March 20, 2006
The Socialization Myth Will Never Go Away
A California writer valiantly tries to refute the socialization myth. I think we are stuck with it forever. They have completely and totally lost the academic argument, and they know it. All they have left is stories of meeting some HEK somewhere that wasn't up to their socialization standards.
Of course, the utter lack of civility in the schools doesn't seem to bother any of these folks. Funny how that works...
Permalink | Comments (1)January 03, 2006
A Note To First Time Homeschooling Dads
This was originally written in Aug 2005. I edited the date to enable comments for The Carnival of Homeschooling
A note from a reader inspired this attempt to reassure those dads out there taking the initial homeschool plunge this year. Since dads typically aren't home all day seeing all the cool stuff going on, it's only natural that the nattering nabobs of negativity will occasionally get to us.
Relax. Kids are bouncy. They aren't nearly as fragile as we thought on that first day we brought one home from the hospital. In fact, kids are damn resilient. This goes for their intellect too. As bad as the schools can be, 1/2 the kids still manage to walk out 12 years later with a decent education. Of course, as hip homeschool dads, 50/50 odds on decent are not good enough for our kids. We are looking for 98% on great. Homeschooling may or may not be able to provide that, but it certainly gives better than 50/50 on decent.
What is the fascination with school? Did you really enjoy your years in school? We owe our kids an education. Schools are not required for education. In fact, they are often counter productive. Are we just afraid to be different? Afraid that we won't have anybody to blame if we fail? The number 1 activity at school is waiting. The kids wait for the teacher to take role and start class, they wait to be called on, wait for the rest of the class to finish the quiz. They wait in line for lunch, wait for lunch period to end, wait for the bus, wait in line for this and that. I doubt that average kid gets 15 minutes of teacher interaction all day. It'll be difficult to do worse at home.
Fear of the unknown is a powerful foe. If you, like many of us, have sort of let your wife handle all the homeschool details, now is the time to get more involved. Get thee ass in front of a computer and read up on the homeschool law in your state. At a minimum, you can at least make yourself feel better by knowing you are following whatever lame procedures your state has in place for homeschooling. Join a local homeschool group and get to know other homeschoolers. Millions of people, many of them not as smart as you, have done this successfully. It's not that difficult. Read through the archives here or at Cobranchi.com to gain some reinforcement for your decision to homeschool. Deep down, you know it's the right decision. Use that feeling, feel the force Luke.
Sorry...
Don't worry about how Junior compares to other. If you must, flip through something like the "What Your First Grader Needs to Know" series to get a feel for what type of stuff should be covered each year. (Your wife probably already has the book) If you are covering just the stuff in those books your kid will be way, way, way ahead of his public school peers. The schools don't move quickly, and they are getting slower, not quicker. There is no one way to educate. You'll probably Ebay several curriculums the first year or two as you experiment and figure out what works for your kids. That's ok, in fact it's great. The schools would just keep doing the same thing regardless of results. That is how it has to be when you have 1000 students to account for. You only have your family to account for. That flexibilty is like gold. Use it for all it's worth.
At the end of day, remember that none of this is permanent. If homeschooling doesn't work for your family, you can always go back to the school system. They would love to have you. You aren't doing any permanent damage by homeschooling.
However, once you've experienced the freedom of parent directed education;
* the freedom from government mandated school schedules,
* the freedom to blow off opening day and go to a baseball game,
* the freedom to travel when it fits your schedule, not the governments,
* the freedom to vacation after labor day when beach condos are discounted 50% and the crowds are gone,
* the freedom to spend a week at Disney Word in early Nov and never stand in a line longer than 15 minutes,
* the freedom to let your kids follow their dreams and passions, because they have the time to,
* the freedom study stuff off the beaten track, because it's interesting and your kids want to,
* the freedom to integrate your faith into education as you see best,
well, I don't expect to see your kids returning to the local government institution anytime soon.
Welcome to the club. After you've been here a year we'll teach you the secret handshake.
Permalink | Comments (8)December 28, 2005
The Carnival of Homeschooling
Frequent Cobranchi.com commenter Henry Cate is hosting the inaugural Carnival of Homeschooling. Based on what I know of Henry, I think it's a safe bet that he'll do a good job pulling in a wide spectrum of material.
Permalink | Comments (0)December 22, 2005
Not even Susan Wise Bauer wants to take on Breck in history
We (meaning Michelle) are using a classical approach to history. This morning, Breck was insisting that Susan had made a mistake in The Story of the World, Vol 4.
On page 195, she is talking about the importance of oil in WWI, and the conversion of the British Navy to oil burning ships after they got access to oil rights they purchased in Persia. The time frame is 1908ish.
Here is the sentence that threw Breck into a tizzy.
"The Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill, knew that if Great Britain built oil-burning ships, the British Empire would have to find a good reliable source of oil." And then it goes on to quote him as saying, "We must carry it by sea."
Breck was insisting that Churchill was not the PM in WWI. He is, of course, correct. Google quickly confirmed that Churchill's quote was from his time as First Lord of the Admiralty, 1911-1915.
It's probably just an editing error, and at some point that paragraph referred to future Prime Minister or something like that. Still, he is only 11 and he is picking out errors in WWI era history, in an extremely well done book. Can you imagine what he would do to the typical watered down, politically correct, public school history book?
(Ignoring for a moment that age 11 this material would not have come up yet in school...)
Permalink | Comments (2)December 19, 2005
The AntiFun
School was not fun. Not even back in the olden days when I attended.
Learning should be fun.
Permalink | Comments (0)No. 2 pencil on Unschooling
Kymberly Swygert is talking about unschooling, and apparently she believes most kids would fail without the rigidity and structure of the school system.
I think her real concern is that unschoolers don't take many standardized tests ;)
Permalink | Comments (2)December 13, 2005
It's like democracy in Iraq, only different
The polls are open at Spunky's. One vote per person, unless you are dead and buried in Chicago. In that case, you get two votes.
Permalink | Comments (0)December 04, 2005
Drinking the kool-aid in PA
All of us ass-backward homeschoolers living in states not as cool as PA need to get on the ball and get our own state accreditation agency. Because, you know, it's important to be recognized as a "high school graduate."
Excuse me for a second while I go gag.
I'd go into my usual freedom rant here, but why bother. It's not like any of Howard the home educucrat's minions are actually going to understand.
Permalink | Comments (0)November 29, 2005
And the winner is...
Nominations are being accepted for Spunky's homeschool blog awards. I think I should definitely be a contender for Most Inspirational Blog ;)
Permalink | Comments (2)November 28, 2005
What makes a homeschooler a homeschooler?
Tenn at School@Home is collecting thoughts on the subject. She requests that anything submitted be respectful of others, so that rules out anything I've ever written :)
Tim's essay from earlier this year pretty much covers the subject.
Permalink | Comments (0)November 21, 2005
The difference between homeschooling and public-school-at-home
Is like the difference betwen working at home, and running a home based business.
I think that is a brilliant analogy.
Permalink | Comments (6)November 16, 2005
Fallout over the Lancaster County PA shootings?
Jay at Blogging Baby is questioning whether homeschoolers should be getting worked up over the potential anti-homeschool fallout from the PA case. The reality is the shootings had absolutely nothing to do with homeschooling. It was a screwed up teenager killing for what he thinks is love. Didn't Shakespeare write a story along that general theme?
Does Jay have a point? Do we get defensive unnecessarily when something bad happens and it involves a homeschooler?
I'll admit that I've thought about how the press and PA government might use this to further a statist agenda. However, I haven't seen any evidence of it so far.
Permalink | Comments (8)November 08, 2005
Don't buy this book!
Found this at Daryl's, but it is just too ripe for ridicule to leave all the fun to him.
Sara Jenkins promises to reveal the secrets of successful homeschoolers...
Damn it!!! All that time trying to keep our methods secret, and she is going to tell the world. She must be stopped.
Home schooling is a great option if you want to have a larger role in your kids' learning. And while the idea may seem easy at first, there's a lot of work to be done before school officials will acknowledge that your child is getting the proper education at home
Raise you hand if you care about acknowledgment from the school officials....anybody...anybody....?
There's paperwork to be filled out, curriculum's to decide, and school committee's to convince. But this should NOT discourage you.
No, but the thought that somebody might buy this book does discourage me, because she doesn't have a clue what she is talking about.
Give Me 50 Minutes And I'll Have
You Ready To Stand In Front Of School Officials
With Home School Paperwork In Hand!
Woo Hoo! Show us your papers comrade, now.
Each state has it's own policies and each state is different. But all states require children between the ages of 6 and 16 get an education. So if they're not attending public schools, you're going to need to show that they're learning at home. (Especially if you want your child to advance to college!)
Anybody from Texas want to take this one for me?
And just look at all the valuable information you will get in this amazing book.
• 8 things you must consider before you even think of getting started home schooling your child. (Pages 3-5)
Only 8? I could swear that we considered 9 things. Damn, I wish this book had been available when I was making the homeschool decision.
4 courses of action to take as soon as possible to make sure you have the current information for home schooling in your state. (Pages 5-6)
I can do this in one courses of action.
5 steps to making sure your school district will approve your proposal to home school your child. (Pages 5-6)
Proposal? we have to ask permission now? Who knew....
Find out what the courts WILL expect from you as a teacher. (Pages 6-8)
Court supervised home education? Another new one for me.
The surprising truth about the number of days that must be spent home schooling each week, month, or year. (Page 9)
Please, please, nobody buy this and take it seriously. This person is dangerous. Maybe she is an NEA plant spreading disinformation? Maybe the site is a spoof?
4 things every school committee looks at when approving your home school proposal. (Page 10)
Good god, we are only up to page 10. This is starting to hurt.
The secret to picking subject areas that any school committee will have to approve. (Pages 10-12)
More of our secrets revealed.
The reason why most home schoolers can claim their school year is 365 days long. (Page 12)
Because there is 365 days in a year?
3 steps to proving to school officials you are qualified to teach your child (whether you have a degree or not). (Pages 13-14)
We must please our masters...
20 types of resources you can use submit as legitimate teaching materials. (Page 15)
Only 20? And she lists them all on one page! I wonder whose website she cut and pasted that list from?
4 options you have to prove to school officials that your child is learning. (Pages 16-17)
When do they start proving that the kids in school are learning?
The sample education plan that should get approval from your school officials without any problems. (Pages 17-19)
One education plan for everybody - now that is in the spirit of homeschooling.
8 rules for choosing teaching materials that suit your needs as well as your child's. (Pages 19-23)
Because homeschoolers are so fond of rules...
10 steps to creating a successful lesson plan every time. (Pages 23-27)
Every time people! You'll never fail again.
2 sample lesson plans for you to analyze and learn from. (Pages 27-34)
The world of parent directed education - boiled down to two lesson plans. The sound you hear is John Holt spinning in his grave.
The secret to setting goals to make sure you reach your yearlong curriculum needs. (Pages 34-35)
More secrets revealed, sigh. Now they know everything.
The trick to realistically planning math curriculums. (Pages 36-37)
And for her next trick, she will teach us the secrets of cold fusion.
Tips for drawing up dynamite lesson plans in grammar, spelling, vocabulary, reading, writing, and more. (Pages 37-42)
She might want to read that grammar lesson herself first.
3 reasons to confirm home schooling your special-needs child is a good idea. (Page 42)
Confirm with whom?
5 tips to remember when home schooling your special-needs child - and 14 books to seek out more information. (Pages 43-45)
Hint - go to Amazon and search on homeschool - I think they have 17 whole books on the subject, and they won't charge you to look at the list.
She does offer a money back guarantee though. I'd buy it just to ridicule it more, but then I'd feel guilty about requesting a refund. I at least would have gotten something useful out of it - content for this site:) That is probably way more than any prospective homeschooler will get from the book.
Update: A reader pointed out that Sara Jenkins is an expert on a quite a few subjects.
Permalink | Comments (8)October 14, 2005
Taking a break before college
College administrators report that increasing percentage of students are taking a break from school before starting college. The stress and pressure of the push to achieve leaves many youngsters too immature to deal with college at age 17 or 18.
If school is no longer preparing you for college, what exactly is the point?
My kids are on a 12 year school break. I suspect they will be ready for college should they choose to go that route.
Permalink | Comments (5)October 07, 2005
Unpreschooling
Apparently, it's the new new thing.
Permalink | Comments (1)September 17, 2005
HoNDA (HR3753 and S1691), a fisking
Somebody had to do it....
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Home School Non-Discrimination Act of 2005′.
aka The HSLDA Full Employment Act of 2005. If it passes, they will have plenty of work helping non-enlightened homeschoolers get their share of the federal kitty.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) The right of parents to direct the education of their children is an established principle and precedent under the United States Constitution.
The words parent, education, and school do not appear anywhere in the US Constitution. I would take that to mean Congress has no business discussing the issue at all.
(2) Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court, in exercising their legislative, executive, and judicial functions, respectively, have repeatedly affirmed the rights of parents.
ROFLMAO.
(3) Education by parents at home has proven to be an effective means for young people to achieve success on standardized tests and to learn valuable socialization skills.
Those Congress Critters sure do have their paws on the pulse of homeschooling. I know I stay awake at night worrying about standardized test scores and valuable socialization skills. Could they have picked any two less important issues issues to highlight in their "defense" of homeschooling?
(4) Young people who have been educated at home are proving themselves to be competent citizens in postsecondary education and the workplace.
Which is pretty damn amazing since we are apparently so discriminated against that we need a federal law written just to protect us.
(5) The rise of private home education has contributed positively to the education of young people in the United States.
The irony that we do so well without their help seem to be lost on them though.
(6) Several laws, written before and during the rise of private home education, are in need of clarification as to their treatment of students who are privately educated at home pursuant to State law.
So, if the Constitution already affirms our right to home educate (see #1 above), exactly why do we need more laws to clarify what is apparently already crystal clear?
(7) The United States Constitution does not allow Federal control of homeschooling.
So we are going to create new laws that use the police power of the federal government to dictate to the states exactly how the federal government is not going to control home education. Yeah, that'll help.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that–
(1) private home education, pursuant to State law, is a positive contribution to the United States; and
And we can't allow positive contributions by individual citizens. If the sheep get the idea that they can educate their children without government help, who knows what other things they may try without government help.
(2) parents who choose this alternative education should be encouraged within the framework provided by the United States Constitution.
Is this the same Constitution that does not allow federal control of homeschooling? I'm totally confused because you keep referring to this document that forbids you from exerting any control of home education in the very bill that exerts federal control over home education.
SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF PROVISIONS ON INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT ELIGIBILITY UNDER THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965.
(a) Clarification of Institutional Eligibility- Section 101(a)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)(1)) is amended by inserting `meeting the requirements of section 484(d)(3) or’ after `only persons’.
(b) Clarification of Student Eligibility- Section 484(d) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1091(d)) is amended by striking the heading and inserting `Satisfaction of Secondary Education Standards’.
This appears to be a purely semantic change related to eligibility for government tuition assistance. The title "Non High School Graduates" will be replaced by "Satisfaction of Secondary Education Requirements." Don't you feel better about yourself now? The real problem here is that the federal government is involved at all in education at any level.
SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION OF ABSENCE OF CONSENT FOR INITIAL EVALUATION UNDER THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT.
Section 614(a)(1)(D)(ii)(I) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1414(a)(1)(D)(ii)(I)) is amended to read as follows:
`(I) FOR INITIAL EVALUATION- A local educational agency may pursue the initial evaluation of a child by utilizing the procedures described in section 615, except to the extent inconsistent with State law relating to parental consent for an initial evaluation under clause (i)(I), only if the child is enrolled in public school or is seeking to be enrolled in public school.’.
This change is due to a couple of highly publicized cased (in home school circles) of local power mad bureaucrats believing that the law required them to evaluate all disabled children, even those not receiving services from the public school system. As a general rule, amending federal law to address the outliers like this is a bad idea. It usually leads to even more federal laws.
SEC. 6. CLARIFICATION OF THE COVERDELL EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT AS TO ITS APPLICABILITY FOR EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH STUDENTS PRIVATELY EDUCATED AT HOME UNDER STATE LAW.
(a) In General- Paragraph (4) of section 530(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to qualified elementary and secondary education expenses) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
`(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR HOME SCHOOLS- For purposes of clauses (i) and (iii) of subparagraph (A), the terms `public, private, or religious school’ and `school’ shall include any home school which provides elementary or secondary education if such school is treated as a home school or private school under State law.’.
(b) Effective Date- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Anytime the federal law includes the phrase "Special Rule for Home Schools" your spidey senses should start to tingle. It allows homeschoolers to use the Coverdell account for non college expenses as defined by...
Primary, secondary, and postsecondary education expenses, including tuition, fees, tutoring, books, supplies, related equipment, room and board, uniforms, transportation and computers.
I'm not sure how valuable that really is, and I'm not sure it's worth the open invitation to the IRS to pay you a visit to discuss whether or not that scuba diving trip to the Keys was really an education expense as defined by the above paragraph. It does seem to provide an avenue for the IRS to see a need to define a list of acceptable homeschool related expenses. Then, Congress will be outraged that homeschool parents are taking the kids scuba diving in Oct when they were supposed to be chained in the basement doing math, and all hell will break loose and Congressional hearings will be convened.
Although, that can never happen as Congress has assured us in the opening paragraphs of this bill that the federal government can not exert any control of homeschooling.
Are you starting to see the folly in getting the Feds involved in assuring a few minor benefits that 99% of homeschoolers never have any issue with in the first place?
SEC. 7. CLARIFICATION OF SECTION 444 OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION PROVISIONS ACT AS TO PUBLICLY HELD RECORDS OF STUDENTS PRIVATELY EDUCATED AT HOME UNDER STATE LAW.
To save space, I'm not copying the whereifs and therefores associated with this section. It all relates to this though.
Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):
Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.
HoNDA is attempting to establish higher privacy standards for homeschooler information that may be in the public school system. I'm all for privacy, but really, should we have special privacy privileges not afforded to the public school kids? If state law requires us to provide certain information to the schools, that information should be held accountable to the exact same privacy laws as the information related to kids actually in the public school system. If we are going to work to strengthen student privacy, let's do it for all kids, not just homeschool kids.
SEC. 8. CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR STUDENTS PRIVATELY EDUCATED AT HOME UNDER STATE LAW FOR THE ROBERT C. BYRD HONORS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.
Section 419F(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070d-36(a)) is amended by inserting `(or a home school, whether treated as a home school or a private school under State law)’ after `public or private secondary school’.
Eligibility requirements are detailed here. Ignoring for a moment the issue of just where in the Constitution the Feds find the authority to dole out taxpayer funded scholarships, can you imagine the bureaucratic nightmare that will result from the states trying to come up with some equitable formula to dole out these scholarships to kids they know nothing about? The law already provides an out for homeschoolers, the GED. Is it really worth the effort over a measly $750 scholarship? That'll barely buy books at most schools. Again, the better solution is to get the Feds totally out of the scholarship business, not to write laws and procedures that get HS'ers on the gravy train.
SEC. 9. CLARIFICATION OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT AS APPLIED TO STUDENTS PRIVATELY EDUCATED AT HOME UNDER STATE LAW.
Section 3(l) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(l)) is amended by adding at the end the following: `The Secretary shall extend the hours and periods of permissible employment applicable to employees between the ages of 14 and 16 years of age who are privately educated at a home school (whether the home school is treated as a home school or a private school under State law) beyond such hours and periods applicable to employees between the ages of 14 and 16 years of age who are educated in traditional public schools.’
Another case of attacking the symptom and not the cause. And of course, now we'll need Federal interpretation of whether or not you are actually a bone fide homeschooler, or just a truant, so they can decide who is and isn't violating federal labor laws. And again, it's another special law for homeschoolers. If it's a good idea for 14 year old HEK's to be allowed to work at 2 PM, it's a good idea for all 14 year olds to be allowed to work at 2 PM.
SEC. 10. RECRUITMENT AND ENLISTMENT OF HOME-SCHOOLED STUDENTS IN THE ARMED FORCES.
(a) Home-Schooled Students- Chapter 31 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 503 the following new section:
`Sec. 503a. Recruitment and enlistment of home-schooled students
`(a) Policy on Recruitment and Enlistment- The Secretary concerned shall prescribe a policy for the recruitment and enlistment of home-schooled students. The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the polices prescribed under this section apply, to the extent practicable, uniformly across the armed forces
Why do we need special recruitment policies just for homeschoolers? is this all part of Faris' Christian Army fantasy? If homeschoolers are just like everybody else, shouldn't the normal recruitment policies of the Armed Forces be sufficient?
`(b) Elements- The policy prescribed by the Secretary concerned under subsection (a) shall include the following:
`(1) Identification of qualified graduates of home schooling for purposes of recruitment and enlistment in the armed forces that is in accordance with the requirements described in subsection (c).
`(2) Provision for the treatment, within the Department of Defense classification system of educational credentials for recruitment purposes, of graduates of home schooling within the same tier status as regular high school graduates, with no practical limit with regard to enlistment.
`(3) Exemption of graduates of home schooling from any requirement for a secondary school diploma or a General Education Development (GED) certificate of high school equivalency as a precondition for enlistment in the armed forces.
The military, being a top heavy bureaucratic organization, needs a quick way to eliminate the wheat from the chaff. That shortcut has traditionally been a high school diploma. HEK's present a problem in that we like to consider ourselves the wheat, but we don't have the magic piece of paper. It's a problem, but the cure presented below seems to be much worse than the problem.
`(c) Qualified Home-School Graduates- In identifying a graduate of home schooling for purposes of subsection (b), the Secretary concerned shall ensure that the graduate meets each of the following requirements:
`(1) The graduate has taken the Armed Forces Qualification Test and scored at the 50th percentile or above.
Done. Stop here. This is the answer. Everybody has to take the test anyway, so it should be the Sorting Hat. How you got to that point is not material. Either you can cut it (on paper anyway), or not.
`(2) The graduate has provided the Secretary concerned with–
`(A) a signed home-school notice of intent form that conforms with the State law of the State where the graduate resided when the graduate was in home school; or
And if you live in Texas where intents are not required...?
`(B) a home-school certificate or diploma from the parent or guardian of the graduate or a national curriculum provider.
So we are replacing the worthless piece of paper from a government school with an equally worthless piece of paper from Mom? That helps how?
`(3) The graduate has provided the Secretary concerned with a copy of the graduate’s transcript for all secondary school grades completed which–
`(A) includes the enrollment date, graduation date, and type of curriculum; and
`(B) reflects successful completion of the last full academic year of schooling from the home-school national curriculum provider, parent, or guardian issuing the home-school certificate or diploma or home-school notice of intent form.
`(4) The home-school curriculum used by the graduate involved parental instruction and supervision and closely patterned the normal credit hours per subject as used in a traditional secondary school.
Meaningless paperwork, all of it. I thought the whole point was that success can't be measured by all those silly ass requirements in the public schools? What do we gain by requiring homeschools to provide reasonable facsimiles of all those silly ass requirements?
`(5) The graduate has provided the Secretary concerned with a third-party verification letter of the graduate’s home-school status by the Home School Legal Defense Association or a State or county home-school association or organization.’.
I'm starting a new company, Homeschool Accreditation and Documentation, Inc. Our advertising tag line will be You've been HAD. Just insert your VISA number onto my website and I'll third party verify pretty much anything you want. And I won't require a $120 a year membership and a statement of faith either.
My feelings about this bill should be fairly clear. It's bad for homeschoolers, including those homeschoolers that are members of HSLDA.
September 15, 2005
HoNDA is back
The Home Education Non Discrimination Act is back. This time is has more co-sponsors, and exists in the federal legislative system as HR3753 and S1691.
You can plug either of those bills into Thomas to get the full text.
My anti-HoNDA page from 2003 is still online.
I'll give it some thought before I advance a position, but on the surface I can't think of anything that has changed. At it's core, the bill is designed to get homeschoolers government benefits that are currently denied, or difficult to get. As a libertarian, I don't see any good coming from an effort to dip our hands into the federal pie. It may suck that we get screwed out of benefits because we choose a road less traveled, but an IRS auditor asking you to prove that your new computer is really a homeschooling expense would suck a lot more.
I hope Scott will be writing on this with a little more depth that the press release provides.
Permalink | Comments (2)September 04, 2005
Gatto on what really matters
After 12,000 hours of compulsory training at the hands of nearly 100 government-certified men and women, many high school graduates have no skills to trade for an income or even any skills with which to talk to each other. They can't change a flat, read a book, repair a faucet, install a light, follow directions for the use of a word processor, build a wall, make change reliably, be alone with themselves or keep their marriages together.
Indeed. The essay gets a little anti-technology for my taste, but he makes his point quite well.
via Paul
Permalink | Comments (2)September 03, 2005
News Flash - Homeschoolers are rich
Apparently, we all have six figure incomes and blame our shortcomings on others by pulling our kids from the system.
Permalink | Comments (1)August 28, 2005
More over at Expat Teacher
One of the other contributors over at ExPat Teacher has a good post up asking what we would do to improve public education, as the reality is it is option of choice for many, and those kids need an education too.
Permalink | Comments (1)August 12, 2005
Talking about Gatto
Jay Allen (The Zero Boss) is talking about Gatto over at Bloggingbaby.com
Permalink | Comments (1)August 11, 2005
Pat Neusch needs smarter friends
Note - this post is rated B, as in Beth probably shouldn't read it because it contains a (much deserved IMO) fisking of a public school teacher.
This teacher blogger attempts to defend Pat Neusch, our teacher friend in Texas from earlier this week.
Pat needs smarter friends.
The columnist wrote about homeschooling, and while I found the column to be far more balanced than I would have been, my experience is that the homeschool crowd doesn't take well to criticism of any kind. Perhaps it's the isolation and lack of opportunity to interact with others to develop social skills.
Yeah, that must be it. I think maybe it's time we name the socialization argument something catchy and declare it our version of Godwin's Law. If you have to resort to that tired, old, and totally discredited argument, you have already lost. And if that that is the best you have in an anti-homeschool rant, you might as well pack up and crawl back to the security of your government sanctioned classroom.
As a teacher, I've signed withdrawal forms for students who were now going to be homeschooled. When I worked in the social services bureaucracy, I frequently encountered food stamps and AFDC (as it was then) clients who were allegedly homeschooling their children.
Apparently, only rich people should be allowed to homeschool.
I've yet to meet anyone in either context who was qualified or capable of homeschooling and who was actually doing so.
This coming from somebody exhibiting the reasoning skills of my pet Beagle, who spends his days eating his own poop.
She then goes into a long winded and totally non sensical defense of Pat's misrepresentation of Beverly Hernandez's work. Vanilla Ice factors into it somehow. You try to figure it out.
And remember, this person might have your kids for 6 hours a day, 180 days a year.
Well, it is obvious that Neusch has reservations about homeschooling. Most of us who work around schools, particularly in Texas where homeschools haven't been regulated, monitored, or improved since the Wild West, have such reservations.
As opposed to the public schools, which have been over regulated, over monitored, and have consistently deteriorated since WWI?
It's obvious that Ms. Hernandez has trouble distinguishing between new technology and the "real" world, since she also took Neusch to task for not including a "link" in a printed column. Many kids have similar problems today, and that's why we have to spend a lot of time in classrooms discussing reliability of web sites.
Are they surfing the web in class too? That would explain a lot, actually.
Our teacher ends with this.
I do not know either Pat Neusch or Beverly Hernandez personally. Good luck finding either column on amarillo.com; neither is available at this writing. I have print copies of both; e-mail me at PTS if you need scans.
Wrong again. At least he/she is consistent. Wrong in the first sentence, wrong in the last, and everywhere in between.
Can you imagine this person being in charge of your child all day?
Permalink | Comments (4)Holy MSM Alternative Parenting Magazine Batman!
Wow. This article from Mothering Magazine is the the best homeschool article that I have ever seen in the mainstream media.
Here is a taste.
Keeping in mind that the average homeschooled student appears to exceed the achievement of her or his average conventionally schooled peer, it is illogical to impose curriculum or other requirements aimed at making homeschooling more school-like or requiring homeschools to adhere to the standards of public or conventional schools. Such regulations would be superfluous and could potentially lower the level of achievement by removing the freedom and flexibility that make homeschooling so effective.
Update: Mothering Magazine is apparently not so mainstream. It's still a great article though.
Permalink | Comments (2)August 09, 2005
Thank you Michael Ferris
If I had been drinking coffee, I'm sure I would have spewed it on my monitor.
Answering that question eventually led us to the UUA and then to Paganism. That journey is another story, but if I ever meet him I must thank Mike Ferris for his part in helping us find the Goddess.Permalink | Comments (0)
It's not about degrees
The debate about school graduation rates gets even sillier as the guest blogger at Eduwonk proposes a national database of college graduates that can be used to rank high schools based on the number of graduates that it produces.
Apparently, college graduation is the ultimate indicator of success. Quick, somebody call Bill Gates and tell him he is a failure for not completing college.
I have a better idea. How about ranking high schools by the percentage of graduates that are on welfare 10 years later? Surely that would be a better indicator of the high school's success in preparing students for the real world.
Permalink | Comments (1)August 08, 2005
A Monday Morning Fisking
Another public school teacher has embarrassed herself by writing about home education in a public forum. Even worse, she has completely misrepresented an article by Beverly Hernandez. This teacher is either willfully misrepresenting Beverly's writing, or she can't read and understand context. I'm not sure which one is worse.
Most Americans agree with the concept that our children are this nation's most prized resource.
The oil under the state of Texas is national resource. My children are my children. The nation has no claim on them.
As a public educator with 25 years of teaching experience and 20 years of personal school instruction (not including numerous workshops and training sessions), I often ask myself if the average parents who homeschool their children are truly capable of handling the gigantic job of educating their own children.
It's only a gigantic job if you are part of a bureaucracy intent on making it more complicated than necessary to limit competition. Somehow, homeschool parents turn our better educated kids in half the time, and without sleeping through numerous workshops and training sessions.
Granted, many parents who homeschool have college degrees and the determination to spend the countless hours needed to prepare, teach, evaluate and reteach basic core subjects (English, math, social studies, science, computer technology) in an environment that both nurtures and still holds the child responsible for meeting the expectations set forth by their parents. These parents are sure that the social development of their student is met through church activities, independent sports participation and involvement in a growing number of homeschool neighborhood organizations.
The college degree is not relevant, and it doesn't take countless hours to prepare. Notice that every single argument she makes is about the process of teaching. Results don't matter. It's all about degrees, methodologies, and hours spent in workshops and training sessions.
Beverly Hernandez, who offers a homeschool Web site, informs parents that homeschooling is usually difficult and shouldn't be taken lightly. She tells parents to consider the following before making the homeschool decision:
Since Beverly typically doesn't discourage potential homeschoolers, I think we are about to get a lesson in taking material out of context. Actually, Beverly may want to follow up with the paper, as this teacher has totally twisted the meaning of Beverly's original article.
Time commitment. A parent must be willing to invest a large amount of time to plan and schedule for their child's educational needs.
I'm sure all those unschoolers spend 100's of hours planning their curriculum :) I don't think this teacher understands the concept of education. It's not about planning. It's about doing.
Personal sacrifice. Homeschooling leaves little "alone" time for the parents.
Do the schoolie parents drop the kids off at school and then run to the nearest Motel 6 for a quickie?
Financial strain. For the student to receive the maximum benefit of homeschooling, the teaching parent will not be working outside the home. There also will be expense in obtaining teaching materials.
Of course, homeschool parents don't have to deal with the pressure to spend $1000 on new school clothes each year, or all the expenses associated with a second full time job. I hope she isn't a math teacher.
Socialization. The parents will need to ensure that their child has chances for positive interaction with other children.
Aren't we doing that by keeping them out of school?
Houshold Organization. Normal home activities must be organized to include homeschooling.
Repeat after me, only professional teachers that have been to the required workshops are capable of organizing a day that includes education. If the birds can manage to clean the nest, feed the fledglings, and teach them to hunt and fly, I think the average parent can handle the laundry between spelling lessons. And if you do need to outsource something, outsource the laundry. Your kids education is too important to be outsourced.
Willingness of the child. The decision to homeschool ultimately is the parents' to make, but success will be hard to achieve if the child is extremely resistant to the idea.
The have ways of making your child talk learn.
One year at a time. Most families make one year's commitment at a time, as family situations and needs can change.
Heh. Beverly was totally presenting this point as an advantage.
Intimidated by the teaching? There are curriculum and teacher materials available to help with planning and teaching; however, a parent with a limited education needs to look at the situation realistically.
Again, Beverly's point was that it isn't that difficult. Willful misrepresentation, or ignorance?
Why others began. It might be helpful to visit with other families who are successful at homeschooling their children.
Huh? This doesn't even make sense in relation to the rest of the article.
Neither the state nor the Texas Education Agency requires homeschooling families to submit curricula for review or approval. The courts have affirmed that families who teach their children at home are private schools; as such, they are not regulated by the state as to curriculum, hours or teacher credentials. Who, then, will hold parents to the same high standards that are required of public and private educational institutions?
If this teacher is an example of those high standards...
Many families strive for and reach a high degree of educational success for their children, and the children flourish. However, some students are not having even the basic skills taught them in an environment that is conducive to learning. As a new school year approaches, each family needs to make a firm commitment to the educational well-being of their children.
If you live in Amarillo, TX the first thing you should do is make sure your kid is not in this teacher's class. In the real world, an employee can be fired for embarrassing their employer in public like this. She'll probably get a raise.
July 30, 2005
Homeschooling - It really isn't that complicated
Another critic had taken it upon himself to research homeschooling. I'm not sure where he was surfing in his research because he certainly didn't learn much.
I’ve been reading a lot of homeschooling blogs lately and I generally find the defensive rationale behind homeschooling more sad than thrilling and more frightened than innovative. Children cannot become well-rounded adults if they are ground only one way.
Of course, the public school system is well known for providing a well rounded variety of educational opportunities for kids. If your school kid doesn't "get" math based on the textbook that the committee spent 3 years choosing, he is screwed. There is no alternative. If a home educated kid is having problems the parents chuck the math curriculum and try something else. Every kid is different, and contrary to the opinions of the educational establishment, there is no one best way to teach something. Mass education doesn't work.
Homeschooling appears to divide and separate while public and private schools — and even some Charter schools — choose to blend various ideas and ways of thinking to help children become greater in society and not just an individual at home.
The typical public school is hundreds or thousands of kids all from the same geographic locale and usually from very similar socio-economic backgrounds. They all are expected to learn the same thing at the same time and progress at the same rate. There is no blending of ideas, the whole point is that everybody should turn out the same. Every single kid in any public school in America is held to the exact same state standards for advancement (whatever the hell that means), with absolutely no consideration given to that unique kids abilities or interests.
No child can succeed in society until he first succeeds within himself. The schools, and David Boles, have it exactly backwards.
As a public and private school educator who was raised by generations of public school teachers in the Republican Midwest, I am curious to know the appeal of pulling children out of a mainstream education and isolating them in a home environment as a strategy for fully educating their minds and forming their experiences on a worldwide level.
Isolating? Homeschool kids are out in the world. While the poor schoolie kids are locked in a windowless room watching a 20 year old filmstrip about rock formations, the homeschool kids will be at the local quarry learning about geology by digging through the dirt. The school kids are the isolated ones. The are stuck in a room all day, forbidden to speak out loud without advance permission, and under threat of felony charge if they dare leave the grounds. What a great way to grow up. You can have it. My kids deserve better, and they are getting it.
Sure there are certain homeschooled children who are able to find a way to shine in the system, but homeschooling, at its core, seems to encourage hiding and separation and discourages tolerance for interacting with a variety of peers who may be foreign to the family core.
I'm starting to think this guys idea of research is looking at one or two sites that he knows will validate his preconceived ideas. He sure didn't spend anytime on blogs written by any of the regulars around here. The only thing my kids are hiding from is the house. They are never here. They are out interacting with people who are foreign to the family core.
I know there are drugs and violence and other threats to children in public and private and Charter schools but in what way does homeschooling protect and prepare children from those inevitable hard realities of the adult world except to delay their exposure to all the elements — both good and bad — in which our lives spin?
7 year olds aren't emotionally equipped to deal with drugs and violence. However, they are forced to grow up in an environment that teaches them to expect the worst in people because they see it everyday. Life is about choices and homeschoolers learn that way better than the school kids. The school kids have no choices. They are told where to go, when to be there, and who to be with from age 5 to 17. Does the real world really work that way? I don't think so. In the real world you get to choose when to get up, when to learn, who to hang out with, and you also learn that choices have consequences, good and bad. How exactly do kids who can't even choose what they want for lunch each day ever learn to make a choice that matters? They don't, and the consequences of that are all around us.
The world is getting smaller and our intimate neighbors are now nations, not just homes on the same block. Children need to learn how to interact with all neighbors — even if they don’t agree with them — in order to form a world of respect and understanding.
And they learn that in the Lord of Flies enactment that is the public school playground? Make that lunchroom, playgrounds are out as they don't have time to play in school these days. They are too busy trying to protect their teachers tenure by passing some arbitrary standardized test mandated by bureaucrats who haven't set foot in a school in 20 years. Kids were way more respectful and understanding 100 years ago when none of them were turned over to the state for most of their waking hours. Public school is the last place I'd expect a kid to learn to be understanding and respectful. The environment teaches the exact opposite.
Are there parents who homeschool for non-religious reasons?
His research skills certainly don't speak highly of the MFA program at Columbia. Google search on "secular homeschooling" that returns 94,000 hits. If you are going to write this crap at least pull your head out of ass long enough to look around at the real world. If nothing else it would have saved you the embarrassment of asking such a stupid question.
Other searches.
Pagan Homeschooling
Atheist Homeschooling
Of course, the question does betray his real issue with homeschooling.
If the intention of educating children is to raise them to be good citizens of the world and not just of the home, how can we, as a nation, support the idea of homeschooling as an appropriate form of education for teaching not just Math and English and History but tolerance and social interaction as well?
Here is the really cool thing about homeschooling. We don't give a damn whether you support it or not. It's legal in all 50 states, not that the legal issue really stopped us in the past.
Of course, if David Boles had actually done any research he'd know that homeschooling is all about the individual right to choose their course in life, without it being dictated by a government school. Really, homeschooling should be a liberal cause, and it once was. However, the political left in America is so blinded by their fear of organized religion that they can't see the the trees for the forest.
An institutional building staffed by government trained and certified instructors, dictating a curriculum designed in government committees, is the absolute last place you'd expect anybody to learn anything important.
Permalink | Comments (7)July 26, 2005
Forbes Best of Web - NOT!
Kimberly is asking why Forbes doesn't have a edu-blog category. Fair question. I have another one. What were they smoking when they put together the homeschool section?
Homeschool.com - The best thing about this site is the domain name. There might be some good content there, but I've been blinded by the 75 ads on the front page so I can't really tell.
About.com Homeschooling - I'll give them that one.
Nhen.com - No argument from me on this one.
HomeEd magazine - I really can't believe they included.....just kidding Helen :)
HSLDA - Well, there is a lot of good reference material there.
Homeschool Zone - Blinking banner ads, I think my retina has been burned and scared.
National Geographic - Homeschooling site?
New York Times Learning Network - Um, ok, if they say so. Maybe they think us well meaning amateurs need the help.
Teach With Movies - Interesting site, although I'm not sure the average homeschooler really needs it. We sort of do this stuff naturally.
Jon's Homeschool Resources - If this were 1999, I'd agree. Jon's site was one of the first comprehensive resources for homeschoolers. He deserves a lot of credit, but he hasn't really kept the site up recently.
Anybody want to nominate some better sites? I'll start with Cobranchi.com
Permalink | Comments (3)July 18, 2005
Homeschool Yearbooks
The Washington Post files this fluff piece on 30 families from a MD umbrella school working together on a homeschool yearbook. Most of these families have never met, I'm not sure why you would want a book where 95% of the pages are pictures of people you've never met.
Come to think of it, that pretty much describes the more typical yearbooks too :)
The "Look, homeschoolers are big enough to be a market" attitude from the author is annoying. Josten's will make us a ring, and we have yearbooks too. See, we aren't weird after all.
This is 2005. If you want to document your year, blog it, and then at the end of the year, have the blog printed and bound.
Permalink | Comments (2)July 15, 2005
Career launcher
On line tutoring - delivered online, cheap, and direct from India.
Teachers jobs getting outsourced to India...that should keep the NEA up at night :)
Permalink | Comments (1)July 12, 2005
We are stupid people
By "we" I refer to those of us unwilling to trade our educational freedom for a token tax break on homeschool expenses.
Update: We are also paranoid for believing that the IRS might be a problem when it comes to home education deductions. The author has turned on comment screening (it wasn't on yesterday) so if my most recent comment never gets published over there...
Uh, no. The author very clearly equates people who think home education is free with people who would oppose a tax break for home educators. if x=y and y=z, then x must be equal to z. Further, the author is flat out wrong in his/her assertion that teachers can write off all their expenses. In fact, teachers get a $250 federal tax deduction, which when calculated at an average 30% tax rate, means teachers save a whole $75 with that deduction. Woo hoo, that's certainly worth selling out the 20 years of hard work that went into establishing our freedom to educate at home. The unfortunate fact is that any encroachment of government into home education will affect everybody that home educates, regardless of their tax status. It's not a mater of paranoia, it's a matter of respecting and preserving our right to homeschool with minimal government interference. You, apparently, are willing to risk all of that for $75.Permalink | Comments (9)
Hyperventilating over homeschoolers
I hesitate to even link to this, as the meager traffic from this site will likely quadruple the number of people that see this pointless rant from some self appointed political watchdog in West Virginia.
Homeschoolers, particularly Christians, really scare the hell out of some people. I actually agree with him that homeschoolers shouldn't be on public sports teams, but his anti-Christian, anti-homeschooling bias is so bad that whatever logical point he tried to make is totally lost.
Permalink | Comments (4)July 10, 2005
The homeschool snark master
The original letter is was good enough - but the answer from the homeschool detractor is one of the greatest things ever.
How somebody that dense even manages to function in life is a total mystery to me.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 07, 2005
Go to school at the mall
The great state of Colorado brings us this wonderful opportunity for homeschoolers to attend "digital school" at the mall.
Where do I sign up?
I wonder if you have to stay in the digital classroom? I think the mall itself might harbor more opportunities for education...
Permalink | Comments (1)Homeschooled Web Designers
Still Thinking - Two homeschoolers running a web studio and coding by hand to web standards.
My kind of people - even if they are still kids.
via Spunky - who totally got her moneys worth on the redesign.
Permalink | Comments (2)June 30, 2005
Homeschooling has arrived
When a daily newspaper writes an article about two homeschool organizations fighting over the meaning of the word inclusive, you know you've arrived.
I'm not sure exactly where we've arrived at though, and I'm not sure we really want to be here.
The flap is over an inclusive group explicitly stating that gays are welcome, which caused home-school.com to remove their listing as discriminatory against most major religions.
If you understand that please explain it in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (1)June 29, 2005
Homeschool humor - or lack thereof
How many negative stereotypes can you find in this cartoon?
June 20, 2005
Patrick Henry College in The New Yorker
The New Yorker has turned out a pretty good article on Patrick Henry College. The usual minor quibbles are in there, but overall it wasn't as slanted as I expected, given the source.
Permalink | Comments (0)June 18, 2005
Homeschool Testing Woes
The CAT test scoring service called this morning. They had a mechanical malfunction and one of their scoring machines ate about 25 tests. The tests were destroyed and can't even be hand scored.
One of those tests belonged to Breck.
So he gets redo this year's standardized testing exercise.
He took it rather well, once he confirmed that he wouldn't have to do anything else on those days he retakes the test.
Permalink | Comments (0)June 15, 2005
Intrigue and Fun at Daryl's
Remember a couple of month's ago when Daryl was threatened with legal action over opinions he published on his blog?
She's back.
And here too.
And also here.
This time she has supporters popping up like moles in a whack-a-mole game at the arcade. Unfortunately for her, all her supporters are posting from the same IP address.
So what we have is a game of whack-a-troll, not whack-a-mole.
