When we were first married, my wife and I used to discuss what the best age was to start our children in school. Ellen White, one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, counseled against sending children to school too early: "Parents should be the only teachers of their children until they have reached 8 or 10 years of age. . . .
"The only schoolroom for children until 8 or 10 years of age should be in the open air, amid the opening flowers and nature's beautiful scenery."1
Now research into early child education is proving the truth of these statements. Soon after we began pastoring in Scotland we read a series of articles on education that the Adventist Review carried. Raymond Moore, the author of the articles, wrote about research that showed children mature at different rates. The eye-hand-brain coordination does not become fully integrated in most children until they are around 8 years of age. Upon reading the articles we ordered and read carefully Moore's book Better Late Than Early, which strengthened our conviction that children should not start school too early.
Since Scotland enforces a strict early schooling law, we had to apply for permission to teach our children at home. The local superintendent of schools denied our request, so we appealed his decision to Scotland's secretary of state. He ruled that we could indeed operate a home school but that the local superintendent had to grant the permission. When we approached this official with a letter from the secretary of state, he soon granted our request.
Later we moved to pastor in the Ohio Conference in the United States, where we continued to operate our home school. When the conference executive commit tee called me to work as a departmental director, our home school moved with us.
Each of our children began their formal schooling at 8 years of age. One of them later spent another of their elementary years in a home school. They both graduated with their age group from eighth grade and went on to high school. They enjoyed home school so much that they spent only two of their secondary school years in the regular school system. They took the rest of their courses via home school, completed their work in three years, and are now prospering in college.
Although no one knows how many children are being taught at home, some estimates put the number as high as 100,000 in the United States. Concept of the home school has fallen on hard times in many countries because so many mothers work. Even when mothers stayed home, however, it was never a popular practice. It takes a certain amount of discipline to continue working with one's children as they grow older.
Where parents cannot adequately care for their children it is better that they be gin school at the usual age 6 in many countries. But this does not change the fact that children mature at different rates. In some ways our society treats children as robots making them all start at the same age and progress at the same rate.
Academic failure
Recent reports indicate that more children are failing high school than ever before. But the solution educators came up with—to start children even earlier, placing them in kindergartens that in many ways simply ape first grade—moves in the wrong direction.
Now a report in the Washington Post suggests that too much stress on early academic achievement can be damaging to the child. "The D.C. school system has begun revising how it teaches prekindergarten and kindergarten children, in part because a growing number of them are repeating the first grade because of academic failure." 2 What solutions are they recommending? Reduce the stress on academics, put more emphasis on social skills, and make school a more relaxing place. Paradoxically, the same school system is recommending the enrollment of 3-year-olds.
Those who are contemplating beginning a home school could well benefit by studying The Home School Manual. This volume of 432 pages contains a gold mine of information. The topics covered include: reasons for home teaching, who shouldn't try, keeping it legal, being an effective teacher, when to begin, teaching specific subjects, finding materials and help, and the legal situation of home schooling in each state.
As well as pointing out the advantages of home school, the book takes a frank look at the disadvantages. The general author and editor, Theodore E. Wade, Jr., a conservative Christian, has a Ph.D. in secondary education from the University of Nebraska.
The Home School Manual is available through many local bookstores. Or you may order it direct from Gazelle Publications, 5580 Stanley Dr., Auburn, CA, 95603 for US$17.00, including shipping.
1. Counsels to Teachers, pp. 79, 80.
2. Rene Sanchez, "D.C. Aims for Schools Kinder to Beginners," Washington Post, Feb. 11, 1990, p. D1.