Parents Fight Governments to Homeschool

FOX News ^ | Tuesday, May 20, 2003 | Fox News' Trace Gallagher and Liza Porteus contributed to this report.

[glory]

"We saw one parent keeping a journal of what the child was learning during the week and it was the cat died, they buried the cat, they mourned the cat ... they ate lunch," said Delaine Easton, former superintendent of California Public Schools>>

Yeah, I bet she really viewed such a journal and if she is no lying(which is highly suspect), how much do you bet she focused on one week which may have been one of those weeks that homeschoolers have the wonderful freedom of having where if a cat dies that is special to you, you can give the kids a break and some time off. How much you want to bet super Easton skipped right over the pages journaling the math the kids did that day? Or she missed the lesson in a real life situation that happened to involve a child's pet and what is done when someone or something dies that is special to us? I guess if the kids can't read about it in a book sitting at a California school desk, than it's irrelevant to life and learning right?

[Houmatt]

Jennie, let me tell you just exactly what is going on:

There is a movement going on in the government run public school system to intentionally dumb down our children. Why? Because an educated child is an informed child (just look at Kyle Williams). And an informed child is a threat to the government's status quo.

And it is easy to see homeschooled kids do tremendously better than public school kids.

That's why the government has decided to turn its attention to homeschooling. That is why we as a nation should protect homeschooling as we protect the Boy Scouts.

[don-o]

Interesting screen name.

Welcome to FR, and your insights as a P.S. home schooler will be welcome.

[glory]

I'm dealing with this first hand now. My son is 3 and does not talk yet. Really has taken a jump in his ability to understand in the last couple months and is saying things here and there. Still a while from potty learning.
I am very sure he probably will not be ready for traditional kinder in 2 yrs.
WE took him for an evaluation, just to see. They labled him and basically wanted to put him in programs which would take him from being in my care 100% of the time to being away from us a good 60% of the time and mixed with kids with behavioral problems from abuse and the like...no thanks!
We continue to work with him ourselves and I have a friend who does music therapy for severly disabled kids who is working "off the record" with him since he loves music.

[cgk]

That's a great, resourceful link in #51. I am interested, though I didn't sit down and read it in detail yet, that it appears grades (or perhaps # of students enrolled) fall off after 8th grade. Some of the charts are showing less numbers of students in the higher grades (9-12), while other charts show grade/scores dropping as compared to the national levels, which are suddenly higher when all along they had been much lower/lower.

[cgk]

If you're keeping a homeschool ping list, would you kindly add me to the list? ;) Thanks!

[duckbutt]

One of the Freeper Homeschool Moms came up with a good answer a few months ago about the "socialization" issue. She said, "yeah, we take him into the bathroom and mug him for his school lunch money a couple of times a week."

I loved that - - and I've used that argument whenever the socialization issue inevitabily comes up.

It's a good one, and a real keeper!

[Desdemona]

ping

[Domestic Church]

Actually after 5th grade the gap broadens and by 10th grade HSers are off the chart (taking college courses.)

The curricula is much different though than the public school (my 9/10 year old just finished studying chemistry...chem4kids.com) and that can give a better edge at taking highschool level courses much earlier.

The key is letting them have the freedom to learn at their natural rate and they develope a zest for learning the so called hard stuff.

My 8 year old wants to build a robot to compete on robot wars and he will have the time to really learn what he needs to know in order to do this.(And he doesn't have to do any homework at night!)

[SuziQ]

"It's still money being taken away from the classroom," Terry Pesta, of the San Diego Education Association, told thesandiegochannel.com. "When supplies are bought in a classroom, it's not necessarily that just one student is using the supplies. A group of students, sometimes 30 or more, share in the supplies."

If they get the money for supplies whether is one student or 30, why are they complaining about homeschoolers taking money from the schools? If several families who would have had kids in that class are h/sing instead, then those children aren't in that classroom using those supplies and they'll last longer. Sounds like h/sing would be a money-SAVING opportunity for the public schools!

[SuziQ]

When we used to get asked the "what about socialization?" question, I used to come back with "which socialization are you talking about? Playground socialization, or school bus socialization?". You could see the light come on every time.

I usually ask them if they mean the "Lord of the Flies" type, which is what passes for socialization in most middle and high schools today!

I have a friend whose 9th grade daughter decided she want to go the public school this year so she could be with her friends. She is having a horrible time with, you guessed it, socialization!! She doesn't have much in common with most of the kids, and her friends are in other classes or don't have lunch with her, so she doesn't see them much. On the other hand, she sees the kids who she DOESN'T like all day long, and I think it is just wearing her down.

[ReagansShinyHair]

Thanks. I will be around. We're in the process of fleeing from California, so I hope I will continue teaching in another state. I probably will. I'm going to law school to study educational law...I hope to make a dent in the crazy stuff that goes on.

