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Parents have a right to raise their children for their protection how they please. Public schools have gotten so bad, it’s now dangerous for kids to attend those schools. If parents want to send their kids to public school, that’s fine. It’s up to them. But it’s also good for parents to want to homeschool their kids for the safety and the education of their children. My nieces and nephews are very smart and remember so much that they are taught in homeschooling. It’s not up to the public to raise your children. It’s up to parents. So if they choose to homeschool, it’s not against the law.

ok you think we should not homeshool our children.take this in for a sec.you at pulic school are not teaching the children you all give them the things you want them to do but then don’t explain how to do it expect them to be born will all the education they need to no.and if they are hard to teach you send the work home and we r still homeschooling our children just teaching them what you want them to no instead of teaching free thinking people. you slow down a advance child to be able to teach them. you give up on the ones with learning problems.and its ok for children in pulic school to do what they want to others no discipline for those acting bad.my youngest son was in pre-k and they didn’t even teach him english or his name all they did was sing hispanic songs and spoke spanish so ever time he came home we had to reteach him english. not saying learning another language is bad but that young they need to know their primary language first then teach them another language and not good to send a child to school and they come home w/ marks on them ever day and sent to school w/ out them. and not good they have to constantly defend themselves and others from harm.and you all want to try and say homescooling is bad well before you judge homeschooling you all have to send someone to every school in the us w/out them knowing you are coming and them say pulic school is the only way to go.because saying that homeschooling is wrong and that we should all be teachers to teach our own childing is wrong because weather they are homeschooled or not we are still teaching our own children.and us parents are still not a teacher but its over looked because they are goin to pulic school thats not right.

Public schools are never had never been heard of in bible time and were never ordained by God. And as far as i can tell God never gave the parents the right to give up their responsibility as a parent to teach there children and give it to the state. We are commanded by God to bring up our children, and thanks to freedom of religion the government has no right to interfere.

I don’t have anything against either. You decide what is best for your own kids and your family. I personally home school my children. I think every parent has the right to know and monitor what their children are taught and exposed to. That is impossible in public school. Kids come home knows days learning a lot more than just their ABC’s and such. Drugs, pre-marriage sex, homosexual activity, lack of God, abortions, dangers-kids shooting and hurting each other; these are not the types of things I want my girls learning about. I am not blaming the teachers or even half of the time the school system itself. A lot of it is what the kids are learning at home. Most parents could care less. They don’t monitor what their kids say, do, or watch and blame it on “the times”. These are the same kids going to school and getting into trouble.

Why is wrong for me as a loving parent to want the best, safest, MOST educational environment for my children. Someone else will never care for my children as I do. No one will every take their educations as seriously as I do. They are my responsibility; NOT the states or anyone else’s.

If the state is so worried that our kids are not being taught please come and test my children!!! I know for a fact that both of kids will score higher then their supposed “standards”. The state doesn’t really care about out children. They are worried about statistics!!!! They don’t help kids that need more help and bore those that are too advanced.

Leave me to my children’s education. I will teach them all they need to know as children, God and family first!

As a homeschooling mother, I believe that my rights are in jeapordy when I hear of people being told they can’t homeschool unless they are licensed teachers. My thoughts are that I was not required to have a license to bare children. I was not required to have a Physcology degree to teach my child behavior, nor a teaching degree or license to teach them to speak, walk, talk, use the bathroom, keep clean and healthy, eat, use manners, share, do chores, socialize, resolve conflicts, or any of the other thousands of things a parent teaches a child. A license requirement would then force parents to follow the states standards of education when teaching their own child. This is outrages. Considering the low educational performance level of our nation. The reason I decided to homeschool is because after many years of public school, my daughter was behind in reading and math by three grade levels. For years the schools put her in extra help classes. I was very involved with homework and projects. After doing everything recommended and never seeing an improvement, I viewed the sytem in place for public schools as being a failure. I saw that instead of raising performance and standards to enact No Child Left Behind, the educational system lowered standards in order to hold to the percentages of acceptable levels of children held back to repeat their current grade. This step alone has caused a true dumbing down of the majority to make room those that were not doing well. Now we have more students at lower performance levels than ever before. There are fewer left behind but many more not moving ahead. Which is better for society? The majority coming out of school at a barely proficient level or a minority? Either way, I pray that my rights remain secure.

Re: the wording in Article 13, if this article is to be interpreted the way it has been, then every ethnic person with a child in public school should be filing suit against the state for failure to follow the provisions set forth in Article 13, hence, “blocking” their children from “…the right to freedom of expression;…includ(ing)freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.” –As we know, this is not happening in public -or even most private schools. The various disciplines taught are by in large mono-cultural. Talking about having to reteach? Try being ethnic with this task. Try explaining to your children why the books they read and pictures they see rarely reflect “ideas of all kinds” or people of all kinds. Ask any ethnic person in this country -born citizens or otherwise, if the subjects taught to their children reflect “all kinds of ideas”, if the art is diverse, if the history is inclusive -much less accurate. The answers would consistantly reveal that the state system of education is blatantly discriminative, committing a direct intellectual assault against the children of ethnic families, hence why you’re seeing a mass exodus of ethnic children be removed from public schools. We’re fed up with the state’s legalized system of repression and discrimination, where really, all the children are being cheated. Here’s a thought, instead if waiting for them to decide for us and pursue us, let’s take it to them. Let’s pursue them! After all, the evidence is quite overwhelming. Just bring all of the work samples, books, art, history, science and music projects your child has completed. Sit in a few classes and take notes about what your child is being taught. Note the perspective. What do you think the evidence will show? Clearly, it will show just how well the state has lived up to Article 13. -Not Very Well.

My own convictions were expressed by Kelly & Shawn. Also, I watched my son’s enthusiasm for learning steadily decline from K-7 because he was bored with the the public school’s material that was being taught. And, teachers were constantly telling me not to teach him the things he wanted to learn, “because it was not time for him to learn that yet, that he needed to stay within their scheduled format of when to learn what”. Also, they ignored my question when I would ask, “But what if he understands now and wants to learn this now and who’s to say he’ll even care about it when you think it’s the right time?”. I was about to take him for an evaluation for depression. Then I was steered toward investigating the the true motivations and politics behind our public school systems. Along with constant prayer (after all, God entrusted me with this precious soul’s guidance & protection when He allowed me to conceive him) and thorough investigation and interviewing other parents and established private church-related schools, the doors opened and everything fell into place for me to take my son out of the public system. My depressed son instantly changed into the excited child I had thought was gone forever. His curiosity and enthusiasm is returning and he loves that the Bible is accepted as an important part of his cirriculum. We are new at this, but I continue to pray that our personal rights and God-given entrustment continue to be respected and valued.

