The Homeschool Empowerment Webring is "a group of grassroots homeschool support groups, blogs and websites committed to empowering home educators to make educated decisions in their own lives by sharing information and resources freely and equally. Member groups are outspoken, highly interested in homeschool activism and willing and able to participate in media outreach."
On the HEM News and Commentary blog, Valerie Bonham Moon notes "The debate about the kernel at the center of the meaning of the word ‘homeschooling’ continues."
There are links to the discussion lists where this week's explorations of the subject are posted, some thought-provoking (as usual) commentary about the topic from Valerie herself, a good collection of links to related articles in Home Education Magazine, and a couple of nods to weblogs where this whole concept is likewise under current discussion.
It's an important topic, and we'll be taking an indepth look at it here soon.
This unfortunate idea, daytime curfew, is where our legislators could be communicated with about how this takes from the law abiding citizens. Here's what I would say. Whoops... already said it. Here's last spring's letter to Representative Winters regarding this billAmends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that a municipality may establish by ordinance a daytime curfew to help combat truancy in public schools.
Weeellll, it turns out the Rockford representative was under a great deal of pressure to pass this bill from this 'go-getter' Mayor Morrissey. Mayor Morrissey's key issues areDear Representative Winters,
My name is Susan Ryan and I live in central Illinois. (From a farming family, as I see you are, as well.) I am not one of your constituents, but am disturbed by the bill HB 1130 introduced by you. I’d like to understand your good intentions in seeing a need for this bill regarding truant students, but yet affecting all young Illinois citizens.
I know that the media paints a picture of youth crime, but statistics say that youth crime has been steadily decreasing as shown in the link below:By 1997, the rate of serious violent crime involving juvenile offenders had dropped significantly from its peak in 1993.
Is Illinois against the norm of these statistics?
But even more importantly in my ‘less government is better’ mind is the question of what is the necessity of this bill when the Regional Offices of Education and local school districts are overseeing the truants? Why double up with this bill when it is already covered within the ISBE statutes?
As you are noted as a Republican leader, I would have expected a requirement for more accountability within the existing laws. But instead, a daytime curfew will infringe on the citizens who are law abiding. I find that unacceptable and hope that you withdraw this bill.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,Susan Ryan
Daytime curfew: Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey wants to hire a truancy hearing officer at City Hall who would handle, among other issues, daytime curfew violations. The city's legal department is expected to make recommendations Monday.
Littering: The legal department should issue a recommendation Monday for a citywide ordinance prohibiting littering and instituting fines.
Millennium Fountain: Discussions are ongoing about how to ensure proper decorum at the city's downtown water fountain.
Garbage pickup: Ald. Bill Timm wants to impose fines on citizens who leave trash bags and containers on the curb all week while waiting for city pickup. Timm plans to work with the legal department to change the garbage ordinance.
Illegal fireworks: After house fires blamed on illegal fireworks, Morrissey wants to crack down on local advertising by out-of-state fireworks companies.
Here's some of the aldermans' issuesLarry Morrissey sits behind his mayor's desk every week at the head of City Council chambers and ticks off the status of his priority projects above -- all with a common theme of quality of life. He discusses these issues in detail before turning the floor over to aldermen, who often recount other struggles in their wards.
Maybe Police Chief Pugh means if you're dead, then you have no quality-of-life?At the same time, the city is coping with a number of homicides, and law enforcement has been preoccupied with everything from drug deals in convenience store parking lots to drag racing deaths.
"We have limited resources. If the priority is going to be quality-of-life issues, that's fine when time allows," Pugh said. "But at some point in time, the choice has to be made whether we're handling a quality-of-life issue or handling something more serious."
Oh, MY! Save some money, Rockford. Make your school district and Regional Office of Education do their job regarding truancy. [And while you're at it, tell them to fix their homeschooling page blazing with "information on Parent-Taught Home Instruction is available from the Regional Office of Education". One of my pet peeves. Information is available here and here. ROE's generally don't know squat about homeschooling or the statutes, obviously, or they wouldn't have "Home Schooling Registration Forms" like that's something you have to do. End of pet peeve rant and back to curfew] So if the ROE does its real job, then Rockford won't need to pay for the mayor's planned in-house hearing officer.Morrissey doesn't expect police officers to shoo people out of Millennium Fountain while an armed robbery is in place, but he maintains that continually hammering basic standards into the collective community conscience will make enforcement easier.
