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Posted on 06/06/2002 9:00:59 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
My psychological batteries were just recharged by attending a remarkable convention of Florida homeschoolers in Orlando. The 10,000 conventioneers who overflowed the Gaylord Palms Resort should have been serenaded with "You've come a long way, baby."
The Florida Parent-Educators Association has grown from a handful of parents 15 years ago to a three-day convention with 100 workshops, 131 booths selling curricula and software, high school graduation ceremonies, and a college scholarship to Harvard. Homeschooling has become big business.
The Florida Department of Education reports that the number of Florida children registered in home-education programs has grown from 5,313 in 1990-91 to 41,128 in 2000-01. The number is probably even higher because not everyone registers.
Parents who have been homeschooling since the early 1980s can remember less happy times when they felt it advisable to conceal what they were doing. In 1984, five Florida homeschooling families were prosecuted for truancy and one family temporarily lost custody of its children.
Homeschooling parents often had to suffer the disdain of neighbors, ignorant accusations of child abuse, and the hostility of the teachers union. The Florida State Legislature got the message in 1985 and legalized homeschooling.
It takes uncommon commitment by parents to undertake a homeschool regimen, but they soon discover they can do in a couple of hours what takes all day at regular school. Homeschooling parents can save lots of time since there are so many courses they don't have to teach.
They don't have to teach multiculturalism, the peculiar notion that other cultures should be preferred to our own, or teach a course in Islam, such as is now taught in California schools. Homeschooling parents are free to teach that their religion and their country are the best.
Homeschooling parents do not have to teach political correctness, such as the dogma that all academic subjects must be taught through the prism of gender and race oppression. They are free to teach that America is not a land of victims but a country of freedom and opportunity for all.
Homeschooling parents do not have to teach the androgyny demanded by radical feminism. They are free to teach boys and girls separately and differently and let their boys enjoy plenty of recess to work off their excess energy and avoid giving them Ritalin to make them behave like girls.
Homeschoolers do not have to take a course every year in Diversity, the code word for gay rights, as is now mandated K-12 by the California State Legislature. Parent educators are free to teach that it is OK to be judgmental about illegal and immoral acts.
Homeschooling parents don't have to teach revisionist history that deletes mention of Washington, Jefferson and Franklin, as the New Jersey State Department of Education tried to do, but had to back down after a parental uproar. Homeschoolers have academic freedom to study the Founding Fathers and read the writings of the DWEMs (Dead White European Males) who contributed so much to Western Civilization.
Homeschoolers do not have to study global education that is designed to promote global interdependence and citizens of the world instead of the U.S.A. Homeschooling parents do not have to teach Environmental Education fantasies such as that humans exist to serve the earth instead of vice versa.
Homeschoolers don't have to study fuzzy math, whole math, new math, new new math, or rainforest math. They won't waste math time discussing, coloring, playing games, or telling their parents how good they feel about incorrect answers.
Homeschooled children will learn to read using authentic phonics as their first order of business, so they won't have to take remedial reading after three years of failure. They won't be inflicted with Whole Language, which fraudulently teaches children to guess at words from the pictures, skip over difficult words, and substitute any words that seem to fit the context.
Homeschoolers will save lots of time because they don't have to read typical middle school assignments of depressing modern fiction by "nobody" authors writing about drugs, violence, sex, runaway teens, witchcraft, and other depressing subjects. Homeschoolers can read books about heroes and stories that build character, courage, patriotism, and virtue.
Homeschoolers won't have to spend time filling out nosy questionnaires about sex, drugs and suicide. The public schools are obsessed with asking students impudent personal questions such as how many times have you felt depressed and tried to commit suicide.
There are many more worthless courses taught in public schools on which homeschoolers will not spend their precious time, such as courses in murder (forensics is the latest fad), suicide, death and dying, evolution, and self-esteem. Homeschooled students won't have any problem with self-esteem because their self-esteem will be earned by achievement in mastering the important truths of history, literature, math and science.
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No doubt you can add to this list.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
It's a good post, though.
U.S. FEDERAL LEGISLATION
(Primary Source: HSLDA’s National Center for Home Education - NCHE)
Federal Legislation Exempts Homesehoolers - HR. 1 (now Public Law 107-110), the big funding package for elementary and secondary education, expands federal government support and control over public education in America with a record budget amount and a provision taking us a step closer to federal control of a national test. This will inescapably push America toward a federally controlled and manipulated public school curriculum. Teachers will have to teach to the test in order to qualify their schools for the federal funds (that means public schools).
Behind the scenes, the Bush administration informed conservatives that Bush would get his bill through with or without their support, as he intended to get liberal Democratic support for the bill. This is exactly what happened. For example, Senator Kennedy, who worked with Bush on this bill, was photographed with a big smile over the victory of HR 1 and received a personal commendation in Bush's state of the union address.
