Another messy divorce case

This is so NOT a homeschooling issue.

Loving Summer

The Loving Summer edition of The Carnival of Homeschooling is up.

As Time Goes By ~ CoH

Check out the Carnival of Homeschooling hosted at Homeschool CPA

Homeschoolings advantages far outweigh any preconceived shortcomings

My response to Homeschooling is a bad idea by Sylvia Biu. It's really annoying when these ignorant self opinionated people make all these idiotic statements about a subject they obviously know nothing about.

Biu says

There are notable drawbacks to homeschooling children.

Actually I am not aware of any drawbacks to homeschooling. I found homeschooling to be a very positive experience for both my children and myself. And don't you just love people like Sylvia who state their opinions as FACT.

First, unless a parent is himself a previous honor student or a genius who mastered more than just the three R’s, a child may not receive quality home education.

Well I did graduate with honors, but the majority of public school teachers were just average students who didn't graduate with honors and very few public school teachers are geniuses. Are we suppose to believe their students aren't receiving a quality education due to this? If not why would it be a drawback for homeschoolers?

Now, it (homeschooling) is mostly frowned upon for all but severely disabled children or those otherwise unable to attend school for whatever reason.

Really?????? Exactly who is frowning upon homeschooling? Don't you just love it when homeschool critics like Sylvia Biu start making stuff up.

1.1 Million Homeschooled Students in the United States in 2003 - July 2004, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, NCES study - From 1999 to 2003, the number of homeschooled students in the United States increased, as did the homeschooling rate. The increase in the homeschooling rate (from 1.7 percent to 2.2 percent) represents about 0.5 percent of the 2002–03 school-age population and a 29 percent relative increase over the 4-year period.

All the current data indicates that homeschooling is on the rise.

Besides the issue of academics, there is another glaring downside for children: the socialization factor. Socialization per se is training of sorts. Children must learn to interact and get along with others beyond their immediate family members, preferably outside the home. In certain respects, homeschooling is tantamount to retarding a child by isolating him from the outside world. Social alienation may be as important a basis for opposing homeschooling as its other limits. Phobias and disorders in social settings are often salient results of homeschooling, and become most evident once a homeschooled person attempts to interact in the broader society.

OMG, another idiot that thinks homeschoolers sit home all day. News flash homeschoolers interact with the people in their community on a regular basis.

Home Schooling:From the Extreme to the Mainstream - by Patrick Basham, Cato Institute, Public Policy Sources. This paper has established that home schooling is a thriving educational movement both in Canada and the United States. It has also empirically demonstrated that the academic and socialization outcomes for the average home schooled child are superior to those experienced by the average public school student.

In addition, schools can be excellent monitors and whistleblowers for abused and neglected children. In most if not all schools in the United States, attendance records that are maintained draw attention to truants, children whose poor attendance can indicate their predicament. No such oversight occurs for homeschooled children in peril.

There are already laws that protect children from abuse and neglect. The same laws and agencies that protect preschoolers are also there for homeschooled children.

First and foremost, homeschooling and child abuse are separate issues. Attempts to link the two lack any basis in fact. While there may be homeschooling parents who abuse their children, children are not abused because they are homeschooled. There is no de facto connection between child abuse and homeschooling.

Any regulation specifically focusing on preventing child abuse among homeschoolers would ignore the fact that child abuse occurs in the general population, not just in the homeschooling population. Parents of school children and preschoolers are not singled out for special observation. Background checks, home visits, and other invasions of privacy have been suggested as forms of regulation. Singling out a subset of parents for special observation on the basis of suspicion of abuse would be discriminatory. Mere suspicion does not constitute justification for increasing regulation across the board.
From Homeschooling and Child Abuse: A Response to Recent Media Reports

Homeschooling's advantages far outweigh any preconceived shortcomings by Sylvia Biu and other homeschool critics.

My thanks to Consent Of The Governed for the links, more links and information can be found at her blog so be sure to read the post Homeschooling Statistical Studies.

Mississippi Gulf Coast:: Proposed highway route threatens homes

Mississippi Gulf Coast:: Proposed highway route threatens homes

Carnival of Homeschooling

#185

Why Homeschool: The Carnival of Homeschooling - the Founding Fathers edition

Why Homeschool is hosting this weeks CoH. Check out - the Founding Fathers edition

Not the worst reasons to homeschool

My response to Heather's post Worst reasons to homeschool.

I appreciate that she isn't trying to bash homeschooling but really why are we debating homeschooling? Do we debate public schooling? private schooling?

