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 ...
Thank you, JimRob, for Free Republic!
BUMP!
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? How can that accountability be enforced without the subversive elements of our government using it to force home schoolers to teach crap to children?
Good question - and I cant think of a way to answer the second other than to say that it can't be, at least not through the government. The best means of accountability at least inasfar as the parent keeping their own accountability is through regular Standford Achievement Tests and the various curriculums available. Ultimately, how the student places in the SATs/ACTs and other college entrance exams is the highest arbiter of that judgement. I simply don't want the TEA/NEA/government bureacracy telling me I have to be in alignment with the curriculum THEY set because the main reason I took my child out of public school was because I found their curriculum to be deplorable. I am accountable to my child, but not to some government agency.
And Public schools have done so well.... They don't like losing control and HS make them look bad in many cases.
On top of that, considering what I have been hearing has been happening in the grade schools where she would be attending - - rapes, gangs, mislabeling, and a general arrogance of the school teachers -- I'll fight tooth and nail to keep her out of Public School.
You mean like the accountability in Public Schools?
HI Talon!!! Long time no see!!
Ah, that is because you are not around the Hobbit Hole enough :D Nice to see ya!
Is is just me or has then been fewer homeschooling threads lately?
Homeschooling threads have raised some flack and I suspect no one needs to extoll virtues of something that has already proven itself but is only for almost all.
homeschool bump and ping
Thank you - and a responding bump!
have been having some fun on some Yahoo threads and posting every once in a while to my regular blog...aside from that, homeschooling eats up a lot of my time.
Bump
If you know a FReeper in Texas, let them know about this thread!
Have there been no cases make it to the Supreme Court of Texas about homeschooling? In MA we rely on two different decisions by the Supreme Judicial Court, which limits what school districts can demand of homeschooling families.
The reverse of that is true as well. How can parents be sure that their children are actually being educated well at school? What accountability on the part of the school is there on which parents can depend?
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.
We homeschooled in California for many years, and that's exactly how we started. We took our son out of school, told the administration he was moving to a private school, and someone would send for his records later.
We ended up associating with a private Christian school, in their "independent studies" program. It was a perfect solution for us - he was enrolled in a site-based school as far as the State of California knew, and yet we had complete control over curriculum, methods, etc.
Our local school district offers a "home schooling option" but it's just the public school program, done at home under public school supervision. No thanks.
An idea I try to get across to new homeschoolers is to NOT try to duplicate "school" at home. It's definitely not necessary, or even desirable, to try and imitate a corporate school setting.
It's what we did too. I know it is scary for those thinking of making the leap -- like you are leaping off the edge of a cliff. It is so not that, but you don't know until you know. I encourage newbies too. I loved a book we read when I was just starting, about how Thomas Edison's mom just told him (she pulled him when the kdg teacher said he was unteachable!!) -- 'For every book you read, I will give you $1.' It really made sense.
This is the underlying principle in Socialism. "The people cannot be counted on, the government must take control and raise the people."
No, The government should not be the "child raising police squad". Let the chips fall where they may, the cream will rise to the top.
Infrastructure, Defense, Law and Order, and Justice are the concerns of government. Let Capitalism work freely, uninterrupted by those who feel it is thier right to judge what the American standard of life should be.
This is appalling. I have to admit, Texas is not where I expected something like this to happen.
Ohio requires that hs children either participate in state standardize testing or have their curriculum and work reviewed by a certified teacher once a year. They also require a letter be sent to the local district notifying the district of your home schooling intentions.
It does not seem too restrictive to me. I agree with those who think their needs to be some accountability -- and anyone involved in any type of home school group/coalition usually knows a supportive certified teacher that can be used to do the reviews.
no--the government cannot even guarantee that they will provide their own students a "solid education." why should homeschoolers be held under a stricter standard?
Ohio is way too restrictive in my opinion... here in California, all we need to do is send in an R4 Affadavit once a year... and that is restrictive enough...
bravo!
do you mean San Jose, California? if yes--why in the world did you let them tell you anything at all? i'm from San Jose, and i have many homeschooling friends in San Jose... they get no interference at all... what you allowed the school administration to do to you was unnecessary... they have no legal say in your homeschool...
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