We are grateful that HSLDA's National Center for Home Education persuaded Congress to add an amendment to HR I that prohibits any state from mandating home schoolers to take their state assessments, Chris Klicka, Senior Counsel of HSLDA, reported that ~ state legislatures or state departments of education are specifically prohibited from taking measures to impose mandatory state assessment testing on [private] home schoolers. Any attempt to require a [private] home schooler to be tested by a state assessment as designated in P.L. 107-110 will violate federal law and jeopardize their state's federal funding." Chris KIcka also stated Lhat this amendment has already been used to help defeat such legislation in Virginia. We strongly supported this critical amendment! We commend J. Michael Smith, Tom Washburne, Caleb Kershner, Chris Klicka and all the other wonderful staff of HSLDA/NCHB for the great work they did to get this critical amendment.
The amendment states, "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect a home school (that means NOT MY KIDS), whether or not a home school is treated as a home school or a private school under state law, nor shall any student schooled at home be required to participate in any assessment referenced in this Act." [Part B, Subpart, Section 9506(b)].
[Editor: In California law, private homeschoolers operate as private schools. Homeschoolers enrolled in public school programs, including charter school or public school independent study, are public school students. It appears that only private homeschoolers are therefore protected by this new HR I amendment which is now law.]
Concluded Bills in the California State Legislature
SB 765 (Chesbro) would have required at-risk screening and intrusive home visitation of many newborns.
STATUS: Died. (We Strongly Opposed.) A very significant Victory!
AB 1095 (Wright) would have required all children to have an eye examination within 90 days of entering first grade.
STATUS: Died. (We Opposed.) A big Victory!
AB 463 (Vargas) would have established a home-based school readiness program for 3-5 year-olds.
STATUS: Died. (We Opposed.) A Victory!
AB 1326 (Mountjoy) would have prohibited public schools from promoting homosexuality.
STATUS: Died. (We Supported.)
AB 1354 (Pescetti) wo~d have added pneumococcus vaccination to the list of vaccinations required for school enrollment.
STATUS: Amended to address a different topic. A Victory!
The following homosexual legislation, all of which we opposed, died:
AB 1434 (Wayne);
AB 1338 (Koretz);
AB 799 (Shelley);
SB 143 (Murray);
AB 1722 (Alquist)
FAMILY PROTECTION EDUCATION **AB 1763
ACTION: Strongly OPPOSE Write your Assembly Member.
**AB 634 (Wesson) lowers the compulsory education age from 6 to 5 years. Requires parents to apply to public school officials for permission to not enroll their child in either a private or public kindergarten.
STATUS: In Senate Appropriations Committee
ACTION: Strongly OPPOSE Write your State Senator.
AB 182 (Vargas) adds hepatitis A vaccination to the list of vaccinations required for unconditional enrollment of a child in a public or private school. Parents continue to have the right to sign a waiver based on personal beliefs.
STATUS: In Senate Health & Human Services Committee
ACTION: We will monitor this bill to ensure the parental waiver of immunizations is not changed.
AB 2664 (Hollingsworth) would have introduced the term "home school" into California tax law. We are grateful that the author has amended this bill to remove references to "home school" while not changing the effect of the bill.
ACTION: No Action.
HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS LEGISLATION
The following bills promote the homosexual agenda:
AB 1649 (Goldberg); AB 1942 (Chu); SB 2028 (Vasconcellos)
ACTION: OPPOSE Write your State Senator and Assembly
I admire parents who homeschool their children. They have to sacrifice to do it.
Actually, this is already happening in Alaska, and elsewhere. Home-educating parents are offered a "free" computer and courseware, in exchange for accepting the "free" gifts from the beneficient hand of The State. After a year, the curriculum controls kick in, and certain "fundamentalist" materials are ruled out of order.
California also offers a statist "home school" program, complete with pre-designed curriculum and oh-so-helpful mentors/monitors to check the homework, and make sure little Johnny is learning the state-approved "party line." The Home School Legal Defense Fund refuses to accept for membership, or defend, anyone who is using one of these statist substitutes for true home education, the parent-directed kind.
Thanks, but you are too kind. Having the time to enjoy our own children is not a sacrifice. Watching their growth "in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and men" is a privlege.
This article that Mrs. Schlafly wrote is true and it is great to see her write about it. It felt great to get that bill passed in 1985. The odds were greatly against the homeschoolers. We felt like David vs. Goliath. But at the final count, only five people voted against the homeschool bill in both houses of the legislature.
My favorite part is: There are many more worthless courses taught in public schools on which homeschoolers will not spend their precious time, such as courses in...evolution.
That sums it up, if any one subject or topic could. It symbolizes the very essence of what the left stands for (perfidy, junk science, Marxism) and the highest acheivement of what is avoided by homeschooling our children.
Bump
Watching their growth "in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and men" is a privlege.AMEN!
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