If the courts decides against homeschooling, then all those families are welcome to move to Alaska. Homeschooling plays a huge role in Alaska, since many people live without access to public schools.
Homeschooling and private schooling is encouraged and well practiced up here.
Paula in Alaska
http://www.steveandpaularunyan.blogspot.com

I home schooled our two sons for 12 years. The first 6 weeks of schooling them I learned the youngest had learning disabilities and we were able to help him out. The disability was he could not learn ‘audibly’. This had caused many battles, but once we realized this and were able to get him to focus on what we were saying, things happened much easier. The government schools would have labeled him ADD or whatever and wanted to drug him. How ridiculous! He is now nearly 22 and a near genius at working on the Geek Squad while putting himself through school. My other son is a near genius as well, who is 22 and working with an engineering firm who puts satellites into outer space. This son puts the ‘brains’ together for them and is doing this until he gets his graduate degree in engineering. He is looking forward in designing satellites himself. I know the government schools would not have worked at all for my youngest and he would probably be quite the flunky with his life. My oldest would never have had the opportunity to learn the maths and sciences as he got at home. The government is way too big, and has their nose way too much into all of our personal lives. It’s time that we are allowed to think for ourselves rather than always having the government doing their big brother business!

All of this information is scary, depressing, and discouraging…then I remembered…Who’s really in control? God! As long as his people pray, we don’t sit back and allow these things to happen and put forth the fight God is there and we’ll win the war. The battles though may be big and small shall continue but we should put up our “armor of God” and offer up our prayers to the almighty and this fight WILL BE WON. For our children ARE his children and he will see to it that there will be a way for them to learn at home and learn about his son Jesus. Who is the way the truth and the life. KEEP PRAYING….and the victory WILL be ours! Don’t let the enemy think we will lose cause that’s when we truly have…Pray, pray, pray…

When I was first reading Article 13 I actually thought that it was saying the opposite of what it intends. I believe it is the public system that is restricting what children are allowed to believe, at least in regard to what we as parents believe is true and right. In the public system they are not allowed to learn about God’s involvement in HIStory, Science, or in any area of learning, even though He created the entire universe with us in mind. I have viewed the first 5 episodes of “Silencing the Christians” and it is incredible what is happening in this country in regards to freedom of speech. Several of the true stories were about young people in the public school system whose “free speech” as Christians was silenced, literally. I think that all parents, whether their children are in public, private, or homeschools should wake up and be aware of the fact that their right as parents are being stripped away gradually while we sit back and let it happen. I intend to do all I can to battle against this trend.

There will WILL come a time where we as Christians are persecuted even here in America. Are you ready? Satan hates us. Are you a fence sitting Christian with feet firmly planted in this world or do you have your eyes on heaven, your REAL home? God will avenge the injustices we will face but we WILL face injustices. Is your life layed down today for Christ? If some one were to take away all of your “rights” unjustly, would you cave in your faith or would you remain in Christ? I have asked myself all of these questions. I admit that I am NOT where I should be in my faith. What keeps my heart secure is letting go completely of this world, loving not even my children more than my God (as hard as that is) and trusting in our Savior’s appearing at the end of days. We WILL go through tribulation. Don’t believe the lies that we will be swept away in the clouds before we are persecuted. Prepare NOW for what God has shown us we will face. The end is soon. Take Heart. Jesus is Faithful!

I have three children. I homeschool the 8yr. old and the the 6yr. old. The other one is only 2yrs. I battled with what I thought was best for a couple of years. I started my son out homeschooling in Kindergarten. Then we moved to AZ and I put both of my children in school. One in first grade and the other in K. We committed to the year, becuase we believe in committment and finishing what you start. The reason we put them in school is because I was constantly questioning whether or not I was doing the right thing with homeschooling. I want the best education for my children. I like the idea of homeschooling because they are not exposed to all the negative that comes with school, public or private. However, the children’s education is very important to me. I want them to have the opportunity to be doctor’s if that is what they want to become. So I decided to put them in school. We stuck through the year and I am now homeschooling again. My concerns were put to rest with them being in school for one year. There was so much drama at school which was very distracting to my children. They often complained about teachers yelling and the classrooms being so noisy. My children would come home and tell me stories of children hitting and swearing and not letting other children play in their groops. I used the opportunity to teach them the difference between how we should and shouldn’t act. I found the main thing I ended up having to do was to unteach so much of what they were learning in school. My son who is supposed to be in 2nd grade and my daughter who is supposed to be in 1st grade are both way ahead of my friends children who are still going to the same school, which is a charter shcool that got an award for the only excelling school in our district. I love the time I get to spend teaching my children. I graduated from public high school in honors classes with A’s and B’s, but I do not have a teaching degree. However, I consider myself to be pretty smart, and if in the older grades I come across anything I have a hard time with, I am going to find the help we need to understand the material at it’s best. I would never want to do my children an injustice, and I am pretty sure most homescooling parents feel the same. The reason we homeschool is because we want the best for our children in many aspects, such as environment, but also EDUCATION. The biggest difference I can see is that public schools teach children to memorize information for a test, and then it’s gone. The curriculum we use brings the education into everyday life, into our conversations throughout the week. My children have excitement about what they are learning, and even I am learning things in new depths that I did not learn in public school. I knew how to memorize for a test. I love having the freedom to teach my children. I can now say with confidence that my children are getting the best education that is available to them.

All,
Please consider that the case for homeschooling is not furthered by posting comments on this site that contain poor grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

I am glad to read supporters of home schooling voicing the same reasons I had. No one knows my child like I do! Statistics show children learn best with small student teacher ratio. What could be smaller than one on one?

I believe there are three reasons behind anti-home schoolers. One, it is a power trip to force others. Two, it’s about the money. Schools receive money based upon attendance. Principals and superintendents are paid based upon attendance. Some teachers are afraid they will be out of a job. Three, parents who do not homeschool are jealous and feel guilty. They want homeschoolers to suffer through the demands and inconsistencies rampant in a public school just as they do. Other parents feel guilty because they do not value their own children so much to sacrifice for their education at home.

Lest we be taken unawares as the world was with Adolf Hitler’s view of what is perfection, we must evangelize for the rights to homeschool. If not, what is next that we will let the state tell us to do? Shall we all be barcoded so that we only buy the proper food for what someone else determines is right for our health? Spread the word.

The real issue here has nothing to do with whether the parents can teach any better in the home environment. The real and only issue is MONEY. The schools are paid by the feds based on attendance. If the kids aren’t in school, the schools don’t get paid. If the kids don’t meet the minimum test scores the kids have to take every 60 - 90 days they don’t get the money. That’s all the schools and school districts are interested in, getting paid.

What worries me about homeschooling is that so many homeschooling parents can’t seem to express themselves clearly or with any kind of correct spelling or English usage. What kind of impression does that make on non-homeschoolers who read our posts? I can only hope that our shortcomings are due to the fact that so many of us were public-schooled! But it might be worthwhile to spend some time learning grammar and composition along with our children, so that we can be the best possible ambassadors for homeschooling.

Nothing good ever comes out of the UN! I am fortunate that my children are now adults and on their own. In the early 90’s I did do some homeschooling, but I had no support from my husband or my family. They eventually went back to a private religious school.During the time I taught them, they knew more than even what kids in their structured classrooms did. These days I have concerns about the UN and government butting into the family as all of you posting. It’s a parents God given right to teach their children. My youngest daughter’s intended was homeschooled after problems resulting in a public grade school. He had a touch of autism and the teachers would discipline the “slower” kids by putting them in a tiny room. His parents pulled him and the rest of their kids out after that and he was a lot better. Today he is an design engineer with a nationally known aeronautics manufacturer. He and my daughter both want to home school their children and they will have the support of both sides of the family. Reading this UN stuff makes me sick and the garbage that passes for education in the schools is insane. They are so busy being taught to be politically correct in every aspect of life that they are learning absolutely nothing.This is really what the Socialist/Communists want…your young children’s minds to bend and mold to this secular Godless way of thinking.People need to begin to Pay ATTENTION to what’s being said and done and taught in schools and be involved in finding out what Senators, Congressmen, Representatives etc…are voting for as well. There are many many socialist/communists and globalists in our government trying to ruin our country.Parents and grandparents need to stand firm against this attempted take over of the parents rights.

