Friday, March 07, 2008

Wow! We are front page news

San Jose Mercury's front page, above the fold, article is Court says home-schoolers need teaching credentials. Here's another version of the same article.

Janine figures it must be a slow news day.


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

6 comments:

Derek Detweiler said...

It's actually getting some national attention:
Focus on the Family
World Magazine

Bob/Kristy said...

Hi Henry and Janine- Way to go! It sounds like homeschoolers in CA really need to get some legislators to sponsor some better legislation.

FWIW, in WA parents have the right to homeschool their children if they have either completed the equivalent of 1 year of college, or taken a qualifying course from a college, or they can hire a certified person to supervise their children one hour a week (parents maintain control over all curriculum decisions, however). We have to register a declaration of intent to homeschool with the school district once each year, and we have to give the kids a standardized test each year. The state has an approved list- I gave Matthew the CTBS test for something like $20.

Also, by law the school districts have to allow me to PARTIALLY homeschool my children, which is what I am currently doing. Matthew is in high school, and he goes to school each morning for science, PE, history, and health. He comes home at lunch so Bob can teach him math, and I supervise English using a BYU independent study class. Math and English are the two subjects our schools really don't teach properly, and because of Matthew's unique learning issues having a reduced day at school is just perfect for him.

There was an article in the Oregonian newspaper yesterday, that Oregon has really improved the scores of their ELL students by changing their approach; now instead of just reading English to the students, they systematically teach them spelling and grammar. I thought, "Wow, if only my district would do that for native English speakers". Since the state isn't willing to adequately teach math or
English, I'd hit the roof if they tried to prevent me from doing it.

Anyway, it was fun to see you in the paper. Good Luck!

Kristy

M said...

I saw it!

I'm writing a post linking to that news article right now!

let's get the word out!

DJ said...

That's scary, hate to see a precedent set. I'm in florida and planning to homeschool as long as I can. He's only 3 and doing preschool with me now, but I worry what I will have to comply with when he has to start school at 6. The county we live in has one of the worst school systems in the state and the state ranks poorly as well. Thanks for sharing the story!

Idaho Dad said...

I like your quote about kids being bored and rolling their eyes at school. That was happening to my son in 2nd grade, and was one of the main reasons we started homeschooling. In the past two years he has NEVER been bored at home. His love for learning has been getting stronger and stronger.

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

I actually saw your news article linked through Homeschool Daily Report LOL!

Congrats!