Permalink | Comments (3)June 08, 2005
DidToday Demo
DidToday (the du Toits) has launched a self guided demo of their web based homeschool organizer product.
I like the interface, very clean and intuitive. I can't see us using something like it, but it seems useful if you need help tracking and organizing the homeschool day, or want a way to collate everything you are doing in one place. It also creates a transcript from all that data, which sounds particularly useful if your HEKs are getting near college age.
Permalink | Comments (3)June 06, 2005
It's not homeschooling, it's homelearning
Great interview with a homelearning family in CA (that is their term for what they are doing). Hey Tim, does homelearning fit your criteria for a new term?
The article also gives us this delightful quote from an anonymous homeschooling mom.
Kids have been educated at home for centuries, for goodness sake. We're motivated by what’s best for our kids. If that makes us weird, then maybe we’re hitchhiking in the wrong galaxy.
[Geek humor] If she had a towel with her, she might not feel that way.[/geek humor]
via our favorite Psychometrician
Permalink | Comments (1)Dumb comments made to homeschoolers
I'm not sure about the original source of this...it is attributed to Mike Farris. It's pretty damn funny though. My favorite is Don't you think your children are being deprived of the thrill of buying school supplies at Wal-Mart when everyone else does?
I guess we are also depriving them of the lesson in socialism when the teacher makes the class put all their supplies into a community bucket. After all, it's not fair if Johnny has more pencils than Jimmy.
Permalink | Comments (2)June 05, 2005
More from the "scary" PS teacher
The teacher referenced last week has added to his comments. It is, as Daryl suggested, very much the Reich argument that the state has a compelling interest in making sure we (homeschoolers) bring our kids up in a sufficiently diverse environment.
To his credit, Jonathan did get motivated to look into Gatto from several references in his comments - and he had some surprisingly good things to say about Gatto's basic thesis.
Speaking of Gatto...I haven't quit. However, I have 3 little league games, fencing, little league team pictures, and a girl scout bridging ceremony to deal with this week. Plus I have that job thing to deal with too.
Permalink | Comments (0)June 02, 2005
More scary thoughts from the mind of a teacher
This one comes to us courtesy of Bellvue, WA.
...parents are unable to give their children access to a limitless range of choices, because they are limited by their own knowledge and means, and also because they demand more of their children than they would have a right to expect of them merely as fellow citizens. This creates a gap wherein parents lose the moral right to make all choices for their children and yet where these children do not have the full capacity to choose freely for themselves. Schools occupy this gap. This has some interesting implications, about which I plan to write more. One of these implications is the permissibility of home or private schooling. Children must be sheltered from indoctrination; that is, exposure to one viewpoint to the exclusion of all others. Home schooling sits in very dangerous territory.
Does anybody remember having limitless choices in school? Does anybody remember being offered your choice of 12 textbooks in any given subject? Does anybody remember the school library offering a limitless selection of books? Does anybody remember free thought and diversive opinions being encouraged in school?
I don't.
What he really means is that children must be sheltered from indoctrination that he doesn't agree with. The indoctrination happening every day in the school system doesn't seem to bother him.
Permalink | Comments (3)May 29, 2005
Inside the mind of a PS teacher
Blame this on Daryl. I read this editorial this morning in the dead tree edition of The Free-Lance Star, - and managed to immediately block it from my short term and long term memory. But now that Daryl has dredged it up, I'm stuck with it and the only way I'll get closure is to respond with maximum snark.
IN CASE YOU didn't know, the first week in May was Teacher Appreciation Week.
Actually, I didn't know that. May is also National Masturbation Month. (link NSFW) Masturbation gets a whole month, and teachers only get a week. The government should do something about this.
In fact, there was a time in American history when teachers were among the most appreciated, respected, and revered people in communities throughout this great country of ours.
Name that time - with documented proof.
Long before thousands of untalented American young adults waited in line for days just so some British hack could tell them how horrible their voices were, most kids wanted to become teachers.
So if everybody wants to be a teacher how exactly do you expect to be highly paid? Apparently they don't teach the law of supply and demand at teacher's colleges. Notice the swipe at Simon from American Idol. The only thing he is guilty of is ignoring the kids feelings and telling them the truth. I take it these are not considered good traits
among teachers?
Long before college dropouts were running multi million-dollar computer conglomerates and record companies, most kids wanted to become teachers.
In the writer's fantasy world, there is apparently a central authority that decides your potential based at least partly on your education. The fact that this person is a teacher should scare the hell out you if your kids are in school.
Unfortunately, nowadays, it seems that, for whatever reason, public schoolteachers are tragically misrepresented as little more than glorified baby sitters, who have the unmitigated gall to whine about low pay despite the fact that they "get summers off" and have the daily privilege of dealing with the "angelic" students of the American public-school system.
Hey, you said it...
After much soul searching, I've come to the conclusion that the decline in teacher appreciation hasn't been caused so much by what's going on inside our schools, as it has by the petty, destructive, and ridiculous societal forces that lurk outside of them.
Because, you see, schools represent all that is good and pure in America. You just have to close your eyes and ignore the teacher-student sexcipades, gang banging in the hallway, drug dealing in the bathroom, crumbling infrastructure, and total lack of actual results.
Most Americans don't care about education unless it affects them directly.
Newsflash. Most humans, hell most living beings of any type, don't care about anything unless it affects them directly.
Unfortunately, in central Virginia, it appears that some of the biggest enemies of public education are the elderly, the media, and the working poor.
At least he didn't blame home educators pulling their kids out the system.
Whenever I talk to my retired or childless friends and acquaintances from Louisa, Orange, Madison, and Spotsylvania counties who complain incessantly about how "all these new schools and teacher raises are hikin' up our taxes,
The author is obviously not familiar with the fact that there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO CORRELATION between increased spending in the public schools and improved results.
These are the same people who can't seem to realize that competent, competitive students are usually the products of talented and passionate instructors.
Unfortunately for the author, those folks are rarely found working for the government.
Moreover, many of today's good young teachers who want to stay in public education, without facing the prospect of financial ruin, teach just long enough to be eligible for a graduate program at the nearest and cheapest college or university, attain their master's degree in educational leadership, and make the money as an administrator that they would never be able to make as a classroom teacher.
How is this the fault of the elderly, media, or working poor? It's his system, controlled by his union and his peers. If the system encourages talented teachers to get out early, maybe he should look inward and stop blaming everybody else.
Good education costs money, and high taxes are a small price to pay for an educated society where "no child is left behind."
I know about 1 million homeschoolers that have proved this statement false.
The media don't help the situation either. Every time I watch "MTV Cribs," a presidential press conference, or any one of the hideous "reality shows" that contaminate our airwaves, I realize just how far down education is on our list of national priorities.
And that media is serving a population that was educated by his public school system. Chicken, meet egg. Egg, meet chicken.
As I sit in front of the "boob tube" and watch the NBA playoffs, I can't help but be a little sickened by the fact that a college graduate can pass the Praxis, serve as a student teacher, and barely make $32,000 a year--while a semiliterate high-school senior could easily make $32,000 a night for throwing a round ball into a hoop.
That pesky law of supply and demand again. The world would be a better place if we just had a government agency to set pay levels for everybody...NOT!
An ever-increasing number of today's students (minorities and poor in particular) see high school as little more than a necessary evil to endure before they are allowed to chase their pipe dream of having a career in professional sports or entertainment.
Maybe because they know that the high school degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on?
I'm also more than a little bit unnerved by "fair and balanced" news channels that remain conspicuously silent about the fact that the current leader of the free world is a Yale graduate who has occasional difficulty with subject-verb agreement, and after five years in office still hasn't learned to pronounce the word "nuclear."
Because if Kerry had won he was going to double the pay of all the teachers, right? I'm disturbed that a public school teacher can't make a case for his own importance without taking a completely irrelevant shot at the President.
I'm always perplexed by parents who have raised students who have received scholarships and aid from reputable colleges, but refuse to let them attend because the schools are "just too far away." These parents seem content to let their kids languish in whatever ghetto or one-horse town they had the misfortune to be forced to live in.
The arrogance in this statement speaks for itself. This guy is asshole.
However, many of my fellow educators aren't totally blameless in this matter. In a particular school system where I taught some years ago, many students were counseled to view trade school as a primary postsecondary option rather than as a viable alternative to college. Ironically, almost all of the counselors and educators in this particular school had either already earned advanced degrees or were pursuing them.
The trade school graduate plumbers and electricians that are so beneath this clown all make way more money than he does. Do you think he appreciates the irony?
In reality though, teachers, for the most part, are not the problem with public education. I know this because my colleagues and I spend countless hours in staff-development workshops, where we learn to incorporate a variety of student needs and learning styles into our instruction.
Notice the total lack of interest in results. It's all about taking classes and advancing theoretical knowledge. They take lots of classes, so they can't be the problem. The idea that all those classes and theories ARE THE PROBLEM has never even occurred to him.
Attention, American citizens: Every time you fill out a job application, balance your checkbook, or simply read the song titles on the back of your favorite CD, you should get down on your knees and thank whatever God you believe in for the fact that he blessed you with teachers.
