via Dana.

Homeschool: an American History

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of reading Homeschool:  an American History by Milton Gaither.  Gaither is a professor at Messiah College in Grantham, PA who has noted that “historians of education have not paid sufficient attention to forms of education outside of the public school system.”  He is working to close this gap in his book and his blog, Homeschooling Research Notes.

Click on over to read the rest of Dana’s analysis.

At Professor Gaither’s own blog, he explains,

But in the late 1960s and 1970s there emerged a reaction against institutional schooling on both the radical left and right.

I’m glad to read that because it’s the same conclusion that occurred to me.

By the 1950s and 1960s in the United States public schooling was socially conservative and as a reaction to this many liberal parents chose to teach their children at home. They were encouraged by authors such as John Holt and Ivan Illich. Perhaps in conjunction with the liberal movement against conservative education the schools, too, shifted to a more liberal mode of education. This caused a reaction among the conservative parents who viewed this shift as secular humanism and a growth in the number of Christian schools joined the ranks of the already well-established Catholic parochial schools. In 1978 the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of some private schools and they foundered. Conservative parents were left with the choice of homeschooling or using the secularly humanistic public schools. By the middle of the 1980s both ends of the political spectrum were represented among homeschoolers but the center did not hold. As has happened so many times through history, schism occurred for reasons not germane to military homeschooling. Those effects are still felt today.

(In what must be the vanity of all vanity presses, I’m ‘publishing’ a military homeschooling book that I wrote a few years ago.  I’ve put it on a blog because 1) I don’t think the market is ‘there’ for a dead tree version and 2) I don’t want to have copies of a book cluttering the house for years while I try to find customers.  I’m far too lazy to ever get rich.  The URL might not stay the same as WordPress.com doesn’t allow user-Adsense ads to compete with its own Adsense ads, so I’m looking for another host.  And btw, that’s not the entire book so far.)

In any case, go look at Dana’s analysis.  If you’re intrigued, you may have to wait to get a copy of Dr. Gaither’s book from Amazon.  I just bought the last copy.

A ping-pong article. The people who homeschool support homeschooling. The experts aren’t so sure about it. Assertion then rebuttal; pick a side. Rinse and repeat.

More children going to school at home, 20 April 2008, Miami Herald, Miami, Florida

… Statewide, more than 55,000 students are home-schooled — a 34 percent increase since 2001 and a remarkable number, experts say, considering that the practice was illegal in Florida a little more than two decades ago.

…

Over the past decade, the trend has given rise to a multimillion-dollar industry. Co-ops and support groups abound. Online, virtual support groups and lesson plans are just a click away.

…

For years, home education has been a subject of intense criticism. Teachers unions across the country have blasted the practice, saying that parents are underqualified to teach their children.

…

Psychologists have also raised concerns about socialization. But Monica Dowling, a child psychologist at the University of Miami, said that educating children at home does not necessarily inhibit social development.

…

”Most people think that we don’t have any friends and we don’t get out much,” said Loren Pizarro, 18, a spirited and well-spoken teenager from Davie. “That’s totally not true. We have a lot of fun together.”

…

Experts caution that home schooling is not for everyone.

Home-made education, 24 April 2008, The Charlotte Post, Charlotte, North Carolina

Angela Fulton’s children don’t have to leave their Weddington home for an education.

Fulton’s children – fifth-grader Aris, fourth-grader Christian and 4-year-old Carlyle – are homeschooled, part of a growing trend among black families.

“It’s not for everyone, but I know where my children are academically,” she said.

Although numbers vary nationally, more black parents are opting out of public education for homeschool. A Charlotte group, Families of Color Uniting Scholars, counts 75 families among its membership.

This article points up the broadening appeal of home education. More families outside the classic stereotypes of homeschooling families are seeing that they can make this style their own. Although “homeschooling isn’t for everyone,” homeschooling can be for anyone, and has been all along: Freedom Challenge — African American Homeschoolers (published 1996).

The article’s writer almost mentions the s-word and the myth that homeschooling has been “long criticized for its lack of socialization opportunities.” Many of these writers need to get out more because many homeschooling families overcompensate for the perceived lack of face time with their children’s peers. After the social whirl’s sparkle tarnishes, many of the same families cut back on social activities because the families are always on the go. Other families turn their car time into productive time.

