving, whether on farms, frontiers, villages, or cities. Education began at home learning to farm, hunt, build, and sew. Often children learned a trade
from their parents. There was a time when children
usually followed in their parents’ footsteps, becoming
blacksmiths, bakers, butchers, and even leaders or their tribe or town.
As the world moved closer to the Industrial age,
human beings were becoming more specialized, and
fewer families were one hundred percent self sufficient. People were specializing and hiring out
work more and more often. As this shift in economics came about and government was growing and branching out, the need for common knowledge for all people became a growing concern, particularly in the United States, where an unprecedented mixture of

www.superchargehomeschooling.com cultures, languages, and histories were coming
together to form a new country.
In 1852, Massachusetts became the first state to
enact a compulsory attendanc e law requiring children
to attend public school. 16 states had compulsory-attendance laws by 1885, and all states had enacted
such laws by 1918. In t he early years of government
mandated school attendance, th ese laws were rarely
enforced and sporadically adhered to. As the
industrial age came into being, the need for factory
workers increased, and t he need for people with
specific and uniform skills grew. Education became less about raising childr en and more about creating
workers. Although gener al education was still
important, education of the masses to create a strong
workforce was the goal.
The humble beginnings of public education have their
basis in good intentions. The idea that all children
should have access to fr ee education is a great.
However, when the idea becomes a government funded and government run operation, some changes come about which par ents and educators didn’t
expect. As time has gone by, public school has

www.superchargehomeschooling.com become more about its own business operations and
less about each individual child.
The places where public schools fall behind are the
places where homeschoolers have decided to pick up
the pieces. In fact, most homeschooling families do so from the very beginning, considering regular
school only when their students are older and mature
enough to handle the pressu res and influences of
school.
One Homeschooling Family’s Story
I suppose our story began before my children were even born, when I was finish ing my education degree.
During my student teaching, I began to see so many issues and difficulties wit h the modern educational
system. I found that so many of my efforts to really
teach something important we re stifled in the regular
school. Bells interrupted im portant conversations.
Taking roll and keeping gr ades were important, but
took up so much valuable learning time. The vastness of the abilities in each classroom made it
difficult to really make a difference, either for those who were behind, or those who were ahead. Real

www.superchargehomeschooling.com and true learning was often disrupted by bad
behavior, and one or two studen ts could easily kill a
whole class period of learning. I loved to teach, but
regular public school seemed to almost be set up in a way that extinguished even t he possibility of success.
When my son was born, I was so enamored of him, that I knew he simply had to become my number one
priority. I worked very part time as a substitute
teacher, and spent the rest of my time raising my son.
When he was three, my daughter was born. I
continued to work, but had my hands pretty full. I enjoyed watching them grow and learn. When people
ask me about homeschooling a nd whether or not they
are qualified to do it, I remind them that all parents are
teachers from the beginnin g when we teach our
children to walk, talk, and eat.
Soon I realized that kinder garten was approaching for
my son. The thought m ade me nervous. I had now
spent five years behind the scenes in public schools,
and had not always be en happy with what I saw in the
students, teachers, and adminis tration. So far I had
been teaching my own children and all was going

www.superchargehomeschooling.com great. My son was beginn ing to read and could count
quite well. When I thought of him leaving me for most
of the day and thought about someone else taking
over my position as num ber one teacher, I would
literally feel sick. I had to laugh a bit when a neighbor
asked me if I was taking my son to “kindergarten round-up”. When did we decide to refer to our children with the same terms we use for cattle?
Besides my background in regular education, I began
to study homeschooling. In the past, I had taught two high school students who menti oned to me that they
had been homeschooled. These two students were so impressive that I began to see this as a very viable
option. I started reading books and looking into
homeschooling groups. What I saw appealed to me
as a teacher and as a mother.
When the first day of kinder garten came, I was still a
little nervous. I admit that the decision to homeschool
was pretty passive; I watched the clock that day, and when I saw that the school day was well under way
without us, I thought to mysel f, “Well, it looks like we
are homeschooling.” Maybe it was a big decision, but

www.superchargehomeschooling.com it was really just us continui ng to live our lives. I still
read to my kids every day, we colored, did puzzles, practiced math, worked on wr iting, and whatever else
caught our attention. My son showed and obsession
with insects, for example, so he spent a lot of time
catching bugs and reading about bugs. I found a book from the library which taught how to draw bugs,
and he made a book of bug drawings with descriptions and information about the different bugs. We laminated it, and it is a treasure. He caught
praying mantises, and would keep them in a cage and hand feed them. My daughter showed a love of art,
and spent a lot of time with crayons, paint, and glitter. Both my children, years la ter, are still pursuing these
passions. Those years of homeschooling were more amazing than I ever would have imagined, and I never
regretted a moment of it. T h e n w e c a m e t o a l o w
point in our lives. My hus band left us. It was an
unforeseen tragedy, and certai nly turned our world
upside down. I could say a lot about that, but there is no need. Life happens whil e we are going along,
minding our own business. But I will say that during

www.superchargehomeschooling.com that difficult time, I was mo re thankful than ever that I
had been homeschooling. The closeness I had
cultivated between the ch ildren and I was a saving
grace. I strongly believe that the time we had
together allowed us to remain stable and close; divorce can be devastating for children, and by managing to homeschool and maintaining that
stability made a big differenc e in the lives of my
children. I homeschooled for two more years after the divorce, then chose a very sm all local school for them
to go to. The next year , my son attended a private
school because I refused to send him to the local middle school. I intended to homeschool again, then
my ex husband decided to pay for my son to go to the private school. The followi ng year I took my daughter
out again and homeschool ed because I felt she
wasn’t being challenged and her teacher was too
political.

