Homeschool Alliance of North Carolina

:By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL, August 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two homeschooled children face a battery of tests this week in a showdown between the Brazilian government and a Christian family over the educational rights of parents in the South American nation.

The children of Cleber and Bernadeth Nunes have already passed the entrance exams for law school at the ages of 13 and 14, but that doesn’t satisfy the Brazilian government, which has been trying to force them into its troubled school system since 2006.

After over a year of battling authorities for the right to home school their children, the Nunes’ two prodigies will be tested on a variety of subjects to prove that their parents are not guilty of “intellectual abandonment”, a legal term that indicates that one has not fulfilled the obligation of providing for the education of one’s children.

The tests will include a wide array of subjects, including mathematics, Portuguese, science, history, English, geography, arts, and physical education.  The family has been preparing their children for the test for over a month, and the Brazilian media is covering the case…..”

For more of this article visit: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081802.html

“By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
The number of students home-schooled in Arkansas is expected to increase this year following an established trend of growth of enrollments in the state, according to Melissa Savary, director of The Education Alliance, an association of home schools.

A final enrollment count for the 2006-2007 school year, the latest number released by the Arkansas Department of Education, indicates there were 15,012 Arkansas students home-schooled that year, up from 10 years ago at 6,420….”

For the complete article visit: http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2008/08/19/news/news1.txt

“Recently, the Hickory Daily Record published a guest column by Mike Koivisto in the absence of Scott Hollifield of the McDowell News. I thought the readers of the Hickory Daily Record might like to read about our homeschool experiences, since I offer a different view of homeschooling from Mr. Koivisto.

We began our homeschool journey in 2000. It was during that fall that we discovered that our oldest child, who had been on the “A” honor roll all of her academic life, did not learn any math skills in third grade in public school. Her entrance exam to fourth grade showed that she had the math skills of a child finishing 2nd grade.

She was unable to complete assignments in her fourth-grade math book because she did not know basic multiplication and division.

Did we, her parents, know that she was not being taught multiplication? No. We assumed that she was doing well in third-grade math, based on her report cards.

What we did know about third grade was that it was all important to know how to take a standardized test. She spent third grade learning how to color in the little bubbles on the test. And, miraculously she passed that test at the end of third grade, because she was promoted to fourth grade.

Thus, our homeschooling journey began. I spent two years working with her on mastering basic math skills. And I began teaching her younger brothers at home as well. What I found is that I was equipped to teach them as well as a certified teacher. Yes, they are able to pass the end-of-year standardized tests.

And to correct a fallacy in Mr. Koivisto’s article, they do not have to “pass” it to be promoted to the next grade….”

for the full text please visit: http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/content/2008/aug/20/homeschooling-not-easy-rewards-are-many/news-opinion/

“…Grace Bee’s husband, Republican candidate Tim Bee, is in the middle of one of the most competitive congressional races in the country. She already had a house full of six children that she’s responsible for mothering and home-schooling. Her title of “mom taxi” is well-earned — her home is 30 minutes southeast of Tucson. …Home-schooling the kids

“Bulletin #63     California Appeals Ruling   08/11/08

     (Please note that the following is not meant to provide legal advice to anyone. It is meant to provide the personal opinion of the author and to provide general educational information about the judicial system and this specific ruling.  Anyone reading the following opinion is advised to contact an attorney licensed to practice law in California for appropriate legal advice. Anyone seeking information about the ruling is advised to read the ruling in its entirety and/or to contact an attorney)

Did you know?  Despite the statutory requirement for credentialed tutors in California, that an appeals court has now concluded that since the practice existed that parents (and perhaps the umbrella schools they might have been using) were home schooling their children as tutors without having credentials, that in fact, the court recognizes that practice as being deemed acceptable despite the existence of the law.

NHELD offered some background information on this case in our previous bulletin, Bulletin #60, regarding the initial California ruling (http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878.PDF) about which it was claimed that “homeschooling was illegal” in California as a result of that ruling. The court’s ruling was revisited through an appeal process.

In that appeal of Jonathan L.et al., v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County in the

State of California’s Court of Appeals (http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878A.PDF), the court referred to home schooling as ”full time education in the home by a parent or guardian who does not necessarily possess a teaching credential.”

More importantly, the court issued two main conclusions:

“We will conclude that: (1) California statutes permit home schooling as a species of private school education; and (2) the statutory permission to home school may constitutionally be overridden in order to protect the safety of a child who has been declared dependent.”…”

http://www.nheld.com/BTN63.htm

“SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California appeals court ruled Friday that parents lacking teaching credentials can still home school their children, reversing its previous decision.

The three-judge panel in February prompted an enormous uproar throughout the state when it initially ruled that all California children had to be taught by credentialed teachers, including the estimated 166,000 students taught at home.

Numerous home schooling organizations, religious groups and others urged the appeals court to reconsider its ruling. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democratic Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell and several other politicians also asked the court to reverse its decision.

”This decision confirms the right every California child has to a quality education and the right parents have to decide what is best for their children,” Schwarzenegger said. “I hope the ruling settles this matter for parents and home schooled children once and for all in California, but assure them that we, as elected officials, will continue to defend parents’ rights.”

The appeals court did call on the state Legislature to clear up what it called conflicts in state law to specifically allow home schooling. It noted that the legal uncertainty “has resulted in a near absence of objective criteria and oversight for home schooling.” …”

For the complete article visit: http://www.times-standard.com/ci_10141575?

“By TONI MCDONALD Guest writer

According to homeschooling mom Marcia Cook, the local homeschooling population is increasing. The lifestyle is more accepted today than in years past, but homeschoolers still meet with opposition, as seen by recent rulings in California (which clamped down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials).

Having homeschooled for 18 years, Cook is a veteran. She has two daughters who now attend college, and a 12-year-old still at home.

Asked why she and her husband, Keith, chose homeschooling, she states, “I guess probably the main thing is wanting to be able to raise our children and build character into them.”

They feel the girls wouldn’t have gotten that from public or private school. “It takes one-onone time to do that,” she said. …”

For the complete article visit:

http://www.jaspernewsboy.com/news/2008/0730/People/027.html

“Home-school enrollment increased by 4 percent this past school year, according to figures released today by the state Division of Non-Public Education.

State officials estimate that 71,566 students were home-schooled for the 2007-08 school year – up from 68,707 students the prior year. The number of children being schooled at home is likely higher because parents don’t have to register with the state unless their children are at least 7 years old.

There were 38,367 registered home-schools in 2007-08, a 6 percent increase from the prior school year.

The number of families choosing to educate their students at home has been steadily increasing since the state Supreme Court legalized homeschooling in 1985. North Carolina has generally been regarded nationally as having one of the easier home-schooling requirements for families.

In contrast, a California appellate court made national headlines in February by ruling that parents must have teaching credentials to home-school their children. North Carolina only requires parents to have a high school diploma. ”

For the original source visit: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/103413.html

“By Greenhut, Steven

…California officials operate some of the worst education bureaucracies in the nation. Yet some officials here are concerned not so much with the government-run schools, but with the possibility that a fraction of the state’s students are being educated by their non-credentialed parents at home. This is the “let no flower bloom” approach to public policy, as government officials and public-sector unions react against small private successes in their midst, mainly, I suppose, because of the embarrassment it entails. If for a few bucks a year parents can teach kids who go on to excel in state tests, get accepted to Berkeley, and win spelling bees, then why can’t the professional “educators” do as well with $11,000 or more per student each year taken from taxpayers?

In California this issue of homeschooling had been dormant for about five years, after the current superintendent of public instruction overruled his predecessor’s policy of harassing homeschools. But a February ruling by the state district court of appeal brought back reminders of the bad old days after it ruled that “parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children. . . . Because parents have a legal duty to see to their children’s schooling within the provisions of these laws, parents who fail to do so may be subject … to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program.” The court even issued a threat to parents that they could lose custody of their children if they persist in teaching them at home: “the juvenile court has authority to limit a parent’s control over a dependent child.”….”

For the complete article visit: http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/1492893/court_holds_californias_homeschoolers_in_suspense/

“by Ed Tate | Flint Journal guest columnist

Retired state Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Levin stated that “Home-school has a very long and honorable tradition.” Levin was the chief justice for the DeJong case, which established the legal right to home school in Michigan. On July 20, 2008, The Flint Journal published a column by Kelly Flynn titled “Home schooling should be a choice — however odd.” Her conclusions that home schooling is “odd” and that Michigan should put more legislation in place are wrong.

Ms. Flynn stated that “home schooling is an odd choice when I look at the bounty offered in the public school system.”

However, well over one million home schoolers disagree with her. The US Census Bureau estimates 86 percent of home schoolers report dissatisfactory academic environment or instruction as one of the reasons they home school. While home schooling is not for every family, the public education system is not for others. The pioneers in home schooling risked fines and imprisonment for this freedom.

Home schooling is pursued for many reasons. The majority of families who home school are solidly middle-class. Most are a two-parent household with a stay-at-home parent.

Almost 45 percent of home schooling parents Have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Less than 21 percent of Michigan adults had a bachelor’s degree at the last census.

Home schooling families are some of the best educated in Michigan. Home schooling is so mainstream that over 83 percent of colleges have formal policies for admitting home schoolers. …”

For the complete text visit: http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/voices/index.ssf/2008/07/kelly_flynn_is_wrong_on_homesc.html