Results tagged “home education” from Learn at Every Turn - Creative, Enriched Homeschooling

I've had a chance to listen to more of the Story of the World CD's. I was disappointed to find that the audiobook presents Bible stories as fact. For instance, chapter 6, entitled "The Jewish People, presents the story of Abraham and Sarah as historical fact. I need to listen again to the stories about the Egyptian gods and goddesses to see if they are presented in the same way or if they are presented as only what Egyptians believed.

Still, I can't say that I am going to stop with this audiobook just yet. I need to listen more (and when I'm not driving) to see how often Bible stories occur. If it's not frequent, I may just explain to the boys that they are our society's myths to explain things we did not understand. I will definitely skip any workbook activities that reinforce these stories as truth.

Motherhood is fraught with vaguely neurotic guilt. It starts when you realize you took an aspirin or had a glass of wine before you even knew you were pregnant. I'd like to tell you when it ends, but I'm afraid I'm decades from figuring that one out.

To deal with some of my guilt, I've decided to make a public confession. I take a watercolor painting class at our local college at night and attend a poets' workshop most weeks. 

Normally, I avoid mentioning that I do those things. Or I mention them almost apologetically. I mean, I run our computer company and homeschool three boys. Realistically, those activities could easily take up my every waking moment. How could I possibly be doing those jobs well, if I am taking time for myself? There begins my guilt.

Well, no more. On further reflection, I recommend the flagrant transgression of having a life of one's own while homeschooling. First, on closer examination, my personal endeavors improve our homeschooling. Our best homeschooling days come when I'm happy and focused. Our worst days are when I'm frustrated and spent. My boys' amazing minds did not appear in a vacuum. They came from their father and me. Just as the boys need challenges and stimulation to be happy, so do I. Having an intellectually stimulating, creative outlet is a necessity for me, like sleep, food and air. So, although I could give my every waking moment to my family's needs, I would not be nearly so effective and they wouldn't really want to be around me for too long if I did so.

Furthermore, in my past seven years of parenting, I've discovered that the most powerful tool I have for teaching my sons is modeling the behaviors I want to instill in them. For example, my sons say "please" and "thank you" because I say those words to them. They learned to love reading by hearing innumerable stories, but also by seeing me totally absorbed in my own books.

My class and workshops are no different. I want my sons to have a passionate love of learning. What better way to instill that than demonstrating my own need to continue to learn? Moreover, I am also my sons' primary model for women. I want them to seek out strong, independent, thinking helpmates in life. What sort of an example am I setting for them if I give up my entire life to take care of them?

Well, I'd like to continue this post, but I'm going to be late for my watercolor class. And I don't feel guilty in the slightest about it.  

 

Click here for a terrific article at the Poetry Foundation on homeschooling and poetry. The article lists resources and ideas for encouraging a love of poetry in low-key, fun ways. As an aside, those interviewed exemplify homeschooling at it's best in my opinion.

Personally, as an aspiring poet and homeschooling mom, I love it when divergent parts of my world collide!

I highly recommend Parenting.com's article, Is Your Child Gifted?. In the nutshell, the article says that the term "gifted" is misused and overused. Although many want to believe their child is special, every child is not gifted. The article goes on to list what parents can do to help every child.

In the homeschooling world, I tend to gravitate toward the gifted homeschooler groups, because we are secular homeschoolers primarily concerned with the quality of our sons' education. Therefore, the conversations in the gifted circles tend to be more pertinent to me.
To be honest, I don't know whether my sons are gifted or just very bright. Others think our sons may be the former, but we have no desire to pursue that further.

Our reasoning is simple: a determination would change nothing. Our goal is to meet our sons' needs, whatever they may be. So far, their needs are primarily for more challenging materials and experiences, and we attempt to provide that. I also see certain personality traits that could be associated with the gifted. Whether they are in this case is irrelevant for me. My task remains the same: to help my sons understand and work with those traits so they can lead happy, full lives.

That is why I liked the Parenting.com article. Essentially, the artcle advises to stop worrying about labels and just be there for your child. I suppose that advice works for us because we can tailor to meet the boys' needs in a homeschooling setting. The same may not be true for those in other settings. Still, I believe that the article goes a long way in the right direction in any setting.

I am so looking forward to introducing my boys to the joys of philosophy. Carol Fertig at Prufrock Press's Gifted Children and Gifted Education Publisher blog posted a list of some very promising philosophy resources. Thank you!

