Summary
The public school in the Virginia countryside could not meet my younger two children’s academic needs. With the ACLU’s backing, I decided to teach them at home, using the many resources available, both in the District of Columbia and in Virginia.
The School in Haymarket, VA
When we moved to Haymarket VA, my younger two children, Jeffrey and Rachel, were still in elementary school; and the education was simply not at a level that would be challenging for them. Jeffrey was in third grade at the time and reading in class at a third grade level, just as he had been doing two years prior to this when he was in first grade in New York State. Rachel was in second grade and equally at a loss.
I went to see the principal about increasing the educational challenge for the kids, but nothing useful ever came of it. At one point the school decided that Rachel could do third grade exercises after she had finished her second grade work, but she took a dim view of their suggestion since it would mean that she was doing twice as much work as the other kids. I thought that she had a legitimate point, and I ended up having a total of fourteen conferences with this principal by the end of the school year. At that point the county school administration decided to allow Rachel to skip third grade and go directly from second grade to fourth grade.
I have to note here that Jeffrey was equally unchallenged by the school work, but he was not as socially adept as Rachel, so I decided that skipping him would most likely help him academically but not otherwise. I figured that Rachel would be able to handle the social issue just fine though.
So in fourth grade Jeffrey and Rachel were in the same grade, the same class, with a teacher who took an instant dislike to Rachel. As an adult, Rachel has told me what she thinks was going on with this teacher, who happened to be black. Rachel thinks that the teacher was unhappy that Rachel had been skipped to fourth grade while many of the black students had failed.
The ACLU Supports My Right To School My Kids
Following the fourth grade debacle, I decided that Jeffrey and Rachel needed to go to a different school, although I wasn’t sure where we would find one that would be acceptable. We visited a school or two nearby before I began to come up with a plan.
Backed by my college degree, I started convincing myself that I could teach the kids at home just fine; but I decided that the school system might resist if I removed them from public school. I concluded, therefore, that I needed to enlist support in case of an ensuing battle, so I wrote to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) explaining that I felt that I could meet the children’s educational needs better at home than the teachers at school could do. The ACLU responded negatively, noting that they could not take my case; but one of their lawyers wrote me subsequently and offered his individual help. He did inform us that keeping your children at home rather than sending them to school was considered a felony in Virginia at that time.
Subsequently, the ACLU lawyer wrote a letter to the Superintendent of our local school system stating that “Mrs. Montgomery feels, as does the American Civil Liberties Union, that she can give her two children a better, more challenging education at home” than the school system can do. As I read a copy of this letter, I cheered, as I started to envision my name in the law books, in a case involving me, Susan Montgomery vs. Prince William County Schools.
But that was not to be! The Superintendent was smart! He had the school system present me with a collegiate teacher’s certificate, which would make me “legal” from their perspective, as I taught my own children at home. Jamie and I laughed at how clever the Superintendent had been in turning this potential problem into a non-issue. I did call George Mason, which had issued these certificates in the past, to ask them if they were still issuing collegiate certificates. They responded that they hadn’t done so for a long time – so I took great delight in informing them that I had just received one of these certificates – perhaps the last one ever issued.
The collegiate or teaching certificate was based on certain requirements, which I apparently met in all subject areas except physical education (PE), so the school system required that I pick up two PE classes from George Mason the following summer. I did as instructed, which suddenly turned me into a bonafide “teacher” in their eyes.
Now that I had the necessary certification – and was no longer viewed as a potential legal problem – the school system was decidedly friendly to us, even to the point of allowing my home-schooled children to attend their school dances and other events. There was no feeling of animosity or competition; we were treated as equals and always made to feel welcome.
I was virtually alone, however – and the kids were alone – when I began teaching my kids at home almost forty years ago. Today it has become a huge cottage industry, but back then I did not know anybody else who was doing this, except my sister in upstate New York. In fact, my activities were considered so unusual that the story was newsworthy; and the local newspaper wrote several articles about us.
I Celebrate my Victory! Teaching the Kids at Home
The next four years were probably the happiest I ever spent with my children, as we began our home school in earnest. I took great pleasure in designing my own curriculum year by year and bought textbooks from the public school warehouse; and the kids and I did daily lessons. By fifth grade Jeffrey and Rachel had learned the basics, of course, so we had a great deal of freedom in what we studied. The kids were bright, so I did little actual teaching and more providing resources for them, fostering discussions, and visiting places that would provide information and opportunities for learning.
We were only an hour outside Washington, D.C., with its myriad of museums and government sites, most of which were free to the public. But our favorite destination was the Kennedy Center, which had a practice of allowing schools free access to the dress rehearsal of many performances. When we went, we would identify ourselves as the Northern Virginia School for Learning. Then the red-coated volunteer would ask very sweetly “and where are your other students?” “Oh, this is all that could make it today,” I would answer. It was a game that we would play, although the volunteer had no idea who we were.
Being at home and in charge of our own curriculum and our own time had its advantages. The BBC, for instance, had decided to televise all of Shakespeare’s plays during this period, so we would make a point of watching them. Jeffrey would get out my Shakespeare textbook from college and read along with the presentation.
Rachel did not care for hard science, so we did a couple of different activities. There was a lake nearby, which we would often visit to study the ecology. She was also very interested in people, so I obtained psychology books for her to read and study. I chose well, or maybe I influenced her greatly, because she turned out to be a psychology major in college and in graduate school. I remember that one of the psychology books had a section on values and listed different ones; the kids and I had many discussions on what they thought and believed. It was, for me, a wonderful opportunity to see into their minds as they were developing into thinking, caring young people.
The End of the School Experiment
Jeffrey and Rachel were home-schooled for four years, for grades five through eight (this included all of middle school). It was a decidedly happy and exciting time for me as I loved having the two of them at home, “teaching” them, doing activities together, and talking to them by the hour. The three of us worked really well together; we were friends and enjoyed one an-other’s company. I have thought about this experience many times since and realized how fortunate I was to have that period – and that close relationship – with both Jeffrey and Rachel. I will cherish this memory forever.
Toward the end of our home-schooling, I became aware that the Superintendent of the school system would be leaving our county to begin a job in Richmond. Jamie and I had good feelings about him and decided to take him out to dinner before he left. We ended up thanking him for his support, and the Superintendent admitted to us that the teachers in the public schools could not compete with a parent working with just two kids, especially ones who were bright on top of that. We – Jamie and I and the Superintendent – parted as friends, although initially we could have been on opposite sides in court.
Jeffrey and Rachel entered high school then, which was uneventful for them until Jeffrey’s suicide his junior year.
Further Reading
This episode from my life is just one of numerous episodes I experienced throughout much of my adult life dictated by the unrecognized effects from the sexual abuse I suffered when I was only eleven. The earlier abuse is described in my first blog: https://child-sexual-abuse.com/becoming-a-victim-of-incest/
The story of my life is chronicled in my book: Demons Hidden Within. The book, written under by pen name, Susan Montgomery, is available from my publisher, Robert D. Reed Publishers, Brandon, OR, or from numerous book distributors. Also, you can visit my website at: https://demonshidden.com/