I have to admit that's news to me, and wasn't mentioned earlier in the thread. Is that fairly common nationwide?
Personally, this year I sent in 18 pages filled with detailed explanations of what my children would be learning. Then at the end of the school year, my kids all had to have a 'teacher evaluation' to prove that they learned it. Too bad they don't do this in the public school.
Indeed. I don't see the big deal about 18 pages, though. If you take the standard 3 months off in the summer, that's two pages a month.
Thanks for the information. I did not know that homeschooling, at least in some jurisdictions, was that closely monitored. That casts things in a somewhat different light.
I'm sorry that you believe parents wouldn't be able to enforce rules regarding their children. Maybe you wouldn't...others would
The issue wasn't parents being able to enforce rules. When you put a kid on a team, in the band or in other extracurriculars, you place the enforcement of the rules in the hands of teachers and administrators -- with little or no power to enforce the rules upon the students.
If a homeschooled kid is the star quarterback, it's likely the opposing team will challenge his standing. Which places the school in the unenviable position of having to voich for someone else's standards. Now, if there are generally objective means of measuring progress, that's not such an untenable position for them.
The police are available when you need them. The instruments should be available to the home educated children, as well as the music teachers expertise.
The music teacher's expertise is available to the students who enroll in the school. What's the difference between the music teacher's expertise and the physics teacher's? Or the guidance counselor's?
Perhaps in the future the schools will be able to cater to home-schoolers with a Chinese menu approach, one class from column A and another from column B, but it's not set up that way today.
Books at the public library are for everyone
No. They're for residents of the county or city that runs the library. I live in DeKalb county, and can't check out books in Fulton. I'm not one of their customers. I also can't check out books from public school libraries or state university libraries. I'm not one of the people they're tasked to serve.
but, instruments at the public school are only for certain kids, right?
Kids known as "their students." That is, and should be, the focus of the school's activities and the target of their budgets.
Widespread homeschooling is still a pretty new phenomenon. The educational establishment hasn't adjusted. I'll repeat that instead of trying to make home schooled students sort-of, kind-of public school student, you should be pressing for more resources independent of the schools. For example, a pool of musical instruments maintained by a local arts council, made available to schools and other groups and individuals.
One can outline on one page what will be covered in a whole year in one class.
The truth is that public schools are institutions which perpetuate 'being average'. If someone is 'below average' they are stereotyped and cast aside with no innovative ways implemented to help them learn in the best way they can. If someone is 'above average' they are dumbed-down so that other 'average' kids will feel important. They're help back from their true potential. I think it would be great if schools from different areas of a town were combined to make it more like a unique college setting where kids could take the classes which suit them the best and they could flourish. Unfortunately, it's not like that. Whoever screams the loudest, gets the attention. Everyone else falls through the cracks into mediocrity.