Category Archives: Homeschooling

Homeschooling, Legislation

Illinois Homeschoolers, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide From SB136

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Sen. Ed Maloney, D-Chicago, is reconsidering his bill, SB136, after crowds of homeschooling families descended upon the Illinois State capitol, in Springfield, yesterday. Surprised by the reaction from the community, he announced he would not pursue it in the immediate future. Although it is not a certainty that he feels strongly enough to leave the issue alone, he intends to talk with homeschooling advocates to find a way to develop a system to ensure that children aren’t “falling through the cracks” of the educational expectations of the state. In a report from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, he said:

Maloney said later he will continue to talk with home-schooling advocates about whether a system can be set up that would ensure that children aren’t “falling through the cracks” of education in families that don’t send them to school but don’t properly educate them, either.

The questions still remains, “Why is there a more focused concern for homeschoolers, who statistically perform better and are generally better educated, than the masses of publicly schooled children who do not and are not.”

There are conflicting reports in the media as to whether the bill has actually been pulled from consideration or if it will advance and be voted on when the assembly returns from recess in two weeks. As of this posting it has not been withdrawn.

Something of concern, for the homeschool community in Illinois, is that this bill is a slippery slope that will lead to further encroachment, regulation and monitoring, and with good reason. In the following video, Bill Reynolds, a truant officer explains very clearly, that his intent is to pursue monitoring of all registered homeschooling families regardless of reported abuses, or not. And Senator Susan Garrett states education standards should be the same for homeschoolers and public schoolers. There is certainly reason to fear the Illinois general assembly feels homeschooling should be further regulated.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZqBrLZh6RE]

I fear Illinois homeschoolers are not out of the woods. The elected representation and other government employees are clearly in favor of regulation and mandates. The homeschooling community in Illinois, and around the country, needs to monitor this bill and make sure it doesn’t further advance or get lost in an omnibus bill and quietly passed along and voted into law under the radar.

Homeschooling, Research

A Little Something To Remind Us All Of Why We Do What We Do

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I have been wanting to do this for quite a while and just have never made time to pull it together in a blog posting. Now that we, in Missouri, are fighting against some very restrictive and oppressive education reform, I just want to remind you all, or give you a reason, why it is important to keep an eye on the public education realm and its ever vigilant resolve to get its grip around the mustang, homeschooling. Or maybe, sometimes we just need to remind ourselves that we are making the right choices for our children. Here is a little validation in the form of tangible research.

In 2009, Dr. Brian Ray released a study on the progress of homeschooled students compared to their publicly schooled counterparts.

Drawing from 15 independent testing services, the Progress Report 2009: Homeschool Academic Achievement and Demographics included 11,739 homeschooled student from all 50 states who took three well-know tests–California Achievement Test, Iowa Basic Skill, and Stanford Achievement Test for the 2007-08 academic year. The progress Report is the most comprehensive homeschool academic study ever completed.

National Average Percentile Scores
Subtest          Homeschool          Public School
Reading                89                                50
Language             84                                50
Math                     84                                50
Science                 86                                50
Social Studies     84                                50
Core-a                  88                                50
Core-b                  86                                50
Core-a is a combination of Reading, Language, and Math
Core-b is a combination of all subjects that the students took on the test.

There was little difference between the results of homeschooled boys and girls on core scores.

Boys – 87th percentile
Girls – 88th percentile

Household income had little impact on the results of homeschooled students.

$34,000 or less – 85th percentile
$35,000 – $49,999 – 86th percentile
$50,000 – $69,999 – 86 percentile
$70,000 or more – 89 percentile

Educational level of parents:

Neither parent has a college degree – 83rd percentile
One parent has a college degree – 86th percentile
Both parents have a college degree – 90th percentile

Whether either parent was a certified teacher did not matter.

Certified (i.e. either parent ever certified)-87th percentile
Not certified (i.e., neither parent ever certified)-88th percentile

As for the great debate on whether more money makes a difference in educational excellence ….

Parental spending on home education made little difference.

