"Waiting for Superman" linked this article on FB re: hsing...

[1pageatatime]

Good grief......

[Dmmetler]

I'll put my homeschool up against any school in my local district, even the Blue ribbon award winning ones-there aren't many public schools out there that have 100% of their students qualifying for talent search. And that's on Nationally normed standardized tests. Given the reputation of Arkansas schools, I think they have more to worry about than whether homeschoolers are doing the correct number of instructional minutes.

[Ruby Rose]

I don't need the government overseeing any part of my parenting or educating of my children. I don't believe I have to do it the state's way to be doing it right!

[Belacqua]

I don't need the government overseeing any part of my parenting or educating of my children. I don't believe I have to do it the state's way to be doing it right!

 

But the professor says if we're doing it right, we should welcome oversight! And he's a professor. He knows things! :glare:

[Chris in VA]

Too bad they didn't like this one!

Quinn Cummings

[Excelsior! Academy]

But the professor says if we're doing it right, we should welcome oversight! And he's a professor. He knows things! :glare:

 

:iagree::lol::lol::lol:

[Excelsior! Academy]

But I want to be forced to teach to the test, too! It's not fair the schools are the only ones who get to do it. ;)

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[mlbuchina]

He notes, “A homeschooling family that is doing its job should have no fear of outside evaluation—should welcome it, in fact, as it will demonstrate to the public at large how effective homeschooling can be.â€

 

You know. Just like you should have no problem with the government coming into your home and searching through it if you have done nothing wrong.

 

:glare:

[Cricket]

“A homeschooling family that is doing its job should have no fear of outside evaluation—should welcome it, in fact, as it will demonstrate to the public at large how effective homeschooling can be.”

 

My job as a homeschooling parent is to educate my children, not convince the public that I'm doing a good job or convince others to homeschool too.

[Bang!Zoom!]

Is it just me and a mood today, or is there some kind of irony in the phrase of "public at large" -

 

I think the brilliance of that demographic concerning the particulars is pretty annoying and short-sighted. Not logical at all.

 

Fail.

[1pageatatime]

But the professor says if we're doing it right, we should welcome oversight! And he's a professor. He knows things! :glare:

 

:D

[dangermom]

But the professor says if we're doing it right, we should welcome oversight! And he's a professor. He knows things! :glare:

 

I think they kind of cherry-picked that comment. Gaither is sympathetic to homeschoolers and frequently critiques academic and legal writing about us. He just started a new website.

 

Here is a quotation from his latest blog post (this is the personal blog but does the same thing as the website):

Their second point is that homeschooling parents (and any other citizen who has not received adequate professional training) are presumed incompetent to teach unless they prove otherwise. Here I speak with trepidation, because I’m about to use parens patriae to argue against somebody who knows more about parens patriae than probably anyone else in the country. But here goes. As I understand it, parents under the parens patriae doctrine are presumed competent unless proven otherwise. That’s why parents don’t have to prove that they won’t abuse their children or prove that they will feed them. The presumption is that the vast majority of parents will do just fine, and the state will only need to step in if a parent is grossly derelict or incompetent in performing parental duties. Following this logic, it seems to me that Curren and Blokhuis have reversed the burden of proof. I would argue that parents should be presumed competent to teach unless shown otherwise.

Edited September 15, 2012 by dangermom

[Harriet Vane]

You know. Just like you should have no problem with the government coming into your home and searching through it if you have done nothing wrong.

 

:glare:

 

:iagree:

[Mommy22alyns]

“A homeschooling family that is doing its job should have no fear of outside evaluation—should welcome it, in fact, as it will demonstrate to the public at large how effective homeschooling can be.â€

 

My job as a homeschooling parent is to educate my children, not convince the public that I'm doing a good job or convince others to homeschool too.

 

Excellent point.

[Mergath]

What I want to know is, how the heck do you drop out of homeschooling? They keep talking about all these kids dropping out of homeschooling... Did the kids just wake up one morning and say, "No math today mom, I'm dropping out."

[mirth]

 

 

"

An associate professor of education at Messiah College in Grantham, PA, Milton Gaither has done extensive research on homeschooling and authored the book, Homeschool: An American History.

"

 

 

Anyone else feel the above sentence would've carried more weight had it simply read: "Milton Gaither has done extensive research on homeschooling and authored the book, Homeschool: An American History." ?

[stripe]

After reading the article about the 17yo who claims to only have eaten chicken nuggets since the age of 2, I am not sure if I trust this source....

[Crimson Wife]

What I want to know is, how the heck do you drop out of homeschooling? They keep talking about all these kids dropping out of homeschooling... Did the kids just wake up one morning and say, "No math today mom, I'm dropping out."

 

I'd be willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of the HS attrition was due to parents putting their kids back into a B&M school. Just like there are folks who pull their kids from a B&M school mid-year in order to HS, there are folks who bail on HS mid-year and enroll them in a B&M school.

 

I don't know if Arkansas has "virtual charters" but kids coming off the waiting lists at those could also account for a certain percentage of HS attrition.

[Bang!Zoom!]

I'm going to point to an old article (2010) I somehow landed on from looking around from this.

 

Boy, it's a doozy. Bored? Read. Have a life? Skip.

 

http://www.nheri.org/research/nheri-news/the-harms-of-homeschooling-where-are-the-premises.html

[stripe]

I'm going to point to an old article (2010) I somehow landed on from looking around from this.

