By Robert McClory
The McClures are evangelical Christians who take their religion very seriously, and that’s the major reason none of the children has ever attended a school. “No way we would have them go,” says Laurie, “not with all the peer pressure, the bad attitudes, the swearing. Some of the things that get in kids’ heads are impossible to ever get out.”
The McClure lifestyle is exceedingly simple, almost Amish in design. There’s an old black-and-white television set in the basement, but it’s rarely turned on. Even public TV is “mostly humanistic,” explains Laurie. “If they were to watch, I’d have to be with them all the time to point out the parts that are wrong.”
She plans to continue her academic studies all summer. That way she’ll finish her high school book work by next Christmas and can take the ACT test for college. She hasn’t yet thought about what kind of college she’d like to attend. She’s considering a career in nursing and says she wouldn’t be averse to marriage someday. “If the Lord would have it he has already picked out someone for me. I’m preparing for whatever is to come.”
Advocates of teaching children at home are eager to point out that it’s as American as apple pie and was the mode of learning for such stalwarts as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and Sandra Day O’Connor. But now that home schooling has taken off, the concept and the kind of people attracted to it are being scrutinized as never before.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
There’s a relaxed informality about the gathering in the basement of a west-side church on a Friday morning in May. Everything’s loose and a bit chaotic. The occasion is a play directed by 11-year-old Laura Savage and featuring some 20 other children between the ages of 5 and 13. The whole production–including costumes, props, and modest scenery–has been pulled together by the kids, all of whom are members of a home-school support group with no special religious ideology. The children know one another because they regularly play and go on trips together. The audience is composed mostly of mothers, a few fathers, and a smattering of grandparents. This group has been interacting for more than five years.
