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It All Begins With Books
A slender, self-possessed 15-year-old, Leila Giles has accomplished things that would make any parent proud. Tae kwon do trophies sit on her bureau, alongside others for diving. A Girl Scout Silver Award honors her work in producing public service announcements about water conservation for local TV. During the winter, she served as a page in the Virginia House of Delegates. And last year she scored in the 99th percentile on a national standardized achievement test.But there's one thing Leila has never done: gone to school. She and her 11-year-old brother, Adam, are being educated in their Vienna, Virginia, home. Their mother, 44-year-old Celeste Land, a former translator for the federal government, is their main teacher. Their father, Kent Giles, 47, who works at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., joins the ongoing family tutorial every evening at dinnertime.
While Land knows what her kids should learn -- as measured by nationally recognized achievement tests -- she focuses mainly on something else. "My job is to be on the lookout for opportunities," she says, "to see them and present them to my children." As a homeschooling parent, she has learned to view the whole world as an educational laboratory. And it all begins with how the home is set up.
"We've always made sure we had engaging things throughout the house," Land says. World maps hang on several walls. Scrabble and other brain-teasing games cram the shelves. A huge supply of LEGOs helped Adam discover a love for building. A wealth of art supplies sparked Leila's passion for drawing.
Most critical of all, there are books -- hundreds and hundreds of books, lining shelves and resting on tables. Their parents began reading to Leila and Adam early, instilling a love of books by example, not pressure. "We let them develop as readers at their own pace," Land says. "Leila was a very early reader; Adam started reading much later." And books are still central to the family's life. "Before a trip to Boston, we all read Johnny Tremain together," Land says. And once in the city, they sought out sites mentioned in the grade school classic about a teenage apprentice during the American Revolution.
This book-centric approach is spot-on, say education experts. "One of the most important things you can do is read to your child and encourage reading," says former West Virginia governor Bob Wise, the president of the Alliance for Excellent Education in Washington, D.C. An inability to read well early can hamper a child's school success for years, with sadly predictable results. High schoolers in the lowest quartile in academic achievement are 20 times more likely to drop out than their peers in the highest quartile.
Leila and Adam couldn't drop out if they tried, because of their parents' commitment to making the larger world a classroom. Along with educational travel like the Boston trip, the family takes in museum exhibits and plays. When Leila decided she wanted to be in Girl Scouts, Land started a troop. She led Adam's 4-H club, where he came to love woodworking.
Both parents are careful not to impose their own interests on their children. They're more concerned with giving them every available tool. "It's about letting them be who they are," says Land. From the way Leila and Adam are performing, it's also about helping them discover all they can be.
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