The state's graduation rate is 60 percent. Of the students entering ninth-grade, 35 percent drop out before graduation.
Holy Land Park scored a major victory this summer when Gov. Jeb Bush signed a bill granting a property-tax exemption to nonprofit organizations that display biblical manuscripts or that stage scenes from the Bible. Holy Land paid a team of lobbyists between $10,000 and $30,000 to push the legislation through, according to lobbyists' records.
Two teenage boys amassed a cache of guns, ammunition, bombs and other weapons at their homes and apparently planned to use them to attack their high school, authorities said Thursday.
Her You Tube profile states Bree is home-schooled . Viewers are led to believe she is the daughter of strictly religious parents. But somehow Bree is able to find the time and technology to upload video blogs of her innermost thoughts, without her parents knowledge. Too bad they can't come up with anything more original then the typical homeschool stereotypes.
You see it's a hoax. Bree is played by actress Jessica Rose, a 20-ish resident of New Zealand and Los Angeles and a graduate of the New York Film Academy. The whole project appears to be the early serialized version of what eventually will become a movie.
It certainly doesn't portray homeschoolers in the best light. Considering the public generally has a lot of misconceptions about homeschoolers this is one hoax that needs to be brought to light sooner rather then later. If you want to do a fictionalized story about homeschoolers fine, but make sure everyone knows it's fiction.
Dana Hanley at Homeland Stupidity (gotta love that blog title) defends homeschoolers from Kelley Course's outrageous demand that homeschoolers be subject to visits from social services in Indiana.
McGann's Factors has tips for homeschoolers who wish to attend MIT.
Related Tags: homeschoolers, social services, Kelley Course, Indiana, , MIT, admission policy
Prior to the 2006-2007 school year, Avon Grove School District sent a letter to homeschooling parents notifying them that it had revised its policy for home education programs. Unfortunately, the new policy had little resemblance to the actual requirements for homeschooling under Pennsylvania law. The most egregious deviations from state law were as follows:
*The program of home instruction had to be deemed satisfactory by the Avon Grove School Board in order to receive approval.
*Parents had to submit a written application to the superintendent requesting authorization to conduct a home education program and meet with the superintendent to demonstrate that the parent/guardian has the capability of providing the educational program.
*The policy said that the District reserves the right to have the student evaluated by the school psychologist or other trained personnel to determine the student's mental ability as well as achievement/instructional level.
*The parents had to submit proposed instructional materials to the school district for review prior to approval of the home education program.
*Parents had to be monitored every month to determine whether or not the instructional program is being completed according to the requirements of the School District and state regulations and standards.
*Students receiving in-home instruction had to participate in all standardized testing for public school students at the public school.
*Parents were required to complete the school district's report card indicating the student's rate of progress and submit a copy of the report card to the appropriate building principal on the dates specified by the district.
*Ignoring the administrative procedure of state law, the policy authorized the school district to summarily terminate the home education program if it is determined the student is not making responsible learning progress.
In a guest post on Spunky's blog Annette discusses the importance of distinguishing between Public School at Home and Homeschooling.
For those of you who just don't understand the difference, I'll attempt to explain; in terms hopefully even the densest among us can understand. Public School at Home is like renting. You may live in the house, you may consider the house your home; but no matter how often you refer to it as your home it still belongs to your landlord. You can't make changes to the house without his permission and he can kick you out when your lease is up. With public school at home the government (landlord) calls the shots. Homeschooling on the other hand is like being a homeowner, you are free to make changes to your home whenever you want, if you want to rip out the carpeting and replace it with tile; there isn't a problem it's your house. With homeschooling the parents (owners) call the shots. Those of us who wish to distinguish between public school at home (renters) and homeschoolers (homeowners) aren't being mean, we don't feel superior, we aren't elitist and we aren't trying to keep you out of our neighborhood. We are merely trying to explain that there is a difference between doing public school at home and homeschooling. We don't want people (especially lawmakers) to blur the lines. We don't want the government to take away our rights. We will cheerfully welcome you into our groups; just do everyone a favor and don't call yourselves homeschoolers. It confuses people like Dee, who think just because Dan voluntarily chooses to do public school at home and have government oversight other homeschoolers should fall in line and do public school at home too.
Be sure to check out Annette's post on Spunky's blog, she has done a lot of research and her post is very informative.
At issue is a proposal before a state Board of Education committee that would provide science teachers with guidelines for teaching topics. Supporters say it would force students to think critically about complex issues. Critics say it is an attempt to undermine science by encouraging students to question the validity of evolution, stem-cell research and global warming.
Today, my son formally starts Kindergarten with Ohio Virtual Academy, a homeschooling program chartered as a public school, so our taxpayer dollars go to our homeschooling!
If I understand the comments of the folks above, they are against being accountable to anyone but the Lord for their homeschooling practices. Being accountable to the Lord is of utmost importance, but I have known parents who homeschool who need to be held accountable to more than just the Lord, because their children are not being taught well. In fact, sometimes their children cannot read at their grade level despite being of above average intelligence. I am concerned about those who just decide that their children don't need to study a certain subject such as math. Legislation might be avoided if homeschoolers would voluntarily be accountable to organized homeschool groups. Being involved with an organized group should beconsidered because of its great benefits rather than its limitations. I applaud you for choosing such a program.
Dan, I live in Ohio too. My oldest goes to Akron Digital Academy, a cyber school formed by the Akron Public School Board. My other four students are home schooled in that I filled out the notification form and sent an assessment by a certified teacher that they were working at their own level as required by Ohio law. So stating all that, I have to say that I love Bill Bennett's program. If I ever decided to use a public cyber school for my next oldest child, that's the one I would go with! However, it's not homeschooling. The legal requirements for enrolling my child in ADA was a lot different than what was required to homeschool. He has to take the Ohio proficiency tests, just as your son will. They are different.
In Arkansas -The U.S. Department of Education employees who oversee the public school choice program initially suggested funding for 10 programs, basing their on recommendations from peer reviewers. Bennett's K12 Arkansas project was not among them. Education Week reported that K12's proposal did not score high enough among the peer reviewers to win a funding recommendation.
Confusion like this– asserting that a child enrolled in a public, private, or online school– will lead to messier legislation that will adversely affect homeschoolers everywhere.
