Dateline Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, 12 April 2007, Panel mulls letting home-schoolers play sports in public schoolsThe Senate Education Committee heard public comments Wednesday on a bill that would allow home-schoolers to participate in extracurricular activities like athletics and band at public schools.

…

State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton said the current rules of only allowing full-time public students to participate in extracurricular activities are “very fair.”

“Public school students have a lot of things they have to adhere to like ‘no pass, no play.’ How do you apply that to a home-schooled child who is educated by mom or dad or a tutor?” he said in an interview. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg of 9,999 questions that public schools and coaches and assistant coaches would have. We wouldn’t have to have any questions if the student would just enroll (in public school) full-time.”

You wouldn’t have any questions either, if sports were divorced from schools and opened to all the kids in the community. Are the sports for the kids, or are the sports for the school’s P.R.?

posted by Valerie

CSTV.com, New York, New York, 5 April 2007, NCAA rules delay important decisions

Another men’s tennis player, freshman Jack Seider, from Austin, has had to sit out this year as well in his first season at TCU because of a nuance about home schooling.

NCAA states a student must finish his or her high school education in eight semesters, with the exception of extenuating circumstances such as home schooling or finishing high school in good standing.

In Seider’s case, he transferred from a public school to home school for academic reasons and finished in good standing, Borelli said.

Borelli said Seider’s situation is an exception to the rule but appealing hasn’t been easy.

“One person made the decision he was ineligible, then we went to a NCAA committee and waited three weeks for them to reinforce that person’s decision – that was a waste of time,” Borelli said.

posted by Valerie

Savannah Morning News, Savannah, Georgia, 15 March 2007, Senate panel derails home-school bill

A blitz of criticism from parents of home-schooled children helped stall a Senate bill designed to give them access to public school sports, plays and other extracurricular activities.

Wary of opening the door to extra registration and academic tracking requirements in order to participate in public school activities, parents flooded members of the Senate Education and Youth committee with e-mail messages and some showed up Tuesday to speak against the proposal.

posted by Valerie

Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia, 21 February 2007, Bill on sports for home-schooled students under debate

ATLANTA – A bill [Senate Bill 85]
that would allow home-schooled children to join public-school sports teams sparked debate Tuesday. Proponents argued that all families pay school taxes, and opponents pointed to a myriad of potential problems that they say the change would bring.

Yes, all families pay taxes, including those adults without children. If that’s the criterion, then I’m out in the cold, as are my grown kids who aren’t parents.

The differences between the two ‘systems’ (if homeschooling can be called a system), are also in conflict.

Athletes could use the new law to circumvent the system, Swearingin said, because it would be difficult to ascertain whether home-schooled children meet the state’s no-pass, no-play grade requirements.

“We have never seen anybody fail home school,” Swearingin said.

And that’s a difference. Homeschooling parents aren’t often in the business of providing failing situations for their kids. We also don’t often pit our kids against each other to provide ‘winning teams’ for the glory of our family.

The tying of publicly-funded sports to school activities is not necessarily a ‘natural’ connection. I’m guessing that it may have something to do with our linguistic connection to England, and their affection for boarding schools. At a boarding school, all activities would be expected, which would probably include sports.

If our schools were indeed linked to the development of schooling in Germany, we probably wouldn’t have the twinning of sports and school. German kids’ sporting teams are all separate from school, as are musical activities. (I haven’t got a clue about schools in France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Liechtenstein, etc.)

Of course, whatever the influence, it’s all water under the bridge. Our system is our system, and that is what people are accustomed to. If alternate systems develop because taxpayers want to provide sport opportunities for their children regardless of where they are being schooled, an entirely different system could develop in which all the children are eligible to participate, not just those who qualify. Some communities already have this system for baseball, softball, tennis, or soccer.

posted by Valerie

Daily Herad, Provo, Utah, 20 February 2007, Home-schooled children may soon play on district school sports teams

Students who are educated at home, or who attend private or charter schools, would be eligible to play on sports teams and participate in other extracurricular activities at regular public schools in the districts where they reside under a proposal that passed a final Senate vote Monday.

Apparently the story caught the eye of others because there is discussion at Sean Hannity.

The thing that catches my eye at the original report is:

Households pay taxes for public schools regardless of where their children go to school, he said.

