Tim Barrus, New York Times
Often, New York Times writers do not want to know too much because knowing too much is always trouble. It can seem like the writer has a preference within the context of one side to an issue or another. This is because the anecdotal is so pissed on. It can sound as if…
Like we really know absolute reciprocity, and when you’re writing about school, how do you ignore three million kids in home schooling.
Every year, numbers for kids in home schooling climb between 2-8%. Obviously, someone has to be in the home for home schooling. Or perhaps it’s not so obvious that kids in home schooling do better than kids in traditional schools on standardized tests. Most of the parents who can afford to do this either have flexible work hours, they work part time, or they do not work.
Some states have no rules whatsoever that the home schooling teacher have a teaching credential. Some states have smothering requirements no one can meet. Usually, these are designed by teacher’s unions. The covid pandemic is changing everything in education. Nobody wants to be a teacher. Duh. And no one really knows what class size is going to look like. No one knows what resources will be drained of special education because no one really knows what will happen tomorrow. The National Crystal Ball Foundation just had its leadership boiled in oil.
I cannot imagine it will get better considering how many teachers are taking early retirement. Some states have no laws that require parents to talk about or justify their home schooling decisions. I give home schooling parents workshops focused on a kid’s emotional development. Behavior gets a laser beam. But a laser beam the kid is usually not aware of.
My biggest challenge is not the kid. My biggest challenge is to facilitate parents to be cognizant that the behavior of the kid is not at all who the kid is.
There is a big difference between who an adolescent is as a human being, and how the very same kid can be problematic at controlling his or her temper. You owe no one an explanation. If you think parenting is difficult enough, wait until you become the parent, and the teacher. Mainly, you are going to have a lot of adults in the system who will be bystanders very much inclined to smile and watch while you fail. What you do or do not do with kids you are teaching (especially with kids who are thriving) is legally no one else’s business, but beware of cops and truancy officials ringing the doorbell. Usually, these people are ignorant of what statutes really say.
It is unbecoming to know too much as a school official. Or a writer. Or the New York Times. You owe no one anything. It’s all on you. And the child. You do not owe school districts. You do not owe principals. You do not owe school teachers. You do not owe other parents. Home schoolers also legally have the option of attending a particular course at the neighborhood school. This drives school administrators Miss Sugar Nut. If we have to live with a law, so do they.
In some states, all you have to do is submit a day’s lesson plans. Legal home schooling is the result of religious pressure on school districts to provide a religion-based education, not a secular one. Religious schooling is now a significant minority. Even Harvard seeks out home schoolers. I know lots of home schoolers who have scholarships at top universities. There is another layer to this when you are talking about home schooling for disabled kids.
High school for these kids can be a great grinding meat machine they have never done well in, anyway. Does anyone really know a single kid who has ever graduated special ed and joined peers in typical school. This kid does not exist because no one, no one, ever leaves special education special once trapped there. Kids do not move on to the next level because there is no next level. School districts receive extra funding on a day to day basis for accommodating these kids. So they do not give them up easily.
You may need an attorney. The school district lawyers will be at all the important meetings. They will try to outgun you. It’s hard to be a lone figure around a table with twenty professionals telling you that you are a bad person and a bad parent.
You owe them nothing. This is your show. These are your decisions.
Parents have to be prepared to stand their ground. The IEP (Individualized Education Plan) is where confrontation happens. The IEP is a legal proceeding. Make sure there is a video of it. KNOW what it is you want. Educate yourself as to how the system works. These are funding issues. Your home schooling is another parents’ home schooling. Administrators see the conflicts in financial terms.
Don’t take shit from educators. Follow the money.