Homeschooling in the News: Your Weekly Update
Homeschooling in Romania has been making headlines since two high-profile parents have opted to pull their daughter out of the Romanian school system. “I’ve realized that the education system, organized in groups of people who have to demonstrate in front of others how much they know and how much they’ve learned, is obsolete for the times we live in,” wrote former pop singer Dana Nalbaru on her blog, explaining her family’s decision. Homeschooling isn’t officially recognized in Romania, though some families have gotten around the legalities by enrolling in umbrella schools abroad.
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It’s no secret that homeschooling and entrepreneurship go well together, but it’s always inspiring to read about a family business like Jalen’s Bakery in Fresno, California. Jalen Bailey was just 8 years when he decided baking was his passion, and his mom was able to help him through the process of starting his own business.
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One of the pluses often cited by homeschoolers is the fact that homeschooling lets kids work at their own level rather than some arbitrarily determined grade level—if you’re aces at math, you can keep moving ahead; if history isn’t your thing, you can pursue it at your own pace. A recent study suggests that this flexibility may be an even bigger benefit than we knew—in some classes, as many of half of the students may be ready to work at a higher grade level.
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And finally, homeschooling has proven a good option for some kids with ADHD, and one mom talks about her experiences homeschooling her son with ADHD in a recent issue of ADDitude magazine: “We’re free from the idea of grade levels, and instead of teaching a first grader, I can just teach Blaise, with all his quirks and difficulties and strengths.”
