Robin L. West takes a potshot at homeschooling

The Harms of Homeschooling by Robin L. West is included in Philosophy & Public Opinion Quarterly The Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy School of Public Policy • University of Maryland (page 7) apparently no intelligence is needed to write for their quarterly.

She says
The explosion in homeschooling of the last quarter century, however, is a different phenomenon altogether. The majority of homeschoolers today, and by quite a margin, are devout, fundamentalist Protestants.

Really!!!!! I know Pagan Homeschoolers, Atheist Homeschoolers,  Wicca Homeschoolers, Catholic Homeschoolers as well as a few Fundamentalist Protestant Homeschoolers. The Fundamentalist do not dominate the homeschooling world contrary to what Ms. West believes. In fact religion isn't even the main reason most parents choose to homeschool.

The reason for homeschooling that was most frequently cited as being applicable was concern about the environment of other schools including safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure. Eighty-five percent of homeschooled students were being homeschooled, in part, because of their parents’ concern about the environment of other schools. The next two reasons for homeschooling most frequently cited as applicable were to provide religious or moral instruction (72 percent) and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (68 percent). ~ Parents’ Reasons for Homeschooling


72% cited religious or moral instruction but no study reveals the parents religion affiliation. Therefore there is no data to support Ms. West claims. One of my Pagan friends is homeschooling for religious reasons due to her daughter being harrassed at her former public school due to her Pagan beliefs. The majority of parents according to this study 85% choose to homeschool due to the school environment.

Ms. West also seems confused about the history of homeschooling according to her it was illegal or highly regulated until the 1980's
The short answer to how it happened is simply that in the 1980s, all fifty state legislatures, in response to massive political pressure from religious parents and their lobbyists, legalized homeschooling.

But the modern homeschooling movement was actually lead by educators.
It is difficult to peg the exact origin of modern homeschooling. Some might say the seeds were being planted in the sixties and seventies by educational reformers and authors who questioned both schooling's methods and results. Notable among them are Ivan Illich (Deschooling Society, Harper & Row, 1971), Charles E. Silberman (Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking of American Education, Random House, 1970), and the prolific John Holt (How Children Fail, Dell Publishing, 1964; How Children Learn, Dell Publishing, 1967; What Do I Do Monday? Dell Publishing, 1970), a teacher who eventually gave up his original vision of school reform as hopeless. He began advocating instead no school for youngsters, and in 1977 began publishing Growing Without Schooling, a magazine that continues today even though John passed away in 1985. (Author's Note in 2005: Unfortunately, the inheritor no longer publishes this magazine.) ~ A Brief History of American Homeschooling

Ms West states
The main purpose of this essay is to criticize this “right to homeschool” that the religious parents and their lawyers and lobbyists have claimed, or created, over the past couple of decades. My criticism will rest primarily on the basis of the harms such a right might inflict upon the children so educated.

That's right "MIGHT" she has NO PROOF that homeschooling is actually harmful.

And talk about hypocritical she even concedes that unregulated homeschooling has been and continues to be successful.

Second, although I will be criticizing the right to completely deregulated homeschooling, I do not mean to deny for a moment that homeschooling itself is often—maybe usually—successful, when done responsibly. Passionately involved and loving parents, whether religious or not, can often better educate their children in small tutorials at home, than can cash strapped, under-motivated, inadequately supported, and overwhelmed public school teachers with too many students in their classrooms. Results bear this out, as homeschool advocates repeatedly point out (and as critics virtually never deny): the homeschooled children who are tested, or who take college boards, whether or not religious, perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, do very well on standardized tests, and on the average, they do better than their public school counterparts (though it must be noted that the parents and children who voluntarily subject themselves to testing are the self-selected educational elite of the homeschooling movement). My target is not the practice of homeschooling, whether religious or secular.My target, rather, is unregulated homeschooling—the total abdication of responsibility by the states for regulating the practice.

And yet it was unregulated homeschooling that allowed my kids to succeed. We NEVER did testing of any sort until they were ready to enter college and then they took the ACT. My eldest son started college at 16 based on his ACT scores. He now has a Bachelors of Science Degree in Computer Science and is working on his Masters. My youngest son has just completed his first semester of college as a full time student. Homeschooling's success is due to the freedom the parents and students enjoy to move at their own pace and study what is of interest to them, instead of being forced to follow some bureaucratic regulations.

She claims
First, children who are homeschooled with no state regulation are at greater risk for unreported and unnoticed physical abuse

Not true. Child abuse is NOT a Homeschooling Problem.  Child Abuse Laws apply to all parents and Child Protective Services are tasked with protecting all children not just public school students. See Homeschooling and Child Abuse: A Response to Recent Media Reports

Second, there’s a public health risk. Children who attend public schools are required to have immunizations. 

With all the controversy surrounding immunizations it is not necessarily in a child's best interest to have them receive immunizations. Also as homeschoolers are not crowded into classrooms with sick children they are less likely to contact  diseases. Some states even offer exemptions to public school students.

