For many years the educational choices for parents were three-fold: public schools around the corner, parochial schools around the parish, and private schools that were just around. A fourth choice has been gaining acceptance lately, including a recent cover story in Time Magazine – children who go to school around the kitchen table.
Whether you call it homeschooling, home schooling or home education the number of children being taught at home is on the rise. According to the National Home Education Research Institute (www.nheri.org) the rate of increase is from 7% to 15% each year. There are slightly over 1.5 million students, K-12, who have a parent as their primary educator.
According to the research from NHERI real numbers for homeschooling began to be seen in the mid-1980's. This development created companies with products specifically for home education. Some were created by the families themselves and some by companies already in existence. Following on the heels of these companies came the conventions. The homeschooling convention was a place to be affirmed in your decision to teach your child at home. The day (or weekend) included seminars on topics ranging from how to teach algebra to how to balance the toddler and the teen.
However, for many of the early years, Catholics choosing to homeschool had to find materials from church sales and the shelves of Goodwill or make do with materials designed for the Protestant homeschooling market. Many times Catholics attending Protestant events found their religion under direct attack from certain product lines (i.e., those from Bob Jones University) or more subtly from others (i.e., any study on early Church history that emphasized Paul but neglected Peter). But it didn’t take long for some good Catholic parents to jump on the bandwagon and address the need for specifically Catholic products (such as Seton Home School) and Catholic conventions.
The National Association of Catholic Home Educators (NACHE) has been hosting a homeschooling convention for Catholic families for over ten years. Beginning in a parish hall with about 150 attendees and a few vendors, it now dominates a convention facility and hosts over 1,200 attendees, 50 vendors and as many Catholic university and colleges as can fit.
This year’s event, “NACHE 2002 – Homeschooling in the New Millennium,” will be held June 14 and 15, 2002, at the Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge, VA. The two-day event includes a keynote address on Saturday by Dr. Alan Keyes, host of MSNBC’s “Alan Keyes is Making Sense!” and a talk geared towards teens and their parents by Matt Pinto, co-founder of Catholic Exchange and author of Did Adam and Eve Have Belly Buttons?, entitled, “Why Be A Catholic When You Can Be Anything Else?”
The vendors are on the increase as well, with several new participants at NACHE including Calvert School of Towson, MD, a full curriculum provider for over 100 years and “K12,” the newest venture from William Bennett, recognized speaker and author. K12 is a recent addition to online programs which utilize online courses to teach everything from history to math. Regina Coeli provides an online program for high schoolers.
The two-day event is packed with all a parent needs to begin homeschooling or to get the energy to continue. Dr. Anne Carroll will be discussing “History as Apologetics, Dispelling the Myths”; Montague Brown, Ph.D., author of “The One-Minute Philosopher”, will discuss the value of “Educating Our Children and Ourselves: Pursuing What is True and Good!”
While the main focus is in on those families educating at home, there are seminars of interest to non-homeschooling parents as well. Fr. Cornelius O’Brien, professor at Christendom College, will be discussing “Childhood and The Age of Innocence” on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m., while Saturday has Matt Pinto giving everyone a lesson on “Death, Purgatory, Heaven and Hell: What We Know About the Afterlife” and Andrew Pudewa discussing “The Profound Influence of Music on Life”.
Consider spending the weekend with Catholic families who have responded to the call for parents to be the “primary educators” of their children. This choice is not necessarily a rejection of the other educational options but rather a choice in itself. As Miki Hill, co-president of NACHE together with her husband, Tim, relates, “The integral, yet radically different role of homeschooling within the Church allows parents to have a more hands-on approach to the total upbringing of their children. Homeschooling is the best way to educate my children. Different methods for different parents, but for me and other Catholic homeschoolers, homeschooling is what has worked best for us. Our NACHE convention helps parents see that homeschooling can truly be a reality for their families as well!”
For more information on attending NACHE (you can go for one or both days or just come to shop the many vendors), visit www.nache.org or call the hotline at 410-379-6558.
