CALIFORNIA COURT RULING THREATENS HOME SCHOOLING
SF CHRONICLE - A California appeals court ruling clamping down on home schooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.
The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.
"At first, there was a sense of, 'No way,'" said home school parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who is active with a homes chool association. "Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation.". . .
The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home.
Some homes choolers are affiliated with private or charter schools, like the Longs, but others fly under the radar completely. Many home schooling families avoid truancy laws by registering with the state as a private school and then enroll only their own children.
Yet the appeals court said state law has been clear since at least 1953, when another appellate court rejected a challenge by home schooling parents to California's compulsory education statutes. Those statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day school, either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who holds a state credential for the child's grade level.
10 Comments:
Home schooling is illegal in California. Most home schoolers are Christians and all they know to do is fearmonger. Just look at this as an example!
http://www.cftie.org/2007/12/sb-777-will-per.html
Hey 8:27,
As a non-christian secular homeschooler, I must inform you that a majority of homeschoolers, are not Christian fearmongers, and many who are Christian are not homeschooling for religious reasons. Many homeschoolers are secular in focus, and they just want a quality education for their children, and they see that public school doesn't offer it.
Just because the Christian rightwing end of the homeschooling movement has been the most, "in your face," doesn't mean they are the majority in any way, it only means they are the most vocal. They may be the majority in some locations, but certainly not everywhere.
California has awful homeschool laws. Many other states have a much more reasonable approach.
I'm from New Jersey. After several different experiences with secular schools and Christian schools, my daughter and her husband decided that their children should be home-schooled. Although, I am a Christian, I thought the children would not get enough socialization and was initially against it.
My daughter had some college and started out highly motivated to teach her children. They joined baseball teams, etc for socialization. I was especially glad when I heard about violence occurring in so many schools across the nation.
However, in the long run, homeschooling was not the best decision. After a while, the motivation left and it became an unwanted chore. The kids are now 18 and 21. The 21 year old is in college and is doing well academically, but resents the lack of socialization and opportunity in the past. The 18 year old struggles with English while a math whiz.
The State of New Jersey doesn't adequately monitor home schooling. I think that is probably the major problem. My grandsons missed out on Science pr ojects, school dances, school clubs
school trips, proper gym classes, etc. The academic studies also fell off when the motivation fell off. While I think home schooling may be good in some cases, there should be national standards set and follow up when they are not met. It appears in NJ homeschoolers are aimlessly drifting.
I have long had a major problem with the quality of education some home schooled children are receiving. I do know of families who have done well with home schooling. However, I also know families who have not. How can full-time working parents home school? I think it is impossible! Yet I know families who are doing it now in Oklahoma. (The elementary aged children telephone their mother to ask questions. Since she is at work, you can imagine the type of answers they get!) I would not put my child in the public schools of my district. Too many problems and too low test scores! My own children attended private schools. Even there we saw some problems. States need to monitor the quality of education closer of all students, no matter if they are home schooled, attend private schools, or are enrolled in public schools.
My wife and I made the decision to homeschool our children as well as a couple of other children long ago. Primarily this was to ensure the children were being taught to actually learn to apply what they were studying. Later we were very glad to have also avoided a lot of aberrative influences such as School Gangs, Gangsta Rap, being taught techniques to avoiding becoming pregnant while you're screwing your classmate as an adolescent(here's a condom, here's the number to Planned Parenthood should you become pregnant or need birth control pills), here's your Ritalin, here's a flunk on that last test, here's a Learning Disorder label, and so forth. So. It seems the US Government and, apparently, the California Courts consider they know these things are actually better for a childs development. They apparently miss a key point in education (learn, apply, create) when further substantiating their decision with the assertion that a primary purpose for children to attend school is to permit teachers to evaluate whether parents are regularly beating their children. This is an insane viewpoint and we do not agree. I agree with the Governors statement to apply legislative change.
I have seen homeschooling work. The parents practice dedication with their child. All of the kids, I know home schooled, went back in their High School years and out performed ever kid at that school. Instead of worrying about home schooling we should worry about the dicipline that this new generation needs in the class room. If most parents went to a class room they would be appalled with the behavior of their children.
It is idiodic to blame the court for this ruling. The court is only enforcing the statute. The court is doing it's job correctly by enforcing the law as it is written. If the court ignored the language of the statute, it would be an "activist" court that most conservatives bitch about. It is the legislature's fault if the law is not what the public wants and it is the legislature's responsiblity to change the law. The Governor's trite comment that "if the Supreme Court does not correct this ruling, the legislature will" reflects his poor understanding of how our government works.
I am a New Jersey homeschooler and I couldn't disagree with the earlier NJ blogger more. I was also reticent at first about the prospect, responsibility and stigma of homeschooling I finally gave in to my wife's desire to do so and we ahve found it to be an extremely rewarding experience.
We quickly discovered gaping holes in my high school daughter's scholastic abilities and have been working extremely hard for three years to bring her up to speed. By the way, we were in one of the highest regarded school systems in NJ. My daughter balked at the notion of being homeschooled at first, now she wouldn't consider going back to public school.
In NJ there are several great homeschool cooperatives where parents share skills , time , abilities, facilities (such as science labs) where music, art & drama,intensive writing are taught by qualified dedicated individuals, once or twicea week. There are also athletic teams. I had two children 12 & 15 start their day off with Latin for goodness sake.
As far as your grandchild who struggles with English is concerned and is a wizz in math, it might occur to you that maybe English isn't her strong suit. Which brings me to my final point. All children are not created equal, some will struggle in certain subjects. Where better to address those "struggles" than in a place where the education is personalized and not on an average.
While homeschoolers generally out perform public AND private schoolers on stndardized tests school at home is a safe, caring, motivating place for the struggling student.
PS. It is hard work.
I am a NJ Home Schooler, I have a question to those who oppose the people who are putting their lives on hold to teach their children (especially the children who are having problems in school, the teachers have many students and can't teach your child one on one to make him or her understand what they are laking).
As a parent are you willing to give up your parental rights in the USA for the courts and judges to take over?
I was a volunteer for years in the public schools as my children attended. I also worked in a private school for a year. I saw all the things that went on in the schools. Our children are being sent to a public school for them to learn about life and how to live it. Right? Well, the things that I saw were not so. I saw many children from young ages talking about sex and drugs in the schools. I also saw many children touching and kissing in the hallways while the principal and teachers passed by. I heard many say that the counselors were letting children know that it is okay to have sex and they passed the condoms around. I also heard that they were counseling our and letting them know that if they became pregnant they didn’t have to tell their parents, they would help them get an abortion.
So I tell you now I am not willing to give up my parental rights I will teach my children about who our God is and I will teach them about everything that they need to know to live on this earth. I am raising my children and I am paying for their education and everything else that they have. If the government wants to take my parental rights away why don't they pay for all that they need and adopt them from us. I will pray to my God and I know that he will take care of us. Home Schoolers I commend you all. God Bless you.
We're well aware by now that not all accredited teachers are properly prepared to teach, so why on earth would we assume that all parents are automatically prepared to do so?
Homeschooling can be the best thing that can happen to a child academically, but ONLY if the child is being taught by parents who are fully motivated and prepared to carry out the task for the long haul; and I would agree that some type of formalized standards need to be in place, to ensure that the child is capable of performing at or above the academic levels of his peers who are enrolled in public schools.
Simple common sense should be enough to obtain on this debate.
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