Home school in the Willamette Valley
By Therese ONeill WillametteLive

If there remains one way to shock friends and family in an open-minded 21st century society, it is to tell them that you are considering home-schooling your children.

Home education is a burdened concept, calling to mind the odd classmate from high school that couldn’t make eye contact or the family at the library that dress like pioneers.

I thought we were a little past home education being “shocking”. High school students not making eye contact?  That might be considered a burdened concept regarding “peer pressures, school pressures…“.

This is an interesting explanation that I like:

Hilda Rosselli, Ph.D., is the Dean of the College of Education at Western Oregon University, the foremost teaching college in the state. She sees in the surge of home schooling as a connection between society becoming more individualized, and the growing dissatisfaction with a homogenized school system. If a family can choose precisely what they want to eat, the news they want to read, what they want to be entertained by, why shouldn’t they also expect customized education?

“While we know more now about students’ learning needs, whether they be diagnosed with autism or highly gifted, we still tend to find schools have changed in relatively small increments over the past 30 years,” Rosselli said. “This combined with the fact that more and more individuals are telecommuting, there is increased flexibility for some parents to be at home and work while providing childcare and home schooling options.“

Parents choose this complicated path for their children for a number of reasons.

The beauty of homeschooling is the lack of complications and the fact that you are on your own schedule. A knotty timetable not of your choosing can be frustrating.  We’ve done public school and we’ve done homeschooling.  A homeschooling path is not complicated in comparison.

There’s always one of these charmers in the family or around the community.  (This one being an 18 year looooong public school teacher):

Alice. a Salem-area public high school teacher for 18 years, has taught many home school transfer students, and has six nieces and nephews who have been home schooled. Her opinions on home schooling, particularly in the area of isolationism, are strong.

“I’ll speak generally of it – understand that I realize there are exceptions. Home-schooled students who have been in my classes, generally speaking, show a lack of tolerance and understanding for the different people encountered in a public setting. This is true of my nieces and nephews as well,” she said. “If a home-schooling family has a quirk or is very strange, then the children, isolated from their peers, may develop problems that only get more difficult to solve the longer they are isolated. This is true if the child is abused or neglected as well.

We’ll just take Aunt Alice’s opinion for what it’s worth.  Wonder that she doesn’t see her 6 nieces and nephews too much?  Maybe her concept regarding lack of socialization hinges around her family and their avoidance factor (like the plague, I would think), along with choices about positive influences in children’s lives.  Hard to say, but I’m always skeptical about individuals and their intent while ‘outing’ family members like that.  (Her concurrence with the NEA anti-homeschooling/anti-parental choice resolution speaks volumes.)

Don’t ask Alice about “very dangerous” homeschooling.  Ask Dr. Rosselli, who does seem to have an open mind about education.

I thought this article below was interesting, in that it came from business media in Dubai.  But the piece covered a Maryland homeschooling family, and the usual (not necessarily accurate) rendition of  modern homeschool history.

Homeschooling goes from fringe to mainstream in US
Emirates Business 24/7 – June 25, 2009

At the height of the hippy culture in the 1960s, homeschooling enjoyed a renaissance as left-wingers seeking to buck the establishment taught their children themselves.

Christian conservatives were the next to embrace homeschooling, and “by 1990, 85 to 90 percent of all homeschoolers came from the ranks of the religious right,” Paul Petersen, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, wrote in Education Next, which he edits.

The number of home-schooled children soared by 29 percent between 1999 and 2003, from 850,000 to roughly 1.1 million, data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) show.

85-90%?!  That ‘statistic’ certainly wouldn’t have been known in a few populous states like Texas, Illinois, etc; as there would likely not be records via registration or notification.  Let alone that they are from the “religious right”.

I’d want to hear some thoughts from a trusted long-time homeschooler who took a stroll down Memory Lane.

If homeschoolers are ‘going mainstream’, as I’ve seen in so many recent articles, then maybe the media/interested parties have a different connotation to the word “mainstream“.  Maybe mainstream means back to school, in one form or another.

Following the article’s trail, I saw that Mr. Petersen has a piece in Education Next called:

The Home-Schooling Special
Today’s choicest choice

If the baby was born in hippieville, the toddler was soon kidnapped by Christian social conservatives. By 1990, 85 to 90 percent of all home schoolers came from the ranks of the Religious Right. Even Holt could not resist a Libertarian cry:

Some may feel that the schools teach a dog-eat-dog competitiveness; others that they teach a mealy-mouth Socialism…. What is important is not that all readers…should agree on these questions, but that we should…work for…the right of all people to take their children out of schools.

John Holt seemed on the right learning track wanting to work for the “right of all people to take their children out of schools“, if parents believe that would be the best for their child(ren).

As appealing as it might sound, I don’t agree with Mr. Petersen’s hope for legislators:  “State legislatures are likely to become increasingly accommodating toward a movement that saves them money. The day may come when we hear the phrase, “We are all home schoolers now. John Locke would be pleased “.
It’s not just about the money, but seems to increasingly be about the control, as well.  Being from Illinois, while observing other states’ and national budget busts, I don’t see many legislators particularly concerned with saving money.  If the government was minimally, or not involved in the educational process, then I imagine Locke would be pleased.  That doesn’t seem to be the trend.  That control and/or hunger for more body counts in the schools certainly seems to come up in various state legislative sessions, along with the encroachment of federal “home-school” legislation via special interests. That query will have to be responded to again and again.

Petersen points out intriguing thoughts from Locke (proponent of “natural rights“,  whose philosophy had a strong influence forming  the US Constitution) concerning socialization and schooling:

“what qualities are ordinarily to be got from…a troop of playfellows [at school]…usually assembled together from parents of all kinds.” Even if the teacher’s industry and skill “be ever so great, it can[not]…be expected that he should instruct them successfully in anything but their books.”

The Educational Writings of John Locke

In Locke’s home grounds, British homeschoolers now have to fend off potential legislation resulting from interested bureaucrats. As if homeschooling families didn’t have anything better to do.  Ironic, isn’t it?

From Roland Meighan’s Response to Graham Badman’s Review Report
(Meighan is Director of Educational Heretics Press )

(In contrast, the bad news about schools is located and reported almost daily, and a motive for some families is that home-based education provides a much safer environment than schools. The evidence supports them – exposure to knives, drugs, petty crime, alcohol, smoking, bullying etc., are school-based problems.) The forthcoming report by Professor Clive Harber on Toxic Schooling assembles some of the key evidence on this.

Families escape schools to avoid bullying, and the government agencies attempt to follow them into their homes to continue the emotional bullying.

Education Otherwise has other updates on their site about Badman’s Review:

Lord Lucas Asks for Comments

EO Rejects Calls for Monitoring and Registration

Yesterday Delyth Morgan, the Children’s Minister, said she accepted in full the “proportionate and reasonable” recommendations set out in Graham Badman’s Report.

However today Education Otherwise says that they reject the disproportionate and unreasonable recommendations as set out in the Review Report for compulsory registration and invasive monitoring.

Best wishes that this will ultimately benefit educational freedoms.  I bet John Locke would like that; educational heretic, mainstream, what have you.

Encouraging to read this piece about homeschooling in PA.

Home-schooling is not about staying at home, a misperception that makes many home-school parents roll their eyes. In fact, home-schooled children are usually out exploring the community, or attending classes designed for home-schoolers at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, the zoo, libraries or nature centers.

Home-schooling may not be for everyone, but Rachel Greene likes to place it in the realm of the possible.

“There is not anything special about us that make us able to learn on our own,” she said. “Every kid is able to do that.”

My daughter Sophia, the one who wears a princess dress to pick slugs out of the woodpile so she can feed them to the chickens, seemed content with Brian’s answer about meat. She was curious enough, too, to come out on the morning when Tom the butcher came to visit. We got an anatomy lesson right there, one we aren’t likely to forget.

Life’s most important lessons never end when you live on a farm Appeal-Democrat – Rose Godfrey

That quote in the header was from a Cook County (Chicago) Circuit Court summary judgment in favor of the Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS).   Why were they talking about homeschooling in a virtual school judgment?  This week, the Chicago Teachers Union lawsuit claiming Chicago Public School/IL State Board of Education authorization illegalities was dismissed.  The well financed union claimed that the Chicago Virtual Charter School was actually “home based” homeschooling.

It’s been an ugly row, and somehow the Illinois homeschooling name seemed to be in the middle of this issue.  Both of these parties (the Chicago public schools, along with the CTU President, Marilyn Stewart) talked a good bit about “home schooling”.

Virtual charter school can receive public funds Chi Town Daily News June 12, 2009
BY ADRIAN G. URIBARRI

Marilyn Stewart, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, says the difference was not enough to merit public funding. Since students of the virtual school spend most of their time learning at home, she says, they are essentially home-schooled.

“For someone to take public funds to home-school their children is not right,” she says. “It should not be on the backs of a majority of our students who are in our public schools.”

As I read the excerpt below, Judge Riley seems to have made a solid, factual decision based on Illinois charter school statutes:

From a K12 Business Wire:

The judgment ensures the continued lawful operation and funding of CVCS.

The Court concluded that the Plaintiffs arguments fail as a matter of law. The Court determined that CVCS is not a “home-based” school and therefore not in violation of charter school law, and that the school is in full compliance with the Illinois School Code.
In the ruling, the Court emphasized the differences between the model of instruction employed by CVCS and traditional home schooling, stating:
“Home schooling is a well-known and established means of education.While the form of home schools may vary, the underlying substance of the education is decided by a student’s parents.Home schools do not have to teach according to ISBE’s [Illinois State Board of Education’s] mandated curriculum, nor are the students required to take standardized tests to meet the State’s requirements for basic skills improvement.CVCS, however, is required to teach according to the ISBE curriculum.CVCS students must meet the State’s requirements of the No Child Left [Behind] Act.CVCS is subject to fiscal oversight by the ISBE and CBOE [Chicago Board of Education].And, unlike home-schooled students, CVCS students are graded by certified teachers.”

The Chi-Town Daily News quoted the CVCS head:

“There are differences between the way we do education and traditional home schooling,” says Bruce Law, head of the Chicago Virtual Charter School. “On that difference — that’s where we were making our case.”

In this case, it was necessary for them to show that their school is different from homeschooling.  K12 is providing the CVCS curriculum, and the Virginia based company is also lobbying in our state capitol for a state-wide virtual school.  In 2002, K12′s chair made this case below about his hope that independent homeschoolers would put up and shut up.  (Bennett was also the Reagan administration’s Secretary of Education):

How William Bennett’s Public E-Schools Affect Homeschooling-Larry and Susan Kaseman
November-December 2002

The major differences between Bennett’s goals and those of most homeschoolers can be seen clearly in Bennett’s comments during an interview by Mark Standriff on WSPD radio in Toledo, Ohio, August 16, 2002.

Standriff: What kind of opposition have you folks found?

Bennett: We found opposition from both sides of the political spectrum. Some of the homeschooling people have opposed us.
Standriff: Oh really, I would think this would be right in line with their thinking.
Bennett: Well it should be. Frankly, I’m disappointed. I’ve been defending homeschoolers for twenty years. But the principle I’m defending, Mark, is school choice, parental choice. The objection they have is that it shouldn’t be involved in public funding, at all. It shouldn’t be involved with government schools, as they say. But, I’m not prepared to relinquish $400 billion and just say, well never mind, this is not money that I’m entitled to. Parents are paying that money in taxes, they should have an option within the public school system that gives them a chance to educate their children at home, but be publicly accountable as all public schools should be.

The Chicago Public Schools attorney had this explanation in a 2006 Chicago Tribune article about the Chicago Virtual approval:

Illinois law states that charter schools must be “non-home based,” which the teacher’s union argued would restrict the state from approving the virtual school. State Supt. Randy Dunn recommended the board deny the virtual school’s application based on the law’s language. But board members and proponents of the virtual school said that charter school laws enacted in the 1990s did not anticipate the growth of technology that has made virtual schools possible. Rocks, the attorney for Chicago Public Schools, said the restrictions on”home-based” charter schools mushroomed from concerns that home schools were trying to become charter schools simply to get public dollars. He presented letters from state lawmakers who voted on Illinois’ charter school law, and said their intent was not to block Internet-based schooling.

The legislators might have been been worried that Illinois homeschoolers were looking at public monies, but I have seen little evidence of that.

The union voice from Ms. Stewart is harsh.  Chi-Town Daily News: Teachers union pans virtual classroom plan July 17, 2006
BY JENNIFER KOONS

“For them to think they can address the social and emotional issues of a child without being in the same room as that child is ludicrous,” Stewart said. “You can only adequately address these issues in a classroom where you have necessary peer support and peer interaction.”

Stewart expressed concern about a lack of interaction between students and educators.

“Qualified teachers are only providing 20 percent of the lessons,” Stewart said. “Who are the certified professionals who will supervising the students when they are off-line?”

She wasn’t done there.  The Southwest News Herald had a 2006 article (not available online) quoting her union concerns about children learning at home via the Chicago Virtual Charter School:

“How are students to model behavior with a computer screen,” said Stewart.

They’re in their home, dear.  The 8 year olds don’t need to model their behavior after the 8 year old in the next door desk.

But everything, including grading, she said, is being done virtually. And Stewart is unhappy that there is “no direct supervision.”

What, Stewart asked, if there are three or four children in a household enrolled in the virtual school? Are there going to be three or four parents watching the children?

“And who are these parents or guardians that are helping the children — their grandparent who barely speaks English, or a work-at-home parent?” asked Stewart.

She loves parents….I was feeling that.

That “S” word doesn’t seem to go away.  Socializing is a bit different than School Socialization.  Apparently, the Chicago Virtual families chose getting together in their community, as opposed to the same room as folks like Marilyn Stewart.

Choice to homeschool children not a matter of money, experts say Bloomington Pantagraph

By Phyllis Coulter

“I personally don’t know anyone who home-schools — or not — based on the economy,” said Shelly Nelson, coordinator of a homeschooling network in McLean County. “The economy plays little or no part in the decision to homeschool.”

Twin City school choices are more likely made on lifestyle, special needs, gifted children, faith and socialization, she said.

Across the country, experts say cost is seldom the deciding factor when homeschool and private school parents grapple with costs during a recession.

Who are the experts about deciding factors to homeschool, besides the families themselves?  But I agree with Shelly Nelson.  I don’t know anyone (yet), who is homeschooling because of the economy.

There was a Not for Everyone section about families that send their kids back to public school for socialization.

Comments are always interesting.

An AP article I’ve seen floating around several states’ media sources was also included in this edition:

Hard times enhance homeschooling’s appeal for some families
By David Crary
Associated Press

For frugal families, homeschooling can be a good fit. Used academic material is available at low cost; free research resources are on tap on the Internet and at libraries.

Michael Marcucci, of Middlebury, Conn., is president of the Connecticut Homeschool Network, which has about 1,500 member families — including 34 who signed up in January alone.

In Michigan, among the states hardest hit by recession, April Morris, 44, of Auburn Hills remains committed to homeschooling even though she’s now working full-time at Target — a job she started after her husband was laid off from his computer job.

On Sunday, CBS aired another program on homeschooling, this one less strident than the network’s last memorable foray into homeschooling reportage.

The ABCs Of Home Schooling, 14 September 2008, CBS News (video report with full-screen function at site)

Despite the change in CBS’s attitude towards homeschooling parents, the report still reflects an institutional-default as the reporter’s standpoint. Institutional touch points throughout the report are:

• walking a child to school
• mom being a teacher
• August
• implied necessity of institutional support
• statistics
• college as follow-on
• asking college employee about quality of schooling
• questions about parents unsupervised in their relationship with their own children
• certification
• test-taking
• socialization
• PTA

All of those points are made in relation to institutional education, as if, despite the subject “Home schooling,” institutional schooling is the only valid kind.

I don’t know if objective reports about homeschooling are possible in a world in which testing, grading and credentializing are the ‘air’ that human development breathes. From Apgar to PISA, the lives of people during their childhoods, and beyond, are circumscribed by tests, charts and graphs.

In saying this, I don’t mean that all assessments should be abandoned. The condition of the newly born should be evaluated so that the adults caring for the helpless infant will know if the baby needs help. Also, reviewers should weigh the quality of the educational procedures supplied by taxpayers’ money (public schooling) to see if the methods used by the institutions receiving the public’s money (the schools) are effective. My point is that evaluating family life using the weights and measures appropriate for institutions is like using Interstate truck scales to weigh the ingredients for making one cake for a child’s birthday.

It is one thing for institutions and employers to confirm for themselves the ability of an applicant to function within expectations. Tests and interviews can do this. It is another thing for all learning and experience to be molded to those expectations. ’T is not the king’s stamp can make the metal better. (Burns)

The part of the report on Tau and Aurora Robinson is a pleasant human interest story. I enjoyed reading about Ms. Robinson and the travels she and Tau undertook. But, as so often happens with articles using homeschooling families as a focus, the report goes beyond the homeschooling story of one family and hems it in with the opinions of a college admissions administrator, and an entrepreneur whose website is structured in gatekeeper fashion to supply institutional-style materials from the Harcourt stable (Harcourt, Saxon, Steck-Vaughn). The human interest in the article gave way to the interests of business.

Despite the growth of the “market,” homeschooling is still about One Child’s Family. Whether that family has one child, or a baker’s dozen, homeschooling is about each child’s education. In life, the “ABCs of homeschooling” are not about college admission, brokering deals with publishing companies, or the bureaucrats from Alaska to Washington, D.C. trying to clean your house before their own is in order. Those ABCs are about the love of parents for their children, and giving the kids the materials and space to fashion their lives to the best of their abilities.

Home schooled due to bullies, 13 July 2008, Courier Mail, Bowen Hills, Queensland, Australia

Parents of both bullying victims and expelled bullies are turning to home schooling in a bid to salvage an education for their children.

There are now an estimated 22,000 students learning from home in Queensland, double the number counted by a government working group in 2002. The bullying epidemic in the state’s schools is behind the increase, according to the Home Education Association.

Previous article:  School bullies out of control

Some attackers are as young as five, an investigation by The Sunday Mail has found.

One in six students has at some stage been a victim, new research shows, putting our school system among the worst for bullying of any country in the developed world.

…

‘We are seeing more and more of those kids now. They are wilful, disobedient and naughty.”

Mr Welford said he was disturbed by the younger ages of offenders in the latest statistics, and an apparent increase in the level of violence at schools.

Home school increase in Lancashire, 13 July 2008, Lancashire Telegraph, Blackburn, England

New figures reveal the number of youngsters on the county’s home education register has more than doubled since 2000 — with bullying increasingly cited as the reason.

…

The council has no legal obligation to monitor the quality of home education, but has to intervene if it fears the teaching provided is not up to scratch.

This presents “complex difficulties” for the council, the report says, which is made more complicated because home-educated youngsters do not have to follow the National Curriculum.

I’d think that the council ought to first fix the problems about the kids still in the system before it starts mucking about in the affairs of parents who are taking their parenting seriously.

Hat tip to Cindy M.

The Disadvantages of an Elite Education, William Deresiewicz,The American Scholar

What happens when busyness and sociability leave no room for solitude? The ability to engage in introspection, I put it to my students that day, is the essential precondition for living an intellectual life, and the essential precondition for introspection is solitude. They took this in for a second, and then one of them said, with a dawning sense of self-awareness, “So are you saying that we’re all just, like, really excellent sheep?” Well, I don’t know. But I do know that the life of the mind is lived one mind at a time: one solitary, skeptical, resistant mind at a time. The best place to cultivate it is not within an educational system whose real purpose is to reproduce the class system.

The full, thoughtful, article is at the link.