HomeSchooled in the Burgh!: NPR (audio)

Can't Find a Good School for Your Kids? Buy One!

What does Will Smith do when he can't find a decent school for his kids? He buys them their own.

The actor recently paid $889,000 to lease Indian Hills High School in Calabasas, Calif., after failing to find a decent educational program for his two young children. Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have been home schooling their brood until now. According to People:

"We started home-schooling our children probably six years ago," he said. "We found about eight or nine other parents that home-school, so we put them together. ... There's just very powerful educational concepts that we believe in, and we feel like 'I want to design the system that revolutionizes public education.' "

In 2005, Jada Pinkett-Smith told Essence that the decision behind home-schooling came from their dissatisfaction with current models of education.

"The school system in this country -- public and private -- is designed for the industrial age," she said. "We're in a technological age. We don't want our kids to memorize. We want them to learn."

Parents just don't understand, huh Will?

While most people will find it difficult to provide their kids with a school of their own, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be involved with your child's education.

source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/newsandviews/2008/05/cant_find_a_good_school_for_yo.html