Should parents be certified to homeschool their children?

[jmgconner]

That is the question Costco is asking this month in their member magazine. You can view the magazine online here. Click on the August issue and go to Contents, Debate on page 16.

 

I found the "yes" comments from members quite entertaining. My favorite is from PJ Berg of Eagle, CO.

Society is struggling to find educated, well-rounded people to employ.

:confused: Ummm, aren't most members of society public school alums?

 

The comments from Charles Sherman of Fox Point, WI and the "expert" Marty Hittelman infuriate me.

A child needs to be taught by a professional.

and

A homeschool teacher may be a natural teacher but lack necessary training and supervision.

Just wondering, according to these two, what the cut-off should be. It's okay to teach your child to walk, talk, say their ABCs and count to 5, but numbers 6 and above - you need a professional? :confused: :tongue_smilie: These are precisely the kind of comments and attitudes that will take away our rights as parents. Next thing you know, we won't be fit to teach them to count to 5 - that will be reserved for the professional daycares!

 

Okay, I just had to get all that out there. So, anyway, back to the article. You can submit your vote and/or email in some comments. I'd love to hear what some of the hive has to say!

[swellmomma]

Well I am certifiable. Is that close enough?

[lovemyboys]

That is the question Costco is asking this month in their member magazine. You can view the magazine online here. Click on the August issue and go to Contents, Debate on page 16.

 

I found the "yes" comments from members quite entertaining. My favorite is from PJ Berg of Eagle, CO. :confused: Ummm, aren't most members of society public school alums?

 

The comments from Charles Sherman of Fox Point, WI and the "expert" Marty Hittelman infuriate me. and Just wondering, according to these two, what the cut-off should be. It's okay to teach your child to walk, talk, say their ABCs and count to 5, but numbers 6 and above - you need a professional? :confused: :tongue_smilie: These are precisely the kind of comments and attitudes that will take away our rights as parents. Next thing you know, we won't be fit to teach them to count to 5 - that will be reserved for the professional daycares!

 

Okay, I just had to get all that out there. So, anyway, back to the article. You can submit your vote and/or email in some comments. I'd love to hear what some of the hive has to say!

 

Are they just trying to put cookies on our email so they can gather data? Are they planning a mass mailing for new members? Why would they even start a poll like that?

[jmgconner]

Are they just trying to put cookies on our email so they can gather data? Are they planning a mass mailing for new members? Why would they even start a poll like that?

 

They have a debate section in every issue with the opportunity to vote. Last time it was "Do politics have a place at the Olympics?" - so they don't shy away from some of the bigger issues. My guess is that it popped up this month because of the CA ruling.

[jmgconner]

Well I am certifiable. Is that close enough?

 

:lol:

[Jennifer3141]

I wish their polls would have mroe to do with their own company. I'd like to email that I've never been able to get questions answered about several of their products by people who have probably been public schooled.

 

Jen

[PinkTulip]

I saw this poll, too, and was coming here to post about it. I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of the later article in the magazine promoting Christopher Paolini's third book of his series, the one that he started writing for a homeschool project! (Although the article was quick to point out that he graduated from an accredited distance-learning program.) However, Christopher Paolini points out how it was the flexibility of homeschooling that allowed him the time to write his first book, as well as his family being able to self-publish and promote it before being picked up by a major publisher.

[Mekanamom]

Yep, I just got the print version in the mail... later on in the magazine, they have an interview with Christopher Paolini, mentioning his success as an author AND the fact that he was homeschooled... (they used the term "accredited distance learning school" as well as "homeschool")

 

Interesting volume this month!

[elegantlion]

I am professional parent. :001_smile: Can I get the same salary as a professional sportsperson? My contract is good for another 8 years in the homeschooling field.

 

I became certified the first time I heard my son's heartbeat. Dh and I were so scared we didn't know how to be parents, but I took it on as a lifelong goal to be the best one I knew how. That does not stop with his education.

[Nestof3]

Oh, that person meant to leave it to these professionals? Obviously, there's no crisis AND this article must be a joke:

 

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/53-schools-south-hampton-roads-fail-federal-standards

[Tess in the Burbs]

my kids would go to the schools in Suffolk, VA. and all three schools they would move through did not pass. :-(

 

another reason to be home!

[Tracey in TX]

Maybe a certification for homeschool would be a reasonable solution. Address major subjects such as math, reading and writing to verify basic knowledge. I don't believe it's necessary as most parents work hard to conquer their weak academic areas to teach their children. We have licenses and certifications for everything except parenting! (Just imagine that. LOL) Education levels have little to do with how well a person is able to teach. Really. It's a desire to reach the child/ren and work to help them understand the given concepts and the love of knowledge.

Certification or not, it's really not relevant. It is merely a way to check off another box to placate those who don't think homeschool is the best choice for other people's children.

