Homeschool Article In The Hartford Courant Today

Photo by Shana Sureck

I am a mom of a 16 year old homeschooler in CT and I have to say that Shana Sureck did a terrific videography piece to accompany the article about a Cheshire homeschooler in today's Hartford Courant.

Erin O'Luanaigh, 16, of Cheshire, is the oldest of four children who are home-schooled by their mother, Lynne. They follow a faith-based curriculum, and are active in a Catholic home-schooling network that meets weekly. Erin has SAT scores of 760 in writing, 700 in critical reading and 630 in math. She is applying, a year early, to college, where she hopes to combine her interests in literature and jazz next fall.

Erin O'Luanaigh said it best when she stated,

"There are a lot of misconceptions about home-schooling. We're not crazy. We don't do these things because we're anti-social. We do them because we're looking for something different in our education. It's really not just preparation for college, but preparation for life. The only thing I miss about being in a classroom is the discussions you can have with peers. Sometimes it can be intellectually lonely, just me and my books.

People think we're some kind of hermits, that we stay in our houses all day, close the blinds and don't talk to anyone. We have tons of friends — from the public schools and from the home school community."

Bravo to this family for having the courage to come forward with their success story, and kudos to Shana Sureck for delivering a positive and well reported piece.

Homeschooling works, Socialization is NOT an issue, and homeschoolers do quite well without government regulations. CT has had a national spelling bee winner, and many other homeschool successes, and it is only a testament to the importance of freedom in educational choice.

As an aside, I have family members with Von Willebrand's disease, and people can live a very full and normal life with this genetic anomaly. Bravo to the O'Luanaigh family for their successes despite the health issues Erin faces.