Home Work: Homeschool Families Don’t Have Many State Guidelines

Trends indicate homeschooling is on the rise across the country and in the Hoosier state.

The most recent federal stats come from the 2011-2012 school year, when according to the National Center for Education Statistics, 1.8 million children were homeschooled. That’s about three percent of the school-age population.

Rachel Morello / StateImpact Indiana

Emily (left) and Holli Burnfield work on language arts lessons together. The girls are homeschooled, along with their younger sister Layla, in Bloomfield.

In a recent report by the The Republic newspaper in Columbus, homeschool groups in Indiana have also seen an influx of members in recent years.

But there’s no way to be sure. Many states don’t keep a tally. Indiana’s Department of Education tries to keep track – parents who want to homeschool are encouraged to report their enrollment – but since it’s not mandatory, state officials say there’s no way to know if their data is accurate.

“Indiana has had a fairly long tradition of hands off in terms of regulation and oversight,” says Rob Kunzman, who heads the International Center for Home Education Research at Indiana University. “It just goes back to the setup for education oversight in our country more generally that it’s a state decision in terms of regulation of their educational system.”

More parents nowadays see homeschooling as a way to circumvent the frustrations that come with traditional schooling. But the state provides little regulation and oversight, so they’re largely left to their own devices.

• Homeschooling: The 'Wild West' of Indiana EducationMore parents nowadays see homeschooling as a way to circumvent the frustrations that come with traditional schooling. But the state provides little regulation and oversight, so they’re largely left to their own devices. StateImpact Indiana’s Rachel Morello visited a family in Bloomfield to see what their school day looks like in the absence of curriculum guidelines, standards and standardized tests.Download

Rules & Regulations

Indiana’s compulsory school attendance law requires all children to be enrolled and attending school the year they turn seven. Parents or legal guardians can choose to homeschool their kids as long as they provide 180 days of instruction and keep a record of attendance.

Kids must be provided with instruction equivalent to that given in the public schools – but state law doesn’t define equivalency. And there is no state-approved curriculum or mandated textbook list for home education, like there is for public schools. That leaves what these students learn up to their parents.

That also means homeschool children are not subject to the changes coming into place with Indiana’s ongoing overhaul of state standards and assessments.

“Some families take advantage of all of the opportunity for individualization and customization that homeschooling allows, and they can have their students really excel in some great ways,” Kunzman says.

Additionally, state law does not require ISTEP+ or any other form of standardized testing for children in home schools. In fact, homeschooled kids can’t take these tests unless they’re also enrolled in a public school for at least one period a day.

Kunzman says the disenchantment with the culture of standardized testing is a big motivation for parents who decide to homeschool.

“A one size fits all approach and high stakes testing that narrows the curriculum is not ultimately a healthy or productive way to learn what they need to learn about the world and themselves and to find their way in it,” he explains. “[With homeschooling] there can be more effective customization of that learning experience, because [students] are known as individuals. They aren’t necessarily tied to an inflexible group of standards or high-stakes tests that come down the pike with regularity.”

Survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows 74 percent of parents who choose to homeschool their children do so in part because of a dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools.

Homeschooling is considered part of the broader category of nonpublic schooling, according to Indiana state statute. Because of this, if additional regulations or requirements were to be proposed for homeschooling they would have to apply to nonpublic schooling in general.

Despite the apparent lack of regulation, Kunzman says he thinks many homeschool families prefer it that way.

“Homeschoolers see the shaping of their child’s education as a parental duty and right,” he explains. “When policymakers start talking about regulating homeschooling, often times homeschool parents hear that as regulating parenting. [That] strikes a nerve that’s a little bit more intense.”

A Family Affair

In the greater landscape of education in Indiana, homeschooling could be considered the “wild west” – and this isn’t the Burnfield family’s first time at the rodeo.

Parents Jason and Holli homeschooled all five of their daughters starting in kindergarten. When the family moved to Bloomfield, Indiana from Oklahoma four years ago, they decided to give public school a try. But after just a few weeks, the girls started asking to come home again.

“I was wondering what was going on in school,” mom Holli explains. “[They were] happy with friends, classes, school, with the whole thing, except they were bored!”

So the following year, the Burnfields returned home. Currently the youngest three – seventh grader Emily, sixth grader Holli and second grader Layla – are taught by their mom.

“They get up, they have breakfast, they do their math,” mom Holli explains. “They just know automatically what they’re doing.”

As far as Indiana’s lax oversight, Holli doesn’t have too many qualms. She says she likes being able to choose her own curriculum and be in control of what she feels will most benefit her own children.

“Bottom line, what I wanted to teach my kids is how to learn. In public school they’re fed what they learn,” she explains. “In public school, you study something, you take a test, you move on. In homeschool, you don’t move on until you get it.”

Unless parents opt their kids in to take standardized tests, there is no statewide system for measuring a homeschooled student’s success. Often when students go back to “traditional” school, the ease or difficulty of the transition academically can be a good indicator.

The Burnfields have two elder daughters in eighth and ninth grade who just moved over to public school this fall. They’ve told their mom they are adjusting just fine – one of the girls even switched in to an advanced math class.

“They could get an education anywhere, but I want them to have a high school experience that I think will prepare them better for college and how to maneuver the educational system of college,” Holli explains.

The three younger girls might make a similar move in the future.

“I’ve never been to school, to like actual school,” eight-year-old Layla Burnfield says. “I want to see what it’s like to do that.”