Children are loved in a family because they are the children of the parents in the family. The“unconditional love” they receive is anything but unconditional: it is conditioned on the fact that they are their parents’ children. School—either public or private—ideally provides a welcome respite. A child is regarded and respected at school not because she is her parent’s child, but because she is a student: she is valued for traits and for a status, in other words, that are independent of her status as the parent’s genetic or adoptive offspring. The ideal teacher cares about the child as an individual, a learner, an actively curious person—she doesn’t care about the child because the child is hers. The child is regarded with respect equally to all the children in the class. In these ways, the school classroom, ideally, and the relations within it, is a model of some core aspects of citizenship.

Baloney and hogwash. I had public school teachers who bullied me and verbally abused me. I had other public school teachers that adored me and made me the class favorite. All the children in a classroom are not treated equally. And it seems daily I read about some public school student being sexually involved with a public school teacher or bullied by classmates. Public Schools are anything but safe havens.

Fundamentalist Protestant adults who were homeschooled over the last thirty years are not politically disengaged, far from it. They vote in far higher percentages than the rest of the population. They mobilize readily.

I thought being politically engaged was a good thing. Apparently Ms. West only wants those people who share her beliefs to vote. (BTW I am not a Fundamentalist Protestant Homeschooler, but I believe they have as much right to vote their beliefs as I have to vote my Liberal Secular beliefs.)

Child-raising that is relentlessly authoritarian risks instilling what developmental psychologists call “ethical servility”: a failure to mature morally beyond the recognition of duties of obedience.

So public schools aren't authoritarian, public schools students are allowed to do whatever they wish? Hogwash! Homeschool parents are not all relentlessly authoritarian and I dare say there are some public school teachers and parents who are relentlessly authoritarian too. And why do I get the idea that Robin L. West would not have the slightest problem with public schools students being obedient to the state and her political beliefs.

Finally, the economic harms. The average homeschooling family may have a higher income than the average non-homeschooler, as was recently reported by USA Today. The radically fundamentalist “movement” family, however, is considerably poorer than the population, and it is the participants in these movements—the so-called “patriarchy movement”and its “quiverfull” branch and related groups —that are the hardcore of the homeschooling movement. The husbands and wives in these families feel themselves to be under a religious compulsion to have large families, a homebound and submissive wife and mother who is responsible for the schooling of the children, and only one breadwinner. These families are not living in romantic, rural, self-sufficient farmhouses; they are in trailer parks, 1,000-square-foot homes, houses owned by relatives, and some, on tarps in fields or parking lots. Their lack of job skills, passed from one generation to the next, depresses the community’s overall economic health and their state’s tax base.

One can only wonder where Ms. West gets such garbage.

While half of private school students have family incomes of $75,001 or more, public and homeschooled students families are approximately equal in falling into income brackets of up to $25,000, $25,001-$50,000, $50,001-$75,000, and $75,001 and up. ~ Homeschool Statistics

So the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that homeschool students and public school students families are pretty much equal in income even though homeschoolers often only have one parent working.

However, even if we assume that the benefits of homeschooling when done well are quite substantial, and even if the harms of public school when done poorly are equally so, nothing follows regarding the wisdom of deregulating homeschooling.

Really!!! It is the very deregulation of homeschooling that allows homeschool students to flourish. If homeschoolers are required to meet the same regulations as public schools then you have destroyed homeschooling and just created mini public schools in the students homes.

Annual standardized testing is not the bane of all existence it is often made out to be, and it would give rightly proud parents and children alike a record—and evidence—of their accomplishments. It would also make clear where they had slipped, and where there is need for correction.

And who would pay for the expensive annual standardized testing? Where would the testing take place? Annual standardized testing is unnecessary in a homeschool environment as the parent teacher knows if their child student comprehends the material and is ready to advance to the next level. Also one of the chief criticisms being leveled at public schools is that valuable learning time is being wasted teaching to the test in order to improve test scores. Why would anyone want to force homeschoolers to teach to the test like public schools do?

Mandatory testing would give the states, and the parents, a way to ensure that the students are performing at a level consistent with their own abilities, and consistent with the abilities and performance of their public and private schooled peers. It would give the parents and the state a way to ensure that the children who should be college bound are being prepared for that path, or at least, it would ensure that the parents are aware of their children’s capacity for college level work. Periodic visits would open the door to college and career counseling, of benefit to both the children and their parents. They would give the state a window into the quality of home life, and a way to monitor signs of abuse as well as immunizations. The sanction for failure to comply with minimal curriculum, content, visitation, and testing requirements would simply be enrollment in a certified private or public school.

So homeschoolers should have their learning time disrupted by some bureaucrats visit to make Ms West happy. And who is going to pay for all the "parental monitoring" Ms. West wants? Lets leave raising children to the parents and keep the government and those of Ms. West ilk out of it.

Apparently Ms West inspiration for this diatribe against homeschooling is anti - homeschooler  Robert Reich.

For further reading
How Fundamentalist, Patriarchal, Uneducated Homeschoolers Who Live on Tarps in Parking Lots with Their Eight Kids are Harming America by Joe Carter at First Thoughts

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ The Dog & Cat Edition

Fenris was adopted from the Bay St. Louis/ Waveland Animal Shelter.  He is a well loved Mutt.  The best guess is he is an Great Pyrenees & Australian Shepherd Mix. Fenris' name comes from Norse Mythology.

