In Response to the Supposedly Scholarly Critique of Homeschooling... @ Homeschooling on the Hudson
"Teach Your Children Well"....Or Else! @ PrawfsBlawg
On Educating Children: A Parentalist Manifesto by Steve Gilles
Taking Pierce Seriously: The Family, Religious Education, and Harm to Children by Richard W. Garnett
Notre Dame Law School
The Ministry of Truth Is Located in Texas @ PolitiCalypso
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Another Illiberal View About Homeschoolers
Illiberal Education: Constitutional Constraints on Homeschooling by Kimberly Alexandra Yuracko, Northwestern Law School
In case you are wondering about the definition of illiberal, from the Merriam Webster Dictionary
d: not broad-minded : bigoted
Ms. Yuracko's views on homeschooling and homeschoolers is certainly bigoted.
She says
Although homeschoolers are a diverse group, the homeschooling movement has come to be defined and dominated by its fundamentalist Christian majority many of whom choose to homeschool in order to shield their children from secular influences and liberal values.
At least they are finally catching on that homeschoolers are a diverse group, but contrary to what she believes homeschooling is not dominated by a fundamentalist Christian majority.
The reason for homeschooling that was most frequently cited as being applicable was concern about the environment of other schools including safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure. Eighty-five percent of homeschooled students were being homeschooled, in part, because of their parents’ concern about the environment of other schools. The next two reasons for homeschooling most frequently cited as applicable were to provide religious or moral instruction (72 percent) and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (68 percent). ~ Parents’ Reasons for Homeschooling
72% cited religious or moral instruction but no study reveals the parents religion affiliation. Therefore there is no data to support Ms. Yuracko's claim. One of my Pagan friends is homeschooling for religious reasons due to her daughter being harrassed at her former public school due to her Pagan beliefs. The majority of parents according to this study 85% choose to homeschool due to the school environment, not for religious reasons. I also have to question why Ms Yuracko believes it is OK for liberals to pass on their values in the public schools but not for conservatives to pass on their values to their own family members? BTW I consider myself a LIBERAL
The paper relies on federal state action doctrine and state constitution education clauses to argue that states must—not may or should—regulate homeschooling to ensure that parents provide their children with a basic minimum education and check rampant forms of sexism.
I have to give Ms. Yuracko credit, I think she is possible the first to accuse homeschoolers of practicing rampant forms of sexism.
Is homeschooling sexist
The Feminist Homeschool
Feminist homeschooling is educating your children with the understanding that feminism is as much a lifestyle as it is a movement. It teaches that women and men are of equal value, neither being better or more worthy than the other. (read the rest here)
From Just Enough, and Nothing More
Homeschooling Is Anti-Feminist?
Feminist Homeschooling Concerns
Home Education Magazine November-December 2000 - Articles
Is Homeschooling Sexist? - Laurae Lyster-Mensh
I am a equal partner with my husband. I have an equal say in any decisions made concerning our family. My work as a housewife and a (former) homeschool Mom is valued. We have never had strictly male/female jobs in our home. If I am sick my husband pitches in with the housework and both our boys have been taught how to cook and clean. I am also the one that keeps track of our finances and deals with the insurance, although hubby will help if I ask him to. The time when women had no say in decision making is long gone. The CHOICE to stay home and be a housewife should have the same value as the CHOICE some women make to work outside the home. Those women who seek to deny women the CHOICE to stay home are as wrong as those who in the past sought to keep women imprisoned in their homes.
In some homeschool families it is the husband who stays home and homeschools the kids while the wife works outside the home and supports her family. I am just glad we live in a country where we are free to make the CHOICES that are right for our individual families and not in a country where THE GOVERNMENT tells you what to think. Ms. Yuracko has no business using the government to ram her "sexist" beliefs down other women's throats.
At the moment I don't have time to download Ms Yuracko's bigoted paper on homeschooling and do a point by point rebuttal but I am sick and tired of women like Ms Yuracko and Ms. West trying to use the government to force their bigoted and intolerant beliefs on the rest of us.
In case you are wondering about the definition of illiberal, from the Merriam Webster Dictionary
d: not broad-minded : bigoted
Ms. Yuracko's views on homeschooling and homeschoolers is certainly bigoted.
She says
Although homeschoolers are a diverse group, the homeschooling movement has come to be defined and dominated by its fundamentalist Christian majority many of whom choose to homeschool in order to shield their children from secular influences and liberal values.
At least they are finally catching on that homeschoolers are a diverse group, but contrary to what she believes homeschooling is not dominated by a fundamentalist Christian majority.
The reason for homeschooling that was most frequently cited as being applicable was concern about the environment of other schools including safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure. Eighty-five percent of homeschooled students were being homeschooled, in part, because of their parents’ concern about the environment of other schools. The next two reasons for homeschooling most frequently cited as applicable were to provide religious or moral instruction (72 percent) and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (68 percent). ~ Parents’ Reasons for Homeschooling
72% cited religious or moral instruction but no study reveals the parents religion affiliation. Therefore there is no data to support Ms. Yuracko's claim. One of my Pagan friends is homeschooling for religious reasons due to her daughter being harrassed at her former public school due to her Pagan beliefs. The majority of parents according to this study 85% choose to homeschool due to the school environment, not for religious reasons. I also have to question why Ms Yuracko believes it is OK for liberals to pass on their values in the public schools but not for conservatives to pass on their values to their own family members? BTW I consider myself a LIBERAL
The paper relies on federal state action doctrine and state constitution education clauses to argue that states must—not may or should—regulate homeschooling to ensure that parents provide their children with a basic minimum education and check rampant forms of sexism.
I have to give Ms. Yuracko credit, I think she is possible the first to accuse homeschoolers of practicing rampant forms of sexism.
Is homeschooling sexist
The Feminist Homeschool
Feminist homeschooling is educating your children with the understanding that feminism is as much a lifestyle as it is a movement. It teaches that women and men are of equal value, neither being better or more worthy than the other. (read the rest here)
From Just Enough, and Nothing More
Homeschooling Is Anti-Feminist?
