Why Homeschool is hosting this week’s Carnival, and the subcategories all have a Laboring theme.
Carnival of Homeschooling Week 36: Labor Day
Labor Day – the start of “schoolâ€
Labor – Family
Labor and delivery
Labor of Love
Labor
Laboring to Learn
Labor – miscellaneous
The following are articles that include concern about the social lives of homeschooled kids. Despite the amount of information about the ways in which homeschooled kids get out of the house, as indicated by accounts as varied as stories about successful homeschoolers, community activities, and sports, as well as online indicators such as the Carschooling site, the stereotypical image of ‘homeschooled as cloistered’ continues.
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The homeschooling parent in the following article rebuts that allegation that homeschooled children “do not get socialization skills.” Also of note is that the ability of parents in Virginia who have only a high school diploma to homeschool their children is not a new option, although there is now a different filing requirement.
WCAV television, Charlottesville, Virginia, 20 July 2006, Laws Make Home Schooling Easier   Â
and
WHSVÂ television, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 23 July 2006, Laws Make Home Schooling Easier
However, some critics have blasted the idea of home schooling and the new laws. They feel the kids do not get the socialization skills they need to succeed in life.
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The next article is about public-school-at-home, a form of education that shares the general venue of ‘home’ with homeschooling. Critics of non-institutional education are often concerned about the loss of mass-school “culture,” but they rarely speak about the decrease in peer pressure, a category that gets numerous hits in an online search.Â
It would be nice if there was an objective third-party cost-benefit analysis comparing the various forms of educational delivery systems by looking at longitudinal information, but so far we’re stuck with doing what humans have done for ages — playing it by ear.
The Acorn, Agoura Hills, CA, 20 July 2006, School without walls coming to LVUSD
On the downside
In theory the new school promises to open the doors to choice, but school officials said there will be some downsides.
When a student leaves a comprehensive high school, [Assistant Superintendent of Education Joe] Nardo said, they also lose out on the “culture,” which may mean a loss of friends and activities. He predicts that some students may have a difficult time with the transition.
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Articles with general tips for back-to-school don’t neglect homeschoolers either. I’m afraid that the advice for homeschoolers in this article from Miami, Florida merits only a Homer Simpsonish “Duh.”Â
Modern parents who have weathered infancy, babyhood, toddlerhood, and the rambunctious years of threes, fours and fives, all with the help of books, magazines, newspapers websites, chatrooms, television programs, innumerable talk show hosts, and all the advice from helpful friends and relatives, probably caught on to the concept of ’playgroup.’
Miami Herald, Miami, Florida, 8 August 2006, Start smart: 10 tips for a healthy school year   Â
By home schooling, you don’t have to worry about heavy backpacks, bad lunches and separation anxiety. But the lack of social interactions could pose a problem. The solution: Meet with other home schoolers in your neighborhood and set up activities, [spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Ari] Brown advises.
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But I think we’re way past worries about socialization. It’s time for the mainstream, or at least the mainstream outside of Oregon, to catch up and enter the modern homeschool world.
The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon, 31 August 2006, Home schooling hits the road [printer version for full article on one page]
Two decades ago, when Oregon made home schooling legal, families sometimes struggled to find opportunities for social and academic interaction. Now activities and classes catering to home-schoolers are so plentiful that the challenge is how to choose among them.
“You could be gone every day of the week, and you’d never be home, schooling,” said Lynette Isaak of Colton, who started home schooling the first of her five children 21 years ago and now is a consultant to other families. “We really do have to be much wiser now to pick and choose.”    …
As more families decided to home-school, they pooled resources to start co-ops and parent groups, orchestras and sports teams. Support sprouted in communities, too, with libraries, schools, community centers and private instructors offering classes and activities at times when other children are in school.
“If you can’t find something for your kids, it’s because you aren’t looking hard enough or being resourceful enough,” said Tara Weinstein, who home-schools four sons, ages 5 to 10, in West Linn.    …
Some parents say home schooling leaves more time for their children to have outside activities, because their schedules are flexible and one-on-one instruction means no time is lost to classroom management.    …
Still, she said, “there’s so much out there, you have to know when to say no.”    …
“The image of home schooling is changing, and I think it’s because it’s growing and there are options to get your kids out there socializing,” Spitzer said. “It’s not just the geeky weirdos who are doing it.”
Choices were always there, they just weren’t the ones offered by schools.Â
You pays your money, you takes your choice.