The Fenris Wolf (aka Fenrir) is a creature of the Asgardian dimension who is said to be an offspring of Loki and the giant Angrboda. It is a huge wolf (usual height 15 feet tall) with human-like intelligence, vast strength and the capacity to change its shape to that of a god or to change its size to that of a real wolf.

Little Bit is a Purebred Great Pyrenees.

Just like there is a lot of diversity in the dog world there is a lot of diversity among homeschoolers.

Homeschool Diversity

A Tea Party Question is featured at Why Homeschool. How many homeschoolers are involved in the tea party movement and are homeschoolers more likely to support the tea party idea? I am interested in seeing what conclusions are drawn from the polls.

This is Jen's first time to participate in a blog carnival she brings Politically Correct Homeschoolers @ Joy Ever After to us.

What does The Sound of Homeschooling sound like find out at About.Com: Homeschooling.

Charybdis & her litter mate Scylla were rescued by the Mississippi Alliance for Spay and Neuter, after their Mother (a feral cat) was poisoned. We adopted them when they were four weeks old and bottle fed them. Sadly loss is a part of life. Our sweet Charybdis left us too soon.

 How Homeschoolers cope with change

Sometimes homeschoolers feel overwhelmed to the point of quiting Katherine explores this topic at  No Fighting, No Biting! (I love the title of her blog) in her post school tour.

Pamela Jorrick presents Less School-y Than Usual? posted at Blah, Blah, Blog.

Linda Dobson presents What’s Old Is New Again posted at PARENT AT THE HELM.

Something we hardly see in the Deep South is snow, although at the moment we are dealing with colder then usual temperatures. My pond actually froze so I found  Shannon Dodd's Snow Day! posted at Mommyapolis very timely.

Scylla

Scylla and her sister Charybdis were named after monsters in Greek Mythology. Homer mentions them in the Odyssey.

Socks

Scylla & Socks took part in the Pet Postcard Project.  Every pet postcard you send in earns 1 pound of food for shelter dogs.  Homeschoolers also take part in many service projects.

How Homeschoolers Define Success

Cheryl Henderson-Khalid presents Success on Paper or Success in Life ? Which Would You Choose? posted at Homeschooling for 3.

Dana presents Homeschooled kids: Did they fall through the cracks? posted at Roscommon Acres.

ChristineMM presents Thoughts on Teaching Fractions and Student Work Ethic posted at The Thinking Mother.

This is Artemisia, Artemis for short she is the newest addition to our household.

Artemisia is the name of a plant and suits this lovely petite girl to perfection. Artemisia(pronounced /ˌɑrtɨˈmiːziə/) is a large, diverse genus of plants with between 200 to 400 species belonging to the daisy family Asteraceae. The beliefs surrounding this genus are founded upon the strong association between the herbs of the genus Artemisia and the moon goddess Artemis, who is believed to hold these powers. In Israel Artemisia is sometimes referred to by the name "Shiva", the Queen of Sheba.  It is also said that the genus Artemisia (which includes over 400 plants) may be named after an ancient botanist. Artemisia was the wife and sister of the Greek/Persian King Mausolus from the name of whose tomb we get the word mausoleum. Artemisia, who ruled for three years after the king's death, was a botanist and medical researcher, and died in 350 B.C.

In Greek Mythology Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo. She is a goddess of transitions, a hunter, a virgin, and one of the goddesses who assists at childbirth. She was on the Trojan side in Homer's Iliad.

Artemis knows first hand that being the new kid on the block isn't easy.

Homeschooling Resources

This week at home ( a homeschool diary) chronicles a week in the life of a homeschooling family posted at Home is Where You Start From.

Cristina presents What Moth is This? posted at Home Spun Juggling.

Sebastian at Percival Blakeney Academy post Homeschool Mini Conference telling how even a small group of homeschoolers can put on a curriculum fair that is helpful to current and prospective homeschoolers alike.

Margy Hesser presents How To Write a Lab Report and Keep a Lab Book posted at Homeschool High School.

Apples and Jammies (what a cute name for a blog) brings us Educating Myself about some homeschooling books Beth has been reading.

Foreign Language Instruction in Our Home posted @ Petticoat Government.

Large Family Workbox System for Homeschool posted @ Peace Creek on the Prairie


Craft Stew presents Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions posted at Craft Stew.

Sarah presents SmallWorld's WordSmithery: Form Poetry posted at SmallWorld.

The Home Education Blog gives advice on planning homeschool lessons.

Rachel Lynette presents 10 Fun and Creative Thank You Note Ideas posted at Minds in Bloom.

Misty presents Free Online Homeschool Videos: Math, Science, and More! posted at Homeschool Bytes.

Amanda at All American Family is a first time submitter and she has Great Homeschooling Resources for your perusal.

Miscellaneous

 Work and Play, Day by Day offers Reasons for Homeschooling- Part 1 .

