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Newscomm for November 09, 2004
In This Edition:
Ohio - News Channel 5 Revs Up the School Blender to Puree
How the School Blender Works
The Cost of Homeschooling
DC - the Post's Jay Mathews Nails Another Story
Alaska - Avoiding Folly
California - Misleading "Facts"
Connecticut - Homeschooling: It's Probably Not What You Think
Maryland - Homeschooler Inadvertently Enrolled in School
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
Michigan - Why Cite NASP's Call for Federal Research?
Michigan - Trying to Better "Serve" Homeschoolers
Missouri - A Friendly State
Mississippi - Homeschooling Facts as News Filler
Rhode Island - The Homeschooler as Consumer
Homeschoolers in the News
New Zealand - A Classroom at Home
Russia - A Natural Reaction to Horror
Final Words
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Ohio - News Channel 5 Revs Up the School Blender to Puree
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headline: More Parents Choose To Homeschool Kids
School Officials Say Students Get More Opportunities At School
News Channel 5, Ohio, By Debora Lee lee@newsnet5.com November 04
Darlene Dunn, Senior News Editor: darlene@newsnet5.com
http://www.newsnet5.com
CLEVELAND -- "The U.S. Department of Education estimates the number of students taught at home grew 29 percent in the past five years."
Ann: This piece mixes the issues of charterschooling and homeschooling, and leads to this comment from Rebecca Lowry, the chief academic officer for the Cleveland Municipal School District. 'I think we all recognize a parent's right to homeschool. We believe, however, that the public school system can offer far more opportunities than parents can offer themselves,' Lowry said. 'In Cleveland, public schools lose about $5,000 for every child who's not enrolled, Lee reported.'"
Ann: In a nutshell, Lowry has conceded that parents have the right to homeschool, albeit it an inferior approach in her view, but never fear, the Cleveland district is eager to try to "out-homeschool" the private sector and not incidentally to snag $5000 per student out of the taxpayers' pockets.
Ann: The piece blends and purees homeschooling and charterschooling, implying that a smooth pap is naturally the desirable option, and inexplicably concludes with a telling contradiction to its own headline.
"Although homeschooling is on the rise nationwide, the numbers have been declining over the past five years in Cleveland. School officials aren't sure why but suspect one reason could be that Cleveland parents have more options now, such as charter schools."
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How the School Blender Works
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Ann: The story above led me to write this small attempt to show why blending educational options is so confusing and misleading. While this takes us a bit afield from homeschooling, it is important to understand that a School Blender may lay groundwork for challenges to homeschooling. Is the School Blender at work in your state?
(Tongue now planted firmly in cheek - and let's all read aloud together, shall we?) It is clear from the news story above that although homeschooling is growing, it is also declining, because although charterschoolers are sometimes referred to as homeschoolers, they are really public schoolers, which takes them off the homeschooling rolls, causing a decline in homeschooling enrollment and an increase in public school enrollment.
Are you with me so far? Good. Round two.
Bringing homeschoolers who are really charter schoolers onto the public school rolls is good for public schools, moving as it does $5000 per student to the public school coffers, but it is bad for taxpayers, as it decreases the tax funds by the same amount, as opposed to leaving $5000 in the general fund where the money stays when a homeschooler is really a homeschooler and no $5000 changed hands, thus preserving tax funds for other uses.
Deep breath. We aren't done yet.
Some charterschools, which you remember are public schools, are being run by private corporations, which makes no sense if you think about it so don't, and those private corporations are owned by investors who care about their bottom line. To assure that bottom line, the corporations are quite happy to call a charterschooler a homeschooler until it is time to tap into that $5000 tally for the public school bottom line. So the former homeschooler, who used to save tax dollars for other uses, but who is now a charterschooler who is sometimes referred to as a homeschooler but is really an enrolled public schooler, is now being courted by various private corporations who run public schools that are often charterschools in order to place that charterschooler on their own rolls and move those taxpayer dollars through local schools and into the bottom line of the corporation.
Gasp. Last round coming up.
To qualify for those tax dollars represented by the public school student who attends a charterschool which may be a cyberschool which also means he may learn at home which is why he is sometimes referred to as a homeschooler but is really a charterschooler, the school or charterschool must be held accountable to the taxpayer. To prove accountability, that charterschool student must be in full compliance with public school rules no matter where he learns even if he learns at home, including submitting to the public school standards of learning, submitting portfolios, teacher supervision, curriculum guides, testing, NCLB rules, and other forms of guidance and supervision from the public school or charterschool, possibly even including seat time, all of which is a completely different set of laws, regulations, and policies that do not apply to homeschoolers who are homeschoolers who are not used to move public dollars to schools. To restate the obscure, homeschoolers who are homeschoolers have a relationship with the state all their own, completely separate from the requirements of charterschoolers who are sometimes referred to as homeschoolers but who are winning tax dollars for their local public charterschool which is a private corporation subject to the laws and rules and regulations of the public school but which is most concerned about its bottom line.
Done! And red is green, night is day, and up is down, and everything is copacetic here in Oz. Woe to the poor taxpayers and voters and legislators and the lowly bureaucrats when they take off the tinted glasses and try to analyze the blended goobledygook of educational reform. And who ARE those men behind that curtain pushing School Blender buttons?
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The Cost of Homeschooling
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headline: Adding up the cost of home schooling
Bankrate.com, By Jennie L. Phipps http://www.bankrate.com
"Clive Belfield, professor of economics at Queens College, City University of New York, estimates that the cost for parents who keep a careful accounting is about $2,500 for a family's first child and slightly less for the next one or two home-schooled kids. Belfield's cost-assessment includes up-to-date textbooks and a library of other learning materials, computing equipment, ergonomically designed furniture, additional light, heat and air conditioning, as well as tutors for subjects such as higher-level science and math that parents are least likely to be able to teach."
Ann: Belfield makes his estimates based on a common homeschooling myth, the assumption that placing a state-of-the-art miniature school in the home is part of the success formula. In fact, furnishings are rarely what judged by homeschoolers to be important to homeschooling success. Phipps cites a more accurate ntion of the cost of homeschooling from - surprise! - someone who actually homeschools.
"Other experts pooh-pooh the notion that home schooling is that expensive. Tim Drake, a former public school teacher and a staff writer with the National Catholic Register, points to the experience of his local Minnesota home-schooling group, Home Educated Youth. These 220 families spend between $300 and $1,000 per family each year, according to a survey of the group."
Ann: In this piece we also learn that HSLDA is planning to promote its federal legislation in the coming session. "Klicka [of HSLDA] is deeply involved in lobbying for federal legislation favorable to home schoolers and he's hopeful that legislation will pass in the next session, making Coverdell money more accessible for home schooling expenses."
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DC - the Post's Jay Mathews Nails Another Story
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headline: Another Way To Learn
Kidspost, The Washington Post, DC, by Jay Mathews mathewsj@washpost.com October 26
http://www.washingtonpost.com
"Imagine a school where you don't need permission slips to take a field trip, where you can take a break from studying to go swimming, and where if you don't understand long division, the teacher can spend as much time on it as you need. Well, that's the kind of school that at least 1.1 million of the nation's 52 million school-age kids go to. It's called home school."
Ann: Mathews turns in another pro-homeschooling story, this one directed at young readers. He includes kids' comments on the pros and cons of homeschooling.
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Alaska - Avoiding Folly
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headline: Hearing draws child welfare agency critics
Anchorage Daily News, Alaska, By Lisa Demer ldemer@adn.com October 31
http://www.adn.com
"People poured out ideas for reforming Alaska's child protection system at the first public hearing of a state oversight panel. They described families damaged when the state overreacts, and children in danger when it fails to do enough... The Citizen Review Panel was created in 2002 and is required under federal law.... The review panel's public hearings will continue around the state next year. Sessions are scheduled in Juneau in February, Anchorage in April and Bethel in May."
Ann: In addition to bringing serious child welfare issues to light, the participants in this hearing generated a list of concrete suggestions, including the following one:
"Check up on home-schooled children. [One family] said they home- schooled their children, but there's no evidence it actually happened, troopers said. Alaska law does not provide for any oversight of home schooling."
Ann: I hope Alaska homeschoolers are exploring ways to point out the folly of this suggestion. A "check up" plan would regulate and restrict already law-abiding homeschoolers, while those who abuse or neglect their children would continue their behaviors unchecked. Regulating homeschooling does not work as the suggestion proposes.
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California - Misleading "Facts"
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headline: Home, sweet home school
la Voz, the Voice of de Anza College, Cupertino, California, By Larry Chan November 01
http://www.lavozdeanza.com
"De Anza sophomore Jeremy McGrew commuted to school in an unusual fashion. After getting out of bed as a fifth-grader, he went downstairs, got a bowl of cereal, and sat in the living room to learn math from his mom. A number of students at De Anza College did not attend what most people in this country think of as 'school.' ... California parents can file Form R4 to exempt them from enrolling their children in public school by making their home a private school. The overwhelming majority of families choosing to take this option are conservative Christians."
Ann: I wonder where the writer gets the "fact" in that last sentence? Or did Chan take the perceptions of the conservative Christian students he interviewed and assume they were a statement of fact? The way I hear it, homeschooling under the Form R4 rule - the full freedom private school option - is a California favorite, regardless of faith. Any Californians want to shed a little light here?
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Connecticut - Homeschooling: It's Probably Not What You Think
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Homeschooling: It's Probably Not What You Think
The Day, New London, Connecticut, November 07
http://www.theday.com
"When asked if a teaching background is necessary, [Lynn Kinnaman] says, 'Not at all. After all, people learn every day on the job. They can learn to do this. With the resources available now, anybody can do it.' Those resources include groups like the Connecticut Homeschool Network (www.cthomeschoolnetwork.org), a group that Lewis says, 'provides support, helps parents put together group activities, and gets out information about laws.' The laws to which Lewis refers provide another example of a misconception as they seem rather tame, contrary to what one might expect in these days of heightened concern about child welfare. Lewis says, 'In Connecticut, there is very little regulation...'"
Ann: What a great headline.
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Maryland - Homeschooler Inadvertently Enrolled in School
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headline: Public School Send Grades, Test Scores To Home-School Student
Student Wants To Return To Public Schools Next Year
WBAL-TV, Baltimore, Maryland November 06
http://www.thewbalchannel.com
WOODLAWN, Md. -- "Baltimore County's public school system sent report cards and failing test scores to a student who has been home-schooled for years. The girl's parents are concerned about the records because the girl wants to go to a public high school next fall....'I just want this off her records. That's the bottom line -- get it off,' Pam Phillips said. 'We just pray that this is not the norm for Maryland and its educational system,' Goldie Phillips said."
Ann: What an odd story. Let's hope along with Goldie Phillips that this problem is a fluke, not a serious problem with Baltimore's record-keeping system. Maybe the parents should ask for a copy of the girl's attendance records for the period?
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National Association of School Psychologists
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headline: Home Schooling: A Guide for Parents
By Caven S. McLoughlin, PhD, Kent State University; & Helena Chambers, EdS, Warren City (OH) Schools
http://www.nasponline.org
Ann: This four page paper gives an overview of homeschooling. Here is the conclusion:
"There is considerable controversy regarding the benefits and drawbacks of home schooling. Customization of the educational experience and one-on-one instruction are cited as the primary benefits of home schooling. Parents who home school their children note many advantages, including the opportunity to create appropriate, personalized, and powerful learning environments where their children have the potential to learn at their own speed. The home school schedule of instruction is flexible, the class size is necessarily small, and parents are available. However, critics suggest that individual children and society may be short changed when the universal experience of public schooling is avoided."
Ann: Perhaps I am too cynical, but I think the "considerable controversy" lies within the minds of the school psychologists, not within the minds of parents and others who regularly make homeschooling succeed.
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Michigan - Why Cite NASP's Call for Federal Research?
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headline: Number of home-schooled continues to rise
Kalamazoo Gazette, Michigan, jmack@kalamazoogazette.com October 31
http://www.mlive.com
"In a recent story for the Associated Press, Ted Feinberg, assistant executive director of the National Association of School Psychologists, said that home-schooling parents must address several issues. Among them: Do parents with no formal training as teachers know how to handle a variety of subjects or to tailor instruction for children of different ages? Do students get the same materials they would have at schools, from books to science labs? Are families with two working parents prepared to live off a single income so that one parent can teach at home? Also, Feinberg said, parents must consider whether their children will emerge from home-schooling with limited exposure to other children and various cultures. More federal research is needed to help resolve such questions about home-schooling, he said."
Ann: Oh brother. This writer wants to talk up the School Psychologist paper on homeschooling, above. Feinberg poses good questions, but so what? They are the very same questions that parents have been asking and most importantly, answering satisfactorily, since Homeschooling Day One, long before homeschooling crossed the NASP radar. There is nothing new here. Bringing up these tired questions this late in the game shows a fundamental failure on the part of NASP to understand how homeschooling works, and the ways it is differs from traditional schooling.
