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Homeschooling Catches On Across New Jersey

From The Record, Bergen County, N.J.

Sunday, October 7, 2007
By KATHLEEN CARROLL
STAFF WRITER

More families are taking their children's academic destiny into their own hands. Literally.

Consider the Orso family, who last month began home schooling their two children, ages 7 and 11.

"I don't want to say schools aren't doing their job, because they are," said Bernadette Orso of Hillsdale, who taught public school for 11 years. "But this is helping your kids as individuals."

Although New Jersey doesn't regulate or even keep count of home schoolers, those teaching their own children describe a community growing in number and sophistication, with high-powered New Jersey families joining in. Once solely the domain of the religious, home schooling is becoming more mainstream in this era of helicopter parents.

Parents with an eye on college admissions are tapping a growing network of resources, such as Web-based classes designed for home schoolers. Many also benefit from educational co-ops, or weekly school-like meetings, where parents teach small-group classes in Latin, physics, art history and even gym.

Home-schooling families say their children receive just as rich an experience as traditional students and have plenty of opportunities for socialization. But many trained educators are skeptical that such pursuits as spending more time with siblings, playing with neighborhood kids on local sports teams and exploring the local community during lessons make up for what students can get from their peers during the school day.

Lori Snell never planned on home schooling. But her three bright sons needed a speeded-up curriculum to keep them challenged, and the local schools in Moorestown, a Philadelphia suburb, offered few gifted programs, Snell said.

Her oldest son, Jake, was "extremely bored" in elementary school, and private school was too expensive, she said. So she gathered some elementary-school textbooks and started lessons at home.

They soon traded the books for high-school texts, and Jake pursued a high-speed curriculum that suited his intellect and manner. He became a National Merit semifinalist, aced the entrance exams for medical school and took 15 Advanced Placement exams -- earning perfect scores on all but one (art history). Jake has just begun his sophomore year at Yale, studying biomedical engineering, computer science and economics.

"I think a lot of kids could benefit by working more on their own level," Snell said. "That's what benefited him. ... If he was an accomplished athlete, you wouldn't say, 'Johnny, you can't hit the ball when I pitch it, you have to hit it off a tee until you're 9.' But the schools work that way."

She added: "If I had left him in the school, there's no way he'd be at Yale."

A Hillsdale co-op that caters to students with college aspirations of their own offers music, art and regular academics to 60 students. During a recent session, a gaggle of preteen boys were peering through cut-out cereal boxes and drawing their impressions, for a lesson on perspective in their weekly art class. Meanwhile, their siblings were attending classes in chemistry, history and physical science.

Their teacher, Laura Orbe of Harrington Park, is married to a private art dealer and has brought students to working artists' studios as field trips. She was moved to join the co-op seven years ago, while teaching her daughter science at home.

"I knew I could offer art," she said, "and I wanted her to do experiments, and to hear other students' thoughts on them."

In a West Milford co-op, 120 students meet each week at the Green Pond Bible Chapel for classes such as medieval literature, formal logic, advanced Spanish and speech. The church recently built a new "education wing" and has advertised online to host more co-op groups.

"As home schooling grew, the numbers just allowed us to do it more," said member Carla Abrams, who has been home schooling for 20 years. "The need for co-ops corresponded with the needs and number of kids. Home schoolers are lasting longer – now we're into high school. You know, it was hard for me to teach physics, even though I could do algebra."

The co-op also offers enrichment programs that sound an awful lot like school: annual standardized testing, a geography fair and a fine-arts night.

But it's all volunteer, and it's all optional. And that's the difference, said Becky Genberg of Riverdale, who brings her four children to the co-op.

"Home schooling allows us to tailor curriculum to each child's strengths and weaknesses," she said. "It's nothing against the schools. It's our desire to be able to devote the time we need to them."

E-mail: carroll@northjersey.com