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Friday February 2, 2007

Jewish learning at home … and on the Web

by stacey palevsky
staff writer

An estimated 2 million children (in kindergarten through 12th grades) were homeschooled during 2005-2006 in the United States, according to the National Home Education Research Institute. There are no reliable sources that quantify how many of those are Jewish, but it’s thought that a demographically wide variety of people homeschool.

The Chevra Yahoo Group for Jewish homeschoolers is also diverse, said its founder Joan Horowitz. The list began eight years ago with four people. It is open only to members, which now includes more than 200 Jewish homeschooling parents.

Chevra is a pluralistic list. The group’s online introduction says that they welcome and respect all points of view, “except for the one that says there is only ‘One True Way’ to be Jewish.”

Each month, about 200 to 800 emails are exchanged on the message board. The discussion peaks each year before the High Holy Days and Pesach.

To join Chevra, check http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chevra or e-mail the moderator at chevra-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Some common topics include:

• Reasons for homeschooling and Jewish education materials.

• Activities for children related to Jewish life or yearly events, such as holiday recipes that keep in mind the basic tenets of kashrut, ideas for tzedakah, g’milut hasadim (deeds of loving kindness) or costume ideas for Purim.

• How to help a child learn reading, math and Judaism (prayers or holiday observance, for example).

• Approaches to limudei kodesh (Jewish learning).

• Dealing with cultural issues such as being Jewish in a non-Jewish society, being a homeschooler in a Jewish society where “book learning” and degrees are often highly valued, dealing with anti-Semitism and anti-homeschooling people in your life.

• Halachic questions (questions of Jewish law); for example, dealing with kashrut, dealing with varying levels of Shabbat observance.

• How to design or select a homeschooling curriculum.

• Rites of passage; announcements of births, b’nai mitzvah, family losses, etc.

• Parenting issues and practices, especially in a Jewish context.

• Philosophical discussions about learning, homeschooling or Judaism.

• Practical discussions about family projects, hobbies, and outings or about holiday and Shabbat celebrations.

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