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By Naomi Smoot-Kimble
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
It’s Monday morning and instead of standing outside to catch the bus Reed Dove is heading downstairs to take his seat at the dining room table and begin his school day. He begins reading “The Secret Garden” while upstairs his brother Jenkins is sitting at a desk in his bedroom working on a math problem.
According to Flint Hill mother, Cecilia Dove, this more orderly 4ay, free from the distractions of other children and the constant, shuffling and chaos of a normal school, is one of the many reasons she chose to home-school her two sons, 14-year-old Jenkins and eleven year old Reed.
She is not alone. According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), home-schooling is growing at a rate as high as 15 percent annually. This is significant considering there were already 1.5 million children home-schooled in 2000.
In Rappahannock County, parents of 18 students have notified the schools they will be home-schooling this year. This, according to Superintendent Bob Chappell, is up from 17 for the 2002-03 school year.
Dove feels her children benefit from this alternative form of education.
“Some days a traditional school does not have as much quality time as far as education^” she said. “The days don’t seem to Was concentrated.”
Dove said she feels her children’s days are more efficiently used at home, and by completing the entire lesson during the day they sue free from traditional evening homework.
But the more efficient use of time is not the only benefit she sees to homeschooling.
“The quality of their education is more in-depth. My boys did well and I do like Rappahannock’s teachers, a lot of them really care. But you’re still held back by the nature of thq classes. I have more freedom in my teaching and time to go more in-depth,” she said.
Mother and former home-school educator Hallee Morgan was also impressed by this method of education and the independence it allowed both her and her children, 18-year- old Hallee and 14-year:old Hannah. “I could really gear their education to their individual wants and needs,” she said.
This was something which daughter Hallee was grateful for and remem
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