Washington’s KEPR posted an article and video with the focus on retaining school district money.  KEPR covers the Tri-City area of Kennewick, Richland and Pasco.

The reporter said: “Kennewick and Richland have homeschooling programs that keep money coming into the district and that is Homelink and the Mid-Columbia Partnership.“ Homelink and Mid-Columbia Partnership are both public school at home programs.

Homeschooling takes off in Pasco by Abby Acone

TRI-CITIES – Taking your child’s education to the home. KEPR learned more parents in Pasco are choosing to homeschool their children. It’s a choice with two sides — individualized education for a child and the possibility of pulled funding for our districts.

Perspective is everything, as one could say homeschoolers save taxpayers money. That is not KEPR‘s perspective:

Local districts offer alternative schooling for families that don’t want to homeschool fully. These include Three Rivers HomeLink and the Mid-Columbia Partnership. Carrie DeForest leads MCP based in Kennewick.

“If their child is stuck on a concept or is not quite mastered a skill, then that”s why we meet with a certified teacher to help give ideas,” said MCP Principal Carrie DeForest.

She says the program allows students to individualize their education with those certified teachers — offering even more options. Because of this — money still comes into the districts to support a child’s education.

For sure, certified teachers cost money.  Traditional homeschoolers pay for their own resources.  Homeschoolers seem to have great educational success, even though they might not keep that money rolling into school districts.  Seems like KEPR forgot a school district’s purpose.

Utah Online School, formerly named Washington Online, hosted a World Block Party at the local community center that sounded like great fun on Earth Day.

Here’s the header from the Cache Valley Daily:
Online homeschoolers hosting World Block Party

These are great activities, not only for fun and learning, but they help build relationships in our homeschool community.” Taylor adds, “Some of what we’ve done, we’ve only been able to invite UOS students due to limited spacing. We’re very excited to open the World Block Party up to everyone – anyone who is currently homeschooling, anyone who is thinking about it, and everyone in the community who would like to come have fun and learn with us.”

Homeschooling is a trend on the rise nationally and in Utah.

One might ask why I’m pointing out a Virtual Public School gathering on a homeschool website.  I thought it important to observe the article did not mention these families are in a public school, without the independence of traditional homeschooling.  But yet, the benefits of homeschooling are scattered throughout the article.

Some families gain from participation in these virtual public schools.  Of course, there are benefits to independent homeschoolers.  Clarity and transparency are key motivations for educational success, along with media responsibility.

There is an Illinois issue being watched with caution regarding virtual schools.  The language currently used by the Chicago Virtual Charter School is disturbing and unfortunately, not unusual to homeschool advocates across the country.  

Here is CVCS‘s description summarization on their website.

The National Charter School Watch discussion group (NCSW) is assessing the state of things six years after its founding by homeschooling mom Annette Jurczak in June, 2004. The group’s description explains in part:

We welcome those seeking information about charter school issues in their states and nationally, as well as those sharing information about charter schools. Objective discussion focused on the *issues* at hand and in the service of better understanding these issues, is welcome.

The discussion group’s membership consists of charter schoolers, virtual schoolers, homeschoolers and advocates of homeschooling. Annette posted on July 11:

“Much time has passed since this group was started, and much has changed over the years. So what are your thoughts? What have you learned as it relates to hsing and ps at home programs over the years? Do you think hsing is being negatively impacted? Do you think there has been any loss of homeschooling freedoms? Have your attitudes and opinions changed and if so, how?”

Join the group at the link above and join the discussion beginning with Annette’s July 11 post.

Interesting article about homeschool numbers and factors in homeschooling, from Oregon:

Douglas County boasted 727 homeschoolers last year, according to the Douglas Education Service District, which serves as a checkpoint for families registering each child’s exit from a school district.

After a boom several years ago, the number of students in homeschooling locally has plateaued, Shirley Pasley, the Douglas ESD’s secretary of student achievement, said Friday.

“It’s been pretty stable for a while,” she said. “Basically, it’s those parents that are going to continue doing it … there are some that do it for a while and then realize it’s pretty tough.”

Homeschool parents say each family has been affected differently by the economic downturn. Some have had to end their homeschooling as mothers returned to the job force to supplement the family income.

The county had the eighth-largest homeschool population in Oregon in 2008-09, according to the Oregon Department of Education. The ODE reported 19,070 students registered as homeschoolers that year.

Read the rest of this lengthy article at the link above

Keeping an eye on the cyber charter schools vs. public school debate I found this piece from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Southmoreland superintendent still questions cyber school costs.

The reason to watch this? Read the title in your browser window from this page.

Most reader know I have strong opinions about how the term ‘homeschooling’ is used – it is a matter of maintaining our distinctiveness. This piece from the Little Rock Homeschooling Examiner fumbles around with ‘homeschooling.’

The Arkansas Virtual Academy, located in Little Rock, is accepting lottery applications for the 2010-2011 school year.

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This is a huge benefit as local school districts are not mandated to provide services to homeschool children.

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Students do the learning at home, but it is rigid and inflexible like a number of traditional public schools.

To the writers credit, she does explain the ARVA’s “downfalls.” However, why not just say that enrolling in a public school is just that – public schooling?

Source.

According to the Quad City Times the compromise that divvies up money for Iowa’s public school Home School Assistance Programs works out well for all involved:

An amendment attached to Senate File 2288 narrows some of the uses of taxpayer dollars for home-school assistance programs, while providing for certain clerical and office support, resource materials such as computer hardware and software and transportation for education-related field trips.

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Sen. Becky Schmitz, D-Fairfield, one of the architects of the compromise, said the intended outcome would be continued quality programs for families enrolled in a public school Home School Assistance Program.

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Kalona resident and home-school teacher Andrea Farrier said negotiations appeared to arrive at “a workable compromise.”

“It’s not perfect, but it definitely will help,” said Farrier, a lobbyist for the Iowa Home School Assistance Program Professionals.

You can read the entire piece here.

This article from Wenatchee WA about school funding uses the term ‘homeschool’ very loosely.

The enrollment war is troublesome for districts trying to plan their yearly budgets. Methow Valley School District started the year with a $60,000 deficit because 15 homeschool families unexpectedly transferred out, said Superintendent Mark Wenzel.

The school district offered its homeschool students local support and oversight from teachers, plus a $300 stipend for curriculum materials. An online provider out-bid the district with a $2,200 a year stipend. About half of Methow Valley’s homeschool population transferred out.

Homeschoolers save the state and taxpayers money.

If you are interested in school funding woes in the face of online schools read about it here.

If you want to understand while I harp on ‘public-school-at-home’ being misrepresented as ‘homeschooling’, read that here.

An article in favor of tax payer support for Iowa’s HASPs:

There has been a lot of misinformation in the news lately, raising questions about what taxpayers “should” be paying for. Let me set the record straight: HSAPs use tax dollars to pay for the public school teachers who assist families. The money does not go to religious materials or instruction (though parents are free to pursue religious education at home with materials they purchase). The money is not given to families. The money does not come at the cost of regularly-enrolled students.

A longer view on public school programs.