LOL. Someone pointed out the spelling, grammar and punctuation errors we are all making on this web board.

I know several very successful people who make those very mistakes on a regular basis. Don’t judge homeschoolers on that. Public, private, or homeschooled there are strengths and weaknesses of the teachers.

I know several people with lots of letters behind their names that make similar mistakes. It doesn’t mean they are incapable of their profession or teaching their children at home. In fact, just recently I heard a report that more people are making these errors b/c we rely so heavily on spell and grammar check.

If I made any grammatical, punctuation, or spelling errors in this post then I proudly attribute that to my public school education.

Cheers

My kid was making the honor roll in school, so silly me thought she was learning something. Then I found out that even on math, if the answer was “close enough” of a guess, it was marked correct. I took her out to homeschool her and she was so far behind where she should be that she was unable to do the work of her grade level in the homeschool book. In fact, she was grade levels behind. She didn’t even know the capital of her own state! I’ve still been struggling with her with this. She should be going into 7th grade next year, but she does 2nd and 3rd grade level work in some of her subjects. My family does not care and wants me to just send her back to public school. I have zero support on my decision to homeschool my own child, but I do it anyway. My family was even having my daughter refuse to do the work, because if she refused to do the work I’d be forced to send her back! I had to move out of town and even though she sees them some, I’ve finally been getting her to do some work. She knows a few of the states and capitals now and I have to keep working with her on that. She hasn’t made much improvement, but I’m hoping she will next year. I’m going to be working with her all summer, trying to get her caught up to where she should be.

Public schools can be seen as a failure, but in reality they are doing what they were designed to do. Public schools undermine parental authority over the children. The schools undermine any moral values parents try to instill in their children. Why does it take years to teach supposed sex education? Why are there no absolutes? Public schools ruin children.

I believe what happened in California was a judge who felt he had more power than he does. Article 18 makes it pretty clear that the state intends to support parents. There are some conflicting statements though. It really doesn’t make clear the balance between the parents’ right to uphold their responsiblilities to protect, education and bring up their child to be a strong, upstanding member of society and the child’s right to well, be a child. It seems as though the very nature of the article defies what it means to be a child. For a child to take that much responsiblility for their education is ridiculous. It is clearly the design of life for a child to be guided into adulthood by an…adult. The language of this article makes it sound as though a child would know what is best for them to know. It certainly lays roots to rob a child of a childhood.

The reason I joined this is because it is an answer to prayer. I do not like some of the things I see going on in this country. Education being one of them. If you send your kids to public school, thats okay for you. But I have had it with our local school system. They almost destroyed my son emotionally. I think if he hadn’t been a Christian he would have been totally destroyed. We had alot of things happen to us. My son was attacked, spanked (and bruised on his rear)sexually molested (the same person who did this gave him the spanking, was hit on a certain part of his privates with a pencil by a gay pincipal), medicated for add(after a long fight with the school)& because he has Tourettes should have never been in the same room with the meds, Nothing was ever done to the principal even though I had pictures of his rear. The police chief and the principal sang in the choir at the same church. After my son was attacked in the high school bathroom, I was assured that they would find out who did it. I found out later through one of my sons friends that they (the school officials) knew who did it. If they had done something at the time, my son would not have been beaten up again and left for dead by this same person. My son is now almost 26 and I have two younger children that I Will Not put into public schools. They are 6 & 7 and exhibit some of the traits my son exhibited. I do not want to go through it all again. Jesus said “Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar”. My children do not belong to Caesar they belong to God. I gave them back to Him when they were babies. I know if anything happens to them I will miss them desperately but, I know they will be in better hands than mine. The government cannot have my kids and I see this as an opportunity to keep this from happening.To protect them from the wolves.This Is why I say this is an answer to prayer. I prayed that God would open up avenues for me to hopefully help make some much needed changes. This is just one of them.

I’m a homeschool mom and I have been teaching my daughter at home for over 5 years now.I began homeschooling in Florida and now I live in Texas.The laws for each state are very diffrent.Texas is a pretty good state for homeschooling your kids.What people fail to realize is God has given us children and it’s our responsibility to do what is best for them. As a parent I support the fact that kids must be educated 100%.What I don’t support is a system that considers Jesus Christ irrevelent and seeks to conform them to another image. As a parent it is my job to find out what my child’s real needs are? I think it’s important that I educate my child completely, not just academically.They should be able to have understanding of one’s self and God, also relationship with others, life skills and then information. If you want to have a well balanced adult spiritually, physically, mentally and academically then you can’t restrict truth.
As long as the public schools continue to teach partial truth I will not allow my child to be part of such a system.For those who choose public schools as a form of education, if that works for you great.But for those who choose homeschool God be with you because the world will always try to stop you.I will pray that God’s grace is upon you and all those who homeschool including myself.It’s not easy to stand up for the truth, but if you do then changes will occur for the better.

I homeschool my three children ages 10, 5, 3. The government is not getting them. I think the saying goes “If you can get their minds while they’re young, you’ll have their hearts later.”

I’m not handing my kids over to government that has demonstrated it is lawless, immoral and invented political correctness to stifle freedom of speech and freedom of thought. Who ever said it was “correct” anyway?

Homeschooling is the way to go to explore talents, build weaknesses and follow interests to their natural conclusion (not just where the texts ends that year). It is also a way to learn much more about our world.

While my kids are on target or ahead of target, I do not think that what they can add, subtract, multiply, read, write, etc. each year is the only indication of a mind that is learning and progressing on the way to a mature and capable adult. We cannot measure these small humans merely by what they put on paper (especially since some aren’t quite as capable as other in getting it on paper). Homeschooling accounts for the whole child. Public schooling can only measure what is put on paper and handed in at the end of a day.

Everyone cannot homeschool (for a variety of reasons), but I think we would be depriving our future generations of some highly evolved thinkers if we allowed homeschooling to be squashed. One only needs to look at how resourceful homeschoolers are in acquiring resources and communicating with others to get things done that benefit our children to see what a huge success it is and how much this teaches our children.

I think the real reason people want to stop homeschooling is because they are afraid of it, jealous of it, and they want to get the minds and hearts of our children while they are young. I think it is very likely politically motivated at its highest levels.

I always assume simple errors are missed in proofreading and the other posts are done by people to give the impression home schoolers are ignorant. It’s “intentional” and I ignore their posts completely. Why give them any attention?

My personal opinion!!!

When it comes to State v/s Homeschooling, bottom line is: Without the Parent, the Child wouldn’t exist, Without the Lord, States wouldn’t exist.

Romans 13:1, Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong…”

HOWEVER, Jesus said in Luke 20:25 to “…give Caesar’s things to Caesar and to God what is God’s”

Therefore, It ALL goes back to Who will Acknowledge and Obey ‘The Lords’ Degrees, Laws and Mandates.

