There are many reasons to homeschool

Watcher engages in homeschool bashing with the post 57 Stupid Reasons to Homeschool. Watcher seems particularly down on Fundamentalist Christian Homeschoolers and doesn't even seem to realize there are many secular and inclusive homeschoolers today.

First there is the same old tired socialization bugaboo.

The biggest one, obviously, is socialization. Yes, I know homeschoolers have friends. Yes, I know there are activities they can join, but playing with other kids on weekends doesn't begin to match the same kind of cooperation learned by being around them in a structured environment 5 days a week.

Most of the activities homeschoolers engage in involve more then weekends. Here is another edutard who assumes that homeschoolers sit at home all day, nothing could be further from the truth. We belong to recreational soccer teams, robotics teams, scouts, church groups, homeschool groups, 4-H the list is endless. Many homeschoolers join homeschool co-ops, others take art history classes at local museums, science labs at local colleges that have classes especially for homeschoolers the list of opportunities for homeschoolers to socialize is endless.

Next he takes issue with this

Public schools can destroy your children’s self-esteem, destroy their ability to read, strangle their love of learning, put them in
physical and moral danger, and wreck their future.

Uh, yeah, I'm gonna need a cite for that. "Put them in physical and mortal danger?" Is he serious? Anyway, here's a sampling of the points to this crazy agenda. (Again, not all the reasons on this list are bad, but some are truly warped. Those are the ones I've gone into here).

Apparently Watcher doesn't watch the news much. Go here for a depressingly long list of school shootings. They have 56 listed and that doesn't include the recent school shooting in Mobile, AL March 6, 2008. "Mobile County Spokesperson Nancy Pierce addressed the media this morning after 18 year old Jajuan Holmes shot himself in the Davidson High School Gymnasium. "

Then there is the bullying, and the beatings, among other things. I don't think anyone in their right mind would believe that students today are not in "physical and mortal danger" from their fellow classmates. The scary thing is you have no way of knowing what public school is going to be the scene of the next tragedy. You can't blame any parent for trying to minimize the danger their child is in as much as possible.

* A commenter pointed out that the original quote says moral danger. I personally don't see kids being in any moral danger in the public schools. I do see plenty of physical danger to worry about.

5. Be totally aware of the state and progress of your child’s education.

Now that sounds innocuous enough. And it truly may be, but I still get this feeling like it's included here because Laura and Joel want to watch their kids like hawks, so they never have to worry about learning things their parents don't want them to. Again: STIFLING.

The majority of parents want to be totally aware of the state and progress of their child’s education. I can't tell you how many public school parents have expressed frustration to me because they didn't know their child was struggling in a subject until it was too late to bring the grade up. This isn't meant to be stifling as Watcher maintains, but rather a tool for ensuring your child has mastered the material taught.

9. Make learning fun.

As if that were possible! And don't you think teachers try to do this as much as they can?

The sad thing here is that Watcher doesn't think learning can be fun. This is more of an indictment against public schools then anything a homeschooler could have written. And yes public school teachers do try to make learning fun but with large class sizes, discipline issues, worries over testing, NCLB and other mandates their attempts to make learning fun get harder and harder. I am proud to say I have fostered a LOVE of LEARNING in my children and that we do find LEARNING FUN!

10. Make learning as “experiential” as you want

You mean like performing science experiments in a lab? Which, unfortunately, most houses don't have, but public schools do?

This shows how behind the times Watcher is. We have a very nice microscope here at the house. We have also done dissecting. But for those homeschoolers who don't want to tackle these things at home or want to add to what they do at home, colleges are offering all sorts of science labs for homeschoolers. Other homeschoolers are forming co-ops and banding together to buy lab equipment. Perhaps Watcher should take his own advice, "Why don't you do some research before you start accusing people of things? "

13. Teach your child without any “assumed limitations.” Teach multiple languages, develop one skill or subject—the sky’s the limit.

What "assumed limitations?" My schools had all kinds of extracurriculars and gifted and talented programs that kids could participate in. From first through third grade, there were three different levels of reading group.

Unfortunately all public schools are not created equal. Public schools vary not only from state to state but from district to district. Just because one public school has something doesn't mean they all do.

16. Avoid educational “labeling”

Does this mean, if your kid has ADD, you can happily pretend that he doesn't? It's fun what you can do when there are none of those pesky "experts" around to tell you things you'd rather not hear!

This one doesn't apply to my family, but I am going to tackle it anyway. I know homescoolers who have chosen to homeschool because their child had a learning disability and would have been labeled and stuck in a special education class. They don't 'pretend' the disability doesn't exist but their child isn't singled out as 'different'. A sure way to get picked on in public schools. The current vogue these days is to to put the learning disabled student in regular classrooms but send them to 'special education' classes for certain subjects. This seems a good idea on the surface as in former days those stuck in 'special education' classes often were taught less advanced subjects then those children in regular classes and were kept separate from the 'other' kids for their entire public school sojourn, but one of the flaws is the bullying they endure from the 'other' kids they are now classmates with.

19. Allow your child to do, think, discuss, and explore in ways not possible in a rigid classroom setting.

Yeah? then why do so many pro-homeschooling fundies want to quash this so badly?

Watcher is making an assumption here, where is the evidence to back this assertion up?

20. Constant positive reinforcement and gentle correction. No abusive words or actions that scar your child’s psyche.

Bullshit. Teachers spend years learning corrective discipline techniques. A good teacher can easily be better at positive reinforcement than most parents.

Yeah right. That's why we read about all the public school teachers male & female having sex with students, physically abusing students & verbally abusing students ( Many adults mention past incidences of verbal abuse by the teacher as the most overwhelming negative experience in their lives. The present study examined (1) the course and stability of verbal abuse by the teacher from kindergarten through grade 4 and (2) the link between verbal abuse by the teacher and children's behavioral, emotional, and academic adjustment.).

22. Develop your child’s life skills such as cooking, cleaning, and organizing that are easily learned with the additional time spent at home.

Ah, I see. We won't waste no time with all that book-learnin'! We's got to teach our kids how to be house slaves!

What an ignorant statement from Watcher. I don't know of any homeschooling parent who short changes their child academically in order to teach them life skills. On the other hand I know numerous public school graduates who are unable to make change or balance a checkbook. Why? because they didn't learn it in public school and their parents perhaps assuming they did learn it in public school failed to teach them. Besides academics children need life skills in order to survive. Some things all children should know how to do cook, clean, do laundry, put gas in the car, change a tire, change the oil, make change, balance a check book, manage money. Why? because when they are out on their own they need these skills.

26. Never have your child beat up by a bully. Teach self-defense skills that will enable him (her) to deal with any situation, but not until he (she) is mature enough to handle the emotional aspects of confrontation.

What confrontations? You're keeping him chained up in the basement, remember? He'll never have to deal with being beaten up!(Oh yeah, and what about girls? Don't they need to learn self-defense also?)

I doubt Joel Turtel intended to exclude girls from the self-defense lessons, but it gets tiresome having to type him/her, he/she so ignoramuses won't accuse you of excluding one sex or another. Again Watcher assumes homeschoolers don't interact with others, to the contrary homeschoolers often have public school children, private school children and other homeschooled children as friends. And Gosh Watcher I don't even have a basement.

33. Develop your child’s imagination and teach diverse problem-solving skills, instead of one institutionalized method of thinking.

Have you two idiots ever actually been in a public school?

I graduated from the public school system. In the majority of my classes imagination and diverse problem solving skills were not utilized. In fact rote memorization seemed to be the preferred method of teaching.

34. Unlimited possibilities for extra curricular activities that interest your child.

Woo-ee! That sounds like a lot of fun! All kinds of clubs and activities that give you the opportunity to hang out with the same three people! Your parents and your little brother!

Poor Watcher just can't get it through that numb skull that homeschoolers hang out with a variety of diverse people not just their family or other homeschoolers.

37. Avoid traditional school “group activities” that may leave one student doing all the work or ruining it for everyone else.

