Texas Ed Spectator

Recently, there’s been another article on the need to regulate homeschoolers. As best as most homeschoolers can figure out, it’s because we don’t think like everyone else and are passing that trait on to our children. See, it’s not about preventing harm, it’s about control and we all know how well that turns out education reform.

Class Struggle – How fashion frustrates school improvement

James P. Comer is one of the most successful school improvement experts in the country, but that doesn’t mean he gets much respect. Policy makers often resist his ideas. Take, for example, the Midwestern elementary school that went from 23rd to first in its district by using the School Development Program created by Comer and his Yale colleagues.

Did the school district leaders celebrate and recommend the program far and wide? No. They appear to have been disturbed by the results. They accused the school of cheating and insisted on a re-test, with local newspapers suggesting scandal. The students did even better the second time, but that did not win Comer’s team any plaudits. The superintendent removed the principal who had done so well with their methods and installed a new staff not trained to use them, bringing the scores back down to where the district leadership apparently thought they should be.

Yeah, the public education system does so much more to ensure a quality education. This isn’t about education, this about brainwashing our children and who gets to do it.

Are there children out there who would do better in public school than being homeschooled? Of course, depending on the public school and the randomly assigned teachers. But I would bet that there is an even larger percentage of children in public school who would be better served by homeschooling.

Tell you what, fix the system for the kids that are already there and then talk to me about regulation.

Ask Rockridge: Can a Progressive Support Homeschooling? — Rockridge Nation

So, yes progressives can support homeschooling.

But apparently with quite a few “ifs”. I really can’t bring myself to read through all the comments. I’m sure there is the usual education as the foundation for democracy and so on. I’m sure there are plenty of anti-homeschoolers who are certain we are isolating our children although the number of homeschoolers they personally know they probably can count on one hand. It’s just tiring.

For some reason, people think that public schools and education are the same thing. And progressives are for mandatory school attendance if the schools are teaching the “right” information just as conservatives would have no problem with requiring everyone attend public school if they were teaching the “right” conservative information.

It’s not about the quality of the schools, it’s about parental choice. And if you can’t trust parents to ensure that their children will be educated well enough to function in the “real” world, why stop with education? Why not regulate the clothing parents may buy children or how about inspecting every family’s kitchen? Why not require every two-year-old in the nation to be inspected for parental quality?

Granted, it’s a gray area and difficult to draw the line but if nothing else, consider homeschooling an escape valve for parents who don’t want their children in school for whatever reasons–too conservative, too liberal, too regimented, too dangerous, etc. If everyone grows up learning only the public school group think, who will be around to challenge it?

Technorati Tags: Progressive Homeschooling

The San Antonio Express News published a very positive article on homeschooling. The best part was that when they presented the obligatory “expert” view on homeschooling who you expected to give the standard “problems with socialization” spiel, you got this instead:

MySA.com: Our Point Of View: On Motherhood and Parenting in San Antonio

Experts say the idea that you have to go to public school to be truly socialized is bizarre.

“That’s a very tortured definition of socialization,” says Terry Osborn, professor and chair of the Graduate School of Education at Fordham University. “The idea of a homogenous grouping of 25 to 30 children who sit at their desks all day long and do activities — to call that socialization is tortured. You and I don’t live and function in that kind of environment.”

Thank you Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje for finding an “education authority” that doesn’t think homeschoolers are missing out on socialization.

Technorati Tags: Homeschooling, Positive Homeschooling Report, Homeschool Socialization, Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, positive homeschooling reporting

These websites are provide you with information on the legal aspects of homeschooling. They list relevant education code, legislation, and court cases as well as the basic steps to start homeschooling in Texas (how to withdraw your child from public school.) Many other websites present this information as well but those listed here have proved themselves reliable and enduring. If you come across information at other websites that seems inconsistent or contradicts information from the websites below, I suggest you go with the information from the websites below.

Texas Home School Coalition (THSC)

www.thsc.org
(806) 744-4441

The Texas Home School Coalition is a statewide organization that advocated for homeschoolers in Texas. This site is a great place to start since it includes sample letters of withdrawal and assurance. It’s FAQ section provides straight forward answers without any misleading information.

While THSC is the most prominent statewide organization for homeschoolers, it is not an “official” state organization. You can expect to find a Christian perspective throughout the site. THSC also has an associated political action committee that supports conservative, Christian issues as well as homeschooling.

Texas Advocates for Freedom in Education (TAFFIE)

http://www.jsoft.com/archive/taffie/

TAFFIE is the state’s oldest homeschool email list in Texas. There is an announcement list and and a discussion list. The TAFFIE website provides an overview of the legality of homeschooling in Texas as well as an extensive FAQ for new homeschoolers. The email announcement group is a good way to keep up with homeschooling news and issues that affect Texas.