Deuteronomy 4:39 so clearly states, “Acknowledge and take heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep His decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.”

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 tells me, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Lord instructed ME to be MY CHILD’S Educator, Teacher, Instructor, whatever you want to call it. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at HOME and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your HOUSES and on your gates.

“In His Freedom” Private Home School Article #101:
2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom”

Article #102:
As for Me and My Students, WE WILL UNSCHOOL!!!

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/InHisFreedom/

ALL FOR THE GLORY OF HIM, WHO IS, WAS, AND IS TO COME!!!

Thank you for staying on top of things like this, I Dugg this to hopefully get some traffic and have posted it at my blog,
http://www.dequalss.com/wp/

keep it coming…

What is a right - its obvious where I live I have none! Here is a list of a few reasons why I have to homeschool my child :

-amblyopia from prematurity- NOT ONE PERSON HAS OFFERED US ANY HELP and when we ask - we either make to much money or dont qualify - but child is constantly harrassed for penmanship and reading!

Child faithfully does all work required at his best - A+ - but why are students allowed to trip him when walking across campus, take his glasses off his face and throw then across the campus, throw child out of classroom against wall - coming home with a KNOT ON THE SIDE OF HIS HEAD! When he speaks up teachers excuse _ I did not see it so I cant do anything!

CHild choked against the wall - by a student, child smakced over th head with backpack sitting on the ground putting hand up in defense as parent sat watching in parking lot in car - teacher says I did not see anything!

So, yes my child would love to be in public school - THEN CONTROL THE ANIMALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a homeschooling parent, and I am concerned about my childs education. What gives the goverment the wright to decided what is best for my children?
They do not have the wright. It is all about the money.

I know lets put all the children on medicine that learn different. Lets put them in a special class so they get further behind. I think not!!!!

I am very embarrassed by the posts from several on this site. You are representing homeschoolers in a VERY poor light when you do not spell your words correctly, use punctuation, or proofread your posts. You give fuel to those against homeschooling, showing that we are not educated enough to homeschool our children. If you do not know how to spell, punctuate, or proofread, please refrain from posting.

Forgive their mistakes in spelling, punctuation, they know not what they do…they probably got a public school education. (hee hee)

In some schools they aren’t even worrying about if the spelling is correct, only if it sounds the same. So, it is no wonder that homeschoolers are kicking butt at spelling bees.

[…] From ParentalRights.org […]

I am asking all parents and supporters of homeschooling to pray daily to keep homeschooling legal.

It saddens me when I think of the rights of parents to put their children in schools being taken away. It shows how hypocritic our government is. I will fight this to the end if they try to take it away. What can they take our kids away for not sending them to a battle field every day. I went to public school and was scared almost every day. We had threats and there were always fights. Teachers could hardly do anything. If I wasn’t a Christian I would have lost it. I will homeschool my children or the Government will deal with all their women scorning at them. We are moms hear us roar.

As an educator of adults in South Carolina, I find the public schools lacking. Allow me to explain: It is frustrating to try and teach an adult (with what I am assuming to be a high school education) to comprehend what is written at a 7th grade English level. I realize South Carolina does not do well when it comes to national standings in education, but that’s no excuse for substandard education. I am one who should know. I was educated through the DoD school system and had a stay-at-home mother
with no English-speaking skills at all, as well as a father who proudly served his country before his family.

I feel if some branch of government got off it’s pork-barrel spending spree and actually funded some research into the aftermath of poor public education, we may actually come to understand why America is in the shape that it’s in.

These reasons, and many more that I see on a day-to-day basis, are why my wife is a stay-at-home, non-keeping-up-with-the-Jones’s housewife who proudly homeschools our children. I support her 100% - and then some!

And, as Paul Harvey used to say, “Good Day” - maybe someday we will get the “Rest Of The Story”!

When my oldest son (mostly home schooled during his life) went to public school in high school, we had so much trouble w/abuse from a couple of other students. Most of the students were good young men and women but, there were other children that were acting out for some reason and it was not a safe environment for my son or others.

My son was was very focused academically and there was one particular incident at the school when he came home bleeding from his mouth where another student had punched him because he would not do his homework for him. He had taken his books from him and the like constantly prior to this. In other words, the abuse was progressing.

A “bully”? Sure, however, there were other students who had run-ins with this same student and there was much more and much worse. It was not safe and what happened to my son was small compared to fires being set in the school.

I spoke with the principal or vice principal and told him my son was at risk for abuse in his school and wanted to know what could be done. He said the incident that occurred had no witnesses and unfortunately, his hands were tied.

I told him that I did feel bad for the young man that was having trouble but, I told my son to do whatever necessary to defend himself so that he does not continue to be a victim. I was immediately told that if my son did that, he would be suspended or expelled from school.

He told me that he did not believe it was my son and was certain it was the other young man causing the problem but, basically, too bad..so sad. That was the last year (out of the few he went to public school) he ever attended public school again.

He now has six more classes to complete his bachelor’s in Accounting and intends to pursue his Jurist Doctorate after. He has told me that he is glad he was home schooled.

God knows best for us all and parents know best (second to God) what is best for their children. Principals and vice principals sometimes do not have a clue.

Shame on the government for trying to seek and destroy such a beautiful thing and this attack listed above is nothing more than another horrendous govermental attack on good families from a pathetic athiestic government that has run amuck. The corruption and deception that runs through our government like water through a sieve needs to be cleaned out.

Hooray for Parental Rights!!!!!

I’m a homeschooled highschool student, and I love it. I would hate to go to public school, esp. since I live in Florida. The schooling system here is so broken, not to mention all the private schools cost thousands! I’ve been homeschooled all my life, and I plan on homeschooling my children too. It’s a disgrace to this country that the government has to control every little detail in our lives. It’s not up to government to deside whether we send our kids to school, or teach them ourselves. I don’t even see why we as homeschoolers are such a threat to the government? I don’t understand! Are they afraid that we’ll overrun them? I can’t believe how far this country is going overboard. The fact that we can’t even say our country’s pledge! Why can’t people who don’t want to type of freedoms we offer here leave us alone? If they don’t want to see homeschoolers or here about God and Jesus leave our country, and go back to your own! We have certain rights here that we are entitled to, illegial immigrants shouldn’t be able to take them away. It’s also a disgrace that nonimmigrants would want these freedoms taken away. Once the government starts, who knows where they will stop. Where do we cross the line? In Boca Raton the local government ordered there to be video, with sound, throughout the whole town. So no matter where you drive, walk, or bike outside of your home, the government is watching you.

I wonder up until what age is a child allowed to direct his life, the aquisition of knowledge from all chosen sources and then the natural application of this knowledge? What I mean is, the UN says a child may have autonomy to learn, yet it appears that when the child matures into adulthood and begets a child( ie., becomes a parent), the UN no longer has any confidence in that individual’s ability to seek out and apply knowledge as regards a dependent who is precious and loved beyond life itself? This is pretty inconsistent. I guess we had better insist that we are all still children, then, if we want the UN not to invalidate our rights when we grow up, since growing up is inevitable.

I think we should get out of the UN.
The idea of a sovereign state still sounds good to me. Are we one, or not?