Now, finally, our char ter school is open, and both
children attend and are happy. They are well adjusted and excel in their cl asses. We have been on
quite a journey. I tell people a ll the time that it is the
right and privilege of a parent to do what they feel is

www.superchargehomeschooling.com best for their child. Ho meschooling can be a saving
grace in many ways. Rais ing a child is more than
sending them to the local school all day, every day.
There are many options. I strongly support parents
who decided to homeschool early, late, part time, full time, or just for a period of time during a transition. It
takes strength and courage, but could be the best investment you make in your family. Homeschooling is truly an exercise in educ ational freedom and can be
a wonderful adventure.
–Marcy Andersen, Molalla, Oregon

Success after Homeschooling

In The Teenage Liberation Handbook, Grace
Lewellyn writes that “One th ird of the men who signed
the Declaration of Independe nce, the Article of
Confederation, and the Consti tution of the United
States had no more than a few months of schooling
up their sleeves.” Throughout most of history, people have done great things using only the education they

www.superchargehomeschooling.com received from their parents, ot her relatives, or through
internships. The idea of tw elve years of compulsory,
public schooling is very new, and its effectiveness is questionable.
NOTES:
Short List of Recent Successful
homeschoolers:
• In the academic world, Chelsea Bets
Christenson won the UN High School Essay
Contest in both 2003 and 2005, and has just finished her first year of college in New York City.
• Yang Liu, a homeschool ed graduating senior,
was selected as a finalist for the National Merit Scholarship Program.
• Morgan Bate finished a year at St. John's in
Santa Fe, a college that focuses on the works of great thinkers and discussion with peers to

www.superchargehomeschooling.com cultivate a love of learning and the skills for a
lifetime of reflective thought.
• Yakov Vorobyev successfully graduated from
George Washington Univ ersity (2005), with a
BA in Computer Science, and works at the IT
department of one of the biggest law firms in
Washington, D.C. He al so continues a parallel
career as a DJ.
• Matthew Lifson got into 9 of the 10 colleges he
applied to. He was admitted to USC and Pepperdine, UC Davis, the UC Irvine honors
program, and UC Berkeley . In addition he
received financial awards at the University of
Dallas, Santa Clara Univ ersity, Loyola, and the
University of Arizona. He will be going to UC
Berkeley.

• Laurel Springs' student Britni Gleitsman
received a letter of acceptance from the International University of Monaco and will enroll in their Bachelor of Science in Business Administration program. The University only

www.superchargehomeschooling.com accepts 150 Freshman from all over the
country and Britni was number 78!
• Rachael Lambin had a 3-page article featured
in "Teen Vogue" about her project HOPE
(Helping Obese People th rough Education).
She was also the winner of the Do Something
BRICK Award, which is called the Academy
Award of Community Services. Only 9 winners
are selected each year out of thousands of applicants.
• Brooke Conway, a junior at Laurel Springs
Private School in Ojai, Calif., attended the National Honors Convocation on Medicine at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles and is a current member of Who's Who in America and the National Soci ety of High School
Scholars.

• Kate Siegel beat out over 80,000 other
students from the United States and Europe to become the national winner of the Veterans of Foreign Wars "Voice of Democracy" Speech

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Competition in Washington, D.C.

• This year Elena Hoshizaki has been
participating in the YMCA Youth & Government
program. At the leadershi p conference in Paso
Robles, Elena was elected Forum Lieutenant Governor for the state of California. As Forum Lieutenant Governor she presides over the Forum Senate when it convenes in Sacramento for the annua l Model Legislature
and Court.
• The National Society of High School Scholars
selected 12-year-old Lars Christian Benthien of Simi Valley for membership. The society recognizes top scholars in the nation and invites only those students who have achieved
superior academic excellence.

(http://www.homeschool.com/articles/successstories/default.asp)

www.superchargehomeschooling.com List of Homeschoolers by Interest and
Profession
Athletes
Michelle Kwan Jason Taylor
Tim Tebow Serena Williams Venus Williams

Authors
Agatha Christie
Alex Haley Beatrix Potter C.S. Lewis Charles Dickens
George Bernard Shaw
Hans Christian Anderson Louisa May Alcott Margaret Atwood Mark Twain Phillis Wheatley Pearl S. Buck

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Robert Frost
Virginia Woolf

Businessmen
Andrew Carnegie
Colonel Harland Sanders Dave Thomas Joseph Pulitzer Ray Kroc

Explorers
Davy Crockett
George Rogers Clark

Inventors
Alexander Graham Bell Benjamin Franklin
Cyrus McCormick Eli Whitney Thomas Edison Orville Wright Wilbur Wright

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Presidents
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Jackson Franklin Delano Roosevelt George Washington Grover Cleveland James Garfield James Madison John Adams John Quincy Adams John Tyler Theodore Roosevelt Thomas Jefferson William Henry Harrison Woodrow Wilson

Religious Leaders
Brigham Young
Dwight L. Moody Joan of Arc John & Charles Wesley
William Carey

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Scientists
Albert Einstein
Blaise Pascal Booker T. Washington George Washington Carver
Pierre Curie
Statesman
Alexander Hamilton
Daniel Webster Patrick Henry William Jennings Bryan William Penn
Winston Churchill
United States Supreme Court Judges
John Jay
John Marshall John Rutledge
Sandra Day O'Connor
Women
Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams
Clara Barton, started the red cross Florence Nightingale, nurse

www.superchargehomeschooling.com Martha Washington, wife of George Washington
Susan B. Anthony, women's rights leader
Famous Homeschooling Parents
Lisa Whelchel
Kelley Preston and John Travolta
Will and Jada Pinkett Smith

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