Regarding the public school socialization that people think must be so vital, it's something that I could have done without. It's a shame so many teachers think it's not their problem as long as kids aren't causing physical wounds. It's not all that difficult to get most younger kids to really be kind.

[don-o]

Regarding the public school socialization that people think must be so vital, it's something that I could have done without. It's a shame so many teachers think it's not their problem as long as kids aren't causing physical wounds. It's not all that difficult to get most younger kids to really be kind.

Tell more of your experience. PS teacher who home schools. I have heard of such. Are you for real?

[Gal.5:1]

I agree with MississippiMan, post #8. Worth repeating:

"Part of it's about money. Most of it's about a loss of control over your children. If they don't have them, they can't indoctrinate/infect them."

Control and indoctrination of all children is what they would have, if they could.

[ReagansShinyHair]

I don't homeschool yet, because we're still working on having kids. I plan to have my law degree finished by the time any kids we have are old enough to be in school, so I can work part time and mostly from home, but still maintain some sort of financial security.

What kinds of school stories do you want to hear? I can go on forever, like most teachers. The worst thing I've encountered is how little most parents care about their kids. There's something wrong when some of the kids fantasize that I adopted them, call me "mom", and want to use my last name. I teach in a pretty good area right now, but I only got four parents to come to conferences. I get great results out of my students because I tell them I'm not going to let them fail. I start out the year with unenthusiastic kids who are still very worried about flunking. They feel like their education is totally out of their control. I use the H.I.P. system of classroom management, so I hardly ever have to discipline. Kids just want to do the right thing. The cost is great if they misbehave, and the rewards are great if they exhibit good behavior. It's easy when they know there's a consequence for everything.

I went to school at a university in central California, and there were many homeschoolers around there. Some of them had kids that tried public school around 9th grade, to be with friends, and mostly those kids hated being in public school and stopped going. I had a friend growing up who was privately schooled, and partially homeschooled at the same time, and she went to public high school and totally messed up her life for a while because of it. I guess she just had to get it out of her system.

Six members of my family are teachers. My poor husband and my one brother that's not a teacher are so bored when our familes all get together. All we talk about is school. But, yeah, we're for real. I saw the troubles my parents went through with teaching and said I'd never be stupid enough to do it, but here I am. I love it, I don't really want to do anything else. Yesterday was our last day of school and I cried with the kids as we said goodbye since I'll miss them so much. Even the kid who'd attacked his last teacher several times and has been arrested (he's 9!)had to hug me and tell me he'd miss me (he also calls me mom a lot, big surprise). He started off this year not knowing his alphabet, and at the end of this year read at almost a beginning 3rd grade level. Got a B in math, too, and I grade hard. It's great to make a difference in somebody's life, and sadly, most of them don't really get much positive input or guidance except but what I gladly give them.

[2Jedismom]

Just briefly did a google search on Delaine Easton, former superintendent of California Public Schools. She sounds like an evil person.

[gumbo]

she focused on one week which may have been one of those weeks that homeschoolers have the wonderful freedom of having where if a cat dies that is special to you, you can give the kids a break and some time off

I agree. A cat dying in my family is calls for time off for mourning! When that happened to us a couple of years ago, my homeschooler and I spent a couple of days watching Marx brothers movies to help us get over it. Then it was back to work.

We had that kind of flexibility. And my kid is still waaaaaaaaaaay ahead of his public school peers.

[2Jedismom]

Check this out!

Lessons of Les Petits
By Julee Newberger

Most experts agree that early education is critical if we are to raise a generation of children who contribute to their communities and to the workforce in the next millennium. A comprehensive system of early learning, however, has yet to emerge. Now, a panel of American experts says that we may be able to learn from the French universal preschool program, considered the "jewel" of the country's education system.

École Maternelle: Preschool at Its Best
Fifteen public and private sector leaders from the United States, including Douglas Price, co-founder of Educare Colorado, and Delaine Eastin, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, participated in a 1999 French-American Foundation-sponsored study tour of the French preschool system, known as the "école maternelle." Says Eastin, "We saw one of the best systems of early childhood education and care in the world."

École maternelle is a free education program for children starting at age 3. Although it is voluntary, nearly one hundred percent of French 3- to 5-year-olds are enrolled, in addition to 35 percent of 2-year-olds. The program features wrap-around services before and after school, and a sliding scale payment system for families.

How It Differs from U.S. Early Education
The French system differs from the patchwork of U.S. early education programs in many ways. Head Start, the federally-funded U.S. program for low-income families, serves only about 40 percent of eligible children. According to the National Education Goals Panel, 75 percent of 3- to 5-year-olds in families with incomes over $75,000 were enrolled in preschool in 1996, while only 43 percent of 3- to 5-year-olds in families with incomes under $10,000 were enrolled. Many families in the middle are left out, as well.