Another criticism is that, “School systems look at [homeschooling] as pulling money from them in terms of enrollment, …” School systems may look at homeschooling that way, but they fail to factor in that –

• schools receive tax money from homeschooling families, but do not spend anything on the kids in those families
• schools are a service to families, not a requirement

Compulsory attendance laws say that children must attend some kind of school, not that children must attend public schools. Children are not fodder for schools.

I am glad to see that awareness is growing about the availability of homeschooling to anyone who wants to travel the wild path of adventure. Homeschooling is not about being ‘this’ way or ‘that’ way. Homeschooling is about families — all families.

A homeschooling parent from Washington state wrote a letter to the editor about a local report about the California appellate court decision’s affect on Washington homeschooling.

Article:

Should parents be certified teachers to home school?, 27 March 2008, Daily Record, Ellensburg, Washington

A California appeals court case ruling that parents who want to home school their children must be certificated teachers in that state or risk criminal prosecution will not have an effect here because each state sets their own rules regarding home schooling.

“Our laws are very good,” said Susi Lundquist of Ellensburg. Her eight youngsters either are or have been home schooled. She says Washington’s rules were written by the person who went on to start the Home School Legal Defense Association, and they protect parents’ right to home school.

Comment at website:

Just for the record, HSLDA and its founder had nothing to do with writing the WA homeschool law. He was not even in the state at the time.

A group of dedicated homeschooling parents, the Washington Association of Home Educators (WAHE), courageouly took on the task of learning to work with the Legislature and achieved what was then considered next to impossible: changing the law in order to allow families to homeschool their children legally.

Letter to the editor:

Reporter should have researched home school rules, 4 April 2008, Daily Record, Ellensburg, Washington

Though it is important to interview participants, I believe a reporter should do a minimum of research in the subject area. A glaring error was the suggestion that Washington State homeschooling law was developed by a lawyer named Mike Farris. This is not true. 24 years ago our law was formulated  by dedicated homeschooling families in the early 1980s. These families worked with legislators and lobbied for years to pass our present day Home-based Instruction law.

In the mid-1990s, Mary Griffith issued a public relations handbook for homeschoolers that was a gold mine of information.  Those of us who received paper copies of the booklet squirreled them away for safekeeping, but now, finally, the booklet is available as a free e-book download.

• The Homeschooling Image, by Mary Griffith

Thank you, Mary, for making the booklet available to a new generation of homeschooling parents.

  

The following article’s webpage has two interesting news videos of a homeschooling family and an unschooling family.  Most of the article is about the families’ homeschooling, but the tail end goes back to the in Re Rachel L. appellate court decision.

Another interesting aspect is the perception that cooperation between homeschooling families whose homeschooling focus is  either religious or mainstream is “rare.”  ‘In the beginning’ of homeschooling’s resurgence, this wasn’t the case.

Defending home-style ABCs: Religious and secular families unite over legal battle on credentials, 3 April 2008, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California

The February court decision is not being enforced pending appeals. The 2nd District Court of Appeal agreed last week to rehear the case in June, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged to support new legislation allowing home schooling if the decision is not reversed. Meanwhile, the ruling has forged a rare alliance of religious and secular home schoolers.

The distance between many conservative Protestant homeschoolers and mainstream homeschoolers came about in the early 1980s, grew with the emergence of statement of faith (sof) groups, and the political split has continued.  Readers with an interest in the history of homeschooling can find various interpretations of events at:

• Homeschooling Freedoms at Risk, Home Education Magazine
• Who Stole Homeschooling?, Gentle Spirit Magazine
• Who Stole Homeschooling? and response from Cheryl Lindsay Seelhof (scroll down for letter and response), Letters to the Editor, Volume 5, Issue 2, The Link, Homeschool News Network,
• A Homeschooler’s History of Homeschooling, Part II, Gentle Spirit Magazine
• A Homeschooler’s History of Homeschooling, Part III, Gentle Spirit Magazine
• The Ravage of Homeschooling Through Exclusion by Religion, Raymond Moore
• Battling for the heart and soul of home-schoolers, 20 October 2000, Salon.com

Home Is Where the School Is, 23 March 2008, Washington Post, Washington, D.C.

During a break in a high school debate tournament not long ago, my 17-year-old son struck up a conversation with a student on the rival team from a New Jersey public school. “Where’s your school?” asked the boy. When my son replied that he was home-schooled, the student probed.

“How do you socialize when you’re at home all the time?” he asked.

“Well, for one thing, I’m here, right?” my son laughed.

I wonder what the reply to that was?

