In growing trend, home-schooled students find academic, social success

Published: 2008-01-17

VIENNA, Va. (CNS) -- Bridget Whelpley, 9, looked up from reading the morning news at the breakfast table. She caught up on current affairs as she waited for her siblings to finish eating at their Vienna home. After memorizing poetry, Bridget, Colin, 11, and Sophia, 7, drilled each other on French vocabulary. Their mother, Patty, interjected a few times to correct their pronunciation. Patty Whelpley started home schooling when her oldest son, Colin, now in fifth grade, was in kindergarten. Initially she pulled him out of school because she was worried about his peanut allergies. Whelpley learned about home schooling and decided to give it a try. When it surpassed her expectations, she continued. When it comes to the alternative method of learning, the Whelpleys are not alone. Rather, they are part of a growing network of families in the Arlington Diocese and around the country who are choosing to home-school their children. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that there were nearly 1.1 million home-schooled students in the U.S. in the spring of 2003, the latest year for which statistics are available. That was a 29 percent increase over the 850,000 home-schoolers estimated in 1999.

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