Homeschooling Illegal In California - Fight Is Still On

[Lucy Lionheart]

but with private or public school there is a socitial standards to deal with issues

there is alot of help to deal with bullying bad grades tough life stuff espally moving on to college

everythin in councling is geared towards the normal experiances but most counclers don't get what happens in bad homeschooling and homeschool associations let problems fester and then rally against people learning the dark truths

no one is prepared to deal with the wronged homeschoolers...and people dont want to hear it

current homeschoolers reject us as trouble makers when we try to approach them and tell them to look out into their groups for behavior

and public schoolers who had bad experiance say that our lives were better anyway but they just don't know what is like to be isolated

and society for alot of things sais that homeschoolers are better educated and stuff many colleges blindly accept homeschoolers when they wouldnt accept a public school kid of that merit

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='picchick' post='1582716' date='Jun 25 2008, 08:56 AM']Or if your house is not immaculate? That always scared me. I mean we kept the house clean but I always had a little brother who would be playing with half a dozen toys in the frontroom and whatnot.[/quote]

Yeah, that is also cause for "concern" from a nosy neighbor or social worker. People forget that since we are here a LOT of the time (especially in the winter), our homes have that "lived in" look. So, um yeah... dirty dishes in the sink is not child abuse.

Sorry that happened to your family, Meg. I'm sure that was terrifying.

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1582706' date='Jun 25 2008, 01:41 PM']Having been a classroom teacher, I can say that I was not at all prepared to be a madated reporter-- but by law I was. I was a fresh out of college, early twenties gal with no training in detecting child abuse. Yet if I suspected it I was mandated by law to report it to authorities. Based on what? No idea.... how this protected the children in my charge, I don't know. Abuse could have easily slipped past my watchful eye.

Like most parents, most homeschoolers take their children to the doctor for checkups and various other reasons-- ear infections, strep, falls from the monkey bars, hacking coughs that won't go away, etc. And, guess what? The doctor (who IS trained in being able to decern various kinds of bumps and bruises, lacerations and breaks) examines the child! And guess what? S/he and all the nursing staff in the office are also mandated reporters.

And don't think that having the authorities brought in doesn't worry most legit, caring, doing the right thing homeschoolers-- it does. Getting in to a dispute with a neighbor over... whatever.... and who knows if that angry neighbor will decide that s/he thinks your kids are spending too much time outside on a school day... or that your slender child looks a little tooooo slender.... or maybe you have too many kids... whatever. It worries us because getting the authorities involved where they don't belong (investigating parents who have done NOTHING WRONG), causes trauma for thier children (they are taken to FOSTER CARE) and there could be a lengthy process to GET YOUR OWN CHILDREN BACK.

What may be done with the intention of catching abuse in one household may actually inflict trauma (by the system) on an innocent household.

So, um, yeah.... leave me alone. [/quote]

Thanks for the insights, and I see what you mean. I do think an alternative certification programme should be offered, should the parents feel they need more knowledge about teaching, but I see what you mean about not having a mandatory system in place.

[homeschoolmom]

And Lucy, I'm not exactly what you are talking about, but if you were abused in some way, I am sorry to hear it. Abuse shouldn't happen to any child.

[Lucy Lionheart]

i had really bad stuff happen to me

thing is that i found friends (now going on 8, and at one time our group numbered 11) who also had a bad time homescchooling and thats only in a very small radius...we came to school here from 3 hours away or less.

In final count some grave level of abuse and isoation has occured to 15 people between the ages of 18-27 that I now know. and thats jist at my school.

of course im in a rather rural part of the country so that adds to it im sure

but the problem is bigger than people think

[picchick]

[quote name='Lucy Lionheart' post='1582724' date='Jun 25 2008, 09:06 AM']but with private or public school there is a socitial standards to deal with issues

there is alot of help to deal with bullying bad grades tough life stuff espally moving on to college

everythin in councling is geared towards the normal experiances but most counclers don't get what happens in bad homeschooling and homeschool associations let problems fester and then rally against people learning the dark truths

no one is prepared to deal with the wronged homeschoolers...and people dont want to hear it

current homeschoolers reject us as trouble makers when we try to approach them and tell them to look out into their groups for behavior

and public schoolers who had bad experiance say that our lives were better anyway but they just don't know what is like to be isolated

and society for alot of things sais that homeschoolers are better educated and stuff many colleges blindly accept homeschoolers when they wouldnt accept a public school kid of that merit[/quote]

Were you homeschooled your whole life or just part of it?


Again, I am very sorry to hear this. I am not pushing you to the side but I must disagree. In the public school, there is very little help when it comes to bullying and bad grades. They teach to a standard and kids are left behind if they do not keep up with the pace. When I was failing in school the teacher did nothing. If my parents did not homeschool me then I would not be where I am today.

