Re: late readers and umbrella groups
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Dear folks,
Lots of great posts on reading! As for the question of dealing with the
school district, in some places there are homeschool umbrella organizations
that are legally set up as private schools. If you enroll with one then you
interact with them rather than with the public school people. They are
generally inexpensive as they provide only protection, support and a bit of
record keeping. Each state has it's own laws about the relationship between
private and public schools. In Maryland only private religious schools are
exempt from interference by the state (at least when I was there) in
California it's all private schools.
When we were in Baltimore I signed up with the public school district.
It didn't work out very well. I couldn't offer them enough "proof" that my
daughter who was then 11 or 12 was doing schoolwork, Even though she was a
voracious reader how did I KNOW she understood what she was reading etc. They
decided I was not complying with the law and educating my children properly
and scheduled another review. I then called "The Learning Community" an
umbrella group which was run by Manfred Smith and legally connected with some
spiritual community and signed up. One of the most fun experiences of my life
was calling the school district guy and saying, "I won't be keeping the
appointment for the review. I've signed up with TLC." He said, "You can't do
that!" and I replied, " Oh yes I can, give Manfred a call and ask him." I
must admit I derived tremendous satisfaction from this. Manfred was one of
the main people involved in changing the Maryland laws about homeschooling
and the guy knew who he was.
So anyway, perhaps one of these organizations might be available in your
area. Manfred might know about these in other states. He is currently the
president of the Maryland Hone Education Association. His e-mail and voice
mail info are on their website at www.mhea.com. Writing this prompted me to
find his website. I haven't thought about him in years, how delightful to
remember!
Love to all, Amalia
Lots of great posts on reading! As for the question of dealing with the
school district, in some places there are homeschool umbrella organizations
that are legally set up as private schools. If you enroll with one then you
interact with them rather than with the public school people. They are
generally inexpensive as they provide only protection, support and a bit of
record keeping. Each state has it's own laws about the relationship between
private and public schools. In Maryland only private religious schools are
exempt from interference by the state (at least when I was there) in
California it's all private schools.
When we were in Baltimore I signed up with the public school district.
It didn't work out very well. I couldn't offer them enough "proof" that my
daughter who was then 11 or 12 was doing schoolwork, Even though she was a
voracious reader how did I KNOW she understood what she was reading etc. They
decided I was not complying with the law and educating my children properly
and scheduled another review. I then called "The Learning Community" an
umbrella group which was run by Manfred Smith and legally connected with some
spiritual community and signed up. One of the most fun experiences of my life
was calling the school district guy and saying, "I won't be keeping the
appointment for the review. I've signed up with TLC." He said, "You can't do
that!" and I replied, " Oh yes I can, give Manfred a call and ask him." I
must admit I derived tremendous satisfaction from this. Manfred was one of
the main people involved in changing the Maryland laws about homeschooling
and the guy knew who he was.
So anyway, perhaps one of these organizations might be available in your
area. Manfred might know about these in other states. He is currently the
president of the Maryland Hone Education Association. His e-mail and voice
mail info are on their website at www.mhea.com. Writing this prompted me to
find his website. I haven't thought about him in years, how delightful to
remember!
Love to all, Amalia