Less Homework Means More Learning

In today’s world of homework, classes, and sports, when do our kids get a chance to just be? Perhaps even more importantly, when do they have a chance to pursue their own interests without adult intervention or control?

Vernon Barford junior high school, in Edmonton, Canada, changed its policies in 2006, and decided to give its students less homework. As a result, tests scores improved. So did morale.

The concept of our schools assigning too much homework is not new. In 1999, Time Magazine’s cover declared, “Too Much Homework!”, subtitled with, “How it’s hurting our kids, and what parents should do about it.” A surprisingly outspoken piece, The Homework Ate My Family, calls parents to arms in the homework war, encouraging them to allow their children to have a stress-free childhood.

A sprinkling of schools and parents might have learned from those who have been warning us against the alluring draw of homework, but there is still a pervasive cultural bias towards filling our children’s time with it. According to the Vancouver Sun article, a parent complained about the new Barford Vernon homework policy, that his son “still had an hour in the evening with nothing to do.” When did having an hour of “nothing to do” become a bad thing?

The Vancouver Sun also profiles Carl Honore’s new book Under Pressure—Rescuing Childhood From the Culture of Hyper-Parenting, where he discusses the role of homework and other time filling activities as commentary on our achievement-oriented and hyper-scrutinizing parenting culture of today.

If you are interested in a deeper discussion of homework specifically, another book by Alfie Kohn, called The Homework Myth, discusses the disadvantage to homework and why it is has become so important to us in today’s educational atmosphere.

In a world where more=more, it’s refreshing to see attempts at moderation. It’ll be interesting to see if this becomes a trend.

Chelsea Link, 18, Homeschooled, Accepted to Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, U of Chicago, and Northwestern

Chelsea Link says this about her extraordinary, yet relaxed, life: “I think I’ve had a pretty normal high school experience . . . just without the high school.”

Another interesting quote by Christopher Watson, admissions dean at Northwestern, “We haven’t changed the way we review applications, but the way home-schoolers are submitting applications has changed,” he said. “They’ve become very good at taking out the question marks.”

Perhaps it’s a combination of the two? Northwestern may not have changed it’s admissions process, but other universities have.

Congratulations Chelsea! Reading science magazines and playing music is a fine way to go through childhood.

Carnival of Education Includes Homeschooling Posts

The Carnival of Education is pretty picky about which homeschooling posts they accept. So, I was happy to see that they included mine. Scroll down. It’s under “Homeschooling.” Link is “being invited.”

Homeschooling Lesson of the Day: How to Hate on Us

Summer offers a lesson on how to properly put together an anti-homeschooling rant. She gets an A+ for her homeschooling lesson of the day.

New Page With California Homeschooling Updates

If you look up a little on the page, you’ll notice a new tab called CA HS Legal Updates. I brought all of my CA legal posts and put them together on one page. If you want to send someone a link to all of the information that I have here on Just Enough, this is it.

CA Homeschool Joint Press Release and More

All of the CA homeschool groups issued a press release today. Also, and perhaps more importantly, representatives from each group are in the state capitol today, meeting with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Undersecretary of Education, and several members of the CA state assembly.

We’re all looking forward to hearing about their adventures.

Here is the official press release, reprinted in its entirety with permission. Permission has also been granted to pass it along wherever you think it might be helpful.

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Contact: Loren Mavromati

California Homeschool Organizations Unite

The major homeschooling organizations in California, along with the Virginia based HSLDA, announce today that they are working together in a united effort to preserve independent homeschooling in California as it has been practiced for decades. Representatives from the California based organizations are meeting in Sacramento today to discuss homeschooling and distribute their joint statement.

Joint Statement Regarding Homeschooling In California

The following organizations, California Homeschool Network, Christian Home Educators Association of California, Private and Home Educators of California and HomeSchool Association of California, represent the major California-based organizations working on a statewide basis to support private homeschooling. They, together with the Home School Legal Defense Association, which also works in California to support private homeschooling and which has members in California, jointly issue the following statement:

1. We are united in the goal of protecting the right of parents to teach their children privately at home without additional governmental interference.

