Parents delivering quality education

Washington Times ^ | June 26, 2006 | Michael Smith

[netmilsmom]

Yup, looks like we both have those scary kiddies that will turn out totally wacked because they sit in the house and watch tv all day.

NOT!

[Excellence]

Why do they always run to Rob Reich to get a countervailing opinion?

(My respone to a Gadfly article, unedited)

Have you read the think-piece, "Testing the Boundaries of Parental Authority Over Education: The Case of Homeschooling" by Robert Reich? As justification of his own position, Mr. Reich quotes Justice White in Wisconsin v. Yoder,

"children must achieve the minimal degree of autonomy necessary to provide them with options other than that into which they have been born; they must have an effective right of exit. Children are owed as a matter of justice the capacity to choose to lead lives -- to adopt values and beliefs, pursue an occupation, endorse new traditions -- that are different from those of their parents. Because the child cannot him or herself ensure the acquisition of such capacities and the parents may be opposed to such acquisition, the *state* must ensure it for them." [emphasis mine]
I would argue that the state, especially here in California, is doing a damn-fine job of ensuring that the child has an effective "right of exit" not just from the parents beliefs, but of their values and, perhaps superior, wisdom when it comes to taking a position-probably contrary to that of the NEA-on the many and varied issues of the day. That alone is reason for many parents to pull their children out of the "public" school system.
Every time I see another article in the local newspaper about a public school student being mercilessly bullied, nearly kidnapped, or graduated out of high school without proof that they have a 7th grade-level education, I think to myself "reason to home school number...­" If the students aren't spending the day in school but refusing to speak to protest one thing, they're spending the day ditching school and screaming to protest something else.
A parent can't help but wonder, "Where are the beliefs I've tried to instill in my child?" Well, the battle is being lost to the government school's system of teaching "critical thinking" on the way to facilitating a child's "right of exit" from their parents system of belief, especially if that belief is in Christianity.

[Graymatter]

You sure as heck do need a log! The law is clear on this point. Portfolio shall consist of a log...
Here's the law from the official gubmint site, http://www.pde.state.pa.us :

"(e) In order to demonstrate that appropriate education is occurring, the supervisor [parent] of the home education program shall provide and maintain on file the following documentation for each student enrolled in the home education program:

"(1) A portfolio of records and materials. The portfolio shall consist of a log, made contemporaneously with the instruction, which designates by title the reading materials used, samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks or creative materials used or developed by the student and in grades three, five and eight results of nationally normed standardized achievement tests..."

As for the medical requirements, the school nurse was downright menacing when she told me to get those records to her or else. So I'd just as soon not say publicly just what fascist district I'm in. :)

The evaluator is a nice lady. I don't know why I'm paying for her services when I have to submit the whole shebang to the school superintendent anyway. But she's a nice lady.

You must live in a mellow part of PA!

[ImaGraftedBranch]

This is great! I just hope the courts don't find a way to derail it

In Alabama, they can't. The state's motto is "We Dare Defend Our Rights," and set up the homeschooling so that you have to call it "Church Schooling". This prevents any law from interfering due to "the separation of church and state!"

How's that!?

Homeschooler of 2 (well, one is off to college in the fall -- full ride!)

[Tired of Taxes]

I've always overscheduled us. This past year we only booked activities with other homeschoolers (none with schoolkids), and our schedule involved a minimum of three days and a maximum of five days every week in outside homeschool group activities, including one full-day co-op and one half-day co-op every week.

Everyone takes a long break over Christmas, though.

It's always funny when people ask, "What about socialization?" There has been so much "socialization", we had trouble keeping up with lessons at home. But, not this coming year. In my concern that they "socialize", I've been overbooking them. Now I realize that the type of socialization - not the amount of it - is what's important.

[R.W.Ratikal]

Certainly the average parent is better qualified to teach children than is the average teacher. The education bureaucracy has done its job of killing the education system.

In almost every school district you will find custodians, read janitors, who make over a hundred thousand dollars a year. Enough said.

[VOA]

bump

[cinives]

I do live in a SD that is more interested in having us sign up for ANYTHING they offer just so they can claim state and federal money - but we've resisted so far ;)

Actually, HSLDA can't even get a clear statement from anybody in PA what a "a log, made contemporaneously with the instruction" really means. It varies tremendously from one SD to another. I maintain that if I provide a list of reading and other material(resources) used during the school year, then that's contemporaneous. Since one definition of contemporaneous means "occurring in the same period of time", they don't quibble about a daily list. Besides, they won't read it.

If you've never been there, you might want to crawl thru a website created by a friend of mine. www.askpauline.com She's been homeschooling her three kids for years and started the website as a service to others who came along later, since as we all know the law is open to all kinds of interpretation and everybody was confused about something.

[Graymatter]

Yes, I've seen Pauline's site. A superb, invaluable resource for PA homeschoolers. "Don't teach home without it!" ;)

[xsmommy]

ping to you.

[cinives]

Love the quote !

[jordan8]

Actually, they probably deliver a lousy education - it just looks good compared to what the state is delivering. They don't have to outrun the bear . . .

[rightthinkingwoman]

Tired,

That's exactly why I'm glad things will be streamlining for us this year. We'll have larger blocks of time to concentrate!

[Tired of Taxes]

For the record, every single year I tell myself that we're going to slow things down, make more time for us to just be together as a family. And then every year I overschedule us anyway. So, come November, I'll probably be singing a different tune. ;-)

[linda_22003]

That's great. Still, you might want to work on the difference between "there" and "their" in your tagline....

[spikeytx86]

Thanks, I forgot to edit my tag line. My sister would go bonkers if she saw that I did not edit the line (We call her the English Nazi).

[linda_22003]

"(We call her the English Nazi)."

I like her already.

[webstersII]

"children must achieve the minimal degree of autonomy necessary to provide them with options other than that into which they have been born; they must have an effective right of exit. Children are owed as a matter of justice the capacity to choose to lead lives -- to adopt values and beliefs, pursue an occupation, endorse new traditions -- that are different from those of their parents. Because the child cannot him or herself ensure the acquisition of such capacities and the parents may be opposed to such acquisition, the *state* must ensure it for them."

As usual, Reich is confused.

The right for people to choose to live a life different from their parents is inherent in the Constitution. But these rights given to ADULTS by way of the Constitution, not children. They are part of the "pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness" section. You can argue about when those rights are conveyed to the person, whether at age 16, 18, 21, etc. (in Colonial times children moved into adulthood at a much younger age, which I believe is a good thing) but the point is that these rights are given to adults because society expecs adults to be able to make their own choices and live with the consequences.

Good grief. There are places in this country which are requiring children to stay in school until they are 18, instead of being able to drop out at age 16. Doesn't that go against the freedom of choice to choose their own path, Dr. Reich? I guess it's okay when the gov't imposes its will on you but not okay when the parents do, eh?

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Here in TX, our boy should be able to go through his entire K-12 experience without having any interaction whatsoever with the school district.

My wife, however, is keeping good records, just in case the law ever changes.

IMO, all the proof they'd ever need would be to give him a standardized test at whatever grade level they think he's supposed to be in.