Even so…

Public schools do NOT allow students to seek out information. They do not allow ideas to be examined and discussed if they are different from the schools doctrine. Apparently the public schools are not in compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Children, being children, need to be instructed and protected by their parents. Parents should not abrogate that responsibility to strangers.

It seems that the freedom of expression in Public schools includes fighting, bullying, intimidating, etc. How sad and tragic.

Homeschooling Parents: Keep up the good work. Keep loving and teaching your children.

Whoa, Alexa! Let’s not start blaming the powerless for what the powerful people in the government are doing!

There seems to be a lot more emphasis among Christians on being able to say “under God” than on being obedient (e.g. “whatsoever you do to the least of these…”).

You might want to consider adding Jim Wallis’ book “God’s Politics” to your political science curriculum, just for interest’s sake.

As a new parent who was raised Catholic and was home educated myself, and who had the great fortune of being raised by a mother and father who saw things for what they were and predicted with frightful accuracy the denigration of the family unit and the rights of parents, I am gravely concerned about the social climate we live in today, but optimistic and hopeful in the voices and actions of my fellow free-thinking Americans. Proponents of a centralized, one-world government agenda know a few things about how to accomplish their ultimate goal, and they know the difference between being educated and being intelligent. An educated person knows what he is taught. An intelligent person knows how to deconstruct and reconstruct what he is taught with the goal of discerning objective truth. And while I am not one to judge a parent’s choice in the matter, it is clear that in general public education is nothing more than a assembly line of propaganda, with no interest in fostering free-thinking logic, but rather with the goal of obstructing it altogether. I have known families who have done marvelously sending their children through public school while successfully maintaining - and fulfilling - their obligations as parents to raise their children as independent minds. Interestingly, for those who may not know, the Catholic church has always taught that parents are tasked with the obligation of being the primary educators of their children - and for quite good and logically sound reason. Christians, in general, I am sure will agree.

my child got in trouble frm schl because another child stole my kid cell ph. 2 days later one of his classmate showed up in schl. bragging about his new cell phone,my child ask the teacher if she could dial the number of this child,and sure enough it was my child cell ph. the teacher never reported what has occured at the office. my child felt unjustified about the whole incident,because the kid never get in introuble and the parents were never notified. so my child told the boy parents about the incident. the next day my child was on detention for 5 days at the office. my child was sadened about the whole thing. my child is a straigh A student and frm there everything went down hill.they sent a message that its okey to steel and if you protect what you have you are in trouble. talk to the principal and he said, its best to keep my kid in the office so the teacher won’t pick on my kid, and that he should have given that boy a good punch on the nose.3 days later the same boy run in to my kid at recess call him name and push my child to the ground. my kid had it with that boy so my kid figth back and that put child on another 5 days detention. my kid was broken hearted, if you defend your self either way you get in trouble. frm that day forward my kid is staying home and homeschooled. I thank God for homeschooling because I’m able to protect my kid frm that hostile environment. for those homeschooling parents,keep up the good work, we know our children more than anybody else. God Bless..

As a homeschooling mom, I see our other freedoms rapidly being stolen from us. I think if we cannot regain the freedoms that we have already lost, the freedom to homeschool will not remain long. We are now removing children from their parents for “being in a cult that endorses early match-making”. I will grant that the group was strange, but persecution of the strange religious people often leads to persecution of all Christians. We homeschoolers are already being set up in California as criminals, and trends in California often spread throughout the country.

As a former official homeschooling mom, I completely agree that the state and federal govts have plenty of issues to keep themselves entertained, taking control from parents SHOULD NOT be one of those issues; this is a democracy right? My son attends a charter school now, I had a conversation with his teacher (who is very good) and the principle (who we like and think does a good job) that we preferred to homeschool but our current situation does not allow us to do so. We believe our son got a much better “academic” education through homeschooling and that the public school system is really has three priories: 1. teaching the kids how to “work a system to their advantage”; 2. Collecting money for kids in attendence and 3. Acheiving high test scores on the state and federal tests. Then, once all of this is done if the kids learn something along the way that is ok too! As you can imagine, they were not real happy to hear this, but we went on to identify that it wasn’t them personally that we didn’t like, it was the HUGE SYSTEM that drives these priorities.

We believe God did bless us with these children and through us accepting the children we also accepted the responsibility and right to advocate for them to ANYONE and ANYTIME. I support this organization for the basic fundamental right of being a parent and because we live in a country where we are supposed to be able to make our own decisions.

I do pray that there will be changes in the public school system and that our children can attend a public school and get the education the educators and legislators keep talking about. It will take along time and lots of prayer but I believe it can and will happen as long as we stand up for our rights.

I could understand the general attack on homeschooling if our students consistently underperformed when compared with their public school peers, or even if a trend emerged suggesting that homeschoolers were anti-social and generally poor citizens. All available evidence indicates exactly the opposite, so it becomes quite clear that the quality of education and character outcomes are not the issue. Or are they?
When homeschooling produces wise, mature, capable, independent, productive, and most of all, Godly individuals, they are a threat to the status quo. They are the leaders of the future, who, unlike the masses of “sheep,” will challenge and work to change the culture and the systems (educational, political, journalistic, etc…), that have corrupted it.
Indeed, the state has an interest in our children; to ensure that they conform to the godless and amoral “collective” mentality. The day is coming when it will not give them up without a fight.

We have been homeschooling as a family for the past 24 years. It has been an uphill battle every year it seems in trying to ensure homeschooling is available for others in the future.

It seems as if every corner we turn, there is someone else that seems to think they know better how to teach our own children. I don’t disagree that having higher education would benefit, but I don’t believe having a degree means you are a better teacher.

Most parents whom I know that homeschool do it because they love to. They love their children and want the best for them. Believe it or not, most homeschooler’s have a better grasp on the economy, the world, religion, society, and how to make an informed decision. I’ve also seen public school kids have similar teaching. I think it all depends on the school, the teacher, the system, and the parents. Without parental interaction no school system, be it public, private, or homeschool can survive and educate chidlren properly. I hate to push this on everyone, but it does take a village to teach a child and that village just happens to be the family in this case.

I would suggest every reader on this board to contact their Senator’s and Congressman and everyone else they can to share their thoughts as to how unfair and unethical this move from California is and can be. Keep freedom to the families and let them make the choices for their children.

I am a homeschooling mom of three *wonderful teenagers* (not an oxymoron, btw ;^)). We have had the privilege to totally home-educate our kids over the past 13 years. This fall our oldest son, a National Merit Commended Scholar, will be attending college on a complete academic scholarship.

My husband and I are far from ranking as super-intellectuals; neither one of us has ever attended college. By the mercies and enabling grace of God, and by the corresponding support of the homeschooling community, we have made it successfully through one student’s complete journey and more than two-thirds of the way for our other children. Our whole family has prospered and benefited in so many ways from the experience.

We now face circumstances which have necessitated a different educational decision—we will be placing our remaining two school-aged children in private school this fall. We feel it’s best for all concerned, but I will sure miss having my kids around for so many hours of the day!

All of the above is to illustrate one case among many where parents with no specific post-secondary training were able to help guide their children to a high level of success using the homeschooling option (to God be the glory!). Under normal circumstances, parents are the best decision makers for their kids, and the right to educate and guide our children is also a God-given responsibility. We need to pray and take any appropriate action (i.e., exercise our freedoms) in order to secure and keep this right.