You know, the point of group projects is so that kids who don't have cooperative skills can learn them. All this would do is make sure the kids never learn.

Really as a product of the public school system I can assure you no one in my high school learned cooperative skills from all those stupid group projects. What we did learn 1.) If you don't want to do the work you don't have to do anything. The students who actually care about their grades will do the work for you. You'll still get an A 2.) The teacher doesn't care that only two of the students in the group did any of the work the whole group gets the same grade no matter how much or how little effort they put into the project. 3.) Make sure you have some smart students in your group so they will do all the work and you'll get an A and 4.) If you are one of the smart students be prepared to do everything yourself. Even if student X promises to do _______ more then likely he/she won't and unless you are willing to settle for a bad grade you need to have ______ done yourself just in case.

45. To make sure your child doesn’t end up graduating without knowing how to read or knowing other basic skills, due to educational failings of your local schools.

I went to public school and I can read just fine, you arrogant prick.

The sad fact is too many public school graduates do graduate without being able to read or knowing other basic skills. See John Stossel's "Stupid In America".

49. To easily pass on your unique heritage or language to your child.

Now, at first, this actually sounds somewhat reasonable (as long as you discount the fact that you can do this whether the kid's in school or not). Passing on your heritage is important, especially if you're a minority. That was my thought at first. And then I started to consider the source. These jackasses don't care about minorities! Knowing what I know, this comment is probably a veiled swipe from the usual racist ideology; the one that thinks Spanish is invading our pure, white, English-speaking nation through schools.

There Watcher goes making assumptions. Watcher for your information many minorities homeschool.

There are many reasons to homeschool. Some are shared by the majority of homeschoolers and other are unique to the individual homeschooling family. Parents who choose to make the commitment of time and money to homeschool their children should be supported not criticized by the Watchers of this world.

Wow! - 57 Unique Benefits of Homeschooling

Check out Wow! - 57 Unique Benefits of Homeschooling written by Joel Turtel

Bill Gates is not impressed with the US public school system

Visit O'Donnell Web to read Bill Gates is not impressed with the US public school system

Principled Discovery has the scoop Homeschool critics taking quotes out of context

Homeschool critics taking quotes out of context

Increase the educational choices for all

While the edutards penchant for bashing homeschooling is infuriating at least they are good comic entertainment. Dawn with Another Day, Another Homeschooling Critic and Doc's Homeschooling critics, haven’t they learned anything? do an excellent job disputing Jack's Essay: Homeschooling - . But I can't resist adding my two cents, while I wait for supper to cook.

In the interest of full disclosure Jack has been sleeping with a public school teacher for 31 years. You don't suppose he is worried about his bed mates job security do you?

Jack says

There is now a bill before the legislature that would require people home schooling their kids to report this fact to their local school system. Frankly, I thought that was required already.

It certainly should be. Yet the home schoolers are screaming that this would violate their rights.

That’s nuts. This bill is necessary, and they should know better. For one thing, if we don’t know who is home schooling their kids, how can we know who is teaching their kids at home – and who are simply letting their kids run wild?

Because the kids running wild are enrolled in public school.

Actually, this bill doesn’t go far enough. We need a strong package of bills firmly regulating home schooling. They should prescribe a curriculum and require home schoolers to prove they are qualified to teach. We owe it to our kids and ourselves.

Did Jack give birth to my children? NO! Does Jack pay their medical bills, feed and cloth them? NO! Then they aren't our children. They are mine and my husband's children and we shouldn't have to answer to Jack or anybody else for the educational choices we make for our children.

Why on earth anyone would think having the government proscribe a curriculum is a good idea is beyond me. If I was happy with the public school curriculum I wouldn't be homeschooling. And little ole homeschooling ME came up with a curriculum that allowed my eldest son to start college at 16.

Schools have facilities and laboratories nearly impossible to duplicate at home. Education also involves hard-to-quantify things like social interaction. You learn from each other, not just from facts and exercises.

Some schools do have facilities and laboratories that the average parent couldn't duplicate, but the vast majority do not. Also homeschoolers are able to take advantage of science classes offered by colleges specifically tailored for homeschoolers. Both of my children attended a Biology Lab at Mississippi University for Women. Other families join coops where they have access to facilities and laboratories on par with the public schools. As for social interaction, thanks to the Internet my kids can interact with kids from all over the world. We participated in Friends & Flags where we made friends with students from Israel & Belarus. When we were studying Japanese my children were able to chat with students who lived in Japan. My children have also been involved in Cub & Boy Scouts, Recreational Soccer and Robotics where they have interacted with public school, private school, and other homeschooled students.

Jack contradicts himself here
And yes, homeschooling is necessary. But as a supplement, not a substitute. Mom and Dad need to take part in homeschooling every night. They need to take a vigorous part in their kids’ homework.

First Jack says that homeschool parents are too dumb to teach their kids and then he maintains it's necessary for parents to teach their kids after school. Does anyone else see how contradictory this statement is. Either parents without teaching credentials are perfectly capable of teaching their children or they are not and shouldn't be expected to help with homework. You can't have it both ways Jack.

More and more, we are evolving into a place where two kids the same age have wildly different educational experiences.

And why it that a bad thing? Different kids are interested in different things. Hence the different majors when one gets to college. It only makes sense that those kids who know what career path they want to take be free to take courses that will help them prepare for their future careers. Jack is also ignoring the fact that public schools vary not only from state to state but from one school district to another.

If Jack's ignorant diatribe against homeschooling isn't bad enough we also have to put up with this uninformed drivel.

Posted by: Thrasher
Homeschool types are like a cult, they have little capacity to respect the opinons of others... (BTW Thrasher you misspelled opinions)

And Thrasher has just demonstrated his ability to respect the opinions of others (especially homeschoolers) brilliantly. Can you say PREJUDICE?

They are on a mission to indoctrinate minors who lacked the protection of the state to secure thier rights.. (Thrasher you misspelled their)

Actually my mission is to educate my children so they can go to college, get a degree and get a good job.

Homeschoolers are a lethal aggregate of myopic people who according to the data and research reject social and progressive ideas...

What data????

They remind me of rednecks during our country's aparthied era/jim crow era they fled from public schools when thier fellow americans of a darker hue sought entry... (Thrasher again misspelled their he also misspelled apartheid and Americans)

Thrasher's BIGOTRY is showing.

The truth about these backward people is that they harm thier children and they create a entire aggregate of more ignorant people that must be reeducated for our country to reach it's ideals.. (their is misspelled yet again)

If Thrasher has children I pity them as his rant against homeschoolers shows how prejudiced, bigoted and intolerant he is. I can only assume his spelling is due to the fact he was educated in PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Where apparently they didn't bother to teach one how to use spell check.

Instead of trying to limit educational choices we should all be working to increase the educational choices for all.

Public Schools in Connecticut Don't Have To Provide An Adequate Education

A Superior Court judge last year determined that the state's (Connecticut) constitution did not guarantee a right to an adequate or suitable education, the position taken by the state.

home school families do not accept government funding

Homeschooling and Public School at Home explains The Conflict between Parental Rights and “No Child Left Behind”?

She also does a great job explaining why it important for those of us who engage in traditional homeschooling to separate ourselves from those who do public schooling at home.

In the necessity of keeping the public funds flowing, families who have chosen public school at home options should be willing to make the case that their option is public schooling albeit in the home, and that they are willing to be accountable for their government funds.

In order to preserve the freedom of educating children apart from public schooling, it is important to keep reminding government, the media and the general public that since home school families do not accept government funding they are not under the same accountability requirements as those who enroll their children in public school at home programs.

Click here to read some post I did on Virtual Public Schools.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Read the bag lady edition of the CoH. I can so relate, can someone get the door please, my hands are full of BAGS!!!

#364

We are ranked #38. We won 3 games, lost 2 and tied 0. We played a total of 5 games. The most points we scored was 122. We have two games scheduled for tomorrow. The first is at 7:51 AM and the second is at 9:21 AM Mississippi TIME.

First

Lord Epa's robotics' team (#364) is at the Georgia Dome, where they are participating in the First Robotics Competition (National). They are broad casting it live here . The broad cast is over for today, but you can watch Friday and Saturday.

Carnival of Homeschooling

The Nerd Family invites everyone over to enjoy a nice long visit, via the 120th Carnival of Homeschooling.

Steve Shives acknowledges we aren't all religious nutcases

Read his latest post, And for you homeschool types who aren´t religious nutcases .

Progressive Homeschoolers

Setting the Homeschool Record Straight

Apparently I wasn't the only one upset by Mr. Shives' potshots at homeschoolers.

In the American Chronicle article, Homeschoolers Who Don´t Learn Science Shouldn´t Receive a Diploma , author Steve Shives takes some initially ill-informed pot shots at homeschooling as part of a critical evaluation of Mason Dixon Homeschoolers Association (MDHSA) of PA, a diploma mill that counts Apologia Biology, a creation science based curriculum.

The post goes on to explain how Mr Shives is helping HSLDA by buying in to their propaganda.

I wrote to him, saying, “The majority are not, by a long shot, "specifically, fundamentalist Christian—in nature" and when you say that, you're buying into their substitution of volume for substance propaganda, and undermining, hopefully unintentionally, the work of thousands of us trying to set the record straight. The majority of homeschoolers are middle of the roaders, like most folks in America, where, despite the familiar volume of religious fundamentalists in our general society, I doubt you'd claim the majority of Americans are fundamentalist Christian.

Read the whole post at Progressive Homeschoolers.

Enjoyable Reads in Blogland

Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Public School ...I Learned in Calvin & Hobbes Comic Books by B.R. Merrick

I just love his list

So permit me to list, in order of importance from worse to worst, the life lessons I, and all the other non-fictional Calvins out there, learned from former-factory/now-corporate government schools:

10. Grades are important. Make your report card look good. You need a degree--any degree--to land and keep a good job.

9. Stay away from the weird kids, especially when they’re being made fun of.

8. Adults are not going to help you with anything that matters. Their world is separate.

7. You’re on your own. It’s a dog-eat-dog world.

6. You can have the life you dream of after you are certified by experts.

5. Freedom isn’t free.

4. If you are gifted and talented, life will be handed to you on a silver platter, unlike the dumb kids.

3. You need permission to piss.

2. Wait out your time. Life is filled with drudgery. Just get through it as best you can.

These are not exaggerations. If your child is in school right now, this is what he is learning. He may not realize it until he’s much older. The worst and most dangerous lie he is imbibing is this:

1. Learning, like work, is not meant to be enjoyable.

HT: Eye Opening Thoughts on Public Education

The Harassment of Homeschoolers Continues At The American Chronicle

Mr Shives post, Homeschoolers Who Don´t Learn Science Shouldn´t Receive a Diploma is intolerant claptrap.

There are many, many things I find dubious about the practice of parents homeschooling their children. I wonder how a mother or father who has not been educated as a teacher, who in many cases has not even been to college her/himself, can possibly provide their child with as good an education as students receive in our much-maligned public schools. And I can´t help but think that these homeschool students, of whom there are several million in the United States, are being robbed of a crucial formative experience by not attending school with other people their age and being forced to interact with a diverse group of peers.

I assure Mr. Shives that homeschoolers receive an education equal to or better then any public school student. Consider the 2007 ACT High School Profile Report.

Check out this National Data! For the graduating class of 2007, 10,072 students who list themselves as homeschooled took the test, and their average Composite score was 22.3. [1,300,599 students took the test in all, averaging 21.1.] [0.77% homeschoolers] from Jim Sconing, Director, Statistical Research Department, Research, 319/337-1709.

Mr Shives is also wrong in his belief that Homeschoolers "are being robbed of a crucial formative experience by not attending school with other people their age and being forced to interact with a diverse group of peers."

Dr. Shyers measured the self-esteem of the homeschooled group of 70 children in his study and compared it with that of the traditionally schooled group, also 70 children between the ages of eight and ten. On the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, a widely used measure of self-esteem, no difference was found between the two groups. (That finding by the way, stands as a failure to replicate the earlier thesis research of John Wesley Taylor in 1986, in which a small sample of home-schooled children scored significantly higher than classroom-schooled children on the Piers-Harris scale. Taylor's thesis, Self-Concept in Home-Schooling Children, is also available from UMI, order number DA8624219.) Thus it goes beyond the available evidence to say that homeschooled children have higher self-esteem than other children. In fact, more studies (and especially more studies with large sample sizes, and more recent studies) have confirmed Shyers's result than have confirmed Taylor's. There appears to be no significant difference in self-esteem between the overall population of homeschooled children and the overall population of children attending classroom school.

Mr Shives seems unaware that homeschoolers are a diverse group and have many opportunities to interact with each other as well as their public school peers. Homeschoolers join recreational sports team, scouts, robotics teams and many other groups which provide them with ample opportunities to socialize.

Mr Shives maintains that Fundamentalist Christians make up the majority of homeschoolers. In my opinion they are just the ones who get the most attention while Secular Homeschoolers are often ignored or marginalized. Also people like Steve Shives with their hostility to homeschoolers, drive many Moderate Christian Homeschoolers into HSLDA (or other religious groups like Mason Dixon Homeschoolers Association that Mr. Shives references), clutches as they offer protection from the intolerant and bigoted people who wish to curtail our homeschooling freedoms.

He also maintains that homeschoolers who are taught creationism/intelligent design should not receive a diploma. This smacks of hypocrisy as a vast number of public school students are still taught intelligent design. Does Mr. Shives also believe that these public school students shouldn't receive a diploma?

Echoing similar comments from President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said "intelligent design" should be taught in public schools alongside evolution.

Intelligent Design in Public School Science Curricula:A Legal Guidebook

President Bush invigorated proponents of teaching alternatives to evolution in public schools with remarks saying that schoolchildren should be taught about "intelligent design," a view of creation that challenges established scientific thinking and promotes the idea that an unseen force is behind the development of humanity.

Parents have the right to decide what educational choice is best for their children be it public school, private school or homeschooling.

Confederate History ~ Thomas Jonathan Jackson

Next to Robert E. Lee himself, Thomas J. Jackson is the most revered of all Confederate commanders.

• A graduate of West Point (1846), he had served in the artillery in the Mexican War, earning two brevets.


• He resigned to accept a professorship at the Virginia Military Institute. Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson served on the VMI Faculty as Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy & Instructor of Artillery from August 1851 until the beginning of the Civil War in April 1861. Thought strange by the cadets, he earned "Tom Fool Jackson" and "Old Blue Light" as nicknames.

Stonewall Jackson House

Stonewall Jackson Shrine

VMI Archives

Carnival of Homeschooling

Click here.

Lenient Sentence for Sexual Predator Futher Reduced

She was sentenced in November 2005 to three years' house arrest and seven years of probation for having sex with a 14-year-old boy in a classroom and her home.

Prosecutor Mike Sinacore (SIN'-uh-core) objects to Tuesday's decision. He says the victim's family objects, too.

This seems like a very lenient sentence for having sex with her 14 year old student to begin with, I am outraged that apparently the judge doesn't take this CRIME seriously.

Mislabeled ~ Not a Homeschooler

The confrontation startled Janice Moore, 55, of Pelzer, who told deputies after calling 911 that she had gone to the teenager’s house to help him with homework. The teen had been expelled from Wren High School, the report states.

The boy had been expelled from a public school so why did Pearce Adams (Contact) label him a homeschooler in his column Piedmont teen accused of disrupting home school?

For the record a child who has been expelled from a public school and is doing public school "homework" is NOT a homeschooler.

Sick

A Massachusetts school custodian and basketball coach has pleaded not guilty to charges that he repeatedly raped a 12-year-old boy over six months last year.

Robert Shea was ordered held Monday on $15,000 bail. He's charged with two counts of child rape and three counts of indecent assault and battery.

John Stossel: No right to educate your own child?

