Wild West Homeschooling: Receiving a Cutting-Edge Education

Izzy Lyman

Like adults who exchange the bustle of the city for the peace of the country, young people sometimes elect to leave the grind of school to quietly learn at home.


Sixteen-year-old Beth Gates of Manhattan, Montana is one such trailblazer. Before beginning her high school years, Beth decided - with her parents' blessing - to retire from public school. The modern school culture, after all, can be a social rat race.


"I was tired of the cliques, the gossip, the drugs, and the drinking," says Beth of the decision to become a homeschooler.


She has even coined a phrase for these adolescent distractions: "the drama."

So, this past year, instead of sitting in a classroom, Beth took courses via Eagle Christian School, the distance learning program of the Missoula-based Valley Christian School. She plans to continue throughout the summer which means graduating a year early from high school. This cutting-edge method of education has been praised by a Harvard admissions director. Marlyn McGrath Lewis told the Harvard University Gazette that technology provides an important avenue for academically ambitious students.


As for extracurricular endeavors, Miss Gates' cup runneth over - playing basketball on a homeschool hoops team to teaching a children's Sunday School class to working at Rocky Mountain Roasting Co. to strumming the guitar. While she enjoys cheering for the 'bad boys' of sports (the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oakland Raiders), Beth describes the new friends she's made within the Gallatin Valley's homeschooling community in saintly terms. "They watch your back, and they're godly."


Reinventing herself scholastically has paid off, character-wise. "In public school, I had a lower self-esteem. Now I am less worried about what people think of me, and I am concentrating more on my spirit and brain."


Speaking of the intellect, homeschoolers aren't exactly slackers in that department. On achievement tests they score, on average, at the 65th to 80th percentile. For its 1999 competition, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation selected 137 homeschoolers as semifinalists, and their numbers have steadily risen each year. In 2004, there were 250 homeschooled students selected as semifinalists.


Gallatin Gateway's Trevor McCotter, who lives near Ted Turner's spread, is a success story in his own right. He's a graduate of homeschooling (class of '00) and Montana State University (highest honors). Trevor thinks that the independent learning and flexibility that his mother, Becky, encouraged in the home environment, made his transition to MSU a smooth one.


"I felt I was able to manage my time more effectively than my college colleagues," he notes.


Frustrated area educators should consider seeking a consult from Mrs. McCotter, since Trevor's academic creds just became more impressive. The twenty-two-year-old was recently accepted into the St. Louis University School of Medicine.


Anecdotes like these - and the fact that Montana is a homeschool-friendly place - continue to inspire families to choose this alternative. According to the Office of Public Instruction, the sparsely-populated Treasure State had 3,917 homeschooled students for the 2003-04 school year. The statewide homeschool convention, to be held in Billings, will feature 60 vendors, over 30 workshops, three nationally-known speakers, and hundreds of participants.


"Homeschooling in Montana continues to grow every year. Our state's homeschool laws are among the best in the nation, and our lawmakers continue to support the right of parents to direct the education of their own children," observes Steve White, the legislative liaison for the Montana Coalition of Home Educators.


Meanwhile, Beth maintains cordial relations with former public school classmates, but doesn't miss "the drama." For other teens contemplating a move such as hers, she advises that successful homeschooling requires initiative.
"You have to create opportunities. If you find them, it's all worth it."


Spoken like a true pathfinder.


(This column originally appeared in the Belgrade News on
June 15, 2004.)