Mary ended her piece with this quote from Martin Luther King's "Letter from the Birmingham Jail"Aldermen will begin reviewing the recommendations Monday and will likely vote on final ordinances by Aug. 1.
An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself.
The following article is a good illustration of the strings that eventually follow when taking state funding. Mary
A memo sent this week says home-school programs that receive public money must reach for Oregon state standards
Friday, June 03, 2005
LUCIANA LOPEZ
The Oregon Department of Education clamped down this week on programs that receive public school money to educate home-schoolers.
The decision is a blow to groups such as Village Home Education Resource Center, a Washington County program that serves about 250 home-schooled students, currently with tax dollars. That group had already chosen to forgo public funding and raise money privately for the next school year, in the wake of an education service district's review.
About 16,000 Oregon children are home-schooled -- their parents have largely opted out of the public school system. The programs allow parents to supplement what they can offer at home, but the state wants to assure that standards are in place.
The Oregon Education Department sent a memo on rules to school administrators across the state Wednesday, said Cliff Brush, an education specialist with the department, after a comprehensive review this school year found confusion surrounding rules governing publicly funded programs serving home-schoolers.
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The new memo says, among other points, that home-schooler programs getting public money "must assist the students in achieving the local and state academic standards" -- basically that the home-schoolers have to reach for the same standards as other students in the state.
<snip>
Public agencies have a responsibility to guard public money, said Suzanne Cusick, assistant superintendent of the Hillsboro School District. "It's our duty as trustees of the taxpayers' money that we make sure we are doing things in accordance with the rules of our state," she said. The review, she added, was fair.
"The standards are the standards, and that's the rub," said Mickey Odin, Northwest ESD deputy superintendent. "You don't get to take state funds without meeting the standards."
To read the entire article click here.
I've added bold and color to highlight a few sections in an article I listed at AHA Focus-Charter Schools today. It's another report about a statewide, online charter being developed, this one in Oregon. I don't object to the choice this might provide to some, but I object to homeschooling being attached to it. When I read "for-profit home-schooling" and "Do we really mean it when we say, `No child left behind'?" in relation to home education, it gets my hackles up. You can read the snippets of "Before state funding is approved, many questions remain" By Jennifer Moody at AHA Focus-Charters
Mary N.
Published on May 1st, 2005, this headliner article showed up a couple of days after the article by the same newspaper (Southern Illinoisan) regarding "home-school" and truancy was noted on the AHA News Blog. I appreciated the broad coverage of different types of homeschooling styles.
Parents Opt to Teach Home-Schooling on Rise Throughout Southern Illinois
BY JOHN D. HOMAN
THE SOUTHERN
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - There may be no ready-made statistics available to chart the growth of home-schooled children in Southern Illinois, but all indications are that the numbers are on the rise.
One reason is because of violence in some schools nationwide, including shootings that left several dead in recent years. Another reason is that some parents and students don't like certain teachers or the grading format. Yet other parents like the convenience factor of keeping their children at home, or believe they can better educate their children than the teachers on staff at a public or private school.
But perhaps the biggest reason why many parents are proponents of home-schooling is faith-based. These are parents who want their children to be more family-conscious and follow God's path through biblical readings, thus avoiding the temptation of sex, drugs and alcohol.
Kim Crouse of Herrin is teaching four of her six school-age children at her home. Sarah is 15 and in the ninth grade. Eli is 13 and in the seventh grade. Emma is 10 and in the fourth grade. And Andrew is 6 and in the first grade. John, 4, and Rebekah, 2, are not yet ready for organized instruction.
"I've been teaching at home now for the last 10 years, or ever since Sarah was old enough to start schools," Crouse said. "I felt called to do it. My husband (Jett) and I share the same view. We felt we could accomplish more with our children by teaching them here at home. I look at it as more of a discipleship."
Crouse said classes begin at 6 a.m. and run through 2:30.
"We go five days a week all year 'round with the exception of three weeks in the summer and certain holidays when Jett (registered nurse in the cardiac cath lab at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale) is off work."
