Parents unhappy with state's plan for home schoolers
Published Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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Stumble It!ANCHORAGE -- Some parents who home school their children are not happy with the state's plan to assert more control.
Some have threatened to go their own way if the state Education Department moves ahead with its plan to strengthen its control of publicly funded correspondence and home-school programs.
The state Department of Education and Early Development intends to increase the amount home-schooling parents may spend on fine arts, music and physical education.
But the increase will be capped. That does not sit well with parents who educate their children via in-district home-school programs, which do not have a cap.
The proposed changes would also require individual school districts to exert greater control over the curriculum available to parents who educate their children at home.
Community Discussion
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Just a sign of the times.... the great USA.. FREEDOM of Choice (yah right!! NOT!!) ...next thing we know we will be told what we are to wear and eat per day. All the more power to Homeschoolers!!! Its the best way to go! At least we can pray in our own home (for now anyhow.. soon that will be taken away from us too!) So folks.. do it while you can...the times are rolling to a screaching halt ...
from a past Homeschooling mom!
I have no problem with parents who want to homeschool but I do believe that it's important to have guidelines that are comprable to what public school students have to abide by. There's no way public school students would be able to get by on just taking fine art, music classes and P.E. I'm glad that powers that be are stepping up to regulate what goes on with homeschooled students. It's about time.
WHAT?
my homeschooled kids a smarter than your public school kids in math, science, history, language arts, and oh yeah, bible study.
I suspect the last one will rattle a few people who don't think we should have the right. They would be much happier if we just didn't mention God at all........... well were not handing over our children to those who would just assume have them aborted rather than give them the right to life.
Having worked in a state-funded office to assist homeschool families, I understand both sides of this. There are very dedicated families who put forth a great amount of effort to teach and learn. The money provided is for education, however, there is unfortunately a great amount of dishonesty as far as where and how it will be used. I am not trying to generalize the homeschool population, merely making a point to mention there are those who seek to take advantage of such funds.
It is important to watch how the funds will be used. It's not fair just to hand over a check and say "go shopping."
Happily, my son graduated last year, (he home-schooled his last semester), so I no-longer have to stress over this issue.
I did appreciate the flexibility to homeschool when necessary, though most of his school years were spent in the public system, so I understand why students sometimes choose to pull out.
There is a great misconception among the public school participants that homeshooling is somehow inferior. It is not.
Without going into longwinded posting, the main advantages to homeschool for our family was better academics and to get away from chaotic classroom politics. The main challenge was ensuring adequate peer social time.
-RK
I do not have the education to teach my children ALL they need to know.
I would just "assume" enhance, at home, what is "a" taught in public school. Where do all these children in public school come from if they were aborted? I believe you have every right to teach them about God at home(just like the parents who send their kids to public/private school do) as long as that teaching adds to our society as a whole..Critical, outside the box, original thinking is good..Our God is the only god and all others need to conform or go to hell is Bad. It is worse when said child gets no other view point. Extremism ring a bell. Middle Eastern religions are not the only ones with a problem with this.
"There's no way public school students would be able to get by on just taking fine art, music classes and P.E."
Funny, it seems like that is exactly what public school students are getting. Maybe that's why public school graduates cannot read, write or calculate. Maybe that's why the drop out rate is so high. That is DEFINITELY why my kids are in private school.
I thought the whole point of home schooling was to get away from the govt controlled public schools?
I don't believe the public schooling system teaches creativity or how to "think outside the box" at all. I was public schooled my whole life and all I learned to do was what was required to get an A. My husband, on the other hand, was homeschooled his entire life and is the most creative, inventive person ever! He is also the best problem-solver ever!
I also agree that the point to homeschooling is to be able to have more personal control as to what your child learns. If schools begin to teach that Homosexuality is "in" and God is "out", then forget it! My kids will never set foot on public school property!
I don't take any money for my kids homeschooling,
we could, but chose not to for this reason;
we don't want them to control what we teach our children.
As far as what religion I teach my kids, isn't that a constitutional right?
I feel the need to teach my children that views such as these are wrong:
"you are a descendant from a monkey"
"your god has other equal gods"
"it's okay to kill your baby if you want to"
"it's okay to have sex with any orfice you can find, just use a rubber"
Shall I go on? Don't think I need to.
Had my child in a state funded program for the first 4 yrs of schooling and now 6 yrs later my child is an honor student in public school
Hands on life skills and social skills are critical along with admitting when your abilities to teach are not as high as a educated proffessional.....the children matter more than our own agendas.
I work in a public school and see how children are affected by thier own parents attitude towards learning and life.
Set a good example and be a parent not a friend to them
bad parents are everywhere, I agree on that.......
one thing that amazes me about homeschooling is the fact that these kids are extremely well adapted to any social situtation. They have fun with kids, they can talk to adults as equals, they are not shy like I thought they would be.
When I was a kid, adults were like space aliens, I was shy and had alot of "alone time" while in public school. It was determined in grade school that I was not as cool as the rest, and that followed me to adulthood.
It is total falsehood that these homeschooled kids are cloistered and have no ability to stand on their own two feet when with a group of kids. No one can put them down and make it stick. I don't step in if they are having issues, they can deal with it, without violence, much better than I did as a child.
On top of all that, they are pulling all A's in a curriculum that I would have flunked.
And I am so cool now.
It takes being a 'parent' to put the needs of your own child above your own. I thought about homeschooling but decided to go public school when I realized I cannot support the family and be a stay at home teacher too. I can take what public schools teach and add on top of that to try to get my child to be a well rounded person. I say take the positives of each and become knowledgeable about the things you believe to be negative about each so that you can mitigate the effect on the child. There is no one right way to teach a child but as long as you're an involved parent you have the most opportunities to guide them.
Quoting "Critical, outside the box, original thinking is good."
Yes, it is good. Unfortunately, compulsory public schooling is intentionally designed to inhibit critical original thought.
Here's an article you may find rather interesting. It's long, but a worthy read. "Against School; How Public Education Cripples our Kids, and Why" by James Gatto - http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschoo...
It is true that homeschooling is a priveledge to those whom have the rescources to do so. I have a sister that adopted 7 children and homeschooled them all at the expense of a very lucrative career.
She has never said that she wishes anything different.
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