Posted on 03/01/2006 11:42:40 AM PST by Alkhin
Dear Texas Home Schooler,
THSC PAC today (January 31, 2006) releases its initial round of endorsements for the 2006 Republican Primary. Texas home schoolers face a potential crisis in this election the likes of which we have not seen since the TEA ruled that home schools were not private schools and encouraged local school districts to prosecute parents who were teaching their children at home in the early 1980s. Let me explain.
(Excerpt) Read more at thscpac.org ...
You don't ever have to 'contribute' anything. Just your being there from time to time is enough. Pop in to just say 'HI'!
Indeed there should, and when you devise a wizard plan that works, please try applying it to the public schools first: they're the ones that badly need it.!
Attend your local senate district GOP conventions: they're waist-deep in home-schoolers.
Then get yourself named to the state convention delegation (it's not hard) go to San Antonio this year and make your voice heard.
That's how you influence politicians, not by whining on some blog or another that no politician in THIS state reads!
Ping!
Alert for Texas homeschoolers!
First the property taxes story from Texas, and now this one.
Maybe I should change my tagline. :-)
Ironic that those that support public schools always talk about the kids learning, but when they attack home-schooling, such data never enters into the picture. Home schooled children outperform public school children.
I'm in Florida, and it's pretty easy to homeschool. You do have to register with the local school board and at the end of each year you either have to submit a standardized test score, or have the child evaluated by a certified teacher.
There are a few homeschooled moms that are also certified teachers and they will do an honest assessment of your child.
If the child is not "up to grade level" there is a grace period...I think you have at least a year, maybe two, to work on the problem.
Also, in our county, there are homeschool mentors...successful homeschool moms, and if the child is miserably failing on all levels, the homeschool office of our local school board will help you set up a meeting with the mentors. They evaluate your curriculum and will give pointers how to bring the child up to grade level.
I think it's a good program, because if your child is way below grade level, and you're not willing to meeting with the homeschool moms for help, then it gives the homeschool office a pretty good idea that you're really not serious about homeschooling.
P.S. My kid went through the dual credit program at our community college, so when he was ready to get a high school diploma, he also had earned his AA. All the state community college required of me to prove he had "graduated" HS. and in order to award his AA, was a notarized affidavit. The State U where he's transferring didn't even require a HS certification, just wanted to see his AA. Plus we had no problem getting awarded the state's full tuition scholarship award for resident kids going to in state universities (in fact they had a special office just to handle homeschoolers who were applying for the award.)
We have not suffered in the least from the minimal restrictions and standards put on homeschoolers in our state.
No, there should not be accountability. Because once you join hands with the government -- which is what you are avoiding by homeschooling -- it is a slippery slope.
There are kids being homeschooled who are not learning everything they learn in the government schools. Is that good or bad? They are not being taught any diversity crud. Is that good or bad? No time on self-esteem. Is that good or bad? And whose call is it? And who pays for the government bureaucrats to investigate? And what is the criteria they use?
What is the worst thing that could happen? Some kids come out of homeschool fairly uneducated? What is the percentage of kids who go through school and come out uneducated? It is high, my friend. Sitting in a classroom is no guarantee that you'll get -- a GOOD teacher; a kid who is not logged out; a drone who is not being educated but just getting through. Etc.
Did you ask their permission, then?
If you think of numbers -- how many government regulators will it take to regulate homeschooling? How much of a budget will they need? How many homeschooling moms will they toss in the pokie to make their point? How well will that go over? I think the public schools will not go there, really.
But I would never engage with them to get their go-ahead. Just do it.
Well first Public Schools need to become accountable to making sure children are getting a solid education.
I don't have an solution. I don't know that there is an solution. I was just curious if anyone else had thought of something I haddn't.
Thanks for the information. It sounds like a good program.
I view Free Republic as more of a way to "spread the word" than a place to sit and bitch and moan. I think you will find if you look up my username in FR that my postings are sporadic and varied at best, rather than a continual feed of something or another. If I do get the urge to rant, its on my OWN blog, and usually about stuff NO ONE else is talking about...which is one reason why its not well known. Free Republic however is a great Community Posting Board that I know is occupied by active people who DO have the time to get involved in the GOP convention and are much more adept and well known than I am. If God had wnted me to get into politics, I would have been able to sweet talk those little old biddies into stuff I wanted to do. As it was, they treated me like a red-headed step-child.
sorry for THIS rant, but I am doing what God has placed in my hands...just because I *DONT* do those things you recommend, doesnt mean I should just shut up and deal.
HOMESCHOOL BUMP!
HOMESCHOOL BUMP!!
"However, at the same time we all know people who we don't think are capable of making sure their children get a good education at home. Shouldn't there be some kind of accountability to make sure that children are really getting a solid education?"
In my view, no. In any crowd you're going to find a small number of deviants. People who will take advantage of a good thing and turn it to bad ends. Our typical response, and I think it's the wrong one, is to focus our time and energy into identifying and penalizing that small minority, usually through restrictions on the otherwise viruous majority.
In this case we'd be focusing on the less than 5% who are not doing a good job while ignoring the greater than 95% who are doing just fine. And how much do we plan on spending to try to track down that less than 5%?
This is the underlying reason why I'm against vouchers. If you think about it, why do we really need them? What would be better and a lot cheaper to administer is a generous tax credit for education provided to parents. Let them spend the money as they see necessary. Either at government schools, or private schoools, or to HS their kids.
But you'll never see that because we'd be too busy obsessing over that small percentage who would use the tax credit money to buy booze or drugs or vacations to Vegas or what have you. And there WOULD be some who would do so. But here's the important part: it would be a relatively small number, and it would be those who were inclined toward deviancy in the first place.
We would rather spend thousands in control measures to chase pennies it would seem. Trusting people is not only the morally correct thing to do, it's the cheaper thing to do in the long run. But I don't see that becoming a dominant paradigm in my lifetime.
Afterall we all know that somewhere, somehow, there might be someone who just can't be trusted.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.