Prayers needed for HSLDA’s Chris Klicka and family

Tags: Chris Klicka, HSLDA, News, Prayer Request

Happy Birthday Yvonne!

We would like to wish our wonderful Yvonne a very blessed birthday. Please stop by her blog at Grateful for Grace and leave her a birthday comment.

Tags: happy birthday, News

Public school administrator calls for homeschool exposé

According to Rory Ryan, publisher and editor of the Times Gazette, an Ohio newspaper, a public school administrator challenged the paper to do an exposé on homeschooling. This seems like a rather odd thing for a public school administrator to do in a public forum and it is difficult to not suspect hopes of another series on abuses occurring in homeschools to drum up public support for greater restrictions placed on homeschools. Perhaps even just in time for Ohio’s five year review of its homeschool rules.

If this administrator is aware of anything which ought to be “exposed,” maybe he should simply contact the proper authorities. If he suspects cases of abuse, there’s Children Services, the police, the Highland County Sheriff’s Office, the Juvenile Court judge, all of whom would, no doubt, respond to the legitimate complaints of a school administrator.

Why challenge the newspaper? We are not the home school police. Frankly, we have enough to do to keep up with those public bodies that spend more and more of taxpayers’ money each year. But I digress. The Times-Gazette

He goes on to discuss what homeschooling is about…and to reveal that his children were homeschooled. And his digression brings up another interesting point about the relationship between the citizenry and the state and where newspapers fit into this relationship. Jefferson certainly seemed to hold a general disdain for the papers of his day, as illustrated in an 1807 letter to John Norvell:

Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell

Yet he still viewed them as a necessary censor of the government and a free press as a guardian of liberty.

To demand the censors of public measures to be given up for punishment is to renew the demand of the wolves in the fable that the sheep should give up their dogs as hostages of the peace & confidence established between them. Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1794

I, for one, am happy to see at least one newspaper that is still too busy “keep[ing] up with those public bodies,” the so-called wolves in office, to answer to their calls for better monitoring of the sheep. His comments may be a digression, but they illustrate well the attitude of an increasingly powerful educational bureaucracy which believes that parents, especially those who dare homeschool, should be answerable to it.

And unfortunately, this attitude is not isolated to Ohio. New Hampshire homeschoolers had a fight with their legislatures this year regarding increased restrictions placed on homeschooling. The Board of Education of course supported the legislation, but their reasoning was a bit muddled.

The state Department of Education is supporting the bill. Roberta Tenney, an administrator for the department who oversees the homeschool program, said the bill would help get a dialogue going with parents who are looking to homeschool as an option.

“We want, as educators, to be part of that conversation,” she said. nashua telegraph

We need legislation requiring homeschoolers to submit their curriculum to the state in order to “get a dialogue going?” Why does the Department of Education think it has any right to be a part of the education conversation of private citizens not attending public schools? Thankfully, all that came out of this was an earlier registration date. And an ominous commission with as-of-yet undetermined consequences for New Hampshire homeschools with the sole purpose of examining New Hampshire’s home education statutes.

In response to Michigan education columnist Kelly Flynn, who also supports greater state oversight of homeschools through the “compromise” of registering with the state, Karen Braun writes,

As free citizens, we are not required to report to the courthouse if we are not accused of a crime. We do not report to the Department of Health and Human Services if we are not on welfare. We do not report to the Department of Transportation if we don’t ride public transportation. Likewise, we should not be required to report to the Department of Education or the local school district if we don’t intend to use the public schools. spunkyhomeschool

As free citizens, we monitor the government. The government does not monitor us until probable cause has been established. As this paradigm shifts, how long will we truly be able to refer to ourselves as free citizens?

Dana Hanley is a fourth year homeschooling mom to three girls and a boy. In her column, she will be taking a look at homeschoolers who have affected the news and news that affects homeschoolers. Dana is the host of Home School Talk, a weekly one hour broadcast focused on homeschool news and opinion. Visit her blog, Principled Discovery.

Tags: Family Life, homeschool life, News

HAVE YOU HEARD???

Our very own Amy B. (just in case you wondered what she looks like) is featured on the cover this month at Christian Women Online!! Go on over and read the interview with Amy, by the editor of CWO, Darlene Schacht….it is a wonderful, honest, and inspiring interview!

