Can I post a HS'ing related newspaper article here?

[UnschoolnMa]

or is that against some copyright rules or etc? Anyone?

[chfriend]

I think it's 100 word limit to post. But you can post a link to the article.

[MamaAllNatural]

Yep. Just quote your favorite parts here and then post the link.

[UnschoolnMa]

Okay well it's an article that ran in my local paper a few days ago. I will quote it in a few places, but I am having pc issues tonight so it might be all wierd lol. The paper is www.democratherald.com Any comments on this?
=========================

The home school jackpot

By JULIA SILVERMAN
AP education writer

Looking for more money, districts target students schooled at home

MYRTLE POINT — One day after jazz band practice, 14-year-old Peter Wilson's band teacher pulled him aside for a chat.
The instructor wanted to know whether Wilson, who is home-schooled alongside his three brothers, liked being taught by his mother, and why he didn't come to public school full-time, instead of just for music programs.

His teacher seemed uncomfortable, Wilson said, and the interview was brief. As soon as he got home, the teenager told his parents what had happened. For Mark and Teckla Wilson, who are raising their four sons in Mark Wilson's roomy childhood home in Myrtle Point, a former timber town not far from the Oregon coast, the teacher's inquiry was an eyebrow-raiser.

"I thought I should find the motive, or the reason for it,'' Mark Wilson said. "I thought it could come across as making my children feel the need to justify their home-schooling.'' It didn't take long to discover that the teacher's questions were part of a larger effort by the Myrtle Point school district to persuade home-schooling families in the area to give the public school system a shot.


And he said school administrators are willing to work with home-school parents on preparing individual plans for home-school students making the transition and to assign mentors to such students.

If these measures don't work and if the enrollment decline persists, Smith said the Myrtle Point district may have to declare bankruptcy.

The fate of the school has provoked plenty of discussion in the town of 2,712, and prompted a tart opinion column by school board member Dal King in the weekly Myrtle Herald.

"Families who home school or choose to send their kids to other districts, we need your full support, not just what's convenient for you,'' King wrote. "While you may have good reasons, please do your part by enrolling your kids full-time in the district and don't just ‘cherry-pick' music or sports.''

:

[UnschoolnMa]

Anyway, I wrote a letter to the editor detailing my thoughts about school districts trying to hassle HS'ing families just because the district is low on money. It has yet to be published lol. The part I highlighted in light brown at the end just really ticks me off. It's like they are saying "Yea you think you have good enough reasons to homeschool, but they aren't important. Only us having more money is important. Please put aside your beliefs about what kind of education is important for your child, and enroll them today so we can have more cash." How infuriating. (To me anyway)

[MamaAllNatural]

Why do people not get it that some people actually *want* to homeschool and think it's best for their kids and family?

[MamaAllNatural]

not just what's convenient for you

:

(this might only be funny to me because of how "convenient" it's been having my 6 yo w/me all day everyday)

[MamaAllNatural]

Unschoolnma, I cross posted w/you & then had to take my dog out...

That's great you wrote a letter to the editor.

Originally Posted by UnschoolnMa

It's like they are saying "Yea you think you have good enough reasons to homeschool, but they aren't important. Only us having more money is important. Please put aside your beliefs about what kind of education is important for your child, and enroll them today so we can have more cash."

It's really ridiculous (and narrow minded) of them to think that you would want to put not only your money but your child into a system that you don't believe in or want to be a part of.


*ETA: Would you mind posting your letter for us?

[mother_sunshine]

"Families who home school or choose to send their kids to other districts, we need your full support, not just what's convenient for you,'' King wrote. "While you may have good reasons, please do your part by enrolling your kids full-time in the district and don't just ‘cherry-pick' music or sports.''

[applejuice]

"While you may have good reasons, please do your part by enrolling your kids full-time in the district and don't just ‘cherry-pick' music or sports.''

"You may have good reasons, BUT..." WTF?

NO!

You have good reasons PERIOD!

You absolutely have the right to cherry pick...you pay for the damn program with your tax dollars, and the school districts in this country have for decades squandered your $$$ on silly projects after silly project, so no one will ever tell me that you cannot cherry pick your school program.

What a lot of crap!

Here in LAUSD, there are actually stores that only sell to teachers inLAUSD. They do not have any special price - the items are the same as in a retail store, it is simply the convenience of being there for a seminar and buying the things there.

This was the first time I ever met a clerk who would not sell something to me because I did not belong to the "club"?!!

This is a tax supported store that only caters to the teachers in the district.

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by MamaAllNatural

It's really ridiculous (and narrow minded) of them to think that you would want to put not only your money but your child into a system that you don't believe in or want to be a part of.

If it is a public school, her $ is already there whether she likes it or not.

The only thing she can control is where her children go to school.

[SagMom]

Schools get money based on their enrollment--even though we all pay taxes, our local school would get more $$ if my kids attended, so it makes sense, financially, for the school to want to attract hsers. (I'm not saying I agree with this plan, just saying that it makes sense as a way for schools to preserve their existance.)

Interestingly, when my district found out we were hsing, I was told we could NOT have any involvement with the school programs or use of their supplies--"You're either in or you're out." I'm just WAITING for the day that they come looking for my kids so that they can up their rolls and get more $$.

I've read this article elsewhere on the 'net--it's caused quite a stir.

This part, in particular, is a trip:

"Families who home school or choose to send their kids to other districts, we need your full support, not just what's convenient for you,'' King wrote. "While you may have good reasons, please do your part by enrolling your kids full-time in the district and don't just ‘cherry-pick' music or sports.''

Do your duty....for the good of the majority...ignore your individual needs/desires....do what's best for your district.

It's so Orwellian, it's almost funny.

[MamaAllNatural]

Applejuice, you're absolutely right. We're already forced to pay for the public schooling we're not using through taxes. Forgive me, I was a little loopy last night while posting.

[ChristaN]

What I found irritating with the way funding works here is that the school gets funding for the kids who were there during the "student count week" at the beginning of the school year, so they are still getting $ for my dd despite the fact that we have taken her out & are homeschooling now.

To me, they had no motivation at all to try to work with us to make her classroom situation better after student count week b/c they already had the money. Even when we told them that we would be removing her if they didn't do x,y & z, it was kind of a "whatever" response since it was no skin off their teeth at that point. In fact, the principal didn't even respond at all to the last letter that I send requesting a change of classroom (again) or we'd be removing dd from the school : .

[mother_sunshine]

Originally Posted by ChristaN

What I found irritating with the way funding works here is that the school gets funding for the kids who were there during the "student count week" at the beginning of the school year, so they are still getting $ for my dd despite the fact that we have taken her out & are homeschooling now.

To me, they had no motivation at all to try to work with us to make her classroom situation better after student count week b/c they already had the money. Even when we told them that we would be removing her if they didn't do x,y & z, it was kind of a "whatever" response since it was no skin off their teeth at that point. In fact, the principal didn't even respond at all to the last letter that I send requesting a change of classroom (again) or we'd be removing dd from the school : .

I could have written this. That's what happened to us too, basically. Now I am SO GLAD it did. We don't plan on going back as planned.

[chalupamom]

So let me see if I understand this.

Homeschooling deprives the public system of parents who are inclined to be involved in the schools. Parents who wish to homeschool should keep their kids in public school because that's the socially just thing to do with all that educational conviction and energy. We've all heard this one, right?

And now we hear that homeschooling deprives all the non-homeschooled kids of valuable money that could be applied to their educations.

So, is the take home message here that homeschoolers = selfish jerks who would snatch learning from the grasp of children at large?

[SagMom]

Originally Posted by chalupamom

So, is the take home message here that homeschoolers = selfish jerks who would snatch learning from the grasp of children at large?

I think it's called "guilt-tripping." Because, how can you not care about THE CHILDREN? It's all about THE CHILDREN. Don't you want what's best for THE CHILDREN?

Like many, I've heard this:

Homeschooling deprives the public system of parents who are inclined to be involved in the schools. Parents who wish to homeschool should keep their kids in public school because that's the socially just thing to do with all that educational conviction and energy.

Funny thing is though, the only "involvement" the school seemed to want from me was for things like baking for bake sales, chaperoning afterschool parties and volunteering for such astounding things as decorating bulletin boards.

No one seemed to want my input on those trivial issues like curriculum, or discipline, or school policy, etc.

They expect submission and when they get desertion instead, this is their response. Oh well!

[UnschoolnMa]

Originally Posted by Joan

Like many, I've heard this: Funny thing is though, the only "involvement" the school seemed to want from me was for things like baking for bake sales, chaperoning afterschool parties and volunteering for such astounding things as decorating bulletin boards.

No one seemed to want my input on those trivial issues like curriculum, or discipline, or school policy, etc.

They expect submission and when they get desertion instead, this is their response. Oh well!

I had this exact same experience with the schools my kids attended. They say they want parents involved, they want to hear what we thought but it just wasn't true. Like you said they wanted me to do those little busy items. and I was willing to do them...but I was never heard on other heavier issues. It was maddening :

[laralou]

Sorry, I am not sacrificing my children for the greater good. Count on my neighbors for that...

That absolutely infuriates me.

[mother_sunshine]

Originally Posted by Joan

I think it's called "guilt-tripping." Because, how can you not care about THE CHILDREN? It's all about THE CHILDREN. Don't you want what's best for THE CHILDREN?

Like many, I've heard this: Funny thing is though, the only "involvement" the school seemed to want from me was for things like baking for bake sales, chaperoning afterschool parties and volunteering for such astounding things as decorating bulletin boards.

No one seemed to want my input on those trivial issues like curriculum, or discipline, or school policy, etc.

They expect submission and when they get desertion instead, this is their response. Oh well!

You know what's weird too is that so many parents WANT that submission. It makes their lives easier to have someone else take over complete responsibility of their children for most of the day (or all day if they do after-school program) 5 days a week. For example, a friend of mine once tried to convince me that we, as parents, don't have the right to intrude on our children's classrooms. She basically scorned those of us who participated and spoke up.