I am being responsible for holding up the standards and the agenda of my family. When you do not agree with, for example, the return policy of a store you will not shop there. Recently there was a 30 yr old man attending high school, he lied about his age and purchased false documents saying he was 18. The school official, who knew about this, was only punished by not being given a raise this year. The school board did not hand out any other punishment. The school board ignored the parents who wanted this man gone. A band teacher was sentenced for having sex with a 12 yr old. Would you want this taking place in your child's school district? What standards were this official and teacher held to? These are not my standards so I do not want to expose my children to them.
As to your question about taking my ball and going home and not protecting my investment: If I follow you, we also "invest" in the welfare system and do not receive anything from it. So should I go out and get food stamps because I put money into the system? We invest in Social Security and may not ever receive a return. So to protect ourselves we are making other arrangement for our future. We make choices everyday that may not make sense, but we have to stand by them and when it comes to family we have to do what we think is best.
For change to even begin to be a reality more US citizens need to realize where our future is heading. The students in the US are falling behind quickly because we have become too comfortable with being average and allowing children to graduate without the skills they need to be sucessful in college and workforce. We can choose what kind of vehicle to buy so why can I not choose the type of education I feel is best? (This is my opinion and I have lots.) To see a change in our public school system we need to look at what is happening in Europe. In many eastern European countries the parents are given a voucher to choose the school they feel is best. If a school does not perform it will shut down in a year and the parents move their children to a school that performs. In the US we are not given the choice to decide on a school that will work for our children.
When the pilgrims came to the US they did not have public schools so children were taught by their parents, some may have hired a tutor. The public school system as we know it did not begin until around the 1920s. Parents are hiring tutors (Sylvan Learning centers) for their children in public school for SAT& ACT exams, for state administered tests, a child having problems in an area because the public school system is not providing the necessary teaching to pass the test. This is in addition to the dollars they spend for school supplies.
I can give my children the equivalent of a private school education (at a lower cost) because many of the private schools are putting their curriculum out there for homeschooler to purchase and they also provide other services that will help a parent at a reasonable cost. For example: Calvert School (
www.calvertschool.org), in the early 1900s offering their material because a headmaster did not think it was right that only the rich could afford a private school education. I currently use a different curriculum. If we have problems in an area like division we can focus on that until it is learned, in PS the teacher moves on because they have to cover a certain amount of material before a test that is adminstered in the spring. Each year I look at different curriculms to see if there is one that fits the learning style of my children and usually end up going back to the one I currently use. In public school they experiment with our children instead of following what has work well in the past. Look at the return to teaching kids to read by using phonics because teaching sight reading did not work. Teachers are having to learn how to teach phonics. This is crazy.
Are there people out there who should not homeschool? Yes, just as there are teachers in PS that should not be there. (My opinion again) I think that, at a minimum, to homeschool the elementry grades (K -5th or 6th) a high school diploma should be required. To teach middle school some college should be required and to teach high school a college degree should be required. This goes against what many homeschoolers believe. Also, PS teachers should be held to standards that require their students are showing progress each year or be subject to probation or dismissal. I have to show that my children are progressing each year and if they are not I have to place them in a public or private school.
We, US citizens, need to all start standing up and telling the leaders that we do not like their choices and one way to do that is by voting for the person who best represents your values and if they fail get rid of them. I have many more ideas and opinions about homeschooling and education in general, but you need to decide what is best for you and your family and using that as a starting point for change.
