Posted on 02/19/2008 12:02:06 PM PST by Puppage
(WTNH) _ Parents who homeschool their children were at the state Capitol today talking about the difficulties they face when they decide to talk their children's education into their own hands.
Jackie O'Grady has been homeschooling her three boys for six years.
"My oldest boy is a different learner, he was a gifted child, very intense, could work for hours and I realized he needed more so I did a lot of reading, looked into the options and decided homeschooling is the best option for us," Jackie explained.
And her students seem pleased with their classroom.
"I learn a lot more about nature and the environment," said Dylan O'Grady.
"I just think it's fun and we do more stuff than if we go to school," said Eric O'Grady.
The O'Grady's do a lot of learning outside the home at places like museums and zoos.
Many parents want to homeschool, but when they go to withdraw their children, they run into big problems. Some of those parents testified at the Capitol today about the difficulties they face with the process.
"When a parent sends a letter to a school district to withdraw a child...the school district must acknowledge that child as withdrawn," explained Deborah Stevenson, a home education lawyer. "Unfortunately school districts have not been doing that, they've been keeping students on the books, calling them truant and eventually reporting them to DCF."
The state Board of Education says parents don't always fill out the necessary forms that clear the school of educational responsibility.
Par for the public skool course.
ping
The unmittigated gaul of these people...
Parents are responsible for their children and schools are not! If parents keep the children home to home school, the responsibility of the local school has ended. Period!
This person can't tell me they don't know what is going on. The parents don't one day keep the kids home and not make some form of notification.
Editor wanted; inquire within.
“The state Board of Education says parents don’t always fill out the necessary forms that clear the school of educational responsibility.”
Yep, proved it, again... No job’s finished until the paperwork is done.
There is no constitutional mandate for the Department of Education. Abolish it. Get the government out of the indoctrination business. Push educational decision making back to the local level, where it should be.
Allow parents to choose the educational course for their children, without government interference. It’s the American way.
As a parent, I have discovered the truth in this - there are learning styles that are VASTLY different.
My son, diagnosed 5 years ago as borderline autistic, learns best when bouncing on a fitness ball, or balancing on a one-legged stool I built for him.
Being schooled in the "eyes front, hands still, feet on the floor" mode that I was, this drove me crazy for a while, until now I just accept it.
But it really is part of his style.
Imagine that behavior in a public school.
He would be detained, punished, and drugged in no time flat.
I recommend An Open Mind by Dawna Markova as an explanation of learning styles.
Alas, we're dealing with the making of a socialistic utopia. America left some time ago, I am afraid.
The school system is not interested in your child. Your child is a product that is owned by the state. Ownership of that product means $$$ for the school. After they plot your kid’s fanny in a chair and count them in their roll in the morning, they could care less what happens since they’ve “harvested” their $$$ for that child for the day. It is no longer an education system, it’s a business monopoly, conerned more about control and ownership than education. They don’t want competition, and homeschoolers are competition. Trust me, we’ve homeschooled since 1987 in 2 states. It is scary...
One of the reasons why the founding fathers were the founding fathers is that they didn’t go to public schools. Today, T. Jefferson, who attended but did not graduate from William and Mary, would not be fit to homeschool his own kids in some locales, yet he was able to start the University of Virginia despite lacking a degree, not mention writing the Declaration of Independence.
Yes, glad you mentioned that threat to parental rights. There is a group called parentalrights.org, trying to amend the constitution to protect parental rights. Great idea. Better to be proactive.
ping
Heard it on Glenn Beck this AM.
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