In Morse v. Frederick, however, Justice Clarence Thomas said, “If parents do not like the rules imposed by those schools, they can seek redress in school boards or legislatures; they can send their children to private schools or home school them; or they can simply move.”
Well, good for you, Clarence Thomas! I'm glad that homeschooling is beginning to be recognized as a viable alternative. Sure, not every home school does a great job, but you find failing public and private schools as well (along with some good ones).
Speaking of home schools vs. public schools, the Islamic students over at Carver Elementary School in San Diego need to take the hint. I guess a substitute teacher was teaching in a class one day and they had a scheduled prayer time for Moslems. The classes were segregated by religion (!) and sex. This is a PUBLIC SCHOOL! Since when do we have Islamic classes at public schools? Islamic students that want to pray on school time: please see Clarence Thomas quote above. If you want to pray on school time, go to private school or get homeschooled.
Maybe I'll comment on that some more later. It seems like lately our country is full of all these wimps and one day the majority of this country will be taken over by AZTLAN and the Moslems... because right now we want to seem to kowtow to both of those groups. We'll just let them have the country and they can duke it out.
2 comments:
Very interesting post...I have an 18-month-old son and am interested in learning more about homeschooling? Do you have anything you can share with me about how to get started? I have a degree in Journalism and have taught Bible studies to high school girls and 1st and 2nd graders that is the extend of my teaching experience! Thanks!
First find out the laws in your state. You can homeschool in every state, but the laws vary. In Arizona it's really easy... all I have to do is send my county superintendent a form saying that I'm homeschooling and that's it. In some states you have to do testing at various intervals, or submit a portfolio, etc. You can find the laws at the HSLDA web site (http://www.hslda.com).
There are lots of different curriculum choices, some are more suited to different teaching styles or situations. Some curricula even teach over the computer or on television, but unless they are associated with a public school those are usually more expensive. They could be quite helpful for someone homeschooling several kids! I've talked to lots of people that homeschool 6 or more kids... don't know how they do that, but they do.
Homeschooling is really flexible. Last fall, I had to get nonstress tests at the hospital twice a week. I took books along with me, and me and dd would do school in the park or at my dh's college library. Some people teach year round, or you can teach during a traditional year. Last year I scheduled my breaks to coincide with my baby being born and the visit of my parents from Washington.
Obviously it does take some time to do, but generally not the 6 hours a day that public schools have. Last year we did math, reading, and history or science 4 days a week. It usually took us between 1 and 2 hours, depending on what we were doing and whether dd wanted to pay attention or not. We're adding Bible and music this fall, so that will add to the time it will take, but those subjects will probably be a lot of fun, and I think that even the baby will enjoy the music.
There are lots of homeschooling web sites and even message boards. Right now I like to visit www.homeschoolreviews.com a lot. They have a lot of curriculum reviews on the site if you're trying to figure out what books to use, and the forum has lots of nice people, many who have been teaching their kids for longer than me. Most of the posters are Christian, but there are some athiests, and everyone is welcome as long as they're nice.
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