Great summary on Obama’s thoughts on education reform as it relates to us homeschoolers.

Another comment/concern that I have that just supports this momentum for increased standardization is how European countries (U.K. and Sweden in particular) have reently announced plans to increase homeschooling regulations, partly to get closer to the regulations of other European countries AND our own Education Secretary Duncan’s comments about wanting to set up international benchmarks for measureing academic performance in our country.

I just hope this doesn’t mean that, somehow and sometime in the future, that homeschoolers on an INTERNATIONAL level will have additional regulations imposed on them.

Hi Savannah,

My analysis of Duncan’s comments and Obama’s doesn’t change anything for homeschoolers…yet.

My real concern (fear?) is that there is a building POTENTIAL for a United States that will impose greater restrictions on homeschooling based on what I’ve been hearing, both here and abroad.

I mentioned Duncan’s comments only to support the potentially gloomier future of homeschooling under a system of increased international regulations – as UK and Sweden cracks down on homeschooling to standardize to other European countries and Duncan’s remark that he wants U.S. education in general to compare to international benchmarks…since homeschooling is a small (but important) component of U.S. education, my concern was that homeschooling would be swept up and included in these benchmarks…not good for homeschoolers since that would mean that we lose some flexibility on how we want to teach our own kids.

As for my Obama comment – here’s how homeschooling may be affected:

Under Bush’s ed plan, there was no mention of national certification requirements for teachers – as you know, teachers who taught public school were required to be certified from their respective state.

Under Obama’s plan, there is a push for national certification for teachers. Since this is a new proposal that did not exist under Bush’s plan, my concern is that “teacher” may include all teachers, including homeschool teachers. If in fact, national certification means that ALL teachers (including homeschool teachers) must meet these standards, then again, I cringe because, that means at best, that homeschoolers will lose some flexibility and at worst, may even mean that some will no longer be qualified to teach their own kids.

To the best of my knowledge, “teacher” has not yet been defined under Obama’s plan…we’ll see what it means for homeschoolers, but my point is that there is potential that homeschoolers could get caught up in this proposal for national certification.

Last point regarding teachers that teach public schools – I really am happy that your husband and other teachers welcome Obama’s proposal..it makes sense to me..it really does..for public schools only though.

But once you start, advertantly or non-advertantly, changing rules in education, homeschoolers are a part of that equation, so when Obama et. al. starts making sweeping proposals about education reform…as a homeschooler, it just makes me worry a bit ’cause I don’t know whether he’s including homeschoolers in his views and statements.

Hope that helps.

I appreciate both of your responses. Obviously, since we are committed public schooling [Christian] parents, we are coming from different places to begin with. If I thought homeschooling was a great idea for our kids, I would have homeschooled. If you thought public education was a great option for yours, you would have sent them to public schools. This is an area where we can agree to disagree, yet still respect the decisions of others.

But I do want to speak to the overall view of public schooling as this somewhat evil, meddling entity who, with but perhaps relatively few exceptions, is filled with people in a profession of low moral character who are “out” to bring down other people’s kids. That is not even in our horizon of experience. Our children have had much character education, and even more importantly, much support of the character education that we have provided at home, through their public school teachers. We believe that the home is the primary venue for character education, and despite our children being publically educated, they are widely seen as young men of ample strength of character. Our children have never been subjected to “situational ethics” in school, which I understand to mean that if one doesn’t adhere to an absolute authority, everything can more or less be justified. No teacher (and believe me, we have asked them, as this tends to be a very big concern in Christian circles) has ever told them that they should embrace anything of the kind. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but I do think it is largely overblown by the homeschool and religious school community, who seem to seek an adversarial relationship with public schools. One has to admit, the fear of it does suit their purposes very well.

