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Clint Austin/News Tribune
Home-school spirit
Event addresses needs of home-schooled teenagers
BY LISA MICHALS
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Alex Galle-From, 15, considered attending high school this year, but ultimately decided it would be better to stay home -- in home-school.
The result, though, may be that he is out and about more often than most students his age, playing viola with the UW-Superior orchestra, skiing almost daily and pulling off a challenging course load, including Latin and Algebra II.
Parents Pam Galle and David From have home-schooled their two children, Alex and Tate Galle-From, 11, since the two boys were preschool-aged. Alex had a late September birthday, meaning he would have had to wait a year to enter kindergarten even though he was already reading, so his parents looked seriously at home-schooling.
Last year, Alex asked his parents if he could look into going to high school rather than continuing home-school.
"I had been interested in going to school," Alex said. "I would get to see my friends more often -- every day."
He spent a day touring Harbor City International School, a free and public charter high school in downtown Duluth, and he put his name on the waiting list for the 2004-05 school year. When the offer came in September to go to Harbor City, though, he changed his mind. There were just too many benefits to home-schooling, and he realized he had a number of very fulfilling friendships.
Alex is among a growing number of teens in the Twin Ports area to home-school during the teen years, said Trina LeGarde, a leader of the local home-school group, Northland CORE.
In fact, it has become so prevalent that several parents have organized the first formal high school graduation ceremony in May for home-schoolers in the Twin Ports.
The increased interest prompted Northland CORE members to add special programs to their annual conference this year to help parents and teens make the most of home-schooling. The conference, which is Saturday at the Best Western Edgewater, will offer panel discussions by teens and parents, activities and brainstorm sessions for teens, and a workshop on how to approach home-schooling in the teen years.
There are many myths about home-schooling, particularly during the teen years, said David Swan, who works with his wife, Connie Swan, as a home-schooling consultant. She will present at the conference Saturday.
David Swan said many home-school families are surprised to learn that:
¥ Colleges welcome home-school transcripts as long as records are kept properly.
¥ Students have the legal right to participate in public high school athletics.
¥ Tackling advanced level courses isn't as difficult as it seems.
¥ Students being home-schooled can attend college classes through the state Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program.
"The diploma is more or less a rite of passage," David Swan said. "In and of itself, it doesn't have much value."
It's the transcript of high school study that matters, and home-schoolers can create their own, he said.
Minnesota doesn't have a sophisticated tracking system of home-schoolers, but the Minnesota Department of Education estimated in 2003-04 that about 800 children were home-schooled in St. Louis County, and 19,000 were statewide.
Alex Galle-From is thoroughly satisfied with his decision to stick with home-schooling. He and Tate study at their dining room table after breakfast Monday through Friday, although their schedule is flexible if something comes up in the morning.
And Alex is considering attending Lake Superior College or the University of Minnesota Duluth next year through Post-Secondary Enrollment Options, which allows high school students to take college courses for free and get high school and college credit.
His little brother, Tate, will probably follow in Alex's footsteps by not going to a high school.
"When you're in school, it's strict and there are lots of grades and sometimes people bully you, I hear," Tate said. "With home-schooling, you can get out and do more things."
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