Click to read.

Your Child is Not State Property

Your Child is Not State Property
By Thomas A. Bowden

Education, like nutrition, should be recognized as the exclusive domain of a child's parents, within legal limits objectively defining child abuse and neglect. Parents who starve their children may properly be ordered to fulfill their parental obligations, on pain of losing legal custody. But the fact that some parents may serve better food than others does not permit government to seize control of nutrition, outlaw home-cooked meals, and order all children to report for daily force-feeding at government-licensed cafeterias.

The shockwaves from Justice Croskey's decision will likely impact not just homeschoolers but also the apologists for government education--teachers' unions, educational bureaucrats, and politicians. Their political and financial survival depends on a policy that treats children as, in effect, state property--but only rarely is the undiluted collectivism of that policy trumpeted so publicly.

Read the entire post here.

More Homeschoolers In Atlanta

Maryland Home School Robotics Team (TechBrick Robotics) Wins Slot for US FIRST's International Robotics Competition in Atlanta, April 16-19.

Youngest son in really jazzed about going with Team Fusion 364 (his robotics team). He had a meeting tonight to get the details. They (Team Fusion 364) are also making plans for the summer robotics camp they run for young kids.

CLC has no interest in changing homeschooling laws

The CLC, which argued against the rehearing, is preparing its arguments, too.
"From our perspective, the CLC had no interest in changing or impacting the law regarding children who are home-schooled by loving, caring parents who are assumed to want to and are capable of protecting their children and providing for their children's best interests," Ms. Heimov said.

But in situations where parents are not protecting their children — as is the case with this family, in her view — "it is paramount" that society step in and protect these children, she said. "That's what this case was about."

This seems to be a no brainer, the court should have made a narrow ruling that only applied to the family in question. Instead they made a sweeping ruling that applied (or seemed to) to all homeschoolers. And it seems to be that the best thing for the children would be for them to be REMOVED from this abusive situation.

They and their nine children have been involved with the child-welfare system for 20 years, owing to accusations of physical abuse by the father and sexual molestation of several daughters by a male family friend whom the parents permitted to come around.

No child should have to endure physical and sexual abuse. One can only wonder WHY the child welfare system has allowed it to go on for 20 years.

The Computer Ate My Grade!!!

Lousy luck if you had good grades, Computer bug eats Ind. students' grades. I wonder how sympathetic teachers and school officials would be if a student told them a computer bug ate their homework?

I am now a lady of leisure as I am not certified to do anything

I often wonder if these people ever realize how absurd their arguments for requiring teacher certification of homeschooling parents are. Maybe I should stop cooking healthy nutritious meals for my family. After all I am not a certified chef or a certified dietitian, therefore I can't possibly do an adequate job cooking meals for my family. Oh I better tell my husband to call a plumber the next time we have a plumbing issue, since he isn't a certified plumber. I should also tell him to stop working on our automobiles and lawn mowers since he isn't a mechanic and I guess the greenhouse he designed and built for me will have to go. After all he isn't an architect and doesn't work in construction. Hey maybe we should require people to be certified to do laundry and clean houses. In which case I am now unqualified to do any house work, so I can spend more time in my butterfly garden. Oh wait, I don't have a certification in horticulture so I guess I am unqualified to weed the flowerbeds. I am now officially a lady of leisure.

HT: The Common Room: Some People Commit Crimes, So Investigate Everybody

Confederate History ~ Jefferson Davis

Little known facts about Jefferson Davis

• Davis was a West Point graduate who fought in the Mexican War under Zachary Taylor and married the future president's daughter.
  
• As a U.S. senator from Mississippi, he had a hand in building the Smithsonian Institution.
• He bolstered the nation's defenses as secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce.

Why Homeschool: Carnival of Homeschooling - The April Fool's Day Edition

Why Homeschool: Carnival of Homeschooling - The April Fool's Day Edition . This delightful Carnival is well worth a visit.

Bayou Regional

Team Fusion 364 Youngest son joined Team Fusion 364 this January. Their colors are orange and blue. Team Fusion 364 is comprised of students from different public schools, private schools and homeschools who live along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Youngest son is homeschooled and we are members of PEAK. During their build season they worked very hard to build a robot that could perform all the task required for the 2008 First Robotics Competition. As you can imagine building a robot and going to competitions is very costly so they look for corporate sponsors. Team Fusion 364's sponsors are NASA, SAIC, Sieman Composites, DuPont Delisle, Knesal Engineering Services, INC. (they are always looking for new sponsors). All donations to Team Fusion 364 are Tax Exempt 501(c) (3), the culmination of their fundraising efforts is a golf tournament run by the students. Team Fusion 364 used some of the money they raised to take the VEX kids in the area to the Bayou Regional Saturday. At the Bayou Regional they competed against other teams from all over the country. States represented at the Bayou Regional ~ Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey and Texas. There were 47 teams in all. Opening ceremonies began with a Mardi Gra parade. Then the seeding matches began. These are the awards Team Fusion 364 won in 2007 at the Bayou Regional Engineering Inspiration Regional Finalist Award Autodesk Visualization Award Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award This year Team Fusion 364 only won ONE award, but it was FIRST's most prestigious award, it honors the team judged to have created the best partnership effort among team participants, and to have best exemplified the true meaning of FIRST. The award helps keep the central focus of the FIRST Robotics Competition on the goal of inspiring greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology. Team Fusion 364 won The Regional Chairman's Award and will be going to Atlanta for the National Competition. Bayou Regional~Friday Bayou Regional ~ Saturday

CA Homeschooling Decision Voided

A state appeals court will reconsider last month's controversial decision that said parents who home-school their children must have a teaching credential.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles granted a rehearing Tuesday, essentially voiding the 3-0 decision until it rules again. The decision will now allow home-schooling organizations that had blasted the decision to weigh in.

A very nice piece on homeschooling in The Washington Post

Contrary to Stereotype, Home-Schoolers Aren't All Religious or Socially Maladjusted -- and They Are Changing the World

So nice somebody finally gets that homeschoolers are a diverse group. Go on over a join the discussion.

Unschooling & Homeschooling not the same

The subject of homeschooling is a decent article on homeschooling in the Times Recorder. One of the commentators doesn't seem to understand that 'unschooling' and homeschooling are not the same thing. Unschooling is a teaching method that a very few homeschoolers choose to use. Other methods used include the Charlotte Mason Method, Waldorf Education Method, Classical Education Method, Eclectic Homeschool Method, Unit Studies, Montessori Homeschooling, and Distance Learning to name a few. You can read more about the different homeschooling methods here.

Homeschooling Today

Gregory J. Millman is co-author, with Martine Millman, of "Homeschooling: A Family's Journey," to be published in August. Read his article on homeschooling in The Washington Post.

Conventional schools are like the nation's Rust Belt companies, designed in the 19th century but struggling to meet the standards of international competition today. School boards and administrators should be concentrating on ways to make schools more like home-schooling -- not on ways to force home-schooled children to go back to schools. People who are free to think for themselves usually get together and find solutions that are better than what bureaucrats can devise.

HT: HE&OS

Senator Dave Cox is a friend to homeschoolers

Sacramento, Ca -- 1st District Republican State Senator Dave Cox has co-authored an Assembly Resolution to call upon the California Supreme Court to reverse the opinion of the 2nd District Court of Appeals as it applies to home schooling.

Ruben Navarrette's ~California court overreached on homeschooling case

When you think about it, much of education reform revolves around this notion of escaping. Those who advocate vouchers, or call for failing schools to be shut down, or - in this case - defend the right of parents to homeschool their children want to give students a means of escape from low-performing schools, poorly managed districts and all the rest. Those who resist such efforts have constructed all these elaborate arguments against reform efforts, but mainly what they want is to keep students from escaping in order to keep power concentrated in the public schools and the bureaucracies that run them.

Luckily homeschoolers have powerful allies.

And they have a heavyweight in their corner. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately denounced the appeals court ruling and promised to change state law to guarantee that parents have the right to teach their children at home. Parents should decide what is best for their children, he said, and "not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children's education."

