Harry, for your kids’ sake (and for the sake of kids exposed to blind, ignorant bigots like you), I do hope THEY do better than their teachers and especially better than their parents. They could hardly do worse, in your case.

You jump up and down claiming to have the inside track on pretty much everything to do with education and the Federal budget, but you present exactly NOTHING. Your sad little excuses for arguments come to “I don’t like homeschoolers”, “Homeschoolers are racist Christians” and “None of you are as wise as I am”. I doubt any educational method in existence could have helped you.

I’ve also had a course or two in critical thinking, in addition to heavy courseloads in political science, philosophy, history and business. Your only credential is apparently your willingness to assert your opinion as absolute fact, in the face of evidence to the contrary.

Sonja is right: You provide a hideous example of what’s wrong with many government-school supporters. Again, I’m glad you’re not on our side, if this is the best you can do. It’s as though someone hired you to attack homeschooling, to make government school supporters look as stupid as possible.

I don’t believe that anywhere in Scott’s post did he in ANY way aver that the average homeschooler is supervised by someone with “a” master’s in education. He was giving an EXAMPLE (you do know what that is, dont’ you?) using his OWN situation. Here’s another EXAMPLE: I know at least 5 homeschooling parents, personally, with masters degrees in education. One of whom is the nice lady who evaluates my children, and many others, each year to ensure that my children are being sufficiently taught the information they need to “graduate” to the next school year. (end example) So, in effect, my children and almost ALL the homeschool children in Florida ARE under the supervision of an individual with a master’s degree in education. That’s the way our law is set up here in Florida – either you have to have your children evaluated by said persons, have your children tested by said persons (with tests approved by the state) or have your children enrolled in private schools (run by similar said persons). Most states have similar rules/laws in effect to govern homeschooling to make sure that children are being properly educated.

It is Ridiculous for TN to negate homeschool diplomas in the face of the statistics on homeschool student test scores – the FACTS that show homeschool students, on average, out perform government educated students.

And as to your last comment – I DO expect my children to come out better than their teacher (me). Though I am a WELL-educated woman, as is their father, by homeschooling my children, I am offering them MUCH more than simply a good education. I am offering them the ability and the CHOICE to soar. They have learned the basics. They are learning higher maths, language, etc. They have the opportunity to delve into other subjects and areas that intrigue them. They have the time to explore opportunities I would have never dreamed of, because I was stuck in a classroom all day long. I was bored because I was already beyond most of my classmates (and sometimes teachers!), even in Honors and Advanced classes. My children will continue to learn ALL their lives because they will never encounter a teacher who is mean, tired, ready to retire, angry or disillusioned who has beat out of them a love of learning.

My children will far outstrip me in what they will learn and where they will go BECAUSE I have given them this opportunity.

As far as your assertion that “us guys” need a course in critical thinking, I have. Your arguments are contentious. You pick out what you want and ignore the rest. Scott’s post was well thought out and very informative and you ignored all of his salient points and tried to make it sound like he said something he didn’t.

But, all in all, I have to thank you. You have energized the people posting here. You have gotten the blood pumping and the juices flowing. AND, we appreciate the reminder of what it is we are trying to keep our children away from.

Let’s review the last 2 posts:

Scott by implication avers that the average homeschooler is supervised by someone with as master’s in education. I doubt it.

Paige is under the delusion that somebody is preventing her from home schooling.

I just hope the home schooled students come out better than their teachers, but that seems improbable.

In public schools, the one-size-fits-all approach ensures that some kids are going to be left out. If some of those same marginalized kids are taught at home by parents who care enough to understand their learning styles and to tailor teaching to those styles, how is that bad? If a child needs extra time to master one skill, and breezes through another subject with ease, why should he or she be forced to plod (or race) along with the herd? I hear a lot of trash talk about homeschooling being “undemocratic” (and that’s not a quote from anyone here, per se) but it’s the government schools that look a lot more undemocratic to me. I guess the critics define democracy the same way as Kim Jong Il.

If government schools can’t handle competition, maybe they’re the problem, rather than the competition. If government schools work for 50% or 60% of the population (an estimate that seems optimistic to me, but whatever), let that segment use them. The remainder are just as deserving of good education as those in government schools, and they deserve to have every option open to them. Denying them that only winds up hurting everyone.

My job puts me in contact with the numbers. He’s off by a multiple of at least 5.

You could look it up. He could look it up.

If looking it up and being correct on the facts counts as arrogance with you, so be it.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/african_american_homeschooling/99179/1

The author is director of the National African American Homeschoolers Alliance.

Dan – my comments were not a rebuttal, but wanting you to clarify a few statements, because they seemed a bit contradictory to your central argument. That’s all. And I found it amusing that there seems to be this need to justify oneself with a curriculum vitae to avoid the labeling of “semi-literate.”

And since this “information” is supposedly coming from an insider who ought to know the facts, it does color my readiness to accept the rest of what you wrote.