If you are a current homeschooler or homeschool graduate who read Jack Lessenberry’s essay on homeschooling I am sure you felt the hair stand up on the back of your neck. This uninformed journalist fills his essay with unresearched claims and foolish ideas that substantiate his lack of knowledge when it comes to homeschooling.

Despite his assertion that “home schooled children . . . are typically badly deficient in science education,” the facts tell another story. In fact, Mr. Lessenberry, statistics indicate the exact opposite:

In 1990, the National Home Education Research Institute issued a report entitled “A Nationwide Study of Home Education: Family Characteristics, Legal Matters, and Student Achievement.” This was a study of over 2,163 homeschooling families.

The study found that the average scores of the homeschool students were at or above the 80th percentile in all categories. The homeschoolers’ national percentile mean was 84th for reading, 80th for language, 81st for math, 84th for science and 83rd for social studies.

He continues with the usual blather . . . homeschoolers aren’t adequately socialized, parents should be qualified to teach, homeschoolers aren’t up to date with computer technology . . .. All of these comments clearly demonstrate his lack of experience with homeschoolers.

Let me provide my responses based on fact, not opinion. Just taking from the last three graduating classes, each year Bridgeway Academy homeschool students have received full scholarships to college, have qualified as national merit scholars, have been highly involved in volunteer efforts, have served local politicians, have established their own businesses while still in high school (including computer services such as programming and web design), have been highly recognized athletes, and have served on the mission field.

These students come from homes of all different backgrounds, but they have two things in common: a desire for excellence and a drive that takes them there.

Are all of Bridgeway’s students this exceptional? No. We also work with struggling students who have not received the help they need from their local public school. We have worked with adults who hit a brick wall personally and financially because they lack a high school diploma and are now motivated to do the work to obtain one. (By the way, every one of the American born adults dropped out of public school–not home school). And we have worked with students who seek an alternative to failing educational system in their local public school. But all of our homeschool students, no matter where they are when they enroll, exceed the standards of their local public school system by the time they graduate from Bridgeway Academy.

Many of our students come from families who seek a strong Biblical foundation for their children. A growing number do not want the Biblical element. Others are looking for a combination of both. Either way, the homeschooling community is much larger than Jack seems to realize.

So what is my point? Despite the uninformed anti-homeschooling blather of people like Jack Lessenberry (who by the way is married to a public school teacher), homeschoolers are sought out by colleges and universities, are impacting their communities and are outdoing their public school counterparts.

Look out public school graduates! The leaders of tomorrow are educated in the homes of today!