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Michigan - Trying to Better "Serve" Homeschoolers
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headline: Home schoolers' requests addressed
The Ann Arbor News, Michigan, By Lisa Carolin lcarolin@livingstoncommunitynews.com October 29
http://www.mlive.com
"The Brighton Area Schools Board of Education approved a revised policy Monday allowing home-schooled students to take core classes under certain circumstances. The district had received requests from the families of home-schooled students to allow them to take classes such as English, math, science and social studies in a traditional classroom... There will be a forum for home schoolers [that] will focus on how Brighton Area Schools can better serve home schoolers and to discuss why people have chosen to home school, said Superintendent Dave Pruneau."
Ann: In some states, trying to "better serve homeschoolers" is code for "win them back."
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Mississippi - Homeschooling Facts as News Filler
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headline: Home-schooling facts
The Sun Herald, South Mississippi, from The Washington Post, October 31
http://www.sunherald.com
"More kids are being taught at home. In 1999, 850,000 American children were home-schooled. In 2003, that number had climbed to 1.1 million. --National Center for Education Statistics"
Ann: Interesting - this is the first time I've seen homeschooling information used this way, apparently filling space with a little 100 word piece.
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Missouri - A Friendly State
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headline: Home schooling's popularity up
News-Leader, Springfield, Missouri, By Kathryn Buckstaff kbuckstaff@news-leader.com
http://springfield.news-leader.com
Branson - "In Missouri, home-schoolers are not monitored or regulated, according to the Department of Elementary or Secondary Education. Parents don't need a teaching certificate to instruct their children. Registering at their district's school is not required. That sometimes causes problems, said Brenda Romine, spokeswoman for the Branson School District. The district occasionally gets a call about a child who's at home during school hours. The school allows home-schooled students within the district to take courses such as a science lab class if parents make that request."
Ann: This is a nice story about a couple of homeschooling families in Missouri. I was struck with how easily the reporter got the basics of Missouri's homeschooling law into her story.
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Rhode Island - The Homeschooler as Consumer
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headline: Exgenex Brings 1st Annual KidsTechCentral Show to the Rhode Island Convention Center
CANTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 28
http://home.businesswire.com
"Exgenex, a leader in the event and exposition industry, today announced the first annual learning and education event in the New England region, KidsTechCentral. www.educationevents.com
'KidsTechCentral will be a staple among teachers and parents because it is a platform where everyone can come together and experience a compelling way to educate--through the use of technology,' said Stephen Saber, Chief Executive Officer, Exgenex. 'This show will impact Home Schooling ...' KidsTechCentral will bring top companies such as Dell and LeapFrog to exhibit at the show. The show will focus on four themes: Internet and online solutions, education software, edutainment and home schooling techniques and solutions. This event will offer solutions for the Home Schooling market..."
Ann: Is this a new phase, the one where marketers start telling us what we need because homeschoolers have been identified as a "market"?
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Homeschoolers in the News
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Ann: Homeschooling brings opportunities of many kinds - family growth, academics, college prep, sports, celebrations and even Homecoming.
headline: Harvest Home School Celebration set for Oct. 30 at Piedmont College
The Northeast Georgian, Cornelia, Georgia, October 28
http://www.thenortheastgeorgian.com
"Piedmont College will host Harvest Home Educators' second annual Home School Celebration, an event dedicated to home-educated students and their families...In addition to being educational for the students, many of the programs in the Demorest celebration are designed to provide parents with additional teaching methods to use in their own home school. Students can attend classes in environmental science, discovery science, chemistry, computer workshops, art, ceramics and more."
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headline: Students Say Homeschooling Prepared Them For College
Experts Say Homeschooled Children Better Prepared Academically
News Channel 5, Ohio, By Debora Lee lee@newsnet5.com November 05
http://www.newsnet5.com
CLEVELAND -- The numbers for home-schooled children are booming. Researchers say it's grown 28 percent over the past four years. But does spending time outside of the traditional classroom hurt their social skills?... Jon Woodhams is a freshman at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, and he never graduated from high school. Woodhams and his sister Debbie were educated at their home in Seven Hills. They tried public school for a while, but they just didn't like it.... If he could do it over again, Jon Woodhams said he would choose home schooling, and so does Debbie Woodhams. 'I wouldn't do anything different about myself ... and that's what I would do for my kids, too,' said Debbie."