Feminist Homeschooling Concerns
Home Education Magazine November-December 2000 - Articles
Is Homeschooling Sexist? - Laurae Lyster-Mensh
I am a equal partner with my husband. I have an equal say in any decisions made concerning our family. My work as a housewife and a (former) homeschool Mom is valued. We have never had strictly male/female jobs in our home. If I am sick my husband pitches in with the housework and both our boys have been taught how to cook and clean. I am also the one that keeps track of our finances and deals with the insurance, although hubby will help if I ask him to. The time when women had no say in decision making is long gone. The CHOICE to stay home and be a housewife should have the same value as the CHOICE some women make to work outside the home. Those women who seek to deny women the CHOICE to stay home are as wrong as those who in the past sought to keep women imprisoned in their homes.
In some homeschool families it is the husband who stays home and homeschools the kids while the wife works outside the home and supports her family. I am just glad we live in a country where we are free to make the CHOICES that are right for our individual families and not in a country where THE GOVERNMENT tells you what to think. Ms. Yuracko has no business using the government to ram her "sexist" beliefs down other women's throats.
At the moment I don't have time to download Ms Yuracko's bigoted paper on homeschooling and do a point by point rebuttal but I am sick and tired of women like Ms Yuracko and Ms. West trying to use the government to force their bigoted and intolerant beliefs on the rest of us.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Robin L. West takes a potshot at homeschooling
The Harms of Homeschooling by Robin L. West is included in Philosophy & Public Opinion Quarterly The Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy School of Public Policy • University of Maryland (page 7) apparently no intelligence is needed to write for their quarterly.
She says
The explosion in homeschooling of the last quarter century, however, is a different phenomenon altogether. The majority of homeschoolers today, and by quite a margin, are devout, fundamentalist Protestants.
Really!!!!! I know Pagan Homeschoolers, Atheist Homeschoolers, Wicca Homeschoolers, Catholic Homeschoolers as well as a few Fundamentalist Protestant Homeschoolers. The Fundamentalist do not dominate the homeschooling world contrary to what Ms. West believes. In fact religion isn't even the main reason most parents choose to homeschool.
The reason for homeschooling that was most frequently cited as being applicable was concern about the environment of other schools including safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure. Eighty-five percent of homeschooled students were being homeschooled, in part, because of their parents’ concern about the environment of other schools. The next two reasons for homeschooling most frequently cited as applicable were to provide religious or moral instruction (72 percent) and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (68 percent). ~ Parents’ Reasons for Homeschooling
72% cited religious or moral instruction but no study reveals the parents religion affiliation. Therefore there is no data to support Ms. West claims. One of my Pagan friends is homeschooling for religious reasons due to her daughter being harrassed at her former public school due to her Pagan beliefs. The majority of parents according to this study 85% choose to homeschool due to the school environment.
Ms. West also seems confused about the history of homeschooling according to her it was illegal or highly regulated until the 1980's
The short answer to how it happened is simply that in the 1980s, all fifty state legislatures, in response to massive political pressure from religious parents and their lobbyists, legalized homeschooling.
But the modern homeschooling movement was actually lead by educators.
It is difficult to peg the exact origin of modern homeschooling. Some might say the seeds were being planted in the sixties and seventies by educational reformers and authors who questioned both schooling's methods and results. Notable among them are Ivan Illich (Deschooling Society, Harper & Row, 1971), Charles E. Silberman (Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking of American Education, Random House, 1970), and the prolific John Holt (How Children Fail, Dell Publishing, 1964; How Children Learn, Dell Publishing, 1967; What Do I Do Monday? Dell Publishing, 1970), a teacher who eventually gave up his original vision of school reform as hopeless. He began advocating instead no school for youngsters, and in 1977 began publishing Growing Without Schooling, a magazine that continues today even though John passed away in 1985. (Author's Note in 2005: Unfortunately, the inheritor no longer publishes this magazine.) ~ A Brief History of American Homeschooling
Ms West states
The main purpose of this essay is to criticize this “right to homeschool” that the religious parents and their lawyers and lobbyists have claimed, or created, over the past couple of decades. My criticism will rest primarily on the basis of the harms such a right might inflict upon the children so educated.
That's right "MIGHT" she has NO PROOF that homeschooling is actually harmful.
And talk about hypocritical she even concedes that unregulated homeschooling has been and continues to be successful.
Second, although I will be criticizing the right to completely deregulated homeschooling, I do not mean to deny for a moment that homeschooling itself is often—maybe usually—successful, when done responsibly. Passionately involved and loving parents, whether religious or not, can often better educate their children in small tutorials at home, than can cash strapped, under-motivated, inadequately supported, and overwhelmed public school teachers with too many students in their classrooms. Results bear this out, as homeschool advocates repeatedly point out (and as critics virtually never deny): the homeschooled children who are tested, or who take college boards, whether or not religious, perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, do very well on standardized tests, and on the average, they do better than their public school counterparts (though it must be noted that the parents and children who voluntarily subject themselves to testing are the self-selected educational elite of the homeschooling movement). My target is not the practice of homeschooling, whether religious or secular.My target, rather, is unregulated homeschooling—the total abdication of responsibility by the states for regulating the practice.
And yet it was unregulated homeschooling that allowed my kids to succeed. We NEVER did testing of any sort until they were ready to enter college and then they took the ACT. My eldest son started college at 16 based on his ACT scores. He now has a Bachelors of Science Degree in Computer Science and is working on his Masters. My youngest son has just completed his first semester of college as a full time student. Homeschooling's success is due to the freedom the parents and students enjoy to move at their own pace and study what is of interest to them, instead of being forced to follow some bureaucratic regulations.
She claims
First, children who are homeschooled with no state regulation are at greater risk for unreported and unnoticed physical abuse
Not true. Child abuse is NOT a Homeschooling Problem. Child Abuse Laws apply to all parents and Child Protective Services are tasked with protecting all children not just public school students. See Homeschooling and Child Abuse: A Response to Recent Media Reports
Second, there’s a public health risk. Children who attend public schools are required to have immunizations.
With all the controversy surrounding immunizations it is not necessarily in a child's best interest to have them receive immunizations. Also as homeschoolers are not crowded into classrooms with sick children they are less likely to contact diseases. Some states even offer exemptions to public school students.