Many of you have heard of CWO’s founder and editor, Darlene Schact.
Darlene’s bio is below, just in case you haven’t ever been over to CWO. It’s and amazing ministry that Darlene tirelessly puts together each month, with an e-zine that is full of articles and interviews to encourage you on your journey.

Darlene Schacht is a forty-something-year-old Christian mother of four whose children range in ages from six to sixteen. She and her husband Michael live in Manitoba, Canada.

Darlene’s articles have been published through papers in Winnipeg—The Lance, The Herald, The Metro, and The Times and published in her own book The Mom Complex. Darlene has also been published in “Emphasis on Moms” magazine as well as several online publications such as, “WT Online” and “Christian Worldview Network.” She is a contributing author in the book, Grace Givers: Amazing Stories of Grace in Action, compiled by David Jeremiah, and published by Thomas Nelson.

Her writing talent and design skill, combined with determination has placed Darlene at the hub of this rapidly growing online ministry, as founder and editor of CWO. Christian Women Online has brought about a new wave in the ability to reach out to people both to share faith and to minister to them. Her monthly column, “Live Well!” inspires women to reshape their body, spirit and soul.

OH, and one more thing…..
A few months ago, Amy B. and I were given the opportunity to take over the Internet Cafe, a daily devotional site, that is a sister site to CWO. Darlene’s vision is something we are blessed to be a part of. If you haven’t visited yet, know that you are always welcome to stop in for your daily Cup~Full!
Amazing ladies these two are! What a gift they are to the world!

Lori is a 4 year homeschool mom to 3. Currently a 7th grader, a 5th grader and a 3rd grader. Lori insists that when she was wrestling with the decision to home school, a gentle voice guided her with the words, “you know what you should do.” Never looking back, accepting the challenges and rewards and CONSTANTLY clinging to THE ROCK…”No Storm can shake my inmost calm when to this ROCK I’m clinging.” Lori hopes to impart peace and inspiration amidst the daily chaos. Be sure to visit her blog at All You Have to Give.

Tags: News

Happy Birthday Mandy!

We would like to wish our wonderful Mandy a very blessed birthday. Please stop by her blog at The Natural Noggin and leave her a birthday comment.

Tags: happy birthday, News

Why did the chick cross the road?

To go home and attend the HOTM conference so she could win lots of stuff!

Tomorrow is the official start of the Heart of the Matter Online First Annual Virtual Conference! We are so excited and from all of your emails and posts we know that you all are too! This is the last day that you can get the tickets for the price of $29.95. Starting Wednesday it will go up to it’s official price of $39.95 and will remain that cost for the duration of the conference.

The speakers and vendors for our conference have been very generous with their donation of freebies and door prizes. Our freebie package alone exceeds $170 and it is worth every penny of the cost of that ticket!

Some of the freebies include:

• Author’s Project-Pak: five projects rotating around twenty four 19th and 20th century authors from Home School in the Woods.
• Bees Project Pack Lapbooking Unit written by Hands of a Child, provided by CurrClick.
• Teaching and Evaluating Writing audio from The Institute for Excellence in Writing.
• Dr. Funster’s Creative Thinking Puzzlers A1 from Bright Minds BRAIN-athon Emporium.
• 8 Great Ways to Save on Groceries from Simple Journey Ministries.
• What Really Happened During the Middle Ages from Knowledge Quest.

…there are so many more but we’ll leave that as a surprise. We can’t spoil all of the fun now can we?

We also have some more than 25 fabulous door prizes to award to some lucky attendees. Just think… you could be the lucky winner of:

• A set of Creation to Christ timeline figures or an Activity-Pak of choice from Home School in the Woods.
• An autographed copy of Heather Paulsen’s book Emotional Purity.
• An autographed copy of one of Kelli Crowe’s books…Designing with Details: A scrapbooking idea book or DW Recipe Book: Recipes for great scrapbook pages.
• One of five signed copies of Luke Holzmann’s children’s book Time for Friends.
• A $25 Amazon coupon gift certificate from Tiany Davis, founder of The Homeschool Lounge.
• A $50 gift card to Blue Thistle Book’s online store.
• A $50 Amazon gift certificate from the team here at Heart of the Matter.

…plus much more! So hurry up and get signed up to listen to our motivating speakers and to receive all of these great freebies AND chances to win these awesome prizes before the cost goes up.

