Helen

From: "Dale Reed" <dale-reed@...>

http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/06/04/fp3s1-csm.shtml
FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1999
USA
Home schooling's latest appeal: safety
Colorado shootings contribute to a surge of inquiries about teaching at
home.

Jillian Lloyd
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
DENVER

Janice Quitmeyer heard the first news of the Columbine High School
shooting on her car radio, while driving with her three children. As she
listened in shock to the report, her 9-year-old son posed a question:
"Doesn't this make you glad that you home- school us, Mommy?" Indeed it
did. And in the weeks since the school massacre in Littleton, Colo., a
host of other parents apparently are nurturing similar sentiments toward
home schooling.

Home-school organizations nationwide report that inquiries have
increased almost fourfold since Columbine. And as public faith in
America's schools continues to erode, the choice of a growing number of
parents is driven as much by safety concerns as by academic and ethical
standards.

THAT'S A LOT OF HOMEWORK: Eoin Gaj prepares a report for a book group he
attends at a local library. His mother, like an increasing number of
parents, teaches him at home in Cambridge, Mass.
JOHN NORDELL - STAFF
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
"The day after Columbine, our phones starting ringing off the hook,"
says Michael Farris, president of the Home School Legal Defense
Association in Purcellville, Va. "People called us saying, 'We really
need to begin home-schooling. We've been thinking about this for a long
time, and this is the straw that broke the camel's back.' " In recent
years, safety issues have been more on the minds of parents who opt for
home schooling. But it was the horror of the April 20 fatal shootings at
Columbine - in the heart of suburban America - that brought focus to the
issue for many who before were uncertain about educating their children
at home.

"The main reasons for home schooling that have always existed are still
there. But the safety issue is becoming very prevalent," says Brian Ray,
president of the National Home Education Research Institute in Salem,
Ore. "It makes home schooling look more attractive than it ever did."

Trend may peak

An estimated 1.5 million children in the United States are home
educated. Since 1985, the number of home-schooled students increased
between 15 percent and 20 percent each year.

Yet in the aftermath of the latest wave of school violence, the
percentage who switch to home schooling this year may peak.

"A young person coming into a school shooting a gun sets people off
completely. And it's not just a few kids anymore," Dr. Ray says. "I
think people recognize that."

"Somehow, school shootings seemed pretty remote to most people before,"
agrees Mr. Farris. "After Columbine, it wasn't remote to anyone anymore.
The whole idea that 'this can't happen in my community' is pretty much
shattered."

While interest in home schooling is on the upswing nationwide, the most
dramatic increase is, not surprisingly, in Colorado. In the days since
the Columbine shooting, calls to the state Department of Education about
home schooling have more than doubled.

Many parents readily volunteer that recent school violence prompted
their call, says Suzie Parker, a program assistant there. "I've had
people call from around the state - not just in the Denver area - saying
that they don't feel their children are safe in the schools."

At Christian Home Educators of Colorado, the state's largest advocacy
organization for home schooling, inquiry calls have more than quadrupled
since Columbine, reports Ms. Quitmeyer, the group's public-relations
coordinator.

But Quitmeyer - who home-schools her three children - cautions against
home schooling if parents' motivation is purely for safety, she says.
"Home schooling is a way of life. It's a huge commitment. Your reasons
for home schooling have to go further than [safety]."

Other motives

Safety concerns take various forms - and aren't restricted to gun-toting
students, says Dorothy Karman, a Portland, Ore. mother, who
home-educated her son and daughter for 15 years (both are now enrolled
in college).

Long before school shootings hit the public consciousness, parents were
motivated by a desire to limit unwanted peer influences like drugs,
alcohol, and premarital sex. "Parents choose home schooling to have more
influence over their child's life," she says. "We spent a lot of time
together as a family. And we still do."

But accompanying these reasons has been a recognition "that public
schools are pretty dangerous," says Farris of the Home School Legal
Defense Association.

Despite the benefits to home-schooled children, some identify a
significant downside to the trend.

"If a large percentage of families begin to home-school, the result
would be the loss of a terribly important piece of the community: the
public school," says Frank Newman, president of the Education Commission
of the States, in Denver.

"Schools are the community glue, and when people don't feel they have a
stake in the community, then things deteriorate badly," Mr. Newman adds.
"This society desperately needs more of a sense of community, not less."

Philosophically, Farris doesn't disagree. "Some parents do regret this,"
he says. "But they believe that the price for their own children is too
high." Still, he doesn't believe the ideal America is one in which
children are educated at home - or in private schools. "I want public
schools to improve to the point where parents can feel safe sending
their kids there. I don't want people to have to choose home schooling
out of fear. They should choose it on its own merits."
---
Do something a robot cannot do.
$ dale-reed@... Seattle, Washington U.S.A. $





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Know your laws, know your legislator

Lois Hoover

>From: Helen <Helen@...>
>

>"If a large percentage of families begin to home-school, the result
>would be the loss of a terribly important piece of the community: the
>public school," says Frank Newman, president of the Education Commission
>of the States, in Denver.
>
>"Schools are the community glue, and when people don't feel they have a
>stake in the community, then things deteriorate badly," Mr. Newman adds.
>"This society desperately needs more of a sense of community, not less."
>
I can't believe this was said. A lot of people have mentioned over the
lists how so many family and friends come from traditional ps system and
don't understand hsing. But a comment like this seems so unreal to me. In
the days before mass ps, there was community a lot more community.
Community was found in the neighborhoods not in a classroom, even when ps
became mandatory. ONe of the greatest sources of information my children
have is the stories from my grandparents who tell them of their adventures
from life. Many of them involve the cost of food at the first mcdonald's or
experiences in the war. But they have also learned a great deal about what
our area was like "back then".

ONe great story that has to deal with how the community took care of itself
is this. My grandfather had a friend (they were teens) who after seeing a
set of wine glasses that were brought over from Germany as a family set,
stole these glasses and gave them to his mother (family also from germany)
as a gift. Upon confronting the friend, the friend admitted the truth. He
begged my grandfather not to tell his mother. After thinking about it, my
grandfather agreed not to on the condition that he (my grandfather) could
take one item from this boys house to replace the wine glasses. The boy
agreed. My grandfather walked in and took a painting of the Ruins of the
Rhine (painted on the back side of the glass with inlaid mother of
pearls...). The boy couldn't believe that this was happening,but he'd made
a deal. The ending of the story is that for the rest of their lives this
boys parents left the wall empty and would remark from time to time how
they missed the picture that had been there, the boy never (to anyone's
knowledge) stole anything out of his guilt we are told. My grandfather has
now passed this picture on to me to remember the story, and because I've
grown up admiring it and spending hours on end studying it as a child.

Here in this story, we have lessons being learned and two families remained
friends even supporting each other over the years. What would happen today.
the boy who stole the glasses would have been reported to the police who
would have slapped his wrists or possibly given him time in Juvinile hall
if this wasn't his first theft. Or maybe everyone would have learned at
school what he had done and they would have picked on him until he broke or
decided to be exactly what they all thought he was, a no good theif who
couldn't ever be trusted. If he was made to return the glasses or pay
restitution would he have ever learned the lesson he learned?

No IMO the only community that we have is right in the area we live,
schools with their zero tolerance, gangs, or whatever is not community. it
is an unnatural environment. to hear people talk about schools as if they
hold a significant position in the society seems like a stretch, schools by
their design are to educate the masses and get them ready for factory work,
not hold the community together.

Lois