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Thursday, June 26, 2008
Homeschooling: a Constitutional Right.
Damien M. Schiff of the Pacific Legal Foundation wrote this opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle. He's big on parent's rights to raise their own children, which you would think should not be questioned.
On a related note, Summer Minor has an excellent post on Parent's rights this over at her Mom is Teaching blog.
But perhaps more important than any of the quality-of-education issues raised by this case is whether the state has the power to require parents who wish to instruct their children at home to obtain a teaching credential. The U.S. Supreme Court has long interpreted the Constitution as protecting parents' rights to direct and oversee the education of their children. More than 80 years ago, the Supreme Court noted, in a case challenging an Oregon law requiring all children to attend public schools, that "The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations." Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Teacher's Union: Homeschooling = Educational Anarchy
They actually officially declared this in court.
"The California Teachers Association ... decided to file an amicus brief arguing before the court that parents should have no right over the education of their children, should not have a right to home school, and that these children should be literally forced to be put back into the public schools -- even though parents object," the attorney explains.
Dacus did a double-take when he read one specific charge made by the teachers' union. "In their brief, the teachers' union said that to allow parents to be able to home school without being credentialed teachers could result in 'educational anarchy,'" he shares. Read more...
Labels: California, homeschool, Politics
Monday, June 02, 2008
Parade: "Should Home-Schooling Be Illegal?"
That was the inflammatory headline in this Sunday's Parade magazine. (The Sunday supplement for more than 400 Sunday newspapers in the US.) They have a poll on the website.
The article below that headline is more sympathetic.
In February, a California state appeals court ruled that unless parents have recognized teaching credentials, they must send their children to school. The judge, citing a state education law, said that “parents do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children.” Read more...
Labels: homeschool, media, Politics
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Bet on the Homeschoolers
Townhall has a piece by William Rusher regarding homeschooling. I'm not sure what to make of what he says about the non-exclusive rights of parents.
The California Court of Appeals judge who ruled recently that parents "do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children" probably thought the point was obvious. He lives in California, where liberalism is still a flourishing belief system, and where parents are widely regarded as simply the mechanism whereby new generations of youngsters are created and turned over to the state for polishing.
But he is a loser nonetheless, as he will discover when his ruling is overturned on appeal or, failing that, struck down by the legislature or, if necessary, by an amendment to the state constitution. The parents of California are not about to surrender the right to decide what fundamentals their children shall be taught.
That is not to say that parents, in California or elsewhere, have or ought to have an exclusive right to determine that question. Read more...
Labels: California, homeschool, Politics
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Homeschoolers push for ice cream cone as official state dessert
Thanks to Wayne for sending this.
Some homeschooled students in West County are getting the scoop on how to have a cool role in Missouri history.
In response to their urging, Missouri Sen. John Loudon, R-Chesterfield, introduced a bill Jan. 22 to designate the ice cream cone -- which debuted at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair -- as Missouri's official state dessert. Co-sponsor in the Senate is Sen. Harry Kennedy, D-St. Louis. In the House of Representative, the sponsor is Rep. Charlie Schlottach, R-Owensville. Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Homeschoolers Invited To Vote In Mock Primary Election
I just got this note from Staley Krause of HomeschoolEStore. I know this isn't the intention but this could go a long way toward dispelling the media-myth that homeschoolers vote as a block. Too bad it's just for kids.
For the first time ever, Homeschoolers are invited to make their voices heard and take part in HomeschoolEstore's Non-Partisan Mock Primary Presidential Election! Homeschoolers ages 7-17, who are United States residents, will learn about the election process and the 2008 presidential candidates when they cast their vote, anytime between now and February 4th. Results of the election and exit polling results will be available, real-time. Final results will be posted on Monday, February 4th, the day before Super Tuesday. You must have a free HomeschoolEstore account in order to participate. Click here to make your voice heard!
Oh, and also Discounts up to 50% off, now through February 4th.
Labels: homeschool, Politics
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Homeschoolers all look the same to me
Great commentary summing up the media myth about homeschoolers supporting Huckabee (or any candidate)...
I’m sure all of you have your countdown clocks going for the first major event in 2008 — the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses! So much drama, so many television commercials, so many cliches and platitudes. The Los Angeles Times published a story about former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and his roving army of homeschooled children/precinct captains.
I’m still waiting for a story to explain how someone can be endorsed both by teachers unions and homeschoolers. Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Who Are the Real Child Abusers—Homeschoolers or their Persecutors?