Attention nameless Spotsylvania County teacher.It is better to remain quiet and be thought a fool; than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
The DuToit's Home Education Software is in Beta
Kim has the who/what/when/why and how much on the web based application that they have developed.
Permalink | Comments (0)May 26, 2005
Common Sense on Cyber Charters
Natalie has written a well thought out and reasoned post on the cyber schools are not homeschools debate. I would add that cyber schooling at home is a step in the right direction. The curriculum may still be watered down by committee, but at least the kid is out of the poisonous atmosphere frequently found in the hallways and lunchrooms of your local neighborhood school.
However, just to be clear...if the government is paying for your curriculum, you are not homeschooling. You are not free of the bonds of government compliance. And if you think you are, you are wrong.
Permalink | Comments (1)Ignorance of the law is no excuse
Richmond VA school board member Carol Wolf pulled her kid out of school 4 months ago and never notified the state. (In VA, we are required to notify the local school officials. Not ask permission, just notify).
Her excuse? Wolf said she had "no idea" that state law requires her to notify the district superintendent until the board's attorney brought it to her attention this month.
You'd think being on the school board, she would be extra sensitive to actually having a clue.
She is also applying for a religious exemption, which in VA is pretty damn hard to get. It's easy to homeschool in VA, but the religious exemption requires a high burden of proof. It's particularly difficult to claim a religious aversion to school attendance when your two oldest are graduates of the public/private school system.
Carol A.O. Wolf has lived in Richmond for 24 years. She has worked for nationally syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, as well as Richmond Newspapers and Style Weekly. In 1985, she decided to stay home with her children and serve as a volunteer in Richmond Public Schools, where all three of her children have attended. Her oldest graduated from Richmond Community High School, another graduated from Tandem Friends Schools, a Quaker School near Charlottesville, and her youngest attended Linwood Holton Elementary through fifth-grade and is now enrolled in a parochial school in the Richmond area.
If she has a bona fide moral or religious issue with school attendance, what the hell is she doing on the School Board? If not, why is she trying to homeschool under a religious exemption? Home education in VA is not that regulated. Write a letter telling them you are homeschooling, and provide CAT9 scores or a portfolio once per year to prove sufficient progress. That is pretty much it. There are some paperwork hoops if you don't have a college degree, but it really is not that big of a deal.
None of this should be taken as my support for the current home education laws in VA. I oppose mandatory attendance laws in all forms. But an elected school official has a certain responsibility to know school law. Also, an elected school official claiming a religious aversion to school attendance is just weird.
Permalink | Comments (1)May 22, 2005
Cyber Charters Are Still Not Homeschools
This published homeschool author doesn't understand why the home education vs public-school-at-home debate is important.
Sigh. So many need to be educated...
Permalink | Comments (0)May 20, 2005
Homeschooling is like growing your own food
This odd analogy is made here, where the author seems to believe that a market based education system dominated by K-12 Montessori schools would make home education unnecessary.
Show of hands from my readers...how many of you would jump at the chance to enroll your kid in a low cost Montessori school?
The author might want to actually talk to a few home educators before he counts us as enrollees in his new schools.
Permalink | Comments (5)May 04, 2005
Startle The Echos
I noticed an incoming link on Technorati from a site I didn't recognize.
Pop on over and say hello to a homeschooler who most definitely doesn't fit into the conservative right wing Christian stereotype.
May 02, 2005
Now THIS is convergence
Doc Searls connects open source, Microsoft, home education, and Gatto.
I've done the same thing here, but I've done it over 2000 weblog posts and doubt any of you noticed :)
Doc puts it all together in a few paragraphs.
This is what I mean when I say Home Education is free as in speech, not as in beer.
Permalink | Comments (0)April 24, 2005
Where I ramble on about homeschooling
Beth had a few questions, and I answered. It turned into a rather long email dialog. Hopefully, I didn't say anything that will qualify me for my Great Quotes in Home Education page.
Permalink | Comments (3)April 21, 2005
Cyber Charters Are Not Homeschools
I'm going to let Daryl handle this one in detail. This Public School At Home Mom in PA (where else...) claims that she is totally free to do whatever she wants with no interference from the state, even though she is using government provided curriculum and government provided computers in her house.
Permalink | Comments (5)A Really Great Homeschooling Quote
My Great Quotes Of Homeschooling category is reserved for quotes that in reality, are not so great. In fact, most of them are embarrassingly bad.
So I'm not sure what to do with this one, because I really like it.
A large proportion of homeschoolers could be described as people who have given up paying attention to whatever is being shouted through the public bullhorn, and begun to cultivate their own practices and communities on a scale they can still understand and in a manner of which they approve.Permalink | Comments (0)
Read Mike Peach today
I would like to show support for friends of Nathan Jones who committed suicide after being bullied at school. They wrote a poem that was published on line but their site has now been removed after complaints from someone allegedly involved in the bullying.Just Do It. Permalink | Comments (0)
April 18, 2005
Eliminate elementary school
I wouldn't stop there. However, this essay makes a very good case for eliminating elementary school and delaying any kind of formal schooling until age 12.
Question: Where is the scientifically-valid evidence that a child who sits through six years in a classroom is any better "educated" than a child who spends six years just being a kid, learning what he or she needs, learning responsibility and reading and manners and math the way kids always have - by doing?
Can I get a big AMEN on that?
Permalink | Comments (2)The Instapundit worries (a little) about homeschooling
Is this a banner day for homeschooling? The Almighty Instapundit has used the term in print ;)
I wonder, though, if the increasing availability of private education and homeschooling doesn't make things worse, by draining off some of the parents whose complaints would otherwise force the system to behave better. At some point, I suppose, the effects of competition will shift things the other way, but that dynamic doesn't seem to be taking hold, yet.
Alas, he doesn't really get it. If the system really was answering to the parents a lot of those parents would not have left in the first place.
We never even gave it a chance. Even if the PS system were providing a top quality education (stop laughing now...) I still would not use it. I value my freedom way too much to subject my family to an arbitrary government imposed schedule for 10 months of the year. Why the hell should a faceless bureaucrat decide how and when my kids will study algebra, or spelling, or take a break, or a field trip, or whatever. We are way more capable of making that decision ourselves. Quite frankly, we have too fun much homeschooling to give it up :)
Update Reader Beth asked in the comments
Your arguments for homeschooling and against public or "traditional" education are often at least reasonable if not persuasive. But they lose something because of the sequoia-sized chip on your shoulder.
Do you at least respect other people's choices not to homeschool as you expect them to respect yours?
Since my response was getting long I decided to move it out front.
I really don't care if anybody respects my decision to homeschool. I do care if they respect my freedom to homeschool though. Way too many people in this country think they know better than us what is best for our kids. Unfortunately, some of those people are in positions of power to dramatically affect my freedom. I don't spend anytime worrying about what everybody thinks of me, and I really doubt there are public school parents out there worrying about what I think.
But if they are...I respect any parent who is doing what they truly believe to be in their children's best interest. Even if they turn out to be wrong. Intent matters a lot. However, for those parents that know their kids are getting beat up every day, or aren't academically challenged, or are labeled ADD and drugged without sufficient medical evidence, yet continue to drop the kids off at the local PS every day without doing anything to help their kid...
Those people I have no respect for.
And that goes double for people that pull their kids out of school and hide behind the homeschool laws in custody disputes or for some other reason not connected to their best interests of the kid.
Permalink | Comments (5)April 15, 2005
School is no place for a child
I tell friends that my grandkids will be homeschooled and some of them react with how the schools are terrible and should be teaching values and respect, etc. ... and I am literally open-mouthed, because they seem to be asking for more control and more authoritarianism in the classroom, while I trace a lot of problems to the demand for conformity, submission, and suppression of the natural desire to learn that is imposed on children.Permalink | Comments (0)
April 13, 2005
Education is a civil right worth fighting for
This black parent discusses his reasons for homeschooling and bemoans the black community's lack of interest in educational issues.
Since some black people (Bill Cosby anyone?) believe that a combination of bad-a-- kids and bad-a-- parents are to blame, it is very difficult to mobilize people around this issue. And given that we're really talking about black administrators, black teachers, black staff, and black school board members, it isn’t the same as taking on the Klan. It isn't as sexy. It doesn't get people as riled up.
As I've said here on several occasions, if there is any group that has something to gain by bailing out of the PS system, it's black kids trapped in the worst public schools.
Interestingly, the school he pulled his kids from is allegedly one of Baltimore's best.
April 08, 2005
Convincing the reluctant spouse
Here is another goodie from my email box: Do you have any magic words or potions to convince my husband that homeschooling is truly the best thing for our children? --Frustrated Mom
To begin with, a wife should be willing to submit to whatever her husband decides, since he is the head of their household.
Looks like I'll be sending Mrs ODonnellWeb off to re-education camp. She did not get the message on this one :)
Actually, the advice in the article isn't too bad...if you can get by that begining.
