Posted on 12/09/2002 11:24:05 AM PST by hsmomx3
When parents decide to homeschool and then inform their districts, they may be met with hostility and sometimes suspicion, but nearly always they are met with rules and regulations. Each state and sometimes each district may respond differently to homeschooling families--some more supportively than others.
From the homeschooling parents' point of view, the governmental hoops are set up by distrustful, powerful agencies hungry to keep as many tax dollars as possible flowing into a budget based on enrollment. To the public school administrators, the responsibility to follow each child's welfare can put them on an adversarial track with parents who view their children's education as a privacy and family right.
Some school districts are creating bridges that allow homeschooled children access to school services on a regular basis. Nevertheless, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) has published its concerns regarding homeschooling.
Parents who are about to embark on homeschooling might use this list as a catalyst to get involved in homeschooling groups and resources to offset these potential issues.
NAESP ASKS PARENTS TO CONSIDER THAT HOMESCHOOLING MIGHT:
1. Deprive the child of important social experiences
2. Isolate the student from other social/ethnic groups
3. Deny students the full range of curriculum experiences and materials
4. Provide education by non-certified and unqualified persons
5. Create an additional burden on school administrators whose duties include the enforcement of compulsory school attendance laws
6. Not permit effective assessment of academic standards of quality
7. Violate health and safety standards
8. Not provide accurate diagnosis and planning for meeting the needs of children of special talents, learning difficulties and other conditions requiring atypical educational programs
Student advocate Janet Barber is a guidance counselor with nine years experience integrating homeschooled children into the public middle schools. She is concerned by the below-par test scores of homeschooled kids who are returning to public middle school. She consistently finds that these children are behind in reading, math and science proficiency. "It is a struggle to catch up, let alone excel within your peer group...which can complicate an already difficult readjustment socially."
To avoid any unpleasant surprises, Barber suggests that parents who are considering homeschooling their middle and upper school teens, contact local colleges regarding admissions policies for homeschooled students. In addition to placement testing in reading, writing and math, some colleges require a minimum score on a GED test. The entry requirements for your child's college of choice should be researched long before a homeschooled child's junior year.
Janet warns, "Great parents will do a great job homeschooling because they will bend over backwards to do a great job." Some parents may be unprepared for the intensity of homeschooling and the amount of curriculum, which they must first learn, then teach, especially in the upper grades.
http://family.go.com/raisingkids/learn/school/feature/dony119speakout/dony119speakout2.html
2) Their minds are not under our control
3) Their minds are not under our control
4) Their minds are not under our control
5) Their minds are not under our control
6) Their minds are not under our control
7) Their minds are not under our control
8) They keep beating our kids in geography and spelling bees
I love seeing the homeschoolers debunk these 'professional educators' .
(2) If people realized what a terrible job we're doing teaching America's youth, we'd all be working at the post office.
(3) If people realized what a terrible job we're doing teaching America's youth, we'd all be working at the post office.
(4) If people realized what a terrible job we're doing teaching America's youth, we'd all be working at the post office.
(5) If people realized what a terrible job we're doing teaching America's youth, we'd all be working at the post office.
(6) If people realized what a terrible job we're doing teaching America's youth, we'd all be working at the post office.
(7) If people realized what a terrible job we're doing teaching America's youth, we'd all be working at the post office.
(8) If people realized what a terrible job we're doing teaching America's youth, we'd all be working at the post office.
2. Isolate the student from other social/ethnic groups such as the skinheads, bloods, crips, and other "ethnic groups"
3. Deny students the full range of curriculum experiences and materials, such as the full revision on American history that portrays white people as evil.
4. Provide education by non-certified and unqualified persons, as opposed to our "highly qualified" teachers that are doing so well.
