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Anti-Homeschooling Conference at Harvard


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I do enjoy the level of basic non-oversight I currently have with homeschooling where I live, but I can also understand and respect the need to protect children who may be abused under the guise of being homeschooled. So, I suppose it makes sense to me to have people get together to discuss it.

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14 minutes ago, Cosmic Ripple said:

I do enjoy the level of basic non-oversight I currently have with homeschooling where I live, but I can also understand and respect the need to protect children who may be abused under the guise of being homeschooled. So, I suppose it makes sense to me to have people get together to discuss it.

Except that these people believe that *all* homeschoolers will potentially abuse their children, and so all states must have draconian homeschooling laws. And they imagine that it's ok to require parents to prove they are capable of teaching their children instead of its being an accepted fact that parents have the right to, you know, be the parents and make choices for their children.

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7 minutes ago, Ellie said:

Except that these people believe that *all* homeschoolers will potentially abuse their children, and so all states must have draconian homeschooling laws. And they imagine that it's ok to require parents to prove they are capable of teaching their children instead of its being an accepted fact that parents have the right to, you know, be the parents and make choices for their children.


What do you think is a reasonable response to account for both of these populations?

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4 minutes ago, Cosmic Ripple said:


What would be a good way to protect the freedom to homeschool AND prevent those freedoms from being used to abuse (or cover up abuse of) children?

You could substitute the word "parent" for "homeschool" and ask the same thing.  Determined people still have their kids in public school or just don't school them at all (ie. not homeschooling) and still abuse and neglect children.  Homeschool populations aren't somehow more inclined to child abuse, though of course they aren't exempt.  That's where mandated a reporters come in:  doctors, clergy, outsourced teachers, even concerned neighbors (who aren't mandated but can of course report suspected abuse). 

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3 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

You could substitute the word "parent" for "homeschool" and ask the same thing.  Determined people still have their kids in public school or just don't school them at all (ie. not homeschooling) and still abuse and neglect children.  Homeschool populations aren't somehow more inclined to child abuse, though of course they aren't exempt.  That's where mandated a reporters come in:  doctors, clergy, outsourced teachers, even concerned neighbors (who aren't mandated but can of course report suspected abuse). 


Sure. Any number of things could be substituted here.


Is “no change” your proposed solution? Is “no oversight aside from mandated reporters” your proposed solution?

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11 minutes ago, Cosmic Ripple said:


Sure. Any number of things could be substituted here.


Is “no change” your proposed solution? Is “no oversight aside from mandated reporters” your proposed solution?

Yes because it isn't a huge problem.  No one is saying that kids shouldn't be public schooled because rates of abuse in public school kids are actually higher than that in the homeschool population.

https://www.nheri.org/child-abuse-of-public-school-private-school-and-homeschool-students-evidence-philosophy-and-reason/

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6 hours ago, Cosmic Ripple said:


What would be a good way to protect the freedom to homeschool AND prevent those freedoms from being used to abuse (or cover up abuse of) children?

If only there was some kind of proof that people do actually homeschool just so that they can abuse their children. But no. There is not. And so why should *all* parents who want to teach their children at home have to be approved by the government? And why not just go ahead and screen all adults of childbearing age to see if they're going to abuse their potential children?

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This is absolutely nothing new.  Robert Reich was pushing for tighter controls over homeschooling since the early 2000s.  Here is an article from 2009 by Robin West arguring for more controls with the same basic premise: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d852/d6f8429802f0b7fceffcd9ba41591e2791e0.pdf

Am I concerned now?  In terms of my concern compared to past yrs, yes.  Why?  Bc the academic success of homeschoolers in college demonstrated that parents could successfully be their children's primary teacher.  My concern is that too many of today's homeschoolers are not going to meet minimal academic standards. Very few homeschoolers take on the responsibility of role of primary teacher and instead see the outsourced teacher/video/online source as the primary teacher and that they do no hold that responsibility.  Many popular resources are subpar in quality and are not geared toward providing students a strong academic foundation.  