[Rosie_0801]

From what my hubby told me, most teacher training is crowd control. If you have a small family, that isn't relevent. If you have a large family, you've probably got a good handle on that before they even reach school age!

Everyone who has been to school has suffered through a couple of really lousy school teachers. That should be enough proof that a teaching certificate can not equip complete doofuses to teach, even if they do know their subject matter. My dh wasn't even officially marked on his teaching rounds, only on his essays. So, we can conclude that these anti-homeschoolers know next to nothing about homeschooling, and next to nothing about teacher certification. I think all respondents to that survey should have to undertake a weekend intensive course before being allowed to fill in the survey form!!

:)

Rosie

[riada]

I wouldn't mind so much if it were merely to have a basic understanding of subjects. Having to undergo an internship with another teacher for 6wks. to 6mos. (depending on where you are at and what you are going for) is ridiculous to me. That time is merely for classroom management, something we don't have to deal with. We don't need training for our own children. As home educators we have many more means of getting our children to follow rules and do their work, lol.

 

I agree with those that posted that this is another way for us to be regulated. When our statistics prove we are doing a good job I don't know why they feel the need to change what we do.:glare:

[Kalypso]

I read this article yesterday and was bothered by the following statements made by the "expert in the field", Marty Hittleman, who is the president of the California Federation of Teachers.

 

"We believe the best education comes about when parents are involved in their children's public school education. We'd prefer that home-schooling parents work with their local public schools so that all students are assured of a standards based education."

 

I just wonder when some of the "experts" are going to open their eyes to the successes of homeschooling.

[sdWTMer]

Absolutely not!

[Mama Lynx]

"We believe the best education comes about when parents are involved in their children's public school education. We'd prefer that home-schooling parents work with their local public schools so that all students are assured of a standards based education."

 

 

 

Oh, good! Are they willing to work to *my* standards? No? Oh. That's a problem, see.

 

I'd prefer it if the local public schools would be willing to work with me to assure that my students are assured an education based on my standards.

[CLHCO]

Who is certifying the certified? What certifies them to decide what is certifiable? Some certifications are worthwhile. Others are just busywork to justify jobs.

 

There is a scientific body of knowledge one must prove for something like medicine but teaching is pretty abstract in this regard. There is already a minimum body of knowledge you need to pass the 12th grade so I assume this means you know the content you're 3rd grader will be learning. If not, then a diploma shouldn't have been issued and the state's "certifying" system broke down.

 

As for methods, they don't teach you methods because public school teachers don't generally get to decide. They teach whatever the school district says they should teach and it's best to not get them thinking on their own and disagreeing. I took a class in reading comprehension in college and learned there was a whole language/phonics debate when I started homeschooling. The same goes for styles and theories behind teaching mathematics. You just don't learn it in college unless you have a very unique professor or school.

 

Crowd control is best taught hand-on under someone with experience or by observation. This wouldn't apply to a homeschool.

 

What's left to make a professional a professional in this area?

[Mama Lynx]

From what my hubby told me, most teacher training is crowd control.

 

Gosh, no. In my classes, I also learned how to write a lesson plan, run an overhead projector, and be multiculturally sensitive.

 

Woo-hoo!

 

Oh, and ... we were all tested on the subject matter we were signing up to teach. You had to pass the subject test with a 70%.

[JenParrish]

Yeah, when I started homeschooling my son 3 years ago, my public school dance teacher sister in law informed me that she did not think I should be allowed to homeschool because she went to school to teach and I did not. She went to school to learn how to manage 25-30 kids at a time, I think I can handle mine without a Teaching Certificate.

[elegantlion]

Yes, you can label me an Educational Anarchist. I've got my facebook flair and t-shirt to prove it. :tongue_smilie:

[iquilt]

I am professional parent. :001_smile: Can I get the same salary as a professional sportsperson? My contract is good for another 8 years in the homeschooling field.

 

I became certified the first time I heard my son's heartbeat. Dh and I were so scared we didn't know how to be parents, but I took it on as a lifelong goal to be the best one I knew how. That does not stop with his education.

:iagree:

[iquilt]

Oh, that person meant to leave it to these professionals? Obviously, there's no crisis AND this article must be a joke:

 

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/53-schools-south-hampton-roads-fail-federal-standards

 

Wow, I missed that article somehow - thanks for the link! My local school is on the list of failed schools :ack2:

[anissarobert]

Thanks for the link. We are not currently Costco members so we missed this.

 

When the college professor talked about homeschoolers meeting state standards, I wanted to ask if his students could meet my standards.

 

My high school student has to participate in the Congressional Medal Program, take 4 years of science and math, and take 4 years of Latin and two years of Greek. How do his standards compare?

[teamturner]

I read this article yesterday and was bothered by the following statements made by the "expert in the field", Marty Hittleman, who is the president of the California Federation of Teachers.

 

"We believe the best education comes about when parents are involved in their children's public school education. We'd prefer that home-schooling parents work with their local public schools so that all students are assured of a standards based education."

 

 

 

This part I bolded really bothers me. Are these "experts" bothered because we perhaps (some of us) teach from the Bible (or other religious class) and are somehow neglecting subjects like Math? I don't think the average "expert" realizes the number and variety of subjects we teach. Or that we are not excluding the standard subjects and just sitting around learning Bible verses all day. Or that we have the unique ability to asess very quickly if our student is understanding the material or not. :glare:

[cathmom]

Many private school teachers are not certified. Also, some charter school teachers are not. I am not certified and taught Spanish in a charter school last year. I got many compliments on what I did with my class however.

[JudyJudyJudy]

I am a certified teacher. I am currently certified in middle school math, science, language arts, and social studies, and I taught high school math out of field one year (before NCLB). I will start by saying that I disagree with those who seem to be saying or implying that education majors essentially learn nothing but crowd control in college. We learned much more than that. We took courses in education including those related to methods, lesson planning, psychology, special education, etc., and we had to show that we could work with students on various levels. In addition to that, especially for middle school and high school education majors, we had to take many courses in our major subject area(s). In order to become certified, we had to pass a test in each of our subject areas. In my case, I also had to go through another long, drawn-out assessment during my first year of teaching (this was in GA and is no longer done here). The list goes on and on.

 

Having said all that, I strongly oppose any type of certification for parents who are homeschooling their children. Homeschooling and teaching in a classroom are in no way comparable. There are so many things that I had to be able to do as a public school teacher that I don't have to do now. For example, I don't have to know how to plan to ensure that 28 children stay busy and out of trouble for 75 minutes. I can plan and instruct individually. If my child is finished with his lessons for the day, I don't have to figure out what to do for the next 15 minutes.

 

With homeschooling, I don't have to worry about the various personalities in the class and who will be fighting with whom that day. I don't have to worry about bullying or who might have brought a weapon to school. I don't have to worry about what child is being abused at home or how much sleep the child got the night before. I don't have to worry about covering standards for a whole group of people; I can go as quickly or as slowly as I need to go. I don't have to know how to write a lesson plan to please someone up above or how to interact with other teachers and administrators unless I choose to do so. I don't have to worry about pleasing other parents and how to deal with them if they're not pleased. These, and many more, are things that most teachers do need to know.

 

As a teacher if I needed to cover a topic that I wasn't very strong in, I brushed up on it before teaching it. I do the same as a homeschooler. In my experience, the majority of homeschoolers care enough about their children's educations that they'll either learn ahead of or right along with their children, or they'll pay someone who can teach a certain subject for them. I do realize that there are some parents who don't fulfill their duties as homeschoolers, but I also know that not all certified teachers do all that they should, either. Basically, there are no guarantees in public school, so it certainly makes no sense to make homeschoolers abide by the same rules. Most importantly, though, I'm a huge believer in freedoms. I don't believe that homeschoolers in general should be subjected to some arbitrary rules simply because there are a handful of homeschoolers out there who might not be doing as they should.

 

As for the "standards based education," I am not impressed. Based on my experience, these so-called "higher standards" that we hear so much about simply mean throwing tidbits of information at students but not ever expecting mastery.

[Rosie_0801]

Gosh, no. In my classes, I also learned how to write a lesson plan, run an overhead projector, and be multiculturally sensitive.

Woo-hoo!

Oh, and ... we were all tested on the subject matter we were signing up to teach. You had to pass the subject test with a 70%.

 

Oh, I forgot. My hubby learned that music is an excellent teaching tool in classrooms, even deaf classrooms. He had to argue long and hard to convince the very enthusiastic lecturer that he really shouldn't have to do any assigments on that topic, because profoundly deaf kids really won't get much out of it.

 

All I can say to JudyJudyJudy is your course was WAY better than my dh's. I had read more about teaching methods that dh has ever done, and that was before I started researching homeschooling. He regrets that they never covered developmental stages in teens, now that he's teaching year 7s! But this will become a non issue since he's giving up teaching at the end of the year.

 

:)

Rosie

[JudyJudyJudy]

All I can say to JudyJudyJudy is your course was WAY better than my dh's. I had read more about teaching methods that dh has ever done, and that was before I started researching homeschooling. He regrets that they never covered developmental stages in teens, now that he's teaching year 7s! But this will become a non issue since he's giving up teaching at the end of the year.

 

:)

Rosie

That's awful. We covered all of that.

