here to stay

For Katelin E. Dutill, high school began as soon as she woke up each day. During her senior year she would tackle her hardest courses first, while her 20-month-old sister was still asleep. That often meant taking a math or chemistry test and then turning to the teacher's manual to grade it, or logging on to her Advanced Placement macroeconomics course. Later she might read for her literature class while keeping one eye on her sister, or conduct Internet research for her paper on the historical accuracy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels.

This fall Ms. Dutill, who has been home-schooled since kindergarten, is experiencing a classroom for the first time, as a freshman at Cornell University. She is one of thousands of home-schoolers entering colleges and universities around the country. The home-school movement, once considered the domain of religious fundamentalists and hemp-wearing hippies, is all grown up and going off to college.

While exact numbers are hard to come by, recent estimates by the U.S. Department of Education place the home-schooled population at more than one million, or about 2 percent of the school-age population. As recently as 20 years ago, home schooling was effectively illegal in many states. Today its students are edging toward the mainstream — and are eyed by some colleges as a promising niche market.

Home-Schooled Students Rise in Supply and Demand (private)
by Paula Wasley
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Volume 54, Issue 7, Page A1
From the issue dated October 12, 2007

onward and upward

Abstract:

The home-school movement, a once-marginalized segment of the educational community, is all grown up and going off to college. As colleges across the nation report increasing numbers of applications from home-schooled students, policies have been developed to evaluate these candidates. Translating years of independent study into something that resembles a high-school transcript can be tricky for the home-schooled applicant, and even more challenging for the admissions officer assessing it. Without traditional points of comparison, like class ranking and grade-point averages, colleges tend to fall back on standardized-test scores. Many require that home-schoolers take two or more SAT 2 subject tests in addition to an SAT or ACT. The Common Application, a format used by more than 300 colleges, has added a supplement for home-schoolers. Home-schooling guides now offer advice on compiling transcripts and highlighting the advantages of home schooling in application essays, as do independent consultants, who offer the same sort of college counseling available from traditional high-school guidance personnel. Often a late hurdle in the admissions process for home-schooled students is persuading colleges that they have the social smarts to get along with traditionally educated peers, although experts who have tracked home-schoolers' academic and social performance in college have found little difference between their transition and that of their peers. This lingering attitude has prompted one home-schooled student now enrolled in a large urban university communications program to liken the co-op he sometimes attended with a very small, very private school and tell classmates simply "I went to a private school."

Home schooled students rise in supply and demand
Chronicle of Higher Education, v54 n7 pA1 Oct 2007

nope

not going away

professors who home school, part 1

This article is so great I'm going to spread it out over several posts.

If you want to bring a conversation to a dead stop on the academic cash-bar circuit, just mention casually that you are home schooling your children. You might as well bite the head off a live chicken. Most professors are likely to be appalled, and those who are not will keep their mouths shut. Still, all indications are that the number of families who home school is growing rapidly - somewhere between 5 percent and 15 percent per year, according to the U.S. Department of Education — and the number of home-schooled children now hovers somewhere between one and two million. A recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll indicates that 41 percent of families had a positive view of home schooling in 2001, as opposed to only 16 percent who did in 1985. By almost every measurable outcome, home schoolers in general outperform their public-educated peers, and many colleges are beginning to rework their admissions procedures to accommodate the growing numbers of home-schooled applicants.

For Professors’ Children, the Case for Home Schooling
by W. A. Pannapacker
Chronicle of Higher Education, v52 n17 pB14-B15 Dec 2005

I repeat.

Home schooling isn't going away.

home school factoid

The United States Department of Education last did a survey on home schooling in 2003. That survey did not ask about full-time in-home teachers. But it found that from 1999 to 2003, the number of children who were educated at home had soared, increasing by 29 percent, to 1.1 million students nationwide. It also found that, of those, 21 percent used a tutor.