Homeschool Law in Texas

http://www.carwrecks.com/homeschool.html

This is basically a speech given by the author on homeschool law in Texas. It includes a history of homeschooling, the Leeper decision, and curriculum concerns. While the speech is dated from 1999, the information in these areas are still relevant.

Announcements

SAT Prep Class

Offered by: Pauline Bauml (math) and Cayce Yarbrough (language)

Both of these teachers are well known, respected and valued in the home school community. Studies have shown that prep courses will boost students’ test scores significantly and, with these two teachers, your student will look forward to these beneficial classes.

Location: Our Lady of the Lake University, Metz Building

Dates: Oct. 27, Nov. 3, Nov. 10 and Nov. 17, 2007

Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 noon

On-time fee: $150 plus $20 registration fee

Walk-in fee: $150 plus $40 registration fee

All material provided.

To register: mail $20 registration fee to Pauline Bauml. Must be postmarked by Oct. 17, 2007 to be “on-time.” Please do not mail after this date.

For questions or to register, please contact Pauline Bauml:

9130 Oak Downs

San Antonio, TX 78230

(210) 287-1898

Care2 : The Petition Site : Homeschoolers against NEA Philosophy

The National Educational Association in their 2007-2008 Resolutions has taken a stand against homeschooling.

Don’t teacher unions have better things to do? When they take the time to include it as a resolution, you have to wonder what are they worried about?

Do they really think that enough parents will pull their kids out of public school to homeschool that it will effect their ability to be gainfully employed?

Maybe their worried about religious conservatives pulling their kids out of school and brainwashing them. Hate to tell you but simply the fact that parents might consider this means that brainwashing is going on despite the school’s best efforts.

I think it has more to do with some teachers feeling threatened by the “success” of homeschoolers. Right now “success” is homeschoolers winning the Geobee and spelling bee. Well, they want to change it so that “success” is documenting students being able to pass a public school test. Notice that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with learning or problem solving ability.

Given all of the “challenges” teachers face in the classroom, I think the NEA would be better off looking for ways to support teachers in the classroom. But I guess it’s easier to pick on homeschoolers than accomplish meaningful change in the classroom.

Technorati Tags: Homeschooling, National Educational Association, parental choice

I’ve always thought that J. K. Rowling did an excellent job of critiquing the school bureaucracy in the fifth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Her last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, includes a justification for homeschooling. Once Voldemort takes over the Ministry of Magic, he makes some changes in education policy.

“Attendance is now compulsory for every young witch and wizard,” he replied. That was announced yesterday. It’s a change, because it was never obligatory before. Of course, nearly every witch and wizard in Britain has been educated at Hogwarts, but their parents had the right to teach them at home or send them abroad if they preferred. This way, Voldemort will have the whole Wizarding population under his eye from a young age. pg 210

Homeschooling is a sort of canary in the coal mine. When the right to homeschool disappears, we are well on our way to an authoritarian state.

Calendars : Northside Independent School District – San Antonio, TX 78238

October 17, 2007 7:45 am to 12:30 pm PSAT Testing Opportunity for Home School Students

Home school students whose instructional level is either Grade 10 or 11 are eligible to take the PSAT at Northside ISD schools if they live inside the Northside boundary.

The PSAT test date for 2007 is Wednesday October 17 with all home school students testing at one central site in Northside, the Patrick Teicher Student Services Building located at 5651 Grissom Road, 78238.

Interested parents should complete the registration form attached to this notice making special note of the requirements for this testing opportunity. Please contact the Testing and Evaluation Department at 210-397-8726 for more information.

For NEISD area

NEISD Press Release — PSAT for Home Schooled

Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test

PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It’s a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT Reasoning Test™. It also gives you a chance to enter National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) scholarship programs.

Registration:

The 2007 PSAT/NMSQT test date for North East ISD is Wednesday, October 17. You must sign up for the PSAT/NMSQT at the North East department of Guidance Services.

This test will be administered by North East ISD. If you are a home-schooled student, please contact Guidance Services at 804-7139 to find out about registration, time, and location for testing.

Technorati Tags: PSAT, San Antonio, Homeschool

I subscribe to several homeschool groups on yahoo and periodically there is a “discussion” on what it means to be a homeschooler. There was one recent discussion I decided not to join for several reasons but the principle one being that I don’t need to be yelled at and called some sort of subversive in email. It has been my experience that any remarks by an individual contrary to establish doctrine results in said individual being tagged a troll or flamer or a creator of “shinies” and told that she isn’t being attacked but just informed of the truth. I keep telling myself that I’m going to unsubscribe but don’t because every once in a great while (and it keeps getting greater) I gleam a nugget of information from the discussion.