No apologies for my perspective.  I have been homeschooling for a long time and know how hard fought for the freedoms are that taken completely for granted today.  I have no respect for homeschoolers who do not actually take on the responsibility for teaching their kids and expect young children to teach themselves from a computer or workbooks, etc.

I have no idea whether or not states will start increasing regulations, but I do believe that universities will revert back to requiring more hoops for homeschool applicants.  I have started to see things go full circle.  More requirements, less requirements, and am starting to seem more requirements again.  I am not worried about my own kids bc I know the system and know what I need my kids to do to be competitive for college applications.  Not sure other families are going to be prepared for increased requirements and their students will face obstacles toward pursuing adult goals.

Edited by 8FillTheHeart
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9 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

No apologies for my perspective.  I have been homeschooling for a long time and know how hard fought for the freedoms are that taken completely for granted today.  I have no respect for homeschoolers who do not actually take on the responsibility for teaching their kids and expect young children to teach themselves from a computer or workbooks, etc.

I agree with every word of your post, but this part most especially.  

I think that homeschooling parents should be required to prove that they are capable of teaching at their student's level, and if they can't do this, they should have to show that they have specific plans to outsource appropriately (and by outsourcing appropriately, I do not mean handing the student a textbook or sitting them in front of a computer and telling them to "go for it"--and this includes teens, who, at a minimum, should have an actual human being that they can ask questions and discuss the material with on a regular basis).  States that enact this requirement should also require public schools to allow homeschoolers to enroll in any class they offer.

I realize that this is not going to be a popular opinion and that perhaps it is easy for me to think this way because I will be done homeschooling in June.  But my experience tells me that homeschooling properly is not trivial.  It is a full time job, and doing it properly means ensuring that our knowledge and skills are up to the task.  Homeschooling is a parenting decision, yes.  But first and foremost, it is an educational decision--and children have the right to have a human teacher that is competent and puts their education first.

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11 minutes ago, EKS said:

I agree with every word of your post, but this part most especially.  

I think that homeschooling parents should be required to prove that they are capable of teaching at their student's level, and if they can't do this, they should have to show that they have specific plans to outsource appropriately (and by outsourcing appropriately, I do not mean handing the student a textbook or sitting them in front of a computer and telling them to "go for it"--and this includes teens, who, at a minimum, should have an actual human being that they can ask questions and discuss the material with on a regular basis).  States that enact this requirement should also require public schools to allow homeschoolers to enroll in any class they offer.

I realize that this is not going to be a popular opinion and that perhaps it is easy for me to think this way because I will be done homeschooling in June.  But my experience tells me that homeschooling properly is not trivial.  It is a full time job, and doing it properly means ensuring that our knowledge and skills are up to the task.  Homeschooling is a parenting decision, yes.  But first and foremost, it is an educational decision--and children have the right to have a human teacher that is competent and puts their education first.

I disagree with the bolded. I do believe that parents committed to homeschooling can work with their students and work at academic levels higher than their own and without outsourcing.  (I know it is possible be I have done it numerous times now!  😉 )  Also, simply b/c a parent can prove they can teach at certain level does not ascertain that the parent will actually work with the student. Parents taking on the role of homeschool teacher need to be committed to teaching.  I don't believe there is an easy way to enforce it without high regulation (which I am absolutely opposed to.)

What I ardently wish is that subpar curriculum would stop being promoted by HOMESCHOOLERS as awesome and that minimal standards were understood as MINIMAL.  When subpar programs receive positive reviews on the WTM forums, it is a sad indication of the current state of homeschooling.  "Ignorance is bliss" equates to undermining the freedoms of all homeschoolers bc the lowest common denominator seems contagious as the "best" options out there.

 

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2 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

I disagree with the bolded. I do believe that parents committed to homeschooling can work with their students and work at academic levels higher than their own and without outsourcing.  (I know it is possible be I have done it numerous times now!  😉 )

I would say that neither you nor your children are the norm.

