Time: Tue Sep 02 07:01:20 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id GAA17533; Tue, 2 Sep 1997 06:59:36 -0700 (MST) by usr09.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id GAA09352; Tue, 2 Sep 1997 06:53:33 -0700 (MST) Date: Tue, 02 Sep 1997 06:53:35 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: Homeschooling -- "Fastest Growing Movement" (fwd) <snip> > >>From the Houston Chronicle: > >7:44 PM 9/1/1997 > >SUPPORT AVAILABLE > >Home school expertise, teaching materials >abundant > >By TERRY KLIEWER >Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle > >Curriculum advice, teaching aids and research support >for home schooling were all in short supply in the >movement's formative years. > >Not today. Now there's almost too much from which to >choose. > >Materials such as texts, workbooks, curriculum outlines, >achievement tests, reference works, computer software >and even soup-to-nuts teaching packages are available. >Stores, organizations and individual entrepreneurs have >magazines, catalogs and Internet sites. > >Professional expertise is easier than ever to find within >home schooling's growing corps of writers, consultants >and tutors. In some cases the consulting and tutoring are >supplied by teachers from private schools that, besides >offering materials and advice, also offer long-distance >learning online or by mail. School work is reviewed by >teachers dealing directly with parents and students. > >One such provider is Oak Meadow School in Putney, >Vt., where the offerings cover kindergarten through >12th-grade studies. The school will provide transcripts >and letters of recommendation for home-school students >headed to college, and it even stages a high-school >graduation ceremony each June. > >In addition, libraries, museums, zoos, private schools and >even some public schools are showing new interest in >helping home schoolers. While local schools in Texas >don't offer much, others elsewhere offer fairly extensive >help. > >For example, 11 years ago in San Diego, Calif., the >county education agency began to provide books, >computer labs, on-call resource teachers, field trips, skill >reviews and enrichment classes to home schoolers. >Services are offered from satellite sites across the metro >area. > >Twenty local school districts have joined the effort, and >Orange County to the north in metropolitan Los Angeles >has started its own version. > >"We feel home schooling is here to stay. It's the >fastest-growing movement in all of education," says >Dolores Redwine, home education director for San >Diego County. "Why not help where we can?" > >But don't expect that level of official support in Texas. > >"The (state Board of Education) and the (Texas >Education Association) have decided to neither support >nor hinder home schoolers, and so have we," says Susan >Sclafani, chief of staff for educational services for the >Houston school district. > >"If (home schoolers) ask for our curriculum or the >state's requirements (including sample TAAS tests), we >provide it," she says. > >Houston schools don't let home-school students join in >extracurricular activities, she adds, because the TEA >doesn't permit it. Some other states are more flexible. > >As shaped by the TEA, which oversees public education >across the state, the positions of most Texas school >districts probably are like Houston's, officials say. > >The Katy school district is one of several that send out >questionnaires to track home schoolers, but response is >voluntary and inconsistent. Those seeking help are >referred to the Southeast Texas Home School >Association in Houston. > >The most basic challenge confronting most home >schoolers is deciding what to teach. Beyond the >fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic, many >parents aren't sure which subjects to tackle, and when. > >These days, however, figuring out a step-by-step, >grade-by-grade curriculum is comparatively easy. > >When it was time for Margaret Proctor, 43, and Alan >Garms, 42, of Richmond to start home schooling their >then-kindergartner Aven two years ago, help was right >around the corner at the George Memorial Library. > >Proctor went to librarians for advice. She also got on >board with the Houston Alternative Education Alliance, >the area's leading support group for secular home >schoolers. > >"To sort out everything that's available to you, you really >need to rely on a support group," she advises. "You'll get >different ideas. And socialization isn't an issue because >of all the (group) activities." > >Aven is now 7 and going into second-grade studies at >home. "We can tell by comparing her with her >public-school peers that she's doing well," says Garms, a >college graduate and administrative social worker. > >Proctor, also college-educated and employed as a social >worker until Aven was born, believes her daughter is >prepared for third grade. > >What with classes at the Houston Museum of Natural >Science, ice skating at The Galleria, private lessons in >classical guitar, Galveston beach outings and her reading >club, Aven is seldom bored. > >Home schoolers who don't take to teaching instinctively >can turn to a growing number of support groups. > >Few engage in actual teacher training, however. As >Clear Lake-area home schooler Sherry Weesner >explains it, training at-home teachers would be >antithetical to the do-it-yourself premise of home >schooling. > >"Home schooling is tutoring," she says. "Public school >teaching is classroom management." > >Besides, she adds, "Many home schoolers believe >there's no best way to learn, or teach." > >Support groups are spread across the country. Their >common featuresare their tendency to follow geographic >lines and their credo that children should learn at home. > >The Southeast Texas Home School Association, the >umbrella organization for Christian home-school support >groups in this region, was formed in 1986. Today it >encompasses more than 100 other smaller support >groups in Houston and across the upper Texas Gulf >Coast. Houston alone has about 80 of them. > >The region's major organization for secular home >schoolers is the Houston Alternative Education Alliance, >the group Aven's parents turned to. It has about 60 >member families. > >"Because inclusive groups like HAEA are smaller, >they've been overshadowed by the religious groups," >Weesner says. "But that's changing. It's an evolutionary >thing. We're growing." > >Texas' two statewide organizations -- the Texas Home >School Coalition, based in Lubbock, and Home-Oriented >Private Education for Texas, based in Dallas -- also >were started in 1986. They work together as a sort of >two-faceted state organization, comparable in tandem to >the single statewide organizations that most other states >have, says THSC President Tim Lambert. > >Texas statewide has at least 300 local home-schooling >support groups, with more being added each year. > >The THSC began as a political action committee but >long since has branched out into providing other >services, such as workshops and a monthly newsletter. >HOPE is more geared to meet home schoolers' practical >needs, offering handbooks, education kits, resource >materials, book fairs, a bimonthly newsletter and >personalized high school diplomas for home-schooling >parents to confer on their children. > >The largest Christian home-schooling group is the Home >School Legal Defense Association of Purcellville, Va. >With about 55,000 member families paying $100 annual >dues, it has more financial and political clout than any >other group. > >Begun in 1983 to help home schoolers fight hostile >school districts and state agencies, the HSLDA focuses >on litigation and congressional and legislative lobbying. >Through its National Center for Home Education, it is >expanding into other areas. > >The emergence of HSLDA as the predominant >home-schooling organization hasn't set well with >everyone. Some critics wonder about the group's ties to >conservative political causes that they say are endorsed >or championed by association founder Michael Farris, a >Republican political figure in Virginia. > >Mark Hegener, publisher of Home Education Magazine, >calls HSLDA "a political empire built on the backs of >home schoolers" and believes its "centralizing power" >runs contrary to most home schoolers' wishes. > >But Chris Klicka with the National Center for Home >Schooling, a part of the HLSDA, says the association's >success owes mainly to its filling a need for home >schoolers at large. > >"We're a volunteer membership organization," he says. >"We're not on anyone's back. We try to promote and >preserve home schooling in general. We simply raised >our banner and asked people to join. They did." > <snip> ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
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