Home Schooling

The 2002 Homeschooling's Best Award recipients included:

Joanne Juren -- Homeschooling's Best Pioneer

Lisa Dean -- Homeschooling's Best Advocate

Jamie Colby -- Homeschooling's Best Voice

Joanne Juren -- Homeschooling's Best Pioneer

Founder of Eta Sigma Alpha, the first honor society for homeschoolers, based in Houston, Texas

A former public school teacher and principal who lives in Pearland, Texas, Juren stopped teaching to homeschool her two sons, Matthew and Jason, when they reached fourth and sixth grade. But the National Honor Society, sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (an organization to which she had belonged), said both boys were ineligible to join because they were homeschooled.

That prompted Juren to form her own honor society for homeschoolers, Eta Sigma Alpha, in 1999. (Juren chose the Greek letters for "H" and "S," eta and sigma, to represent "homeschoolers".) Her son, Matthew, a charter member of the Houston chapter, was accepted into San Jacinto College at age 16, and Jason also is now attending college.

Between 1999 and 2002 more than 20 ESA chapters were formed, including several in the Houston area, one in Oregon and two in Tennessee. Entrance requirements are more stringent than those of the National Honor Society, says Juren.

 To be eligible, homeschool students must earn at least a 3.5 GPA on parent or outside grade assessments (the NHS requires a 3.0), plus a score of at least 1,200 on the SAT, 26 on the ACT, or high scores on other standardized tests. Members are required to show leadership by taking part in community service. Juren says that membership in ESA assures colleges that homeschooled applicants have achieved high levels of academic achievement.

Lisa Dean -- Homeschooling’s Best Advocate

Founder of the Columbia Homeschool Community, based in Columbia, Md.

In January 2001, Dean, along with two other homeschooling mothers, formed the Columbia Homeschool Community, an inclusive community for homeschooling families. Dean modeled the organization on Columbia, Md., a planned community that encourages and accommodates diversity to form a richer environment.

The membership of the Columbia Homeschool Community includes families that rely upon professionally developed curriculum materials, families that teach through life’s examples, and other members of the homeschooling community.

About 100 families comprising 225 homeschooled children are members, with some traveling from Baltimore, Washington and Northern Virginia to attend any of the 400 annual events. Those events range from play and learn groups, where families can take part in recreation and socialization, to lessons, club meetings, field trips, science fairs, talent shows, scout groups and homeschooling workshops.

Member families pay $25 a year and consent to host, arrange or sponsor at least one activity annually. They also must serve as team members responsible for some aspect of the organization’s management.

Dean is a former commercial real estate lawyer, who now devotes her time to homeschooling Bitsy, her fourth-grader, and Teddy, her first grader. Dean’s organization and homeschooling efforts have received media attention on TV and radio, and in such publications as Readers Digest, Time Magazine and the Baltimore Sun.

Jamie Colby -- Homeschooling’s Best Voice

Correspondent for "CBS Marketwatch Weekend"

In October 2002, Colby prepared a 3½-minute feature story on the benefits of homeschooling sent for airing to more than 150 CBS stations throughout the U.S. The piece also appeared on the "CBS Evening News Weekend" and on numerous local CBS station’s news broadcasts. Colby’s piece provided valuable homeschooling information to prospective families, while reinforcing for existing homeschooling families both the successes and unique nature of the homeschooling experience.

Colby’s career has spanned serving as a substitute anchor for "CBS Overnight," anchor/reporter for Fox News Channel, reporter for WPIX and national correspondent for the network TV show, "EXTRA." Yet Colby says the homeschooling piece is one of her favorites, "because it fairly examined homeschooling and the accomplishments of homeschoolers and their parents." Colby is based in New York City.