The work day begins with one hour of Bible study followed by an hour of history, English, math, literature, Scripture memory, physical education, science and music separated by a late-morning lunch.
Oldest daughter, Sarah, also does some work on her own through a correspondence school, which mails her books to read.
"Sarah is such an avid reader. She reads everything she can get her hands on," Crouse said.
Although Crouse does not have a college education or any other teaching background, she said the teaching process "hasn't been that hard" with the exception of algebra.
"In that instance, I had to learn right along with my kids," she said.
A Herrin native, the former Kim Reagan, a 1981 graduate of HHS, said she and her husband took some flak initially from family members for choosing to home-school their children.
"Now that they have seen, though, how well-adjusted our kids are, they've pretty much come around to see our side of things and love home-schooling now," Crouse said. "Don't get me wrong. Sometimes, it can get pretty crazy with six kids in the house, but most days, things run pretty smooth, which is about the way life is."
Although she has no problem with any of her children attending college in the years ahead, Crouse said she isn't convinced a college education is a necessity. "Sarah has said she might just want to be a mother because that's the most wonderful job in the world. Eli, though, has said he might want to be a fireman or join the military. We'll just have to wait and see."
Crouse said that a partnership has been formed with other home-school families to help facilitate the social interaction of the youth.
"Some of us go on field trips or recreate together, or they see each other at church. I'm convinced that home-schooling is the way for us. Our kids get along great with one another and love each other. That's the way it should be."
Sarah Crouse concurred.
"I feel like I have more freedom to choose what I want to learn through home-schooling," she said. "I learn more through one-on-one teaching. And I like being with my family all day. We joke around some, but it's pretty unusual that we will argue or fight with each other."
Sarah said she will attend Herrin High School next fall for one class - driver's education.
"I have a lot of friends who go to the public school and many of them are curious about home-schooling, but not that much is said about it really."
Beth Gundlach of Marion is busy teaching four daughters at home - Sarah,18, Emily, 16, Heather, 13, and Mary Beth, 10. Her son, Daniel, 4, has not yet begun formal instruction. A teacher by trade with a degree from Bob Jones University, Gundlach said she began home-schooling when her oldest daughter was just beginning school in South Carolina because she and her husband, Jim, a physics teacher, wanted to impart their own religious beliefs on their children through daily instruction.
Not long after making the decision to home-school, the family moved to Southern Illinois, settling in Energy and now resides in Marion.
"I believe in reading to my kids and the phonics approach has worked well," Gundlach said. "We subscribe to various Christian book distributors and practice the ABEKA curriculum. Anymore, all kind of materials are available on home-schooling because it has become so popular."
When not working hands-on with her kids, Gundlach, who is proud that she taught her daughters how to read, may pop in a DVD with specific assignments to follow.
"And Sarah has been taking some dual-credit classes like government, economics and physics at Logan," Gundlach said. "There are also all kind of computer classes available, too." Gundlach said her daughters have been involved in extra-curricular activities, as well, with gymnastics, piano lessons, swimming and soccer. "There have been times I've worried that the girls might be missing out on some things like a Debate Club, for example. But it's nice to know they're not getting negative peer pressure to do things they shouldn't be doing. I've thoroughly enjoyed having my girls around me all these years. And we have the freedom to go places and do things together as a family."
Asked how she would react if any of her younger children wanted a change of pace and ask to transfer to a public school setting, Gundlach said she and her husband have been in that position before and would have to "pray about it" before making a decision.
"I know I'd be leery about them going to a public school," she said.
Sarah Gundlach said the best part of home-schooling, in her opinion, is the opportunity to "learn at your own pace" without the distractions of a public school environment.
The 18-year-old, who plans to return to South Carolina to attend a Christian school, said that learning from a Christian perspective has benefited her.
"There may not have been enough social interaction, but we've made an effort by getting together with other home-schooled kids," she said." I've also been involved in music and sports. And I have several public school friends.
Karen Forbes of Carbondale home-schools a pair of daughters, Emily, 11, and Kaitlyn, 8. Reagan, 4, is a year away from formal instruction.
"I have no set curriculum," Forbes said. "I choose from various ones. We start instruction around 8:30 or 9 each morning and then break down into individual work in the afternoon. Both girls have a lot of reading they have to do and worksheets to fill out. We also have Bible study daily."
A Special Education instructor when the family lived in Fairview Heights, Forbes began home-schooling her children three years ago. "There's nothing wrong with Unity Point School. The teachers do a great job. I just wanted to individualize the instruction a little more and go at their own pace."
Forbes said Kaitlyn is also active with the Girl Scouts and both she and older sister, Emily, participate in Upward basketball.
"John (Edward Jones investor husband) and I have always said we would take things one year at a time, but I don't see the girls going back to the public school environment, not since they've had so much success the way things are now." John Forbes agrees. "If it continues to work out well with Karen and the kids, we'll keep it up," he said. "She's always loved to teach." A
nd then there are home-schoolers like Leslie McColgin, a Special Education instructor from Graves County, Kentucky, who was raised in Metropolis where her parents still reside.
"Many home-schoolers, like me, espouse an unschooling approach to education in which the curriculum is not pre-planned but rather unfolds naturally in response to the child's talents and interests," McColgin said. "Workbooks, textbooks, tests and assignments are generally not the preferred modes for learning, and much of what the children are doing may not look like what traditional educators are used to seeing. "The subject matter may not even be included in traditional schools, such as the many years my children spent in equine studies, where they not only developed physical skills, but also responsibility, teamwork, leadership and many important personal qualities along with incidental learning that included biology, math, reading, writing and study skills as they prepared for both knowledge and performance competitions and testings in U.S. Pony Club." McColgin said thousands of unschoolers have been raised with this approach.
"If you read biographies of highly-gifted people throughout history, you will find that quite a number of them (about one-third) spent very little or no time in school and many others had quite nasty things to say about traditional school approaches (e.g. George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein). "It is important, and indeed vital, to our educational freedoms to protect unschooling from narrow views of education held by school educators and judges in court," McColgin said. "Intelligent teens are perfectly capable of directing their own educations and we must protect their right to do so, since many simply do not fit well into our one-size-fits-all school system."
John Homan 618-997-3356 x15807
The below article about the Morman church halting the use of it's chapels by homeschoolers caught my eye. I hear more and more about churches not allowing homeschoolers to use their facilities due to liability issues.
The upcoming HEM Support Group news will report how one homeschool group in VA has dealt with the liability issue and how they found facilities they were able to utilize.
Watch for the newsletter to be released around the fifteenth of May at: http://www.homeedmag.com/groups/groupnews.html
Mary Nix
Here's the article:
Mormon church halts use of chapels by home schoolers
By The Associated Press Wednesday, May 04, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Mormon chapels no longer may be used by home schoolers for activities, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced.
The announcement in a letter from the First Presidency, made up of church President Gordon B. Hinckley and his counselors, was read to several congregations on Sunday.
"The letter indicated that to help avoid safety and tax liabilities, meeting houses should not be used as home-school or day-care facilities, or for hosting home-school activities," church spokesman Dale Bills said in an e-mail statement.
The decision could send some groups scrambling for a place to have arts and crafts or sporting activities, said Jon Yarrington, president of the Utah Home Education Association.
So when he makes statements such as he’s made in the last few weeks, it’s homeschooling that gets the black eye.
On April 9th in the Washington Post, Dana Milbank wrote of Mr. Farris’ description of Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Mr. Farris indicated Justice Kennedy ‘should be the poster boy for impeachment’ for citing international norms in his opinions. ‘If our congressmen and senators do not have the courage to impeach and remove from office Justice Kennedy, they ought to be impeached as well.
Farris then told the crowd he is ‘sick and tired of having to lobby people I helped get elected.’ A better-educated citizenry, he said, would know that ‘Medicare is a bad idea’ and that "Social Security is a horrible idea when run by the government.’ Farris said he would block judicial power by abolishing the concept of binding judicial precedents, by allowing Congress to vacate court decisions, and by impeaching judges such as Kennedy, who seems to have replaced Justice David H. Souter as the target of conservative ire. ‘If about 40 of them get impeached, suddenly a lot of these guys would be retiring,’ he said. (Dana Milbank, And the verdict on Justice Kennedy Is: Guilty; The Washington Post, April 9. 2005, page A03).
