 Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, 2003 |
| ASSEMBLY EDITION • NEW ORLEANS |
Your youngest patients are learning every day. But they aren't necessarily in public or private schools. Increasingly, they are learning the three R's at home. And that trend could have implications for the family physicians who treat them, according to Daniel Earl, D.O., of Prescott, Ariz.
Earl's personal experiences with home schooling and his suggestions for FPs with home-schooled patients were the key points of yesterday's Family CME session, "Home Schooling and Its Impact on Family Medicine."
He and his wife, family physician Jean Earl, M.D., have home-schooled all three of their children. In an interview before his presentation, he explained, "My wife does the hard part," namely, about 85 percent of the home schooling. "I do the fun stuff, like the science experiments and the history trips," he said.
A 1999 National Household Education Survey reported that 790,000 children received their education at home, Earl said. Several widely repeated studies done since then claim that up to 2 million American children are schooled at home. And a 2001 U.S. Census Bureau paper estimates that number is growing 15 percent to 20 percent per year.
Earl threw out to his audience a situation he commonly encounters in his practice: "An eighth-grader comes in for a physical, and your typical ice-breaker -- 'Where do you go to school?' -- is met with a pregnant pause, followed by the child's statement, 'I'm home-schooled.'"
How should you respond?
Turn that statement into a positive, urged Earl. "I just want you to be cognizant of your lips," he said. "Respond with something like, 'That's so cool! Do you go on long vacations? Do you have school on Saturday nights?'"
Home schooling does allow parents greater control over the influences their children face in day-to-day life.
Other pluses include more freedom in the family schedule for vacation and school hours and an increase in family bonding time.
Physicians should be aware of families who home-school their children and be prepared to augment the patient education and advocacy services offered for these families, said Earl during the interview.
"We have to be more diligent with things like screening," he said. Many schools offer vision and hearing screening for students; home-schooled children may rely more heavily on their family doctors for such services.
Moreover, family physicians can help their patients gain access to programs that are related to both health and education.
"We need to have a good understanding of what resources we have in the community for a variety of services," Earl said during his presentation. For example, parents who choose to home-school their children need to know about physical education opportunities. Many school districts allow home-schooled students to participate in school athletics, said Earl.
During the question-and-answer session, an FP in the audience asked how to advise a family whose child was not functioning well socially in the home-schooling situation. The child missed being around friends. "The individual needs of each child need to be addressed," said Earl. Make sure the parents understand they are not failing if they decide not to home-school, he advised.
Another physician asked Earl at what age home schooling should start. Her question was driven by an interest in home schooling her own 4-year-old child.
"I don't like to push curriculum on children too young," said Earl. But that's the beauty of home schooling, he added: If you find you've started too early, you can always back off and try again later.
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by American Academy of Family Physicians.