Buried in an article on The Block Island Times website about school budgets is this section on homeschooling:
Home-schooling requests
A policy developed last year requires parents who seek to keep their children out of school for more than six consecutive days to apply to home-school them.
Hicks noted he has received a number of such requests.
McGarry asked Hicks if he approved of the policy, and Hicks acknowledged that initially he was skeptical about it. However, he said that he came to understand the need for parents to take vacations during the school year because they must work throughout the summer season. The policy began to make more sense to him, he said, because “it forces families to come and see the superintendent and the teachers and to think seriously about the academic program.”
He submitted requests from three families: the first was from Gail and Jeff Ballard for home-schooling of their child from February 3 to 12; the second from Kate and Shea Butcher to home-school their children from February 1 to February 12, and the last was from Jennifer Brady Brown to receive permission to home-school her child for two days running up to the February vacation. All requests were approved.
It may be accurate, given the Iowa’s “home-school assistance programs” to call tis homeschooling but it is a problematic use of the term ‘homeschool’. Yet, there it is, schools being sensitive to the needs of families. Good for school families, bad for blurring the lines between homeschooling and public school.
Robyn said on January 19, 2010
What connection is there between HSAPs and applying the term “homeschool” to a vacation?
Mark said on January 19, 2010
I can only speculate on the reason. Maybe a reader who lives with these programs and better understands public school regulations can fill in details.
Ulrike said on January 20, 2010
I’m an Iowan. I see no connection between this and the HSAPs in my neck of the woods.
Ulrike said on January 26, 2010
Mark, I keep checking back to see if you’ve answered the question: Why are you connecting “vacation schooling” in Rhode Island to the Home School Assistance Program in Iowa? Care to illuminate those of us who “better understand public school regulations” in Iowa?
Mark said on January 26, 2010
Obviously I was confused between articles I was tracking. I meant to question this use of the term ‘homeschooling’:
“A policy developed last year requires parents who seek to keep their children out of school for more than six consecutive days to apply to home-school them.”
Sorry for the confusion.