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1 minute ago, EKS said:

I would say that neither you nor your children are the norm.

I'm going to disagree with that, too.  It was the norm back when I first started homeschooling.  The often-mocked "parents sitting and learning alongside their children" model was common and successful.  This was back when there was no such thing as online classes (the internet was in its fetal stage.)  I never heard the word co-op.  We had support group meetings where we shared how we TAUGHT. It wasn't about the easiest to use resource.  Resources were limited.  Teaching was the prime objective.

I am incredibly thankful for the abundant resources we have today b/c they have been a huge benefit for our learning experiences.  But, unfortunately, resources have been misused leaving students without human interaction/teaching.

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5 minutes ago, Plum said:

Perhaps homeschooling curriculum needs a Cathy Duffy style review of quality and educational value. There’s so many options out there, it’s overwhelming. Perhaps curriculum should get a stamp of approval from some homeschool standard committee to make it easier to sort through. 

At the same time we have to understand that there are people that don’t have competitive college as a goal and believe there is more to education than college prep courses. Teaching to each student’s level could mean Algebra I is as high as they go and while we may not like it, we have to be ok with that. 

I am not talking about even competitive colleges.  UAH is not a competitive school and it increased its homeschooling applicant requirements this yr.  It had never required course descriptions from homeschoolers before.  This yr it did.  That is telling in that it demonstrates that they must have accepted homeschoolers who are not thriving on their campus due to the quality of coursework they were completing.

In terms of the bolded, I have never lived in a state where that would be a legal level for issuing a high school diploma unless a student was disabled and not receiving anything more than a high school certificate vs. a diploma.  I absolutely believe that homeschoolers should be expected to meet the same academic minimums in order to receive a diploma.  Perhaps you live in a state where alg 1 qualifies as a high school graduate level, but the vast majority of states (based on the many we have lived in) require alg 1, geo, alg 2, and at least 1 math beyond alg 2.

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10 minutes ago, Plum said:

Ugh typing on my ancient iPad. It skips around sometimes. I meant Algebra II. There's a lot of kids that aren't built for calculus at that age and are being pressured into it.

FTR Our state has multiple diploma options. With End of Course exam requirements, I believe they need 3 credits in math and Geometry is the highest they have to go to get the standard diploma. 

I don't have any problem with students meeting state graduation requirements.  I do not believe that all students need to take calculus in high school.  Where alg 2 as a goal is something that is totally unrealistic is when the parent then goes on to say the student wants to be a STEM major.

I don't believe all students need to be college bound.  My objection is to the premise that using subpar program x is a college bound program and meets the needs of any type of student, blah, blah, blah. 

I equally object to the even more dominant premise that "parents cannot possibly be their students' teacher, therefore you should use our fabulous program to teach your kids bc we are better than you."

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3 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

I'm going to disagree with that, too.  It was the norm back when I first started homeschooling.  The often-mocked "parents sitting and learning alongside their children" model was common and successful. 

I think that learning alongside children works well until it doesn't.  As an adult it is much easier to grasp early elementary material on the fly to the degree necessary to guide a young child, but as the material gets harder, the learning alongside model becomes less and less feasible.  That said, I think that learning alongside is far preferable to farming the job out to a substandard program designed for "independent" learning.  

And I agree with you that it's not obvious how you would go about regulating the competence of homeschooling parents.  The best way would be through a cultural shift, but I don't think that's likely to happen anytime soon.

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1 hour ago, EKS said:

I think that learning alongside children works well until it doesn't.  As an adult it is much easier to grasp early elementary material on the fly to the degree necessary to guide a young child, but as the material gets harder, the learning alongside model becomes less and less feasible. 

I can only share that for us it has been a successful model.  It isn't even necessarily me learning alongside them as much as my being alongside them as they learn.  My kids have gotten to much higher levels in most subjects than I am capable of achieving or have the time to achieve.  They have conversations with me (I know how to use their resources to ask the right kinds of questions that force them to know the material to answer); they review assignment answers with me; they write research papers on topics, etc.  My presence is the common factor.  My ensuring that our resources are good quality and match their abilities and my determining appropriate pacing and assignments matter.  

I do not believe that parents need to be experts in content to provide solid classes in subjects.  I have done it over and over and over.  I don't know Latin, physics, math beyond the first part of alg 2, biology, etc.  My kids have all graduated from high school at advanced levels.  It does work.  It requires knowing how to interact with resources and the student and teaching your student how to learn from resources.  You can find answers to most questions that you don't know the answer to with research.  I have taught my kids to learn how to learn, how to educate themselves in what they need to know.  FWIW, it makes them great students at the collegiate level bc they don't have to have a professor spell out every single detail in class bc they know how to learn material on their own.  When their fellow classmates struggle bc the professor hasn't explained a concept clearly enough, my kids read and figure it out on their own and move on. 

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16 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

It does work.

Of course it does.   

The problem is when it doesn't.  And there can be many reasons things break down.  For example, certain types of students are far easier to teach than others.  If you have one that has trouble learning, and you have also gotten to the point in a subject where you need to learn ahead in order to meet that student's needs--well, you're either going to need to step up your own learning or outsource.

The homeschooling community does its members a disservice when it promotes the idea that you don't have to know anything, that it's easy to learn alongside your child, and that its better for students (even high school students) to learn "independently."

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48 minutes ago, EKS said:

Of course it does.   

The problem is when it doesn't.  And there can be many reasons things break down.  For example, certain types of students are far easier to teach than others.  If you have one that has trouble learning, and you have also gotten to the point in a subject where you need to learn ahead in order to meet that student's needs--well, you're either going to need to step up your own learning or outsource.

The homeschooling community does its members a disservice when it promotes the idea that you don't have to know anything, that it's easy to learn alongside your child, and that its better for students (even high school students) to learn "independently."

I am not promoting that you don't need to know anything or that it is easy to learn alongside your child.  I believe both are false.  I believe it takes being committed and requires diligent interaction with your student.  But, no, I do not believe you need to be an expert to work with your students on high school level materials.  It does require being able to understand the work that your student is doing.  Those 2 are not synonymous.  I can understand what my kids are doing without having to be able to do it myself.  I can know enough about declensions to work with them through their text with the answers in front of me without know how to do the declensions without the text.  I can work through math problems with the solution manual and understand what the steps they are supposed to be doing without my being able to solve the problem without the solution manual.  It is a different level of understanding.  I expect my kids to master concepts that I myself have not mastered but can follow.

No one will convince me otherwise.  I have done it for 6 students now and know many, many families from my past who have adult children (30+ yrs old, now) who exceeded the academic level of their parents during high school in a similar manner (and back when the available resources were far less than now).

What you can't do is hand them a book and walk away and expect them to master content without any interaction or accountability.

Edited by 8FillTheHeart
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13 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

I am not promoting that you don't need to know anything or that it is easy to learn alongside your child.  I believe both are false.  I believe it takes being committed and requires diligent interaction with your student.  But, no, I do not believe you need to be an expert to work with your students on high school level materials.  It does require being able to understand the work that your student is doing.  Those 2 are not synomous.  I can understand what my kids are doing without having to be able to do it myself.  I can know enough about declensions to work with them through their text with the answers in front of me without know how to do the declensions without the text.  I can work through math problems with the solution manual and understand what the steps they are supposed to be doing without my being able to solve the problem without the solution manual.  It is a different level of understanding.  I expect my kids to master concepts that I myself have not mastered but can follow.

No one will convince me otherwise.  I have done it for 6 students now and know many, many families from my past who have adult children (30+ yrs old, now) who exceeded the academic level of their parents during high school in a similar manner (and back when the available resources were far less than now).

What you can't do is hand them a book and walk away and expect them to master content without any interaction or accountability.

I agree with all of this.  (And please know that I wasn't suggesting that you believe the homeschooling myths that I listed above.)