Spent $600 or more on the student – 89th percentile
Spent under $600 on the student – 86th percentile

The extent of government regulation on homeschoolers did not affect the results

Low state regulation – 87th percentile
Medium state regulation – 88th percentile
High state regulation – 87th percentile

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DOXUjOFZZsk]

Final Thought:

Homeschooling is making great strides and hundreds of thousands of parents across America are showing every day what can be achieved when parents exercise their right to homeschool and make tremendous sacrifices to provide their children with the best education available.

As a reminder, Dr. Brian Ray will be speaking on this topic and others on February 21st, at 7PM at the Family Vision Library.

Homeschooling

Homeschooling And The Sharing Of Information

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Think about what life would be like without freedom of speech. Think about how you would or would not be able to make decisions, as homeschoolers, parents, citizens without the free flow of information. As homeschoolers we enjoy the freedom to make choices in education that have been conditioned out of what is considered to be the norm in our society. Perhaps we can attribute our decisions to so because we have had the freedom to educate ourselves on the issues and alternatives.

Free and healthy societies survive on the free flow of information.

Missouri and other states are facing serious threats to our abilities to make educational choices for our children through sweeping educational reform legislation. Our parental rights are being chipped away, right under our noses by lobbyists and elected representatives who may think they know more about what is best for the citizenry than we do. The only way for citizens to remain free is to stay informed and inform others.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHLLLaMh5E&feature=player_embedded]

Please take a minute to watch this video, sent by a loyal HU reader and apply the message to your ability to maintain your homeschooling and parental rights. I believe this is a powerful and poignant message.

Educational, Homeschooling, Research

Dr Brian Ray To Speak In St. Louis At The Family Vision Library

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Homeschooling United is honored to bring you an evening with Dr. Brian Ray, President of National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI). He will be in St. Louis and speaking at the Family Vision Library on February 21, at 7 PM. Please plan to join us to hear Dr Ray speak on A Strong Vision: Homeschooling Works, and Increases Freedom.

Dr. Ray, the nation’s leading most authority on homeschool research, has been immersed in the field of homeschool research and data for more that 26 years. He is the founding editor of Homeschool Researcher, a quarterly refereed journal dispersing research in home education, and has published numerous articles on home education in many professional journals. He has been interviewed by various radio and television media including the NBC Today Show and The Dr. Gina Show on Truth Talk 630. He and his wife are homeschooling parents of 8 children.

Come and hear Dr. Ray challenge you to consider:

  • Are parent’s qualified to teach children?
  • Are these children receiving an adequate academic education?
  • What about socialization? (What is it, btw?)
  • Should minorities homeschool their children?
  • How will these children behave when they get into the “real world of adulthood?”
  • Do the home educated learn as much as those in conventional school?
  • What do certain world views or God have to say about who should be educating–teaching, training, discipling, indoctrinating–children?
  • Why are some parents tempted to want or allow the state to serve as a co-dependent to themselves?
  • Why is the lure of government handouts so strong?
  • Are proponents of statism cooperating with or co-opting homeschoolers’ standards and plans for their children and their country?
  • What should be your short term and long term visions?

Admission is free to the event, but an offering of $6 per individual and $10 per family is encouraged to support NHERI and Family Vision.

Homeschooling, Legislation

More Legislators Sign On To Support Educational Freedom

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Today, two more Missouri State Representatives signed on to fight for your rights to make educational choices for your children. Chuck Gatschenberger; District 13 and Doug Funderburk; District 12 wholeheartedly signed the Educational Freedom Pledge and expressed their fervent support for homeschooling in general. Representative Scott Dieckhaus, District 109, declined to sign, stating his voting record reflected his views and support for homeschooling and educational choice.

Pledges were left at the offices of the following legislators:

Jason Barnes, District 114
Paul Curtman, District 105
Mark Parkinson, District 16
Rick Stream, District 94
Mike Thompson, District 4
Steven Tilley, District 106
Anne Zerr, District 18

We hope to hear from them soon with their support of the pledge. Check back to see if their names have been added to the field of supporters of educational freedom.

In my conversations with all of the representatives, I also expressed how important it is to the homeschooling community for them to monitor SB 20 and SB 21, the most recent attempts to impose more legislative mandates on compulsory school age. These two pieces of legislation are closely tied to the educational reform of Educated Citizenry 2020 and Race To The Top/Common Core Standards. It is important for all legislators to know that homeschoolers do not want to be engulfed in and absorbed by the sweeping and restrictive mandates planned for public educational reform and the promotion of Charter Schools in this legislative session. As in 2009, when SB 291 changed compulsory school age and imposed more restrictions on high school graduation requirements, this legislation could potentially encroach on homeschooling freedoms by mandating early compulsory kindergarten attendance to all students, due to the fact there is no language in these bills excluding private or homeschoolers. It is very important to be in front of the issue and not wait until the end of the legislative session to express your views to your representatives. In 2009, SB 291 was passed in the last week of the session and most homeschoolers were totally unaware of the issue until that time. Unfortunately there was no time for them to express their concerns or outline how it would restrict homeschooling freedoms to their representatives.

Please contact Representatives Gatschenberger and Funderburk and thank them for their enthusiastic support and all of the others, listed here, to encourage their backing of educational freedom.

Additionally, Representative Barnes introduced HJR 10 which repeals the Blaine Amendment,  introduces a voucher system and the ability for students to attend schools outside their geographic area. The resolution was  co-sponsored by Scott Dieckhaus and is, again, connected to advancing Educated Citizenry 2020 – Race To The Top/Common Core Standards. This will no doubt spark a debate about vouchers and tax credits for all education in Missouri. We will examine this issue and report on it as it develops.

Homeschooling, Research

New Study Says Homeschooling On The Rise In U.S.

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Homeschooling is gaining popularity, in the United States, as an alternative to traditional institutional schooling. In a new study just released by Dr. Brian Ray of National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), he estimates that the number of school age children (ages 5 to 17) who are educated at home, in the U.S., has jumped from approximately from 2.9% in 2007 to 3.8% in the spring of 2010. Based on population data from the 2010 Census and the U.S. Department of Education, the overall population of school age children grew about 2.11% from 2007 to 2010, but numbers enrolled in schools only grew by 0.59% from spring 2007 to spring 2010. He also states that there is other reliable data gathered from state departments of education and private homeschool organizations that support evidence that there has been a 7% increase in the homeschool population from the same time period. Ray offers an official number for the study at 2,040,000 K-12 homeschooled students in the U.S. and “confidently” offers an estimated range between 1,734,000 and 2,346,0000.

Data collected for this study, previous research findings, and the experience of the researcher show that there were an estimated 2.040 million (2,040,000) K to 12 homeschool students in the United States in the spring of 2010. The author is highly confident that the true number lies between 1,734,000 and 2,346,000 homeschool students in grades K to 12 in the United States during the spring of 2010.

Either way, the claim that homeschooling is now a passing fad has no support.

Dr. Ray states several variables in his study, one of which being the number of “underground” home educators who are living in states attempting to control home education via some form of registration. He finds that nearly 10% of families living in such states are flying under the radar, and he feels this is a conservative estimate. He also adds:

Basically, the study tells us that the number of home-educated children and youth in America has continued to grow over the past three or so years. It appears to have grown in both absolute numbers and in terms of the percentage of the total school-age population nationwide.

According to Ray, it is uncertain just what drives parents to home educate and notes that economy may or may not influence the decisions for various reasons.

In another vein, it is uncertain what effect nationwide economic hard times are having on the percentage of families that might choose home-based education. Difficult economic times might cause more parents to decide they need two incomes. If so, more families would find it difficult to have one parent available to homeschool the children. On the other hand, if fewer jobs are available nationwide then it might be more likely that one parent could be at home to conduct home-based education. Further, if the economy is down in general, families have less monetary resources available, after taxes, including those that pay for state (public) schools, and therefore less to put toward tuition in private schools. Thus, homeschooling might increase as a percentage of private-education choice. Further research might address this intriguing issue.

HSLDA had this to say on the new study:

“‘The growth of the modern homeschool movement has been remarkable,’ said Michael Smith, president of HSLDA. ‘Just 30 years ago there were only an estimated 20,000 homeschooled children,’ he added.”

The authors of the study speculate that numbers will continue to grow in the next 5 to 10 years due to the idea that the numbers of previously homeschooled students of the 1990s may begin homeschooling their own school age children.

