What I wrote back to Parade Magazine when I was asked to post a link to their recent highly inaccurate and biased article about homeschooling.
Hi Alexis,
Too bad it is SOOO inaccurate! And I know. I was one of the people who filed an Amicus brief.
You forgot to mention that the decision was "vacated," or made to affect only the one family involved.
We are busy fighting your fire that we thought we had pretty much squelched, and are VERY upset that you did not interview even ONE of the homeschool associations in California to set the matter straight before you went to press.
By the way, that 166,000 number is "my" number. I generated it on a spreadsheet here and posted it on my site. No one ever gives me credit for all the work I did to come to that number. The "experts" you quote for the total number are very wrong. There are more like 1.3 million homeschoolers in the USA. The numbers are NOT increasing at the rate they were in early days. The numbers of school aged children are decreasing, and so the rate of increase is more like 3% now. Here are my numbers and how I arrived at them.
I also take offense that you quoted Richard Kahlenberg who is noted for his support of teacher unions. How brash of him to say that those who respect parental rights are somehow against having children who become well-educated citizens. Read this:
Homeschooling and the Redefinition of Citizenship
A. Bruce Arai, Wilfrid Laurier University.
This paper reviews the research on homeschooling, as well as the major objections to it, and frames these debates within the broader issues of citizenship and citizenship education.
Not well educated? Homeschool students are recruited by the top universities in the country!
You also misreported how we homeschool here in California. There are NO homeschool laws in CA. We do NOT report to the state our decision to homeschool. Instead we form a private school in the same way large private schools are formed, and file an affidavit with the CA DOE that we have done so.
Because of your sloppy reporting I will NOT be passing along the link. Call me if you have further questions.
408-xxx-xxxx.
Ann Zeise
A to Z Home's Cool
On Jun 4, 2008, at 8:28 AM, Alexis Collado wrote:
Hi there,
I saw your homeschooling website and thought you might be interested in the homeschooling article in PARADE Magazine and the poll on Parade.com. Do you think parents need teaching credentials to home-school their kids? Click here and vote at Parade.com:
[Link provided, but I'm not passing it along! - Ann Zeise]
In February, a California state appeals court ruled that only parents with recognized teaching credentials are allowed to home-school their kids. The judge, citing a state education law, said that parents do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children. Parents and politicians were outraged, and the court will rehear the case this month.
At stake is the education of the 166,000 California children who currently are home-schooled. But the court decision also could influence laws across the country. Nationwide, up to 2 million children are taught at home. Experts estimate that the number is increasing 7% to 12% a year. If upheld, the California ruling will send shock waves nationwide, says Richard Kahlenberg, the author of a number of books on education. He says the case pits those who believe parental rights are paramount against those who place a premium on well-educated citizens.
Right now, only six states have strict regulations for home-schooling, usually requiring parents to have their curriculum approved, to show test scores and, in some places, to submit to home visits. Fourteen states, including California, mandate only that parents notify the state of their decision to home-school.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions and be sure to notify everyone on your site about this very important issue.
Best Regards,
Alexis Collado
Publicity Manager for PARADE Magazine
212-450-7014