In Your Own Words: Homeschooling in Prince William

Once in awhile, you commenters share such good insights that we have to celebrate you a bit.

Here's a collection of your thoughts on our ongoing :

Amy Wilson reminded us that the change in PWC culture and policies relating to homeschooling came about largely through the hard work of homeschooling families.

"Homeschoolers themselves worked to get the school division to end its 'approval before removal' policy, mentioned in the ," she said. "We formed a grassroots coalition and spent months in meetings and speaking to the school board members to end that policy, which was actually contrary to state law, which already allowed families to begin homeschooling at any point in the school year without receiving prior approval."

Shay Seaborne was also involved with the grassroots coalition.

"We...worked very hard to initiate partial enrollement and wrote the draft policy that was adopted almost word for word," she said. "This included a great deal of time listening to board members' concerns, researching, revising, speaking at board meetings, and even posing something of a budgetary threat."

She now calls PWCS homeschooling policies "a model for other jurisdictions in Virginia."

Jen Elgin started homeschooling by only committing to one year at a time.

"Now that we are so settled into our learning and educating styles, we plan to homeschool through high school for at least one of our children," she said. "They are all unique and we will decide for each one as individuals."

Not all were positive about homeschooling. Renna Beck was concerned that homeschooling "sends a message to our school board...that our PWC public schools are not good enough."

Beck's concern is that this might keep those outside the county from wanting to move to PWC.

"Homeschooling may be an option for some, however, being a Mom myself, I find that if you are not satisfied with the PWC public school system (which I personally find very good, some limitations exist), enroll your children in private schools," she said. "My sister tried homeschooling her son and it was a disaster for him (the state where she lived had poor reputation public schools). So she finally enrolled him in private school and today, he will be going to an Ivy League school. He really missed out on socialization skills while he was homeschooled."

Wilson countered that her family didn't choose homeschooling because PWCS wasn't good enough, but because they wanted to break away from public and private schools altogether.

"We love living with learning at the center of our family, and with the freedom to make all of our own choices about the shape that learning takes each day. No school can support that lifestyle," she said.

Wilson, who attended PWCS, praised the hard work of teachers and administrators there.

"But schools are now stuck with the test mania approach that our reliance on federal dollars has created," she said. "I won't sacrifice what I believe is the best education and childhood for my children in order to support this institutional educational system."

Seaborne's family loved the non-traditional learning environment that homeschooling provided.

"We didn't have a 'classroom,' didn't sit at desks or the dining table with textbooks, didn't have a pre-planned curriculum, had no grade levels or grading papers, didn't follow anyone else's rules. Instead, our interests created the syllabus, and our activities and conversations were a living report card," she said. "For my family, one of the best things about homeschooling is the freedom it affords; outside the institutional setting, a child can learn at her own pace, in her own way, according to her own interests. There is no greater incentive than a child's innate interest to spark her desire to learn."