The article touches on perennial pieces of homeschooling trivia, such as ‘who started homeschooling,’ socialization (above), the religious connection, reasons for homeschoolng, school-style v. homeschool-style of learning, and whether homeschooled children are competent later in life.  For a bit of current events, the California Crisis is included.

I’ve read many reactions to homeschooling, but one from this article surprised me because of the personal audacity.

Adults, on the other hand, can be surprising. Like the professor at the community college where one of our sons was taking a course, who went out of her way to pull him aside, sit him down and tell him, “You home-schoolers think you can change the world. But you can’t. Nobody can.”

It’s hard to generalize about home-schoolers, but if there’s one thing we know, it’s that we are changing the world, or at least the world of education choices.

My first reaction is to wonder what this teacher expects of the education she is paid to provide.  Is it supposed to be drudge work or inspiration?

My second reaction is that homeschooling parents do change the world.  We change the world of our children.  Whether this change makes larger ripples in the world is, on one level, immaterial.  We’ve made a difference in the lives of individual children.  We’ve done our best to fulfill our responsibility to Jake, and Julie, Madison and Ethan, Olivia and Chris.  If we do nothing else, we’ve done that.

The ‘usual collection’ of comments on the article is at:  “Your comments on ‘Home is where the school is.’”

posted by Valerie

It was twelve years ago this month that an article about the push from HSLDA for a parental rights amendment to the United States Constitution was published in Home Education Magazine.

Do We Want to Turn Our Parental Rights and Responsibilities Over to the Government?, January/February 1996, Home Education Magazine

Conclusion

Parental rights cannot be protected by legislation. Attempts to do so can easily lead to increasing government intervention in family life and requirements that parents comply with government standards in education, health care, and other areas.

I noticed just such an increase in government intervention in recent proposed legislation for parental rights here in Missouri.  The legislation “declares a parent’s right to make all health care and education decisions for their minor children …”  Except one. Requiring a pregnant minor daughter to get an abortion.  Parents will not be allowed to do that.

Did you get that?  Regardless of how you feel about abortion, in legislation for protection of the rights of parents, the same parents will be restricted in one aspect of their child’s health.  That’s double-speak.  And precedent.

The legislation is being sold to Missourians under the guise of parental rights, but it actually introduces a restriction.  Pret.ty slick.

Back at the national parental rights amendment, though, just under two years ago there was another push for the lagging legislation.

U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 30 May 2006, Home Education Magazine News and Commentary

This past April (2006), the topic came up on the HEM-Networking list when a list-member asked why the Convention on the Rights of the Child was “front-burner” again.  The only thing I could relate it to was HSLDA’s “free membership” drive, a limited-time membership that is valid only for the summer, a time when school-attendance isn’t #1 on most people’s lists, and the likelihood of the need for homeschool legal services is probably the lowest, excluding child custody issues, which know no season.  Homeschool legal coverage usually doesn’t include representation in child custody disputes.

And here it comes again:  From the desk of Michael P. Farris. 

1. Two of these justices, ”then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor” have since left the Court.  Even Justice Antonin Scalia, a noted conservative, holds that parental rights are not judicially enforceable at all until there is a specific parental rights provision in the Constitution.
2. If the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) becomes binding on this country, then parental rights as we know them will be erased.
3. The Parental Rights Amendment is the only way to protect and preserve the rights of parents to make key decisions for their children, as well as to direct their upbringing and education.
4. The battle for parental rights will be the fight of our lifetime.
5. With a gift of $25 or more, you can become a member of Parental Rights.org.
6. Second, under existing federal law we can only send detailed information about the political implications of this effort to dues-paying members.
7. Our user-friendly Tell a Friend application enables you to upload email addresses from your address book, …

1.  So what was all that hoo-hah over Harriet Miers and John Roberts about?  If justices could decide in favor of parents in Troxel v. Granville, why can’t a greater percentage of conservative justices also decide that way?

Troxel v. Granville

O’Connor, J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and Ginsburg and Breyer, JJ., joined. Souter, J., and Thomas, J., filed opinions concurring in the judgment. Stevens, J., Scalia, J., and Kennedy, J., filed dissenting opinions.

2.  U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Read about non-self-executing treaties.

3.  When saying that an amendment is the only way to guarantee parental rights, keep in mind the Missouri legislation, and how the political process allows for consensus, plus bits and pieces of compromise, to be inserted to get ‘the other side’ to go with your big idea.

4.  “Fight of our lifetime.”  A slogan.  It fits on a bumper sticker and sidesteps critical thought.

5.  A gift of $25.  Fund-raising.

6.  “[O]nly send detailed information about the political implications of this effort to dues-paying members.”  Oh, for crying out loud.  Use a web site.

7.  “Tell a Friend application”  This makes the person who provides the addresses a spam-enabler.

For another look at this parental rights push, go to Parental Rights Legislation.

CREATE A CRISIS

OFFER A VAGUE SOLUTION

SOLICIT YOUR MONEY

REALITY CHECK, PLEASE.

And, yes, I do wonder how HSLDA got from:

“The Supreme Court of the United States has made it repeatedly clear that the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” (Michael Farris, “Federalism and the Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act,” HSLDA Resource Library document, no longer available) and

“The U. S. Supreme Court has long held parental rights to be primary in American law. This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition.” (“Historic Parental Rights Bill passes Indiana House,” Home School court Report, February/March 1996, page 15) and

“The parental Rights and Responsibilities Act has been introduced in the House (H.R. 1946) and Senate (S. 984). This act affirms the rights of parents to control the upbringing and training of their children. Although guaranteed by the United States Constitution and upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court, these rights have gradually been eroded by conflicting state court decisions.” (“The Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act,” The Teaching Home, May/June 1996, page 21) (Emphasis added)

to

“Parental Rights are in Jeopardy” in just 16 years.

So, in well over a decade, the parental rights legislation has languished, but yet the proponents soldier on.  They are nothing if not determined.  A question to ask is, if they are successful, will the cure be worse than the disease?

posted by Valerie

When the virtual schools first entered the scene homeschoolers in some states were bombarded with marketing mailers that claimed that homeschooling could be scary and that their program was just like homeschooling, but a bit better due to their educational experts. This type of marketing continued at the virtual school presentations and some of us would point out that certainly their program might be a good fit for some families, but although the school was at home, it was not the same as home education since their program required public school enrollment. The salesman would always reply that it all depended on how you define homeschooling. I have never, nor do I now want to define homeschooling, home education or unschooling because it IS whatever works for each and every family. However, I did and still do object to any public school claiming to be like homeschooling, thus bringing us into a world of definitions that many homeschoolers chose to leave behind.

It turns out this image of the virtual schools being like homeschooling, but a bit better is not serving the virtual schools as well as they would have liked, so as of late, the virtual schools are trying to separate themselves from the homeschooling, but better image that they created.

This latest report illustrates their attempt to disconnect from homeschooling now that they are being questioned for being “similar to homeschooling” and they are attempting to remove the image that THEY worked so hard to create. Here is the link to the article and a few snippets.

Court Ruling Threatens Virtual Schools
Last Edited: Thursday, 17 Jan 2008, 6:58 PM CST
Created: Thursday, 17 Jan 2008, 6:58 PM CST
Credit: MyFox
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer

CROSS PLAINS, Wis. — Seventh-grader Marcy Thompson cried when she heard that a court had ordered the state to stop funding the virtual school she has attended for the last five years.

<snip>

The ruling, the first of its kind in the U.S., placed the Wisconsin Virtual Academy at the center of a national policy debate after critics raised a key question: Do virtual schools amount to little more than home schooling at taxpayer expense?

<snip>Virtual schools generally require parents to lead daily lessons. Licensed teachers monitor students’ progress through e-mails, online classes and tutoring.

But students do not spend their whole day in front of a computer. Marcy does homework, takes interactive online lessons about once a week and is a member of a math club that meets in person.

Last month, the appeals court ordered the state to stop funding the academy, ruling that parents were the primary educators — a violation of a state law requiring public school teachers to be licensed.

<snip>

Her mother, Julie Thompson, said learning from home is a better option for her daughter because she is easily distracted. Marcy agrees and says she prefers the online interaction with teachers and students to the isolation of home schooling.

I value truth in advertising and I appreciate them setting the record straight, but they would have done us all a favor had they marketed these schools as a new form of public school to begin with and NOT as home education reform.

Posted by Mary Nix

This article, like one of the comments in it concerning transcripts from homeschooled college applicants, is “here, there and everywhere.” While the article does not demean homeschooled applicants, the conclusions reflect ‘what everyone knows’ when that knowledge is a view through school-colored glasses rather than a realistic look at the everyday children who learn outside of school.

Home Schooled Students Rise in Supply and Demand, 7 October 2007, The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required).