Remember, MAC users will be able to get the audios for download after the conference. We anticipate it should take no longer than three weeks to get all of the files ready and available. If you have any questions please contact us at: the.amies@heartofthemattermagazine.com

We’ll see you there!

Tags: News

Conference winners

We hosted a contest this week to give away 5 free tickets for the conference. We apologize for the delay in announcing these winners:

1. We have an amazing group of speakers who will inspire, motivate and knock your socks off!
2. You’ll get to chat with and ask questions of some of your favorite speakers, bloggers, and members of our team!
3. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and get a neck ache from continuously nodding your head in agreement while listening to some of our “been there done that” speakers!
4. If you can’t listen live, you can download the sessions to listen to during your free time!
5. You’ll make new friends with women from all over the world who share your passion for homeschooling!
6. We are establishing virtual vendor booths chock full of discounts!
7. You’ll receive FREEBIES!
8. You’ll get to do all of this in your pajamas! For ONLY $29.95!

To sign up, simply visit our conference website and click the Pay Now button in the top right sidebar.

Tags: conference, News

The Value of Human Interest Stories to Public Opinion

With graduation came a plethora of stories about homeschoolers doing the same sorts of things other teenagers do. Things like putting on a musical, playing organized sports, taking field trips, and of course graduating. Some of them even earn scholarships and go off to college. Even the potentially fascinating story of living and learning at a living history museum in central Nebraska was cast aside in favor of focusing on how normal Aaron Beye, the young graduate, seemed to be.

My first reaction to the sheer number of these sorts of human interest stories cluttering my inbox was, “Stop the presses! Homeschoolers are normal!” But it was a nice mental break from the battles being fought in Tennessee, New Hampshire and California. It also provided a nice contrast to a headline that would appear on a North Carolina news site on June 16.

The death investigation was that of young Sean Paddock, whose mother tied him to the bed in several blankets. He suffocated to death. Because the family homeschooled, many people questioned whether or not the system could adequately protect children who were effectively “off the grid.” The specific recommendations related to homeschooling made by Social Services in the report were:

• The Department of Non-Public Instruction should conduct a study regarding a Needs Assessment and pursue funding to support increased monitoring and oversight to home schools
• The State Fatality Review Team supports the continued efforts of the Division of Social Services in regard to the gathering of statistics related to specific school situations in child protective services
• The State Fatality Review Team recommends that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner begin to track school status at the time of death and make available this information on a yearly basis to the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force and the state-level North Carolina Child Fatality Prevention Team. State Child Fatality Review, Findings and Recommendations

While I was constructing my post in response to these recommendations, I focused on how Sean was not of compulsory school age, how the state was involved with monitoring Sean’s well-being because he was placed in the Paddock’s home by Social Services for adoption and there had been prior allegations of abuse, another story came across my computer.

A homeschooled teen, tied there by his father as a disciplinary action.

Unfortunately, these kinds of stories slip easily into the common stereotype many people have that we homeschool in order to “hide” our children from the public. But they also inspire a certain level of defensiveness among homeschoolers that can come across as a little insensitive to the horrific torture these children experience. Of course it isn’t a homeschooling issue. An average of four children are murdered each day in the United States, a number that has been increasing steadily. 79% are younger than four, and 39% have had previous contact with Social Services. Monitoring homeschool families would prevent very few of these cases, if any, considering that most of the children are not yet of compulsory school age, and even schools miss the warning signs in the children they see every day. A summary from ChildHelp:

But people still worry about what could happen. Homeschooling is not well understood, is often met with some level of suspicion, and seems like a “good” way to hide abuse. And people seem frighteningly willing to forsake any liberty “for the children.” Even if the actual benefits to the children are immeasurably small. The arguments we construct, however, seem to fall flat on those outside of homeschooling.

Then a thought struck me. Perhaps these small human interest stories appearing in local papers across America could be potentially more beneficial to homeschooling than they might first appear. These stories present homeschooled youth a lot like “the kid next door.” You can connect with their stories because they are not doing anything extraordinary, are obviously not excluded from the normal social lives of American teenagers, and they so often credit their homeschool experience for the confidence they have to pursue their dreams.

Most stereotypes are built on ignorance rather than overt hostility, and personal experience goes a long way toward shaping a person’s opinions of homeschooling. While having a friend who homeschools is likely the best way for non-homeschoolers to see homeschooling in a more positive light, these sorts of human interest stories probably rank a close second to meeting a friendly homeschool family at the doctor’s office. Over time, these snapshots of the lives of real homeschoolers may go a long way in building a more positive image of homeschooling with the public.

