News and Commentary by Valerie Bonham Moon
Continued commentary and discussion of news items.
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October 4, 2008

Can I deduct homeschool expenses?

Every once in a while, someone asks, “how do we deduct homeschooling expenses?”  The short answer is, we don’t.

Even if a state lodges homeschooling under the state’s private school statutes, homeschoolers are not running a business for their own children.  If people accept money from other parents to school the children from another family, that is a private school, not homeschooling.  Some states make allowances for including a limited number of children of other people in a family’s homeschooling, but, in Missouri at least, payment is not allowed.  People who run private schools will have business expenses that can be deducted from the profits, but otherwise any costs are voluntary and a result of child-rearing decisions.

 

Some states do make allowances for tax credits, but for federal taxes, standard tax deductions apply.

October 3, 2008

Marketing to the niche

A question came up on an email list about a ‘rewards’ system for homeschoolers:  My Homeschool Rewards  I’d never heard of it, so I went looking.

A Who Is query showed that the My Homeschool Rewards site is registered to the Frankey Britton Group.   Googling for that name gives a list of 12 sites (as of today), which isn’t many by Google standards, but Who Is gives the URL’s birthday as 1 April 2008.  The ”homeschool” site is young.  

The common link between the sites listed in the Google results is an “about us” statement at a few of the sites:

This site, VFWGiftCards.com, is managed by the Frankey Britton Group LLC of Madison, WI.  The Frankey Britton Group provides fundraising fullfillment and systems to schools and other charitable organizations under the program name Simplified Fundraising.

The company was founded as the School Times Network in 2003.  School Times Network broke new ground with innovative ways for schools to save money through alternate newsletter distribution. Over time, Frankey Britton Group was formed and became innovators in the area of fundraising. Simplified SCRIP™ was the charter program presented by FBG and still operates today serving schools coast to coast. In addition to this program are many sister programs benefitting various charitable groups spread out through the United States.

Frankey Britton Group LLC’s continued mission is to provide schools and organizations easy and effective fundraising strategies that require minimal effort.

 

At the site, the user creates a “homeschool account” and a “customer account.”  The homeschool account is not secure, but the customer account is. The homeschool account apparently lists purchases of cards and “earnings,” while the customer account is where the user buys the cards to shop at businesses

To use the service, one pays for the card(s) with an electronic check, waits for the card(s) to be delivered to the home, then goes to the businesses to buy things as with any other gift card.  A difference is that the purchaser of these cards is possibly specifically identifiable because the cards must be delivered somewhere.  I presume cooperative businesses could track the cards by some kind of encoded inventory number.  Compare that to the anonymous, over-the-counter, purchase of gift cards at a store.  Lost cards are not mentioned at the FAQ, so I can’t tell if a process for replacing cards is possible.

As of today, I do not see anything at the site that is “homeschool” specific, so the appearance of ”niche marketing” is an illusion.  The “homeschool” name appears to be just an attractor with no more significance than My Golfing Rewards would be to golfers, or My Gardening Rewards would be to tulip fanciers.  The businesses with gift cards are all mainstream, and the site is open to anyone.

I find it unlikely (but not impossible, of course) that a school or benefactor that wishes to remain anonymous would arrange “fundraising” for homeschooling families.  I’m left with the conclusion that the service functions as do corporate loyalty cards. I’m guessing that payment for information collection is what funds the service.  Who knows, in a few years an article might surface concerning the spending habits of people who use this “homeschool” site.  The only guaranteed characteristics that I can see about buyers from this site are that they can get online, they have a bank account, and they buy gift cards.

October 2, 2008

Where is the chocolate when I need it?

Pathways Christian Home School offers alternative to public education system, 26 September 2008, Jones County News, Atlanta, Georgia

Score:  -165

The article is about a private school that calls itself a “home school.”  No, it’s not about being an “umbrella” school, or a distance-learning provider, it’s about being a school. (”Becky Hataway is the school supervisor, and she and Hancock share teaching duties with Hataway teaching K5 through first grade and Hancock second through sixth.”  “School hours are 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and follows the pubic [2xsic] school calendar”)

Even if the marketer can’t get it right, I’d have thought a reporter writing about kids going to school could spot the difference.

Australian release of Christopher Paolini’s book, Brisingr

Christopher Paolini on inheriting JK Rowling’s crown, 29 September 2008, Melbourne Herald Sun. Melbourne, Australia

305 credits minus 100 demerits = +205

Credits:  Many direct quotes from Mr. Paolini, most of them to do with his writing and the books, and the history of getting his first book, Eragon, off the ground.

