Homeschooler Jamie Rhodes has her Viewpoint published:
Parents choose to homeschool for a variety of reasons by Jamie Rhodes.
This is in response to the editorial, article and letters calling for stricter homeschool guidelines and laws. There are many points of view, however the general theme seems to be that public institutions offer a place where children can be monitored for abuse. Where they will receive proper nutrition and guidance. Where they can make friends and be properly socialized.
In the Calista Springer trial, a basis for a lot of these claims, she was in public school for many years. The school reported the problems they saw. The state dropped the ball.
I am the parent of children with special needs. One of them has pervasive developmental disorder — not otherwise specified, the same diagnosis as Calista Springer. I know first-hand what it is like to parent a child like this.
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It hurts my heart what happened to Calista. I understand the difficulties her parents had in raising her. I also understand the extremes they went to were, in fact, abusive. However, confusing the lack of follow through from the state and how it failed to help Calista with the fact that she was homeschooled shouldn’t be taking place.
The tragic story of Calista Springer, on many levels, is similar to what is happening in the UK where authorities tried to blame homeschooling for the death of a child.
The issue is not going away, and with the likes of Michael Pearl’s teaching in our midst, we can be almost certain of it. Jamie Rhodes courageously presents a calm, reasoned response based on personal experience, and she should be applauded. We need more strong voices speaking up against child abuse.
Tags: Calista Springer, child abuse, children with special needs, homeschooling, Michael Pearl, public school, stricter homeschool laws
Psychology Today blogger, Laura Brodie, decided to give her daughter a break from the school routine:
Many lifelong homeschoolers will wince at the thought of short-term ventures. For them, homeschooling is a way of life, not a year off. The potential benefits of home education (strong family ties, increased academic achievement) develop gradually over time, and the first year of homeschooling can be especially hard-not an ideal sampling of the complete experience.
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When Julia and I embarked upon our year of homeschooling, I thought we were doing something strange and rare, and so I was surprised at all the families I met along the way who were trying, or had tried, similar experiments. Their reasons ranged from a desire to supplement a public school’s curriculum, to the need to escape a persistent bully. And then there were the families who simply wanted to enjoy more unhurried time between parent and child.
One of the beauties of homeschooling is that each family can define what it means, and how it looks for their family. The cliche applies – you see one homeschool, you’ve seen one homeschool.
Brodie’s blog, Love in a Time of Homeschooling (also the title to her book) can be read here.
Tags: homeschooling, Laura Brodie, Love in a Time of Homeschooling, reason to homeschool, short-term homeschooling
Homeschooling is distinct from a ‘parent-partner program’ described in, Vashon’s alternative education program offers families support. The difference is hard to tell from the article, except on this point:
Data on Vashon’s homeschooling population is hard to come by, in part because some homeschooling families who aren’t a part of FamilyLink aren’t documented and because parents aren’t asked to register their children as homeschoolers until they turn 8, Hanger said.
FamilyLink numbers, on the other hand, are readily available. The program grew explosively in its first few years, then leveled off, following the trend in parent-partner programs statewide.
With a Federal Secretary of Education who is big believer in data, and state Governors’ reform commitment to common standards, it will be a challenge to maintain autonomy for homeschooling.
Tags: alternative education program, homeschooling, homeschooling distinctiveness, public school programs, WA homeschooling
Writing on her blog, Tape Flags and First Thoughts, Su Penn explores, the nature of kids, school and us adult humans:
This morning I was thinking about a long note I wrote on Facebook a few months ago, about how we homeschool. When I posted it, I knew that there would be at least a couple of people who would not be able to resist posting a comment or sending me an e-mail about “this one homeschooling family they know” and how wrong and neglectful and abusive they are, and how terribly their kids are turning out, and this is why they just don’t support homeschooling. “I’m gonna de-friend anybody who writes me about that,” I said to myself. And I did. I de-friended two people who were guilty of the “this one homeschooling family I know” fallacy.
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This is not an anti-school rant, though. It’s about how quick people can be to blame homeschooling if something is going badly with your kids–or anybody’s kids. School is so widely accepted that individual kids’ problems with it are seen as just that: individual problems that ought to be addressed within the school system. But individual homeschooled kids’ problems are seen as a problem of homeschooling per se, and sometimes as an indictment of homeschooling altogether.
Worth the read: It’s Not the Homeschooling
http://tapeflags.blogspot.com/2010/03/its-not-homeschooling.html
Tags: homeschooling, indictment of homeschooling, nature of kids, schools and kids, Su Penn, Tape Flags and First Thoughts
From a homeschooling neighbor to the north comes a warning about corporate interests in education. Writing on agoravox.com he revisits an old post and puts current events into perspective:
“A very dark, very frightening corporate scheme is being carefully orchestrated around the world with the full and active support and cooperation of governments and public administrations.
“The inter-linked, multi-national corporations are slowly and surely brainwashing our children. And many of you – especially if you’re teachers or are involved in institutions administering to children – are helping.”
I wrote that five years ago.
I wrote it because I’m both the father of a young daughter and I see our children as our most precious resources, not demographics to be carefully ‘educated’ from an early age to consume, consume, consume.
Yesterday I posted an item centered on UK movie-maker and advertising executive David Puttnam who stated: “The concept of intellectual property and its value needs to be embedded inextricably into the school curriculum.”
Instead of being tarred and feathered and run out of town, he’s being lauded.
Jon Newton’s interest in corporate issues makes for much thought provoking writing. On his site he maintains a list of pieces under the ‘Kids and Kartels’ Category worth checking out.
Read his piece, Hey! Hollywood! Leave our kids alone!.
Tags: brainwashing our children, corporate scheme, corporations in eudcation, David Puttnam