But I also think that there are a lot of homeschooling parents out there who are not doing what you're doing--even those with the best of intentions.  I've seen it in my own community, and I see signs of it on here all the time.

I'm not sure how you fix that.  Upthread I suggested increased regulation, but I'm not sure what it would look like nor am I at all sure it would have the intended effect.  

Edited by EKS
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I feel a little mean snickering about the idea of somebody sitting down to plan an anti-homeschooling conference *while* brick and mortar schools around the world are closed and my child is one of the fortunate few happily carrying on with math, history, etc., as usual... but yes, I am snickering.

It's like having an event about how bad home cooking is and how food preparation should be limited to inspected kitchens. Okay, it would be great if more people were really good at cooking, but compulsory restaurant meals are not a solution--especially while the restaurants are closed.

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1 hour ago, EKS said:

I agree with all of this.  (And please know that I wasn't suggesting that you believe the homeschooling myths that I listed above.)

But I also think that there are a lot of homeschooling parents out there who are not doing what you're doing--even those with the best of intentions.  I've seen it in my own community, and I see signs of it on here all the time.

I'm not sure how you fix that.  Upthread I suggested increased regulation, but I'm not sure what it would look like nor am I at all sure it would have the intended effect.  

The problem, the fallacy in my opinion, is that I have zero faith in increased regulation from a government department having any real effect on inspiring excellence in homeschool parents. It's just such a completely different worldview that we may as well be speaking different languages. To take whitehawk's restaurant analogy, a chef giving me tips on how to run an efficient kitchen and plate artistically is close to useless for helping me serve food for my family every day. Sure, I might pick up some hints here and there, but it is a different sphere of relevance and not actually as helpful as say, my non-professional mother in law taking the time to teach me old family recipes.

To really labour the metaphor 😄, I try to be like the good mother in law in my homeschool groups. Give helpful and encouraging ideas (not just a list of curriculum), come alongside with some support and experience. Ultimately, each family has to own & manage their own homeschool experience. And eventually, each homeschooled kid has to own their own education.

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One little change that I would like to see in my state would be that when we register, which is just filling out an online form that no one ever looks at, I'd like it to auto-send a letter and worksheet to home schooling parents. Something like a list of the main standards expected of public schoolers at each grade and a letter explaining that home schooling doesn't have to follow those standards, but it's a good idea to look at your child's abilities and set objectives for the year. Then, have a form where parents can write in what their objectives for the year are and how they will evaluate this. Filling this out would not be mandatory, and they wouldn't be turned in anywhere. It would just be there to show an example of standards and invite parents to think long-term. A few years ago I would have scoffed at this suggestion, but one of the big questions I see asked locally is "what should I teach? What are they supposed to know?" 

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2 hours ago, xahm said:

One little change that I would like to see in my state would be that when we register, which is just filling out an online form that no one ever looks at, I'd like it to auto-send a letter and worksheet to home schooling parents. Something like a list of the main standards expected of public schoolers at each grade and a letter explaining that home schooling doesn't have to follow those standards, but it's a good idea to look at your child's abilities and set objectives for the year. Then, have a form where parents can write in what their objectives for the year are and how they will evaluate this. Filling this out would not be mandatory, and they wouldn't be turned in anywhere. It would just be there to show an example of standards and invite parents to think long-term. A few years ago I would have scoffed at this suggestion, but one of the big questions I see asked locally is "what should I teach? What are they supposed to know?" 

Huh. So, parents wouldn't think to do anything like that unless the government told them that they should?

I'd rather have parents asking those questions on homeschooling forums and social media and support group meetings and park days than to have the government do it (more than individual state laws already do).

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8, my experience mirrors yours.  And since I've successfully graduated two (and you have graduated five) we have some experience to back us up.  You absolutely can teach kids to learn alongside you or to move ahead on their own.  And I've found that doing that has made a huge difference once they hit university.  Will it work for every single student?  I don't know.  But it has worked for my two who couldn't be more different than each other.  Though I do have to say that the one thing that they share is a love of learning (which fortunately was not killed in our many years studying together) and are self motivated. 