Educating my children at home, and teaching them how to be fruitful in society, how to fear God and act right, be a good citizen, work hard, have an honest living, how to study hard so they can prosper, is that bad? if more people will spend the time in teaching, caring and loving their children more, what a different world we would have. Obviously someone is trying to steal that from us, but ultimately God is on our side, He has the last word. Let’s keep on praying, we serve a God who answers. He will NEVER live us nor forsake us…it is written, it is done.
I encourage you who homeschool your kids, press on, you will receive your reward, those many hours teaching, sacrifices made, countless hours of running to music classes, art,and sports won’t go unnoticed, garantee. I say again press on, the devil is busy, but God is real. And don’t forget to pray for aour enemies.

Flor

We are fighting a battle bigger than we think- we are fighting against satan and his demonic force to destroy the family unit that God has designed. This push towards forcing “secularism” upon us is going to take more than just protests and emails- it is going to take us to our knees praying to the Lord to intervene. The people involved in this push and their determination to destroy the family and corrupt and indoctrinate the minds of the young are being used as puppets, unknowingly, by satan himself. This was Hitler’s famous agenda- to get them while they are young. The same thing that Hitler was doing is being done all around us right here in our country! If Christians do not stand up and fight, our freedoms will be stripped from us, and it WILL go as far as the possiblilty of our dear children being ripped from our homes. People, Christian brothers and sisters, please pray. Come together at your churches, make this known! You would not believe how many churches that do NOT even touch on these issues, the pastors are too afraid to even make a peep. “Big brother” is here, lets face it. This is serious, we have an enemy and he is not smiling….

[…] week, we began our discussion of Article 13 of the UNCRC by looking at its impact on what children are taught. This week, we return to Article 13 to examine the right of the child “to seek […]

I think that if we raise our children to be wise consumers of information, some of the perception of threat generated by topics such as this would be eliminated.

We need to equip our children, not shelter them.

Re: the wording in Article 13, if this article is to be interpreted the way it has been, then every ethnic person with a child in public school should be filing suit against the state for failure to follow the provisions set forth in Article 13, hence, “blocking” their children from “…the right to freedom of expression;…includ(ing)freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.”

Not just ethnic people but ALL people, especially Christians should be filing suit. We are discriminated against more than any other group. We as Christians are the minority. And that’s what this is really all about. Article 13 just moves us closer to a one-world govenment controlling all people with a one-world religion.

We are the ones being silenced. Our children are the ones being told not to mention the name of Jesus.

My daughter did an art project in school. She drew a cross and wrote in pretty letters, “I love Jesus”. Her teacher crinkled it up, threw it in the trash, and told her she wasn’t allowed to write things like that. Same thing with my daughter’s name tag for her desk. Her teacher told her not to draw crosses on it. Another time during FREE READING I was called because my children were turning the pages of their Bible “too noisily”.

Give me a break. Public school is a joke. People scream that homeschoolers aren’t socialized. PLEASE. When I was in public school, we got told NOT to socialize or we got detention.

Since when is teaching how to socialize something public school is responsible for? I thought it was reading, writing, and arithmetic. Perhaps if the public schools leave the teaching of character and morals up to the families, WHERE IT RIGHTLY BELONGS, and focused on the academics, they just might find their student performing better academically.

We are the parents. NOT the government. If the government needs children to take care of, they can focus on the orphans and the homeless who really need it. LEAVE MY CHILDREN ALONE!

I agree with much of what has been said. I however get very concerned when we start to reference the UN charter and laws to defend or promote a personal view.

Since when do we need to use UN laws to defend ourselves? Since when does the UN have any authority over citizens of the US? It is a totally unrepresentative body and in direct contravention of the constitution. I will ignore every UN law, it does not apply to me and never will.

When using the UN laws to support a view by implication we are saying that other UN laws are applicable in our lives. This is a evil body, one that has no basis in law. I will abide by one law and one law only, the Constitution of the United States of America. The rest can go to hell.

Praise God for the persecution. It means we might actually be living a biblical life. If we fit into our society, are we a light, are we adding flavor? He called us to be set apart,not to be a part of the world. We are preparing our kids not just for life but for eternity, and this is what ulitimately will matter in the end. God help us to rejoice as we are told to do when people oppose us for your Name. I pray for those christians in the public schools Lord that you would help us, the homeschool community to support and pray for them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This homeschooling debate could be the catalyst for taking not only our children back, but our schools, and nation. I had a professor in a class entitled “Social Problems” at Auburn University when I was preparing to be a secondary social studies teacher make a statement. The statement went pretty much like this: “When the government creates an agency, department or anyother bureaucratic label” to deal with a ‘perceived’ social problem, not only will the perceived social problem improve or be eradicated, but will be guaranteed to worsen and numbers of perceived victims added to the numbers, as the agency or department once established becomes it’s own empire and like all empires and tyrannical forces, it becomes power hungry and wants to expand, and in order to expand, it has to add numbers to it’s roles. And like all dictatorships and empires, it will never dissolve itself and will never give up it’s power willingly. All dictatorships and tyrannical governments have always been taken down with force.” So, does this sound radical. No, I think not. I heard that statement around 1983 after going back to college in my 30’s because I decided to become a teacher, since I then realized that our country was in serious trouble, and in my idealism, I believed that I, as a teacher could make a difference in my classroom by teaching “real history” instead of fairy tale history, and other idealistic ideals such as this. Of course, as time went on, I realized that the system would never allow that. But, that is not the reason I am writing. In another class on testing, measurement and evaluation, I had another intellectually honest professor make this statement, “The more you standardize test, the more you have to keep lowering the standards.” Again, that was in the early 1980’s. Now, today, there is every kind of standardized (low standards) testing going on to evaluate these public cespools that we call schools to claim they are teaching our children something of value and that the schools are improving. Total nonsense. They have lowered the standards to the point that nobody in a public school anywhere in this country is finishing school with good skills in reasoning and logic, and on top of that they have been thoroughly deranged emotionally and psychologically. The public schools are destroying this country by destroying the children’s minds, perceptions, emotional development, intellectual development, moral development, and not even doing a good job of teaching basics such as reading, writing and arithmetic, and they certainly do not teach respect and responsibility. It is a form of child abuse and neglect on the part of a parent to even send his or her child to one of the public indoctrination centers which are governed by the U.S. Department of Education which is where all the nonsense in schools originates. So, back to the discussion about U.S. or State Agencies created to deal with ‘perceived social problems’, well the U.S. Dept. of Ed., which was the brain child of that wonderful Socialist, Jimmy Carter, and created in 1978, was put into place to make sure that educational standards would rise, and that things such as ’social injustices’ ect. or other ‘perceived’ social problems and evils would be diminished. Well, of course, this is not what happened. Things only worsened since that time. I will give Jimmy Carter, FDR, and everybody before or after their dues and believe they had good intentions, but as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The Virginia Tech massacre, Columbine, Colorado massacre, and all the rest of murder and mayhem in schools and society is being spawned in the schools. The system itself is creating these sick minds by the things these public cespools teach and tolerate. Then, these same emotionally disturbed children go home, and their parents allow them to sequester themselves in front of TV, Computers, Ipods, Cell Phones, Video Games, and these already sick kids who are getting emotionally ill from attending these cespool schools, plot, simmer, hate and scheme as to how to get back at these monsters in schools who bully them, taunt them, and otherwise abuse them, and the idiot teachers, administrators, etc. stand by and do nothing to help or protect them from verbal, emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical abuse. Yes, parents, keep your kids at home and resist with all you have to let the state take your children and force them into these cespools of indocrination and abuse. As a parent, you are guilty of abuse and neglect if you send your child into one of these public institutions. Until we get local control of our schools and put schools back in the communities where the children live, KEEP THEM AT HOME FOR THEIR WELL BEING. And, while at home, turn off their computers, video games, and computers and do not allow them access to this trash until their minds and emotions have developed well enough to be ready for this stuff. Let them be children. Run, play, exercise, explore, and then when they are old enough, begin teaching them the academics and other stuff they need and then when they are teens and are emotionally, intelectually, and spiritually stable and mature, then and only then let them use tools such as a calculator or computer and may even be able to be a discerning viewer of television. Realities are created in the mind. Young children’s minds asre being developed or (mal adapted and warped) by what is going into their minds, and realities of the mind are created by the inputs and become true and real to the mind and child whether it false, true, positive,negative, good, or evil. Does not matter which, the reality is created in the mind of the child by the input. You, as parents, should guard what your child is exposed to. The only place you can safely do that now is at home. We used to be able to send our children to school and be comfortable that our child was being taught good stuff and was being protected. Those days are over. The community schools with community involvement and control was taken over by the nanny state beginning in the mid-1960’s and everything has gone down hill since. Total decadence in the country is a result of this. Wake Up America, take your children back for their sake and for the country’s sake. If you are reading this and would like to do something about taking our children, our schools and country back, let’s start a movement and stop arguing with these courts, schools, and other state and federal entities and just Do It. We stick together, band together, as parents, and grandparents and demand a government that cares about us, our children and the future of this nation. This writer graduated high school in 1966, and schools still worked then. We already know what works and what does not work. This social engineering project has failed misearably in every area of American life. But, until we take the schools back and put them under local and community control, and disband the U.S. Dept. and State Dept. of Education, we need to keep our children home, and if you cannot personally stay home and teach them, find other homeschool parents and do some trading and co-opping, etc. but it is crucial we take our kids back and keep them home where we regulate and control what kind of stuff goes into their developing minds and spirits. Thanks You–M. Jerome Ennis, MAed; Tuscaloosa, Alabama
jgreyh960@aol.com

