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Date Posted: Thursday, March 13, 05:21:41am
Author: Dave Zitzkat
Subject: What Checks and Balances are there in Public School?
In reply to: Vince 's message, "Home Schooling" on Wednesday, March 12, 02:54:05pm

There is a type of homeschooling called "unschooling" where there is no formal teaching but the child is allowed to pursue whatever interests, academic or otherwise that he/she would normally pursue. I have known probably two or three dozen unschooling families, and the results have usually been a very well centered person who has developed strong interests and has persued them, not necessarily in an academic field. There is a natural inclination among children to want to learn things and this can be nurtured in such an environment.

We are "classical" homeschoolers, not unschoolers. We used the book, The Well Trained Mind as our guide. We are intensely academic. As I said, my daughter at age 12 is one quarter through with her Associates Degree, and her writing is better than most college graduates. My son could easily finish his associates degree this summer (he is age 15)but wants to spend one more year in community collge before going on to a four year school, probably Trinity, where he has already taken four courses, two in intermediate Latin and two in basic Greek.

There are other types of homeschoolers as well, Christian homeschoolers, Jewish homeschoolers, Catholic homeschoolers, and more. In NO case of homeschooling have I ever seen a child do less than what they would likely have done in a public school, where busy work and boredom are the norm.

For years the public school system has wanted to regulate or control home schoolers, and the last major effort was several years ago when a bill was raised in the Education Committee to force us to report to the public school system. Arguments similar to yours were raised.

I would guess that just about 100 people testified before the Committee closed the public hearing and killed the bill. Only one, a superintendent, brought up an issue similar to yours, and not very successfully. Like you, all his evidence was based upon hearsay and unsubstantiated alligations.

The homeschoolers who testified presented a very different picture. The Stevenson girls were there, one of whom received her bachelor's degree at age 15 as well as her sister, who got her bachelors at 16 but got her masters in astronomy from Wesleyan at 18. Others who were less academic also testified and gave a fabulous picture of the home schooling community.

At the end of the testimony, the committee chairman made the comment that instead of regulating homeschooling, the public schools should be consulting homeschoolers to help them get it right.

Of course there are undoubtedly abuses in homeschooling and that is inevitable. However, the percentage is very low, far lower than the percentage of kids who are poorly severed by the public schools. Rather than worry about people who are doing a great job, you should be concerned about why the public schools are doing such a poor job. The majority of kids are in that system, and from everything I have read, the system is totally dysfunctional. Don't worry about homeschooled kids. They will be the leaders of tomorrow. Worry about the public schools, since they are the ones letting the country down.



>The recent issue of home schooling as a result of the
>CA issue brings up a questions for me. What are the
>"checks and balances" to ensure a child is in fact
>being home schooled.
>I raise this question because I know of a case where
>the child was supposedly being home schooled and the
>mother was sleeping till late AM and providing little
>if any instruction. What she did was get her sister,
>who was a teacher, grill the child for a week or so at
>her home on the subjects he would be tested on. The
>child passed what ever tests were administered with
>"flying colors" The child was eventually "released" to
>the public school system due to family breakup.
>The problem now is that the child was held back a
>grade and is now floundering in the "floatsam" called
>public education.
>My point being, if there had been some "checks and
>balances" along the way, maybe the child wouldn't be
>in the current predicament.

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