Applying for college WAS NOT an easy task. Colleges are not blindly accepting homeschoolers, at least in my case. I had to show more paperwork than ever. They could not accept my ACT scores alone. They had to see my grades from each class, how long it took me, what books I used, et. al. Ridiculous. The ACT/SAT is a standardized test that they should have accepted.

I had a friend in college that recieved an ACT score lower than the college's standard. He went to public school and then ended up dropping out of the college. He had to do nothing of what I did to get in to that school. I find that a bit contradictory to your statement. I think colleges are looking more at diversity right now than homeschoolers vs. public/private schoolers.

[Lucy Lionheart]

i started homeschooling after first grade

i remember school a tiny bit

my college accepted me and my friends pretty blindly i didn't even have a transcript or anything, just my SAT scores and what i said was my high shool average.

I got denied into the science program that i wanted so am doing art and philosophy insted

maybe my school is not as tough to get into

im not talking about help with bullying and grades in high school...i wouldn't know how it is there...im talking after

there are so many things to help kids who went to traditional school and tutors at colege have no idea how to deal with former wronged homeschoolers who don't know pop culture, history and science like averyone else

councelers in college are the same way they are trained to deal with normal situations, bullying, grades, and even parents who were abusive...but only in the average situation they don't know enythin about homeschoolers

[homeschoolmom]

This is not to make light of your situation, but...

Many colleges have programs to help remedial students and students for whom English is not their first language. Not all colleges, of course. Community colleges certainly know how to get students up to parr and have been doing so for many decades-- longer than homeschooling has been mainstream. They have study skills classes, etc. So, I'm not sure what is unique about a homeschooled student who is wronged and a public schooled student who was.

[Lucy Lionheart]

its just no acceptiable to be a former homeschooler and not know

homeschoolers get a rep of knowing everythin and people don't wanna believe that they could be worse off than public schoolers and don't want to help them

[Lucy Lionheart]

ok and what about this

you go to a homeschool group with 50 other families

you don't want to think that atleast one of thos famlies is doing really bad things

but i gurentee you enythin they are atlest one family or even more

or at a convention with thousands of people

some are doing very bad things but say they re good

and no one brings a word of awareness to look out

cause they think that its people who aren't in groups and don't go to conventions

preventing abuse is part of every other convention about kids

but never ever homeschoolers

[Paladin D]

[quote name='picchick' post='1582737' date='Jun 25 2008, 10:22 AM']Applying for college WAS NOT an easy task. Colleges are not blindly accepting homeschoolers, at least in my case. I had to show more paperwork than ever. They could not accept my ACT scores alone. They had to see my grades from each class, how long it took me, what books I used, et. al. Ridiculous. The ACT/SAT is a standardized test that they should have accepted.[/quote]


Wow, that's gonna absolutely smell of elderberries for me. I'm already having a hard time trying to get into the Army as it is.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Paladin D' post='1583178' date='Jun 25 2008, 04:25 PM']Wow, that's gonna absolutely smell of elderberries for me. I'm already having a hard time trying to get into the Army as it is.[/quote]
Hard time getting into the Army? How does that work?

[Paladin D]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1583182' date='Jun 25 2008, 06:28 PM']Hard time getting into the Army? How does that work? [/quote]

Yeah, who would've thought. I scored high on the ASVAB, passed the medical just swell, and not a single bit of criminal history (not even a speeding ticket). And somehow I cannot get in, because I need a GED or 15 college credits, despite having a valid High School (Homeschooled) diploma.

They're approving people who have [b]FELONY RECORDS[/b], and barely have a GED, yet I can't get in.

Edited June 25, 2008 by Paladin D

[Selah]

Sigh...America's just becoming more facist (sp?) with time

[Aloysius]

Just because you and your friends have all had similar bad experiences with homeschooling does not mean that that bears out statistically for all homeschoolers. there's a break in your logic, you can't just go around accusing homeschoolers at large of being responsible for these things.

there are huge child abuse support groups that number much more than 7 all over the place... and they're full of people who went to public schools. I'm sorry, but on an overall basis there is no evidence to show that homeschoolers have any higher rate of abuse. at all. it is an irrational emotional response, not a logical correlation. it's understandable that you feel this way about homeschooling because it has been your experience with it (the same way it is understandable when people hate Catholicism due to their bad experiences with certain priests), but you have no real logical basis for associating homeschooling with abuse.

child abuse is a society-wide issue and it is rampantly growing throughout our culture. those who do it try to hide it from doctors and teachers as best they can... distrusting parents solely because they do not have teachers to hide it from is wrong. of course, any family that retreats into total isolation from the community deserves investigation; but opting out of a public education system hardly qualifies as total isolation. but yes, those who totally isolate themselves from the community definitely deserve a forced connection with the community in the form of a government social worker of some sort. no one has the moral right to sever all ties with the community (except through approved religious hermitage, but even that is mystically connected to the community and it doesn't involve families)