It’s unfortunate that homeschoolers cannot impeach Mr. Farris. While Mr. Farris is as entitled to his opinion as I am, my opinion does not imply I have hundreds of thousands of families supporting it. My opinion is mine. The media has given his opinion the considerable weight of the homeschooling community. Ironically, my opinion is about as important as Mr. Farris’. Yes, he has a law degree, but by what criteria does he get to sit in judgment of a respected Supreme Court Justice? By what criteria is Mr. Farris qualified to determine who should be impeached? He has never been elected to anything, never sat as a justice, indeed, is not even qualified to sit on the Virginia Supreme Court. (One must be a member of the Virginia State Bar to qualify). His only credential appears to be his self-appointment as the leadership of homeschooling. As my son would say, ‘woo hoo’.
More troubling is Mr. Farris’ complaint that he is “sick and tired of having to lobby people I helped get elected.” Perhaps he has failed to understand how elections work. As Americans, we elect people to represent us. Just because we vote for someone, however, does not mean they must then do our bidding. We do not get to ‘own’ them or coerce their vote on key issues. The democratic process means we lobby the people we elect. It’s how the system works. In theory, our elected representatives then take all the opinions they hear into consideration and vote the way they believe the majority of their constituents want them to. I’m sure others also lobby the same legislators Michael Farris helped get elected; perhaps they even helped, too. Someone should explain to Mr. Farris that he is no more important than any other citizen. Personally, I never tire of writing my elected representatives and explaining that just because I chose to educate my own children at home does not mean I subscribe to a specific religious or political view in spite of Mr. Farris’ continued representation of me without my consent.
I also think it’s important to recognize Mr. Farris’s stated position on abolishing both Social Security and Medicare. He has also advocated the abolishment of the federal Department of Education. I think it’s time for Mr. Farris to explain WHY he wants the federal government dismantled and what he intends to replace it with.
On the same day, April 9, the Boston Globe published another article about the same conservative conference. (Nina J. Easton, Rift emerges in GOP after Schiavo case; Boston Globe, April 9, 2005 http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/04/09/rift_emerges_in_gop_after_schiavo_case/ )
Fortunately, Mr. Farris was not quoted in this article, just listed as a ‘home school activist” in the same sentence as Jerry Falwell, Raymond Flynn and Rabbi Daniel Lapin. The article outlines the issues addressed by the gathering of conservatives including the Schiavo case, activist judges and gay marriage.
These are not homeschooling issues, indeed the only mention of homeschooling is in Michael Farris’ ‘title’.
You know, maybe impeaching Mr. Farris isn’t such a bad idea.
Texas anxious over sect lifestyle
By Hugh Aynesworth
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
AUSTIN, Texas -- A burgeoning, secretive sect of polygamists in a small, western Texas rural community has state legislators considering new bills to combat what many consider the group's unacceptable lifestyle.
State Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, a Republican, is pushing several changes to state law, particularly those concerning child-protective services, home schooling and marriage between stepchildren and stepparents.
At issue is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a rogue flank of the Mormon denomination that secretly purchased a 1,691-acre ranch outside Eldorado 14 months ago and moved several dozen followers from Utah to begin building a religious center. Warren Jeffs is the self-named prophet of the sect.
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Penn State - infoZine - "Until the 1980s, most of the students kept out of regular schools to be homeschooled were breaking state laws," says JoAnn C. Vender, graduate student in geography. "In research on the geography of education, there are very few studies on home schooling because the data are hard to pin down. Homeschoolers represent a significant, but under-studied segment of the education universe - estimated at about 1.1 million students, about 20 percent of the privately-schooled population in the U.S."
<snip>
In addition to examining the geography of homeschooling, Vender is also interested in understanding geography as a subject studied by homeschoolers.
"We know that homeschoolers are interested and involved in geography," says Vender. "Many homeschoolers are committed integrators, connecting content and activities to everyday life wherever possible, so geography is an ideal vehicle for learning. Homeschoolers in fourth through eighth grade are incredibly well represented in the National Geographic Bee. They represent about 2 percent of the students who return qualifying tests - again corresponding to national estimates of the homeschool population - but more than 50 percent of these homeschoolers place in the top 100 students in their states."
