High standards with flexibility

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Manfred Smith easily could be called one of the founding fathers of home education in the United States, and definitely in Maryland.

Not only did he and his wife, Jeanne, teach their three now-grown children, Jamie, Jesse and Darcy, but they also have observed the trends in home-schooling over nearly three decades.

"Back in the 1980s, the families who did home-schooling were like the mountain men out in the wilderness, getting attacked by the bears, and surviving," Mr. Smith said in a recent interview. "Then, in the 1990s came the pioneers with wagon trains, followed by waves of settlers who came to establish communities, where things were already built. Then, after 2000, we're starting to see a new wave, which you might call the tourists, who come wanting air-conditioned buildings and having things all set up."

The difference in timing has created some new trends among home-schoolers that Mr. Smith feels are crucial.

"We are now seeing older students coming to home-schooling after eight, 10 years of being in the schools, out of desperation," he said. "The families are like refugees, and they need a lot more hand-holding than the home-schooler that has been raised doing independent learning."

The Learning Community International (TLCI), which is registered with the Maryland State Department of Education and operated by the Community, a nonsectarian, nonprofit religious organization, has long served families from all religious and philosophical traditions. Faced with the additional needs of late-entry home-schoolers, TLCI has adapted by creating a new program.

Its mentoring program helps families first experiencing a home-based education as advisers show families how to design courses, develop documentation and provide evaluations. As students and parents gradually pick up the skills needed, they move toward independence in the learning process.

"It takes time to change the focus to realize that the individual is the center, things are not the center," he said.

Educational consultants work very closely with the family and the student to help them develop goals for an individual educational plan — and then keep them accountable to fulfill those goals.

Since 1984, TLCI has been facilitating independent learning for families all over Maryland, as well as nationally and internationally, providing a liaison to their respective local educational structures. TLCI takes that role seriously, wanting to ensure home-schooling is protected from loss of freedom that might result from abuses such as neglect of studies, dropping out or truancy, or even worse.

"We are working to create an accreditation process to protect home learners," Mr. Smith said. TLCI and other home-schooling veterans want to proactively establish criteria that would surpass minimum standards and allow families to have maximum flexibility while maintaining accountability.

TLCI participants range in their educational approach from the more traditional to the eclectic, which is a natural extension of the freedom of choice that underlies much of home-schooling"s success, according to Mr. Smith.

High-school-age students who enter TLCI's mentoring program are closely monitored, receive personal attention and are "walked through" their study process, as well as the reviews mandated by Maryland law for about $950 a year, less than half the cost of other programs that provide far less support. Families wishing to investigate TLCI's programs can go to www.tlci.us, or call 410/730-0073.

Kate Tsubata, a home-schooling mother of three, is a freelance writer who lives in Maryland.