Designated Conservative reports on Killing Homeschooling in Michigan – The Other Shoe to Drop in 2010?

A Call to Homeschool posted at True Femininity has compelling biblical and logical reasons to homeschool your children.

This ~n~That
Anne Simone presents 50 Best Cookbooks for the College Kid in Your Life posted at Online Schools.

Rosetta Stone, FuseFly, and Heart of the Matter Online are sponsoring their first Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip for homeschoolers and their families to travel to France and Spain this summer. Organized by ACIS, the premier educational travel company, the trip includes visits to famous European sites and kicks off on August 2, 2010 in Paris, France and concludes in Madrid, Spain on August 11, 2010. Homeschool families as well as homeschoolers over the age of 16 are encouraged to register now to receive preferred pricing. Visit the Homeschool Language Learning & Networking Trip site to view additional trip details or register. Hurry! The deadline to register is February 15, 2010.

Honeypurple presents 100 Best Job Sites for B-School Students posted at Online Colleges.org.

Dolfin presents Our Store posted at Lionden Landing.

Laura Kluge presents Top 20 Blogs to Help Working Mom’s posted at Court Reporter School.

This wraps up The Dog & Cat Edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. Thank you for participating. The next Carnival of Homeschooling will be hosted by Home School Dad. To find out how to submit a post click here.

Robotics Anyone

According to The Sun Herald It’s robotics season again at Stennis. My youngest son was a member of Team Fusion 364 and it is a wonderful group and this is a great program. I encourage any homeschoolers on the MS Gulf Coast to look into joining. If you are interested contact Mr. Gunkel by email at andy.gunkel@gulfportschools.org.

To read more about my sons experience with Team Fusion 364 click here.

Rosetta Stone Rewards Homeschoolers with First Annual 10-Day European Language Learning and Networking Trip

Homeschoolers and their Families Connect Learning with Life through Visits to Paris, Madrid and Barcelona in Summer 2010

ARLINGTON, VA— Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE:RST), a leading provider of technology-based language-learning solutions, announced today that the company will sponsor their first Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip for homeschoolers and their families to travel to France and Spain this summer. Homeschoolers will be able to put their French and Spanish language skills to use and experience all of the benefits of immersion the moment they arrive abroad. The Rosetta Stone Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip kicks off on August 2, 2010 in Paris, France and concludes in Madrid, Spain on August 11, 2010.

The 10-day long trip is co-sponsored by FuseFly, a social network connecting homeschoolers around the world, and Heart of the Matter Online, a home education website dedicated to bridging the gap between parents and children. Organized by ACIS, the premier educational travel company sponsoring student trips worldwide, the trip includes visits to famous European sites such as the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Palace of Versailles, Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia and the Prado Museum. The first-annual trip will allow homeschoolers to fully experience all of the benefits of their language curriculum while learning about history firsthand.

“We are thrilled to sponsor the inaugural Rosetta Stone Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip,” said Eric Duehring, Rosetta Stone general manager and vice president of consumer marketing and sales. “The trip provides families that are dedicated to the education of their child with the chance to immerse themselves in another culture and truly experience the power of learning a new language. For the homeschoolers themselves, this is a unique learning opportunity that will have lasting impact on their future personal, educational and professional development.”

Rosetta Stone® Homeschool curriculum provides students with a rich, interactive and engaging language-learning experience. The scalability and flexibility of the solution allows parents to assign lessons based on students’ individual needs, allowing students at all levels to learn a language. Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3 helps learners develop speaking, listening, reading and writing skills easily and systematically from the very beginning.

Homeschool families as well as homeschoolers over the age of 16 are encouraged to register now to receive preferred pricing. The deadline to register is February 15, 2010. A Rosetta Stone purchase is not required to participate. For more information or questions pertaining to Rosetta Stone Homeschool or the Rosetta Stone Homeschool Language Learning and Networking Trip, contact homeschool@rosettastone.com .

Soliciting Homeschool Post

I am hosting the upcoming Carnival of Homeschooling and I would LOVE for you to submit a post. To find out how go here.

Possible topics

• Homeschool diversity
• How homeschoolers cope with change
• Homeschool resources
• How homeschoolers define success/ how homeschoolers are involved in their communities
• Anything you can come up with

And please pass this on to other homeschoolers you know. ~Thanks, Alasandra

Why Homeschool: Carnival of Homeschool: Week 210 - The 4th Anniversary

Why Homeschool: Carnival of Homeschool: Week 210 - The 4th Anniversary

I'll be hosting the next Carnival so please get those submissions in.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Enjoy the Winter in Idaho Edition of the CoH.

2009 Winners of the Homeschool Blog Awards

Wind Rider ~ Best Youth Blog
Why Homeschool ~ Best Group Blog
Blogging 'Bout Boys ~ Best Adult Blog

A Very Nearly Tea: The hectically thrown together Carnival of Homeschooling

A Very Nearly Tea: The hectically thrown together Carnival of Homeschooling

World Nut Daily's Nuttiness

I started reading Homeschooling and socialism by Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld and was overcome by the sheer nuttiness of the post.

In a socialist system, the state owns the children. Parents are merely breeders, and since homeschoolers tend to like large families, the population-control socialists will no doubt try to abolish homeschooling.



News flash not all homeschoolers have or want large families. The majority of homeschooling families I know have one or two kids, just like their public school counterparts.

And now in America, we have a socialist president in the White House and a Congress controlled by the Marxist left wing of the Democratic party. These socialists already have a government-controlled education system which is turning out young Americans who don’t know the difference between socialism and capitalism, or a democracy and a constitutional republic. They have been so totally dumbed down that they are willing to accept the chains of socialist control over their lives as inevitable. And since it promises economic security – the security of enslavement – why fight it?



Gosh President Obama has managed to dumb down America's school children in less then a year. One would have thought some of the lessons American Public School Students learned during the EIGHT YEARS President George W. Bush was in office would have had some sort of impact.

The reason why the socialists in power are determined to saddle the nation with a universal, national health-care system is because it will give them complete control over the lives of everyone, including homeschoolers who will be forced to accept government-imposed health insurance. All of this is patently unconstitutional. But socialists have always considered the United States Constitution to be an obstacle to their goal of total power.

Geez, it couldn't have anything to do with the unaffordablity of insurance for many Working Americans. Or the fact that the uninsured are a drain on our economy. Nope it is all a plot by those socialists to enslave us how silly of us to think it is to help NORMAL WORKING AMERICANS AFFORD MEDICAL INSURANCE. Amusingly enough the majority of these NUTS don't have a problem with GOVERNMENT FLOOD INSURANCE or MEDICARE.

And judging from the speed with which they want to transform America before the public has a chance to read their 2,000-page legislation, it is obvious that they are serious in their intent to destroy our free way of life.

Now why the nuts can't go online and read the legislation is beyond me. I guess it is easier to whine that the public hasn't had a chance to read it then to actually read it and give intelligent reasons why you oppose it.   

H.R.3962 - Affordable Health Care for America Act
This is the House health care bill that was approved by the House of Representatives on Nov. 7, 2009. Broadly, it seeks to expand health care coverage to the approximately 40 million Americans who are currently uninsured by lowering the cost of health care and making the system more efficient. To that end, it includes a new government-run insurance plan (a.k.a. a public option) to compete with the private companies, a requirement that all Americans have health insurance, a ban on denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition and, to pay for it all, a surtax on individuals with incomes above $500,000.

You can read the Senate version here.

CALISTA WAS A VICTIM OF LAZY OR INEPT CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES.

Ron French is totally WRONG in his post Lax home-school laws put kids at risk , nothing could be further from the truth. And I have a question for Mr. French WHERE WAS CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES? ????

By his own admission several complaints had been filed with CPS.
Several complaints were lodged against the Springers to Children's Protective Services. It's not known publicly whether Centreville school officials were the source of those complaints, because complainants are kept confidential.
Did CPS ignore the complaints? Did they investigate at all? Homeschooling would in NO WAY prevent Child Protective Services from investigating complaints. This is a clear case where CPS FAILED TO DO THEIR JOB.

And then there is this
Calista Springer lay tethered to her bed by a dog collar while her siblings went off to school each morning.
Why didn't the siblings who were in public school get help for their sister? Why didn't they tell a teacher or school counselor?

*Note a commenter took issue with my statement that the siblings could have told a teacher or a school counselor and pointed out that victims of abuse seldom ask for help. I am no way blaming Calista's siblings for her death. But homeschool critics often state that Public School Students can tell teachers/guidance counselor of abuse and ask for help and that this option is not open to homeschoolers. I am merely pointing out that Calista's siblings were in PUBLIC SCHOOL and could have told a teacher/guidance counselor and didn't.

"Home school played a role in Calista's death," said prosecutor McDonough. "They basically eliminated any person who could have reported abuse, and the justification was the home school law."
NO IT DIDN'T!!!!! The fact that the parents claimed to be homeschooling Calista in no way prevented CPS from doing their job. CALISTA WAS A VICTIM OF LAZY OR INEPT CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES.

Detroit News on Homeschool "Witch-hunt"

Detroit News on Homeschool "Witch-hunt"

The Common Room: Homeschooling Blog Carnival

I just had a chance to glance at The Common Room: Homeschooling Blog Carnival, but what I saw was so funny. Drop by and see for yourself.

Boy, 14, accused of raping girl at Calif. PUBLIC school

Boy, 14, accused of raping girl at Calif. Public school - Nation Wire - SunHerald.com

Are you looking for Academic Help?

Search no further, check out Clickademics for help with Math, Science, English, History and Study Skills. For more information contact Bradley Peterson.

Spare Me From The Religious Right & The Loony Left

I really have to wonder about people. First there was the person who contacted me about advertising their homeschooling product on my blog. Obviously the man hadn't bothered to read my blog or he would have know that there was no way I would advertise his product, and that while I may be a fellow homeschooler I certainly don't share his Fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

Then along came this conspiracy theory loon, who believes all homeschoolers are Fundamentalist Christians bent on world domination and establishing an American Theocracy.

He shares such gems as:

millions of vulnerable children (estimates are suspect because of poor reporting requirements) became virtual prisoners in their own homes, pawns in a scheme to overthrow the United States Government and replace it with a theocracy

The majority of Homeschooled children are not prisoners and they certainly aren't part of some scheme to overthrow the government.

Lead by radicals, this movement is creating a virtual fifth column of ignorant children raised to hate democracy and to revile and distrust their government institutions.

Homeschoolers certainly aren't ignorant.
Kansas City area homeschoolers win BEST robotics competition

Local Homeschooler, Anthony Hengst, named Florida Geographic Bee Semi-Finalist

Homeschooled 6th-grader wins Pilot spelling bee

Homeschooled boy wins national science contest

With sequestered children constantly supervised by zealous despotic parents, the indoctrination of a backward debauched religion can take place 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Honestly this is so ludicrous I am at a loss for words. Obviously Richard Collins INTOLERANCE for those whose religious beliefs are different from his is showing. He goes on to mention anti-homeschooler Rob Reich.

Continue reading here.

Secular Homeschool Support Groups by State

What a crackpot

Posted by Richard Collins Homeschool regulation must be a top priority for the Obama administration.

Just when I thought the right wing had wackiness corned the liberals produce their very own nutcase.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Heather is hosting the Christmas Ornament Edition of the CoH.

Time to Vote For The Best Homeschool Blog

It is now time to vote for The Best Homeschool Blog. Blogs are listed in the sidebar. Voting will end December 24th and the winners will be announced after Christmas.

Good luck to all the nominees.

The 205th Carnival of Homeschooling, Those crazy homeschoolers

Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy The 205th Carnival of Homeschooling, Those crazy homeschoolers

The 204th Carnival of Homeschooling

Drop by Examiner.com to read The 204th Carnival of Homeschooling hosted by Sherene Silverberg. I particularly enjoyed the post by Kris from Weird, Unsocialized, Homeschoolers. My cousins' daughter is a huge fan of The Twilight series. 

Large number of Mississippi schools at risk of failure

About 30 percent of Mississippi’s 152 school districts are at-risk of failing based on the state Department of Education’s new accountability system.
Large number of Mississippi schools at risk of failure - Local - SunHerald.com

Teacher charged with pot growing at home - Featured Story - SunHerald.com

Teacher charged with pot growing at home - Featured Story - SunHerald.com

Updated Nominees for Best Homeschool Blog 2009 & Reminder

Adult Blogs

• A Small Corner of Nowhere
• Mind Games 
• Life, Homesteading, and Everything 
• The Thinking Mother 
• Blogging 'bout Boys
• Home Spun Juggling
• Spiraling
• Janice Campbell  Taking Time For Things That Matter
• Jimmie's Collage
• Let's Play Math
• Little Blue School.
• Homeschool Musings

Group Blogs

• Why Homeschool 
• Cocking A Snook!

Youth Blogs

• Wind Rider
• Miss Priss
• All About Benny
• Tigey & Me
  

Remember nominations are open until the day after Thanksgiving. To nominate a blog just leave the name of the blog and the blogs url in the comments and state what category it falls in; adult, group or youth. I will update this post as nominations are received. You can also email me please put Homeschool Blog Awards 2009 in the subject line if you choose to email.

Can you believe it is almost Thanksgiving. This year is flying by.

Carnival of Homeschooling

A Pondering Heart is hosting this weeks CoH. She is promoting those other awards. Don't forget to nominate your favorite Adult, Group or Youth Blog for Alasandra's Homeschool Blog Awards. Nominations will be closed after Thanksgiving and voting will commence shortly thereafter.

Substitute teacher accused of sexual battery

From The Sun Herald Substitute teacher accused of sexual battery

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ The NaNoWriMo Edition

Stop by Janice Campbell's blog Taking Time For Things That Matter and check out the CoH ~ The NaNoWriMo Edition

201st Carnival of Homeschooling Saving Time

As soon as I get the time I plan to check out The 201st Carnival of Homeschooling Saving Time.

Consent Of The Governed: Carnival of Homeschooling - 200th Edition - Party On!

Consent Of The Governed: Carnival of Homeschooling - 200th Edition - Party On!

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ The Postcard Edition

Speaking of postcards check out the Pet Postcard Project a fun way to feed shelter pets. Now without further ado here is the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Drop by the Nerd Family to read the latest edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. I thought I submitted a post this week, but I guess I didn't as it's not included.

Going Pink

This blog is going PINK for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Songs About Presidents

A lot of conservatives are up in arms about school children singing a song about President Obama. Some of those in an uproar are conservative homeschoolers, so it was ironic that I stumbled on this site geared toward Christian homeschoolers when researching this post.

Songs of The US Presidents by Sue Dickson will help your child learn all about the presidents from Washington to Clinton. Includes a lyrics sheet and an Interactive Presidential Portraits chart.

 More songs about Presidents found at Songs for Teaching.

Hooray for Mister Lincoln by Jackie Silberg

Hooray for Mister Lincoln.
Hooray for Mr. Washington.
They helped to make our country great.

Hooray for Mister Lincoln.
Hooray for Mr. Washington.
Now is the time to celebrate.
I’m proud to be an American,
proud of the red, white and blue, oo

Hooray for Mister Lincoln.
Hooray for Mr. Washington.
Happy birthday to you.

John F. Kennedy Song Lyrics:

(Verse 1)
President John F. Kennedy,
came to office in 1960.
He said that all should be
treated right
in public facilities,
no matter if your black or white.
He said this too:

(Chorus 1)
"Ask not what your country, can do for you.
Ask what you can do for your country."
"Mankind must put an end
to war or war will put
an end to mankind."

(Verse 1 again)
President John F. Kennedy
came to office in 1960.
He said that all should be treated right
in public facilities,
no matter if your black or white.

(Ending)
President John F. Kennedy,
said, "ask what you can do for your country."

School children have been singing songs about Presidents for years. So why the outrage over a  song about President Obama?

Some people claim it's because he is a sitting President. Apparetly they wouldn't have a problem with these songs if Obama were out of office.  One commenter said

Like it or not Obama is our sitting president, and NO child as apart of public school function, or during public school hours should be singing the praises of our sitting president. I would say the same if McCain, Bush, or any other Republican was in office. I would say the same if any other democrat was in office as well. 

But in 2006 school children did sing a song praising President George W. Bush, Congress and FEMA at the  Annual White House Easter Egg Hunt.

Our country’s stood beside us
People have sent us aid.
Katrina could not stop us, our hopes will never fade.
Congress, Bush and FEMA
People across our land
Together have come to rebuild us and we join them hand-in-hand!

Others insist it's the fact that the song is sung to a religious tune But song writers have been borrowing catchy musical tunes for their lyrics for ages.

"Greensleeves" is an old English ballad by an unknown composer. Legend has it that King Henry VIII wrote the song about Anne Boleyn, but this is unlikely because of the style of the music. The song is written in an Italinate style which did not appear in England until after Henry VIII's death.

Around 1865, William Chatterton Dix (1837-1889) wrote What Child Is This to John Stainer's (1840-1901) arrangement of Greensleeves. 

Perhaps the greatest case in point is the New Seekers' "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke", from 1971, the most memorable of Coke jingles, at least for anyone in my generation, to whom the song became a childhood hymn.

The jingle was so popular that the ad was hastily rewritten into an actual pop hit, "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," with lyrics celebrating Coke replaced by Madison Avenue's idea of hippie-isms.

So what exactly is the problem with school children singing a song about President Obama our FIRST African-American President to celebrate Black History Month & Presidents Day?

Banned Books Week

I can't believe I almost missed Banned Books Week. You can read all about it at the American Library Association's Website.

I challenge you to read a Banned Book.

Parent Finds the Conterversay Over Obama Song Laughable

From CNN
The songs
Song 1: (The one in the video)


Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama

Song 2:

Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"

Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!

Parents Approved Of Obama Song Lyrics - That Fox Calls "Indoctrination?"

Much Ado About Nothing

Editor: No parents objected to Obama song lyrics 

The right is at it again with their Obama bashing, and yet again their outrage is misguided.

Mitchell told On the Record with Greta Van Susteren that parents were sent the lyrics of the song in advance, as is standard procedure with performances of this sort, and that no one voiced any concerns about it. He noted the performance took place in February, shortly after the inauguration of the 44th president, when Obama's popularity ratings were riding high.

The video of schoolchildren singing "Barack Hussein Obama/He said that all must lend a hand/To make this country strong again" went viral after being posted to YouTube, where it drew the attention of right-wing radio talk show hosts and Fox News.

Book Review

The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra ~ Great Book!!!!!! " A religion of love has moved alarmingly in the direction of hatred, although outright hatred may not be preached from the pulpit. What is preached is self-righteous intolerance."

Ex-Flowood teacher faces sex charges

What is it with these public school teachers? Ex-Flowood teacher faces sex charges.

Carnival of Homeschooling - Learning About the Autumnal Equinox

Appollos Academy is hosting this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling - Learning About the Autumnal Equinox

Homeschool Blog Awards - Nominations now open

Please nominate your favorite blog for Alasandra's Homeschool Blog Awards. The 2008 Winners Get In Hang On - Adult Blog, The Homeschool Classroom - Group Blog, and Just My Cup of Coffee - Youth Blog are not eligible this year.

Please nominate your favorite adult, group and youth blog.  To nominate a blog just leave it's name and url in the comments.  Nominations will close the day after Thanksgiving. If you are nominated please put the badge at the top of this post on your blog.

Dewey's Treehouse: Carnival of Homeschooling #194: Creatures and Critters

I am fixing to sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy Dewey's Treehouse: Carnival of Homeschooling #194: Creatures and Critters, I hope you will join me.

Oh the Stupidity

Several Presidents have given speeches to school children. This was in the Soundoffs for September 7th, 2009 Sun Herald

Remember Ike?

When I was a teenager, I was with a group when President Eisenhower spoke to us. I do not remember a word, but I do remember the President spoke to me. 

So why all the controversy over President Obama addressing today's students?

Spunky brings up the fact that the Democrats called for special hearings when President George H.W. Bush addressed school children but doesn't mention that there were no outraged parents screaming that their kids were being brainwashed. So again WHY all the outraged parents claiming that the President wants to brainwash their children?

President Obama is not the first President to address school children in fact "President Reagan delivered a back-to-school speech to students in 1988. The first President Bush did one in 1991", and hopefully he will not be the last. His message that education is important is one our school children need to hear.

The Right of course without bothering to read the Federal Statue for themselves are clamoring that President Obama and the DOE broke the law by creating LESSON PLANS. Never mind that the DOE has created LESSON PLANS for numerous other things without The RIGHT being outraged.

What is the purpose of the DOE
Sec. 3402. Congressional declaration of purpose

-STATUTE-


The Congress declares that the establishment of a Department of Education is in the public interest, will promote the general welfare of the United States, will help ensure that education issues receive proper treatment at the Federal level, and will enable the Federal Government to coordinate its education activities more effectively. Therefore, the purposes of this chapter are -


(1) to strengthen the Federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual;

(2) to supplement and complement the efforts of States, the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the States, the private sector, public and private educational institutions, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education;

(3) to encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents, and students in Federal education programs;

(4) to promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education through federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing of information;

(5) to improve the coordination of Federal education programs;

(6) to improve the management and efficiency of Federal education activities, especially with respect to the process, procedures, and administrative structures for the dispersal of Federal funds, as well as the reduction of unnecessary and duplicative burdens and constraints, including unnecessary paperwork, on the recipients of Federal funds; and

(7) to increase the accountability of Federal education programs to the President, the Congress, and the public.

Certainly sounds as if creating Lesson Plans falls within the DOE's stated purpose. Two websites you may want to check out if you are homeschoolers.
Links to NASA Education
Free Federal (Teaching) Resources for Educational Excellence
 
The Statue they use to support their argument is Sec. 3403. Relationship with States and it merely states that the FEDERAL Government (DOE) can not force the states to USE their LESSON PLANS or a specific CURRICULUM. They didn't, thus no laws were broken.
 
I am very trouble about the disrespect many in our nation are showing Our President. Refusing to address him correctly, insisting on using his middle name, or even worse using racial slurs when referring to President Obama is uncalled for. Even if you do not agree with his politics he is your President, the majority of your fellow Americans voted for him and he was duly elected. Those of you who claim to be Christians should spend less time making false accusations against President Obama and his supporters and more time praying for him and his Presidency.

Carnival of Homeschooling

The HomeSpun Life: Homeschool Carnival: Virtual Blog Conference

Football player wrests gun from girl on bus

And they wonder why people homeschool. Luckily thanks to quick action by another student (the football player) no one was injured.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Enjoy this weeks CoH.

The Carnival of Homeschooling Has Style

Check out the We've Got Style CoH.

Home Spun Juggling: Carnival of Homeschooling: The Juggling Workshop

Home Spun Juggling: Carnival of Homeschooling: The Juggling Workshop

LOLCATS

The Carnival of Homeschooling is being hosted at HomeschoolBuzz go by and check out the LOLCATS Edition.

*Graphic Courtesy of Zoolatry

Game Day

Visit About Homeschooling for this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling.

Another messy divorce case

This is so NOT a homeschooling issue.

Loving Summer

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

As Time Goes By ~ CoH

Check out the Carnival of Homeschooling hosted at Homeschool CPA

Homeschoolings advantages far outweigh any preconceived shortcomings

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

Biu says

There are notable drawbacks to homeschooling children.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mississippi Gulf Coast:: Proposed highway route threatens homes

Mississippi Gulf Coast:: Proposed highway route threatens homes

Carnival of Homeschooling

#185

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

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

Not the worst reasons to homeschool

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mississippi Gulf Coast: Keep Highway 15 Out of Jackson County

Mississippi Gulf Coast: Keep Highway 15 Out of Jackson County

The Lazy Days of Summer

Carnival of Homeschooling

Carnival of Homeschooling

This week we have Summer Transition.

You can visit last weeks Summer Party here.

Public School Teacher Entices Girl to Send Sexy Photos

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

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

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

Disgraceful

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

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

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

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

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

Carnival of Homeschooling

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

What you can learn in a homeschool

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those Safe Public Schools?

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

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

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

HT: HERP&ES

Great Homeschooling Post

Drop by 52 Churches and read

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

Who does the brainwashing parents or public school teachers?

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

1. The “Othering” of Public School Students

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Case for Homeschooling

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

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

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

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

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

I like to think the world is our classroom.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Public School Teacher shoots live in companion

A Moss Point High teacher has posted a $25,000 bond and been released in a criminal charge alleging she shot her live-in companion, said Police Sgt. Joycelyn Craig.

The Carnival of Homeschooling - the Baby Bop edition

The Cate's welcome their son into the family with Why Homeschool: The Carnival of Homeschooling - the Baby Bop edition