A couple of days ago Mike Fortune-Wood, a leading home education advocate in the U.K., debated homeschooling with Dr. Ingrid Gogolin, a professor in comparative education at the University of Hamburg in Germany.
A clip from the debate is online. The file is fairly large and takes about ten seconds to download using a cable-modem.
Paula Rothermel is the researcher referred to in the program. References to her work are contained in:
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In my collection of articles from this summer, I have two about unschooling. One is from July and I saved it in hopes of more like it, but there weren’t. The other is from this morning’s newspaper.
Media Use in the Unschooling Community
Historically, the unschooling community was highly anti-technological, seeing computers as tools of the bureaucracy. But, as Bertozzi’s research suggests, these attitudes have shifted as the unschooling community has embraced new forms of participatory culture and online community.    …   Â
Fans, Gamers, and Poets
Of course, many of these unschooling principles also apply to other digital communities, where people gather to share information or discuss issues which are important to them. University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education Professor James Paul Gee calls such informal learning cultures “affinity spaces.” Affinity spaces offer powerful opportunities for learning, Gee argues, because they are sustained by common endeavors which bridge across differences in age, class, race, gender, and educational level, because people can participate in various ways according to their skills and interests, because they depend on peer to peer teaching with each participant constantly motivated to acquire new knowledge or refine their existing skills, and because they allow each participant to feel like an expert while tapping the expertise of others.    …   Â
The Harry Potter and anime fan fiction writers, the Civilization players, and the Wondering Minstrels would be surprised to be discussed as “unschoolers.” As far as they are concerned, they aren’t participating in an educational activity at all. They are simply having fun and exploring topics that matter to them. But that’s precisely the point. As we talk about informal learning or “unschooling,” there are no rigid boundaries between school and the rest of what we do with our lives. Learning is driven by passion; we follow our interests where they lead; we engage with others who share those intellectual and recreational pursuits; and in the end, we master complex content.
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[The Becks and Mattinglys] are “unschoolers,” a small but growing group of homeschooling parents who free themselves from nearly all the trappings of school. They teach, but they do it without set lessons, textbooks or multiple-choice tests.    …    Unschoolers know that plenty of parents, teachers and other homeschoolers think their approach is wrong-headed. To them it represents a lack of rigor in education, the very thing many think has failed students in the past.
But unschooling advocates feel certain of the benefits. Among their claims: That students learn more quickly and retain knowledge longer when they lead the way. That children learn more acutely through life experiences than through textbooks, seatwork and testing. That their understanding is more complete when concepts aren’t separated into subject areas.    …   Â
There’s no official count of area unschoolers. Patrick Farenga, president of Holt Associates, a national unschooling advocacy group, said the phenomenon continues to grow and unschooling families now make up 10 percent of all homeschoolers.    …   Â
“If you imagine a really good Saturday, that’s our life,” Beck said.    …   Â
The new unschoolers    Child-directed. Life learning. Holistic. These are terms used by unschoolers. They aren’t brand new.   Â
Child-directed. Life learning. Holistic. These are terms used by unschoolers. They aren’t brand new.    Suzanne Rice, associate professor of education at the University of Kansas, called unschooling “a phenomenon with some pretty deep roots in the philosophy of education.â€
My only quibble with the second article is the characterization of unschooling as something “new.”  Patrick Farenga and Holt Associates are mentiond in the article, but not the unschooling magazine, Growing Without Schooling, founded by John Holt, and published from 1977 to 2001. Home Education Magazine, first published in 1984, has also published many articles on unschooling.
Unschoolers have been around for a while. I suppose its a credit to the method that they’ve blended in to the Greater American Culture so well.
Homeschooling will have to deal with more fallout from the emphasis on Christian homeschooling via the film, Jesus Camp.
In “Jesus Camp,” Christian kids spend their summer speaking in tongues, delivering fervent sermons and directing their prayers for an antiabortion Supreme Court at a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush. …
It won a Special Documentary Jury Prize at this years Tribeca Film Festival and went on to pick up the Sterling Award at the prestigious SilverDocs. …
A little more than a year ago, Ewing and Grady, having completed The Boys of Baraka (about at-risk Baltimore kids sent to a safe school in Africa), decided to look at the phenomenon of homeschooling and Christian education. They found Fischers Web site and were invited by the minister to attend a childrens prayer conference at Christ Triumphant Church in Lees Summit [Missouri]. …
The filmmakers spent time in Missouri with the children and their families (whose last names are not revealed). They filmed homeschooling sessions. Then they accompanied the youngsters to the North Dakota camp. …
The homeschooled children the moviemakers encountered were largely ignorant of popular culture. Ewing recalls that when one child spoke disparagingly of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, I was actually surprised that they knew who Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan were. But they are very knowledgeable about certain hot-button political and social issues. …
Foremost is abortion. In the film, a visiting evangelist passes out plastic fetuses to the children. And theres the scene with the cardboard George W. …
The problem liberals encounter with Jesus Camp is that its a challenge. These kids are smart and motivated and know what theyre fighting for.