Heather does admit that there are good reasons to homeschool, she then goes on to state two reasons she considers the worst reasons to homeschool.

First teasing (aka bullying), according to Heather violence is the answer

When my own four-eyed and very sensitive second grade son came to me with playground woes, I told him the most politically incorrect thing you can tell a child. I said, "I can't make other kids respect you, and your teacher can't make other kids respect you; only you can." That's right, I said, "go for the nose!" Problem solved.

I can't believe a public school teacher is advocating violence, and I can't help wonder what school district she lives in because in my school district the "go for the nose"advice would get you expelled. The few parents I know who choose to homeschool because of bullying tried other options first. They talked with the teacher, the principal and the school board. When no help was forthcoming they removed the child from school for their physical safety. And if the teacher is "THE BULLY" (St. Lucie teacher has students vote on whether 5-year-old can stay in class) there is no way for the child to successfully deal with the bully.

I also think that one of the problems with the public schools is their refusal to take bullying seriously. All to often they excuse bullying as "just kids being kids" and the abuse is ignored by teachers as well as the victims fellow classmates. See 4 teens charged as adults in locker room sexual assault case. In the real world if someone is verbally threatening you or physically assaulting you, you can go to the police and get a restraining order to keep your attacker away from you. In school if you go to the teachers or principal you are labeled a tattletale, told to get over it and ignored until the situation gets so out of hand the police are involved.

The next reason she cites is religion. While I don't think religion should be ones main reason for homeschooling I do think wanting your children to learn your values is a valid reason for homeschooling. It's funny she cites religion as one of the worst reasons to homeschool when there are numerous religious private schools that no one finds fault with. Here on the coast where I live there are numerous Catholic Schools, and no one feels the need to question the parents right to send their children to these religious schools, so why should religion be consider one of the worst reasons to homeschool?

Mississippi Gulf Coast: Keep Highway 15 Out of Jackson County

Mississippi Gulf Coast: Keep Highway 15 Out of Jackson County

The Lazy Days of Summer

Carnival of Homeschooling

Carnival of Homeschooling

This week we have Summer Transition.

You can visit last weeks Summer Party here.

Public School Teacher Entices Girl to Send Sexy Photos

A former (public) school teacher is accused of enticing a 14-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit pictures of herself, police said.

Long Beach police arrested Joseph Eugene Council, 32, on multiple charges from a complaint of alleged misconduct in June with a girl who had been one of his students, said Assistant Police Chief Don Bass.

Council was the band and choir director at Pass Christian High and Pass Christian Middle schools.

Disgraceful

Why Homeschool: Update on teacher who had students vote a boy out of class

Tragedy at Holocaust Museum used to take a potshot at homeschoolers.

Apparently some people have to take a potshot at homeschooling no matter what the subject is.

One of the many reasons parents use as a reason for homeschooling is that it protects their children from the violence in public schools. In this particular situation, homeschooling would not have protected these children. This could have been a home school group instead of a group of people with common ties to a local public middle school.

Well at least Lynda Altman realizes homeschoolers do get out of the house.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Drop by Principled Discovery to check out the Field Guide Edition.

What you can learn in a homeschool

Frog Guts, Jell-o and Character by Laura Snyder is her attempt to explain what lessons she thinks your kids will not learn if they are homeschooled and why her kids are still enrolled in public schools that she finds lacking.

I’ve found that the public school system can provide certain benefits that homeschooling could not. These are not necessarily academic benefits, but they are things that all children should know.

For example, my 7th grader dissected a frog in school recently. This is something that I couldn’t do at home. Maybe some parents could, but my stomach is not equipped for gore. My son, however, had no problem describing it in detail at the dinner table. He even told me that one child was sent to the principal’s office because he was playing with his frog and making it dance. A disemboweled dancing frog was apparently too much for the teacher.

Well first off there is nothing gory about dissecting a frog. We not only dissected a frog we dissected a starfish, crayfish, fish, clam and an earthworm (dissection kit). And while no one made the frog dance, we did learn a lot. The son who would have probably happily made the frog as well as the earthworm dance was allergic to the preservative. We worked around his allergy by allowing him to watch through the glass on the garage door.

My daughter was grossed out because frog guts reminded her of the spaghetti that was served in the cafeteria for lunch that day.

Also, she said, the roll was hard, the lettuce was limp, the tomato was rotten, the chocolate milk was warm and her straw had a hole in it, which is why she had a chocolate stain on her new shirt.

Not eating her lunch was probably the reason she ate all of her dinner before my son got to his frog story. Another benefit to public school: Nothing builds character like cafeteria food.