2. We believe that children deserve to learn in the environment that best meets their individual needs. We support the right of parents to direct their children’s education including, if they desire, teaching their children privately at home apart from any public school program and without a teaching credential.

3. We believe that the opinion rendered by the Second District Court of Appeals in the case titled “In re Rachel L.” on February 28, 2008 is excessively broad in its scope and incorrectly states the law as applied to home education in California.

4. We believe that the interpretation of California law, as understood by our organizations and by the California Department of Education prior to the issuance of this decision, is correct, that the interests of both the State of California in ensuring that children are educated adequately and of parents in directing their children’s education are well met by this prior interpretation of law, and that no change in California law regarding the teaching of children privately at home is needed.

For further information, please contact these organizations as follows:

California Homeschool Network
P.O. Box 55485
Hayward, CA 94545
1-800-327-5339
Loren Mavromati, President

Christian Home Educators Association of California
P.O. Box 2009
Norwalk, CA 90651-2009
1-562-864-2432
Mary Schofield, Esq., Vice President

Private and Home Educators of California
P.O. Box 730
Lincoln, CA 95648-0730
1-916-786-3523
Roy Hanson, Director
Jim Davis, Legislative Liaison and Dir

HomeSchool Association of California
P.O. Box 77873
Corona, CA 92877
1-888-472-4440
Debbie Schwarzer, Esq., Legislative Chair

Home School Legal Defense Association
P.O. Box 3000
Purcellville, VA 20134-9000
1-540-338-5600
J. Michael Smith, Esq.

CA Homeschooling Gets More Support from Education Departments

Homeschoolers Give Courts Bad Marks

“My feeling is very much in line with the governor in that it is a parental choice as to how they will educate their children,” said Chris Bertelli, assistant secretary of education. “To require a credential for a parent that is home-schooling is ludicrous.”

He’s quoted later to say:

“No other state in the country requires a credential,” Bertelli said. “It would be nearly impossible to enforce and would do so much more damage than good.”

Chris Bertelli is a CA Assistant Secretary of Education. This quote is good news for CA homeschoolers. Of course, it doesn’t mean we can all go on vacation now. He’s just one of the many people who work with David Long (CA Secretary of Education) and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But it does mean that we might not have to fight as hard as we might have otherwise, because not only is the is our governor and his crew openly supporting homeschooling, we are also on the same page about the value of teaching credentials for homeschooling parents.

It also quotes the director of student support services for the LA County Dept. of Education:

“As long as they are a private school registered with the state then as far as we are concerned they are a legal home school,” said Victor Thompson, director of student support service for the L.A. County Department of Education.

I’m not sure why they talked to Victor Thompson, or how they found him to interview. I couldn’t find him anywhere on the internet. Maybe they called the LA Dept. of Education and he’s who they got. I hope that his opinion reflects the entire LA public school position. Again, not because it will actually change anything, but because it will make our future efforts less difficult if we have a good number of large education departments sharing common positions with us.

New Homeschooling Carnival - Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers

The Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers launched its second edition today. This carnival specifically showcases “cool” homeschool projects, adventures and events.

Find out how one family made their own maple syrup, one family’s adventures with mold gardens, and how one family teaches art through games. It’s quite a grab-bag of stuff.

Enjoy!

Making Sense of All of the California Homeschooling News

In the past week, I’ve done four interviews (two for TV, one for radio, and one for the paper). These are some of the questions I was asked about the Long’s case and the appellate court’s ruling.

1. What do you think of the HSLDA petition to depublish the court’s opinion? I am of two minds about the HSLDA petition. The petition’s intention is in alignment with the efforts coordinated by all the California homescholing organizations. In that regard, it’s a positive action that people can make in response to the court’s ruling. However, the petition is not likely to have much, if any, effect on whether the opinion will be depublished. The Supreme Court will look at the legal arguments that are presented, not public opinion. My concern is that the people who sign this petition think that their work is done. It is not. We cannot consider signing an ineffective petition as enough of an effort to make a difference.

