Comments on: News Roundup

By: Kristen Rudd

Kristen Rudd — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:52:24 +0000

The problem with comprehension standards is that they vary widely by state. Some states use the same standards and curriculum across the board, and some leave choices up to the school districts, at least as far as I understand it. Different states are known for having the best standards in different areas.

My issue right now (at least with standards), at this point in our homeschooling journey, is that I think they demand too much of young kids. Kids have an innate ability to learn and a huge desire to do so, and the system as it is now has the ability to completely suck the life out of that and push too hard too early.

I want my kids to have time to be kids, to play, to create, to imagine, to pretend, to make art, to sleep in, to hike and to explore. I’ve really come to believe that we start “formal” education way too early. That was one of my mistakes this first past year of this - trying to bring school home. Mostly I was afraid she wouldn’t measure up to the other kids her age. I had to be reminded that I am rejecting what public schools have to offer, so why would I hold myself and my child to their standards? Very freeing.

But really, one of the problems I see is that while the state has standards - attainment goals - they seem completely unable to get their students to meet them. And yes, I recognize the complicated things that go into play in that, and that we don’t live in an ideal world.

I think I can do better by my kids. I don’t know if that answers your question. Let me know.

By: lauren ahkiam

lauren ahkiam — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:28:33 +0000

i’m definitely supportive of alternative methods - my brother went to a very small montessori junior high and had a much better experience than the mostly numbing boredom and taunting i endured in mine, and a friend of ours home schooled because she was far more gifted than any schools around could handle.

but i wonder what you would think of attainment goals, along the lines of how traditional schools are meant to (ostensibly) be reaching similar comprehension standards? i’m pretty ignorant on this subject so it’s highly possible such things already are in place.

thanks for the news feed!

By: Scott Somerville

Scott Somerville — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:57:20 +0000

Hear, hear! I spent 14 years defending homeschoolers in legal trouble, and although there were a handful of actual abuse situations, far and away the large majority of people who raise concerns about homeschooling were fake homeschoolers and real truants. The most extreme situation was a couple who kept their fully enrolled public school child out of school for months in the spring (without any visit from the authorities), killed him during the summer, hid his body in a freezer, and told the school they were “homeschooling” when September came around.

That case stirred up all sorts of demands for more regulation of homeschooling–yet the authorities did nothing when he was absent, day after day, and he was murdered during the summer. Yet homeschooling took the blame for that crime.

Child abuse is a crime, and should be punished. Homeschooling is NOT a crime, and should not be regulated!