Children are loved in a family because they are the children of the parents in the family. The“unconditional love” they receive is anything but unconditional: it is conditioned on the fact that they are their parents’ children. School—either public or private—ideally provides a welcome respite. A child is regarded and respected at school not because she is her parent’s child, but because she is a student: she is valued for traits and for a status, in other words, that are independent of her status as the parent’s genetic or adoptive offspring. The ideal teacher cares about the child as an individual, a learner, an actively curious person—she doesn’t care about the child because the child is hers. The child is regarded with respect equally to all the children in the class. In these ways, the school classroom, ideally, and the relations within it, is a model of some core aspects of citizenship.
Baloney and hogwash. I had public school teachers who bullied me and verbally abused me. I had other public school teachers that adored me and made me the class favorite. All the children in a classroom are not treated equally. And it seems daily I read about some public school student being sexually involved with a public school teacher or bullied by classmates. Public Schools are anything but safe havens.
Fundamentalist Protestant adults who were homeschooled over the last thirty years are not politically disengaged, far from it. They vote in far higher percentages than the rest of the population. They mobilize readily.
I thought being politically engaged was a good thing. Apparently Ms. West only wants those people who share her beliefs to vote. (BTW I am not a Fundamentalist Protestant Homeschooler, but I believe they have as much right to vote their beliefs as I have to vote my Liberal Secular beliefs.)
Child-raising that is relentlessly authoritarian risks instilling what developmental psychologists call “ethical servility”: a failure to mature morally beyond the recognition of duties of obedience.
So public schools aren't authoritarian, public schools students are allowed to do whatever they wish? Hogwash! Homeschool parents are not all relentlessly authoritarian and I dare say there are some public school teachers and parents who are relentlessly authoritarian too. And why do I get the idea that Robin L. West would not have the slightest problem with public schools students being obedient to the state and her political beliefs.
Finally, the economic harms. The average homeschooling family may have a higher income than the average non-homeschooler, as was recently reported by USA Today. The radically fundamentalist “movement” family, however, is considerably poorer than the population, and it is the participants in these movements—the so-called “patriarchy movement”and its “quiverfull” branch and related groups —that are the hardcore of the homeschooling movement. The husbands and wives in these families feel themselves to be under a religious compulsion to have large families, a homebound and submissive wife and mother who is responsible for the schooling of the children, and only one breadwinner. These families are not living in romantic, rural, self-sufficient farmhouses; they are in trailer parks, 1,000-square-foot homes, houses owned by relatives, and some, on tarps in fields or parking lots. Their lack of job skills, passed from one generation to the next, depresses the community’s overall economic health and their state’s tax base.
One can only wonder where Ms. West gets such garbage.
While half of private school students have family incomes of $75,001 or more, public and homeschooled students families are approximately equal in falling into income brackets of up to $25,000, $25,001-$50,000, $50,001-$75,000, and $75,001 and up. ~ Homeschool Statistics
So the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that homeschool students and public school students families are pretty much equal in income even though homeschoolers often only have one parent working.
However, even if we assume that the benefits of homeschooling when done well are quite substantial, and even if the harms of public school when done poorly are equally so, nothing follows regarding the wisdom of deregulating homeschooling.
Really!!! It is the very deregulation of homeschooling that allows homeschool students to flourish. If homeschoolers are required to meet the same regulations as public schools then you have destroyed homeschooling and just created mini public schools in the students homes.
Annual standardized testing is not the bane of all existence it is often made out to be, and it would give rightly proud parents and children alike a record—and evidence—of their accomplishments. It would also make clear where they had slipped, and where there is need for correction.
And who would pay for the expensive annual standardized testing? Where would the testing take place? Annual standardized testing is unnecessary in a homeschool environment as the parent teacher knows if their child student comprehends the material and is ready to advance to the next level. Also one of the chief criticisms being leveled at public schools is that valuable learning time is being wasted teaching to the test in order to improve test scores. Why would anyone want to force homeschoolers to teach to the test like public schools do?
Mandatory testing would give the states, and the parents, a way to ensure that the students are performing at a level consistent with their own abilities, and consistent with the abilities and performance of their public and private schooled peers. It would give the parents and the state a way to ensure that the children who should be college bound are being prepared for that path, or at least, it would ensure that the parents are aware of their children’s capacity for college level work. Periodic visits would open the door to college and career counseling, of benefit to both the children and their parents. They would give the state a window into the quality of home life, and a way to monitor signs of abuse as well as immunizations. The sanction for failure to comply with minimal curriculum, content, visitation, and testing requirements would simply be enrollment in a certified private or public school.
So homeschoolers should have their learning time disrupted by some bureaucrats visit to make Ms West happy. And who is going to pay for all the "parental monitoring" Ms. West wants? Lets leave raising children to the parents and keep the government and those of Ms. West ilk out of it.
Apparently Ms West inspiration for this diatribe against homeschooling is anti - homeschooler Robert Reich.
For further reading
How Fundamentalist, Patriarchal, Uneducated Homeschoolers Who Live on Tarps in Parking Lots with Their Eight Kids are Harming America by Joe Carter at First Thoughts
She says
The explosion in homeschooling of the last quarter century, however, is a different phenomenon altogether. The majority of homeschoolers today, and by quite a margin, are devout, fundamentalist Protestants.
Really!!!!! I know Pagan Homeschoolers, Atheist Homeschoolers, Wicca Homeschoolers, Catholic Homeschoolers as well as a few Fundamentalist Protestant Homeschoolers. The Fundamentalist do not dominate the homeschooling world contrary to what Ms. West believes. In fact religion isn't even the main reason most parents choose to homeschool.
The reason for homeschooling that was most frequently cited as being applicable was concern about the environment of other schools including safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure. Eighty-five percent of homeschooled students were being homeschooled, in part, because of their parents’ concern about the environment of other schools. The next two reasons for homeschooling most frequently cited as applicable were to provide religious or moral instruction (72 percent) and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (68 percent). ~ Parents’ Reasons for Homeschooling
72% cited religious or moral instruction but no study reveals the parents religion affiliation. Therefore there is no data to support Ms. West claims. One of my Pagan friends is homeschooling for religious reasons due to her daughter being harrassed at her former public school due to her Pagan beliefs. The majority of parents according to this study 85% choose to homeschool due to the school environment.
Ms. West also seems confused about the history of homeschooling according to her it was illegal or highly regulated until the 1980's
The short answer to how it happened is simply that in the 1980s, all fifty state legislatures, in response to massive political pressure from religious parents and their lobbyists, legalized homeschooling.
But the modern homeschooling movement was actually lead by educators.
It is difficult to peg the exact origin of modern homeschooling. Some might say the seeds were being planted in the sixties and seventies by educational reformers and authors who questioned both schooling's methods and results. Notable among them are Ivan Illich (Deschooling Society, Harper & Row, 1971), Charles E. Silberman (Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking of American Education, Random House, 1970), and the prolific John Holt (How Children Fail, Dell Publishing, 1964; How Children Learn, Dell Publishing, 1967; What Do I Do Monday? Dell Publishing, 1970), a teacher who eventually gave up his original vision of school reform as hopeless. He began advocating instead no school for youngsters, and in 1977 began publishing Growing Without Schooling, a magazine that continues today even though John passed away in 1985. (Author's Note in 2005: Unfortunately, the inheritor no longer publishes this magazine.) ~ A Brief History of American Homeschooling
Ms West states
The main purpose of this essay is to criticize this “right to homeschool” that the religious parents and their lawyers and lobbyists have claimed, or created, over the past couple of decades. My criticism will rest primarily on the basis of the harms such a right might inflict upon the children so educated.
That's right "MIGHT" she has NO PROOF that homeschooling is actually harmful.
And talk about hypocritical she even concedes that unregulated homeschooling has been and continues to be successful.
Second, although I will be criticizing the right to completely deregulated homeschooling, I do not mean to deny for a moment that homeschooling itself is often—maybe usually—successful, when done responsibly. Passionately involved and loving parents, whether religious or not, can often better educate their children in small tutorials at home, than can cash strapped, under-motivated, inadequately supported, and overwhelmed public school teachers with too many students in their classrooms. Results bear this out, as homeschool advocates repeatedly point out (and as critics virtually never deny): the homeschooled children who are tested, or who take college boards, whether or not religious, perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, do very well on standardized tests, and on the average, they do better than their public school counterparts (though it must be noted that the parents and children who voluntarily subject themselves to testing are the self-selected educational elite of the homeschooling movement). My target is not the practice of homeschooling, whether religious or secular.My target, rather, is unregulated homeschooling—the total abdication of responsibility by the states for regulating the practice.
And yet it was unregulated homeschooling that allowed my kids to succeed. We NEVER did testing of any sort until they were ready to enter college and then they took the ACT. My eldest son started college at 16 based on his ACT scores. He now has a Bachelors of Science Degree in Computer Science and is working on his Masters. My youngest son has just completed his first semester of college as a full time student. Homeschooling's success is due to the freedom the parents and students enjoy to move at their own pace and study what is of interest to them, instead of being forced to follow some bureaucratic regulations.
She claims
First, children who are homeschooled with no state regulation are at greater risk for unreported and unnoticed physical abuse
Not true. Child abuse is NOT a Homeschooling Problem. Child Abuse Laws apply to all parents and Child Protective Services are tasked with protecting all children not just public school students. See Homeschooling and Child Abuse: A Response to Recent Media Reports
Second, there’s a public health risk. Children who attend public schools are required to have immunizations.
With all the controversy surrounding immunizations it is not necessarily in a child's best interest to have them receive immunizations. Also as homeschoolers are not crowded into classrooms with sick children they are less likely to contact diseases. Some states even offer exemptions to public school students.
Children are loved in a family because they are the children of the parents in the family. The“unconditional love” they receive is anything but unconditional: it is conditioned on the fact that they are their parents’ children. School—either public or private—ideally provides a welcome respite. A child is regarded and respected at school not because she is her parent’s child, but because she is a student: she is valued for traits and for a status, in other words, that are independent of her status as the parent’s genetic or adoptive offspring. The ideal teacher cares about the child as an individual, a learner, an actively curious person—she doesn’t care about the child because the child is hers. The child is regarded with respect equally to all the children in the class. In these ways, the school classroom, ideally, and the relations within it, is a model of some core aspects of citizenship.
Baloney and hogwash. I had public school teachers who bullied me and verbally abused me. I had other public school teachers that adored me and made me the class favorite. All the children in a classroom are not treated equally. And it seems daily I read about some public school student being sexually involved with a public school teacher or bullied by classmates. Public Schools are anything but safe havens.
Fundamentalist Protestant adults who were homeschooled over the last thirty years are not politically disengaged, far from it. They vote in far higher percentages than the rest of the population. They mobilize readily.
I thought being politically engaged was a good thing. Apparently Ms. West only wants those people who share her beliefs to vote. (BTW I am not a Fundamentalist Protestant Homeschooler, but I believe they have as much right to vote their beliefs as I have to vote my Liberal Secular beliefs.)
Child-raising that is relentlessly authoritarian risks instilling what developmental psychologists call “ethical servility”: a failure to mature morally beyond the recognition of duties of obedience.
So public schools aren't authoritarian, public schools students are allowed to do whatever they wish? Hogwash! Homeschool parents are not all relentlessly authoritarian and I dare say there are some public school teachers and parents who are relentlessly authoritarian too. And why do I get the idea that Robin L. West would not have the slightest problem with public schools students being obedient to the state and her political beliefs.
Finally, the economic harms. The average homeschooling family may have a higher income than the average non-homeschooler, as was recently reported by USA Today. The radically fundamentalist “movement” family, however, is considerably poorer than the population, and it is the participants in these movements—the so-called “patriarchy movement”and its “quiverfull” branch and related groups —that are the hardcore of the homeschooling movement. The husbands and wives in these families feel themselves to be under a religious compulsion to have large families, a homebound and submissive wife and mother who is responsible for the schooling of the children, and only one breadwinner. These families are not living in romantic, rural, self-sufficient farmhouses; they are in trailer parks, 1,000-square-foot homes, houses owned by relatives, and some, on tarps in fields or parking lots. Their lack of job skills, passed from one generation to the next, depresses the community’s overall economic health and their state’s tax base.
One can only wonder where Ms. West gets such garbage.