Head Start may have other things to learn from école maternelle. In contrast to the full day, year-round format of the école maternelle, Head Start offers only a half-day, nine-month format. According to Nancy Folbre, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts who participated in the study-tour, U.S. preschool could better serve the needs of many families. "The French program provides support services for working parents and those parents who may work nontraditional hours," Folbre says.

Taking Care of the Caregivers and Teachers
The grass may also be greener for early childhood professionals in France. The French government hires and pays preschool teachers, in addition to providing teacher education that is equivalent to a master's degree. Those teachers working in neighborhoods with a high rate of school failure receive additional training and pay to encourage staff stability—a problem that plagues the U.S.

The Center for Child Care in the Work Force reports a 30 percent annual turnover rate among child care workers in the U.S. This is due in part to working conditions, like the average child care workers' hourly wage, which is $6.12—below that of a parking attendant or garbage collector. Research shows that a high turnover rate may decrease the quality of care that young children receive.

What Are the Drawbacks?
What are the drawbacks? From a U.S. perspective, école maternelle provides a less-than-desirable group size of up to 26 children. Educators in France acknowledge that children with special needs are not always accommodated within the classroom. The école maternelle also fails to stress child-centered learning or parent involvement—two cornerstones of high-quality early childhood education in the U.S.

Nevertheless, delegates returned eager to reevaluate the U.S. system. Says Doug Price, "The tour of the French system provided a clear call to action—we must give our young children a richer educational experience."

Challenges for Universal Pre-Kindergarten in the U.S.
As of now, Georgia is the only U.S. state that provides a universal pre-kindergarten program—that is, one that serves all families who want their children to participate. Although there are gaps in the availability of pre-kindergarten in the U.S., there are some promising signs that more children will be served.

The Children's Defense Fund reports that forty-two states invested in pre-kindergarten initiatives in the 1998–1999 school year. New York, for example, is phasing in a state-funded pre-kindergarten program that aims to become universal by the year 2003.

Unfortunately, most states still serve only a small percentage of eligible children. According to Sheila Kamerman, director of the Columbia University Institute on Child and Family policy, "Universal preschool would increase our children's school success, and relieve parents who now scramble to find safe and affordable programs."

Critics claim that parents, not the government, should be responsible for getting children ready for school. They also warn that preschool programs pull children away from parents before it is appropriate or prudent. It is also well-documented, however, that two-thirds of mothers with children under five are already in the workforce, and therefore in need of a safe, enriching place to leave their children.

Meanwhile...
Other countries, like Sweden and Italy, already have comprehensive preschool programs in place. According to the experts who attended the study-tour of école maternelle, it boils down to the way people perceive preschool programs. Says Delaine Easton, "In France, talking about preschool was like talking about K-12 schools in the U.S."

She recounts a story in which she asked the Mayor of Issy-les Moulineaux, France, who would suggest that preschool funding was cut during a recession. The Mayor looked incredulous. He said, "No one would dare."

Julee Newberger is assistant managing editor of Connect for Kids. Reprinted from Connect for Kids (http://www.connectforkids.org), an online publication of the Benton Foundation. This article originally appeared on the Connect for Kids site in November 1999.

[MississippiMan]

Thanks, Galatian. I've had many a discussion with my wife on this point. She agrees that liberals infest the education system, the media, etc., but argues that they're just drawn to these vocations, that while they do indeed intend to shape opinion at the micro level child by child, they do not see it as a calling from the macro level to indoctrinate.

I agree with that to a point, in that many of them are just liberal worker-ants. But I also believe that, particularly at the highest levels, there are those who fully understand the big picture, that when you control information, you eventually control everything--that they long ago figured out this big point and made a conscious decision to go after the information infrastructure as part of a long term plan, one that has served them well.

They did it like they do everything else, incrementalism, baby steps. Now they control the education system from kindergarten through post-graduate levels. And once you leave that realm, they continue to control information through the media.

I applaud parents who make the commitment to get their kids out of the system and home-school. As the first generation of home-school graduates hits the world in significant numbers, there can be no doubt that they are in far better shape than their counterparts, as a group. If I had it to do now, I'd certainly home-school. Cheers to all who do. Stay the course when it gets harder, and it will get harder. As the liberals see it working, they're gonna panic and scream bloody murder. Count on it.

MM

[savagesusie]

"My wife and I HOMESCHOOL here in the U.P. of Michigan. No one has ever told us we need a teaching credential!! My wife has a college education though. Seems this article has the facts wrong."

California and other states have been trying to change the rules...NEVER SEND YOUR KIDS TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!!!Think of Lincoln!!!People who can reason do not come from public schools....NEA wants non-thinking DemocRAT voting machines....