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10 hours ago, Ellie said:

Huh. So, parents wouldn't think to do anything like that unless the government told them that they should?

I'd rather have parents asking those questions on homeschooling forums and social media and support group meetings and park days than to have the government do it (more than individual state laws already do).

Many do, some don't. If this were out there, parents would have better, more informed, questions to ask each other. Instead of "what do I teach my kid?" which is simply too giant of a question for park day (and yet gets asked frequently), they can have looked at the list ahead of time so they can ask things like, "I notice that teaching capitalization happens every year in public elementary school. Do you think that much repetition helps your kid, or can you teach it once and be done?" Sure, they could also get this from looking in a book and we have books that cover that information in our public library. There are plenty of people who don't realize this, though, and have trouble sifting through the mountains of information on the internet to figure out what is gold and what is chicken scratch. 

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3 hours ago, xahm said:

Many do, some don't. If this were out there, parents would have better, more informed, questions to ask each other. Instead of "what do I teach my kid?" which is simply too giant of a question for park day (and yet gets asked frequently), they can have looked at the list ahead of time so they can ask things like, "I notice that teaching capitalization happens every year in public elementary school. Do you think that much repetition helps your kid, or can you teach it once and be done?" Sure, they could also get this from looking in a book and we have books that cover that information in our public library. There are plenty of people who don't realize this, though, and have trouble sifting through the mountains of information on the internet to figure out what is gold and what is chicken scratch. 

I like that my state (Washington) offers a homeschooling 101 class.  It is taught by people who truly understand homeschooling and give a general overview of approaches, curricula, options etc.  It is only required if someone doesn't meet certain educational benchmarks (ie. one of the parents must have 45 college credits or must hire a supervising teacher) but it is there for anyone who wants to take it. 

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8 hours ago, xahm said:

Many do, some don't. If this were out there, parents would have better, more informed, questions to ask each other. Instead of "what do I teach my kid?" which is simply too giant of a question for park day (and yet gets asked frequently), they can have looked at the list ahead of time so they can ask things like, "I notice that teaching capitalization happens every year in public elementary school. Do you think that much repetition helps your kid, or can you teach it once and be done?" Sure, they could also get this from looking in a book and we have books that cover that information in our public library. There are plenty of people who don't realize this, though, and have trouble sifting through the mountains of information on the internet to figure out what is gold and what is chicken scratch. 

That information is already out there, easy to find, without any government influence. First, I don't think that parents should have to register or in any way inform the government that they are going to teach their children at home; second, even if people had to register online somehow, and they were given stuff to print, some of them wouldn't print it, most of them still wouldn't get it; third, I don't believe it's possible for government employees in each state to come up with a succinct scope and sequence that parents can just blithely print off and then they'll be set. Seriously. 

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20 minutes ago, Ellie said:

That information is already out there, easy to find, without any government influence. First, I don't think that parents should have to register or in any way inform the government that they are going to teach their children at home; second, even if people had to register online somehow, and they were given stuff to print, some of them wouldn't print it, most of them still wouldn't get it; third, I don't believe it's possible for government employees in each state to come up with a succinct scope and sequence that parents can just blithely print off and then they'll be set. Seriously. 

If you believe the government should have no role whatsoever, I understand your not liking this idea. I find it funny, however, that you say the information is both readily accessible to all parents right now and utterly impossible for any government official to come up with. You know some of those government officials are parents, right?

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2 hours ago, xahm said:

If you believe the government should have no role whatsoever, I understand your not liking this idea. I find it funny, however, that you say the information is both readily accessible to all parents right now and utterly impossible for any government official to come up with. You know some of those government officials are parents, right?

There are 50 states. I promise you that there would be government bureaucratic involvement, possibly even legislative involvement, to put together anything. I'm pretty sure that not even we members of TWTM could easily put together a succinct, easy-to-follow scope and sequence that newbie parents could print off--each year when they have to go through the stupid government steps to get permission to teach their own children--and follow and actually achieve.

