New Jersey’s Courier-Post published a lengthy article covering homeschooling issues in NJ and across the country.Two nationally known entities in and out of the homeschool community were quoted, even as many consider Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and Stanford University’s Political Science Professor Reich notorious, outlying elements from both ends of the political spectrum.   Professor Reich displays continuous irritation with homeschoolers’ educational and family freedoms and it was forked out again in the Courier-Post.  HSLDA lauds standardized testing results, while high-stakes testing is currently raising its ugly head in federal Common Core/Race to the Top/No Child Left Behind invasions.

I appreciated the parents’ reflections in the article.

Medford mom: ‘I do not think home educators should be regulated, ever’- written by Phil Dunn

Rosemary Laberee of Medford has been a home­schooling mother for the last 14 years.

“I do not think home educators should be regulated, ever,” said Laberee, whose four children are now 19, 16, 13 and 10.

“We have proven ourselves.”

There are experts, however, who disagree. They say there should be oversight for parents who choose to educate their own children. (more…)

Chicago Senator Maloney introduced a bill two years ago that would require homeschool registration with the Illinois State Board of Education.  Even after an estimated 4,000 homeschoolers showed up at the Capitol for an informational only hearing on this bill, Senator Maloney had a hard time letting the bill finally go.  After hearing Senate Education Vice-Chair Lightford’s interview responses related to her bill lowering the compulsory attendance age, I don’t think the super-majority party is done with homeschoolers yet.

The Illinois homeschooling community thought we sent a clear and fair message we did not want our freedoms tampered with, we were obviously doing just fine in educating our children. The public school system should correct their gulf of educational failure, rather than worrying about any perceived cracks in parent-directed educations.

Below is what Senator Lightford said in the WTTW interview in the last minute.  They were talking about the fiscal report for her bill and the interview somehow drifted to Colorado and homeschooling:

Senator Lightford – we can’t assume all children are going to attend a public school, some may go to private school, some may stay home as homeschoolers. So that the range is so huge there, I have no way of giving you an exact number, but the state board is working on the [fiscal] impact.

Lipkin – In Colorado when they tried to lower the age to 5, they had a compromise at age 6  because there were objections from some parents who homeschool their children. Is there a potential impact of this legislation on people who choose to homeschool their children?

Senator Lightford – No, not at all. In fact homeschoolers aren’t even required to register their kids today so I can’t see what their argument would be in having to register their children at 5 when they don’t have to register their kids anyway. So I’m trying to understand  the opposition.…maybe Colorado  had on their books that the kids had to be registered. In the state our kids are not, which is another area I think deserves some tweaking.

Illinois homeschoolers can provide all the finishing touches to their children’s education without legislative tweaking. We know our rights and responsibilities, as laid out in the compulsory attendance exemption for private schools.  Senator Lightford was interviewed by an Oak Park media source six years ago. She was the Senate Education Chair at the time. Below are her concerns about homeschoolers not answering to the state.  Remember Senator Lightford seems to be somewhat oblivious to education issues, such as the compulsory attendance age in Illinois:

“I would have assumed to some degree that we had accountability over how many home schoolers there were, where they were located, and that they would be tested,” Lightford said.

She was so surprised that she said she is planning to delve deeper into the issue.

“I’m glad you sparked this,” Lightford said. “You just really put me into a situation where I’d be interested in looking at legislation.

“So you don’t even know your child’s aptitude or ability or where they are? At what level?” she asked, still sounding astonished. “That’s scary.”

We’re not scary. Chicago’s high school dropout rate is scary.  Let’s focus. Makes sense that our legislators’ focus should not be on homeschoolers.

Illinois House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee Chair and Representative Chapa-LaVia was quoted mentioning homeschoolers in this Chicago Tribune article:

State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, who is forming a top-level task force to address Chicago’s K-8 truancy and absenteeism, told the Tribune that she strongly supports lowering Illinois’ compulsory attendance age, although she could consider carving out an exemption for families who are home-schooling.

Homeschoolers don’t need an exemption carved out any more than any other private school.  We’re exempt from the compulsory attendance statute Senator Lightford found surprising.  If they’re trying to appease us, it’s not working with these little tweaks from our lawmakers.

Two years ago, Dana Loesch interviewed (now retired) Senator Maloney and this response was also in the last minutes.

Dana Loesch – Will this legislation go away?

Senator Maloney – SB 136 has gone away. We will have a discussion relative to, primarily the truancy issue and how we can identify that and with all parties involved and hopefully we can come up some way, some, fashioning some sort of legislation that will be able to identify those students without invading anybody’s privacy.

Fashioning legislation for a problem that doesn’t exist would be unfortunate.

February 15, 2011 Senate Education Hearing led by Vice-Chair Senator Kimberly Lightford. Senator Luechtefeld was questioning Wm. Reynolds, truant officer,  about the prospects of Illinois homeschool registration and a truant officer’s role in this registration process.

Senator Luechtefeld [Senate Education Committee Minority Spokesman] - We will, presently, go out and with these kids you maybe know are not being schooled, and I’m sure that happens, you say you can’t do anything as soon as they say they’re homeschooling. Now with, now explain to me how it would change if they were just registered. You still wouldn’t be able to do anything. Am I right about that? Would things change?

Truant Officer – Well, I’m not sure. Mr. Woodruff (HSLDA attorney) has given me enough case law that indicates that in Illinois, I can in some cases.

Senator Luechtefeld -  But you could even now, am I right?

Truant Officer –  And I believe that’s true, Senator. I believe that’s true.

Senator Luechtefeld - Yeah, my question is, “How does registering change that?” I agree there are some abuses but I’m concerned about how things would be different for you because if you see these kids on the street day after day after day, you probably can do something even if they say they’re home schoolers. How would it change if they’re registered?

Truant Officer –  It would give me access to the ones that I don’t see on the street that I don’t get a police report on, that I don’t get a phone call from their neighbor indicating that they’re not going to school. At least I’ll have a wider range of…

Senator Luechtefeld - And then you would go to their home and check on them?

Truant Officer - I would go to the home and offer my help.

Senator Luechtefeld - But you don’t know they need help because you said you’ve not seen them. No one’s reported them.

Truant Officer - Well if they register then I think I have the obligation to see if I can help them.

Senator Luechtefeld - So are you going to go into any…any person who registers, will you be going then into the home? To go by and say, “Can I help?”

Truant Officer - Yes, sir.

Senator Luechtefeld - Even the people who are doing the really good job? Because you don’t know ahead of time which one…

Truant Officer - That’s exactly right. And I’ll know very quickly as I knock on the door…the ones who are doing a great job won’t let me go. They want me to come in. The ones that say, “We don’t want you around…” well, we might need to take some other action.

Senator Luechtefeld - I guess I don’t see…maybe someone else here could say to me how this changes things. Other than the fact that they’re registered.

Truant Officer – It would give me the names and the opportunity.

Senator Luechtefeld – I see.

Truancy concerns, adding two more years to the (failing) school system and then, homeschooling pops into the picture again.  Homeschoolers have long memories, will do what is necessary to protect their family freedoms and lifestyle, certainly considering a trip to the state Capitol an ideal civics lesson.  We’d rather not do this because our legislators are giving us problems, but I bet we could top 4,000.  Next time, we need a much larger room in our Capitol building.  They surely would want this lesson in view for our homeschooled children, their future constituents.  Let’s hope there isn’t a next time.

 We were hoping that 2 years ago.

Here’s a headline below on a subject I’ve always found puzzling, while some of our state representatives seem to find the focus irresistible (or possibly diverting from real problems):

Rep. Woodrow Stanley, D-Flint, looks to crack down on homeschool truancy

MLive By Blake Thorne

State law does not require annual registration of home school students.

“Kids must be in school in order to learn,” Stanley said in a news release. “This bill requires parents to report their child’s attendance records, giving home schools the same standards as public schools. Passing this bill is a no-brainer, it’s necessary for Michigan students.”

Reporting attendance records and personal information to the Education Department might offer the same lack of privacy public school students have, but I doubt education standards correlate. Passing this bill is a no-brainer if you’re trying to increase the public school reach into private schools.  That notion doesn’t seem appropriate if families are paying for the private schools/homeschools and do not need to answer to their public servants. Homeschoolers answer to their families and that requires high accountability standards.

Seems like HB 4250 – registration of Michigan homeschooolers with the Education Department – is the least necessary component in the current condition of public schools, including Michigan’s.  The public school truancy problem should be resolved with the tax-funded truancy officers.  Not being in Michigan, maybe I’m missing the news about gangs of homeschoolers running amuck on the streets.

It doesn’t seem like a problem to solve.

A Lincoln, Nebraska Journal Star article had me exasperated at first.  Starting with the title:  Home schooling: Making your house work as a classroom, too By Linda Ulrich. Our houses are not schools.  They are homes.  Some homeschooling families do have a school-like set up.  In my experience, most do not find that suitable for their family.

But, after reading about the 3 Nebraska homeschooling families’ home environment, one mom, Jennifer Geaghan, described home life well:

“I have really tried to make our home school area be free flowing and incorporated into our daily lives as much as possible,” she said. “A lot of our supplies are also what you use in the daily life of a family.”

Another mom had the practical aspects of living and learning at home figured out before my husband and  I did when we took our kids out of the school.  We bought the old school desks and chairs which sat unused, while our couches and the floor
became the prime spot for reading, drawing, playing music and writing.

Jessica Freeman, another home-schooling mom, says it’s not necessary to buy special furniture for a home school.

“We would never spend money on extra furnishings for home schooling when there are perfectly good kitchen tables and chairs, comfy couches and floors available for use. We need lots of storage in this house for our things and our collection of books, but we would need that anyway,” she said.

Jessica Freeman also noted this below.  Despite the article’s title, the houses were described as family homes lived in day in and day out.

Freeman said she feels sad when she sees “the general public having such a narrow view of home schooling, when people think that the only way to learn is to import desks and dedicate a special room so that children can sit there every day and ‘do school.’

“Life is so much more interesting than that, and home schooling is wonderful because it gives a family a chance to really experience life and learning in its own style,” she said.

So much coverage of the horrific events in Newtown made our house quiet from television noise. We couldn’t bear to watch.  One story on Facebook about the brave teachers and helpless little ones caught me.  I could only repeat it to my husband in tears. There has been  much unapologetic mis-information in the news media.  Some of the news coming out reported the killer was homeschooled.  The previous lack of facts in the 24 hour news cycle wasn’t an appealing reason to post anything here. Besides respectful sympathy seemed proper in silence and prayer.

Then a homeschooling mom who knows Newtown posted her beloved hometown reflections. That seems fitting.

An excerpt below from Simple Homeschool‘s Jamie Martin about the community that offered them a warm welcome:

Newtown as I know it

I fell in love with this small town over two years ago. My kids attended a week-long summer camp here. After dropping them off I would wander–finding a place to write or take a walk–until time to pick them up again. Driving these country roads birthed a new dream for my family–a different type of life that would include fields and farms, refuge and freedom.

A safe place for my children to love, learn, and grow.

It has been that–and much more. You could say that Newtown was the answer to our prayers.

Purcellville, Virginia is in a tizzy this week.  The Loudon Times, New York Magazine and the Washington Post are addressing the question of whether homosexuality exists at the Patrick Henry College.  The law of proportions says it’s certainly possible and  former PHC students confirm their existence.  From the Loudon Times:

Gay students at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville don’t exist. They can’t exist.

So says Dr. Michael Farris, the college’s founder and chancellor.

It’s simple, really. Homosexuals can’t exist at Patrick Henry College because the students sign an honor code, Farris claimed.

“[Homosexuals] could not sign our honor code,” Farris said, adding that he considers the actions of gay men and women “sinful.”

“Part of the honor code is to be sexually pure,” he added.

Even though I’m out on the farm in central Illinois, there is some familiarity with that particular community’s name in northern Virginia.  The national and even local media seem drawn to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) based in Purcellville. Oddly, that attraction exists despite many state and local homeschool groups with deep homeschooling wherewithal advocating in our communities. There have been many Home School Legal Defense E-Lerts from the east coast sent to our inboxes concerning various issues.  Some HSLDA concerns, such as raising or lowering compulsory attendance ages, daytime curfews, and of course changes to state or federal homeschool law or statutes already have the attention of local homeschooling groups. Sometimes HSLDA positions seem contrary to the local issues.

But many of HSLDA’s worries make our homeschool community squirm. Recently, the chair, Michael Farris, was interviewed by CNN‘s Anderson Cooper regarding the Senate defeat of the UN Treaty for the Rights of the Disabled.  It is true many homeschoolers don’t support the treaty’s ratification, even as many other homeschoolers did support it.  We are that diverse.  But whichever side a homeschooler took, the notion of Michael Farris front and center as our self-proclaimed homeschool representative was difficult for many to watch.  In my state, for example, a HSLDA attorney confirmed actual Illinois members were estimated in the 5% range of all Illinois homeschoolers.

Many homeschool advocates discovered this particular and continuous discrepancy too, as pointed out by New York Magazine:

One of the bloggers, who goes by Kate Kane, told Daily Intel this afternoon, “Despite the college’s claims that they foster open dialogue on tough issues, their first response on this has been to attempt to bully and censor us through the misapplication of copyright and trademark laws. We find that incredibly disappointing.”

HSLDA will not post all state and local homeschool organizations on their website.  It’s their right, but the view only shows a certain sub-category of homeschoolers, rather than our rich tapestry of families from all walks of life. The HSLDA organization and their various associations don’t actually engage with most of our nation’s homeschoolers.

In this particular blowup, I would say the administrative staff at Patrick Henry College are surely squirming too.  In this case, you would think no publicity would have to be better than this sort of publicity.

As for the QueerPHC bloggers, this is what they seek, as reported by Trevor Baratko at Loudon Times:

“I remain hopeful for the possibility of more positive interactions with [administration] in the future,” Scott said. “I look forward to when it is possible to have mature, open, honest and loving conversation about LGBTQ issues at PHC without students or alumni experiencing fear of reprisal, rejection, or shaming.”

Student ordered to continue home schooling - WOWK

Despite WOWK‘s headline proclaiming this is a homeschooling issue, the Randolph County Board of Education is actually in charge of this teenager’s education with homebound instruction.

A West Virginia family is refusing the state required vaccinations, as the father seeks a religious exemption.  According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, West Virginia and Mississippi are the two states not allowing a religious or philisophical exemption from some or all mandated vaccinations. (Medical exemptions are allowed in all states.)

From WOWK:

This year the state mandated all students entering seventh and twelfth grades to receive certain vaccinations.

Olivia Hudok and father Phil sued the school board in September, seeking a religious exemption that would let Olivia resume classes at the Pickens School.

An interesting aside to this situation is that vaccination/records have been used in Illinois in attempts to restrict homeschooling freedoms.  This issue been used against homeschoolers elsewhere too.

Courtland Milloy penned a January, 2007 article in the Washington Post: Force Is Not the Only Way to Administer a Vaccine . One of his points below hits home in this West Virginia situation:

All child vaccinations in New Hampshire are voluntary. The state doesn’t kick girls out of school because they didn’t get a vaccine. It understands that parents can become overwhelmed and need encouragement — not just threats and kicks in the butt. And as a result, the state has one of the highest rates of child immunization in the nation.

The venerable New York Times Magazine published an article on November 8, 2011 titled My Parents Were Home-Schooling Anarchists, by Margaret Heidenry:

“Tired of the constraints of the 40-hour workweek, my father, in 1972, quit his job in publishing. My parents were in their early 30s, and they had four children under 7. ‘But we still wanted to explore the world,’ my father recalled recently. They bought six one-way tickets to Europe, leaving only a laughable $3,000 to subsist on. Young and idealistic, they thought they could easily educate us along the way. ‘Life itself would become a portable classroom.’”

Margaret explains how for the next four years they “embarked on an uncharted ‘free-form existence,’ traveling through Spain, England, a Midwestern farm, Mexico, and finally settled in St. Louis. She details how her parents stretched their budget to allow for the far-flung classrooms, and writes of the family adventure, “…my parents were consistently inconsistent. There were a few interludes of standardized education, but for the most part, as my mother would later write in this magazine, ‘during all this time, the children traveled with us and received nothing that remotely resembled formal schooling.’”

“Home Is Where the School Is,” published in the Oct. 19, 1975, issue of The New York Times Magazine, was the first article in a national publication to espouse what was then still a fringe educational choice.

Read Margaret Heidenry’s entire article at the link above.

After just a few months of college – in which he enrolled after spending his middle and high school years unschooling – Dale J. Stephens, 19, left school. Based on his conviction that college is not necessary for success and fulfillment, he founded an organization called UnCollege, which promotes ways that young people can “hack their education” by finding individualized paths to self-directed learning. A Thiel fellowship recipient, he is currently writing a book for Penguin called Hacking Your Education and traveling extensively on speaking engagements.

In a guest post for The New York Times, Mr. Stephens explains his belief that any student at any level, even those in traditional education environments, can take charge of their learning:

“Why did I make trouble? Going along with the program seems pretty sweet. I could have written papers, skipped class and partied until dawn. After four years as a college student, I would have had many friends, a good job and letters after my name. But I left college because I realized I couldn’t rely on a university to give me an education.”

Read the entire article at the link above.

Court Case Home Education Magazine – Helen, Idoni.

Based on a short news item posted at the Home Education Magazine website in August, 2010, publisher Helen Hegener is involved in a lawsuit which was filed against homeschooling mother Heather Idoni, owner of Beloved Books, editor of The Homeschool Notebook, and manager of EasyFunSchool.com, brought against her by Mimi Rothschild, Howard Mandel, and Learning by Grace, Inc.

As part of Home Education Magazine’s 28-year-long commitment to keeping the homeschool community informed, the files and information on Learning By Grace, Inc. et al. v. Idoni are presented at this case-specific page.

Comments on the case are welcome, but Learning By Grace, Inc., et al. v. Idoni is an active defamation suit. Be truthful, respectful and please don’t spam.

No links or email addresses are allowed here do to legal issues. All comment links are no follow.