Reflections on Homeschooling Part 1 ~ Getting Started

We never intended to be a homeschooling family. When our eldest reached school age we happily sent him off to Kindergarten. When my youngest started school I became a substitute teacher at their schools. Then some snobby woman with connections to the school board decided that her taste in clothing should be inflicted on all the students who were unfortunate enough to attend the same school as her child and the mandatory public school uniform policy was born. A policy we opposed, click here and here to see why.

After we lost the court case ( Brody v. The Jackson County School Board) we examined our options. The only private schools in our area are religious and mostly Catholic. We didn't feel comfortable sending our children to a school that had religious beliefs different then our own. So we researched homeschooling on the Internet. The most difficult part of getting started was finding secular textbooks. After we finally found textbooks we were happy with we started looking for Homeschooling Support Groups. At that time the only groups in our area were Christian Groups who required a statement of faith to join. Now thankfully there is an INCLUSIVE group called PEAK that we belong to.

So with our secular textbooks and our inclusive group we were ready to get started on our homeschooling journey.............

Part II

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Homeschool Dad is hosting this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling.

Homeschool Injustice, Homeschool Discrimination or Just Angry Women Getting A Divorce?

I am probably going to make a lot of enemies with this post, but I am very trouble by the way some bloggers are attempting to manipulate homeschoolers. We have the blogs Homeschool Injustice and Homeschool Discrimination, which given their names one would think dealt with homeschooling issues. But they don't they are both blogs about women who are in the midst of messy divorces. Both women are angry that the courts have ordered their children into public or private schools. Both feel that their parental rights are being violated and both feel the Father shouldn't have any rights, and in both instances the Father has requested that his children be sent to public or private school. I think it's a moot point that in the past the Father was OK with homeschooling, people including Father's are allowed to change their minds about what is in the best interest of their children.

Neither case is a homeschooling issue and as we are not privy to the personal details that may lead a judge to rule in favor of the Father's request to send the children to public school we should stay out of it.

Judges are ruling in favour of homeschooling in divorce cases, we do not need to march, protest, or rally the troops in those instances when judges decide public school is in the children's best interest.

From Court Monitor
Staub V Staub
This decision thereby recognized that home schooling is equivalent in merit to public schooling. While the Court left the ultimate power in the hands of family court to decide the educational fate of children after divorce, this ruling sets an important precedent by placing home schooling on footing equal to public schooling.
Staub v. Staub, 2008 PA Super 251 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2008). http://www.superior.court.state.pa.us/opinions/A13018_08.PDF.

The key to the judges ruling in Staub v. Staub seems to be the Mother's attitude toward the Father and his ability to participate in the homeschooling if he choose.

If homeschooling is on an equal footing with public schooling then homeschoolers aren't being discriminated against and there is no injustice involved. As they should the courts will look at the cases on an individual basis and make the decision they feel is best for the children. The children may not be thrilled with the decision (especially if the parent who loses bleats on and on about how awful the decision is), the parent who loses won't be happy but there is no injustice or discrimination involved.

It's official

85% of the voters want Alasandra's Homeschool Blog Awards to continue. I'll need a nifty badge/button for 2009. So feel free to put on your thinking caps and submit one. Badges/Buttons can be submitted anytime before August 1st. During August the badges/buttons will be voted on and one will be chosen. In September I'll ask for nominees.

Fundamentalist bloggers spreading misinformation again

Courtroom injustices are all the rage on fundamentalist homeschooling blogs and Wing (er I mean World) Net Daily. Of course they never bother to get their facts straight.

This is what really happened courtesy of Right Juris.Com

Now back to the story. There are clear warnings posted at the Courthouse to turn off your cell phones and not to use them in the Courtroom. She is being held for warning her husband about the actions that the opposing party were taking to collect the debt. I am sure this sounds pretty innocent, but think about what would happen if this type of behavior were allowed to go unpunished. Parties would simply have text messages sent out from the Courtroom instructing third parties to hide or dispose of assets if a hearing did not look favorable. It’s the content of the text that really got her into trouble with the Judge. I know I’m going to sound like the crotchety old man here, but people these days have no sense of manners when it comes to text messaging. Text messages in church, class, driving, and other equally inappropriate places is a huge problem. This type of behavior needs to be dealt with.

Mrs. Henwood was released from jail today after talking to the judge and having him explain why he put her in jail.

Not this Woman gets 30 days in jail for texting in court

Perhaps the fundamentalist bloggers should get more savvy and rely on something other the Wing Nut Daily for their information.

Homeschooling in nothing like creationism

I always enjoy the thoughtful post at Principled Discovery, Homeschooling as a protest movement is such a post.

This lead me to read Objections to evolution arise from incorrect interpretation of the facts Posted by Lawrence Kapture. I agree with a lot of his post, but I am infuriated by his assumption that all homeschoolers are anti-evolution idiots. Many homeschoolers BELIVE IN EVOLUTION and teach the theory of evolution to our children.

Homeschooling is essentially a protest movement. Regardless of motivation, homeschoolers believe public schools are unable to prepare their children to live in the world.

There is nothing inherently wrong with protesting. Many important reforms (Civil Rights to name one) have been enacted due to people protesting behavior they believed to be wrong. I proudly admit that my family left the Jackson County Public Schools in PROTEST of the mandatory public school uniform policy and it's socialist overtones. But we choose homeschooling because of the many opportunities and benefits it offered to my family.

Unfortunately, what homeschooling can do is isolate children from the market of ideas, especially when it comes to biological science. There is a large amount of fringe literature published by religious groups that support the claims of creationists while providing no real information about the vast field of evolutionary biology.

Homeschooling does not isolate children from "ideas" anymore then the public schools do. In fact many homeschooling parents understand the difference in a scientific theory like evolution and Aunt Betty's theory of who shot JR. We embrace the field of evolutionary biology and make sure our children are well educated in science.

Homeschooling allows families to isolate their children from good information by providing them only with information that is comfortable with their own biases.

Homeschoolers have a wealth of information at their fingertips. Homeschooled children are just as capable of navigating the Internet as public school students are. Frankly I am amazed at the ignorant people who assume homeschoolers are isolated from the world.

Like homeschooling is a protest against public schools, creationism is a protest against anything that opposes a literal interpretation of the Bible. When it comes to the origins of life, creationism is not a scientifically educated movement.

Homeschooling is nothing like creationism. Creationism is a religious belief. It has nothing to do with science and does not belong in a science classroom. Homeschooling is an educational choice, just like sending your child to public school or private school is an educational choice.

A good reason for homeschoolers to protest

Actually this is a good reason for all Americans to be up in arms not just homeschoolers, that is IF it was TRUE.

Carnival of Homeschooling: Spring Fever 2009

Check out Carnival of Homeschooling: Spring Fever 2009

Visit Corn & Oil

to read the Carnival of Homeschooling: No Child Left Inside

Public School Teacher Accused of Having Sex With Two Students

More charges were levied Wednesday against a former North Gulfport 7th & 8th Grade School teacher accused of having sex with two students.

Read the rest in The Sun Herald.

Carnival of Homeschooling - Peter Rabbit Edition

I loved the Peter Rabbit stories growing up, so it was with great pleasure I sat down to read the Carnival of Homeschooling - Peter Rabbit Edition

Stuck in the past

One means to help preserve the ancient "boundary stones" of Biblical meanings is to use Noah Webster's original 1828 dictionary rather than the new on-line dictionaries that are moving further and further away from Biblical meanings.

Having a common language that is readily understood by all helps prevent confusion. Using an outdated dictionary is sure to put the user at a disadvantage as he/she will not understand how the word is being used TODAY (which happens to be the period in which we live) and the user will also be unaware of new words that have come into vogue like "d'oh!". Look for language scores on the ACT/SAT to go down for homeschoolers who take Wayne's advice.

Give Act

There has been a lot of angst over the Give Act in homeschool circles, In its current form, the legislation does not include a mandate requiring service. I don't have a problem with it as long as the service is voluntary.

Derek Shore-KFOX News Reporter Questions Homeschoolers Being Left Alone

If these kids had been enrolled in public school and out for spring break I doubt that would have been mention in the article Fire Has Some Wondering Why Kids Were Alone.

I agree with Principled Discovery, it depends on the situation, read her post Is our culture too overprotective of children?

Carnival of Homeschooling

A Pondering Heart is hosting this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling and she encourages you to get your gardens going. I have been doing a lot of gardening these last few weeks. The English Dogwood in the Whiskers Memorial Butterfly Garden is a mass of blooms.

Mississippi Gulf Coast: Gulf Restoration Network (GRN)

Help stop the Richton Salt Dome Project, find out how at Mississippi Gulf Coast: Gulf Restoration Network (GRN)

Spring Fever

Janice Campbell at Taking Time for Things That Matter is hosting this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling. She has some gorgeous pictures of flowers for you to view along with some great post. I thought I would show you this yellow Swamp Iris that is growing in the Whiskers Memorial Butterfly Garden at my house.

To defend Venessa Mills right to homeschool in light of this evidence is akin to defending abuse

A good synopsis of the Mill's case, Opinion: Did NC Judge Ned Mangum go too far in home-schooling case? at Digital Journal.

From the comments on another post
Crimson Wife said...

Sometimes defending freedom means defending people with whom one 100% disagrees. I support the right of Christian Dominionists to homeschool just as I support the right of neo-Nazis or the KKK to hold a non-violent march down city streets. We cannot pick & choose whom to grant freedoms to based on popularity.

I agree, but the Mills case isn't so cut and dried. Family members and close friends have expressed concerns about the Mother's homeschooling the children.

Her father and mother described, under oath that she had become controlling and domineering, instilling fear in her children.

A lifelong friend of the woman stated in a sworn affidavit that their friendship withered away since the woman joined the Sound Doctrine Church. She states that the woman has distanced herself from her parents and her sisters, that the woman has an extreme control over her children, that they are more withdrawn than is to be considered normal and that the behaviour of the children when she saw them in June 2008 was alarming. Other people make similar statements.

This is mental abuse and in light of this testimony and other testimony the judge was 100% right to order the children be sent to public school.

It's also interesting to see the DEMANDS Venessa Mills made, keep in mind the children are 10, 11 and 12 years old.

Although the husband has a good job, no criminal record, and no history of substance abuse or domestic violence, the woman has asked for several court orders:

• -Limiting the husband from having any overnights visits with his children.
• -Limiting the husband from seeing his children to a total of 9 hours a week.
• -Removing all decision making authority away from the husband related to education and religion.
• -To not allow the husband any regular visitation on Sundays.
• -Limiting the husband's phone calls to the children to only those that are scheduled beforehand.
• -To order that the husband to not allow the children to have contact with any ex-Sound Doctrine members or anyone hostile to the organization.

Based on all this, Judge Ned Mangum finds that the woman is alienating her children from their maternal grandparents, their aunt, and most importantly their father. He also finds that the affidavits of the woman's parents, sister, and lifelong friends are credible as they have known her for many years.

To defend Venessa Mills right to homeschool in light of this evidence is akin to defending abuse. Homeschoolers MUST NOT support Venessa Mills.

HT: HERP&ES post HS Justice

Not all homeschoolers are wingnuts with large families

Home school advocate
Sen. Gilbert Baker would never require a child to attend a public school. But he does propose to require public school districts to allow home schoolers to play sports and participate in extracurricular activities in the public school districts in which they live. He also doesn't want to let public school districts join organizations that might set rules against participation by private school or home schooled students.

Unfortunately most of the comments are hateful and prejudiced against homeschoolers. I am so tired of "the prejudiced fools" who assume all homeschoolers are wingnuts with large families.

Not Homeschooling

This isn't homeschooling.