Betjeman and Barton Tea Merchants

I have a friend who's just decided to homeschool in Washington State. In previous e-mails she's leaned towards unschooling but she's worried about the state's requirements etc.

Are there any Washington Unschoolers out there (or anyone else for that matter) that can help me sooth her fears?

Here's what she recently wrote:

"I've been looking at the different curriculums and ways to do it, trying to figure them out. There's so many different ways to do it. The unit studies sound like the best mix of things so far, though I'm not sure I completely understand them yet. I know in the beginning I'll be worried about the testing. He'll have to do standardized testing every year starting at 8 years, or be evaluated by a teacher who does a report on him. Blech. So with the unit studies, we'd have the basic textbook type thing and reading other books, but all the creative, go with the flow stuff too. If we did total un-schooling, I'd be scared that we'd miss things that the "state" believes he should know and we'd get in trouble. "

Thanks

Karen (in CT)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

nellebelle

Here! Here!

WA state requires us to cover 11 subjects. I have used Family Learning
Organization for my annual assessment. http://www.familylearning.org Your
friend can learn a lot from this website. She promotes "natural learning".

They sent me a form with a space for each of the 11 subjects. I had to use
extra paper. Under each subject, I listed the things my dd had done that
fit in that category. It was really really really easy and quite nice for
me to see how much we had done just by living. FLO has a "certificated"
teacher look it over, comment, and send it back. I keep it in my files. It
tells far more than any of my elementary report cards ever did, that's for
sure!

Tell her to also check out http://www.washhomeschool.org/ Washington
Homeschool Organization. Their site has links to local support groups and
good info about the laws here.

Unschooling works very nicely here.

Mary Ellen

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/28/03 10:04:18 AM, nellebelle@... writes:

<< FLO has a "certificated"

teacher look it over, comment, and send it back. >>

No kidding?
People who are unaware of the word "certified" are telling people what their
kids need to know?

We picked up a little newspaper at the police station when we took Marty for
the academy orientation. The BANNER, not even something they change every
time, was horrible. Embarrassing. Here it is carefully transcribed with its
typos:

A Monthly Publication of General Interst with a Focus on Govermenent Employees

Maybe someone looked over the typists's shoulder and said "There's another
'n' in 'government'." She wasn't intersted in finding out where. (Just
guessing.)

Certified to certificated? Maybe they really DID mean to say "they need a
certificate, but nobody needs to REALLY have signed off and thereby become
legally responsible for complaints about the person's qualifications." That would
make legal sense. If you're certified, someone has guaranteed your knowledge.
If you're just "certificated," all it says is you have a piece of paper.

Oh!
Makes sense.
Not good sense, but it can be twisted to a logical position.

Sandra

nellebelle

----- Original Message ----- > << FLO has a "certificated" teacher look it
over, comment, and send it back. >>
> > No kidding? People who are unaware of the word "certified" are telling
people what their kids need to know?>>>

Believe me, this issue has received lots of discussion in Washington, and
not just among unschoolers.

Here is a link to a summary of the law:
http://www.washhomeschool.org/whoLaw.html

The state law says parents must "3) ensure that a standardized achievement
test ... or that an annual assessment of the student's academic progress is
written by a certificated person who is currently working in the field of
education..." The law says "certificated".

So FLO has contracted with a "certificated person" to read the assessments
and sign them. There are some in the state who believe that this doesn't
meet the intent of the law. I have never met this person and she has never
met my kids. All she knows is what I write on the form.

It would be nice if the state didn't require any testing or assessment at
all, but since they do, I'm quite happy to use this method to fulfill the
law. It gives me a nice record of some of the activities we've done in the
past year. The *certificated person's* comments have never been an issue
for me and she doesn't say much anyway. I suspect that it is mostly the
less structured families who are using this assessment. The
school-at-homers seem to prefer to have their kids take the standardized
tests.

As far as the 11 subjects, the law doesn't detail how they must be covered.
It simply lists the subjects. "reading, writing, spelling, language, math,
science, social studies, history, health, occupational education, and art
and music appreciation" All very easily "covered" in real life. My kids
don't need to be told they are doing "subjects" and it is easy enough for me
to decide which category different activities can go under. Also, since the
state only expects us to educate our kids for an amount of time that is
equivalent to what ps kids spend in school, I only need to write down a
small amount of our activities to produce a very impressive assessment.

Mary Ellen

shantinik

>
> The state law says parents must "3) ensure that a standardized
achievement
> test ... or that an annual assessment of the student's academic
progress is
> written by a certificated person who is currently working in the
field of
> education..." The law says "certificated".

The way it is written, I qualify. I have LOTS of certificates (none
of them having anything to do with teaching), and I'm working "in the
field of education" (I even have a website! LOL)

david
www.skylarksings.com

nellebelle

----- Original Message ----- > The way it is written, I qualify. I have LOTS
of certificates (none
> of them having anything to do with teaching), and I'm working "in the
> field of education" (I even have a website! LOL)> > > > >

So how much do you charge to sign assessments?

Er, I mean to review an assessment and make some meaningful comment to help
me determine whether my child is making reasonable progress <g>.

Mary Ellen

Tia Leschke

> No kidding?
> People who are unaware of the word "certified" are telling people what
their
> kids need to know?
>
> We picked up a little newspaper at the police station when we took Marty
for
> the academy orientation. The BANNER, not even something they change every
> time, was horrible. Embarrassing. Here it is carefully transcribed with
its
> typos:
>
> A Monthly Publication of General Interst with a Focus on Govermenent
Employees

That's funny, but I just noticed after using my current email sig for
several months that I had a typo in it. The word safety was spelled saftety
or something like that. (Of course I fixed it as soon as I noticed it . .
.)
Tia

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin
leschke@...

Tia Leschke

> It would be nice if the state didn't require any testing or assessment at
> all, but since they do, I'm quite happy to use this method to fulfill the
> law.

I remember reading somewhere that while you have to have them tested in
Washington, you either don't have to send in the results or there is no
minimum score they have to get in order to continue homeschooling. Is that
incorrect?
Tia

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin
leschke@...

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/29/03 11:19:08 AM, leschke@... writes:

<< That's funny, but I just noticed after using my current email sig for

several months that I had a typo in it. The word safety was spelled saftety

or something like that. (Of course I fixed it as soon as I noticed it . . >>

I never noticed.
I fix lots of typos as I read. I just read past the details to the meaning.

Sandra

shantinik

> I remember reading somewhere that while you have to have them
tested in
> Washington, you either don't have to send in the results or there
is no
> minimum score they have to get in order to continue homeschooling.
Is that
> incorrect?
> Tia
>
That is correct, and it was the idea of the school people, who
recognized quickly that they would be embarrassed by homeschoolers'
high test scores. The law makes it clear that the test scores and
assessments are solely for the purpose of allowing parents to "remedy
any deficiencies". Of course, one doesn't have to look at the test
scores -- one can simply have the child take them, and then deposit
the results, unopened, in a draw.

david ("certificated")
www.skylarksings.com

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/29/2003 1:39:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
shantinik@... writes:> and then deposit
> the results, unopened, in a draw.
>

David, You spent WAAAY too much time in the South if you can't finish drawER!
<G>

~Kelly


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Christina Morrissey

Tia,

That is correct. The law states that a parent shall have the duty to "(3)
Ensure that a standardized achievement test approved by the state board of
education is administered annually to the child by a qualified individual
or that an annual assessment of the student's academic progress is written
by certificated person who is currently working in the field of education.
The state board of education shall not require these children to meet the
student learning goals, master the essential academic learning
requirements, to take assessments, or to obtain a certificate of
mastery.....]. The standardized test administered or the annual academic
progress assessment written shall be made a part of the child's permanent
records. These testing records belong to the parents, and reside with the
family. If, as a result of the annual test or assessment, it is determined
that the child is not making reasonable progress consistent with his or her
age or stage of development, the parent shall make a good faith effort to
remedy any deficiency."

There have been many interpretations re the type of tests, test providers
and subjects to be tested as none of these are specifically outlined. So
there is some room for flexibility here. Secondly, assessment can be very
user-friendly among local support groups as homeschoolers use referrals to
get people who fit their style of homeschooling. Results of either of
these are kept only by the parents. Neither the state nor the local
schools ever see any of these UNLESS the child is enrolled at some point in
time in the public school system.

It's really not too complicated to homeschool here. You file a
"Declaration of Intent" form every fall with the school district which has
your name and address and your kids names and that's pretty much it....and
you worry...the usual!!



At 10:14 AM 5/29/2003 -0700, you wrote:


> > It would be nice if the state didn't require any testing or assessment at
> > all, but since they do, I'm quite happy to use this method to fulfill the
> > law.
>
>I remember reading somewhere that while you have to have them tested in
>Washington, you either don't have to send in the results or there is no
>minimum score they have to get in order to continue homeschooling. Is that
>incorrect?
>Tia
>
>"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
>deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin
>leschke@...
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>ADVERTISEMENT
><http://rd.yahoo.com/M=244522.3313099.4604523.1512248/D=egroupweb/S=1705081972:HM/A=1595056/R=0/*http://ashnin.com/clk/muryutaitakenattogyo?YH=3313099&yhad=1595056>93cd76.jpg
>93cde4.jpg
>
>~~~~ Don't forget! If you change topics, change the subject line! ~~~~
>
>If you have questions, concerns or problems with this list, please email
>the moderator, Joyce Fetteroll (fetteroll@...), or the list
>owner, Helen Hegener (HEM-Editor@...).
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, click on the following link or address an
>email to:
>[email protected]
>
>Visit the Unschooling website:
><http://www.unschooling.com>http://www.unschooling.com
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the
><http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>Yahoo! Terms of Service.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]