Home schooling thrives locally

Kathy Wentz works through an algebra equation for a group of home-schooled teens during a math class at McHenry County College Friday morning. (Valerie Tobias photo)

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While home schooling in California is on shaky ground, in Illinois, it’s a flourishing practice.

A California Court of Appeals issued a ruling late last month stating that every school-aged child must be taught by someone with valid state teaching credentials.

In Illinois, such a regulation does not exist. Johnsburg educational consultant Kathy Wentz has been home-schooling her sons, 16 and 18, since kindergarten. She also teaches science and math to other home-schooled children and said at least 1,000 families subscribed to her e-mail list for McHenry County home schoolers.

The California decision is not something this area should worry about, she said.

“It’s not even an issue,” Wentz said. “It’s all going to blow over as soon as everyone gets their ducks in a row.”

In the case at hand, the court proceedings were brought forth after a home-schooling family was accused of child abuse by one of their eight children.

The Department of Children and Family Services sued to have the children placed in public school with the argument that they might be better monitored for signs of abuse. The ruling was based on a law dating to the 1950s.

Although local home-schooling families aren’t worried, Illinois Federation of Teachers spokeswoman Gail Purkey said it was the organization’s preference to keep children in traditional schools because there are few regulations regarding home schooling in Illinois.

“All you have to do is register as a school and you’re in; there’s no checking of qualifications and curriculum,” Purkey said about home schooling in Illinois. “The IFT has long been a proponent of having a fully qualified, certified teacher in every classroom in the state of Illinois.

“We would want the same level of expertise for children who are home-schooled.”

Myra Dutko of Round Lake has home-schooled her two daughters for about eight years with measurable success. Her 17-year-old is a junior at Lake Forest Academy, and her 14-year-old plans to begin college in the fall.

“Hopefully it won’t touch us here,” Dutko said about the ruling. “I’m concerned for other home-schoolers because we’re toward the end of our home-schooling practice. I would love it if other parents had the opportunity to do that if they so chose to do it.”

Dutko’s younger daughter, Tanya, said she enjoyed home schooling, which she started in the second grade.

“I was always ahead in reading and literature,” Tanya Dutko said. “I felt like I was being held back [in public school].”

Tanya Dutko reads at a college level and has used theater as a way to make friends. She performs in the American Girls Revue in Chicago, an opportunity that would have been difficult if she wasn’t home-schooled because of the distance and the rehearsal schedule.

“Being home-schooled is so much more flexible,” she said. “I can do my school work any time.”

Her sister, Aleksa, is planning to finish her degree in Islamic studies when she’s 18 and is applying for doctoral programs at Northwestern University, Harvard and the University of Chicago.

“I think the advantages [of home schooling] are really limitless and profound,” Aleksa Dutko said. “I learned how to educate myself and not ever have to rely on other people.”

Aleksa Dutko said she encouraged parents who were thinking about home schooling to consider the option.

“Everyone’s going to want to learn,” she said. “It’s just like walking; you don’t need a program to tell you how to.”

Wentz is the parent adviser for the Johnsburg Library Homeschool Resource Center, a room with about $75,000 worth of books, equipment and educational games open to anyone with an Illinois library card. Various companies offer curriculums parents can follow as well.

“All anybody needs to home school is a library card,” Wentz said. “An awful lot of this material is available through inter-library loan.”