Permalink | Comments (3)April 06, 2005
You can't study what you can't find
GeographerJoAnn Vender is presenting her study today at the American Association of Georgraphers meeting. Her subject is the spatial patterns of homeschooling in the U.S. with case studies of four states representing varying levels at which states regulate the practice.
She seems to be a bit frustrated by the lack of data available on us.
Level of regulation does not necessarily correlate with reporting and availability of data. Unfortunately, there are only 18 states with readily available data on homeschooling," says Vender.
To which I respond...that is 18 states too many.
Heh.
Permalink | Comments (2)A classroom teacher gets it right
Classroom teacher John McGeough calls on the schools to stop worrying about homeschoolers and get their own house in order first.
Where have we heard that before?
Permalink | Comments (2)April 05, 2005
Corporate Philanthropy Coming to Homeschooling
In this article, Reason magazine argues that some of the $1.1 billion in corporate philanthropy given to the public school system would be better utilized if it were directed to the homeschooling movement.
I'm not sure I agree. I don't think answering to the WalMart Foundation for Education would be any better than answering to the local school officials. I'm not interested in anybody else telling me what is best for my kids.
via Joanne Jacobs
Permalink | Comments (1)March 30, 2005
March is Homeschooler Burnout Month?
Did you know that? It must be true, since Ed Dickerson has proclaimed it so, and The Carnival of Education pointed to him.
Ed even goes so far as to compare it to the necessity for a March Spring Break in the public schools.
Hello McFly, is anybody home in there? If you experiencing burnout in March because the grind of the Aug - June school schedule has got you down - you might be missing the point of homeschooling.
We are not bound to some arbitrary government school schedule.
Take February off if you want to. Do half days all year round. Do what you want, it's called freedom. Obviously burnout happens to homeschoolers too. It may even happen to us more, as we do take on quite a responsibility. However, we have the freedom to deal with it when we want or need to.
If you are dutifully doing school all day August - May you have totally missed the point of the home education journey. Stop now, take a break - read my home education archives, read Daryl, and get a grip. This is supposed to fun.
Permalink | Comments (0)March 29, 2005
Flawed Analysis
This home educator is looking at the opportunity cost of lost wages and asking if it is worth it. (Her answer is yes, BTW)
Her analysis is flawed though. First of all, the salary you didn't earn has to be offset by the taxes you didn't pay. So right there the $50K she figures should could earn next year becomes $25K. Then subtract out vehicle wear and tear, maintenance, gas (no small expense at $2 a gallon) work wardrobe, lunches out, etc.
So now her $50K is down to $20K.
After school care - particularly in the early years. Another $5k at a probably unrealistically low $100 per week. So now we are down to $15 per year.
School lunches, new school clothes every year. Missed days because the kids are always sick. Expensive vacations that become "necessary" because of the stress of running a family when neither parent is home, yada yada yada.
You get the point. That second job is not worth nearly what many people think, particularly when there is a good sized spread between the income of the parents.
When we were making the daycare vs SAHM decision (well before we even knew what homeschooling was) I made a detailed spreadsheet and calculated that our net financial benefit of my better half working full time was about $100 per week. She stayed home and I delivered pizza at night to make up the difference.
The necessity of the two income family is a myth in many cases.
Permalink | Comments (3)March 19, 2005
Even Homeschoolers can be nutcases
I find this almost funny. Indymedia, a web hang out for the most extreme of the left wing moonbats (people that believe Kerry really won, etc) is pushing a theory that there were no Arabs on Flight 77 on 9/11/2001. In their opening paragraph, they say;
The Gentlemen who conducted the research and original report on Flight 77 is a Naval line officer and a psychiatrist in private practice in New Orleans, a Christian and homeschool dad (his words).
as evidence of the authors reliability.
We really don't need cranks like this sullying our good name.
Permalink | Comments (2)March 10, 2005
History Channel Rejects Homeschooler
Update: The History Channel has revised the rules to include homeschoolers. I'm not going to rail on about the power of homeschoolers because as I stated in my letter below, I thought it was a rather boneheaded decision in the first place. I think the History Channel realized that too, and didn't need a whole lot of us to help them. Although I'm sure it didn't hurt! I think in the end this reflects positively on The History Channel. They made a bad decision, and when confronted about it, they changed it. Kudos to them.
Jema sends this link from Natalie about The History Channel rejecting a contestant for an essay competition because she is homeschooled.
I sent the following email to Lynn Gardner, Dir Public Relations. She reports directly to Michael Mohamad, the Sr VP of Marketing for The History Channel. I really wanted to email Mohamad, but several attempts to email him bounced.
Ms. Gardner,
It has recently come to my attention that a home educated high school student in Texas has been denied the right to participate in a History Channel sponsored FDR Scholarship Challenge for the specific reason that she is home educated. She received the following reply to her inquiry.
Thank you for your interest in The History Channel(r) FDR- A Presidency Revealed Scholarship Challenge. Unfortunately, home schooled students are not eligible for the challenge, per the official rules. The rules state that "the Challenge is open to High Schools Students, grades 9 - 12, who are legal residents of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, and are currently enrolled in a High School located in the 50 United States or the District of Columbia at the time of Entry."
Should you have further questions please contact us kbell@gemgroup.com or call 917.256.0768. Again, The History Channel would like to thank you for your interest in this program and don't forget watch the premiere of the two-part documentary special, FDR- A Presidency Revealed Sunday, April 17th 9PM/8C.
Your Friends at The History Channel, Kim Bell 917.256.0786
As a homeschooling parent myself, I am deeply disturbed by this apparent discrimination. Prior to the 20th century, home education was the norm for young Americans. In fact, President Roosevelt was educated at home by private tutors until the age of 14. Homeschooling is a legally recognized education option in all 50 states, and in Texas homeschools have the same general legal recognition as private schools. There is simply no logical reason to exclude a student from the competition purely because he or she has chosen an educational model that is divergent from the normal path today. Let's face it, without people willing to diverge from "the norm," history would be a lot less interesting!
Another relevant point is that by discriminating against homeschoolers, you are alienating a large population that also happens to be a voracious consumer of History Chanel programming. There are approximately 1.5 million home educated students in the US, and typically their parents aren't spending the $8000 per year average that the public schools spend on a student. We make do with books, trips to the library, videos, and cable programming such as The History Channel. Although I'm not aware of a study with conclusive numbers, I'm very confident stating that home educated students watch more (probably a lot more) History Channel programming than their public school peers. And when you consider that home educating families are more likely to watch the programming together, you are alienating a rather large market with this action.
Please reconsider this decision and open up the scholarship competition to ALL students of the appropriate age, regardless of how they choose to pursue their educational goals.
Thank You.
IMO, contacting Kim about this is a waste of time. She works for a marketing firm hired by The Histroy Channel. Somebody from The History Channel needs to tell her to include homeschoolers for the change to happen.
March 08, 2005
The Free Agent Education
This might be my first rerun ever. I originally linked to this article in Oct 2001. However, it remains one of my favorite published homeschool articles. In it, business author Daniel Pink looks at the rise of the self-employed free agent in the business world and concludes that the rise of the education free agent (homeschooler) is inevitable. Here are a couple of excerpts:
Schools had bells; factories had whistles. Schools had report card grades; offices had pay grades. Pleasing your teacher prepared you for pleasing your boss. And in either place, if you achieved a minimal level of performance, you were promoted. Taylorism -- the management philosophy, named for efficiency expert Frederick Winslow Taylor, that there was One Best Way of doing things that could and should be applied in all circumstances -- didn't spend all its time on the job. It also went to class. In the school, as in the workplace, the reigning theory was One Best Way. Kids learned the same things at the same time in the same manner in the same place. Marshall McLuhan once described schools as "the homogenizing hopper into which we toss our integral tots for processing." And schools made factory-style processing practically a religion -- through standardized testing, standardized curricula, and standardized clusters of children. (Question: When was the last time you spent all day in a room filled exclusively with people almost exactly your own age?)
Perhaps most important, home schooling is almost perfectly consonant with the four animating values of free agency: having freedom, being authentic, putting yourself on the line, and defining your own success. Take freedom. In the typical school, children often aren't permitted to move unless a bell rings or an adult grants them permission. And except for a limited menu of offerings in high school, they generally can't choose what to study or when to study it. Home-schoolers have far greater freedom. They learn more like, well, children. We don't teach little kids how to talk or walk or understand the world. We simply put them in nurturing situations and let them learn on their own. Sure, we impose certain restrictions. ("Don't walk in the middle of the street.") But we don't go crazy. ("Please practice talking for 45 minutes until a bell rings.") It's the same for home-schoolers. Kids can become agents of their own education rather than merely recipients of someone else's noble intentions.
I got no comments the first time. Let's do better this time, eh?
Permalink | Comments (2)March 07, 2005
A sighting of the homeschool ignoramus
A collection of people exceptionally ignorant about what we do has gathered around this post from a public school employee. I'm sure they would greatly appreciate some input from my wise readers :)
Let me know if my post is gone. I expect it to be deleted.
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