Fortunately, these types of articles are not that difficult to write, and reporters are generally pleased to have brief articles about people in the community. Although it is generally more focused on homeschool groups than individual homeschoolers, Mary Griffith’s The Homeschooling Image: Public Relations Basics is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in writing an article, a feature, an editorial or who is asked for an interview for a story. Even nicer, it is available as a free download.

A story about your homeschool group’s field trip to the apiary may not seem like “news,” but imagine it as an invitation to the public to take a peek into your life. Such glimpses could prove more important to public opinion in the long run than well-crafted arguments in response to calls for greater monitoring of homeschools.

Dana Hanley is a fourth year homeschooling mom to three girls and a boy. In her column, she will be taking a look at homeschoolers who have affected the news and news that affects homeschoolers. Dana is the host of Home School Talk, a weekly one hour broadcast focused on homeschool news and opinion. Visit her blog, Principled Discovery.

Tags: Family Life, homeschool life, News, Parenting

Common Misuses of Analogy in Homeschool Criticism

When reading essays and opinions criticizing homeschooling, it does not take very long to be confronted by a number of analogies. Judicious use of analogy can be an effective means of communication. It makes difficult concepts easier to understand, makes writing more interesting and tends to be more persuasive than a simple statement of facts. In the case of the myriad homeschooling analogies, however, they generally serve to better demonstrate the author’s misconceptions about education than any specific ideas about the failings of homeschooling.

Jack Lessenberry of Michigan Radio, for example, appeals to a rather common analogy between doctors and teachers in his essay on homeschooling:

If I announced I was going to “home doctor” my family and take my son’s appendix out on the kitchen table, the cops would be there pretty fast. Educational malpractice should be illegal as well. Jack Lessenberry’s Essays and Interviews

Other than the fact that it presumably takes place at the kitchen table, there really is no similarity between “home doctoring” and “home schooling.” But since this analogy is fairly common, and the same mistakes are made in most of the analogies involving homeschooling, let’s take a closer look at the problems with this analogy.

Education is to medicine as philosophy is to science.

Education involves the development of the mind and the character. It is not something which is quantifiable or measurable. Asking for a description of an educated person is, by its very nature, the beginning of a philosophical discussion. The appendix, on the other hand, can be described in specific terms along with the common diseases associated with it. Its size, shape, color and position in the body are documented and you can even take pictures of it. While there are certainly close relationships between the mind and the body, it must also be appreciated that one is a philosophical concept while the other is physical. The reach for an analogy is perhaps natural since the concrete is easier to understand than the abstract, but when the concept itself exists only in the abstract, concrete representations cannot do it justice.

The mind is to the appendix as a thought is to an organ.

If a doctor makes a mistake, it cannot be so easily undone. When my husband had his appendectomy as a child, for example, the doctor nicked his bowel. Small mistake, but it caused a great deal of scarring. Eventually, several inches of his intestine had to be removed and the pyloric valve (the passage between the large and small intestines) had to be surgically reconstructed. Compare this to the proverbial “gaps” in knowledge it is feared homeschooling creates in children. We know that colleges are having to restructure their teaching to adapt to the “gaps” in knowledge public high schools are producing, but what does this demonstrate? These gaps can be filled in at a later date as needed.

The mind is not an organ like the appendix in Jack’s analogy. It needs “nourishment” but this idea of nourishment itself is an analogy. Unlike the body, it does not need specific vitamins, minerals, etc. found in a varied diet but instead needs stimulation. This stimulation can take on a variety of forms, unique to each individual. It takes more than a simple “gap” to actually damage the mind. Failing to adequately cover analytical geometry in high school does not harm a person any more than the work required to make up the knowledge in college assuming college is even the goal.

Homeschooling is to abuse as medicine is to malpractice.

“Educational malpractice”, as Jack calls it, is meant to conjure up images of quack doctors performing surgeries they are unqualified to perform with potentially fatal consequences. But what is malpractice?

mal·prac·tice (ml-prkts)n.

1. Improper or negligent treatment of a patient, as by a physician, resulting in injury, damage, or loss.

Because education involves the development of the mind and the character, educational malpractice would have to result in injury to the mind or character. We are not talking about failing to read The Catcher in the Rye with the rest of the juniors in the state, nor even lacking laboratory science upon graduation. We are talking about abuse. Real abuse, not allegorical abuse conjured up by those who cannot imagine education occurring outside the confines of a brick building. It is extreme, causes lasting harm to the victims, and has nothing to do with homeschooling. Certainly there are those who abuse their children while claiming to be homeschooling. But then there are those who abuse other people’s children while claiming to be babysitters. “Homeschooling” has no more to do with abuse than “babysitting.”

As flawed as they typically are, these analogies can be difficult to refute because they do not rely on facts but in perceived relationships. Still, those used to present homeschooling as education at the hands of unqualified “amateurs” tend to falter on the same points. Consider Greg Laden’s comparison to getting a pilot’s license, or the technical expertise of home-repair considered by head custodian Dave Arnold. They seek to illustrate their objections to homeschooling, yet succeed only in illustrating their own misconceptions about the nature of education and its delicate relationship to the art of teaching. It reminds me of another analogy, adapted slightly:

An educrat’s rhetoric is like a light breeze in the forest. Weak trees bow before it, yet the strong hold their position.

Dana is a fourth year homeschooling mom to three girls and a boy. In her column, “In the News,” she will be taking a look at homeschoolers who have affected the news and news that affects homeschoolers. Visit her blog, Principled Discovery.

Tags: Family Life, homeschool, homeschool life, News

Homeschooling as a matter of public discussion

Homeschooling as a matter of public discussion

The biggest homeschooling news of the past month has, without question, been the reactive mess resulting from the ruling of the California appeals court which said in re. Rachel L. that there was “no Constitutional right to homeschool.” I say reactive very intentionally, and without any intention of sensationalism, for this case truly has acted as a catalyst to the homeschooling debate, fueling an unprecedented amount of coverage and analysis. As Valerie Bonham Moon of Home Education Magazine noted,

…the number of reports is a story in itself. HEM

In the fallout, we see everyone’s fears regarding homeschooling in America. After World Net Daily reported on the ruling, at least 119 blogs offered commentary with titles like:

• Big Brother Lives
• Making Government Indoctrination Compulsory
• Your Child is Not Your Own
• Your Place in the Planned Society

There is a distrust of the state which is particularly noticeable among homeschoolers, stemming from a history of the state proving itself to be untrustworthy. This ruling seemed to evoke all of that tension in a flurry of postings to blogs and forums.

And there was, of course, the other side as well.

The Daily Titan, a campus paper of the University of California at Fullerton, published an editorial leading off with a bit of inflammatory rhetoric:

Homeschooling advocates, headed mainly by Christian zealots, are calling for Gov. Schwarzenegger’s protection of their fundamental right to teach their children to be bigots and idiots. dailytitan.com

Two professors emeriti from Cal Poly Pomona wrote an editorial for the LA Times where they revealed an odd opinion of homeschoolers:

The court’s decision means that home schoolers must be given some substantive instruction in social studies and not simply spend their time watching Fox with its strange assortment of oddballs pontificating on current events. LA Times

And argued for the certification of all homeschool parents. (I have a full rebuttal to this editorial on my blog.)

Email boxes, forums, blogs, radio programs, television programs and newspapers (local, national and even international) have all featured ongoing coverage of this case, something which could likely have far more effect on homeschooling in the United States than this ruling, which has already been vacated as the court readies itself to rehear the case.

People are interested. People who do not normally think about homeschooling. And while many do support greater restrictions on us, few want to see it made totally illegal or isolated solely to those trained in accredited programs, perhaps because Americans still have just enough latent mistrust of government to question an education system dictated entirely by the state. And, because of the interest, newspapers may be more willing than usual to publish an editorial or ask you for an interview if contacted.

Stay informed. Stay involved. And your voice may be heard by more than you imagine. Every challenge can also be an opportunity, and we now have an opportunity like never before to engage the public in discussion about what homeschooling really means to the many families which have chosen this educational option.

If you have never written one, this is a good description of the structure and goals of an editorial.

Dana is a fourth year homeschooling mom to three girls and a boy. In her column, “In the News,” she will be taking a look at homeschoolers who have affected the news and news that affects homeschoolers. Visit her blog, Principled Discovery.

Tags: Family Life, homeschool, homeschool life, News

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