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I'd like to dare the conference people to invite SWB, and several other articulate, experienced, balanced homeschool advocates to speak or debate. So someone would challenge their false assumptions and straw man arguments.

Edited by ScoutTN
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3 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

I'd like to dare the conference people to invite SWB, and several other articulate, experienced, balanced homeschool advocates to speak or debate. So someone would challenge their false assumptions and straw man arguments.

They aren't that interested in any actual, you know, facts. They have their own personal vendettas and they don't want to be confused by the truth.

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9 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

I'd like to dare the conference people to invite SWB, and several other articulate, experienced, balanced homeschool advocates to speak or debate. So someone would challenge their false assumptions and straw man arguments.

I have to agree with Ellie. These people arent interested in understanding homeschooling, whether successful or not. They fundamentally disagree with the rights of parents to be their children's primary educator. 

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11 hours ago, Ellie said:

There are 50 states. I promise you that there would be government bureaucratic involvement, possibly even legislative involvement, to put together anything. I'm pretty sure that not even we members of TWTM could easily put together a succinct, easy-to-follow scope and sequence that newbie parents could print off--each year when they have to go through the stupid government steps to get permission to teach their own children--and follow and actually achieve.

I said I want my state to give information about our state's scope and sequence automatically to homeschooling parents, along with a letter explaining that parents are perfectly free to come up with their own objectives and suggesting they list them. We don't ask permission to home school here. We just tell them we are doing it. I don't expect that my state will make any changes as it would be politically difficult, thanks to both knee jerk reactions from HSLDA types and knee jerk reactions from the Harvard conference types.

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20 minutes ago, OKBud said:

Eh, it could go either way. Are they speaking out of the front of their mouths, or out the side, yanno?

https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/about-crhe/what-we-do/ 

All true things, BUT...

They are definitely anti-homeschooling.  

Yes, all true things, but they refuse to acknowledge that those same outcomes could have occurred if they had attended school.  Parental support makes a difference in both outcomes (not just opinion, but well documented through research.)

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On 4/27/2020 at 4:44 PM, 8FillTheHeart said:

I can only share that for us it has been a successful model.  It isn't even necessarily me learning alongside them as much as my being alongside them as they learn.  My kids have gotten to much higher levels in most subjects than I am capable of achieving or have the time to achieve. 


Absolutely! Strangely, nobody finds this unusual in the sports world. A top football coach obviously has familiarity with the game and probably played themselves, but seldom can they throw, run, or catch as well as their players, and many were even mediocre performers in their youth. The ability to lead, inspire, develop training plans, diagnose problems, balance short term vs. long term goals, find additional resources for player development, etc. is a very different job than playing the game.  It's not a perfect analogy but it shouldn't be so absurd that a reasonably educated and well-rounded parent could learn along side their child and direct a course of study without being experts in every single subject themselves. 

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21 hours ago, RoundAbout said:


Absolutely! Strangely, nobody finds this unusual in the sports world. A top football coach obviously has familiarity with the game and probably played themselves, but seldom can they throw, run, or catch as well as their players, and many were even mediocre performers in their youth. The ability to lead, inspire, develop training plans, diagnose problems, balance short term vs. long term goals, find additional resources for player development, etc. is a very different job than playing the game.  It's not a perfect analogy but it shouldn't be so absurd that a reasonably educated and well-rounded parent could learn along side their child and direct a course of study without being experts in every single subject themselves. 

To add on to what you said (which I agree with), my kids were learning from experts.  Experts they found in textbooks or on the internet.  In other words, if they found themselves really stumped then they went looking for answers.  They didn't just throw their hands up in the air and go "Oh, well, I guess I won't learn calculus now".  And since we did slowly build up subjects and laid a good solid foundation of math, reading and logic skills they had what was necessary to go ahead in those subjects without someone spoonfeeding them the information. 

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