It is quite an assumption to think that the incorrect grammar is from failed homeschooling or those that were homeschooled only. I graduated from public school feeling very ill-equipped. Let’s be realistic, your bias minds have been greatly influenced by the media/the world. The media chooses what you hear. Please don’t rely on thier words. Do the research yourself for the truth! I suggest you do a study on Hitler’s Children to start with. Pay close attention to the parallels to what is going on in the USA. Complacency has been and will be our demise.

One of the underlying principals the California courts are implying is that the current education system does not produce individuals capable of passing on their knowledge to others. How can one accept that the government has a better approach to education than a parent when their overall success rate is so inadequate? (Check the falling graduation rates across America.)

For example, in a recent news report I learned that almost 90% of individuals that entered high school at the age of 18 failed to graduate. The school system held these students back for one reason or another until they have reached the age of majority as they enter 9th grade.

Realistically, our education system is optimized to prepare individuals to enter the workforce more than prepare them to function as individuals in an informed society. Entrepreneurial and creative responses are downplayed from the point of entry into the public education system.

Our education and litigation system make it too easy to pass the responsibility (i.e., blame) to someone else for a poor decision. If our education system were producing informed individuals with capabile decision making skills, then why is society plagued with so many successful scams and deceptions?

Parents, not educators, have individual student interests at heart!

Time for a homeschooling dad here…. The State has a right, and they would say obligation, to produce a citizenry that is educated. This is the assumption behind the public school system. This does not mean that there is only one way, PSS, to do this. If statistics are what the State wants to see, let’s have a homeschooler test. If the results show homeschoolers doing as well or better than the PSS, the State should be satisfied and open the doors to this type of education. The reality though is that even if they would test this and post the results the PSS is really interested in your money. Suppose you did not have to pay taxes for the PSS if you signed a waiver to homeschool? How would the PSS survive? This is about money and power…not right and wrong.

Todd

Just a word on everyone’s spelling: I’m a professor of English in New Jersey. Every year, I have to reteach my students how not to splice a comma, how not to create a sentence fragment or run-on, etc. It’s all basic, basic, English for bunyan heads. It was taught to institutionalized learning students in seventh grade, and per those who were not in honors, again sophomore year of high school.

I get these wonderful souls (I’m in earnest) as college freshman, and they don’t remember a thing. Oh. And none of them were home schooled.

If we added up the salaraies of English teachers in NJ who administer seventh grade and sophomore year English, the amount would exceed $400 million annually. All of this so I can get them again in college and they don’t recall anything.

Again: They’re not home schooled.

If someone wants to bludgeon the home schoolers for butchering their mechanics, first read some emails from my students. Example:

Der Profession:

i cant make it to class tonite i have to work but i was hoping you wuld send me the homework assgn as i can’t make it to class. Pls let me no if this is ok. thank you, jason

Do you know why public schools are the way they are? THE TEACHERS! Schools are not like they used to be, teachers no longer want to help. The bully is always right and the innocent are always wrong. I think that the schools just don’t care!

My education ran the gambit. It was private school when I was very young, then homeschooled for a few years. Then my parents financial status changed and my siblings and I were put into the public school.

My teachers had around 40 children to attempt to teach. I was exceptional and understood far beyond my grade level. However I had to sit still and not do anything for hours at a time. Other students took this time to torment me. The teachers sat by and did nothing. I was kicked, hit, called horrible names, food thrown at me, threatened, had my belonging stolen, and once had a person who knew they had lice purposefully put some in my hair. The teachers did nothing, even when my parents called to protest. I was attacked for being obedient, attacked for doing my homework, and attacked for getting A’s.

I actually purposefully did badly on tests so I would not call attention to myself. That was middle school. In high school the English teacher would give us 30 min to write a one page journal. I was done in 5. We never learned grammar or punctuation and it was not until I demanded to go to honors English that I learned sentence structure. When I finished High School I had to re-learn English grammar and punctuation in college.

My children will not endure the same torment and educational neglect that I did. They are only 1 and 3 right now, but they will not be in the public schools.

Maybe some of the people that are making spelling and punctuation errors are just so caught up in what they are trying to say, that they forget to check before posting. NOT a big deal.

I am smart enough to over look the errors and focus on what the person is saying. That is MORE important to me!

I will forgive any and all spelling and punctuation errors. Please forgive mine as well. Thank you and God Bless!

I support homeschooling 100% for those who choose to do it, even though my two children went to private and public schools. However, just from reading the comments of homeschooling parents, I can understand the argument for controls on education. Many of the comments are proof that the writers are not qualified to teach. They are functionally illiterate. How can they teach their children when they can’t even write a grammatically correct paragraph without spelling errors? If you want to fight for your right to homeschool, you’re going to have to present a more convincing case; you’re making it too easy for the opponents. The vast majority of homeschooling parents are doing a great job, but the opponents seek out the worst examples.