While half of private school students have family incomes of $75,001 or more, public and homeschooled students families are approximately equal in falling into income brackets of up to $25,000, $25,001-$50,000, $50,001-$75,000, and $75,001 and up. ~ Homeschool Statistics
So the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that homeschool students and public school students families are pretty much equal in income even though homeschoolers often only have one parent working.
However, even if we assume that the benefits of homeschooling when done well are quite substantial, and even if the harms of public school when done poorly are equally so, nothing follows regarding the wisdom of deregulating homeschooling.
Really!!! It is the very deregulation of homeschooling that allows homeschool students to flourish. If homeschoolers are required to meet the same regulations as public schools then you have destroyed homeschooling and just created mini public schools in the students homes.
Annual standardized testing is not the bane of all existence it is often made out to be, and it would give rightly proud parents and children alike a record—and evidence—of their accomplishments. It would also make clear where they had slipped, and where there is need for correction.
And who would pay for the expensive annual standardized testing? Where would the testing take place? Annual standardized testing is unnecessary in a homeschool environment as the parent teacher knows if their child student comprehends the material and is ready to advance to the next level. Also one of the chief criticisms being leveled at public schools is that valuable learning time is being wasted teaching to the test in order to improve test scores. Why would anyone want to force homeschoolers to teach to the test like public schools do?
Mandatory testing would give the states, and the parents, a way to ensure that the students are performing at a level consistent with their own abilities, and consistent with the abilities and performance of their public and private schooled peers. It would give the parents and the state a way to ensure that the children who should be college bound are being prepared for that path, or at least, it would ensure that the parents are aware of their children’s capacity for college level work. Periodic visits would open the door to college and career counseling, of benefit to both the children and their parents. They would give the state a window into the quality of home life, and a way to monitor signs of abuse as well as immunizations. The sanction for failure to comply with minimal curriculum, content, visitation, and testing requirements would simply be enrollment in a certified private or public school.
So homeschoolers should have their learning time disrupted by some bureaucrats visit to make Ms West happy. And who is going to pay for all the "parental monitoring" Ms. West wants? Lets leave raising children to the parents and keep the government and those of Ms. West ilk out of it.
Apparently Ms West inspiration for this diatribe against homeschooling is anti - homeschooler Robert Reich.
For further reading
How Fundamentalist, Patriarchal, Uneducated Homeschoolers Who Live on Tarps in Parking Lots with Their Eight Kids are Harming America by Joe Carter at First Thoughts
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Carnival of Homeschooling ~ The Dog & Cat Edition
Fenris was adopted from the Bay St. Louis/ Waveland Animal Shelter. He is a well loved Mutt. The best guess is he is an Great Pyrenees & Australian Shepherd Mix. Fenris' name comes from Norse Mythology.
The Fenris Wolf (aka Fenrir) is a creature of the Asgardian dimension who is said to be an offspring of Loki and the giant Angrboda. It is a huge wolf (usual height 15 feet tall) with human-like intelligence, vast strength and the capacity to change its shape to that of a god or to change its size to that of a real wolf.
Little Bit is a Purebred Great Pyrenees.Just like there is a lot of diversity in the dog world there is a lot of diversity among homeschoolers.
Homeschool Diversity
A Tea Party Question is featured at Why Homeschool. How many homeschoolers are involved in the tea party movement and are homeschoolers more likely to support the tea party idea? I am interested in seeing what conclusions are drawn from the polls.
This is Jen's first time to participate in a blog carnival she brings Politically Correct Homeschoolers @ Joy Ever After to us.
Charybdis & her litter mate Scylla were rescued by the Mississippi Alliance for Spay and Neuter, after their Mother (a feral cat) was poisoned. We adopted them when they were four weeks old and bottle fed them. Sadly loss is a part of life. Our sweet Charybdis left us too soon.
How Homeschoolers cope with change
Sometimes homeschoolers feel overwhelmed to the point of quiting Katherine explores this topic at No Fighting, No Biting! (I love the title of her blog) in her post school tour.
Something we hardly see in the Deep South is snow, although at the moment we are dealing with colder then usual temperatures. My pond actually froze so I found Shannon Dodd's Snow Day! posted at Mommyapolis very timely.
Scylla
Scylla and her sister Charybdis were named after monsters in Greek Mythology. Homer mentions them in the Odyssey.
SocksScylla & Socks took part in the Pet Postcard Project. Every pet postcard you send in earns 1 pound of food for shelter dogs. Homeschoolers also take part in many service projects.
How Homeschoolers Define Success
Cheryl Henderson-Khalid presents Success on Paper or Success in Life ? Which Would You Choose? posted at Homeschooling for 3.
ChristineMM presents Thoughts on Teaching Fractions and Student Work Ethic posted at The Thinking Mother.
This is Artemisia, Artemis for short she is the newest addition to our household.Artemisia is the name of a plant and suits this lovely petite girl to perfection. Artemisia(pronounced /ˌɑrtɨˈmiːziə/) is a large, diverse genus of plants with between 200 to 400 species belonging to the daisy family Asteraceae. The beliefs surrounding this genus are founded upon the strong association between the herbs of the genus Artemisia and the moon goddess Artemis, who is believed to hold these powers. In Israel Artemisia is sometimes referred to by the name "Shiva", the Queen of Sheba. It is also said that the genus Artemisia (which includes over 400 plants) may be named after an ancient botanist. Artemisia was the wife and sister of the Greek/Persian King Mausolus from the name of whose tomb we get the word mausoleum. Artemisia, who ruled for three years after the king's death, was a botanist and medical researcher, and died in 350 B.C.
In Greek Mythology Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo. She is a goddess of transitions, a hunter, a virgin, and one of the goddesses who assists at childbirth. She was on the Trojan side in Homer's Iliad.
Artemis knows first hand that being the new kid on the block isn't easy.
Homeschooling Resources
This week at home ( a homeschool diary) chronicles a week in the life of a homeschooling family posted at Home is Where You Start From.
Cristina presents What Moth is This? posted at Home Spun Juggling.
Sebastian at Percival Blakeney Academy post Homeschool Mini Conference telling how even a small group of homeschoolers can put on a curriculum fair that is helpful to current and prospective homeschoolers alike.
Margy Hesser presents How To Write a Lab Report and Keep a Lab Book posted at Homeschool High School.