The Gilded Age of Home Schooling
by Susan Saulny

Do we have data more recent than 2003?

gilded age

In what is an elite tweak on home schooling — and a throwback to the gilded days of education by governess or tutor — growing numbers of families are choosing the ultimate in private school: hiring teachers to educate their children in their own homes.

Unlike the more familiar home-schoolers of recent years, these families are not trying to get more religion into their children's lives, or escape what some consider the tyranny of the government's hand in schools. In fact, many say they have no argument with ordinary education — it just does not fit their lifestyles.

Lisa Mazzoni's family splits its time between Marina del Rey, Calif., and Delray Beach, Fla. Lisa has her algebra and history lessons delivered poolside sometimes or on her condominium's rooftop, where she and her teacher enjoy the sun and have a view of the Pacific Ocean south of Santa Monica.

"For someone who travels a lot or has a parent who travels and wants to keep the family together, it's an excellent choice," said Lisa's mother, Trish Mazzoni, who with her husband owns a speedboat company.

The cost for such teachers generally runs $70 to $110 an hour. And depending on how many hours a teacher works, and how many teachers are involved, the price can equal or surpass tuition in the upper echelon of private schools in New York City or Los Angeles, where $30,000 a year is not unheard of.

Other parents say the model works for children who are sick, for children who are in show business or for those with learning disabilities.

"It's a hidden group of folks, but it's growing enormously," said Luis Huerta, a professor of public policy and education at Teachers College of Columbia University, whose national research includes a focus on home schooling.

The United States Department of Education last did a survey on home schooling in 2003. That survey did not ask about full-time in-home teachers. But it found that from 1999 to 2003, the number of children who were educated at home had soared, increasing by 29 percent, to 1.1 million students nationwide. It also found that, of those, 21 percent used a tutor.

The Gilded Age of Home Schooling
by Susan Saulny
New York Times
June 5, 2006

Home schooling isn't going away.

rough draft

angry wife of administrator

from palisadesk

angry teacher

I think we should invite this man to join our Karen Pryor club.


see also:
yelling doesn't work

Because not just anybody can summarize the news...

Great post about the recent California homeschooling ruling over at Protein Wisdom.

"First parents are told they have no rights beyond the public school threshold, now they are told they have no right to opt out of government schooling."

Thinking about this in a larger context, Jeff G. of Protein Wisdom recalls a US 9th Circuit ruling in which the judge determined that parents "have no constitutional right, however, to prevent a public school from providing its students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise.”

can o'worms

"A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare," the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.

Homeschoolers' setback sends shock waves through state

This is going to come as news to ed schools. (scroll down for the "rah rah America" passage)


see also:
ed school prof contemplates German aggression or lack thereof
Skewed Perspective
eduwonk on the whispering campaign

Schwarzenegger Denounces Homeschool Ruling

"Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what's best for their children," the governor said in a statement. "Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children's education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials, we will."

Schwarzenegger denounces 'outrageous' homeschooling ruling
San Francisco Chronicle
Jill Tucker and Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, March 7, 2008

Thank You, Karen Pryor

After hearing Catherine talk about Karen Pryor's Don't Shoot the Dog, I decided it was time to give it a go. (I gotta say, Catherine, your recommendations are usually spot on.)

My local library didn't have it, but I was able to track it down via state-wide interlibrary loan. This is actually a good thing -- normally, I can buy a book or get it from the library, and then I put it off and never really get to it. But -- interlibrary loan! No renewals! Get cracking!

I started it this morning during my warmup on the treadmill, and only got about 10 pages in before I started running and it got too bouncy to read. Finished up, checked in with the family, wasn't thinking about it, then went to go take a shower.

Once in the shower -- BAM!

I got it.

When I'm depressed, I engage in "retail therapy," and I'm training myself to be depressed. When I'm nervous, I eat treats, and I'm training myself to be nervous.

What am I training my kids to do? What am I training my husband to do?

Catherine -- if you set up a discussion group, I am so in.