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headline: Homeschooler homecoming
Culpeper Star Exponent, Virginia, By Alicia Petska apetska@starexponent.com November 07
http://www.starexponent.com
"It was a pretty standard homecoming dance, with only one twist.... This wasn,t an entirely run-of-the-mill homecoming, after all.... Events like REACH,s homecoming provide homeschooled students a unique opportunity to participate in a longstanding tradition of adolescence they might otherwise miss out on. Kids came sporting everything from t-shirts and jeans to poodle skirts and cardigans. They did the Macarena and the electric slide. They danced in circles with their friends, singing along with the music."
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headline: On key with his future: Teenager is an overachiever, but still knows how to have fun
The Sentinel, Hanford, California, By Rebekah Herbert November 07
http://www.hanfordsentinel.com
"...16-year-old James Bowen of Corcoran...started taking college classes at age 13. He began playing the piano 10 years ago and now is mastering the pipe organ....Bowen has been home-schooled his whole life. 'I am glad I did home-schooling,' Bowen said. 'You can travel at your own speed, you don't have ridiculous busy work and you can focus on subjects you want to.' Bowen's mom made sure her son knew more than just the books. 'Home-schooling was never just books and music, but hands-on community service,' Heather Bowen said."
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headline: Homeschooling growing in local school districts
The Record Herald, Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, By Kate Andrews November 08
http://www.therecordherald.com
"Mary Hudzinski decided to start homeschooling when she saw that her oldest daughter, a kindergartner, was being influenced more by her peers than her parents. 'I wanted to fight that battle when she was 7, not 17,' Hudzinski said. In 1986, the Hudzinskis were one of few homeschooling families in Franklin County. They aren't alone anymore."
Ann: This article is an interesting glimpse into a couple of families, and is particularly well-crafted for helping readers touch on the realities of homeschooling.
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headline: Homeschooling is a welcome alternative for many area families
Connecticut Life, By Alicia B. Smith, November
http://www.whitepublishing.com
"Judy Aron admits that if someone had told her 10 years ago she would end up homeschooling her three children, she would have told them they were crazy. For the past nine years she has educated her children after first sending them to public schools. Now she could not imagine doing it any other way."
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headline: Homeschooling Makes Difference For KCK Girl
The Kansas City Channel, November 8, 2004
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- "Homeschooling helped a local girl graduate high school and make history at an area college, KMBC's Natalie Moultrie reported. Charion Vaughn, 15, is the youngest student on campus at Kansas City, Kan., Community College....Vaughn is not only the youngest on campus, but because of her high ACT scores, her college is paid for. Vaughn and her parents said that hard work at homeschooling made the difference between being a high school sophomore and a college freshman."
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headline: Saline County homeschool teams in basketball action
Benton Courier, Arkansas, November 09
http://www.bentoncourier.com
"On Nov. 4 the Saline County homeschool junior boys played the Little Rock Zebras at Agape Church in Little Rock and lost 60-27. The senior boys team hosted the Faulkner County Homeschool Falcons at Holland Chapel in Benton Nov. 5."
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New Zealand - A Classroom at Home
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headline: A classroom at home
The Marlborough Express, New Zealand, Stuff.com 03 November 2004
http://www.stuff.co.nz
"Ministry of Education statistics show that the number of homeschooled children has increased substantially in the past decade, more than doubling from 3141 in 1993 to 6437 in 2003. Marlborough has The highest rates of home schoolers per head of school-age children in the country. At 1.3 per cent of the total school population, it is second only to the Nelson and Northland regions. In New Zealand, children are legally required to attend school between the ages of six and 16, and parents looking to home educate must first apply for an exemption certificate for their children."
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Russia - A Natural Reaction to Horror
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headline: In Beslan's Wake, Eastern European Parents Consider Home Schooling
Agape Press, By Jim Brown and Jenni Parker, October 26
http://headlines.agapepress.org
"Since September 13 of this year, Calvert School in Baltimore, Maryland, has received more than 400 inquiries about its home schooling curriculum from families in Russia and other Eastern European countries. Founded in 1897, Calvert School is an independent, nonsectarian, pre-K through 8th grade school for boys and girls, and is also the first formal home-school curriculum provider in the U.S."
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Final Words
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E-mail addresses of reporters or their editors are now included with their stories when available. Please send feedback to reporters who make you think, who tell a great story, or who have wrong information. A pat on the back or a respectful correction is usually appreciated. As always, keep me in mind as you find and make the news. Please include a link if possible and a sentence or two of your own that summarizes the homeschooling aspect of the story. Thanks to all who contributed to this and past issues.
Ann Lahrson Fisher
News and Commentary Email
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