I know that I cannot convince anyone of the worth of public school teachers. Either one believes that they are valuable or not, and anything I say is not going to change anyone’s mind. But please understand that I personally know literally dozens of teachers, even a few union leader teachers. There are a few less-than-optimal ones in the bunch (do you know of any less-than-optimal homeschooling situations?), but the vast majority (including the two union leader teachers who have taught with Patrick for years) are highly moral people who take their jobs very seriously and seek to do the very best they can by their students, often under very trying circumstances. Most teachers I know have no “agenda” other than teaching their subject matter. It is easy to pull out a few accounts among the millions of public schoolchildren and millions of public school teachers and say, “Oh, look – this is how it is everywhere”. It would be equally unfair for me to look at the one homeschooling situation I know where the kids are barely literate in what is supposed to be the seventh and fifth grades, and cannot long divide, and say, “Oh, look – that is how homeschoolers are.” I know this goes without saying, but I think that it is easy to fall into that trap, as easy for me as it may be for you.

As far as national certification – are you talking about national BOARD certification? http://www.nbpts.org/

President Obama is very supportive of National Board Certification for teachers, and rightly so. My own husband became an NBCT (National Board Certified Teacher) in 2002. It is a rigorous (only a small percentage of teachers even pass the first time around – [brag alert - my husband was one of them ] and many only pass over two-three years – not because they are dull, but because the processs is so arduous), year-long process of documentation and portfolio generation where one has to prove that they not only know their subject matter (his is Early Adolescent Social Studies – EA/SS), but they know how to teach (to convey, to transfer, to “make the lightbulb come on”) that information. No teacher who undertakes this process who is not meant to teach is going to have any confusion about that after they start or even complete the process.

Just as you can choose, as a physician, however, not to sit for the national board certification exam in your specialty and still practice medicine, so do many [most] teachers choose not to go through this strenuous process. It is their choice, and I have never heard President Obama state that he thinks this should be a mandatory step, just as we don’t hear the AMA demanding that all doctors are board certified. He is rightly supportive of the endeavor though, because like nothing else I’e ever seen in my long association with teaching, it separates the wheat from the chaff, if you know what I mean.

I cannot fathom how National Board Certification could, even from a logistical sense, apply to homeschoolers, and even if it was possible, you may consider that the teacher unions may be your closest ally here. They want NBCT to be a requirement like they want a poke in the eye. Remember, they haven’t earned their reputation of protecting less-than-optimal teachers by not doing just that. A NBCT requirement would kick those teachers to the curb.

I understand that homeschoolers might be vigilant about watching for things on the horizon that may undermine their ability to choose to educate their children at home, just as I, as an advocate for public schools, am vigilant about those who want to undermine the public school system in our country. Public schools are the deliberate choice of many responsible, caring, educated (and Christian) parents, but they are also the only choice for most families. It is in everyone’s best interest to want to strengthen public schools, as pillars of communities, and so ALL children can have a decent shot, if for no other reason.

You are probably wondering why I would even read a blog about homeschooling. The truth is that I enjoy your point of view, Karen, on many subjects, and even though homeschooling was not our choice, I recognize it as a very viable option in education and don’t consider it the antithesis of public education, or something I view as adversarial at all. However, if my participation offends in any way, I am glad to just visit.

Thatmom said:

“I guess I am confused by this. How can any school that doesn’t place the Word of God as the absolute authority operate any other way than by situational ethics? Who decides what is right or wrong? Who or what establishes the standard? How can something funded with tax dollars teach a Christian worldview and how is anything that is not a Christian worldview anything besides situational ethics? Could you explain further?”

I made the statement about situational ethics not being taught to our children, I really should have stated “overtly taught”, as there was never ever a “program” (and we are in a position to know in our particular district) that was adopted, as I was aware of in other districts. This is what seems to normally have the anti-public-school crowd in an uproar. Programs I have been aware of have had names like “Tribes” and others I can’t remember, which I would have considered situational ethics programs if they had been brought to our district.

For the many years and many days a week during those years that I spent volunteering in my children’s classrooms, the rules seemed pretty similar to what we had at our Bible-based home to me: “Be kind”, “Don’t be rude”, “Be encouraging”, “Don’t interrupt teacher or others”, “Raise your hand”, “Be polite”, “Share”, etc.

And yes, of course there has to be some basis to decide what is right and wrong in any place, whether it be a home, a school, a workplace, wherever. Just because it is not overtly Biblical, does that make it wrong? I just don’t think it does. As Christians (and Christian children), do we not have God’s Word in our hearts? (Or at least we should.) I realize you disagree, and respect your position, but I just don’t see it that way.

For instance, I DON’T WANT the Bible taught in public schools. I don’t want prayer or Bible reading in public schools. Certainly, as a Believer, I am not anti-Bible or anti-prayer, so why would I make such a statement? Is it because I think Madeline Murray O’Hair was a hero? Certainly not! I make that statement because I well realize that as long as Christians are the majority and we get to set the “agenda”, that’s all fine and well for us as long as that works out. But what if we cease to be the majority and someone else of another faith gets to set the agenda? Then it’s not going to work out so well for us. I know that more and more fundamentalists are denying the separation of church and state, but I am absolutely flummoxed on how they cannot see that that protects everyone, including CHRISTIANS, in a pluralistic society – which is what we have. Sorry, I digress.

Obviously, you believe your choice to be superior to mine or else you wouldn’t have chosen it – and the converse is absolutely true. So in that sense, we will not be able to agree. And obviously I do not personally believe that my children needed to be immersed in Bible education every minute of their lives to become men of God. We are not immersed in “Bible-based environments” most of our lives if we work outside the home, or if we volunteer on the library committee, or whatever our endeavors are in the community outside of church or home. Rather, in our view, we are to “be” or provide the Bible-based environment to others. To my husband and I, we did not see the long-term value in having our kids grow up that way, perhaps thinking that this was how real life in the world was, always expecting a Biblical view to reign in all environments all of the time. We were fairly confident that we could provide a Biblical base from home and our church was certainly a partner with us in that, and all of the peripheral things from VBS to Bible camp to AWANA.

Also, our kids learned early on how to be in a diverse environment with kids from no-belief homes and share their faith with them. We had many kids in our home over the years who we, as a family, were able to “be Christ” to who otherwise might have not had that benefit. For some, that was what led them the final step toward Christ (as I would not assume it was simply because of what we had to offer – obviously, it was the Holy Spirit who saved them in His way). All three of my sons have led school friends to the Lord (my eldest son more than I can remember – he appears to have the gift of evangelism) – in fact, many over the years.

As far as your friend’s experience in teaching, with now kids being so much needier, that is absolutely true. They are needier. Families have major issues, and kids do not have the support network that many people my age did growing up. Many don’t have dads or either parent at home. But is the answer, because there are more challenges (because public schools are really a microcosm of society), for we Believers to just abandon the schools? To say, I don’t want to pay my tax dollars for something that doesn’t benefit me ? Those kids, which are most kids in America, btw, will just have to figure it out for themselves? (Or should every school child in America just be given a low-rent enducation voucher so we can wash our hands of them?)

Imagine for just a moment what a tremendous difference all of the homeschooling and private schooling moms (and dads) could make if they could see their way clear to sending their kids to public schools and then spending a couple of hours a week in each child’s classroom, supporting that teacher, supporting those kids, supporting that community of learners, being Christ to them. I believe we could be used of God to change the country and maybe the world!

To those who argue that we are responsible for our own children first, I totally agree. Believe me, caring for other kids does not attenuate the sense of care and responsibility we have for our own. I always saw to my own children first, and met their needs first, with great passion, but I think we also showed them that life was more than just about them, too.

I know I’m getting a little excited , but please believe me when I say that none of this is directed at you specifically, Karen, or at anybody in particular. I just want it, if nothing else, understood that we who choose public schools do often have an utter passion for our own kids and for those of othes. Obviously, not everyone is going to abandon their position and come join with us Christian public-schooling moms. But despite that, I can’t help but think how great it would be .

And I am responding, I think, to a lot of these arguments I have heard for years, beginning in my childhood when my folks were pressured to send me to private school (which stunk, just educational-wise, and I freely admit has probably shaped my views to some extent – plus made me hate Beka books). My husband faired much better with a single-gender parochial prep school education. If every family only had $15-20,000 plus per year per child to provide their son(s) that education – LOL.

So to end this novella, Karen, while I respect the obvious great prayer and consideration you have given to homeschooling over the years, and have no doubt that you made the best decision for your family, I think ultimately, the proof is always in the pudding. We can argue theories and beliefs and philosophies all day long, but with our respective choices, what were the results? Yours sound excellent, as just from the bit I’ve read, your children all love and serve God. I’m sure our Lord would say, “Well done, faithful servant”.

But our sons love and serve God, too.

So children have “turned out” – praise God – from both situations. And I could name dozens of public schooling families with the same results, just as you could name dozens of homeschooling families.

I really don’t want to be a divisive element on a really lovely and thought-provoking (obviously it provoked some thoughts from me – LOL) homeschooling blog which so obviously ministers to many homeschooling moms and dads. I think your principals and arguments are largely very well thought out and laudable, even if I don’t completely share them – I mean that, truly. But I would just encourage people not to fall prey to the propaganda (it exists on both sides in probably similar amounts) that every public school is failing miserably and every public school teacher has a godless agenda for your kid, if they could only get their hands on them. While there are certainly failures and disappointments, nothing could be further from the truth.

Karen, I will take a look at the video when I get a little time.

And I understand totally what you’re saying about some people, even some Christians, not being aware of the pitfalls that exist. I think that one reason that some of this stuff hasn’t come into our particular district, although hubby is well aware of them (after all, the NEA Today magazine comes to our house every month and we both read it cover to cover), is because our school board understands what parents concerns are, and if they don’t, we remind them I have personally gone out of my way to get to know school board members (one former one is one of my dearest friends), and I think parental involvement cannot be overstated in its importance. But I also guess this would be true no matter how one chooses to educate.

And I should hasten to add that we were always pretty tuned into our kids, and they to us, even during the teenage years. Constant communication is necessary. We’ve discussed and evaluated together all sorts of worldviews in our home together. Christian teens are pretty quick to be able to identify problems with those; at least our boys were.

And if there were concerns vis-a-vis school (and there certainly sometimes were), we addressed them with the respective teacher or administrator. If we had felt our children were in some way suffering in public schools, we would have done something else, just like any parent should if something is being harmful or even just decidedly unhelpful to their child.

So we definitely did not have our heads in the sand. As far as Christian teachers in public school, my husband has more frustrations than I can throw a stick at with stupid hoops to jump through with no real benefit and somebody who never taught a class in their life making decisions on educational issues. But the majority of his frustrations are not of a moral concern, and after 34 years, he’s got the ropes down pretty well, I think. I am proud of the man he is first and foremost, but we are also all very proud of the teacher he is. Maybe that’s why two of our boys plan to follow in his steps.

Also, I’m pretty sure I sounded like a total apologist for public schools, and the reality is that I am not. I have concerns just like any halfway concerned, educated parent would. We just choose to address them in that venue, however. I am also able to separate events that happen somewhere else with what actually happens in our school district. Everywhere does not necessarily equal local, as in Ohio, local schools are still controlled locally (good from a control POV, bad from a property tax POV – LOL).

And yes, I believe Abeka is the same as Beka curriculum. Ack! I was bored out of my mind by the third grade by that stuff. Thankfully, my folks were very interested in good literature and always encouraged me (not that I needed much encouragement – LOL). They finally let me escape in 9th grade.