Lynn family puts faith in home-schooling

By Thor JourgensenItem StaffLYNN – On a Wednesday morning, Kyle Costa, 8, opened “Diary of a Social Detective” and read from the children’s book while his mother, Sheila, and little sister, Nicole, listened.After reading a couple of pages in a clear, loud voice, Kyle stopped reading and listened as his mother asked him questions about the book: “What do you think the people’s faces look like – are they angry or annoyed?”Sheila Costa is not a mother taking time out of a vacation or sick day to help her kids with their homework: She is one of almost 140 parents in Lynn and surrounding communities who have permission from local public school officials to educate their children at home.Working out of a day planner notebook color-coded to highlight lesson plans and out-of-home activities, Costa teaches her kids in the family’s Pine Hill home while husband and father, Kleber Costa, earns a living.She plans to educate Kyle and Nicole at home “all the way through college.””I am happy and they are happy,” she said.Massachusetts children, with few exceptions, are required to attend school, according to state education spokeswoman Jacqueline Reis who, quoting from state law, added: “…such attendance shall not be required ? of a child who is being otherwise instructed in a manner approved in advance by the superintendent or the school committee.”A decision not made lightlyA Brazilian native who has lived in the United States for 18 years and 10 years in Lynn, Sheila Costa started homeschooling Kyle a year ago. She did not make the decision lightly, she said, and only committed to homeschooling after wrestling with several concerns about her son’s attendance in Sewell-Anderson School.She said Kyle was reading at a 4th-grade level in 1st-grade, but required extensive help from her after school to master other classroom lessons. Her efforts to work with school employees on Kyle’s “behavioral problems” were unsuccessful.”I tried to work with them but it kept escalating. My concern was mostly social,” she said.Costa’s friend, Graziela Ribeiro of Revere, began homeschooling son, Nathan, last December after the 8-year-old started have difficulties with homework. Ribeiro said a simple but stark realization about her son finally made her home school.”He didn’t see the joy of learning,” she said.On Thursdays, Ribeiro, mutual friend, Christiane Luiz of Saugus, and a handful of other women and their children gather at Costa’s home for a group learning afternoon with their children and to exchange homeschooling ideas.All of the women said faith is one of the reasons they have opted to educate their children at home. The daily prayers and Bible teachings Costa incorporates into Kyle’s home schooling are subjects she confined to after school hours during his Sewell-Anderson attendance.”You have to hide your point of view. It almost a double life,” she said.Luiz and Ribeiro acknowledged friends, relatives, even a family doctor, are skeptical about their decisions to home school.”They don’t anything, but you see the look they give you,” Rubeiro said.Educators’ skepticismPublic school officials also raise question about education quality at the heart of homeschooling. Superintendent Catherine Latham said the School Department “willingly” supplies home school parents with books and materials they might need.”Although I firmly support parents’ right to homeschool their children, I do have concerns that the academic content and rigor of their instruction might not be what it needs to be to prepare children for success after high school,” Latham said.Luiz said her experience speaking with other homeschool parents and interacting with them online indicates homeschoolers go on to college. Her main reason for homeschooling is to reinforce family values at the same time she is teaching her son.Like Kyle Costa, Jason and Rubeiro’s son, Nathan, take part in organized activities with other children, including soccer. Kyle is enrolled in youth-oriented science proje