The governor is quite correct, and I'm glad to see him in this fight. Homeschooling isn't perfect. But look around. Neither is the public school system, which needs all the reform it can get. That's why we can't stop looking for viable alternatives that augment traditional teaching - and, just as importantly, challenge traditional thinking.

Read the whole column here.

Enlightening

What Makes a Creationist Tick?

30 percent of the nation's public schools aren't making adequate yearly progress

About 30 percent of the nation's schools aren't making adequate yearly progress - mostly because students didn't make steady gains in required math and reading exams given in grades three through eight and once in high school. Schools are judged not just on average scores but according to how groups of students perform, such as those with disabilities, limited English skills or minorities.

115th Carnival of Homeschooling: Oh, The Things That You’ll Do!

115th Carnival of Homeschooling: Oh, The Things That You’ll Do! hosted by Janice Campbell.

Enjoyable Column by Daniel Leddy

Putting the shallow pretense aside, opposition to home-schooling is really driven by its implications for the nation's public school system. However, rather than denying parents what must be deemed a fundamental right, the focus should be on making public education so attractive that more parents will select it.

Instead, the trend is in the opposite direction. Among other things, obsessive secularists and alternative lifestyle advocates have commandeered public education and are holding students hostage to their agendas.

For fed-up parents, home-schooling is one way out. No wonder so many of them are taking it.

Daniel Leddy's On The Law column appears each Tuesday on the Advance Op-Ed Page. His e-mail address is JudgeLeddy@si.rr.com.

Read the rest of Home-school decision gets a failing grade.

Home school student wins bee for second time

Home school student wins bee for second time read the rest of the story here.

According to Time

Sugarman said the fact that both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state superintendent have spoken out against this ruling means that, chances are, even if the case is held up in the California Supreme Court, uncredentialed parents will still be allowed to educate their children — that there is nothing that requires the state to aggressively go after people. Indeed, the education department (which is not involved in the lawsuit) will not want to waste their resources going after such parents, despite the "illegality" of their actions, leaving the Second District Court of Appeals opinion of the law unenforced.

Carnival of Homeschooling

The Spring into Action ~ Carnival of Homeschooling is up at, AT Home with Kris.

Ignorant College Editorial About Homeschooling

TITAN EDITORIAL: Ignorant education
Homeschooling advocates, headed mainly by Christian zealots, are calling for Gov. Schwarzenegger's protection of their fundamental right to teach their children to be bigots and idiots.

Obviously the Editorial Board is composed of bigots and idiots, with poor writing skills. Go read the article and comments and see for yourself.

Graphics Contest

The Homeschool Blog Awards need medium sized graphics for 2008. We will need a graphic for nominees and one for the winners. The same graphic may be used for both nominees and winners.

Here is how to enter.

• Post the icon on your blog and leave a comment telling me how to get the icon. (or)
• email the icon to me at osso(at)cableone(dot)net

I want to make sure people have enough time to be creative, so the first stage will last until the 28th of April, 2008. I am hoping for a couple dozen entries

Then in May I will display the icons and allow people to vote on the one they like best.

The rules for the contest are:

• The graphics have to be available for others to use. The only options I can think of are 1.) you created the graphic or 2.) the graphic is public domain.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger supports homeschooling

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will step in if the home schooling ruling is not overturned.

In a statement released Friday, the Governor says, "Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their child's education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts, and if the courts don't protect parents' rights, then, as elected officials, we will."

Henry Cate isn't worried about CA ruling

Henry from Why Homeschool was interviewed by a reporter for The Mercury News.

While many home-schoolers are fearing the worst, Cate said he is not
worried. "The U.S. Supreme Court has said again and again that parents can
home-school their children."

Things not as bleak for California homeschoolers as paper implies

From The Madison Project

The LA Times got it wrong in the first sentence of their article. Parents without teaching credentials can still educate their children at home under the various exemptions to mandatory public school enrollment provided in § 48220 et seq. of the Cal. Ed. Code. The parents in this case lost because they claimed that the students were enrolled in a charter school and that with minimal supervision from the school, the children were free to skip classes so the mother could teach them at home. There is no basis in law for that argument. If only the parents had attempted to homeschool their kids in one of the statutorily prescribed methods, they would have prevailed.

Drop by Doc's to read her take on the issue.

Learn More about Helen Keller

at History is Elementary

Public school officials expect that the decision will be overturned

Public school officials said they do not expect the ruling, which will be appealed to the California Supreme Court, to stick. Frank Lynch, superintendent of Lompoc Unified School District, said he doesn't like to speculate on what might happen if the ruling is upheld."Once it's at the Supreme Court, I expect that the decision will be overturned," Lynch said

Homeschoolers' setback in appeals court ruling

From the San Francisco Chronicle

Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal duty to see to their children's schooling under the provisions of these laws."

Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.
"A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare," the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.

This is one scary guy, note he doesn't think the primary purpose of the educational system is to EDUCATE CHILDREN, but to train them to be servants of the state.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell issued a statement saying he supports "parental choice when it comes to homeschooling."

Homeschoolers have at least one friend in the educational system.

But Leslie Heimov, executive director of the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, which represented the Longs' two children in the case, said her organization's chief concern was not the quality of the children's education, but their "being in a place daily where they would be observed by people who had a duty to ensure their ongoing safety."

In fact the children's own lawyer isn't concerned with the children actually getting an education. She just wants them observed by people, other then the parents.

Be sure to read the article and comments.

The Mercury News gets homeschoolers aren't all the same

Once largely the province of the radical left and conservative Christians, home schooling has grown rapidly in recent years and in some circles is considered mainstream.

Much of the growth has been fueled by the Internet, which allows parents to shop for online lessons in geography and history, swap teaching responsibilities with other parents, and access countless homeschooling blogs, listservs and conferences.

How refreshing.

Why Homeschool: Phase two of the contest for Carnival of Homeschooling images

Why Homeschool: Phase two of the contest for Carnival of Homeschooling images

Hundreds of public school teachers in California are teaching with emergency credentials

First,due to a shortage of credentialled teachers, hundreds of teachers in California are teaching with emergency credentials. That is, they have passed a test (the California Basic Educational Skills Test CBEST) but do not have a teaching credential.

So apparently you can teach in the California public schools without being properly credentialed, but you can't homeschool.

Read Lois Kazakoff: Should homeschool teachers have credentials? and feel free to leave a comment.

More on the California Homeschooling Issue

A Judge in California has made it illegal (pending appeal) for parents to homeschool their young-uns. This begs the question - how should the 166,000 homeschool families that reside in California react? What would you do if you were in their situation? WAVA-FM/780 AM will take your calls toll free beginning at 5pm EST - 888.293.9282. They will also attempt to simulcast the broadcast for those outside the DC area, click here and joining the chat room.

The show can be listened to at 5pm EST, and the podcast can be listened to anytime after 7pm by going here.

13 facts about the Pequot War

From the History is Elementary blog

I wish more teachers would spend a little of time discussing the Pequot War since it is one of the first major interactions between colonists and Native Americans. While it is mentioned in many of today’s textbooks being used in lower middle grade classrooms the war is not generally covered at an adequate level and it is usually grouped with King Phillip’s War which occurred almost thirty years after the Pequot War.

Drop by to read 13 facts about the Pequot War.

State appellate court says those who teach children in private must have a credential.

From the Los Angeles Times

Homeschoolers are appalled by the courts decision.
"This decision is a direct hit against every home schooler in California," said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which represents the Sunland Christian School, which specializes in religious home schooling. "If the state Supreme Court does not reverse this . . . there will be nothing to prevent home-school witch hunts from being implemented in every corner of the state of California."The institute estimates there are as many as 166,000 California students who are home schooled. State Department of Education officials say there is no way to know the true number.

But homeschoolers are not the only ones interested in what the state Supreme Court will do.
Teachers union officials will also be closely monitoring the appeal. A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said he agrees with the ruling."What's best for a child is to be taught by a credentialed teacher," he said.