One of the benefits of homeschooling is being able to serve healthy nutritious meals to your children. You can also teach them how to prepare healthy nutritious meals for themselves, create a shopping list and select the best priced item at the grocery store. Real life skills they will need when they are on their own.

“Sucking Jell-o through a straw is okay, but your teacher gets mad if you blow it out!”

Well, that is something I never knew. He certainly wouldn’t have learned that while homeschooling, that’s for sure.

Well my kids managed to learn that while being homeschooled, although it was Mom who got mad when they blew it out. They also learned about mixing a lot of beverages together to make unique drinks and other "kid things".

Those Safe Public Schools?

Hillsborough County prosecutors allege the four boys raped the 13-year-old victim multiple times over two months with a broomstick and hockey stick.

The prosecutor said the victim's screams could be heard outside the boys' locker room at Walker Middle School, in southern Tampa, where the allegedly assaults took place.

Multiple people witnessed the attacks, but no one reported the incidents, including the victim, Hindman said.

HT: HERP&ES

Great Homeschooling Post

Drop by 52 Churches and read

208: It’s True. I Only Homeschool to Piss Off Other People, Part I

Who does the brainwashing parents or public school teachers?

JESSE SCACCIA seems to think homeschool parents brainwash their children, these are what he feels are the risk of homeschooling and my rebuttal.

1. The “Othering” of Public School Students

Apparently it's OK for Jesse Scaccia to criticize homeschooling, homeschool parents and homeschool students but how dare we turn the tables and criticize the public schools and public school students. Apparently it never dawns on Scaccia that he is guilty of the very thing he is accusing homeschoolers of, intolerance. That said the majority of kids who attend public schools are nice kids, unfortunately it is the the trouble makers that make the headlines. Just as homeschoolers are stereotyped at geeky public school students have been stereotyped as troublemakers, sex crazed and drug users. Stereotypes that are not fair to either homeschoolers or public school students.

2. Too Much Control From One (Or Highly Limited) Information Sources

The problem with homeschooling is that the parents construct the learning environment. By so doing, they hand choose what elements of society their child is exposed to. If you don’t think this is dangerous, I don’t know what to say to you. A child taught by parents– even a group of parents– is being made privy to a paucity of the viewpoints and perspectives out there. Given that the homeschooler is likely to choose like-minded suplementary teachers (morally, ethically), this leaves the child, basically, in a position of being brainwashed.

Homeschooling isn't about control and our information sources are not limited. Just like public school students homeschoolers use the Internet, they watch TV, listen to the radio, download MP3's and chat with friends. We do not live in a vacuum.

3. It Takes A Myriad of Worldviews To Build A True Educational Environment

Even more importantly, we all agree that accepting others with different viewpoints is paramount to being a good, well-rounded person. Well, how can a child learn to accept and appreciate others if they aren’t around them?

Apparently it's impossible for Scaccia as he appears to be incapable of accepting homeschoolers, even though he is a product of the enlightened and tolerant public schools. As hard as it for Scaccia to grasp we do get out of the house. We meet people in our neighborhoods, in our community, at the grocery and at various other places.

The goal of education should be to teach one to think for themselves. Not as Scaccia believes to ram beliefs down a student's throat. Scaccia's real problem with homeschooling seems to be that he will miss the opportunity to "brainwash" some students who are lucky enough not to wind up in his classroom because they were homeschooled.

The Case for Homeschooling

Public school teachers must be really worried about their job security if they have to stoop to writing post criticizing homeschooling The case against homeschooling By JESSE SCACCIA. HT: Principled Discovery Do homeschoolers care too much?

Here are my (JESSE SCACCIA) top ten reasons why homeschooling parents are doing the wrong thing:

10. “You were totally home schooled” is an insult college kids use when mocking the geeky kid in the dorm (whether or not the offender was home schooled or not). And… say what you will… but it doesn’t feel nice to be considered an outsider, a natural outcropping of being homeschooled.

This reeks of desperation. I mean ADULTS are suppose to make educational choices for their children based on insults college kids use. Am I to infer that Jesse Scaccia would advocate removing children from public schools if college kids were to start using the phrase "You were totally public schooled" as an insult. And while Jesse Scaccia may view homeschoolers as "outsiders" others do not.

9. Call me old-fashioned, but a students’ classroom shouldn’t also be where they eat Fruit Loops and meat loaf (not at the same time I hope). It also shouldn’t be where the family gathers to watch American Idol or to play Wii. Students–from little ones to teens–deserve a learning-focused place to study. In modern society, we call them schools.

I like to think the world is our classroom.