Many public school teachers are not qualified to teach either! The only difference is that they have government protection!

S. Holman

Did you ever think that maybe some of those posts with spelling and punctuation errors were posted that way on purpose?

Maybe the opponents are trying to sabotage the efforts of those who support homeschooling.

Just some food for thought!

“As a homeschooling mom, I see our other freedoms rapidly being stolen from us. I think if we cannot regain the freedoms that we have already lost, the freedom to homeschool will not remain long. We are now removing children from their parents for “being in a cult that endorses early match-making”. I will grant that the group was strange, but persecution of the strange religious people often leads to persecution of all Christians. We homeschoolers are already being set up in California as criminals, and trends in California often spread throughout the country.” Penni B
Apr 23 at 12:24 pm

It wasn’t early matchmaking, it was much worse than that. Trust me. I live in Utah where this cult was born and bred. What is a shame, is that every nutcase out there will add fuel to the fire to relieve parents of thier duty. You will always hear more disheartening things on the news, and remeber it over the good.

Before I ask my question, I would like anyone who reads this know that I don’t oppose homeschooling if it works for you. I do need some advice though, what do I do if I know of a child in my family who is not actually being homeschooled and they are failing for the 2nd year in a row? There must be something that can be done about this. If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it.

Heh.

So many of the professing Home Schooled posting here are so inept when it comes to typing up a coherent thought process…

No sentence structure, no paragraph structure, and no concept of spelling, punctuation, or grammar.

Whatever.

Achieving a quality education with any student requires a positive blend of all of the following:

– Student aptitude
– Student attitude
– Teacher familiarity (with the subject in question)
– Teacher ability to teach

(I’m putting this together on the fly, so I admit there may be other factors I’m missing)

With any one piece missing, the student will fail to learn the subject in question, and this is why home schooling is a bad idea beyond elementary grades.

Up until approximately the sixth grade, most literate parents are able to provide instruction needed to produce a successful student, and most home schooling programs offer the necessary support for both parent and student, where needed. Indeed, many home schooling programs offer limited social interaction with other home schooled students under the same program. To the point, then, home schooling in this sort of program, up until the sixth grade or so, is perfectly acceptable — provided the curriculum is modern and accurate.

Beyond the sixth grade, however, the student needs both more specialized instruction, and more social interaction. Not only that, but it is beneficial for a student to have as a teacher an authority figure with whom the student does *not* have a familial or friendly relationship. It is also at this stage in a child’s development that a great deal of his future persona is forged. Unfortunately, the vast majority of parents are simply unqualified to provide adequate instruction to children in this level of schooling, and no amount of support from a home schooling system (aside from in-class instruction, which defeats the purpose) will be sufficient.

Certainly, home schooling a child through High School is foolhardy. Your child may be “sheltered” from the “evils” of public school (or private, as it were — I know from experience that the place to get sex, drugs, or alcohol was the Catholic school), but he will be socially inept, and he will not be college-prepared.

Now, before you start crying about the fact that the *public* school system is incapable of producing college-ready students en masse, I agree. I was a product of the public school system except for three years in a Christian school, and although I was able to succeed in that environment, the same is not true even for a great deal of my classmates, and over the years, whatever ability the public system had to provide a quality education has degraded to the point of being a joke.

Bush’s nonsense “No Child Left Behind” act is asinine. Instead, we should *promote* leaving children behind. The true slogan should be “No Child Pushed Ahead” — not until he demonstrates that he has attained a particular level of education. No, the public school system is by no means perfect, but it can be improved.

Today, teachers pass students who would otherwise fail, for two reasons:

1) To get that child *out* of the class, and

2) To avoid having an undesirable pass:fail ratio

Teachers are criticized for failing too many students, and parents are overly critical of teachers. Parents often complain that it is the teacher’s fault that the child doesn’t learn, or the teacher’s fault that the child doesn’t behave. Wrong. It is the child’s fault, and, by proxy, the parents’ fault.

We need to relax the ridiculous requirements made of teachers, and remove the double-standard: We want our children to be educated, but we don’t want the curriculum to be too difficult.

Where home schooling fails is that it tends to focus on religious instruction rather than current educational standards. No doubt many of you will object to the teaching of evolution (I’d wager that many of you cite evolution as a primary reason for home schooling your children), but you delude yourselves, and you need to swallow the pill: evolution is a fact.

If a given home schooling system taught current educational standards (including Big Bang cosmology, the Theory of Evolution, etc.), and if it also provided an appropriate support system such that even a relatively uneducated parent could provide worthwhile instruction to her child (e.g. math, grammar, science), then I would support such a system. I would still object to any overt religious undertones, but the system itself would be amenable to providing a solid education.

If the public school system were revised, such that the standards were improved and upheld, rather than students being passed to save funding, then it, too, would be amenable to providing a solid education.

Above all, however, we must recognize the parents’ *responsibility* to ensure that their child receive an adequate education. This is, as I’ve said on other topics, a *responsibility* on the parents’ part — the *right* of an education belongs to the *child*.

To illustrate my point, I shall use my daughter and two of my nephews as examples. All three of these children are now finishing kindergarten, with my daughter being the youngest by six months (in fact, we had to enroll her in a neighboring school district to avoid the age minimum for kindergarten).

Of the two boys, the eldest is one of three children (five on alternate weekends), and is in the public school system. His parents do not practice any religion, and both of them work full-time jobs.

The younger boy is one of three children, and is currently enrolled in a Christian school. His parents are devout [Fundamentalist] Christians, and his mother is a homemaker.

My daughter is one of two children, and is currently enrolled in the public school system. My wife and I are atheists, and only my wife works (I will be a full-time student this coming fall).

Of the three, the elder boy is a handful of a child, but he is performing at an acceptable level in his public school. He reads and writes as well as a marginally below-average kindergartner.

The younger boy is also a handful of a child, and his teachers initially recommended that he be held back, due to various deficiencies. He cannot read and write anything other than his name, to my knowledge. I would suspect that he might have passed to first grade were he in the public school system. His mother wants to start home schooling him…

My daughter, again, younger by six months (and eleven months), is, by contrast, able to read at a full first grade level (read: end-of-the-year first grade level), and would have been graded higher still were it not for a single missed word (that she later recognized, too late). She routinely reads words and phrases she sees in print media wherever we are, and although she cannot spell very well (though better than some of the posters here…), she routinely writes small stories, which she appropriately illustrates.

What’s the point? It’s that these children were subjected to different levels of parental involvement, their differing school systems notwithstanding. Being a student at Harvard doesn’t make a student a genius any more than being a student at BFE Community College makes a student an imbecile. Home schooling *can* work, but so can the public system.

If parents were more responsible and active in their child(ren)’s instruction, if voters passed school levies and supported tax increases to benefit education, and if the educational system were overhauled to keep up with international educational standards, then the public system would be the preferred choice. Instead, however, we have a lackluster system because parents don’t seem to care.

If you can’t be bothered to learn for yourself how to formulate a respectable argument, using proper grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation, then how can we expect your children to do any better, regardless of the system?

–
Stan