(This, admittedly, may seem a bit simplistic. But it was quite the "aha!" there in the shower.)

Response to California Homeschool Ruling

Response to Ruling of California Court of Appeal
‘Homeschooling is Illegal in California’

The HSLDA has responded as follows:

There are two appellate options at this time.

First, we have been told that the family is appealing this decision to the California Supreme Court with their California counsel.

HSLDA will file an amicus brief on behalf of our 13,500 member families in California. We will argue that a proper interpretation of California statutes makes it clear that parents may legally teach their own children under the private-school exemption. However, if the court disagrees with our statutory argument, we will argue that the California statutes as interpreted by the Court of Appeal violate the constitutional rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children.

HSLDA welcomes other organizations and persons to assist with the amicus process so that a full defense of home education, religious freedom, and parental rights can be given to the California Supreme Court.

The second appellate option is to seek to have this particular decision “depublished.” Depublication is a decision that can only be made by the California Supreme Court. If the Court determines that the decision should stand, regarding this family, on the facts presented, but that the general pronouncements of law for all of homeschooling should not be determined by this case, then the Court has the option of “depublishing” the Court of Appeal’s decision. This would mean that the case is not binding precedent in California and has no effect on any other family.

HSLDA will take the lead in an effort to seek to have this case depublished.

You can sign the online petition requesting the the court depublish the ruling HERE.

UPDATE: California Homeschool Network is a good place to check in for the latest updates on the homeschooling ruling. CURRENT EVENTS OF INTEREST.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

"I think killing phonics was one of the greatest causes of illiteracy in the country."
-Dr. Theodore Seuss Geisel in an interview with Arizona Magazine in 1981

Permission to Forget

I often ask educators in my seminars what percentage of the school year is spent teaching content students should know prior to entering their course. The answers are typically from 25 percent to 50 percent with some percentages even higher.

Permission to Forget by Lee Jenkins

Easter preparations

A brand new blog!

By someone we know and love.

Fordham's take on the upcoming Math Panel report

Fordham is in line with Concerned Parent so I'm thinking I've been too grim in my reaction thus far:

The final report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel will be released next week, and indications are it will contain several solid proposals while also avoiding many of the contentious "math wars" issues. According to the Wall Street Journal, the panel's big recommendation for fixing the country's "‘broken' system of mathematics education" is a "laserlike focus on the essentials." Essentialists ourselves, we think that's a fine idea. And the benchmarks the panel puts forth "mirror closely a September 2006 report by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics," which is cause for optimism because the 2006 document (unlike sundry earlier NCTM products) was well done (see here). Math panel chairman Larry Faulkner believes "it's time to cool the passions" that divide those who prefer traditional arithmetic instruction from advocates of "fuzzy math." Therefore, next week's report does not specify which instructional method is superior, nor does it take a position on whether students should use calculators in early grades. But a "laserlike focus" is fundamentally at war with fuzziness, so the panel's findings are certainly a positive development, maybe as important to math education as the National Reading Panel's were to reading.

It will be interesting to see how things develop.

Thomas Jefferson Education Consortium

Concerned Parent left this link -- hadn't heard of these folks.

Thomas Jefferson Education Consortium

I'm going to be reading....

World Math Day Sets New Record

Yesterday, March 5th, was World Math Day. Apparently over a million students from over 160 countries logged on to participate in the online competition to set a world record. The new world record is 182,455,169 correct answers. Tatania of Team Australia, took top honors with 65,199.


The response to World Math Day was so overwhelming, they have extended access through Sunday, March 19th for those already registered. If you haven't registered, however, you're out of luck until next year.

more money for ed schools

Court: Parents must have teaching credential to home school kids

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California parents who don't have teaching credentials no longer can home school their children, according to a recent state appellate court ruling.

"Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey wrote in a Feb. 28 opinion for the 2nd District Court of Appeals.

Noncompliance could lead to a criminal complaint against the parents, Croskey said.

source:
EdWeek

What does a criminal complaint entail?