Apples and Jammies (what a cute name for a blog) brings us Educating Myself about some homeschooling books Beth has been reading.
Foreign Language Instruction in Our Home posted @ Petticoat Government.
Large Family Workbox System for Homeschool posted @ Peace Creek on the Prairie
Craft Stew presents Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions posted at Craft Stew.
Sarah presents SmallWorld's WordSmithery: Form Poetry posted at SmallWorld.
The Home Education Blog gives advice on planning homeschool lessons.
Rachel Lynette presents 10 Fun and Creative Thank You Note Ideas posted at Minds in Bloom.
Misty presents Free Online Homeschool Videos: Math, Science, and More! posted at Homeschool Bytes.
Amanda at All American Family is a first time submitter and she has Great Homeschooling Resources for your perusal.
Miscellaneous
Work and Play, Day by Day offers Reasons for Homeschooling- Part 1 .
Designated Conservative reports on Killing Homeschooling in Michigan – The Other Shoe to Drop in 2010?
A Call to Homeschool posted at True Femininity has compelling biblical and logical reasons to homeschool your children.
This ~n~That
Anne Simone presents 50 Best Cookbooks for the College Kid in Your Life posted at Online Schools.
Rosetta Stone, FuseFly, and Heart of the Matter Online are sponsoring their first Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip for homeschoolers and their families to travel to France and Spain this summer. Organized by ACIS, the premier educational travel company, the trip includes visits to famous European sites and kicks off on August 2, 2010 in Paris, France and concludes in Madrid, Spain on August 11, 2010. Homeschool families as well as homeschoolers over the age of 16 are encouraged to register now to receive preferred pricing. Visit the Homeschool Language Learning & Networking Trip site to view additional trip details or register. Hurry! The deadline to register is February 15, 2010.
Honeypurple presents 100 Best Job Sites for B-School Students posted at Online Colleges.org.
Dolfin presents Our Store posted at Lionden Landing.
Laura Kluge presents Top 20 Blogs to Help Working Mom’s posted at Court Reporter School.
This wraps up The Dog & Cat Edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. Thank you for participating. The next Carnival of Homeschooling will be hosted by Home School Dad. To find out how to submit a post click here.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Robotics Anyone
According to The Sun Herald It’s robotics season again at Stennis. My youngest son was a member of Team Fusion 364 and it is a wonderful group and this is a great program. I encourage any homeschoolers on the MS Gulf Coast to look into joining. If you are interested contact Mr. Gunkel by email at andy.gunkel@gulfportschools.org.
To read more about my sons experience with Team Fusion 364 click here.
To read more about my sons experience with Team Fusion 364 click here.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Rosetta Stone Rewards Homeschoolers with First Annual 10-Day European Language Learning and Networking Trip
Homeschoolers and their Families Connect Learning with Life through Visits to Paris, Madrid and Barcelona in Summer 2010
ARLINGTON, VA— Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE:RST), a leading provider of technology-based language-learning solutions, announced today that the company will sponsor their first Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip for homeschoolers and their families to travel to France and Spain this summer. Homeschoolers will be able to put their French and Spanish language skills to use and experience all of the benefits of immersion the moment they arrive abroad. The Rosetta Stone Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip kicks off on August 2, 2010 in Paris, France and concludes in Madrid, Spain on August 11, 2010.
The 10-day long trip is co-sponsored by FuseFly, a social network connecting homeschoolers around the world, and Heart of the Matter Online, a home education website dedicated to bridging the gap between parents and children. Organized by ACIS, the premier educational travel company sponsoring student trips worldwide, the trip includes visits to famous European sites such as the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Palace of Versailles, Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia and the Prado Museum. The first-annual trip will allow homeschoolers to fully experience all of the benefits of their language curriculum while learning about history firsthand.
“We are thrilled to sponsor the inaugural Rosetta Stone Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip,” said Eric Duehring, Rosetta Stone general manager and vice president of consumer marketing and sales. “The trip provides families that are dedicated to the education of their child with the chance to immerse themselves in another culture and truly experience the power of learning a new language. For the homeschoolers themselves, this is a unique learning opportunity that will have lasting impact on their future personal, educational and professional development.”
Rosetta Stone® Homeschool curriculum provides students with a rich, interactive and engaging language-learning experience. The scalability and flexibility of the solution allows parents to assign lessons based on students’ individual needs, allowing students at all levels to learn a language. Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3 helps learners develop speaking, listening, reading and writing skills easily and systematically from the very beginning.
Homeschool families as well as homeschoolers over the age of 16 are encouraged to register now to receive preferred pricing. The deadline to register is February 15, 2010. A Rosetta Stone purchase is not required to participate. For more information or questions pertaining to Rosetta Stone Homeschool or the Rosetta Stone Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip, contact homeschool@rosettastone.com .
ARLINGTON, VA— Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE:RST), a leading provider of technology-based language-learning solutions, announced today that the company will sponsor their first Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip for homeschoolers and their families to travel to France and Spain this summer. Homeschoolers will be able to put their French and Spanish language skills to use and experience all of the benefits of immersion the moment they arrive abroad. The Rosetta Stone Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip kicks off on August 2, 2010 in Paris, France and concludes in Madrid, Spain on August 11, 2010.
The 10-day long trip is co-sponsored by FuseFly, a social network connecting homeschoolers around the world, and Heart of the Matter Online, a home education website dedicated to bridging the gap between parents and children. Organized by ACIS, the premier educational travel company sponsoring student trips worldwide, the trip includes visits to famous European sites such as the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Palace of Versailles, Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia and the Prado Museum. The first-annual trip will allow homeschoolers to fully experience all of the benefits of their language curriculum while learning about history firsthand.
“We are thrilled to sponsor the inaugural Rosetta Stone Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip,” said Eric Duehring, Rosetta Stone general manager and vice president of consumer marketing and sales. “The trip provides families that are dedicated to the education of their child with the chance to immerse themselves in another culture and truly experience the power of learning a new language. For the homeschoolers themselves, this is a unique learning opportunity that will have lasting impact on their future personal, educational and professional development.”
Rosetta Stone® Homeschool curriculum provides students with a rich, interactive and engaging language-learning experience. The scalability and flexibility of the solution allows parents to assign lessons based on students’ individual needs, allowing students at all levels to learn a language. Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3 helps learners develop speaking, listening, reading and writing skills easily and systematically from the very beginning.
Homeschool families as well as homeschoolers over the age of 16 are encouraged to register now to receive preferred pricing. The deadline to register is February 15, 2010. A Rosetta Stone purchase is not required to participate. For more information or questions pertaining to Rosetta Stone Homeschool or the Rosetta Stone Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip, contact homeschool@rosettastone.com .
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Soliciting Homeschool Post
I am hosting the upcoming Carnival of Homeschooling and I would LOVE for you to submit a post. To find out how go here.
Possible topics
Possible topics
- Homeschool diversity
- How homeschoolers cope with change
- Homeschool resources
- How homeschoolers define success/ how homeschoolers are involved in their communities
- Anything you can come up with
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Why Homeschool: Carnival of Homeschool: Week 210 - The 4th Anniversary
Why Homeschool: Carnival of Homeschool: Week 210 - The 4th Anniversary
I'll be hosting the next Carnival so please get those submissions in.
I'll be hosting the next Carnival so please get those submissions in.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
World Nut Daily's Nuttiness
I started reading Homeschooling and socialism by Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld and was overcome by the sheer nuttiness of the post.
In a socialist system, the state owns the children. Parents are merely breeders, and since homeschoolers tend to like large families, the population-control socialists will no doubt try to abolish homeschooling.
News flash not all homeschoolers have or want large families. The majority of homeschooling families I know have one or two kids, just like their public school counterparts.
And now in America, we have a socialist president in the White House and a Congress controlled by the Marxist left wing of the Democratic party. These socialists already have a government-controlled education system which is turning out young Americans who don’t know the difference between socialism and capitalism, or a democracy and a constitutional republic. They have been so totally dumbed down that they are willing to accept the chains of socialist control over their lives as inevitable. And since it promises economic security – the security of enslavement – why fight it?
Gosh President Obama has managed to dumb down America's school children in less then a year. One would have thought some of the lessons American Public School Students learned during the EIGHT YEARS President George W. Bush was in office would have had some sort of impact.
The reason why the socialists in power are determined to saddle the nation with a universal, national health-care system is because it will give them complete control over the lives of everyone, including homeschoolers who will be forced to accept government-imposed health insurance. All of this is patently unconstitutional. But socialists have always considered the United States Constitution to be an obstacle to their goal of total power.
Geez, it couldn't have anything to do with the unaffordablity of insurance for many Working Americans. Or the fact that the uninsured are a drain on our economy. Nope it is all a plot by those socialists to enslave us how silly of us to think it is to help NORMAL WORKING AMERICANS AFFORD MEDICAL INSURANCE. Amusingly enough the majority of these NUTS don't have a problem with GOVERNMENT FLOOD INSURANCE or MEDICARE.
And judging from the speed with which they want to transform America before the public has a chance to read their 2,000-page legislation, it is obvious that they are serious in their intent to destroy our free way of life.
Now why the nuts can't go online and read the legislation is beyond me. I guess it is easier to whine that the public hasn't had a chance to read it then to actually read it and give intelligent reasons why you oppose it.
H.R.3962 - Affordable Health Care for America Act
This is the House health care bill that was approved by the House of Representatives on Nov. 7, 2009. Broadly, it seeks to expand health care coverage to the approximately 40 million Americans who are currently uninsured by lowering the cost of health care and making the system more efficient. To that end, it includes a new government-run insurance plan (a.k.a. a public option) to compete with the private companies, a requirement that all Americans have health insurance, a ban on denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition and, to pay for it all, a surtax on individuals with incomes above $500,000.
You can read the Senate version here.
In a socialist system, the state owns the children. Parents are merely breeders, and since homeschoolers tend to like large families, the population-control socialists will no doubt try to abolish homeschooling.
News flash not all homeschoolers have or want large families. The majority of homeschooling families I know have one or two kids, just like their public school counterparts.
And now in America, we have a socialist president in the White House and a Congress controlled by the Marxist left wing of the Democratic party. These socialists already have a government-controlled education system which is turning out young Americans who don’t know the difference between socialism and capitalism, or a democracy and a constitutional republic. They have been so totally dumbed down that they are willing to accept the chains of socialist control over their lives as inevitable. And since it promises economic security – the security of enslavement – why fight it?
Gosh President Obama has managed to dumb down America's school children in less then a year. One would have thought some of the lessons American Public School Students learned during the EIGHT YEARS President George W. Bush was in office would have had some sort of impact.
The reason why the socialists in power are determined to saddle the nation with a universal, national health-care system is because it will give them complete control over the lives of everyone, including homeschoolers who will be forced to accept government-imposed health insurance. All of this is patently unconstitutional. But socialists have always considered the United States Constitution to be an obstacle to their goal of total power.
Geez, it couldn't have anything to do with the unaffordablity of insurance for many Working Americans. Or the fact that the uninsured are a drain on our economy. Nope it is all a plot by those socialists to enslave us how silly of us to think it is to help NORMAL WORKING AMERICANS AFFORD MEDICAL INSURANCE. Amusingly enough the majority of these NUTS don't have a problem with GOVERNMENT FLOOD INSURANCE or MEDICARE.
And judging from the speed with which they want to transform America before the public has a chance to read their 2,000-page legislation, it is obvious that they are serious in their intent to destroy our free way of life.
Now why the nuts can't go online and read the legislation is beyond me. I guess it is easier to whine that the public hasn't had a chance to read it then to actually read it and give intelligent reasons why you oppose it.
H.R.3962 - Affordable Health Care for America Act
This is the House health care bill that was approved by the House of Representatives on Nov. 7, 2009. Broadly, it seeks to expand health care coverage to the approximately 40 million Americans who are currently uninsured by lowering the cost of health care and making the system more efficient. To that end, it includes a new government-run insurance plan (a.k.a. a public option) to compete with the private companies, a requirement that all Americans have health insurance, a ban on denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition and, to pay for it all, a surtax on individuals with incomes above $500,000.
You can read the Senate version here.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
CALISTA WAS A VICTIM OF LAZY OR INEPT CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES.
Ron French is totally WRONG in his post Lax home-school laws put kids at risk , nothing could be further from the truth. And I have a question for Mr. French WHERE WAS CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES? ????
