Smith said she and Malone began considering home-schooling Beasley in an effort to allow him to continue to receive personal instruction while living closer to home. Smith said she also was upset that Beasley played for three different teams at the IMG-affiliated Pendleton School -- a high school varsity squad and two prep teams that included post-graduates.
Riverdale, which has allowed home-schooled students to pay a fee of several hundred dollars to play for its athletic teams for more than 10 years, according to Athletic Director Terry Terrill, accepted Beasley on its team, classifying him as a sophomore. He had taken a handful of ninth-grade courses the past two school years, according to his mother.
Mike Beasley averages 16.9 points and 11.5 rebounds for Riverdale Baptist (17-2), one of the area's best teams.
(Robert A. Reeder -- The Washington Post)
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Beasley lives and studies at Malone's house because it is closer to Riverdale Baptist than Fatima Smith's home, she said. He lives with Malone and his fiancee, Monica Smith, who is Nolan Smith's mother, on weekdays. Monica and Nolan Smith are not related to Fatima Smith. Beasley said his day starts at the same time as Nolan Smith's -- when that alarm goes off -- but his schoolwork doesn't.
"I'm not a morning guy," Beasley said. "I just get up, take a shower, do some push-ups. I start studying at 11:30."
Beasley said he generally does his work in an office at the house. But, he said, he likes having the option of working on the back porch when the weather is nice.
"Usually he has his three hours or two and a half hours" of class work each day, Malone said. "When you're in high school . . . a class is 50 minutes. You get in a classroom and it's five or 10 minutes before you start doing anything. There are 20-some people in the classroom. By himself, him and [his tutor] can go through a whole class in 30 minutes. They get right to it."
Beasley's curriculum is designed by A Beka, a Florida-based company that provides lesson plans for home-schoolers. Two tutors help Beasley with his course work as often as possible, Fatima Smith said, meeting with him at night or on the weekend when necessary. When a tutor can't make it on a weekday, Beasley works independently.
"Home school forces a one-on-one situation with him and makes him totally focus on the lesson and instruction at hand," said Charles Perry, a Riverdale assistant and former McKinley High coach who teaches science at Oxon Hill High and often tutors Beasley at night in several subjects. "He has no room to make excuses."
Beasley's work is sent back to A Beka for grading, Fatima Smith said. He said he had a 3.5 grade-point average for the first quarter -- easily good enough for him to be eligible at Riverdale, which requires home-schoolers to meet the same 2.0 GPA without an "F" that its other athletes must meet.
Beasley also gets high school credit for working out with a private trainer several times each week. It is his equivalent of gym class, and it has helped him put nearly 50 pounds in the past year, he says. Now weighing 220 pounds, he said he can see the benefits on the court, though he would prefer to go to school and be in a normal physical education class.
"I would much rather be in a school with other kids," Beasley said. "Being in a house all day by yourself, [that is] not fun. . . . I just know if I'm in a school with other kids I just start to goof off."
He attends a schoolwide chapel service each week, takes a computer class at Riverdale and, of course, practices with the team.
Riverdale Coach Lou Wilson said he treats Beasley like the rest of his players and expects him to attend all of the team's offseason conditioning and weightlifting sessions. Wilson said the fact that Beasley does his schoolwork at home and then joins the team afterward has not been a problem.
"Whatever education he's getting, as long as he's getting his education, it's fine with me," Wilson said. "I know everybody is talking about the NBA, but we're trying to get him ready for college."
