New program, possible name change for Iowa Street School, 3 January 2008, Village News Network, Fallbrook, California

In March, parents of home-schooled students in San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties will be able to enroll their K-8 children in a new Fallbrook Union Elementary School District (FUESD) alternative core program in language arts, math, science and social studies.

Now why would a program be restricted to homeschooled kids? If public school kids wanted to do public-school-at-home, couldn’t they switch? Ditto for privately-schooled kids?

The idea that ‘homeschoolers’ constitute a separate … division? caste? cohort? … of children is fictitious. Kids is kids.

posted by Valerie

My newsfeed sent me several articles today about two public virtual academies, one in Texas and one in Colorado. I know families that use the same public k12, Inc. program in my state and love it, but they understand it is public school at home. I have found that these days, most families that use these programs do understand that their child is enrolled in public school, but I’m always interested to see whether the media and the schools themselves portray these as homeschooling or public school?

When I read this article, Texas Virtual Academy lets kids attend public school online, by Karen Ayres Smith, I was happy to see she got the details correct when I read:

The program looks a lot like home-schooling, but it carries far more requirements: Professional teachers monitor students’ attendance and academic progress every day. The students must also pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests.

I can’t speak for Texans, but I did want to offer a few of the rights and responsibilities accompanying the school for those Texans who may be interested in enrolling their child in the program.

The Texas Virtual Academy@Southwest does explain it well here:

What does it cost to attend the Texas Virtual Academy@Southwest?

As a public charter school program, there is no tuition. TXVA@Southwest loans students a computer system and provides all instructional materials for the program. However, students and families will be responsible for providing some consumable materials (such as printer ink and paper).
What tests are required as part of the program?

TXVA@Southwest’s student assessment includes:

* K12 lesson, unit, and semester assessments
* Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS)
* End-of-course exams prepared by a Texas universit

Also, here are the Texas Homeschool Laws and Regs from Home Education Magazine.

My newsfeed also sent along this article from Colorado about two working parents who have children enrolled in COVA.

Work-homeschool balance
Some families find time to educate kids while both parents pursue their careers
By Melanie M. Sidwell
Longmont Times-Call

In the 2005-06 school year, they enrolled their older son at a local charter public school, but the boy, because of his asthma, missed a lot of school days and did not thrive in class.

So last January, she opted to homeschool her son using an online public school out of Adams County called COVA, or Colorado Virtual Academy.

The article doesn’t clarify, but I’m glad to say that COVA does explain it well. This is from the FAQ section of their site:

MYTH: Virtual schools lack the required curriculum of public schools.

FACT: COVA is a public school that happens to operate outside of the traditional classroom. As public school students, your children will be expected to spend a certain amount of time each day engaged in schoolwork. They will also be required to take standardized tests mandated by the state of Colorado. K12′s curriculum was developed by experts to meet or exceed Colorado state standards and is the top-scoring virtual academy curriculum in the state.

Here are the Colorado Laws and Regs from Home Education Magazine

Perhaps the law now requires it, or perhaps schools are learning honesty is the best policy, but I am encouraged to see some reporters and these two schools offering accurate information that will help to empower parents.

Posted by Mary Nix

Henry Cate posted a link to a report on the Edwards family homeschooling on the campaign train. Readers at Henry’s blog, Why Homeschool, discussed the style of the Edwards family’s homeschooling.

Elizabeth Edwards on homeschooling

posted by Valerie

The following article is about the advantages of virtual schooling. As with other articles about virtual schools, the writer describes how the virtual school serves a variety of kids, not just those who are homeschooled. So why aren’t kids who were not homeschooled asked how the virtual schooling is superior to what they did before?

Strong delves into online learning, 8 November 2007, Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

Strong was home schooled from kindergarten to eighth grade, but began attending iQ last fall.

“We wanted to try something new for my high school years,” she said.

…

Melyssa belongs to the science club and yearbook, something she gets to take part in that she didn’t as a home school student.

She also gets to take different classes, like Latin, which her mom wouldn’t have been able to teach.

Many of iQ Academies’ students come from home schooling backgrounds or are involved in elite sports where flexible hours are necessary.

“We believed that there were a lot of students in the state of Wisconsin who weren’t being well-served by the traditional school system,” Diener said. “I just think that it’s really wonderful that we can offer families choices.”

Without getting too much into whether or not her mom could help Melyssa learn Latin (Artes Latinae, LivelyLatin.com, Princeton’s Classical Language Instruction Project, Winnie Ille Pu, Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis, Cattus Petasatus, Quomodo Invidiosulus Nomine Grinchus Christi Natalem Abrogaverit, and others), where are those other families being offered choices?

We know that the majority opinion is that ordinary parents cannot keep up with the educational big boys, hence the focus on former homeschoolers’ use of the virtual schools. But why are reporters depriving the other families of their 15-minutes of fame? Let’s hear how the virtual schools are superior to these families other choices — private and public schools.

posted by Valerie

It is interesting how the only person interviewed for the article was previously homeschooled.

Insight into a student’s life, 10 November 2007, Burnett County Sentinel, Grantsburg, Wisconsin

These students come from a variety of backgrounds and have chosen to enroll in the Insight School for a number of reasons.

Some chose Insight in order to access classes not available at their own school, others have selected it as an alternative to the home schooling in which they were engaged, and for some students with jobs, the freedom from the regular school day offers the flexibility needed to accommodate their busy lives.

For 15-year-old Emma Foss of Osceola, the decision to enroll in the Insight School was made as an alternative to the home schooling from which she had previously been learning.

No one can tell another person which experience is “better” because we all have our preferences, but this article’s focus seems to be this virtual public school’s superiority only over homeschooling.

“I think it’s better than home school because you get to interact with more people, and I think it’s better than public school because you’re not around all of the bad things that happen, but you still get to see what other peoples’ points of view are on things.”

posted by Valerie

Private company could cash in on online charter school, 6 October 2007, Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah’s first virtual charter school will mean big opportunities for students and big profit potential for a private company.

K12, a Virginia-based education company, will manage Utah Virtual Academy. In return, it will receive a larger percentage of the Utah charter school’s revenue than it does for schools it operates in several neighboring states, a review of contracts by The Salt Lake Tribune shows.

…

Like all charter schools, Utah Virtual Academy receives state funding based on the number of students it enrolls. The state’s per pupil spending has been the lowest in the nation since 1988.

Because Utah spends so little, Lori Harmon, one of new charter school’s founders, believes Utah Virtual Academy is justified in giving K12 a higher percentage of its budget to match what schools pay in other states.

“I’m not discounting it’s a lot of money,” she said. “I just think you get what you pay for.”

This article about virtual charter expansion by K12 arrived in my inbox because the last paragraph has the words “home school” in it.

Harmon says K12 has helped her children make far more progress than they did with her as their home school teacher. “I cannot rave enough about it,” she said.

Other articles about Utah’s adding to K12′s coffers are:

• K Inc. to Provide Curriculum and School Services to the New Utah Virtual Academy, K Inc., 13 September 2007
• Online Charter School Approved for 2008, 11 September 2007, KCPW radio

The people who are thrilled about avoiding all that hard work concerning homeschooling weren’t the only ones who noticed the new contract.

• Outrages, Susan Ohanian Speaks Out
  Ohanian Comment: One can wonder when a reporter–or anybody involved in spending all this money–will bother to take a look at the curriculum. In research for the Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU) at Arizona State University, I have looked at the K12 curriculum and Gerald Bracey has studied the structure of Knowledge Universe, which owns K12. … The company showed a profit of $3.9 million in 2007. Maybe you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, but K12 proves you can fool enough to make a tidy profit.
  (links at site)

posted by Valerie

Budget hampers home-schoolers, 3 October 2007, El Defensor Chieftain, Socorro, New Mexico

At the Sept. 25 meeting, the Socorro Consolidated Schools Board of Education heard several home schooling mothers speak about the Independent Distance Education Academy of New Mexico. Some local home schooling parents had approached Superintendent Cheryl Wilson about starting the program in Socorro this year.

…

The state would provide the district with funds for each student, and the home schooling families would receive an allotment for educational materials without religious messages. The parents would report progress to the district, and their children would contribute to the school system’s Adequate Yearly Progress scores.

…

One teacher could supervise 100 home school students by meeting with parents periodically.

…

The IDEA program requires approved curriculum, meaning the school board would have to review the material the home school families used.

The Wild and Free Pigs of the Okefenokee Swamp

Another old fellow said, “Look at the cuts on me; look at my arm bit off! Those pigs have been free since the Revolution, eating snakes and rooting out roots and fending for themselves for over a hundred years. They’re wild and they’re dangerous. You can’t trap them. No man dare go into the swamp by himself.”

…

On the days I didn’t feed them the pigs still gathered in the clearing. They squealed, and they grunted, and they begged and pleaded with me to feed them. But I only fed them every other day. And I put a second rail around the posts. Now the pigs became more and more desperate for food. Because now they were no longer used to going out and digging their own roots and finding their own food. They now needed me. They needed my corn every other day. So I trained them that I would feed them every day if they came in through a gate. And I put up a third rail around the fence. But it was still no great threat to their freedom, because there were several gates and they could run in and out at will.”

“Finally I put up the fourth rail. Then I closed all the gates but one, and I fed them very, very well. Yesterday I closed the last gate. And today I need you to help me take these pigs to market.”

The story is a fable, but the hogs are real.

posted by Valerie

Birchwood opens new school facility, 19 September 2007, Spooner Advocate – Spooner, Wisconsin

“We are waiting on table and chairs,” she said. Ahlberg said for the moment she does not need them because the eight students in the charter school, from kindergarten to seventh grade, are at home being taught by their parents in a home-school environment.

Birchwood’s charter school, said Ahlberg, merges the best of home-schooling and public education. Most of the time the students are home-taught using ABEKA curriculum. They go to the classroom for scheduled activities, lessons in the classroom, and tutoring.

Even though the students in the new charter school are mostly home-schooled, because they are using district-purchased curriculum and participate in classroom activity, they are registered students and are able to participate in all available sports and extra-curriculum activities.

Abeka catalog

Excellence in Education from a Christian Perspective

posted by Valerie

Sun Report, 24 September 2007, ABC2 News, Baltimore, Maryland

The Baltimore County school system plans to test a full-time, online school, providing certified teachers and Web-based lesson plans for free, starting this week with home-schooled students.

…

“There’s a tremendous incentive to co-opt the home-school movement,” said [Manfred Smith, president of the Maryland Home Education Association], who estimates the state has betweeen 25,000 and 30,000 home-schooled children. “This is about seeing an increase in the number of kids beginning to leave the public school system for home-schooling and to keep them attached to the school system.”

The children would be considered to be public school students and would be expected to take all statewide standardized tests – and would presumably count toward the enrollment figures used to determine federal aid to the school system, which could help pay for Connections Academys program.

Mickey Revenaugh, vice-president of state relations for Connections Academy, said the company generally charges about $5,500 to $6,000 per child. The price would have to be negotiated if the school system decides to adopt the program after the pilot phase.

posted by Valerie

How long before toddlers and young children are “recaptured” for preschool programs?

HIPPY program enrolls first family, 13 September 2007, The Thomasville Times, Thomasville, Alabama

HIPPY Coordinator Jane Sellers, visited the family recently to meet them and complete the necessary paperwork to officially begin the recruitment process of families for the HIPPY Program in Clarke County.

HIPPY is a home-based, school readiness program for 3 and 4 year old preschoolers. The county-wide program is free to qualifying families and seeks to serve 70 families in Clarke County during the 2007- 2008 program. Mrs. Sellers will be making home visits with families in all the communities during the month of September.

Calling young children “preschoolers” casts their lives in terms of school instead of as childhood. Can you imagine Christopher Robin being called a preschooler? Heaven help us if there is a Hundred Acre Wood Preschool someplace. I’m almost afraid to Google it.

Ignorance is bliss.

posted by Valerie