Demerits:  Homeschooling socialization critique tacked on to the ‘controversy’ section of a character in the book Eldest questioning of the gods, and the quality of the Eragon movie.  I don’t think the entire observation, “The Inheritance series is an epic work of imagination, particularly considering it’s the work of a boy home-schooled with his sister all his life,” was necessary.  The writer could well have stopped that sentence after the word, “boy.”

October 1, 2008

New Jersey homeschool oversight proposal

Change from

There are no requirements for testing, curricular content, teaching methods, socialization, lesson plans, logs or reports, lists of goals or objectives, or teaching credentials. Homeschoolers are not required to use textbooks.

Homeschoolers in NJ have no scheduling or attendance requirements.

to [the following, with emphasis added]

AN ACT concerning home education 1 programs and supplementing Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Prior to the establishment of a home education program and annually thereafter, on or before August 1, a parent or guardian shall submit to the superintendent of the resident school district a notarized letter registering his child in a home education program. 

The letter shall include: 
a. the name and age of each student participating in the home education program;
b. the name of the supervisor of the home education program responsible for the provision of instruction;
c. the address and telephone number of the home education program site;
d. evidence that such subjects as required by law will be offered, including an outline of proposed education objectives by subject area;
e. evidence that each student being registered has been immunized in accordance with the provisions of the State Sanitary Code adopted pursuant to section 7 of P.L.1947, c.177 (C.26:1A-7) and that the student has received the health and medical services required by State law for students of the child’s age; and
f. a certification to be signed by the supervisor that the supervisor, all adults living in the home, and persons having legal custody of a child in a home education program have not been convicted of the criminal offenses enumerated in section 1 of 30 P.L.1986, c.116 (C.18A:6-7.1) within the preceding five years. 

2. a. A home education program shall provide instruction to each registered student for a minimum of 180 days each year.
b. A home education program shall include courses in such areas as determined by the Commissioner of Education pursuant to section 3 of this act and such other areas as determined by the supervisor of the home education program. 

3. The Commissioner of Education shall develop guidelines for home education programs that provide for a sequential course of study for each grade, K-12. 
 
4. The resident school district shall, at the request of the parent or guardian of a student registered in a home education program, lend copies of the school district’s planned curriculum, textbooks, and other instructional materials appropriate to the student’s age and grade level. The parent or guardian may be charged for the cost of copying documents in accordance wi 1 th the rates established pursuant to section 6 of P.L.2001, c.404 (C.47:1A-5). 
 
5. a. The resident school district shall permit a student registered in a home education program to participate in the district’s extracurricular activities, including interscholastic athletics, provided that the student:
(1) meets the eligibility criteria or their equivalent for participation in the activity that apply to a student enrolled in the school district;
(2) meets the tryout criteria or their equivalent for participation in the activity that apply to a student enrolled in the school district; and 
(3) complies with all policies, rules, and regulations of the governing organization of the activity. 

 b. In the event that the school district requires a student to complete a medical or physical examination as a condition of participation in the activity, and the school district offers the medical or physical examination to its enrolled students, the school  district shall permit a student registered in a home education program to access the examination. The school district shall provide written notification to supervisors of home education programs in the district of the dates and times of the examination. 
 
6. A supervisor of a home education program shall maintain on file for each student enrolled in the home education program a portfolio of records and materials including, but not limited to:
a. a student record that lists reading materials used, samples of writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed by the student
b. for students in grade levels three, five, and eight, the results of nationally normed standardized achievement tests in reading/language arts and mathematics administered by the supervisor or the results of Statewide tests administered by the resident school district. The test administrator shall not be the student’s parent or guardian; and an annual written evaluation of the student’s educational progress as determined by a qualified evaluator, who may be a licensed psychologist or a certified school psychologist, a teacher or administrator of a public or nonpublic school in the State, or any other individual approved by the superintendent of the resident school district. The evaluator shall not be the supervisor or his spouse or the student’s parent or guardian. The evaluation shall be based on an interview with the child and a review of the materials collected pursuant to subsections a. and b. of this section and shall certify whether or not an appropriate education is occurring in the home education program.