By his own admission several complaints had been filed with CPS.
Several complaints were lodged against the Springers to Children's Protective Services. It's not known publicly whether Centreville school officials were the source of those complaints, because complainants are kept confidential.
Did CPS ignore the complaints? Did they investigate at all? Homeschooling would in NO WAY prevent Child Protective Services from investigating complaints. This is a clear case where CPS FAILED TO DO THEIR JOB.
And then there is this
Calista Springer lay tethered to her bed by a dog collar while her siblings went off to school each morning.
Why didn't the siblings who were in public school get help for their sister? Why didn't they tell a teacher or school counselor?
*Note a commenter took issue with my statement that the siblings could have told a teacher or a school counselor and pointed out that victims of abuse seldom ask for help. I am no way blaming Calista's siblings for her death. But homeschool critics often state that Public School Students can tell teachers/guidance counselor of abuse and ask for help and that this option is not open to homeschoolers. I am merely pointing out that Calista's siblings were in PUBLIC SCHOOL and could have told a teacher/guidance counselor and didn't.
"Home school played a role in Calista's death," said prosecutor McDonough. "They basically eliminated any person who could have reported abuse, and the justification was the home school law."
NO IT DIDN'T!!!!! The fact that the parents claimed to be homeschooling Calista in no way prevented CPS from doing their job. CALISTA WAS A VICTIM OF LAZY OR INEPT CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES.
By his own admission several complaints had been filed with CPS.
Several complaints were lodged against the Springers to Children's Protective Services. It's not known publicly whether Centreville school officials were the source of those complaints, because complainants are kept confidential.
Did CPS ignore the complaints? Did they investigate at all? Homeschooling would in NO WAY prevent Child Protective Services from investigating complaints. This is a clear case where CPS FAILED TO DO THEIR JOB.
And then there is this
Calista Springer lay tethered to her bed by a dog collar while her siblings went off to school each morning.
Why didn't the siblings who were in public school get help for their sister? Why didn't they tell a teacher or school counselor?
*Note a commenter took issue with my statement that the siblings could have told a teacher or a school counselor and pointed out that victims of abuse seldom ask for help. I am no way blaming Calista's siblings for her death. But homeschool critics often state that Public School Students can tell teachers/guidance counselor of abuse and ask for help and that this option is not open to homeschoolers. I am merely pointing out that Calista's siblings were in PUBLIC SCHOOL and could have told a teacher/guidance counselor and didn't.
"Home school played a role in Calista's death," said prosecutor McDonough. "They basically eliminated any person who could have reported abuse, and the justification was the home school law."
NO IT DIDN'T!!!!! The fact that the parents claimed to be homeschooling Calista in no way prevented CPS from doing their job. CALISTA WAS A VICTIM OF LAZY OR INEPT CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The Common Room: Homeschooling Blog Carnival
I just had a chance to glance at The Common Room: Homeschooling Blog Carnival, but what I saw was so funny. Drop by and see for yourself.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Are you looking for Academic Help?
Search no further, check out Clickademics for help with Math, Science, English, History and Study Skills. For more information contact Bradley Peterson.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Spare Me From The Religious Right & The Loony Left
I really have to wonder about people. First there was the person who contacted me about advertising their homeschooling product on my blog. Obviously the man hadn't bothered to read my blog or he would have know that there was no way I would advertise his product, and that while I may be a fellow homeschooler I certainly don't share his Fundamentalist Christian beliefs.
Then along came this conspiracy theory loon, who believes all homeschoolers are Fundamentalist Christians bent on world domination and establishing an American Theocracy.
He shares such gems as:
millions of vulnerable children (estimates are suspect because of poor reporting requirements) became virtual prisoners in their own homes, pawns in a scheme to overthrow the United States Government and replace it with a theocracy
The majority of Homeschooled children are not prisoners and they certainly aren't part of some scheme to overthrow the government.
Lead by radicals, this movement is creating a virtual fifth column of ignorant children raised to hate democracy and to revile and distrust their government institutions.
Homeschoolers certainly aren't ignorant.
Kansas City area homeschoolers win BEST robotics competition
Local Homeschooler, Anthony Hengst, named Florida Geographic Bee Semi-Finalist
Homeschooled 6th-grader wins Pilot spelling bee
Homeschooled boy wins national science contest
With sequestered children constantly supervised by zealous despotic parents, the indoctrination of a backward debauched religion can take place 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Honestly this is so ludicrous I am at a loss for words. Obviously Richard Collins INTOLERANCE for those whose religious beliefs are different from his is showing. He goes on to mention anti-homeschooler Rob Reich.
Continue reading here.
Secular Homeschool Support Groups by State
Then along came this conspiracy theory loon, who believes all homeschoolers are Fundamentalist Christians bent on world domination and establishing an American Theocracy.
He shares such gems as:
millions of vulnerable children (estimates are suspect because of poor reporting requirements) became virtual prisoners in their own homes, pawns in a scheme to overthrow the United States Government and replace it with a theocracy
The majority of Homeschooled children are not prisoners and they certainly aren't part of some scheme to overthrow the government.
Lead by radicals, this movement is creating a virtual fifth column of ignorant children raised to hate democracy and to revile and distrust their government institutions.
Homeschoolers certainly aren't ignorant.
Kansas City area homeschoolers win BEST robotics competition
Local Homeschooler, Anthony Hengst, named Florida Geographic Bee Semi-Finalist
Homeschooled 6th-grader wins Pilot spelling bee
Homeschooled boy wins national science contest
With sequestered children constantly supervised by zealous despotic parents, the indoctrination of a backward debauched religion can take place 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Honestly this is so ludicrous I am at a loss for words. Obviously Richard Collins INTOLERANCE for those whose religious beliefs are different from his is showing. He goes on to mention anti-homeschooler Rob Reich.
Continue reading here.
Secular Homeschool Support Groups by State
Saturday, December 12, 2009
What a crackpot
Posted by Richard Collins Homeschool regulation must be a top priority for the Obama administration.
Just when I thought the right wing had wackiness corned the liberals produce their very own nutcase.
Just when I thought the right wing had wackiness corned the liberals produce their very own nutcase.
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