Ericka Mellon - EducationNews.org
Parents Eric & Melissa wont have to pack their childrens lunches or send them to the bus stop this morning. The Blanes of Montgomery County have joined a growing number of Texans forgoing public and private schools deciding to home school their 11-year-old son Cory and their 8-year-old daughter Madison.
The first day of school will be different for the Blane family this year.
Its a desire we have to be the ones who are teaching them and motivating them" said Melissa Blane who will be the childrens primary teacher. Well be starting bright and early."
Melissa Blane plans to kick off her school year today to coincide with the return of roughly 4.5 million students to Texas public schools. Since 2007 state lawmakers have forbade school districts from holding classes before the fourth Monday in August.
A lifestyle
Tina Robertson a mom who runs New Beginnings a support group for parents new to home schooling lovingly chuckles when they follow the traditional start date.
Guess how much I care about August 23rd?" she asked the parents gathered for a meeting Friday night at a bookstore in The Woodlands.
Robertson doesnt care at all. She plans to take her own three children whom she has taught since kindergarten to the park today. She said she teaches them year-round.
Home schooling is a lifestyle" Robertson said. The line between learning and living gets blurred and it should."
Over the past five years the number of Texans opting to home school has grown about 20 percent to an estimated 120000
families and 300000 children according to the
Texas Home School Coalition.
The economy does have an impact on folks" said Tim Lambert president of the coalition.
We saw families last year who had their kids in a private school times were tough and they couldnt afford to do that anymore but they didnt want to put them in a public school."
The most recent survey of parents by the National Center for Education Statistics found that families primarily opted to home school because they wanted to provide religious or moral lessons to their children.
Other top reasons include parental concerns about safety peer pressure and
the academic instruction at traditional schools.
Parents in Texas are not required to register with any agency or to get their curriculum approved. Legal rulings have upheld that parents simply are supposed to have a curriculum that teaches reading spelling grammar math and good citizenship.