7. a. The supervisor of a home education program shall annually submit the portfolio required pursuant to section 6 of this act to the resident school district on or before June 30th.
b. At such other times throughout the school year as is necessary, the superintendent of the resident school district may submit a written request to the supervisor of a home education program to review all or part of a home schooled child’s portfolio, if the superintendent has reason to believe that an appropriate education is not occurring. Within 30 days of receipt of the written request, the supervisor of the home education program shall submit the requested documentation to the superintendent of the resident school district.
c. In the event that the supervisor of a home education program fails to submit the documentation required pursuant to this section, the home education program shall be deemed unsatisfactory in providing an appropriate education and children in the home education program between the ages of six and 16 shall be promptly enrolled in the resident school district or a nonpublic school. 
 
8. a. In the event that the superintendent of the resident school district determines, based on his review of the portfolio submitted pursuant to section 6 of this act, that the home education program is unsatisfactory in providing an adequate education, he shall provide written notification of his determination, specifying what aspects of the program are inadequate, to the supervisor of the home education program. 
b. Upon receipt of the written notification, the supervisor of the home education program shall have 20 days to submit additional documentation demonstrating that an appropriate education is taking place for the child in the home education program. 
 
9. a. In the event that the supervisor of a home education program fails to submit additional documentation pursuant to subsection b. of section 8 of this act, the home education program shall be deemed unsatisfactory in providing an appropriate education and children in the home education program between the ages of six and 16 shall be promptly enrolled in the resident school district or a nonpublic school. 
b. In the event that the supervisor of a home education program submits additional documentation pursuant to subsection b. of section 8 of this act, the superintendent shall review the additional materials and issue a new determination on the adequacy of the program. If the superintendent again finds the home education program to be unsatisfactory in providing an appropriate education, the matter shall be referred to the local board of education to consider termination of the program. The board shall have a hearing no later than 30 calendar days following the day on which the superintendent issued his final determination. The decision of the board shall be made within five days after the close of the hearing. If the board finds the home education program to be unsatisfactory in providing an appropriate education, children in the home education program between the ages of six and 16 shall be promptly enrolled in the resident school district or a nonpublic school. Any appeal of the board’s decision shall be made to the Commissioner of Education within 90 days of the decision. 
 
10. This act shall take effect immediately and shall first apply to the 2009-2010 school year. 
 
STATEMENT 

This bill requires a parent or guardian seeking to educate his  child at home to register with the resident school district prior to the establishment of the home education program. The bill provides that the registration must include: certain descriptive information about the child, his home education supervisor, and the program; a statement that the child will be provided instruction in such subjects as required by law; evidence that the child has been properly immunized and has received necessary health and medical services; and a certification that the supervisor, all adults living in the home, and persons having legal custody of a child in a home education program have not been convicted of certain criminal offenses.

Under the bill, a home education program must provide instruction for a minimum of 180 days each year and must include courses in such areas as determined by the Commissioner of Education. The bill directs the Commissioner of Education to develop guidelines for home education programs that provide for a  sequential course of study for each grade, K-12.

The bill directs the resident school district to lend the parent or guardian of a home schooled child copies of the school district’s planned curriculum, textbooks, and other instructional materials, as requested. The bill also provides that the resident school district must permit a student registered in a home education program to participate in the district’s extracurricular activities, including interscholastic athletics, provided that certain conditions are met.

Under the bill, the district must provide the student with access to a medical or physical examination, if one is required as a condition of participation in the activity and if the school district offers the medical or physical examination to its enrolled students.

The bill requires the supervisor of a home education program to maintain a portfolio of records and materials demonstrating the student’s work and progress, including the results of standardized tests and an independent evaluation of the student’s educational progress. The bill provides a process for reviewing the adequacy of home education programs. The bill also provides a process for the termination of a home education program determined to be inadequate.

Wow.

Alabama kids put on their dancing shoes

Homeschooling beyond home, 29 September 2008, Shelby County Reporter, Columbiana, Alabama

 

This one came up at 0.  The positive points were nickel-&-dimed away by repetitive references to school ’stuff.’ 

The interesting part of the article is that one family lived for a time in Germany, and there is no mention of persecution, prison or penalty payments.

The Juggle at The Wall Street Journal

A Better Learning Model, or An Excuse For Indulgence?, 22 September 2008, The Wall Street Journal Blogs, New York, New York

(+100 credits) + (-50 demerits) = +50 points

Credits:   Specific names and interests, writing because of an event (the homeschool mom’s blog post, to which this item links), descriptions in normal words of unschooling and kids’ interests, and mentions of nice places to visit

Deductions:  reiterations of school-centered activities

This score surprised me.  The article has embedded ‘positives’ that might pique a reader’s interest, despite the writer’s disagreement with the original writer’s activities.