Before I go on, I just want to state for the record that I do know the difference between a “homeschooler” and someone who does “public school at home.” That said, I wonder about the nature of the discussion and why it seems such an “either or” proposition.

One of the recent discussions was about how people who homeschool today (or at least ask about homeschooling) aren’t like people who homeschooled in the past. It was while following the conversation that I realized why this discussion will never be settled no matter what either side believes.

It comes down to “everything changes” over time, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. I see the defenders (and definers) of the meaning of homeschooling like the residents of a small town not too far from some metropolitan area.

For some reason, this small town has been “discovered.” Maybe it started attracting people during it’s hometown fair. Maybe the media finally ran out of human interest stories closer to home and ran something about its residents. Maybe enough people started commuting to jobs in the city and people just found out about it through their co-workers. No matter how it was “discovered,” the town residents now find themselves living with an ever increasing number of new arrivals and things just aren’t the same.

Initially, the presence of the newcomers brought some welcomed changes to the town. Maybe there were now enough kids to form a baseball league or even keep the local school from closing. Maybe it meant enough new subscribers to allow the local paper to publish more frequently. Maybe it meant more money for the local library or made it a little easier to attract new health care professionals to town. For many small towns, the initial influx of new comers is a revitalizing change.

For a while.

And then the old timers find that the newcomers aren’t interested in contributing a turkey dinner to fund the volunteer fire department–they would just rather raise taxes and pay for a full time department. Enough people are interested in the town that some housing developers are starting to build cookie-cutter neighborhoods that could be found in any suburb. And the next thing you know, the town has a referendum on whether or not Walmart should be allowed to build a store downtown.

The old timers wonder why the newcomers want to destroy the very nature of what attracted them to the town in the first place. The newcomers wonder what’s wrong with wanting to buy a house that has modern conveniences.

And so there you are, the town has changed and there’s no going back to the way it was before. The old timers who jump all over the person asking directions to the nearest Starbucks and telling them that Dairy Queen does the town just fine doesn’t help the situation. The newcomers do need to be reminded about the values that attracted them to the town in the first place. But the fact remains the newcomers are there and they get to vote just like everyone else in the next election. So instead of alienating them with a “like us or leave us” attitude, it might be better to try to educate them.

Of course, some people aren’t interested in being educated and some people are still going to want Walmart to open shop in town. Then you will have to gather up as many supporters as possible to keep Walmart from building. Its going to be a whole lot easier to find supporters if you didn’t start off the relationship by calling them idiots.

Obviously, the newcomers are going to differ from the old timers regarding some issues. It’s to be expected since there was something different about the old timers that made them willing to live in the town long before the newcomers came. Therefore, things aren’t going to be the same. And how ever things are going to turn out isn’t going to be determined strictly by the old timers. They may be able to run off some of the more clueless newcomers, but not all of them. So it’s time for all the people in the town to figure out where it’s going rather than just remembering where it’s been.

I see myself definitely as one of the newcomers to homeschooling. I was one of the people who wouldn’t move to the town until I could get high speed internet. I’m also one of the newcomers that is sticking around.

What can I say, I’ve stopped referring new homeschoolers to some of the national lists because I’ve seen them jumped on for asking the wrong question. I don’t need to be spending my time explaining to them what happen when I’ve got plenty to look after locally.

I’m not that egotistical to think that my lack of participation in the national lists or refusal to recommend them to other homeschoolers spells doom for the lists. I’m sure they will continue on fine without me. But when they continue on without a lot of other homeschoolers as well, what becomes of their relevancy to homeschooling in general? Ultimately, I think it would be a loss to all homeschoolers, even those that never heard about the lists.

Broadsheet: Women’s Articles, Women’s Stories, Women’s Blog – Salon.com

It’s that exciting time of year when adolescent girls across the nation go in search of the essentials for starting off the school year prepared and ready to learn as a hot new ‘tween: pink, padded bras, T-shirts with slogans declaring their total lack of smarts (“I Left My Brain in My Locker”) and, perhaps, a Juicy Couture gym bag made especially for prepubescents, announcing “Juicy and Happy.”

If you want to understand why homeschoolers give you a look of amazement when you ask about socialization, think about “back to school.” Now if the phrase “back to school” conjures up a collection of warm feelings and exciting images, you can stop reading write now. But if “back school” brings a creeping feeling of dread, you might get some glimmer of understanding why homeschoolers think it’s schools with the socialization problem and not homeschoolers.

Do homeschoolers have to deal with the latest fashion trends? Yes. But it generally isn’t in the context of who is wearing what in Algebra class. And I don’t know many homeschoolers avoiding advanced math and science classes because they might be perceived geeky.

So the next time you have a feeling that all the “back to school” hype has gotten a bit out of control, you’ll have some insight as to why people choose to homeschool.

Technorati Tags: Back to school, why homeschool, commercialization, socialization