2. What do you think of Assemblyman Joel Anderson’s resolution to reverse the appellate court’s opinion (ACR 115)? It is important that as many people as possible support this resolution. Although this resolution will not sway the supreme court any more than HSLDA’s petition, its presentation for vote will give the California State Assembly, and the rest of the politicians in CA, clear message that homeschoolers are unified in CA. We also can see which Assemblymen will vote for, or against, this resolution. Again, this is not the end-all of support. This is just one small part of what we can do, and not a ticket to opt-out of the rest of the effort to keep homeschooling free from regulation in CA.

3. What do you think of the Long family’s appeal to the Supreme Court? I was asked this question, and I wasn’t sure how to answer it. It seems obvious to me that they would do this, irregardless of what’s going on in the homeschooling community. I’m assuming that all of the efforts by the CA homeschooling groups to depublish the opinion are being conducted with full knowledge of the appeal. As far as I know, depublishing is still the main goal, whether or not the Supreme court accepts the appeal case. I see it this way: the Long family is concerned about their family, and CA homeschoolers are concerned with the particular section of the opinion that pertains to the education code. If those two efforts overlap, it doesn’t change our intentions.

4. Who should we listen to? CHN? HSLDA? The news? I can’t tell you who to listen to. That’s up to you. I would encourage you, however, to listen to as many different people and organizations as you can stand. I am on way too many e-lists, and I watch the google alerts. But I feel that I’m getting a multi-dimensional view of what’s going on. The information that I pass along here on this blog, are things that either are objective truths (Joel Anderson and his resolution, for example), or are opinions that resonate throughout the entire coalition of homeschooling groups in CA. If one group says something, and nobody else does, I make sure to ask around to see if it’s a rogue opinion. I also take care to see who is making the statement, and what their goals are. So listen to who you want to listen to, but keep in mind that many people and groups are working on this, and listening to only one source might not paint an accurate picture.

5. Should we be worried? I am of the opinion that even if we were literally being thrown into concentration camps, we still shouldn’t be worried. Mad, yes. Motivated, yes. On high alert, yes. Prepared, absolutely. But worry is a waste of energy. Worry makes us impatient. Worry makes it difficult to see all the data. Worry gets in the way of good decision making. Dump the worry, and replace it with determination. Right now, the best thing we can do to “beat” this, is to keep homeschooling. Don’t let them see us sweat (even if everything is falling apart).

Any other questions?

Jack O’Connell’s Statement Regarding California Homeschooling

Jack O’Connell, California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction, issued a statement today regarding the recent California appellate court opinion on homeschooling.

(This was forwarded to our e-lists. If you have a link, please email me.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHONE:
916-319-0818
March 11,
2008

E-MAIL: hmclean@cde.ca.gov

SCHOOLS CHIEF JACK O’CONNELL ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING HOME SCHOOLING IN CALIFORNIA

SACRAMENTO - State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell announced today that the California Department of Education has completed a legal review of the February 28 California Court of Appeal ruling regarding home schooling. O’Connell issued the following statement:

“I have reviewed this case, and I want to assure parents that chose to home school that California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling. Parents still have the right to home school in our state.

“Every child in our state has a legal right to get an education, and I want every child to get an education that will prepare them for success in college and the world of work in the challenging global economy.

“As the head of California’s public school system, I hope that every parent would want to send their children to public school. However, traditional public schools may not be the best fit for every student. Within the public school system there are a range of options available. Students can take independent study classes, attend a charter school, or participate in non-classroom-based programs. But some parents choose to send their children to private schools or to home school, and I respect that right.

“I admire the dedication of parents who commit to oversee their children’s education through home schooling. But, no matter what educational program a student participates in, it is critical that the program prepares them for future success in the global economy. I urge any parent who is considering or involved in home schooling their children to take advantage of resources and support available through their county or district offices of education.”