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Newscomm November 11, 2003
In this issue:
Those Winning Homeschoolers
21st Century Homeschooling - Australian Style
Why We Homeschool
Africentric Unschooling
The American Homeschool Association
New Jersey Case - Update
Lottery Debate Continues in Tennessee
Bill Bennett and K12 in Texas
The Onus is on the Parents
Schools Don't Want Homeschoolers
Schools Want Homeschoolers
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Those Winning Homeschoolers
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headline: Bush Boys Grew Up With Solar Power, TV
canada.com, November 04
http://canada.com
"Two brothers who say they were raised in the wilderness said Tuesday that they want their privacy back....Proce said while the pair were raised in isolation near Revelstoke, they were home-schooled, are well-spoken and were not completely cut off from the world. 'These boys did not sort of like fall out of a pine tree onto a patch of moss and survive on nuts and berries and then emerge from the forest,' Proce said. 'I mean, yes, their parents lived in an isolated spot, they were home-schooled, there wasn't a lot of association with people in the community. But they had solar power, they had a VCR, radio, newspapers, magazines.'"
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headline: These Families Have Class
The Modesto Bee, California, By Monica Paladini, November 06
http://www.modbee.com
"...[Bethany Kerr] is very involved in a home-school debate league; she has won several honors and competed on the national level. She has only one complaint about home schooling. 'The downside, if you could call it that, is that sometimes I prefer to have conversations with adults, because I can't have as good of a conversation with kids my own age,' she said."
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headline: Homeschooled Team Wins First District Title
St. Petersburg Times, Florida, By Eric Muskatevc, November 07
http://www.sptimes.com/
"Michael Bauer has his twin brother, Christopher, by six minutes and two goals. He scored twice in the first half before the rain to give Pinellas Christian Homeschool a 2-1 victory against Canterbury in the district final at Puryear Park on Thursday."
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headline: From 1288 to 653, Schools Show a Wide Range of SAT Scores
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania, By Eleanor Chute, November 09
http://www.post-gazette.com
"The list of the top 10 in Allegheny County shows a mixture of public and nonpublic schools and homeschoolers. Elite private schools filled the top four...Homeschoolers, a figure that includes students taught at home throughout the state, ranked fifth, above every other public and nonpublic school in Allegheny County."
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headline: Home-schoolers Stage Walk-a-thon
Baxter Bulletin, Arkansas, By Armando Rios, November 10
http://www.baxterbulletin.com
"A number of home-schooled students gathered at Cooper Park Saturday morning for a walk-a-thon to raise money for the local home-school organization and a state organization. The students raised a total of $1,290 for Homestyle Christian Educators, the local group, and The Education Alliance in Little Rock. They have plans to do it again in October 2004."
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headline: Home Is Where The Thought Is
WVLT-TV, Knoxville, Tennessee, November 10
http://www.volunteertv.com
"'The great things about homeschooling is we can teach them the way they learn best,' Mark Medley said. 'With four children, even identical twins, they have very different personalities and learning styles.'"
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headline: Observances of Veterans Day Go Beyond Flags and Parades
Boca Raton News, Florida, by Dale M. King, November 11
http://www.bocaratonnews.com
"[home-school seventh grader] Christina Zarrilli, a 12-year-old member of the Civil Air Patrol,s Boca Raton Composite Squadron, will be the guest speaker at a Veterans' Day luncheon today at Edgewater Pointe Estates at 18th Street and Palmetto Park Road in Boca Raton."
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21st Century Homeschooling - Australian Style
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headline: Qld Home Schooling Shake-up
News.com, Australia, November 11
http://www.news.com.au
"'The government recognises home schooling is a legitimate and essential educational choice for many Queensland families that deserves to be brought into the 21st century,' [Ms. Bligh] said.
... Some of the recommendations include maintaining home schooling parents' access to distance education, establishing a central home schooling body and ensuring home schoolers of compulsory age are officially registered."
Ann: No word yet on what Australian homeschoolers think of all this.
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Why We Homeschool
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headline: More and More, Home Is Where The School Is
Rutland Herald, Vermont, By Jane Gross, The New York Times, November 10
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com
"The Kjellberg twins, Caroline and Jessica, were in a highly regarded public school until two years ago. But they were bullied, their mother said, miserable, and referred to psychiatrists when they misbehaved in class. So Kjellberg, neither a hippie nor a fundamentalist, decided to educate them at home.
