Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Saturday, June 21, 1986

Home-schooled & graduating at 15

By Lisa Schnelllnger
P-I Reporter

REDMOND - The young woman is tall and thin, with the poise of a ballet dancer. But, for a moment, as she stood at the front of the classroom, she was unsure.

"My name is Heather Gordon, I'm 15 years old, and I just - "

She flinched a little, smiling, and paused as though reassuring herself that she was telling the truth before finishing the sentence - "graduated from high school.

Her three classmates and her teacher smiled back with pride at Heather's introduction. They had an unusual part in Heather's accomplishment - they're her family.

Elaine and Allen Gordon have schooled their children at their home in Redmond for the past two years. This week, Heather passed her General Educational Development tests with high marks and will receive a high school equivalency certificate.

While she's far from the first 15-year-old to pass the GED, she is the first home-schooled student that Millie Sherer, Lake Washington School District's GED examiner, has seen take the exam. Heather's scores are far above average in most subject areas, and her overall score is "great," Sharer said.

Heather scored in the top 5 percent in writing skills, the top 9 percent in science, top 12 percent in math and top 13 percent in reading when compared with a sample group of graduating high school students who took the test.

Elaine Gordon, who has only a high school diploma and some college credits herself, believes that Heather's accomplishment demonstrates an important reason for home-schooling. She thought the Christian school in California, where the family lived previously, was good. But it wasn't good enough to give all the children a chance to fulfill their potential, she said.

"I believe my children should sweat and really get a work-out, academically," she said. "When Heather was in school, it was not exciting to see her get A after A after A in her classes. But this year . it was like we were preparing for a marathon."

Heather agrees. "It wasn't much of a challenge for me at school. At home you can do a lot more work, and you can move ahead."

So Heather challenged herself with the GED tests. Studying for them meant that Heather was cramming most of her high school classes - including chemistry, physics, economics and history - into eight months. In the last few weeks before she took the tests, Heather was studying 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

She plans to take classes at Bellevue Community College and continue some home study for the next two years. Eventually, she wants to become a psychologist or a journalist.

The extra effort it took to complete high school so early was worth it,, Heather said, "because now I can go to a junior college and get even more learning done. And I didn't need to spend four years to get to it."

The atmosphere of the Gordons' home school is rigorous. Heather, her brother, Sean, 16, and her sister, Shavawn, 13, wear uniforms: blue plaid skirts for the girls, blue pants for Sean, white shirts or blouses and blue sweaters, Paul, 4, is also a student, and infant, Jonathan, is often at his mother's side while she teaches.

Wearing uniforms lives us a mental attitude that we re here to do business, we're serious about education," Elaine said.

School starts at 7 a.m. with Bible study, conducted by Allen Gordon. The children then make their own breakfast and do their chores until 9 a.m.

They sit at desks loaned by the Lake Washington School District. Maps, pictures of the U.S. presidents, and the text of the Declaration of Independence decorate the walls, as do samples of schoolwork.

The sounds of saw, drill and hammer often float into the classroom. Allen Gordon does his work, building furniture, in the garage next to the classroom.

Much of the children's course work is individually paced with accelerated Christian education materials, but Elaine does some lecturing and drills with them. Following the state law on home
schooling that took effect last year, she registered her children with the Lake Washington School District and is supervised by a teacher.