Article in my local paper (Full Version)

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NotaLisa -> Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 7:15:24 PM)

There is an article in my local paper that I find slightly disturbing. I would appreciate if anyone would read it and possibly give it a comment. I'm working on my comment right now. Since I live here and actually know a couple of the people quoted, I want to be careful in what I say and not draw too much attention to myself, lol. I'll introduce myself in the chat thread.



Karaboo2 -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 7:20:39 PM)

Do you have a link to post, directing us to this article?



NotaLisa -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 7:34:58 PM)

oops, duh, my dh interrupted me and i posted, lol. It's http://www.floydcountytimes.com you'll have to register but it's free. The article is titled Local schools giving students "no excuses"



misaham -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 7:50:28 PM)

I was able to see the article without registering. I did a search for "no excuses" and found it right off.
Yeah, this sounds a little scary. I would like to know how "We can't teach students that aren't in school" pertains to homeschooling. What do they think we are doing with our kids at home all day??
Another thought - homeschool kids should not be counted as absent, so they can reach their goal without concern for homeschoolers!



NotaLisa -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:04:17 PM)

If they had taught my son to read before the end of third grade I might not have ever started homeschooling! I wish I had realized earlier that he really couldn't read. I was like a lot of parents and left it up to the "professionals".



cindybode -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:08:31 PM)

It worries me that they want to see a 25% decrease in homeschooling. Why? Homeschooling is completely legal, whether they like it or not.



his_chosen -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:15:18 PM)

Huh. So, if my kids aren't in school, they aren't learning?

--yesterday ds3 saw a flag and we didn't know what country it represented. So, he looked it up. Then he found it on the map.

--today, the window fan wasn't working, so I asked ds1 to fix it. He easily took it apart and fixed it.

Oh, wait. That's not REAL learning, because it didn't happen "in school".



stellaluna -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:24:16 PM)

The article isn't anti-homeschooling. It's anti-homeschooling with no attendance records.

quote:


“Parents that do home schooling need to keep attendance records,” Compton said. “There’s criteria they have to follow, and many of them are not aware of that.”



peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:31:57 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: stellaluna

The article isn't anti-homeschooling. It's anti-homeschooling with no attendance records.

quote:


“Parents that do home schooling need to keep attendance records,” Compton said. “There’s criteria they have to follow, and many of them are not aware of that.”


actually that is a separate issue altogether....if parents truly don't know the laws then that still has nothing to do with the public school (though I doubt the true hsers don't know the law)...that comment was nothing but a dig comment that didn't even fit the point of the article. It's not like they threw a dig comment out there about any private schools, but they had to do it about homeschoolers.



2jsmom -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:32:33 PM)

quote:

a reduction in the dropout and home schooling rate of 25 percent by 2010
Sounds anti-homeschooling to me. I love how they group those two together.[8|]



stellaluna -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:35:50 PM)

quote:


According to Kristina Springer, director of pupil personnel, 147 high school students either dropped out or switched to home schooling in the past year.

147 students are missing. If the homeschooling segment kept proper records, the school would know only 47 dropped out, or 140 did. I think too much is being read into it.



NotaLisa -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:36:45 PM)

I finally finished my comment, it will be posted when it gets approved. [&:]
By the way, I posted on there as Earthling. I have been wanting to use that name for something, lol, must be too much Star Trek. [sm=longhair.gif] love the smileys!



NotaLisa -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:43:17 PM)

I'm sure most of those who left to homeschool notified the school or the board. When my oldest son dropped out (later finished by homeschooling) they entered it on their records as he left to homeschool.



NotaLisa -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:46:04 PM)

Oh, and there's nothing saying we have to turn in our attendance records, just notify the local board of education of those students in attendance within two weeks of start of school year.



peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 8:52:23 PM)

one thing the article said that is illegal in regard to hsers is ....
quote:

For the students that frequently miss school, parents should expect a visit at their homes.

yet HSLDA's site says of hsers in KY.....
quote:

School officials, however, have no authority to enter home schools, since they are protected by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (The Christian Home Educators of Kentucky and the Kentucky Home Education Association agree with HSLDA in their “Best Practice Document” that “the privacy of the home must be recognized and no visit inside the home may be conducted without the consent of an adult resident or a duly issued warrant.”)



cindybode -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 9:00:16 PM)

I've never quite understood how one keeps an attendance record for homeschooled students. I mean, the kids live there! How can they be absent LOL?



stellaluna -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 9:04:51 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: peculiar_lady2
one thing the article said that is illegal in regard to hsers is ....
quote:

For the students that frequently miss school, parents should expect a visit at their homes.

yet HSLDA's site says of hsers in KY.....
quote:

School officials, however, have no authority to enter home schools, since they are protected by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (The Christian Home Educators of Kentucky and the Kentucky Home Education Association agree with HSLDA in their “Best Practice Document” that “the privacy of the home must be recognized and no visit inside the home may be conducted without the consent of an adult resident or a duly issued warrant.”)

We have officers that visit homes if kids aren't in school. And parents that are taken to court. I don't take that part of the article to mean they are examining homeschools. The problem is a combination of truancy and poor recordkeeping. I think that's as sinister as it gets.

quote:


I've never quite understood how one keeps an attendance record for homeschooled students. I mean, the kids live there! How can they be absent LOL?

It's basically just a record-keeping thing for the state; not an indication that your kids were or were not in your home to be schooled. It's dumb for sure.



NotaLisa -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 9:16:41 PM)

If it's just about attendance and not homeschooling then what's this about?
quote:

One major concern of those involved with the district’s attendance plan is the recent rise of home schooling in the area.
If they know the kids are being homeschooled then they know they aren't just absent. And it states that they want to reduce the home schooling rate.



cindybode -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 9:32:07 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: NotaLisa

If it's just about attendance and not homeschooling then what's this about?
quote:

One major concern of those involved with the district’s attendance plan is the recent rise of home schooling in the area.
If they know the kids are being homeschooled then they know they aren't just absent. And it states that they want to reduce the home schooling rate.


Agreed. I think it's pretty obvious that there's an agenda.



peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/21/2008 9:49:03 PM)

quote:

I think it's pretty obvious that there's an agenda.

exactly....that is very clear in that article.



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/22/2008 1:24:02 AM)

I really don't understand why homeschoolers were even mentioned in that article! And why would they want a drop in homeschooling if it 'isn't about the money, it's about the education'? And pardon me, but telling people if they see a child to call the school board?! That's, like, 1984 extreme.



Auben -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/22/2008 11:04:27 AM)

From a cursory reading I gather the author is not a very experienced writer or the piece was edited with a hacksaw. He is vague on several points and misleading on more than one. The article gets more cloudy as you go along, not clearer.

Personally I wouldn't take offense to whole thing without more information. Two quotes can be easily taken out of context. What is the motivation here? Are there complaints of kids on the street and the superintendent is addressing a specific issue within both kinds of schooling? Are they motivated by spending issues? Being taken to task for poor graduation rates?

There's no way of knowing really. According to the article the district just suddenly decided to push an initiative without any other reason than 'it's for educational reasons.'

It's possible it is anti-homeschool but with the poor writing I would do more digging before jumping to that conclusion.



misaham -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/22/2008 11:09:13 AM)

quote:

It's possible it is anti-homeschool but with the poor writing I would do more digging before jumping to that conclusion.

True, but others reading it might jump to the conclusion that drop-outs and truant kids are in the same category as homeschoolers. Sad.



judii1 -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/22/2008 11:10:08 AM)

quote:

If they had taught my son to read before the end of third grade I might not have ever started homeschooling! I wish I had realized earlier that he really couldn't read. I was like a lot of parents and left it up to the "professionals".


This is EXACTLY what happened to me when my older son went to school!
We homeschool the youngest. (Dh sent him to a private school last year so he could be with other kids. ) Well, we are going to homeschool the next 4 years- 9th-12th grade!!!



Sunnymom -> RE: Article in my local paper (8/22/2008 11:14:57 AM)

The fact is, boys and girls, that most folks don't know ANYTHING about home education. I have read article after published article with glaring fallacies regarding the legalities, why folks choose home education, what materials they can use, and confusing issues about truancy, abuse, and homeschooling until they can't find their brain with both hands and the FBI. A friend of mine has to fight with the local school board every year over their illegal demands for more information, telling her they won't 'approve' her Notice of Intent until she does this or that- and the state has NO POWER to approve or disapprove anything. They don't know their own laws that they are supposedly responsible to enforce.

So I don't consider these things so much of an anti-homeschooling agenda as just plain old laziness and stupidity. Journalism used to be about the objective presentation of facts, and now it is little more than sensationalism and manufactured drama.



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