 

Boy, it's a doozy. Bored? Read. Have a life? Skip.

 

http://www.nheri.org/research/nheri-news/the-harms-of-homeschooling-where-are-the-premises.html

 

Wow.

 

http://www.razzed.com/2009/12/22/the-harms-of-homeschooling-a-retort/ is an amusing retort as well.

 

I am most astonished by the argument about love. That strikes me as the most breathtaking. But I have to wonder, isn't the love of the school/teacher condtional on several points:

* member of the school - and isn't this implied by all forms of school rivalry?

* member of the class

* to some degree, the teacher's opinion of the student?

 

And most interestingly, aren't schools able to reject students through explusion? Given that there were about 3 million suspensions and nearly 100,000 expulsions in American schools in 2000, affecting about 1 in 14 students, one of a twelve year old for doodling on her desk, not to mention a 7.4% overall high school drop out rate in 2010 (plus 33 violent deaths at school nationwide), more students afraid of violence IN school than out of it, coupled with the 7% of teachers who had been threatened with physical violence (down from 12%!) and 4% who were assaulted (source), are we to conclude either that a) a large number of students are experiencing a satisfying non-parental relationship with their teacher/school OR b) the non-loving relationship is ultimately beneficial to either the student or the teacher?

 

How many homeschooled children are abusing their parents? How many families are split apart by homeschooling, ultimately resulting in divorce of parents, disowning or otherwise abandoning the child, and childhood emancipation, I would like to know?

Edited September 16, 2012 by stripe

[snowbeltmom]

What I want to know is, how the heck do you drop out of homeschooling? They keep talking about all these kids dropping out of homeschooling... Did the kids just wake up one morning and say, "No math today mom, I'm dropping out."

 

I wondered the same thing.:confused: The article states that Arkansas does not require homeschoolers to keep attendance records. I wonder if the reporter is confused on the legal definition of homeschooling and is instead referring to the kids who drop out of an online program run by the state?

 

This quote is from the article:

Last year, Arkansas went from 17,500 homeschooled students at the start of the school year to about 16,400 by year’s end. It’s unclear whether the missing students enrolled in public or private schools or simply dropped out of the homeschool education program.

[sagira]

“A homeschooling family that is doing its job should have no fear of outside evaluation—should welcome it, in fact, as it will demonstrate to the public at large how effective homeschooling can be.â€

 

My job as a homeschooling parent is to educate my children, not convince the public that I'm doing a good job or convince others to homeschool too.

 

:iagree: Ugh. We shouldn't have anything to prove. We have a right not to become poster families. And of course he makes it sound so reasonable :001_rolleyes:

 

I hate it when abusive parents who forcibly keep their children at home hide under the guise of homeschooling. It ruins it for all of us :mad:

[chepyl]

What I want to know is, how the heck do you drop out of homeschooling? They keep talking about all these kids dropping out of homeschooling... Did the kids just wake up one morning and say, "No math today mom, I'm dropping out."

 

I read it as talking about a virtual charter, ps online program; not general homeschooling. but

[2_girls_mommy]

What I want to know is, how the heck do you drop out of homeschooling? They keep talking about all these kids dropping out of homeschooling... Did the kids just wake up one morning and say, "No math today mom, I'm dropping out."

 

 

I think they are talking about kids that dropped out of public school at home programs to actually homeschool. The government schools try to call those home schooling. So when a family "drops out" out of one of these programs for truly homeschooling, they consider them a drop out, and they can no longer monitor them.

[Amber in SJ]

On the bright side, the accompanying picture is nice.

 

Both the mom & child look enthusiastic about what they are doing and there is not a denim jumper in sight.

 

I am meh about the article, but the picture gets a thumbs up from me ;)

 

Amber in SJ

[Rhonda in TX]

You know. Just like you should have no problem with the government coming into your home and searching through it if you have done nothing wrong.

 

:glare:

 

The scary thing is, some people would agree with that statement as well.

[snowbeltmom]

On the bright side, the accompanying picture is nice.

 

Both the mom & child look enthusiastic about what they are doing and there is not a denim jumper in sight.

 

I am meh about the article, but the picture gets a thumbs up from me ;)

 

Amber in SJ

 

:iagree:

 

No pajamas in sight either, which certainly would not be the case some days at my house.

[Mergath]

I think they are talking about kids that dropped out of public school at home programs to actually homeschool. The government schools try to call those home schooling. So when a family "drops out" out of one of these programs for truly homeschooling, they consider them a drop out, and they can no longer monitor them.

 

So when a child who is technically a ps student drops out to actually homeschool, that makes them hs dropouts? My brain hurts. :tongue_smilie:

[Spy Car]

What I want to know is, how the heck do you drop out of homeschooling? They keep talking about all these kids dropping out of homeschooling... Did the kids just wake up one morning and say, "No math today mom, I'm dropping out."

 

Yea, pretty much. Y'all think there aren't "homeschoolers" who do squat all day?

 

It is a drag that the irresponsible mess things up for everyone else, but that's the way it is on every level of human action. Society has an interest in making sure children are not victims of educational neglect. Conscientious parents should not have a problem with that IMO.

 

Bill

[MicheleinMN]

“A homeschooling family that is doing its job should have no fear of outside evaluation—should welcome it, in fact, as it will demonstrate to the public at large how effective homeschooling can be.â€

 

My job as a homeschooling parent is to educate my children, not convince the public that I'm doing a good job or convince others to homeschool too.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree: