" " I I THF CLASSROOM IN THE FAMILY ROOM There's encouraging news for parents whose children can't go to school or who prefer pre-fer to teach their children at home. The classroom can be ' brought to the child. Some school systems recommend rec-ommend home study to parents par-ents whose children have transportation . problems, physical handicaps, behavior problems, or just need supplemental supple-mental instruction. One program emphasizes a classical approach to education. educa-tion. Its reading material consists con-sists of many children's literary liter-ary classics; reading and writing writ-ing skills are heavily emphasized em-phasized and good study habits are encouraged at an early age. Basic arithmetic skills are stressed; the study of poetry, art history and mythology are incorporated into the comprehensive program, pro-gram, and science and history are taught beginning in the third grade course. This at-home program is an extension of the Calvert School, located in Baltimore, Maryland. Nearly 400 kindergarten kinder-garten through sixth grade students attend this private, non-profit day school; nearly ten times that number take advantage of the Calvert School Home Instruction courses. It's the oldest and largest elementary level home education program. It's approved by the Department of Education of the State of Maryland and is a member of the Educational Records Bureau. Contrary to what many believe, be-lieve, parents can teach a child at home without any for- Many children are schooled at home. mal teaching experience or training. A specially prepared manual is supplied with every course which explains to the parent or home teacher what to do every step of the way. According to home school advocates, about one million families nationwide are schooling school-ing their children at home. The Calvert School gives parents the option of signing , up for the Advisory Teaching Service. Under this arrangement arrange-ment the child is assigned a teacher who receives the child's assignments by mail, grades the papers, evaluates his ar her progress, and corresponds cor-responds regularly with both the parent and the child. Upon satisfactory completion of the course grade level, the advisory teacher issues a certificate cer-tificate which is generally accepted ac-cepted by school authorities in most states. Most parents find this system sys-tem very affordable many say they couldn't afford to do without it. Whether by choice or circumstance, cir-cumstance, at-home learning provides an alternative for parents and their children.