Is Home Schooling an Option After Katrina?

A reader sent this email. My response follows:

"I was curious why you did not include any information on homeschooling for displaced families of hurricane Katrina. I think traumatized children could benefit from the comfort homeschooling offers. Homeschooling is so flexible in that it can bring kids out in the "real world" for learning or offer days of quiet introspection close to family. I think it would be difficult for a child who was chased from their home by a natural disaster to be thrust into a strange school in a new state a week later. Just my thoughts."

Robert Kennedy's reply:

Home schooling assumes that there are parents available to educate their children AND that the home survived the disaster. Most parents are too frantic and distracted with the job of surviving. They need to find new employment, new housing, new clothing – in short, they lost EVERYTHING. Children need calm, order and hope. Chaos at home and in their family life would be counter-productive.

Home schooling is wonderful but I just don’t see it making much sense in the disaster situation. If you know of any examples where home schooling has been a successful solution after a major disaster, please let me know.

Hurricane Katrina Updates

Damage Report on Metro Area Schools
From WWLTV in New Orleans.