“Parents have paid for the cake, and if they want to eat a little piece of that cake, they should be able to.”

In that case, I, as an empty-nester, want my piece of the cake, too. I bet my tax-paying kids want some cake too.

posted by Valerie

Via HEM-Networking:

Texas Home School Coalition

House Bill 1569

UIL Participation

An act relating to participation in school district services and activities by home-schooled students.

The following were also posted along with the site linked (above).

• Home Education Magazine, May-June 2000, Why the Question of Homeschoolers’ Playing Public School Sports Affects All Homeschoolers
• Home Education Magazine, November-December 1999, Convincing Others We Don’t Want Homeschooling Legislation

posted by Valerie

In January, the following publications published sporting reports about homeschooling or about homeschooled athletes.

• Gaylord Herald Times, Gaylord, Michigan, 5 January 2007, Sports Edge: Wrestling opener tonight
• Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, 5 January 2007, There’s no place like home for talented Mero hoopsters
• Pahrump Valley Times, Pahrump, Nevada, 6 January 2007, Home School Bowling
• Midland Daily News, Midland, Michigan, 6 January 2007, Flames top Midland Academy
• Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 6 January 2007, Cougars continue to build program
• Augusta Chronicle, Augusta, Georgia, 18 January 2007, Finding a home
• Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas, 18 January 2007, Home-school athletes: They changed my mind
• Bartlett Express, Memphis, Tennessee, 19 January 2007, BRC hosts Shelby County Swim Meet
• Midland Daily News, Midland, Michigan, 20 January 2007, Flames come up short in Flint
• Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 20 January 2007, Keystone to add baseball team for ’07 spring season
• Gwinnett Daily Post, Griffin, Georgia, 21 January 2007, Gwinnett figure skater to compete at 2007 US Nationals
• Journal Times Online, Racine, Wisconsin, 24 January 2007, Boys’ Basketball Highlights
• Midland Daily News, Midland, Michigan, 24 January 2007, High school hoops roundup
• Newton Kansan, Newton, Kansas, 25 January 2007, Newton Panthers 61, Wichita Warriors 40 …
• Bryan College Station Eagle, Bryan-College Station, Texas, 30 January 2007, Girls Basketball Roundup: Brazos Christian tops BV Home School
• Midland Daily News, Midland, Michigan, 31 January 2007, High school hoops roundup

posted by Valerie

Springfield State Journal Register, Springfield, Illinois, 19 January 2007, Former home-schooler Garner passes basketball Tri-out

“He showed up with J.J. during an open gym last summer,” Dilley said of Garner. “J.J. basically said, ‘Coach, this is Isaac, and he wants to come to school here this year.’

“I’m like, ‘Well, all right.’ Then I watched him play for a few minutes, and I’m thinking, ‘Oooh! This kid can play.’”

So the 17-year-old Garner is making the most of his first and only season of high school basketball. He was home-schooled until this school year, when his parents, Kevin and Angel Garner, gave the OK for Isaac to enroll at Tri-City. His age makes him a senior in terms of sports eligibility.

I’m seriously considering a category such as “C’mon, people, we’re not ALIENS!”

posted by Valerie

Cookeville Herald Citizen, Cookeville, Tennessee, 9 January 2006, New home for basketball

“These guys that are home-schooled, we wanted them to have an opportunity to be involved in basketball and have a program so this league was available,” said Daniel 1 head coach Carl Bullis. “We’re the only home-schooled group that’s in it; the rest of the schools are private, Christian schools. We wanted these guys to have the same opportunity available to them as schools, whether it be public or private. That’s how it came about, we started this year, so we decided to get in the league.”

Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 9 January 2006, Being home-schooled doesn’t hinder girls’ soccer team

“There’s a misconception about home-schooled kids that they may not have social skills,” coach Bob Bemis said. “But these kids are seeing each other more and more. They’ve spent a lot of time together and they’ve really bonded.”

…

Where the team comes together is on the soccer field. Natasha Guertler leads the team with 12 goals, and the players have hopes of reaching the postseason. The Heat competes in District 14-2A, against private schools such as Posnack, Coral Springs Christian and Sagemont.

The long-term goal, however, is continuing to build the program.

“We’ve already got a varsity and junior varsity team,” Bemis said. “We’ve got more than 40 girls on the teams. It’s just a matter of continuing to go in the right direction.”