Homeschooling, Legislation

Will They Or Won’t They …

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… Work to protect our rights to educate our children as we see fit. Today the Associated Press released a statement by the Missouri Senate stating that they are ready to release their agenda for upcoming session as it relates to education. The question is, will they fight for your rights as a parent to make choices about your own child’s education, or will they acquiesce to Race To The Top, Common Core Standards and the money that does or does not come with it? Will they try to insert programs such as the Parent’s Trigger, vouchers, tax credits, or use Charter Schools as a crutch for failing public education? Will these things set the stage for regulation on homeschooling?

All the major players of the House and Senate have signed the Educational Freedom Pledge, which states that they will advocate for freedoms without such mandates or regulation. We will keep an eye on this one for you.

Homeschooling, Legislation

Is Homeschooling Under Attack In Missouri?

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Homeschoolers in Missouri have long enjoyed reasonable freedom to educate their children at home without much government interference, but the last several years have brought subversive attacks to chip away at those freedoms. The upcoming session proves to be no different. Culture Vigilante reported that the 96th general assembly will once again consider placing more restrictions on the citizenry as it relates to a parent’s right to make educational decisions for their children. Robin Wright-Jones pre-filed a bill, SB 20, in early December which would lower compulsory school age for students in metropolitan school districts to 5 years of age. While the present compulsory age is 7 to 17, (18 in metropolitan school districts and 16 under certain credit hour parameters) this bill mandates that children start school at age 5. While it does address, specifically, students of metropolitan school districts, and exclude homeschoolers, here’s where it gets sticky.

SB 21, also filed by Wright-Jones, pretty much negates the exclusions in the previous bill. And it also plays fast and loose with the definitions of calendar year and school year so that not only will your children be mandated to begin schooling at age 5, some of them will actually be 4 years old, if the bill is adopted as written. And remember, these are mandates, not suggestions.

… ANY child whose fifth birthday occurs at any time during the calendar year shall be deemed to have attained the age of five years at the commencement of the school year beginning that calendar year.  The parent, {guardian, or other person having charge} of ANY child who has attained the age of five years in accordance with this section shall be responsible for enrolling the child in kindergarten.

So, that means if your child is 4 years old and does not turn 5 until after the beginning of the school year, he is 5 years old in the eyes of the state and must go to kindergarten. Present laws would postpone admittance to school until the following year. Also, there is no exclusion for children outside of a metropolitan school district or homeschoolers in this bill. And just incase your child misses the age mandate of the first part of this bill there is a provision to allow the school system to evaluate your young geniuses and admit them even earlier to school.

If passed, SB 20 will also raise the compulsory school age in metropolitan school districts to 18, and firms up the upward adjustment to 17 years of age in other (seven director) school districts, and takes away the ability of those districts to adopt a lower compulsory age via their school board.

Now, anyone who has ever had any involvement with public education knows that there is, in Missouri, a provision in the law for schools to collect funding for any warm body who inhabits a school building. So, perhaps that is where some of the motivation comes from in these two bills. Culture Vigilante also outlines resolutions from the NEA lobby and their influences in this area of legislation.

What ever the motivation, for the reoccurring attempts to mandate that a government school have more and more control of your children, it is important to communicate, with your representation, that you will accept no regulation that takes away your rights to choose how and when you educate your children.

In 2009, Republicans in the House and Senate introduced and passed legislation, SB 291, that tightened the noose around the neck of parents by raising the compulsory school age for all students, including homeschoolers, in the state from 16 to 17 and changed the requirements for graduation. Because the homeschool community, as a whole, has no directed lobby or representation in the capitol, the legislation was not flagged early during the session, and was slipped through and voted on the at nearly the last possible moment in the 2009 legislative assembly. This unfortunate circumstance gave very little opportunity for constituents to be educated on and voice their displeasure with its intrusive constraints. Well, hopefully, we have learned our lesson about how important it is to be proactive and educated about our rights and freedoms, or they will be taken away. Maybe not all at once, but they will be taken away, and when our children have children they may be living in a very different world with a lot fewer choices for themselves or their progeny.

It seems that each year there is an effort to chip away at your rights to educate your children in the manner you, as a parent, deem appropriate. While we still have the choice, perhaps it is important to teach your children about their freedoms and which actions and laws ensure those liberties, so that we strengthen the liberty loving culture and maintain it for the future. That education also includes watching your representation and letting them know how you feel about maintaining your freedoms.