Fox news article about legal climate concerning homeschooling

Homeschooling Surges in US as Parents Reach for Legal Rights, 22 September 2008, FOXNews

Points:  (+60) + (-115) = -55

Credits:  Specific homeschoolers, Celeste’s caution about tax credits, legal challenges in California and Pennsylvania

Deductions:  Tax credit fallacy, impression of an active ”nationwide movement” for “legal rights,” and that homeschooling is growing “exponentially,” clichés, nose-counting, the S-word, schoolish talk

Symbolic Style Deduction for using “opt”

September 30, 2008

Point-system for scoring articles

News media employees around the country routinely generate reports featuring homeschooling.  Although the resurgence of children learning at home has probably passed it’s 30th birthday, editors and reporters still find homeschooling to be significant enough to warrant column-inches and broadcast-minutes.  The tug-of-war about whose hand will rock the educational cradle continues.  Figure the odds of reading anything today about Strawberry Shortcake, Dungeons and Dragons, or any lasting effects credited to Teddy Ruxpin. 

Rarely, though, are homeschooling articles straight reports about the specifics of homeschooling that could be useful for the local readership:  state laws, support groups, library hours, sporting associations.  Although state laws are often mentioned, they are often characterized as either too lenient, or well-deservedly strict.  The point seems to be to reassure the ‘civilian’ population that the homeschooling families are under control.  By now, 27 years after the publication of John Holt’s Teach Your Own, homeschooling articles should be as cut and dried as notices about where to sign up for the community football league.

However, despite 27 years and 50-state ubiquity, homeschooling is still enough of a political football that the editorial staffs of news media set up articles in a pro-individualist or con-collectivist standoff on whether it is a good idea to allow parents to educate their own children.  The pro/con viewpoint is often evident in who reporters interview for an article, and in what each person is allowed to say (through editing of a reporter’s notes).

Writers also use the human-interest technique to flesh out articles that would be bare recitations of law by including tidbits of how families homeschool.  In using the human-interest approach, writers do not put together articles ‘about’ the people in them, but rather use the people to decorate bare facts.  Around the people are the choices of words that writers use to insert their viewpoint between the lines.  The articles are slippery customers for readers because in one paragraph Mrs. Smiling Homeschooler is telling us about her happy children, while the next line has Mr. Dour Administrator warning against children falling through cracks.  Cracks of what is never specified, but the reader is still directed to gaze down at possibly unfortunate children — rarely a specific Jacob or Emily, Benny or Olivia.

When I look at homeschooling articles, I want to see something significant about homeschooling, not another litany of rules, test scores and children-who-learn-Bible-verses.  (a majority of Americans are Christian — learning Bible verses is not news.  I emphasize this only because reporters do)  In my opinion, if reporters cannot find something fresh to add to the conversation about homeschooling then their articles fall into the category of ‘all the news that fits, they’ll print.’

 

To help me wade through more articles more efficiently, since the blog’s purpose is to showcase articles about homeschooling, I thought that listing specific items for review could help speed my process.  It might also provide a guideline for readers who may or may not want to read an entire article.  So today, I spent my afternoon writing a scoring system for elements within an article.

Because I’m looking for homeschooling articles that add to the continuing discussion about homeschooling, my weighting system favors positive information, new information, and interesting information.  I set penalties for clichés and institutional school information.  When articles about local schools routinely include comparisons with homeschooling, then I’ll consider decreasing my school-mention penalties.  I am especially critical of counting how many homeschooled children are in a given area since few other human-interest articles point out how many ballet dancers, Ford Mustang owners, or wallpaper-hangers live in any neighborhood, city or state.  Nose-counting like that is usually reserved for sex offenders or murder rates.

Please remember that I’m looking at whether homeschooling articles are about homeschooling; I’m not weighing the people about whom the writers wrote.

My list follows.  We’ll see how it goes.

  1. Each article starts with zero points.
  2. Who:  who are the people featured in the article?
    5- point credit for each homeschooling parent or child mentioned
    5-point deductions for each bureaucrat mentioned, in the absence of any pending legislation
  3. What:  what has the reporter allowed the people to say?
    10-point credit for each item of original information, 25-point credit for observations about how kind, cooperative and thoughtful someone says the homeschooled kids are
    5-point deduction for each cliché (may be combined with deductions in other categories)
  4. When:  When was the article written in relation to the community’s daily life?  Has an event piqued reporterly interest, or is this a ’slow news day’ item?
    5-point credit for an event
    5-point deduction for ’slow news day’
  5. Where:  Where were the homeschoolers featured during the article?
    5-point credit for a library or college, 10-point credit for a sporting facility; 15-point credit for an apprenticeship-type area, or anything to do with horses, baking, dressmaking, sailing or astronomy because I like those things
    10-point penalty for any mention of kitchen tables, 25-point penalty for mentioning school, testing, grades, GPA, NCLB
  6. Why:  Why was the article written?
    5-point credit for legislative changes, 5-point credit for homeschooling parent’s activities, 10-point credit for a homeschool group event, 15-point credit for homeschooled kids’ activities, 50-point credit for a homeschooled person’s achievements
    5-point deduction for slow-news day (only 1 per article) 10-point deduction for generic educrat concerns, 15-point deduction for each instance of ’nose counting,’ 25-point deduction for comments about weird homeschoolers who aren’t socialized; 50-point deduction for ‘we don’t have that information but we’d like to have it’
  7. How:  How were any graphics used?
    5-point credit for portraits, 10-point credit for photos depicting people engaged in non-school-like learning activities, 15-point credit for hayrides, skiing (water or snow), beachcombing, camping or similar activities
    5-point deduction for photos of children studying out of books, 10-point deduction for photos of schools, 15-point deduction for photos of educrats or government administrators who are not involved in active homeschooling legislation

190 credits are available
185 demerits are available

And now, I christen my point-system with the scoring of the first article:

Home is school for many kids, 28 September 2008, The Republican, MassLive.com, Springfield, Massachusetts

60 plus points combined with 200 minus points give a score of -140
I almost had to give it a fifteen-yard penalty for gratuitous nose-counting.

==============

Update list … because one can’t think of everything all at once

Credits

  • Taxpayers25 point credit for mentioning that singles, couples, empty-nesters and retirees all pay taxes with no expectation of using the schools

Penalties

  • Misinformation10 point penalty for fecklessness
  • Socialization25 point penalty for misinformed triteness beyond the clichéd
  • Tax credits10 point penalty because singles, couples, empty-nesters and retirees all pay taxes with no expectation of using the schools

 

Symbolic style points

Penalties 

  • basis in conjunction with times such as weekly, daily, monthly, yearly:  “basis” is unnecessary and writers ought to know this

  • opt/opting/option:  this root word and its deriviatives are overused

September 29, 2008

Issues! (bless you)

Apparently, homeschooling in Missouri has some people antsy.

Home schooling operates on ‘honor system,’ 28 September 2008, Columbia Missourian,  Columbia, Missouri

The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the GOP vice presidential candidate has brought national attention to the issue of home schooling, which Palin has championed.

“Issue?”  Homeschooling is an “issue?”

is·sue

6 a: a matter that is in dispute between two or more parties b (1): a vital or unsettled matter <economic issues> (2): concern , problem <I have issues with his behavior> c: the point at which an unsettled matter is ready for a decision <brought the matter to an issue>

As far as I can tell from reading the Kansas City Star everyday for the past nine years, Missouri has no public disputes, unsettled economic matters, or problems that need deciding concerning homeschooling.  What “issue” is the writer talking about?

From the tone of the article, it looks as if the “issue” is that someone doesn’t like it that parents don’t have to use the public school service, despite the apparent lack of homeschooling problems.  We got your murder rates, your public school bureaucracy problems, a decade of light rail commotion from a guy in Virginia and the Kansas City mayor’s chief of staff stepping down, but we don’t have any statewide mention of homeschooling as an “issue.”

Readers can consider a word and phrase list comparison to see that either the intent of the piece or the mood of the writer or editor is negatively slanted concerning homeschooling.

  • issue of home schooling
  • state does not ensure
  • educational neglect
  • records do not need to be submitted
  • someone wanted to investigate
  • do not oversee homeschooling
  • opposition
  • very, very lenient (followed by)
  • … probably not good
  • regulate
  • monitor
  • impose
  • burdens
  • truant
  • suspicions
  • poor
  • neglect
  • competent
  • resistant to government intervention
  • stringent
  • investigate
  • falling through cracks

And as for recommending that the Missouri legislature look into ”non-legitimate” homeschooling, perhaps the legislators should help St. Louis and Kansas City get their public school woes straightened out first.

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