I am convinced that homeschoolers are the most dedicated, sincere, and committed people in the world. They are also as independent as a hog on ice! I have dealt with hundreds of homeschoolers in the production of home school curriculum, marketing of materials, and providing counseling regarding their educational desires. Overwhelmingly, they are an impressive group. Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics
Homeschoolers save civilization
This is a bizarre futuristic allegory with the homeschool movement as the heros. Strange but, this is not the first time I have heard such talk. (HT: HS Comments on the Fly)
Who would revive society if everything collapsed? Homeschoolers, says a prominent educationalist.
No one is quite sure when it started, the Great Awakening, that is. Most say it was in the first decade of the 21st Century when things hit bottom and really started to unravel. Some historians cite events like NBC News hiring Rosie O’Donnell to a multimillion dollar contract. Others claim more serious events like General Google Motors coming out with those humanoid slave clones that revolutionized housework. Others say the Pathogen Plague of 2023, the one that wiped out 20 per cent of the globe’s population in five months. Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Judge investigated for homeschooling threat
A threat by a Utah judge to take away a homeschooling mom's children if she failed to enroll them in public school, and make sure they were in attendance every day, has been escalated to the level of the state Legislature, according to a homeschooling leader. Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics, Utah
Monday, December 17, 2007
Will the Real Homeschool-Friendly Candidate Please Stand Up?
Daily I read a new article about overtures being made to the homeschooling community by prospective presidential nominees.
John and Elizabeth Edwards are educating their children at home with the help of a private tutor; so now, supposedly, they can identify with other homeschoolers.
I've got news for them – that's not even remotely close to the "real" world of the average homeschooling family. Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Homeschool mom elected chair of SC public school board
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A mother who backs conservative education policies and home-schools her four daughters on Wednesday was elected head of the board that oversees South Carolina's public schools. Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics
Teaching as Indoctrination
Philosopher Daniel Dennett wants to force all parents, even parents who home-school their offspring, to give up their children to educators like himself. For what purpose? To expose the children, Dennett argues, to "uncontroversial" facts about the world's religions. Listen to Dennett make his case in a short segment from our recent debate in Boston, and then you can hear my answer to him. Read more...
Labels: Blogs, homeschool, Politics
Monday, December 10, 2007
Some Homeschoolers back Huckabee
...and some back Ron Paul, and who knows who else. Is this a media invention? I don't see homeschoolers (even conservative homeschoolers) all backing the same candidate.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's rise in Iowa may have been a surprise to many, but not to a tightly knit group of social conservatives with something fundamental in common.
Thousands of evangelical Christians who school their children at home have found a candidate they can support in Huckabee, and they provide the former Arkansas governor's outsider campaign with hundreds of volunteers. Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics, presidents
Friday, November 16, 2007
Harvard for the Home-Schooled, Christian Crowd
An NPR story about a book about inside Patrick Henry College.
NPR.org, November 16, 2007 · For home-schooled students, Patrick Henry College in Loudon County, Va., is like Harvard University.
Many high-achieving, home-schooled students have passed through Patrick Henry's campus, which is meant to provide a network of connections for the rest of their lives — like Harvard or Stanford does for others. The conservative Christian college is known for attracting top students and arming them with religious training and an Ivy League-quality education. Read more...
Labels: College, homeschool, Politics
Friday, November 09, 2007
Romney Wants Tax Help for Home Schooling
Not an endorsement, just passing it on. In fact, be suspicious of any money from the government.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Parents who home school their children should get a tax credit to help offset the expense of teaching, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday.
''I also believe parents who are teaching their kids at home, homeschoolers, deserve a break, and I've asked for a tax credit to help parents in their homes with the cost of being an at-home teacher,'' he said. Read more...
Labels: homeschool, Politics
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Presidential Candidate Announces Support of Homeschoolers
This should be interesting to watch. Press releases about this homeschool connection started appearing in the last few days. I must confess I don't know much about him.
Pointing to his support of family values, an Iowa couple says they will lead an effort to support Kansas Senator Sam Brownback's Presidential bid. Read more...
Labels: Politics
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Homeschoolers a powerful lobbying machine
A group comprising less than three percent of America’s total enrolled student population is winning the attention of legislators and education policymakers. Though they are a tiny proportion of the public, homeschooled students and their families represent a group with impressive political heft. Their recent lobbying achievements include the incorporation of homeschooling provisions in the Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 and the passage of the Bennett Amendment protecting their grassroots lobbying in 2007. With the substantial recent growth of activity and remarkable success of such a small group, the homeschool network is emerging as a powerful lobbying machine. Read more...
Labels: Politics