Liberals, on the other hand, generally arent absolutists about their beliefs. They tend to let their children come to their own conclusions.
Other links, which indicate how widespread information about the movie is:
A search for the actual camp, “Kids on Fire camp North Dakota” didn’t come up with a URL for it, and neither did a search for the camp and its founder, “Kids on Fire Becky Fisher.”
Yes, I know it’s the job of cartoonists to poke fun, and for that I’m thankful.  I always save the comics section of the newspaper for my ‘final read’ during breakfast, just to cheer me up after reading all the ‘real news.’ I appreciate the comics. I just wish that the cartoonists would look into homeschooling for the jokes instead of at homeschooling.Â
Where’s Bill Watterston when you need him?
Interviewee:Â “I graduated at the very top of my class.”
Mr. Dithers:Â “Excellent!”
Dagwood:Â “That’s very impressive!”
Mr. Dithers:Â “Which university did you attend?”
Interviewee (with superior look):Â “Oh, I was home-schooled.”
This article is nice, but the unschooler in me squinches a bit at the characterization that this kind of homeschooling is homeschooling.
The image of happy kids at the beginning of school is a pleasant picture — and the picture at the newspaper website is nice, too.
I do have one question that perhaps an Arizona reader can answer: what is an “Arizona room?” I lived near Tucson once, but we didn’t have that kind of room.
I just had a hot tip from online-friend Jeanne.Â
Celeste Land of VAHomeschoolers is one of the people featured in a Reader’s Digest article about successful students. I didn’t see the article at the education part of the Reader’s Digest site, so I guess we’ll all have to go out and buy a copy.
Jeanne says she hopes that the ‘other shoe’ doesn’t drop before she finishes the article.
In North Carolina, the homeschool numbers are up:
The total number of home schools increased by 7 percent statewide during the 2005-06 school year. Pool the number of students — 64,387 — and you would have the fourth-largest school district in North Carolina.
And a few states up and over, numbers are down:
“Our numbers are decreasing and … I have a feeling we are going to continue that,” Drage said. “We came to a spike about four or five years ago, and we have been decreasing every year.”  …    ”One of (the reasons), is the digital academies,” Drage said. “I started to see a decline just about the time the digital academies became common among districts. It’s not the only factor, but it is one of the influences.”
Overall, the article is informative and interesting, although there is one quotation that rankles:
And just why, pray tell, would that concept enter anyone’s mind? Are former public school families ever required to say why they are voting with their feet and choosing a private school?  A comparison would be an article on lunches, with the head cafeteria lady being quoted as saying, ‘Families are not required to give reasons for packing lunch boxes for their children.’ Of course they’re not. We still have enough liberty so that we don’t have to stand, hat in hand, in a school official’s office justifying our school choice decisions.
Hat tip to Daryl for the “Taught at home” link.
In my web travels, I found the following site states categorically the names of the first American homeschoolers.
In modern times, although there were American families living overseas who were already homeschooling their children, the first parents known to homeschool within the United States were Tom and Mary Bergman of Utah, 1971. Unknown to each other at the time, the second known family was Charles and Virginia Birt Baker of Texas, 1972.
I can’t think of any reason why the Bergmans and Bakers couldn’t have been homeschooling, but ‘the first known homeschoolers?’ That would be news to Sandra Day O’Connor (and others), and, in 1990, to an older gentleman at church who, after hearing I was homeschooling the kids, said he had been homeschooled using Calvert. As his kids were older than I was, and as I was 22 in 1972, I’m sure he was homeschooled long before then.
A whiffle about this little article to other long-time homeschoolers brought the following:
Tufts University professor A.A. Berle wrote in the introduction to his book, The School In Your Home (Moffit Yard, 1912), that American mass education has been a failure over the past twenty-years and that people from day laborers to University professors have written to him about it.
Anyone can write anything on the Web, and even with the best of intentions on the part of the writer, the information can be in error. The snippet about the ‘first known homeschoolers’ is benign, but if you’re looking for important information about homeschooling, check and double-check references and sources. Caveat lector.
Hat tip to Susan for the references.