FROM HOME TO CLASSROOM

Michael H. Romanowski knows home schooling well

When Josiah Kaufman was a freshman at Carmel High School, he would bring his lunch every day. When the period was over, he would help his friends return their lunch trays out of "courtesy," he said.

Soon, he began helping other students clean up. "It became this thing where I went all around the cafeteria and started picking up everyone's trays when they were done. It was so funny. People were like, 'Why in the world are you doing this?'" Josiah was just being nice. It also was his way of adapting to new people and a new school system.

It was Josiah's first year in a public school. Now a junior, Josiah said he switched from home-schooling to take advanced classes and be part of the large music program. And though he had to make some adjustments, he said he's glad he made the move.

Josiah's experience is pretty typical, according to Michael H. Romanowski, professor of education at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio, who is now teaching in Qatar. Romanowski has a special interest in home-schooling – not only did he conduct in-depth interviews with about two-dozen home-schoolers for a study he published in 2002, but he and his wife have home-schooled their four children.

Romanowski said many home-schooled students transition to a public-school system in eighth or ninth grade. "The reason why is they start getting involved in sports," Romanowski said. "Also, some of the subjects get a little more difficult for parents to teach." Romanowski's two oldest children switched to public school when they were eighth graders.

So did Callie Daniels-Howell, 15, now a sophomore at Herron High School. Callie's older brother and sister made the transition in ninth grade, and she had to persuade her parents to move that up a year for her to attend Fall Creek Valley Middle School in Lawrence Township.

"I just really wanted that experience and I wanted the bigger social life and just a school atmosphere," she said. Emily Green, 17, also wanted to start public school to expand her social circle. Now a junior, she has attended Arsenal Tech High School part time since her freshman year. "I felt lonely when I was home-schooled," she said. "In high school, I feel like that's when people really need their friends the most." According to these students, the transition has had many more peaks than valleys.

They all agreed that waking up early has been a rough adjustment, as has the rigid class schedules and often inflexible deadlines. "It was kind of hard to get into that whole thing with teachers in large classrooms and not having that personal touch with the teacher," Josiah said. "In every single class I had, I had homework every single day, and that was hard for me."But in general, they found the school work easier.

"In public school, the teachers are a lot easier on you, and there's not as much homework. I can just get it all done on one day and then turn it in the next day. It just helped me keep my schedule
better," Emily said.

All found that prior participation in extracurricular activities helped them with the transition. Emily has been involved in choir and music lessons much of her childhood. "At choir, most of those kids
are public-schooled, and so I get to interact with public-school kids there. It didn't really help me with like waking up early and the set schedule, but it definitely helped me interact with the public
schoolers better," she said.

Callie took art and dance lessons while she was home-schooled. "It helped with getting to know other kids who weren't home-schooled, so I could talk to them about going to school, and I knew kind of what
it was about. So I think it just made it easier, knowing a bunch of different people, so that once I went to school, I was more socialized," she said. Romanowski agreed that extracurricular activities are a great way of expanding social ties among students. His daughter and son were involved in soccer leagues long before they entered public school. "They knew a lot of kids when they went into the public school, so
they had no problems transitioning." he said.

For Josiah, socializing in public school just came easy. "After being home-schooled, I really enjoyed meeting people. I'm a very outgoing person, like I said, and so it was very easy for me to talk
to people," he said. It wasn't so easy for Emily and Callie. "The first day of school, I had no idea where to go, and everyone was talking to other people and gossiping already," Callie recalled. "I just went to my first-period class and I sat there by myself. It was probably the loneliest day of my life. I didn't talk to anyone, and it was just overwhelming and scary."

Emily had trouble adjusting to the crowds "since I was so used to not being around people," she said.
All of them also had to battle the stereotypes that some classmates had about home-schooled students.
"A lot of people think we're nerdy, or we're really modest and we're socially awkward. That's a big one," Emily said. They also had to learn to adjust to how some students acted. Said Callie: "I had always been around people who were a lot more mature for their age I guess … It was really surprising being with
eighth-grade boys who were just running around everywhere. Everyone was just acting so much more crazy than I had ever been around."

Josiah was shocked by public displays of affection among students. "I want to save my first kiss for my wife," he explained. "When I saw people kissing in the hallway, I didn't know what to do.
I just kept walking."

He was similarly shocked with the language used by classmates. "I would say that a lot of my so-called innocence was lost as I came into public school and I started hearing people use swear words because I
had never really heard swear words in regular conversation before," he said.

Such "cultural" adjustments are to be expected, Romanowski said. "Some students have to adjust to the culture itself. Is there a lot of cheating going on in schools today? Yeah, and so I think they
have to adjust to cheating and how to handle that. Some of the language, some of the pop culture that they're not familiar with, they'll have to adjust to that," he said. Though the transition was sometimes difficult, all of the students concurred that they aren't interested in switching back.

"The public school system, like I said, there's so much opportunity here. There is a lot of prestige that comes from a public high school," Josiah said.

More importantly, perhaps, all three said their public school experiences have changed them for the better. Callie said she has become a more confident and social person. "I have a lot more self-esteem and I'm more aware of who I am as a person."

"I'm a lot more outgoing," agreed Emily. "I used to be so shy. Now in public school, I talk to people I don't know. I have a lot more friends. There's always someone I can call up who's close by to help
with homework or go to the mall or whatever."

Despite some of the culture clashes he witnessed, Josiah most appreciates the exposure to diverse people and opinions. "I do have a lot more tolerance for things that I don't personally identify with,"
he said.

REPORTERS: James Officer, 12; Charlie Osborne, 12; and Caroline Payne,13. SIDEBAR:
By Charlie Osborne, 12

Copyright 2008 Y-Press

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The number of home-schooled children continues to increase in
Indiana, from 11,000 in 1998-99 to 23,455 in 2005-06, according to the
Indiana Department of Education. Professor Michael Romanowski has
some advice for home-school families considering a switch to public
schools:

* Enroll children in extracurricular activities such as sports,
church groups or scouting. They provide opportunities to mix with
public school students and families.
* Visit places like the public pool or library to see how different
kids dress, talk and act. Such sites also provide opportunities for
friendships with a wide variety of children.
* Seek out former home-schooled students attending public school to
talk about the transition.
* Prepare for public school by adopting some of their methods, such
as standardized testing and timed assignments. Also, practice
time-management skills to prepare students to juggle multiple classes
and meet deadlines.
* Get ready to deal with all kinds of students. Many might challenge
a family's values and beliefs. Expose home-schooled students to
opposition viewpoints in literature and the social sciences.

Compiled by Charlie Osborne, 12.