Sounds as if Duffy is afraid of losing his cushy job in the public school system if the ruling is reversed.

Parents this isn't just a homeschooling issue; this is a parental rights issue. If they take away your freedom to choose how and by whom your child will be educated, what other choice will they take away 'for the good of the child' ?

More on the CA Legal Drama

Annette M. Hall had this to say about the California Legal Drama

What I learned after speaking with Mr. Long and reading through miles of documents was that this case is anything but straightforward. Each parent and the children were supplied with court appointed attorneys, who it is obvious by the court records had a superficial knowledge of homeschool (read private school) laws in the state of California.

In the coming days I will be covering certain aspects of the appellate courts ruling and what it means for the future of homeschoolers living in California. Phillip Long is acutely aware of the situation we are facing and had this to say, "This isn't really about us, it's about homeschooling. We're not happy about it, but it's much bigger than us."

Having worked in the past with California Homeschool Network's legal team and in turn with the other homeschooling organizations, I can assure you there are some great legal minds at work on this and I am confident that this matter will be handled expeditiously and the appellate court taken to task over this error of judgment.

Public School The Finnish Way

High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don't start school until age 7.

Yet by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world.

Aloha ~Carnival of Homeschooling

The 114th Carnival of Homeschooling is up at PalmTree Pundit. We had a hail storm last night so a visit to Hawaii is very welcome this morning.

Poorly informed decision hurts CA homeschoolers

Bruce Shortt, a Houston attorney involved with the Exodus Mandate, a group that is calling on California parents to remove their children from state public schools as a result of the recent passage of SB 777, which prohibits schools and teachers from “reflecting adversely” on gays and lesbians, criticized the decision as “arrogant” and “poorly informed,” and said that he was confident that the decision would not stand given the “federal issues” involved.

Saying that the decision, if upheld, would “reduce the choices of parents,” Shortt said that his group would continue its call to remove children from public schools and that the decision would merely cause the group to push in a “different direction.”
The case is In re Rachel L., 08 S.O.S. 1340.

Homeschoolers everywhere need to keep a close eye on this case. I am very concerned about the reported physical and emotional mistreatment by the father. I have several ?'s concerning that.

• If the father is physically and emotionally abusing the children why haven't they been removed from the home?
• If the father isn't physically or emotionally abusing the children why can't the family continue to homeschool? They followed the law and were registered with an umbrella school.

Advanced Placement Vs. State History

His son hoped to take Advanced Placement courses in chemistry and calculus; instead the boy had to waste school hours repeating physical education and state history courses usually taught to freshmen. California was the third state in which he attended high school, and he had to take three classes in basic state history.

"He was denied AP Calculus and AP Chemistry. He took badminton with 9th graders and a third history course," Hering said.

It's a no brainer, state history should not be required for graduation. It's unfair to those students who wind up moving from state to state during their high school years. State history should be waived not just for those students whose families are military, but for all students. With the economy like it is many students are uprooted during their high school years, not just those whose families are in the military.

Bending the Twigs: CA Judges: "Parents Have No Constitutional Right to Homeschool"

Bending the Twigs: CA Judges: "Parents Have No Constitutional Right to Homeschool"

BNN Homeschool Community is up and running

The BNN homeschool community! is now live. It's very impressive. Drop by to check it out. Dana did a wonderful job on it.

Nice

A nice piece about a SECULAR homeschool group.

Oh Brother, If It's Not the "S" Word, It's the Money

Homeschooling: Education not confined to school walls
A financial impact on school districts By Bryan Marshall



There are 365 homeschool students who would regularly attend a school in the Madison County School District, said Assistant Superintendent Paul Baker.



Based on the average daily attendance rate, the district would receive $4,435 per student if they attended school.“We’re not receiving $1,618,831,” Baker said. “That’s what homeschool costs us.”



At least he was honest enough to admit that after hiring more teachers and buying more materials they wouldn't get the full amount.



“However, I don’t know that we would receive all that money as a plus because with 365 more kids, we’d have to have another 10 or 12 teachers hired,” he said. “You have to figure that, plus you have to have more materials and things like that. Of that $1.6 million, we would gain probably $800,000.”

It really ticks me off when public school officials imply that homeschoolers are costing them money. Why not accuse couples who choose not to have any kids of costing the public schools money, it's just as logical. Homeschoolers like everyone else pay property taxes that support the public schools, without for the most part receiving any of the benefits. And why don't they ever mention how much private schoolers are costing them? Why single out homeschoolers?

Perhaps one of the biggest problems with the public schools is this feeling of entitlement. They seem to see children as nothing more then a warm body to provide state funding to the school district. And they seem to believe they are entitled to your child's warm body even if they don't do an adequate job educating the child or keeping the child safe.

Children are more then a source of state funding and their parents should be able to choose the best educational option for their child.

Bending the Twigs: Homeschooling and "The Mommy Myth"

Bending the Twigs: Homeschooling and "The Mommy Myth"

The authors' bias is obvious in their treatment of the National Center for Educational Statistics study statistic about 30% of the homeschoolers surveyed citing the desire to "provide religious or moral instruction" as their primary motivation for educating their kids at home. Now, those of us inside the homeschooling community know how broad that statement is, and how extremely diverse the group of families are who might concur with it. No one group has a monopoly on morality and people of any faith or none whatsoever might decide to homeschool in order to teach their children in accordance with their family's values.

In my inclusive homeschool group we have pagans, atheist, agnostics, Muslims and many different beliefs represented. Some of them choose to homeschool to "provide religious or moral instructions" to their children. But authors of books like "The Mommy Myth" never take these groups into consideration when writing their dribble. In fact one of the pagan parents in our group confided that she homeschooled because of the Christian bias in the public schools and that one public school teacher told her daughter that she was going to hell because she was a pagan.

Yet to Drs. Douglas & Michaels, they're all ultraconservative fundamentalists motivated by:

"an insistence that their kids never encounter the words 'evolution', 'birth control', or 'Oscar Wilde'."

Guess we aren't real homeschoolers then because I teach evolution, which included having my students read Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, not only have I taught my children about 'birth control' I am pro-choice and we enjoy Oscar Wilde.

Please stop by Bending the Twigs to read her whole post.

The "S" Word is Back

Dana post about Those Socially Inept Homeschoolers. Lively discussion going on in the comments.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Super Angel is hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling: Political Parties Of Our Government Edition.

Food for Thought at Mother Crone's Homeschool: Musing: When Our Choice Becomes Their Problem

Angela explains how our choice to homeschool can sometimes make our friends feel bad when they don't put their own kids first in her post Mother Crone's Homeschool: Musing: When Our Choice Becomes Their Problem

Not all "Homeschool Kids Love Huckabee"

I am a homeschool Mom and I can't stand Huckabee, neither can my kids. I am so tired of people lumping all homeschoolers together.

According to Peter Nuhn of the No God Blog "Homeschool Kids Love Huckabee". No we don't. Some homeschoolers might love Huckabee just like some public school kids might love Huckabee. We don't march in lock step, we are not clones in fact there are even atheist homeschoolers. So please folks stop implying that all homeschoolers are for Huckabee, many of us aren't and we resent the media and others implying that we are.

Abusive Teacher finally retires

We had a situation in our local school district where there was an harmful elementary school teacher. She delighted in tormenting the students. Students who had her came back as adults to testify against her. Parents asked for her removal. But the school board was unable to fire her. She finally retired.

From: Why Homeschool: Matt Miller wants to have national funding of public education

Public School Student Killed by Father

Miguel Matias torment peaked last week when he grew so enraged that his 14-year-old daughter, Ana, was sending text messages to a boy that he choked her and stuffed her body into a burning furnace boiler.

Read more here.

Debunking the faulty research by Kati Criss on homeschooling

Dana at Principled Discovery wrote The life and death of homeschooling, a eulogy. Please drop by her blog to read it. She wrote it in response to Katie Criss' post Home-schooling Researched . Since there is very little research involved in this hatchet job, perhaps a better title would be Katie Criss' Bias Against Homeschooling.

She says
One reason that I frequently found through research was that parents home schooled their children because of the violence found in public schools.

If you are afraid of your child being bullied, what will happen when your child becomes an adult and meets a bullying boss? This is a real-world story; children need the exposure to different people. Why? Simple, because nobody in this world is the same.

Comparing a child being bullied in the public schools by another child or in some cases by a teacher to an adult with a bullying boss shows a huge lack of understanding about the problem of bullying in our public schools. For one thing the government does not require you to work at a certain place. If you encounter a bully in the work place you have options. You can 1.) Report him to his/her boss or 2.) Seek employment elsewhere. A child in the public schools who is being bullied has few IF any options. Reporting the bullying child to a teacher gets you nowhere. The teacher is unable to act unless she/he actually sees the bullying. And teachers often look the other way. If the bullying escalates into violence both children are often punished. If the teacher is the one doing the bullying the child is at a distinct disadvantage. And unless the family is willing to leave their home the child is unable to leave the public school where the bullying is taking place for a friendlier public school.

She also seems to be labouring under the misguided idea that homeschoolers live in isolation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Homeschoolers meet and interact with many different people through the various activities they are engaged in.

I am sure if you are living in Harlem, New York compared to South Park, Pennsylvania there is going to be an immense difference in the crime of the area.


Violence in our public schools is escalating to new levels and living in a 'nice' neighborhood is no longer enough to guarantee your child will be safe at their public school. As this depressingly long list of school shootings show, they can and do happen anywhere in the United States.

• Columbine High School Massacre -On April 20, 1999, in the small, suburban town of Littleton, Colorado, two high-school seniors, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, enacted an all-out assault on Columbine High School during the middle of the school day. The boys' plan was to kill hundreds of their peers. With guns, knives, and a multitude of bombs, the two boys walked the hallways and killed. When the day was done, twelve students, one teacher, and the two murderers were dead.


• Oct, 2007 - Two students and Two teachers were shot at Cleveland area High School. The injuries were not life threatening. The culprit was a 14-year-old student, Asa H. Coon who later shot and killed himself.


• Jan, 2007 - Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High School.


• September 2006, Cazenovia, Wisconsin - Weston School principal John Klang was killed by a 15-year-old student.


• September 2006 - Six students were held hostage at Platte Canyon High School. One of the hostages, Emily Keyes (16), was then shot and killed.


• April 2006 - Two teachers were shot at Essex Elementary School resulting in the death of one of the teachers.


• November 2005 - The assistant principal at Campbell County High School was shot and killed and two other administrators were seriously wounded, by the 15 year old shooter.


• March 2005 - Red Lake, Minnesota, Jeff Weise, 16, killed himself after killing his Grandfather, a school a teacher, a security guard and 5 students.


• September 2003 - Cold Spring, Minnesota, two students are killed at Rocori High School.


• April 2003 - Principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School was killed by James Sheets, 14, who also killed himself.


• April 2003 - One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire.


• January 2002 - Two students were wounded at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.


• March 2001 - Gary, Indiana One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr (17), who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School.


• March 2001 - One teacher and three students were wounded at Granite Hills High School by Hoffman. Hoffman was shot and wounded by a policeman.


• March 2001 - Kimberly Marchese, a student, was wounded in the cafeteria of Bishop Newumann High School by14 year old Elizabeth Catherine Bush who was depressed and frequently teased.


• March 2001 -Two killed and 13 wounded when Charles Andrew Williams, 15, fired from a bathroom at Santana High School.


• January 2001 - One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School.


• September 200 - Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School.


• May 2000 - One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes by 13 year old Nate Brazill.


• March 2000 - Two students killed while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.


• February 2000 - Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun.


• December 1999 - Four students were wounded when Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School.


• November 1999 - Araceli Tena, 13, was shot and killed in the lobby of Deming Middle School by 12 year old Victor Cordova Jr.


• May 1999 - Six students were injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend.


• Jun, 1998 - Richmond, Virginia, One teacher and one guidance counsellor wounded by a 14 year old who carried out the crime in the school hallway.


• May 1998 - Two Students killed. 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15 year old Kip Kinkel who had been arrested a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. The Killer killed his parents too.


• May 1998 - One student killed in the parking lot of Lincoln County High School just 3 days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of the killer, 18 year old Jacob Davis, an honor student.


• April 1998 - Teacher, John Gillette killed and two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School by 14 year old Andrew Wurst.


• March 1998 - 13 year old Mitchell Johnson and 11 year old Andrew Golden shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods. Four Students and one teacher were killed, ten others were wounded. This occurred outside Westside Middle School as school was being emptied during a false fire alarm.


• Dec, 1997, Stamps, Arkansas -Two Students were wounded as they stood in the parking lot by 14 year old Colt Todd who was hiding in the woods.


• December 1997 -Three students were killed and five wounded as they participated in prayer circle at Heath High School by 14 year old Michael Cameal.


• Oct, 1997, Pearl, Mississippi -Two students were killed and seven others were wounded by 16 year old Luke Woodham. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan. He also killed his Mom.


• Feb, 1997, Bethel, Alaska -Principal and one student killed, two others were wounded by 16 year old Evan Ramsey.


• Feb, 1996, Moses Lake, Washington - Two Students and one teacher killed and one other wounded by 14 year old Barry Loukaitis when he opened fire on his Algebra Class.

Using Katie Criss' logic this depressingly long list (gathered from Recent World Wide School Shootings) would be enough to have us crusading against public schools.

But if the recent public school shootings aren't enough to have you questioning the safety of students in public schools there are all the teachers who are sexually abusing the children under their supervision.

• A former middle school teacher was sent to prison for six years Tuesday for having sexual encounters with five teenage boys. Authorities said Allenna Ward, 24, met 14- and 15-year-old boys at the school where she taught as well as at a motel, a park and behind a restaurant.


• Lafave, 26, is serving three years of house arrest and seven years of probation after pleading guilty to having sex with the (14 year old) boy in a classroom and her home in June 2004.


• AP reporters in every state and the District of Columbia identified 2,570 teachers who were punished for sexual misconduct from 2001 to 2005 alone, for actions that ranged from fondling to viewing child pornography to rape.


• Richland High School teacher was sentenced to 40 years for having sex with two students. A teacher in Tupelo got 18 years for a similar crime. But a teacher in Clarksdale, who was accused of giving an eighth-grade student gonorrhea, struck a deal with prosecutors and walked out of court a free man. More than a dozen teachers in Mississippi have been convicted of sexual crimes since 2000. The sentences handed down vary widely from case to case.


• A man honored as among the best teachers in Utah pleaded guilty Thursday to felony sex charges involving 11 students at his suburban classroom. Frank Laine Hall, 37, who taught first grade in the Salt Lake City suburb of Riverton until his arrest last March, could get up to 30 years to life in prison, prosecutor Rodwicke Ybarra said.

She justifies her harassment of homeschoolers by questioning the safety of homeschooled children.

• In the Warren case she cites, she fails to mention that county workers got an anonymous tip: better check on those kids. Someone knew there was a problem and reported it to the proper authorities.


• Since she didn't even provide names in the Iowa case it is impossible to find any further information.


• Many people were aware of Andrea Yates' mental illness. In fact her husband was desperately trying to get her medical care. Also the Yates' children were Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, Mary, 6 months old. Under Texas compulsory attendance laws only Noah (age 7) was school age.

  a child who is at least six years of age, or who is younger than six years of age and has previously been enrolled in first grade, and who has not completed the academic year in which the child's 18th birthday occurred shall attend school.

Ms Criss is erroneous in her belief that homeschooling bore any responsibility in these children's deaths. She also fails to acknowledge that some public school parents abuse their children undetected by school officials, and that some of the public school teachers are abusive.

I have concluded from this information that a child can only go as far as their parents have, and in some instances that may not be very far. Therefore these children are being cheated out of a valuable education.

Homeshooled children are not being cheated out of a valuable education. Often parents choose to learn along with their children, they hire tutors or form cooperatives (where classes are often taught by former public school teachers), they enroll in distance learning programs. Homeschool parents have many options when it comes to educating their children.

She also fails to address the public school students who are not receiving an education, see Stupid in America by John Stossel

Also I have questioned, having a parent as a teacher... are they teaching their children their bias's? In an institution goals are made to make sure that the material being taught is bias free.

Public schools are full of bias.

• Florida's current standards require the teaching of evolution using code words like "change over time." Thankfully the nonsense of using 'code words' has finally come to an end. Florida's State Board of Education has voted to use the term "scientific theory of evolution" in new science standards. It's the first time the word "evolution" has been included. Maybe Ms Criss should spend sometime worrying about the poor kids that were trapped in the Florida schools that refused to teach evolution until recently. Florida isn't the only State that has balked at teaching evolution.


• Bias in Textbooks


• Civil rights organizations representing broad sectors of communities joined together on Oct. 23 to call attention to incidents of bias-related harassment plaguing California’s public schools.


• Study Finds Racial Bias in Public Schools.

Ms Criss also seems unaware that homeschoolers are a diverse group and that there are many inclusive homeschool groups where homeschoolers associate with homeschoolers of differing beliefs and backgrounds.

However in a home a parent, especially with no education on how to educate, would use only one teaching method.

Ms Criss couldn't be more wrong. Homeschool parents educate themselves on the different teaching methods and use the method that works best for their child. I used different methods with both my children as both children had different learning styles.

how will a child develop his or her socialization skills if they are not exposed to different people? The school environment is much like one's work environment.

Homeschoolers socialize with many different people. They join recreational sports teams, scouts, robotics teams, and many other groups.

The school environment is nothing like the work environment. I don't know of any company that segregates their employees by age.

These children will not have the experience that public school provides, they will not have the experience that unites us citizens and provides us with a common background. They will not get to experience the simple things like go to prom's, participate in sports in which an entire school is benefited, have a school lunch, a lock on their locker, a ride on a school bus, recess, watching for their school to be cancelled on TV from snow days, and all the other little but character building events that take place in a public school students life.

I hate to break it to her but many public school students don't go to proms either. Some homeschool orgainzations have proms, most homeschoolers participate in sports some homeschool groups even have their own sports teams.

Homeschooling is a viable choice and provides a solid education for many homeschooled students. Parents have the right to choose the best educational option for their child, without government interference.

More Violence in our public schools

A Blount High School freshman was taken to a hospital after being stabbed in the face with a knife during an on-campus fight with a classmate, authorities said.

The 17-year-old victim in the Thursday morning stabbing later was released from the University of South Alabama Medical Center. School officials said teachers subdued the attacker, a freshman who was arrested by police.

Is this what the critics of homeschooling mean by socialization?

Home Spun Juggling: Putting out Fires

Home Spun Juggling: Putting out Fires

Home schooling now gaining respect

It's about time. Read the article here.

This is a terrible tragedy

Eighth-grader Lawrence King was shot Tuesday during a class at E.O. Green Junior High, police said.

Police have not alleged a motive for the shooting, but said there appeared to have been "bad blood" between the teens. Police said a handgun was used in the attack, which occurred with more than 20 other students in the room.

Thankfully none of the other public school students were hurt.

Carnival of Homeschooling

The Voice of Experience is hosting the Cabin Fever edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Can your child's teacher read?

John Corcoran graduated from college and taught high school for 17 years without being able to read, write or spell.

Corcoran's life of secrecy started at a young age. He said his teachers moved him up from grade to grade. Often placed in what he calls the "dumb row," the images of his tribulations in the classroom are still vividly clear.

Read the rest here.

Darwin Day

Our homeschool celebrates Darwin Day and studies the theory of evolution. Here are some links and book recomendations to help you with your Darwin Day celebration.



Celebrations

DarwinSBU.Org

Darwin Day Celebration Activities



Lesson Plans

Teachers' Domain

Discovery Education



Charles Darwin

About Darwin

Charles Darwin Naturalist

BBC



Books

Books by Charles Darwin

Gutenberg Project

The Language of God by Francis S. Collins, read my book review here.

Member of the Jena 6 back in trouble

A defendant in the Louisiana "Jena Six" case was arrested on suspicion of slamming a student's head into a bench at his new school in Texas, police said.

Bryant R. Purvis, 19, was arrested on a charge of assault causing bodily injury Wednesday after an altercation at Hebron High School. It began because Purvis believed a student had flattened his tires, Sgt. John Singleton said.

Seems like this kid has anger management issues he needs help with.

Useful info for those of us with college students

Balancing Student Privacy and School Safety: A Guide to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act for Colleges and Universities you can get the guide here.

Another Push Out

A newly arrived Kilgore mother is picketing Kilgore Independent School District after being told her son must remove his two earring studs before attending the school.
Sherrie McGinty said she was informed by Kilgore Intermediate School personnel Thursday that her 10-year-old son, Alexander "Little Berry" McGinty, would need to remove his earrings to attend classes. She and her son moved to Kilgore from Washington a few weeks ago and are living in a hotel while trying to find a place to live, she said.

"We are not living in 1940 anymore," McGinty said, adding that her son's school in Washington did not have a problem with his earrings.

She said she went to the school district's administration building to ask why her son could not have his earrings. She said the superintendent accused her of being argumentative and asked her to leave. She signed some paperwork to homeschool her son and left, returning shortly after with a picket sign.

She probably has a case for discrimination too; as girls are allowed to wear earrings. You can read the rest here.

World War I

Great new blog for History buffs WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier .

Carnival of Homeschooling - Acrostic Edition

Beverly's Homeschooling Blog is hosting this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling - Acrostic Edition.

Another reason for the Bitter Homeschooler to be Bitter

Well the Bitter Homeschooler has something else to be bitter about. Not only does she have to contend with idiots implying that homeschooling is somehow wrong/bad parenting/against the law ect., other bloggers have stolen her wish list. Read her post I'd Rather be Hated Than Used at Diary of a Mad Editor.

Deborah Markus, from Secular Homeschooling Magazine wrote The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List. The list probably struck a chord with every homeschooler on the planet. It's been circulated in blogland over and over again, it even got mentioned in Fark, which should have been good news for Deborah Markus and Secular Homeschooling Magazine. But it wasn't, Why? because another blogger had posted the wish list and was getting credit for it. When she asked him politely to not post the whole article and provide a link to her site this was his response.

They hadn't agreed, and weren't going to agree, to my request to trim and link because -- well, had I noticed how many comments had been posted to the bitter wish list's posting? Hundreds. Those were hundreds of people who were staying on their site to talk about what they'd read. (Hundreds of people who should have been at Secular Homeschooling Magazine reading the list)

If they trimmed and linked to mine, that would be all those people leaving their site and going to mine. And they really didn't want that.

What nerve.

Secular homeschooling can feel very lonely sometimes. Deborah Markus was kind enough to start a magazine for secular homeschoolers. She took a lot of flake from religious homeschoolers, many of whom copied the wish list without giving her credit. She has this to say about that.

I sort of expect, or at least can't really be shocked by, the religious bloggers who don't mention my magazine, or mention it but say things like "I don't endorse or support SECULAR Homeschooling Magazine." As I mentioned in my previous posting, I've started to notice that for some people, secular doesn't mean non-religious, it means anti-. It's the "s" word, and they don't like it.

But the offender in this instance was another secular homeschooling family.

Why Homeschool: A public school double standard

Why Homeschool: A public school double standard

Public School Student Kills Family

A 15-year-old boy fatally shot his parents and two younger brothers as they slept, then spent more than 12 hours with friends before returning home and calling 911 to report that his father was dead, police said Sunday

The tall, gangly sophomore at Dulaney High School in neighboring Timonium was denied bail; a bail review hearing was scheduled Monday. He was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in a special section for juveniles.