5. Create an additional burden on school administrators whose duties include the enforcement of compulsory school attendance laws, and the harrassment of innocent people whose only crime is to want a better life for their kid, outside the realm of government control
6. Not permit effective assessment of academic standards of quality. IE we homeschoolers do not believe in "teaching the test" which is mostly based on arbitrary standards" (Note: this is especially true in Virginia)
7. Violate health and safety standards, such as the government school requirement to have lots of kids thrown together which tends to accelerate the spread of communicable disease.
8. Not provide accurate diagnosis and planning for meeting the needs of children of special talents, learning difficulties and other conditions requiring atypical educational programs. IE because you homeschool, we refuse to help you with special needs children (PERSONAL EXPERIENCE)
Yeah, I guess those are good enough concerns all right - to convince someone to homeschool.
"They're like Napoleon's army in Moscow. They have occupied a lot of territory, and they think they've won the war. And yet they are very exposed in a hostile climate with a population that's very much unfriendly."
"That's the case with the Darwinists in the United States. The majority of the people are skeptical of the theory. And if the theory starts to waver a bit, it could all collapse, as Napoleon's army did in a rout."
I cringe everytime I hear this argument. Said "social experiences" were written about in a lovely book called Lord of the Flies.
Homeschoolers unprepared for government school? Bullsh-t!
My four-year-old is already reading at a first grade level (after 40 hours of instruction) and my seven-year-old is one to two grades ahead of her peers. And that's one to two grades ahead in an orthodox Catholic curriculum, not government school bs.
Do they have time to play? Well, considering the fact that my seven-year-old finishes her work by 10 a.m. (doing most of the subjects herself), I'd say that leaves her plenty of time to be "socialized" with her sister and mother.
1) Parents can teach their children better than the "certifed teachers", proving that most public educators are nothing more than civil servents.
2)Homeschooled children are happier, proving that freedom is enjoable
3)Homeschooled children are not racists, proving there is little need for Black History month , including an entire months worth of lessons already written for the civil servants.
4)Homeschool is way less expensive, proving there is no need to tax Americans to death to support a failing system.
5) Homeschool parents take responsbility for themselves and for their own children , proving, (gasp) people can be self directed, responsible and not have need for their level of expertise( i.e. brain washing)
6)Homeschool parents work around the clock, every day , all year. For NO PAY. Proving teaching should be a labor of love.
7) Because homeschool children don't need bully free zones, homosexual's running daily assemblies or free lunch.
8) Because homeschooled children continue to respect and love their parents into and past their own adulthood.
As opposed to our public schools, where they will be taught by the certified and unqualified.
Only if you decide to recreate the classroom in your home.
1. Deprive the child of important social experiences
Translation: getting beaten up for his lunch money and being made an outcast by cruel children because he isn't one of the "cool" crowd is necessary to build their self esteem.
2. Isolate the student from other social/ethnic groups
Translation: Parents are bigots, racists, and homophobes. Only the state can properly make sure you child has the opportunity to be indoctrinated into the fudgepacker/lesbian lifestyle.
3. Deny students the full range of curriculum experiences and materials
Translation: Children are missing out on "Biodiversity Awareness Day" and "Dress As Your Favorite Socialist Day" and "Islam Indoctrination Week" and membership in "the Gay/Straight Student clubs" and aren't allowed to participate in the annual Fidel Castro birthday party.
4. Provide education by non-certified and unqualified persons
Translation: Only state certified educators are capable of teaching 5 year olds to color within the lines. (Never mind that my wife holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and that I have a major in math.)
5. Create an additional burden on school administrators whose duties include the enforcement of compulsory school attendance laws
Translation: Schools are not getting money for children who don't go there.
6. Not permit effective assessment of academic standards of quality
Translation: The state can't force their values on students.
7. Violate health and safety standards
Translation: Parents are not competent enough to keep their children healthey and clean.
8. Not provide accurate diagnosis and planning for meeting the needs of children of special talents, learning difficulties and other conditions requiring atypical educational programs
Translation: The school is losing money because "special needs" students get additional payments from the state.
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