Interest in homeschooling used to be limited mostly to parents who wanted to add religion to their children's education. In recent years, however, more parents have been attracted to homeschooling because they see it as a better way for their children to learn.
And that trend can be seen in part in the annual homeschooling conference held in Wichita, organizers said.
Last year, attendance was 3,000, up from 2,500 the year before, said Kathy Middleton, one of the organizers. This year, at least 3,500 are expected for the conference Friday and June 2 at Century II. Admission is $25.
William Bennett, author and editor of such books as "The Educated Child," "The Moral Compass" and "The Death of Outrage," will give the keynote speech Friday night. Admission for only the speech is $5. He is working on an alternative curriculum called K-12 to help educate children better.
Bennett, secretary of education in the Reagan administration, has said he supports homeschooling because of one-on-one opportunities for learning and more parental involvement.
Middleton said that many families are homeschooling children because they're dissatisfied with public schools. That's a change from when the majority of parents wanted more religious education for their families.
"The last five years, I've been getting more and more calls of people who are not interested in religious homeschooling," she said. Middleton had to search for companies with secular curricula to exhibit materials at the conventions because many use religious themes when teaching subjects such as English, history and science.
Still, religion is an important part of homeschool education for many parents. Workshops at this year's convention will include "Getting a homeschool started successfully," "Studying the Bible with teens," "Famous men of the Renaissance and Reformation" and "Egypt and Israel: Exciting new evidence of the Exodus."