 

I had some really good college professors. I learned a great deal. Unfortunately, some of the information was great, but I didn't often have time to use it in the classroom once I became a teacher. For what it's worth, I attended a small private college.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I think that one of the huge differences between schools and homeschool is as follows-bear with me:

 

As parents we are the consumers "purchasing" our children's education. As tax payers we have a right to expect a certain output from the school system. As such, we have to have some way of assuring that the total strangers who teach our children are able to complete this task-hence certification. If we send our children to private schools we take on the same due diligence in deciding the quality of their product and the school finds methods of assuring that they meet our demands. As homeschoolers we are responsible for our own product, answerable to ourselves. If as parents we are satisfied with our product then we do not need the assurances we would expect of another "manufacturer." This is a type of liability situation-the state is (or should be) answerable for who is teaching and minding my children (who I am responsible for) out of my presence. If I am the one teaching and minding my children I shouldn't need certification to prove I am able. What is next-certification and approval before giving birth?

 

I suppose that is a cold analysis but it is one of the possibilities that explains the situation while taking into account parental rights.

[RoughCollie]

I pretty much agree with you. But I do think that children in the U.S. have the right to be educated and that their rights need to be taken into account, too.

 

Children have lots of rights, but the way our system is set up, the government doesn't stick their nose into whether those rights are being upheld unless something goes wrong.

 

The basic rights which parents should provide, IMO, are the rights to adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care and education.

 

The question is, IMO, whether you curtail the parental rights of many in order to protect the rights of a few homeschooled children who are not receiving the education they are due?

 

I don't think parental certification to homeschool is a good idea. First, there is no proof that it is needed. Second, who decides what the certification will be, and will it effectively address known problems? Third, I think individual cases should be handled on an individual basis because the homeschooling community as a whole is not having problems educating their children. Fourth, in my experience, homeschooled children are better educated than their public school counterparts. (I do realize that my experience does not prove that this holds true for the entire homeschooling community.) Fifth, a homeschool environment is entirely different from that of a public school and parents should not, IMO, replicate a PS in their homes -- including being forced to be certified to teach.

 

OTOH, I can tell from my research that a lot of public schools have trouble educating the children in their charge, and those children do have certified teachers. The problems do not always lie with the teachers, but certification is no guarantee that a teacher has the knowledge or ability to teach children.

 

RC

 

 

I suppose that is a cold analysis but it is one of the possibilities that explains the situation while taking into account parental rights.

[Nestof3]

I don't understand many of the comments. Perhaps they come from the fact that different states have different laws, but in Virginia, we are required to submit test scores for language arts and math annually. If my kids are testing in the top 10 percent each year (which they are), why on earth would I need to be certified?

[Gretchen in NJ]

I am professional parent. :001_smile: Can I get the same salary as a professional sportsperson? My contract is good for another 8 years in the homeschooling field.

 

I became certified the first time I heard my son's heartbeat. Dh and I were so scared we didn't know how to be parents, but I took it on as a lifelong goal to be the best one I knew how. That does not stop with his education.

Here! Here! You do have a way with words EL.:001_smile:

[JudyJudyJudy]

I don't understand many of the comments. Perhaps they come from the fact that different states have different laws, but in Virginia, we are required to submit test scores for language arts and math annually. If my kids are testing in the top 10 percent each year (which they are), why on earth would I need to be certified?

Yes, states differ. Some states have essentially no regulations for homeschooling. In Georgia we have to test every three years beginning in 3rd grade, but we don't have to give those test scores to anyone; we keep them for our own records in case anyone ever asks for them.

 

Regardless, as I stated earlier, I don't believe that homeschoolers need to be certified. Yes, I do know some homeschoolers who don't do what they should, but it isn't because they aren't capable. They just don't do it, just like some certified teachers don't do what they should.

[Sahamamama]

I actually found the article in the September issue. Here's the link:

 

http://www.costcoconnection.com/connection/200809/?u1=texterity

 

My favorite line is from Charles Sherman of Fox Point, Wisconsin, who quips, "As a teacher I have learned the difference between top-level and mediocre teaching." One wonders, Chuck, where did you, as a teacher, learn these lessons? Could you possibly have witnessed mediocre teaching in the public schools?

 

My second favorite line is from Ana Maria Gomez, who insightfully tells us that "certification ensures the student is equipped with the skills, tools, knowledge, resources and methods required for a quality education." Whew, catch your breath now. And we thought that certification ensured SOMETHING about the teachers, rather than the students, but I gotta hand it to you, Ana Maria, that was a mouthful....

 

Marty Hittleman, a Los Angeles community college math teacher and the "expert" from the California Federation of Teachers, does agree that "all parents have a right to be involved in the education of their own children, as they believe that best meets their needs." Uh, Marty? For some people, that means homeschooling.

 

Sigh. I'm done venting. For now. :glare: