LEC23's comments

If You Don't Like it You can Homeschool

03 Feb 2007 05:02 PM

Once again Andrea you have hit the nail right on the head. The erosion of parental choice on how their children are educated in the public school system, based on financial means. Another case in point of 'all children are equal in the public school system, but some children are more equal than others, based upon their parents financial means.' and also based on the philosophy to parents 'if you haven't the financial means then you and your child has to put up and shut up!'.

Teach Your Homeschooler About Plagiarism

16 Jan 2007 03:37 PM

Hi Andrea, Thank you for reminding us to teach children from an early age that plagarism is not a Robin Hood act, of stealing from the published to credit as your own. Many politicians should take a leaf out of your book, as many of their speeches that they credit as their own, have in fact been plagarised. On the home front, I agree with you, that the teaching of your child about plagarism and that it is theft, will benefit them not just socially but also gives them the life skills and especially in College and University, where plagarism is seen in some as an automatic fail for the whole course.

Students Should Be In School Today. . .

16 Jan 2007 12:54 AM

I'm absolutely delighted that you remind us all of a very important historical person that we all need to remember. I personally, as well as my homeschooled son, remember the invaluable historical contribution that Dr King contributed to human rights and to recognising and how to achieve equality in society through a peaceful protest and vocal assertiveness. When I was in University, I made many friends, one of whom I was absolutely fascinated by, he was a Caribbean American, Jewish, who lived in the UK, retained his New York accent and who contributed quite freely, to my son's rich teachings into Caribbean-American and black history, including the history of different movements and people like Dr King, the Black Panther movement and Rosa Parkes; as I believed that when homeschooling him that he should not be restricted by the UK history curriculum, that only gives a glimpse into Black Culture and issues. As a result, my son, has embraced a broad prospective of history and of the aims, objectives and philsophies of Dr King and he is remembered with dignity and respect for his teachings and his stance on peaceful, but assertive protest to achieve individual and collective objectives.

I personally have and will always believe in TOTAL EQUALITY FOR ALL and because of this, I have often be called a 'rebel' and a trouble-causer because of my thinking and practicing outside of society norms but that is why myself and my son give Dr King and his teachings such respect, for his stance on individual empowerment, choice and total equality for all.

Taking Advantage of Local Exhibits

05 Jan 2007 10:43 PM

Hi Andrea

Once again a superb informative, article, that I always enjoy reading and I am glad to see that a local exhibition of such maritime and UK historical importance is coming to a locality within easy travelling distance of you.

When I homeschooled my son, then, as I do now, lived in a large UK city, yes there was the museums, exhibitions etc. which we visited and exhausted. We then started looking further afield. However, many of the tasks within the home, that are taken for granted and not given a second thought, I used as educational opportunities for homeschooling my son. For example, even something as basic as going to the toilet and taking the trash out, turning the light on and having a portion of blackberry and apple crumble, evolved into an extensive environmental studies project.

As part of this project we visited a bog (similar to a marsh), a Power Plant, a Sewage Farm, an organic mixed farm (which ground their own flour) and had their own apple orchard - where we picked our own apples; we went on a visit to some public woodland and picked wild Blackberries and did many more things as well.

When we visited my Australian friend, who also homeschooled and lived 200 miles from the nearest school, even going for a walk to visit friends (in this case a village solely popluated by aboriginies) became an educational opportunity and a project on identifying the tracks of different species of animals (which our aboriginal friends taught him), which evolved into the identification of those animals, what category of animals they were (reptiles, mammals, marsupials etc), what their dietary requirements were, their habitats, their feeding habits etc.

Just to prove that even the most mundane tasks can evolve into excellent teaching and learning opportunities for homeschoolers.

What do Children Need More: Structure or Freedom?

04 Jan 2007 08:11 AM

Hi Andrea

Another brilliant discussion point. My motto whilst homeschooling, was structure is freedom and freedom is structure. Everything that many people take for granted in their daily lives, I saw, as an educational opportunity for my son to learn. Even going to the toilet, the water draining down the sink after washing up, taking the rubbish out, lead to subjects, essays and projects on environmental studies, we even took an educational trip to a Sewage Plant, an organic farm, Power Plant and a Bog (very similar to a Marsh). Christmas and other public holidays, led to other educational opportunities related to subject areas within a structured educational curriculum.

I had a timetable that I would complete on a weekly basis for the following week's homeschooling and the subject areas we would cover, the topics and sub-topics. Even cross-subject teaching eg Investment Appraisal - Simple Payback - for Maths, English and Business Studies. The structure was that we had to complete a number of hours of homeschooling per week for each subject, which increased with the level that he was studying at. However, that too had the freedom of being flexible, in that as long as the numbered hours per week were covered.

Socialisation was not an issue. My son played amateur Rugby League, football and went swimming, played Badminton and felt a sense of obligation to make audio tapes for blind children and older people reading stories and daily newspapers.

In the UK at harvest festival time (about September), he would go round to all his friends and anyone that he knew to collect cans and packets of food, parcel them up and distributed these parcels to elderly people on limited financial means and he did this without any prompting, as he felt that he had a social obligation to do this, but he always wrote all about it, with Action Plans, timings and schedules.

So as you can see, where my motto came from, that homeschooling is freedom and freedom is homeschooling. Where would you have possibly got those kind of opportunities with an education in the public school system?

Does More Money Mean a Better Education?

30 Dec 2006 03:58 PM

I agree with you, more auditing of accounts need to be undertaken to see where the additionally funding for any project within a school goes and for the different tiers/levels that the money passes through to be totally accountable.

Let me explain and give a hypothetical example for the UK:

Central Government announces that Primary Schools will receive 200m in additional funding for the purchase of computer equipment.

The funds are then divided equally amongst 2,000 Local Government's Education Departments. (= 100,000 per education department).

Immediately upon receipt, the Local Education Authority deducts 20% of this total for Local Government administration costs in implementing the system and distributing the funds. (= 80,000 left in total per LEA for project).

Say there are 100 Primary Schools per LEA, that would give a total in theory of 800 per primary school. Now it would all depend on the Primary School and whether they have opted out of Local Authority control. If they have then the 800 would go to the school directly. If it hasn't then the school would have no option but to purchase through the IT Company that the LEA has an exclusive contract with, this could be an inhouse central purchasing unit. However another 20% at least, will be creamed off, whether from the Central Purchasing Unit for their administration and installation costs, or the opted-out school will deduct at least 20% for its administration and installation costs. (-160) This would leave a net total for the actual purchase of the computer equipment of 640 per primary school. If an opted-out school was very prudent, they may just get 4 computers for this amount and then there would be the question of where these computers were to be placed and would not necessarily be for the use of students. It is not uncommon that the allocation would go via priority. Eg Administration, Teacher use, Library Use and at the bottom student use and as there is no accountability as to where and to whom the computers are for, then the students may just get no equipment at all.

This is the reason why complete and thorough audits of all allocated monies should be initiated, so as to actually make individual schools and LEA's accountable for its distribution.

Homeschooling in Lieu of Suspension

18 Dec 2006 02:06 AM

I agree with you, if the authorities are demanding that the child be homeschooled in lieu of suspension, that is in fact expulsion from the public school system and if they were suppose to be acting as locum parentus, which parents are made to believe, than this should have been have been thoroughly investigated and sorted out internally. If no supporting evidence had been made available surely this has worked on the premis that he was presumed guilty until his innocence was proved. Surely, if they are saying that he has to be homeschooled, then the school should then provide the full resources of the school, including finance for that pupil to be schooled off the premises.

The differences Between Homeschooling and Public School at Home

12 Dec 2006 03:52 AM

I agree entirely with your point Andrea, there should be some distinction between public school at homeschoolers and independent true homeschoolers. The word is independent (out of the control of the public school system). Again, its a matter of finance. As in it is cheaper to have an employee working from home, as it actually costs the employer less than employing him on company premises but a certain amount of control would be relinquished in supervision. However, it seems that public school wants to have their cake and eat it as well, as they want parents to public school their children off the premises at home, whilst retaining all the control and power over the child and the person teaching and the child itself, therefore reducing costs but retaining all the power and control (and in effect increasing it). Beware parents who are thinking of taking this route. Three words come to mind - INVASION OF PRIVACY.

Dr. Phil Doesn't Get Homeschooling

12 Dec 2006 03:28 AM

I also apologise for being a little late in coming here, my excuse is that I'm fairly new to blogging and just finding my way around the blogging scene. I use to watch Dr Phil over here in the UK, however, I stopped watching when quite a few of the topic areas he discussed seemed to be rather biased towards his personal point of view and that of brow-beating and aggressively putting down anyone who objected to his point of view. I vehemently object to his slant on homeschooling and homeschoolers and that homeschooled children are unable to socialize properly or adequately. You said that he has (publicly stated through his show) research to prove it. If he has stated that research and that he is talking from an academic viewpoint (or making it appear that he is) then he must publicly state (on his show) the full details and sources of this research. If he is unwilling or even unable to do this, as most acclaimed academics will tell you, his complete argument has no validity or credibility.

I chose to homeschool my son up to the age of 16 years old. See my other comments on this site on my son's socialization and social development whilst I was homeschooling him.

Proving it can be done in Australia

12 Dec 2006 03:01 AM

Thank you Andrea for reading my comment on your article. I'm glad you enjoyed it and that it was of some benefit. I read with interest your FYI at the end, about School at Home and how public schools are attempting to retain control over homeschoolers and homeschooling. The homeschoolers argument of using public school at home will slowly take away the rights of those who want to homeschool on their own terms is well justified as the rights and the individual techniques adopted and eventually the method and who can homeschool will be dictated by public school.

I personally see this as nothing more than a blatant act in the controlling and dictatorship of the whole of the education system and of dictating who should have the right to homeschool their children, whilst in fact giving themselves a nice little pay boost if they could accomplish it. What homeschoolers should ask is what are the real motives for public school at home to want this control? Are they doing this voluntarily without any additional increases in pay or bonuses? What cast-iron guarantees do they offer and if their methods are used, would they be personally liable for failure or detriment caused to the individual? I think not......... The only motives it seems is that of control and personal standing, possible career enhancement and financial gain.