When Hurricane Sandy blasted its way over New York and New Jersey, many Long Island, NY homes were destroyed and family schedules are, of course, totally disrupted.  School buildings were devastated by the flooding and wind damage.

School relocation plans are being made for Rockaway area school students starting Wednesday. Parents are concerned about the prospect.  Many choose to homeschool instead of subjecting their children to long bus rides into unfamiliar territory.  Sadly, working communication, transportation and power is still at such a standstill, parents are concerned about school day emergencies where they can’t get to these far-off schools in a timely manner.

From DNAinfo.com Rockaway Parents Prefer Homeschooling to Relocating Kids to Other Schools

 Memoli lives on Beach 123rd Street, less than a half-block from the ocean. Her family and her sister’s family share a two-story attached brick townhouse.

Rushing water from the storm dislodged a large swath of the wooden boardwalk. It now lies in front of her home. Mounds of sand clog her street.

Her sister, Michele Salimeni, 41, has three children at P.S. 114. She plans on home-schooling as well.

Both sisters feel the relocations isolate them from their children during the day. They said a better solution would be for the Education Department to have classes in trailers in the neighborhood.

“We love our school. We love our teachers. If [the kids] can’t be there, they’ll be home with us,” Memoli said.

Best wishes that these families, their homes and their neighborhoods can return to normal soon. Hopefully, their input is given the utmost consideration from the ‘powers that be’.  They’ve suffered enough.

Class Dismissed is a new movie in production which is questioning whether schools, public or private, are really the best education option for many families, and it will be the first feature-length documentary to focus on homeschooling. From the website:

“From home study and kitchen table math, to perpetual recess and park days, Class Dismissed follows the story of an ordinary American family in their quest to educate their children outside the school system.

“As they struggle to discover what path is best for them, the social ramifications of their choices come to light, family dynamics are revealed and they come to realize that homeschooling is not just an educational choice, but also a lifestyle choice that affects the very heart of the American family.

“Truth and consequence, myth and assumption all come together in this fresh look at what it means to be educated in the 21st century.

“Class Dismissed will focus on the topic of education, specifically the validity of homeschooling as an alternative to the industrial school model. Framed within the historical context of traditional schooling, and particularly at a time when education across the nation is in a state of crisis, the film will examine the numerous approaches to home learning, exploring both its history and recent growth. There are many choices when it comes to teaching our children, and Class Dismissed will ask some big questions…”

Prime Minister of Jamaica is a homeschooler

Exciting news from Linda Dobson, an HEM columnist, author of many books on homeschooling, and founder of the website, Parent at the Helm:

“I became aware of Prime Minister – and Education Minister – Holness’ decision to homeschool last week when a friend in Jamaica contacted me. She let me know she had loaned Prime Minister Holness one of my books. She said he still hasn’t returned it yet, kindly insinuating that maybe the book (and hers!) had something to do with the minister’s announcement.

“Thrilled with the news, I wrote a letter to the minister and his wife that appears in yesterday’s Jamaica Observer.” An excerpt from Linda’s letter”

“We get only one fleeting childhood, and you can make it count for your children. Cherish each heartwarming experience as your children’s eyes light up with their “aha!” moments, and their questions fill your days with curiosity and wonder.”

Click this link to read Linda’s wonderful open letter to the prime minister and Mrs Holness.

In an blog post for the Greene County Daily World, which serves several counties in Indiana, Lisa Luper shares an article titled Why I Homeschool–Part One: (Because I was homeschooled), writing: “I wanted to take the next few blog posts to answer the classic question of why I homeschool. This is a question that I have been asked over and over when people find out that none of my children have ever been to a public school. There isn’t one, quick answer to that question. Not only that, the reasons I homeschool today aren’t necessarily the same as the reasons I started homeschooling years ago.”

Looks like some interesting reading as Lisa shares her experiences in growing up homeschooled.

Update Dec. 3: Why I Homeschool, Part Two – I Like Being With My Kids

A Nov. 11th L.A. Times article for L.A. at Home, which seems to focus on architecture and design for southern California homeowners, carried the cutsy title, “For home-school parents, classroom design is the subject du jour.” The first part of the article does, in fact, focus on parents with a severe yearning to replicate school in their homes, quoting one parent who “…demolished a galley-style kitchen in her home to create a school setting. The house had to be extended into the backyard, with a brand-new kitchen built in.”