Click here to see the post.

I have discovered an abiding love of geocaching. If you are not yet aware of geocaching, it's essentially a high-tech, world-wide treasure hunt. People hide caches of varying sizes and log the coordinates on the net. Others download those coordinates on their GPS's, find the caches, then log their finds on the net. Caches may be just big enough for a tiny scroll of paper or large enough to contain small trinkets for children. In the latter, the finder may take a trinket after leaving one. And there are literally thousands of caches (possibly a million) around the world.

Why, you ask, am I writing about this on a creative homeschooling blog? I'm glad you ask. Geocaching is a great vehicle for homeschooling. First and rather obviously, it gives children a reason to care about longitude and latitude. If you wish to go further, it's also a great vehicle for introducing the utility of satellites in space. Second, although caches can be found anywhere, it gives yet another excuse to get into the great outdoors and explore new trails. Looking for caches provides a great opportunity to observe the flora and fauna of a new area. Just tuck a field guide, magnifying glass and binoculars into your geocaching pack. Finally, certain objects in geocaching are trackable. I have yet to try this; however, I think starting a trackable object and following it via the net as it makes its way in the world could make a fun real-world geograhy project.

So, buy a gps, check out geocaching.com, load some coordinates, and get the kids out searching!

Kipp is working on first grade state requirements this year. Because he is enrolled in the charter for the first time, I am attempting to keep his studies as light and easy as possible until I get a better understanding of his learning style, likes and dislikes. We've begun with the following:

(1)  Math: Kipp is starting with Math Steps: Level 1. However, it appears that this isn't going to be enough for him. I will be looking for some additional resources to give him more of a challenge.

(2) Language Arts: Kipp is reading the Bob Book series. However, he is working through these pretty rapidly now that I'm making consistent time to listen to him read. Once we finish this series, we will jump to some simple chapter books and then I would like to move to some solid literature and unit studies.

In the meantime, we will do unit studies where I read the stories to Kipp. To help include him in Landry's Ancient China unit, we will pick stories with an Asian theme such as The Story about Ping and A Pair of Red Clogs. Barefoot Books also has some Chinese stories that I will look into later.

Kipp has started Spelling Connections: Level 1 and Explode the Code 1. Because his ability to learn exceeds his ability to write, we will skip grammar worksheets. Instead, we will try activities such as cutting out magazine pictures and labeling them according to the correct part of speech.

Kipp is very creative and can tell stories for as long as anyone will listen. Again, however, his ability to write at five hinders his ability to get his thoughts on paper. For this reason, I will encourage him to dictate his stories to me while I write them down. I can use this as a vehicle to encourage complete sentences, sentence punctuation, and concepts like character, plot and the beginning, middle and end of a story.

(3) Social Studies: Kipp will use a social studies workbook to complete the state requirements for this subject. I have some matching games from Lakeshore Learning that address holidays and heroes and jobs in the community. Kipp will also participate in the same local history field trips as Landry. Again, however, I believe that children need a sense of world history. To that end, we are playing the Story of the World CD's whenever possible. I have an activity book designed to complement the CD's. The activity book includes a list of books which expand on the subject of each story. However, I believe just listening to the stories is wonderful exposure at his age.

(4) Science: Kipp will participate equally with Landry in the science experiments listed in Landry's curriculum. In addition, I ordered Cycles from Prufrock Press. According to Prufrock's website, Cycles will give Kipp "the opportunity to explore cycles in relation to patterns." Having skimmed through it, I think Kipp will love this book.

(5) Music: Kipp takes piano lessons and likes to play with Music Ace Deluxe.

Kipp will participate in the same PE, art and religious activities as Landry. Please see the post entitled, "Curriculum 2008-2009, Part 1" for details on those activities.

Okay, two sons down. One to go!

I swore to myself that I would not post again until I had finished drafts of Kipp's and Galen's curriculum for this year, if only to clarify my own thoughts. So much for evidence of my self discipline.

I just discovered an interesting, free science resource on the net. NOVA has made available  NOVA scienceNOW episodes for download. Twenty-one episodes are currently available,. Each episode contains segments addressing several different disciplines and a researcher profile. Companion websites extend the subjects covered.

 
Click here for a list of the scienceNOW downloads.

