Should Home-Schooling Be Illegal?

Parade magazine has a poll asking if teaching credentials should be a requirement for homeschooling. At the moment 93% say NO. Click here to vote.

Educational anarchy

Teachers Union Attacks Homeschoolers - PJI Responds



The California Teachers Association claims in its brief that allowing parents to homeschool their children without requiring a teaching credential will result in "educational anarchy."



What exactly is "educational anarchy"?

Dictionary.com doesn't have an entry for educational anarchy. But this is the definition for educational;
ed·u·ca·tion·al
Audio Help Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ej-oo-key-shuh-nl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1.
pertaining to education.
2.
tending or intended to educate, instruct, or inform: an educational show on television.
and this entry for anarchy
anarchy 1 [ˈӕnəki] noun
the absence or failure of government

So educational anarchy would be the absence of government in instructing students. Sounds pretty good to me. I suppose the California Teachers Association thought that using the word anarchy which has negative connotations for a lot of people would lead most people to assume that educational anarchy was something bad.

On the other side of the ledger, a brief filed by Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown recognizes "that home schooling has a long and positive history in California and across the nation."

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, commented on the recent developments as follows: "Contrary to the outrageous position of the California Teachers Association, homeschooling is not educational anarchy - it is educational opportunity. We are pleased that the Governor and many other influential voices are weighing in on this important debate, and we look forward to presenting the Court with the best possible defense of both homeschoolers and independent-study private schools."

Teacher, student get into brawl at Ga. school

Police say the 52-year-old Jones kicked the student, which prompted the fight.

Now here is a good reason for Homeschoolers to write letters

Five people in Tennessee, who hold homeschool diplomas, have recently been deemed unqualified for certain positions of employment because of their homeschooling. Since last year, the Tennessee Department of Education has begun withholding approval of such diplomas, but Representative Mile Bell has been fighting to gain back the recognition these diplomas previously enjoyed.

Bell told LifeSiteNews.com that until last year, no person in Tennessee had ever had an issue with an employer for holding a category IV diploma - the official title of diplomas issued to private church-related students, including homeschooled students.

Recently, however, employers that are required by statute to hire only those persons with a high school diploma, including the police department, day-care workers and education workers, have either suspended or denied employment to five category IV diploma holders.

After graduating with a 4.0 average from a police academy, one Rockwood police officer lost his certification, possibly deeming all of his arrests invalid, "because the DOE refused to recognize his category IV diploma." Bell also mentioned that this occurred seven years after the officer received his category IV high school diploma.

Who Needs Subway

Certainly not homeschoolers who were EXCLUDED from their contest, Hey Subway: What's the Deal? . Homeschoolers have their very own contest at Silly Sandwiches. So drop by and submit your story and while you are at it why not enjoy a sandwich from a locally owned sandwich shop or visit a farmers market and make your own sandwich using fresh produce.

HT: Natalie

School board defines home-schooler terms

When is a homeschooler not a homeschooler?

The Mineral County Board of Education settled on 50 percent as the proposed in-school, class-load threshold to consider a home-school student a full-time public school student.

Under the proposed policy, any home school students who take more than half of their coursework through the Mineral County school system will be considered full time and subject to all course requirements such as class pre-requisites.

H$LDA Takes Subway to Task

Now HSLDA is sending Subway letters.

In the News

The Subway debacle is now garnering media attention.
AC (Associated Content) ~ Homeschool Families Call for Boycott of Subway Restaurants
While homeschooled parents across the web cry for a boycott and a public apology from Subway we can only wait to see if the proposed boycott will make a difference, and whether or not Subway can recover from this disastrous PR debacle.

We Never Forget by Linda Dobson

In the May- June 2008 Issue of Home Education Magazine, Linda Dobson has written a heartfelt article, We Never Forget. She writes about a recent gathering where the topic of discussion was school horror stories. She writes: Forty-even fifty years later- and we can recount school-related humiliation as if it happened yesterday. We haven’t forgotten.

Subscribe to HEM to read the full article.

Is this what they mean by socialization?

By Colleen Wixon (Contact)

Originally published 01:50 p.m., May 23, 2008

TCPALM

My heart bleeds for this poor little boy.

Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son's kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.

After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.

By a 14 to 2 margin, the class voted him out of the class.

Barton said her son is in the process of being diagnosed with Aspberger's, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex began the testing process in February for an official diagnosis under the suggestion of Morningside Principal Marsha Cully.

Not only did this emotionally abusive teacher damage this poor child emotionally she also damaged his classmates. Surely some of them at least understood what they were doing was wrong and felt bad about it.

They said he was "disgusting" and "annoying," Barton said.

"He was incredibly upset," Barton said. "The only friend he has ever made in his life was forced to do this."

HT: The RedMolly Picayune-Democrat

Ragamuffin Studies: But Is It Education?

Ragamuffin Studies: But Is It Education?