'I was always too afraid to take that giant step outside the mainstream,' she said. 'But now that circumstances have forced us out, our experience here on the sidelines is so good that I find it harder and harder to imagine going back.'"
Ann: This mostly excellent story has been picked up by many other papers, including the Times of India. The headline is not quite right. It should be: "Home Is Where The LEARNING Is"
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Africentric Unschooling
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headline: New Africentric Homeschooling Web Site
http://www.afamunschool.com
"African-American Unschooling is THE Internet resource for African-American Homeschoolers with an Africentric approach to learning all the time. African-American Unschoolers encounter math, science, reading, writing, art and history in the Real World because real living leads to real learning!"
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The American Homeschool Association
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headline: Service Organization for Homeschoolers
http://www.americanhomeschoolassociation.org
The American Homeschool Association (AHA), is a service organization created in 1995 to network homeschoolers on a national level and to provide news and information about homeschooling. Current AHA services include an online discussion list providing news, information, networking, and resources; a free email newsletter; and a web site providing categorized links to the most helpful and informative pages of homeschooling information on the Internet. For information contact: AHA@americanhomeschoolassociation.org
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New Jersey Case - Update
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headline: Too Risky at DYFS
PressofAtlanticCity.com, November 02
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com
"New Jersey does not require home-schooled students to register and does not authorize school districts to monitor the children. With home schooling in general, this lack of control is worth debating."
Ann: Worth debating? Yes, I would agree, for a truly good debate would remind us of universal truths that many have forgotten. For instance, laws and regulations do not prevent crime, even the horrible crime of child abuse. For instance, regulating the general population will not stop abuse, but it may create a new class of criminals. For instance, short-sighted laws and regulations should not be enacted simply because well-intended people want to DO SOMETHING. Whether that SOMETHING is worth the cost must be weighed very carefully.
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headline: House Panel Shines Light on Jackson Case
Star-Ledger, New Jersey, By J. Scott Orr, November 07
http://www.nj.com
"He said the Jacksons began home-schooling Bruce only after he was kicked out of four schools because of his behavior, which often including vomiting. 'This is the reason that the Jacksons started home schooling. The police theory, though, is that they are using home schooling as a way to avoid detection of their abuse of these children. This is silly,' [Thomas) said."
Ann: "...kicked out of four schools..."? The failure of these schools to provide an appropriate education must have pushed the Jacksons into homeschooling.
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headline: Social Worker Union Cites Homeschooling as Contributing to Child Abuse at Congressional Hearing
http://www.hslda.org
"On Thursday, November 6, 2003, the Human Resources Subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, held a hearing to examine 'a recent failure to protect child safety.'"
Carla Katz, the president of the Communications Workers of America, a union representing social workers in New Jersey testified at the hearing, including: 'Home schooling creates gaps. Nearly 20% of all abuse cases are reported by schools....There is no cross-referencing with the Department of Education to look for children who are in the 'system' but have not been seen by anyone.'"
Ann: The blame game never moves beyond finger pointing, does it?
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Lottery Debate Continues in Tennessee
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headline: Fiddling with New Lottery Law on Agenda for January Session
Nashville City Paper Online, Tennessee, By Skip Cauthorn, November 10
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com
" Newton, a Republican from Benton, wants to lower the requirements that must be met for home-schooled students to obtain a lottery scholarship. A big debate last session among different factions was over just how well different students must do to obtain a lottery-funded scholarship. While the Black Caucus and others fought and won the battle for lower requirements, home school students were held to a higher standard than that of conventional high school students."
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Bill Bennett and K12 in Texas
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Headline: Lesson No. 1 -- Crime Doesn't Pay ... Yet: Bill Bennett Loses Again at the State Board of Education
Capitol Chronicle, Austin, Texas, By Michael Kind, November 11
http://www.austinchronicle.com
"Yet K12's program presumes students will receive three to five hours of direct parental (or other adult) instruction each day. Teacher-administrators will supposedly monitor the program by remote control, at a 50-1 student-teacher ratio. In effect, that makes K12 an attractive stealth voucher program for home-schoolers, who would receive at least $4,500 in public funds immediately redirected for K12..."
Ann: Michael Kind apparently thinks Texas homeschoolers are eager to join a virtual charter school a la Bill Bennett's K12. Hmm, maybe the writer has been reading too much of K12's flood of literature? Maybe some Texas homeschoolers should clue this writer in on a few facts?
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The Onus is on the Parents
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headline: Academy Gives a Boost To Independent Learners
Cooperative for Home-Schooled Children Uses Classical Approach
Washington Post, DC, By Avis Thomas-Lester, November 06
http://www.washingtonpost.com
"Started in 1996 by six home-schooling families as a support group, Jungo Academy originally offered science classes to a few children in the homes of the original families, who also hired tutors to teach physical education and art.... 'You have to remember we are not a school. We are just some parents coming together to teach our children,' Gaskin said. 'We have to register with the county as home-schoolers, so all of us as individual families are registered with the counties where they live.'"
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Schools Don't Want Homeschoolers
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headline: Policy on Home-schooled Students May Get Another Look
Montgomery Newspapers Online, Pennsylvania, Stefanie Ryan, November 07
http://www.zwire.com
"After filling out an application over the summer, being accepted into the school in August, purchasing more than $300 in materials and attending three weeks of classes, Jessica learned her status as a home-school student rendered her ineligible for district-funded participation in the vo-tech program....According to District Policy 249, 'Home education students are not enrolled in the School District of Upper Moreland Township; therefore, they are not eligible to participate in school district courses, programs, co-curricular activities, extra-curricular activities, or PIAA activities.'"
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headline: Waterford Rejects Proposal For Home-Schooled Children
The Day Publishing Company, New London, Connecticut, By Patricia Daddona, November 10
http://www.theday.com
"The Board of Education adopted a revised policy manual Thursday, but rejected one member's request for a provision that would have allowed home-schooled children to enroll part-time in local schools. School board member Raymond W. Hasse Jr. had sent a written proposal to the school board's policy committee that would have added so-called ,partial enrollment0/00 to the policy on home schooling. Partial enrollment would have allowed home-schooled children to join the orchestra or use a school library even though their parents are educating them at home."
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Schools Want Homeschoolers
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headline: 380 Students Getting Vouchers for Home-schooling
Palm Beach Post, By Kimberly Miller and S.V. Date, November 06
http://www.palmbeachpost.com
"Hundreds of Florida students are using more than $2.3 million in tax-supported vouchers to get home-schooling or attend part-time private schools -- something state lawmakers insist they never intended. Parents don't normally get state money to teach their children at home, but at least 380 students are receiving one of two types of vouchers to be home-schooled full- or part-time, according to a Palm Beach Post analysis. And because lawmakers in 2002 opened up the state's corporate voucher program to some students who have never gone to a public school, thousands more children who are being home-schooled could get vouchers as well, potentially costing the state tens of millions of dollars."
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headline: Pilot Program Caters to Home-schooled Kids
RockyMountainNews.com, By Associated Press, November 10
http://rockymountainnews.com
"A new Poudre School District program has found a way to bring home-schooled students - and their tax dollars - back into the classroom for a couple of afternoons a week.
Home-schooled students attend classes such as art, science and music two afternoons a week at The Home School Hub pilot program at Riffenburgh Elementary School. It's a program that both public and home- school parents say they appreciate."
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Final Words
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Always keep me in mind as you find and make the news. Thanks to all who contributed to this and past issues.
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HEM News & Commentary is a weekly report on what's happening in the world of homeschooling. Gleanings from the news media, accolades and pans, hot discussions, legal and legislative successes and problems - all are fair game, and gathered in one column for your convenience.
And just in case you don't have the time to read every word in print, we will summarize and discuss key news and trends that we think are the most provocative or that may have the greatest impact on the future of homeschooling.
This service is available free. Archives can be accessed at
http://www.homeedmag.com/nc/newscommentary.html
The weekly updates will be announced on HEM's discussion lists. You'll find a print version - the highlights of these reports - in a column by the same name in Home Education Magazine.
Your opinions and feedback are always welcome. Contact me.
Ann Lahrson-Fisher
HEM News & Commentary
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