Another parent, who the article describes as ‘striving for structure and routine,’ states, “It seems there’s a whole new group of us that I refer to as ‘contemporary home-schoolers…’” The article goes on to explain that she is “so committed to the idea of replicating a traditional school experience for her son that she has given her classroom a name: University School for Children, with uniforms, a logo and school IDs.”

This beginning part of the article almost had me passing it over for mention here, but the second part highlights an entirely different approach, and quotes a longtime friend and author: “Tammy Takahashi takes an ‘unschooling’ approach with her three children, ages 7 to 13. The classroom might be an art table at home, a recycling center or the beach. The inherent appeal of the approach is that the style of teaching can be tweaked to accommodate what works best for the student, said Takahashi, who has also written two books on home schooling.”

There are some good arguments for both structured and non-structured approaches, and lots of food for thought and discussion.

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.

Too Cool For Homeschool? (Here’s what you didn’t know), by Melanie O’Brien, shares the activities of families involved with the Baltimore Homeschool Community Center, described as “…bright and friendly, full of laughing kids and smiling adults.” The member-based organization serves homeschooling families throughout the Baltimore area. O’Brien writes:

“But wait a second. Why are homeschoolers away from home, in a center taking classes? If you’re like me (and statistics suggest you probably are), then your state-mandated K-12 education happened in a public or private school. But for about 2.4 percent of Maryland’s school-aged kids, education happens somewhere else.”

The article is long, interesting, fair and balanced, and the final paragraph, while startling and unusual for an article about homeschooling, leaves true homeschoolers with a knowing smile. Recommended reading, for sure.

On Wednesday, Nov. 9th, at 9:00 a.m. PST, Homeschooling will be the topic of a program on KUOW-FM radio, 94.9, a National Public Radio affiliate station in Seattle, Washington, a service of the University of Washington, and a top-ranked radio station in the Seattle/Tacoma area.

Host Steve Scher will discuss homeschooling with several guests. The program notes detail the direction the questions will take:

“Homeschooling has soared in the United States in recent years, climbing from 850,000 home–schooled kids in 1999 to 1.5 million in 2007. That’s an increase of 74 percent. What government oversight is in place for parents who choose to keep their kids at home? What oversight should there be? What are the drawbacks and benefits of homeschooling? If you’re considering homeschooling, this show will inform your decision. Were you homeschooled? What was it like? Share your experience by calling 1.800.289.KUOW (5869).”

GUESTS:

Tera Schreiber is a non–practicing lawyer, former nonprofit executive director, and current freelance writer and home–schooling mother. She has three daughters who are nine, seven and four. She’s been homeschooling for five years.

Erica Forrest homeschools her children.

Jen Garrison Stuber is a board member for the Washington Homeschool Organization.

Rob Reich is an associate professor of political science at Stanford University.

Brian Ray is the founder and president of the National Home Education Research Institute.

Homeschoolers in Illinois are facing challenges to their situation as described in this Sun-Times article by Fran Eaton, titled Homeschooling Parents Not Eager for States Help:

Homeschoolers can be called a lot of things because they’re so independent and self-sufficient, and that seems counter-intuitive in today’s world. But they’re not as paranoid as some public school officials would make them out to be. The truancy officer acknowledged he would assume guilt before proving innocence. He would not have a problem searching private homes to prove the schools within were up to state standards.

The Senate committee exchange became more revealing when Reynolds told the committee he would look around those registered homes for computers with educational software, books and other indications teaching was going on.

And then he would “help” them.

Illinois blogger Susan Ryan is following the situation closely at her blog Corn and Oil:

Illinois homeschoolers don’t want any legislation that will infringe on their rights.  Any negotiations are concerning if they ever end in compromise.  4,000 Illinois homeschoolers in the Capitol showed the resolve about that issue.

Susan also noted the formation of a political action committee for Illinois homeschoolers:

One good thing to come of this ongoing fiasco is the creation of the IL Homeschool PAC.  We needed that yesterday.

The theme for this Carnival revolves around quotes from the popular movie The Princess Bride, one of the most quoted movies of all time and a particular favorite of homeschooling families. Familiar lines such as “When I was your age, television was called books.” “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” and “As you wish.” are incorporated into the Carnival as the storyline is explained for those (few) who may be unfamiliar with it. It’s a brilliant composition, and a delightful foray into the movie’s favorite scenes. A fitting fifth anniversary edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling!