Reminder - Good News Thursday is tomorrow

I will be running another Good News Thursday tomorrow, so start thinking about any good news you know about.


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Technorati tags: Good News

KQED Forum on Homeschooling

Here's the link to KQED Radio Broadcast


Tue, Mar 11, 2008 -- 9:00 AM
Home Schooling A California Appeals Court ruled recently that parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children, requiring parents to obtain a teaching credential. Approximately 166,000 children are home schooled in California. What will this mean for them and their parents?
Host: Michael Krasny


Dr. Gerald Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals

Leslie Buchanan, president of the board of directors of the Home School Association of California, a state wide support group

Peter Keane, professor and dean emeritus of law at Golden Gate University


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

The AOL survey continues to report good news

I've been watching the AOL survey on homeschooling. The responses continues to be very positive.

With the question: "What do you think of homeschooling?" now 67% give a Thumbs up while only 33% gave Thumbs down. There have been 98,595 votes.

Even better was the response to: "Do you agree with the appeals court's ruling?" The percentage who said No has climbed to 74% with only 26% saying Yes. There have been 80,969 votes.

Out of the AOL viewers who read the article on homeschooling there is clearly a very strong support of homeschooling. I think the number of participants in this survey is large enough that it is fair to say that those on the internet do acknowledge that parents have rights to oversee the education of their children.

Good news.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Beautiful Astronomy Picture of the Day

It has been awhile since I mentioned the Astronomy Picture of the Day. Today's picture is especially beautiful:

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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day

The Carnival of Education is up

This week's Carnival of Education is up at Learn Me Good.

If you would like to submit to the next Carnival of Education, go here.


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Technorati tags: education, school

Joanne Jacobs is covering a number of interesting topics

Joanne Jacobs does a great job of staying on top of education news and trends. For example recently she has written about:

In Memory games she writes about the 11th annual USA Memory Championship.

Parenting for hire is about how some parents will spend thousands of dollars to have others parent their children.

Candid camera in class covers a new rage in high school: getting your teacher to lose it and then post the video on YouTube.


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Technorati tags: children, public school, public education, education

Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell says parents have a right to homeschool

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell says parents have a right to homeschool:

"State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell issued a statement today saying that after reviewing the ruling, he sees no reason to change the state's policies regarding home schooled students."


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Watching the classics online

In response to my post about Babylon 5, Melanie wrote:

"Did you know that you can watch most of them online?
http://television.aol.com/in2tv/about
DH and I always enjoyed B5. :-) "

I hadn't heard of this site before.

AOL Televsion has about a hundred shows from over the last fifty years. Here are a few that I'll be checking out:

Bugs Bunny
Fractured Fairy Tales
Gilligan's Island
Lois and Clark
Maverick
Mr. Peabody and Sherman
My Favorite Martian


I've had some trouble getting them to play.

It is pretty amazing that this kind of entertainment is now free over the internet.


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Technorati tags: online, online television

Looks like our 15 minutes of fame is stretching into 30 minutes

Isabel (Izzy) Lyman author of The Homeschooling Revolution just sent me an email. The pictures of my family which appeared in our local paper have been picked up by AOL! Today if you go to AOL, you'll see my youngest daughter. (She is pretty cute.) The homeschooling issue is one of the top five stories today at AOL.

This is AOL's full article. It is fun to see Janine's picture just before Arnold's picture. The article is mostly about the California homeschooling issue in general, and Arnold's response.

I am happy with the AOL poll on homeschooling. The results are very positive.

For the question: "What do you think of homeschooling?" 66% gave Thumbs up while only 34% gave Thumbs down. This was out of 29,741 votes.

Even better was the response to: "Do you agree with the appeals court's ruling?" 73% said No and only 27% said Yes. This was out of 22,918 votes.


The original article was on USA Today, but I don't see the pictures.


I wish there was a way AOL and USA Today could have linked to our blog. Does anyone know Heather Terwilliger or Greg Toppo? I can't seem to track down an email address for either of them.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Did you know that Chuck Norris homeschools?

I am often pleasantly surprised by just how many famous people homeschooling. Adding another name to the list: Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris weighs in on the recent issue of homeschooling in California with Time for a Texas-style Roundup!

It is a nice column.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Wow

Pete Winn at CNSNews.com reports that High School Offers Homosexual Porn, Parents Complain:

"Parents in Deerfield, Ill., are upset that a local high school is using books in advanced English classes this spring that they say are laced with graphic sexual content, pervasive expletives and mockery of religion."

Be warned, the article is graphic.

Later Pete reports:

"While the books may be pornographic, they aren't legally prosecutable as obscenity, as the parents' group soon found out."

Five or six weeks after the parents complained the school decided to take the book off the required list and make it optional.

Wow.

Michelle Malkin calls this Reason 99,976,522 to homeschool. I agree.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Glenn Beck Interviews Debbie Schwarzer about California homeschooling issue

Susan Ryan reports:

"Glenn Beck interviewed California homeschooler Debbie Schwarzer, Legal Team Co-chair for Home School Association of California. California Homeschool Network was also represented by Martin Forte tonight. Both homeschool representatives did a great job in coverage of the California Appellate Court decision."


Update I - 11 Mar 08
Susan found the transcript. Glenn Beck is clearly a strong supporter of homeschooling. The interview is in about the middle of the transcript.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

I found a problem with homeschooling

When hearing children complain adults will often talk about the hardships they faced growing up. An extreme example of this is The Four Yorkshiremen. Four successful men are sitting around relaxing. They start talking about the old days. Soon they are each trying to out do the others:





One version of the script is here.


During breakfast this morning I realized that my daughters will not be able to tell their children: "I use to walk to school, in the snow, uphill, both ways." It just doesn't have the same impact to say "When I was your age I had to walk to the kitchen to go to school."


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up

This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up At Home with Kris.

Kris starts off the carnival acknowledging that this time of the year can be hard for her family. The warm weather beckens her children outside, and everyone wishes the last couple months of homeschooling were over.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Another poll: Your reaction to the recent California court rulling

Now that I've discovered how easy polls are I'll play with them for a couple weeks. Here's yet another poll:




Here are my first impressions of the court ruling.

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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

We have started watching Babylon 5

As I started writing this post I was surprised to learn that it has been fifteen years since Babylon 5 premiered. This was an amazing series. J. Michael Straczynski did a fantastic job in creating a coherent universe with excitment and adventure.

If you have never seen the series the Wikipedia entry for Babylon 5 is very extensive.

I'm not sure why this series hasn't become as popular as Star Trek. It may be because Star Trek has been around for forty years. I also wonder that maybe part of the reason is because Babylon 5 is a little darker. The original Star Trek was very upbeat and positive.

I think in the first season I came across the Lurker's Guide. The Episode Guide filled in missing pieces. It is very, very extensive.

For a long time the DVDs of the first season were selling for $60 on Amazon. I like Babylon 5, but that was a bit steep for me. I noticed a month ago that the price had fallen to $40. I ordered it. My daughters and I have a new Saturday evening tradition of watching Babylon 5 together. My older two greatly enjoy the series. My seven-year-old daughter doesn't find it as interesting.

If you like Science Fiction, check out the Babylon 5 DVDs.


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Technorati tags: Babylon 5

The Carnival of Family Life is up

This week's Carnival of Family Life is being hosted at This Full House.

To submit to the next carnival click on this carnival submission form.

If you are interested in hosting the Carnival of Family Life some time, check out this post.


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Technorati tags: children, family, parenting

Another reason to homeschool - to be a world dictator

I love a book which says that another reason to homeschool is to be a world dictator!

I came across a mention of Whoever Controls the Schools Rules the World by Gary DeMar. It looks interesting and I've asked my local library to buy it.

This web site has an introduction to the book. The author is coming from a strong Christian background.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Lessons learned from playing with polling widgets

To handle the second stage of the contest for images to represent the Carnival of Homeschooling I played around with several widgets. Here is my experience:

Snappoll - They build a nice looking poll. But when I tried to create a post using Snappoll Blogger crashed on me. It could be that I'm using an old PC, but it seemed like a bad sign. I don't like that you have to go to another web page to see the results. Here is a sample.

Toluna - This is another sharp looking poll. Toluna is trying to merge social networks and surveys. They provide a good comprehensive service. My only complaint is they won't let Janine vote in this poll. Janine and I share a DSL line which comes into a DSL modem, and then a router. My guess is Toluna confused Janine's PC with mine.

Quibblo - Quibblo also crashed my Internet Explore. I also don't like that they seem to down load special fonts. Here is a sample.

Vizu - This widget seems to provide the most options. As I was setting up this poll I was surprised by how many ways they would allow polls to be created.

PollDaddy.com - This was my favorite. It is quick and easy to set up. It has a clean design and seems to be the least intrusive. This is the widget I used for the medium and whatever voting.


In summary I was happy with all the widget, but I liked PollDaddy.com best.

All of these services have a little registration stage. It is quick. Then you can be adding polls to your blog in five to ten minutes. If you have never had a poll on your blog, give it a try.


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Technorati tags: online, polls

Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling

You have less than 45 hours to send in an entry for the next Carnival of Homeschooling, which will be held at At Home With Kris.

As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.

Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Learning when the latest Carnival of Homeschooling is up

Diamond to Be asked on the schedule for the Carnival of Homeschooling:

"I enjoy the COH, and I would love to post the current carnival at my blog each week. Do I need to keep an eye on the schedule to do that? Or is there an easier way? ..."

I can think of two options:

1) Send me an email asking to be added to the Carnival of Homeschooling weekly notification mailing list. (You can get my email address from my profile.) Each week I send out an email to people who have asked to be notified when the carnival is up. I am always happy to add more.

2) You can go to the Carnival's homepage at Blog Carnival. From there you can click on "Feature this canrival on your blog...." which will allow you to select some options and then Blog Carnival will generate some HTML which you can add to your BlogRoll. Then each time you look at your blog you'll see where the latest carnival is being hosted. See our blogroll for a sample.


Does anyone know of any other options? Thanks.



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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

The video of our interview

Thursday Garvin Thomas of NBC Channel 11, of the San Francisco Bay Area, came to our house and interviewed us about the recent court ruling in California which seems to outlaw homeschooling. He was professional and asked good questions. It was an interesting experience to be part of the nightly news.

Garvin has graciously made his report available:





I'm having trouble getting the report to play in Internet Explorer, so you may need to go here to watch it.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books is up

Semicolon is hosting her weekly Review of Books.

The Review of Books starts off with this delightful quotation:

"My home is where my books are."

Ellen Thompson

Remember, it is easy to add a link to her review of books. If you have blogged about books recently consider adding your post to the review.

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Technorati tags: book, review

HSLDA's response to the California Ruling against homeschooling

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has responded to the recent court ruling in California which undermines the current approaches parents take to homeschool their children. The full text of the HSLDA response is below.

The HSLDA has organized a petition drive to "request that the Supreme Court of California depublish the Court of Appeal opinion in In re Rachel L., handed down on February 28, 2008." As of right now there are 93,562 online signatures.

I am sure it doesn't hurt to sign an online petition, but it would be much more effective to contact various California politicians, especially if you live in California.

Governor Arnold Schwarzeneger has announced his outrage at the ruling and vows to fight it. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the governor as saying:

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"Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children's education," Schwarzenegger said. "This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts, and if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials, we will."
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You can contact the Governor's office via phone, fax, letters or email. Even better, you can do all four. Do one a day. Thousands of people contacting the governor directly to show their support will galvanize him. He'll know this is an issue that he should fight, an issue that people care about.

You can also contact the California State Legislators. You can contact those in the State Senate and those in the State Assembly.

Explain to the governor and the state legislators that you want them to work to make sure homeschooling is legal in California.

Then encourage your friends to also voice their concerns.

Many friends swung through my office today to talk about Janine being on the front page of our local paper. I was pleasant surprised that all of them thought the judge's ruling was over the top. I am sure many of your friends would be willing to take a minute to support your right to homeschool.

If you live in California, figure out who your local senator and assemblyman are. Put together an email with the contact information for the governor and your legislators. Send it to your friends and family. I am sure many of them will take the few seconds needed.

If you don't live in California, contact your friends who do live in California and ask them to help.


I am confident that this ruling will eventually be overturned. There have been too many United States Supreme court rulings supporting the right of parents to homeschool their children. Too many people recognize that public schools are broken. Too many people still believe in freedom.

It may take some effort, but this fight we will win.



The HSLDA's reponse:
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On February 28, 2008, the California Court of Appeals issued a ruling in a juvenile court proceeding that declared that almost all forms of homeschooling in California are in violation of state law. (Private tutoring by certified teachers remains an option.) Moreover, the court ruled that parents possess no constitutional right to homeschool their children.
This family was not a member of Home School Legal Defense Association. They were represented by court-appointed counsel throughout the proceeding. Since it was by law a confidential proceeding, to the best of our knowledge neither HSLDA nor any other legal advocacy organization had any knowledge that the right of all homeschoolers in California was depending upon the outcome of this family’s case.
There are two appellate options at this time.
First, we have been told that the family is appealing this decision to the California Supreme Court with their California counsel.
HSLDA will file an amicus brief on behalf of our 13,500 member families in California. We will argue that a proper interpretation of California statutes makes it clear that parents may legally teach their own children under the private-school exemption. However, if the court disagrees with our statutory argument, we will argue that the California statutes as interpreted by the Court of Appeal violate the constitutional rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children.
HSLDA welcomes other organizations and persons to assist with the amicus process so that a full defense of home education, religious freedom, and parental rights can be given to the California Supreme Court.
The second appellate option is to seek to have this particular decision “depublished.” Depublication is a decision that can only be made by the California Supreme Court. If the Court determines that the decision should stand, regarding this family, on the facts presented, but that the general pronouncements of law for all of homeschooling should not be determined by this case, then the Court has the option of “depublishing” the Court of Appeal’s decision. This would mean that the case is not binding precedent in California and has no effect on any other family.
HSLDA will take the lead in an effort to seek to have this case depublished.
Homeschooling has offered a great opportunity for families to give their children a quality education with a moral and philosophical approach that is consistent with each family's beliefs.
The ability to homeschool freely in California should not depend upon one family in a closed-door proceeding. All families should have the right to be heard since the rights of all are clearly at stake.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Impressions on the court ruling "outlawing" homeschooling in California

I've read the recent California appellate court ruling which seems to try and "outlaw" homeschooling in California. I've only read it once, so I may miss some of the nuances.


Background:

In California parents use four different legal approaches to homeschool their children:

1) Fill out the paperwork to be a private school
2) Use a private tutor
3) Enroll in a private school satellite program
4) Go with an independent study program via a public school

For more information here are a couple resources: HSLDA, HSC and A to Z Home's Cool.

Janine and I have declared ourselves a private school and have been using the first option for nine years. (Wow, how time flies.)


The Ruling:

The California Constitution says "... the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement." From this we now have compulsory school attendance. (I thought about the camel's nose creeping into the tent while reading this bit of history.) State law does provide for the four options listed above for parents who do not want to send their children to public schools.

The decision is based on 16 pages of logic about the intent of various laws and the situation as it applies to this family. The judge claims that none of the four approaches apply to this family. The family had been working under a private school's umbrella. The judge says because the children are not going to the private school the private school can not be verifying that the children are learning. There is also a couple pages about why a religious exception doesn't apply.

Fundamentally one of the problems I have is the assumption that parents are subject to the state. In the judge's eyes it seems like parents exist to implement the wishes of the state. The state wants children to be educated, so parents have to jump.

This court ruling raises the bar much higher than it has been in the past. The fundamental change is the judge says that parents should be certified to teach their children. Private schools have the option of not using certified teachers, but the judge claims private schools will be OK because parents demand a reasonable level of teaching.

If you are curious, you can read the whole ruling.


Thoughts:

The focus on certification seems misplaced to me. In real life giving a person a piece of paper doesn't give them an education. We've meet a few teachers who were nice people, but didn't know their subject material. The government is happy the teachers are certified; however, there are many parents who want teachers who know the subject material. A couple years back Janine and I were talking with a second grade teacher who said she liked the lower grades, but she couldn't handle the forth or fifth grade math.

If I hire someone to work on my house I might chose to go with a certified contractor, but if I want to modify the plumbing myself I don't need to be certified.

If I go to a restaurant, I can see some argument that the chefs should be licensed, but it would be ludicrous to demand all parents to be licensed before they could feed their children.

At this point in time I'm not too worried. I think this will be resolved and parents will continue to be able to homeschool their children.

I'll write a couple letters to my legislators this weekend.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education