8. Homeschooling is selfish. According to this article in USA Today, students who get homeschooled are increasingly from wealthy and well-educated families. To take these (I’m assuming) high achieving students out of our schools is a disservice to our less fortunate public school kids. Poorer students with less literate parents are more reliant on peer support and motivation, and they greatly benefit from the focus and commitment of their richer and higher achieving classmates.

As a parent I am responsible for making sure MY CHLDREN get the best education possible. No one has a problem with wealthy parents sending their children to the best colleges or the best private schools, so why are homeschoolers accused of being selfish for providing their children with the best education available to them. Jesse Scaccia argument smacks of socialism. I suppose Scaccia thinks we should all live in public housing because not everyone can afford a nice house.

7. God hates homeschooling. The study, done by the National Center for Education Statistics, notes that the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. To the homeschooling Believers out there, didn’t God say “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”? Didn’t he command, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me”? From my side, to take your faithful children out of schools is to miss an opportunity to spread the grace, power and beauty of the Lord to the common people. (Personally I’m agnostic, but I’m just saying…)

Well personally I could care less how God feels about homeschooling, apparently Jesse Scaccia is one of those people who believe those stupid homeschool stereotypes. Memo: ALL HOMESCHOOLERS ARE NOT CHRISTIAN FUNDEMENTALIST. In fact there are agnostic homeschoolers.

6. Homeschooling parent/teachers are arrogant to the point of lunacy. For real! My qualifications to teach English include a double major in English and education, two master’s degrees (education and journalism), a student teaching semester and multiple internship terms, real world experience as a writer, and years in the classroom dealing with different learning styles. So, first of all, homeschooling parent, you think you can teach English as well as me? Well, maybe you can. I’ll give you that. But there’s no way that you can teach English as well as me, and biology as well as a trained professional, and history… and Spanish… and art… and counsel for college as well as a school’s guidance counselor… and… and…

And we all know ALL public school teachers are as well educated as Jesse Scaccia (LOL). The beauty of homeschooling is PARENTS DO NOT HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING THEMSELVES. We join homeschool co-ops where parents teach classes that they are proficient in, we hire tutors, we enroll our children in college classes for dual credit, we take advantage of classes offered by museums for homeschool students. The list of resources available to homeschoolers is endless.

5. As a teacher, homeschooling kind of pisses me off. (That’s good enough for
#5.)

As a homeschooler Jesse Scaccia attitude toward homeschooling pisses me off. # 5 is a poor reason on Jesse Scaccia's part, apparently Scaccia was grasping at straws to find a #5. I know many public school teachers who are supportive of homeschooling. In fact I know some public school teachers who have "retired" in order to homeschool their own children.

4. Homeschooling could breed intolerance, and maybe even racism. Unless the student is being homeschooled at the MTV Real World house, there’s probably only one race/sexuality/background in the room. How can a young person learn to appreciate other cultures if he or she doesn’t live among them?

Jesse Scaccia displays a remarkable lack of tolerance for homeschoolers. Could it be because he is a product of PUBLIC SCHOOLS????? This criticism is so OUTDATED. Scaccia please keep up with the times, homeschoolers are a diverse bunch (more on homeschool diversity here) and there are INCLUSIVE Homeschool Groups.

3. And don’t give me this “they still participate in activities with public school kids” garbage. Socialization in our grand multi-cultural experiment we call America is a process that takes more than an hour a day, a few times a week. Homeschooling, undoubtedly, leaves the child unprepared socially.

Really that explains why the "Soccer Mom" didn't realize there were four homeschooled kids on her sons soccer team, see my post But They Are So Normal.

2. Homeschooling parents are arrogant, Part 2. According to Henry Cate, who runs the Why Homeschool blog, many highly educated, high-income parents are “probably people who are a little bit more comfortable in taking risks” in choosing a college or line of work. “The attributes that facilitate that might also facilitate them being more comfortable with home-schooling.

”More comfortable taking risks with their child’s education? Gamble on, I don’t know, the Superbowl, not your child’s future.

I don't think homeschooling is gambling with your child's future. It was very rewarding for us. My eldest son started college at 16. This is his senior year and he will graduate with a BS Degree in Computer Science. My youngest son starts college this fall.

1. And finally… have you met someone homeschooled? Not to hate, but
they do tend to be pretty geeky***.

Nice if you can't come up with a good reason insult them. I attended public school there were "geeky kids" , "weird kids" and other "social misfits" in my public school classrooms. Even though they had attended public school their whole life they never really fit in. If you attend public school be honest; you know some too.