A three judge panel in a California Second District appeals court ruled parent run homeschooling unconstitutional if the parent does not have teaching credentials. Thousands of families in California home school their children, and they could be prosecuted if this ruling stands. Parents all over California are protesting this ruling and it's gotten the attention of many groups including the Home School Legal Defense Association and Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has spoken out against this ruling.
Though homeschooling has grown in popularity over the last 10 years, parents who choose to educate their children outside public or private schools must prepared to defend their choice at any time. None of the home school advocate groups expected this ruling to come at this time. Watch as large numbers of people rally together to get this ruling over turned.
Parents on the Kansas side, are you aware of educational changes that may impact your rights to decide your child's education? Next Wednesday there will be a hearing in the Kansas House for Senate Bill 399. It lowers the age of compulsory attendance to six, and makes kindergarten mandatory. One advocate is a teacher who complained of lapses in attendance for kindergarteners. She has been frustrated that the school had no legal right to force children to attend her class. The Senate also was looking into mandating full day kindergarten. Other future plans are afoot for preschool programs. Virtual Schools have been discussed in the Senate this session also.
If you are interested in what the Kansas Legislature is doing in Education, you can look it up for yourself at www.kslegislature.org. The schedule of bills to be discussed is listed for each day, as well as full texts of bills. No matter what you believe about education or other issues, it doesn't hurt to be informed as to what your representatives are doing in Topeka. Here are the links for the Missouri House and Senate also...
http://www.house.mo.gov/
http://www.senate.mo.gov/
— Dawn Meisenheimer Lewis, Midwest Voices 2007
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Beautiful article! It's just
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California has it right
Has anyone hear met some of the people who are homeschooling their children? Well, I have and not one of them is qualified to train a puppy let alone a child. Homeschooling without the parent having the proper credentials (ie. a degree and teaching credentials) is a disservice to the poor child!
homeschool kindergarten
Personally I am aware of parents who teach kindergarten at home and accoplish a lot within that three hour time limit...often only an hour is needed at home to teach the same amount that a kindergarten student gets in public school. I know homeschooled first graders who read well above grade level.
If so little can be accomplished in the three hours teachers are already given to teach kindergarten, why on earth would we want to extend the hours they are given to teach a child? Dawn Meisenheimer Lewis
Midwest Voices 2007
Credentials
Studies show that Homeschoolers often score higher than peers on standardized tests. ("Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America" is just one study showing this effect). Colleges and Universities are beginning to notice the worth of homeschooled students and are starting to recruit them. All this with many homeschooling parents NOT having any kind of teaching credential. Homeschooled families are not perfect, but one thing that is more often the case, they really care about their own kids. I have met many homeschool parents myself, and know many who seek out their own education in order to teach their children better. They research curriculum, they go to conferences and listen to people speak about learning styles, and they read books on the subject of teaching their children. Not all homeschool parents prepare, but many do. There are many curriculum helps for homeschool teachers out there also. They buy many books. Even Walgreens has books on the shelves to help parents teach different subjects to their children. I personally am not afraid of the parent with a high school diploma teaching their child to read. If credentials for teachers are so wonderful, shouldn't a high school educated mother or father be able to teach a second grader properly? I would hope so...
Personally, if homeschoolers do just as well or better academically as public school kids, I don't see why there should be any regulation.
Dawn Meisenheimer Lewis
Midwest Voices 2007
Full day kindergarten
I totally support full day kindergarten. It's a wonderful thing. It's hard to accomplish a lot in 3 hours. Our kids thrived in all day kindergarten and could read well in just a couple of months. And it's not like they were chained to their desks. They played and painted and napped and just had the normal kindergarten routine.
I didn't work, but it's got to be fantastic for working parents. It seems most kids are in daycare these days for 10 hours a day. They've got the stamina at 5 and even younger.
Don't panic, it's a good thing. By your tone, I take it you're also against offering pre-school, too. Every kid deseves a chance to go to preschool. I even went to preschool in the 1950s. It should be available to all, not just those who can afford it.
Denise Tiller
Midwest Voices 2008
should homeschooling be illegal?
I'm not a fan of "No Child left Behind" but if we require school teachers to have the appropriate credentials and we think that's a really good idea, why shuldn't it apply to homeschooling? Shouldn't those kids have to take all the same state assessments?
California has some pretty cool homeschooling features. You don't have to homeschool all the subjects, you can send your kids to school for the things you aren't qualified to teach. Or, you can send them to the local junior college. A friend of mine has done that with all of her kids.
I'm not sure a lot of moms who home school even have college degrees. And do they really have the science and math background?
I know there are a lot of "personal rights" arguments and so forth, but sometimes, you just have to go with what's best for the children. Someday, they will grow up and they will have to survive in the real world interacting with the rest of us. If they have an inferior education, what are they going to do?
Denise Tiller
Midwest Voices 2008
Yep
Yes, more control of parents...more money to education.
Dawn Meisenheimer Lewis
Midwest Voices 2007
Can you say
Teacher's Unions?
Good point
Yes, a change in the law to make it clear that parents can choose to homeschool would be good.
I will also correct my submission so that it is more clear. On that note, I have read these phrases pertaining to what the court did in this case...
"ban home schooling," "parents have no constitutional right to home school," "California home schoolers could face criminal charges." It appears that others have interpreted the ruling in a similar way, that it is illegal for parents to home school in California. When I see the words "home school", I think of parents teaching their own children in a home setting. Tutoring doesn't even occur to me.
Dawn Meisenheimer Lewis
Midwest Voices 2007
correction
Homeschooling was not deemed illegal by the court, rather, the court 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.
It seems as the appropriate response would be to change the law, not overturn the ruling.