Unrelated to the scienceNOW episodes, I see that NOVA also provides Teacher's Guides on a wide variety of topics. At least in our house, the boys like watching and discussing NOVA with their dad. So, I will take a closer look at these guides to see if I can use them to give the boys more information about those episodes that they find particularly interesting.

Click here to view the teacher's guides.

It's getting late here so this post wont be long. However, I tried something new today. We had some errands to run so I played the Story of the World: Volume1 audiobook in the car. The boys loved it. As soon as we would get in the car from another stop, they asked enthusiastically to hear more of the story. And I could understand why. Jim Weiss narrates this audiobook, and he is a wonderful storyteller.

I am listening to these CD's along with the boys. I didn't preview them. I have read that they are not completely historically accurate and that they emphasize violence. I'll be listening to see if I agree with these criticisms. However, at least for tonight, I can say that I'm pretty thrilled with any audiobook that gets my 5 and 7 year olds clamoring to hear about Sumatra and Mesopotamia.

I have put off the curriculum posts long enough.

I don't plan out the boys' curriculum in painstaking detail. Rather, I research a list of resources to keep on hand so that I'm never caught short. Then, I constantly evaluate, keep what is working, discard what isn't, and try something new when the boys need it. That is not because I don't have enough time or patience to lesson plan. Rather, I've come to realize that many of the most potent learning moments come when I haven't planned them or even forseen them. From what I've observed, those moments occur most often when the boys are immersed in interesting materials and thought-provoking experiences and allowed to make their own connections.

One final thought before I get down to the nuts and bolts. My husband and I have made a conscious decision to permit the boys to work only one grade level ahead of their chronological age in terms of state requirements. Instead, we try where possible to deepen their knowledge and give them more complex answers than they might normally receive. For instance, where the state science textbook talks of "pushes" or "pulls," we introduce and discuss concepts such as gravity and centrifugal forces.

This year, Landry is tackling third grade using the following resources:

(1)  Math: Landry does well with Math Steps and will continue this year with Level 3.  To spice things up a bit, I also have Enrichment Units in Math, Logic Safari and Primarily Thinking from Prufrock Press. Landry really enjoyed Enrichment Units in Math last year, so I'm looking forward to seeing his reaction to the other materials. I also purchased the computer game, Number Devil, to mix up our media a bit. We also try to keep an eye out for opportunities to highlight math in everyday life.

(2)  Language Arts: For literature last year, Landry used Beyond Words from the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary and was exposed to a wonderful array of literary concepts. So, he will continued that series this year with Journeys and Destinations. For grammar, he will try Editor in Chief from the Critical Thinking Company. This is new for him, but I have high hopes for it because this text puts Landry in charge of correcting other's work. He will continue with the series Spelling Connections and Explode the Code and learn cursive with Zaner Bloser's Handwriting.

On the advice of a resource teacher who works with children in the local GATE program, I am going to introduce Landry to the Maevis Beacon typing program. We hope that it will help him enjoy writing more by making it faster for him to get his thoughts down.

Similarly, Landry has started writing for 10 minutes every day in a journal. The primary purpose of this activity is to get Landry in the habit of putting his thoughts down on paper. Futhermore, the GATE resource teacher recommended 6+1 Traits of Writing as a writing resource. Landry will do other writings for his other subjects that will be edited and revised for grammar, punctuation and word choice.

(3)  Science: This year, I am giving up on science textbooks. They end up being nothing more than a reader for Landry and are significantly below his reading level at that. So, I'm trying a couple of new things. The backbone of Landry's science will be Lawerence Hall of Science GEMS unit studies. We are starting with Terrarium Habitats, an up close and personal look at dirt and the organisms that inhabit it.

Because science is a big favorite here, I've decided to double up a bit. I hope we will also conduct two or three experiments from 101 Hands-On Experiments each week. My goal is get Landry to start thinking in terms of the scientific method. He also has a subscription to the Young Scientist's Club, which means he will receive one science kit per month by mail on a wide variety of topics.

(4) Social Studies: This is one area where I strongly disagree with California. I think the Well-Trained Mind is correct: our children need to have a sense of world history. For this reason, I really liked Ancient Egypt:Gift of the Nile from the Gifted Center at the College of William and Mary. Through that text, Landry was exposed last year to political and economic concepts that I did not see until high school and college. This year, the series continues with Ancient China:The Middle Kingdom. That will be the backbone of Landry's history/social studies. I will attempt to broaden this out to a cross-curricular project by adding in lessons and field trips addressing food, culture, art, architecture, etc. To that end, I found an interesting text from Engineering is Elementary called A Sticky Situation. This text starts with the story of the Great Wall of China and ends with materials testing and building a small version of the Great Wall.

Because Landry is enrolled in a public charter, he must fulfill the state's social studies requirement. Therefore, he will complete a social studies workbook that will ensure he's covered the basics. I've also lined up field trips to local historical sites and museums to try to bring some life to the California history requirements.

Where possible, I will try to note comparisons that arise between in Landry's studies of ancient China and our modern society.

(5)  Music: Landry takes piano lessons. I am also trying a computer game called Music Ace Deluxe. And I hope to continue to expose him to all different styles of music as part of day-to-day life.

(6)  Art: I have to admit that teaching art is one of weaknesses. I like to do art and have a decent understanding of art history, but I don't like to teach technique. Here again, I'm trying some new things. Landry has a copy of Art Masterpieces to Color, Discovering Great Artists and How to Teach Art to Children. I think Discovering Great Artists has particular promise as it gives a brief reading for each of a long list of famous artists, then pairs an appropriate art activity with each reading. How to Teach Art gives activities emphasizing the different elements of art. I also ordered the Phonics of Drawing because it's computer software and that is always a big hit in this house. And, as a fallback, our local educational supply store, Lakeshore Learning has a free craft every Saturday morning.

(7) PE: For the first semester this year, we will take long geocaching/nature walks for our routine PE.

(8) Spanish: We tried Powerglide last year. Landry liked it and looked forward to it, but I really don't think he was learning much Spanish. He will try Rosetta Stone this year.

(9) Religious Studies: The boys are baptized Catholic, so we will use the Faith First series. I like this series because it emphasizes community service. However, I'm not comfortable with exploring only one religion with the boys. At a minimum, I hope to also introduce Eastern concepts through literature by authors such as Jon Muth and Thich Nhat Hanh.

Finally, if time permits (HA!!!), I'd like to explore the group, Roots & Shoots. It's sort of an environmentist/conservationst form of Boy Scouts founded by Jane Goodall.

Whew!!

Well, I'm back home from the HSC conference and sipping my first cup of coffee before I begin the weekday routine.

And, I've already been teaching.

Garrett, our soon-to-be 2 year old, likes to wake between 5 and 6:30 each morning, long before the rest of the family. Today, I got up with him to let the others gets some sleep. So we toddled downstairs and cuddled up on the couch while waiting for my coffee to perk.

In my last Costco run, I found a great board book for Garret called Wipe Clean: Learn to Write Your Letters, published by Priddy Books. What I like about the book is that it's sturdy. It's going to survive a fair amount of use and abuse. And each pages has a traceable letter and good pictures to illustrate the sound. It comes with a pen, but we'll stick with tracing with our fingers for a while.

Garret brought his book to couch this morning and was so excited as we traced letters, repeated sounds and talked about the pictures to which he pointed.

While Garret might be a bit young for letters (the book says it's for 3+) and I really don't think that he and I did anything that thousands of parents aren't doing, this moment exemplifies so much of what I've wrapped up in the phrase "learn at every turn." I guess I'm still struggling to put my instincts into words, so you'll have to bear with me.

I think we try to put the boys in an interesting, rich environment. Here it was putting a book, maybe a bit too advanced by somebody's standards, in reach. A weekend or so ago, it was taking Kipp to the Women Impressionists exhibit and the Chihuly exhibit in San Francisco. It might be as simple as leaving a broken computer with an open case in the room. Or making certain that the television shows on the DVR are thought provoking and interesting.

Once the environment is in place, we wait to let the boys discover. Sometimes, I facilitate the discovery a bit. With Kipp at the art museum, I asked him to pick out the next painting we would view and then I asked him simple questions such as what objects he saw in the painting or what colors.

When the boys show an interest or ask a question, we stop where we are and try to answer it. When they oldest two were very little, that meant stopping on the way to the grocery store or other errands to watch a train or a heavy equipment on a construction site. Now it might mean taking an old hard drive apart to see how it works inside. The process is the same, although the subject matter changes constantly.

Does this mean we are unschoolers? No, I can't say that. Unschooling is a valuable component of our free time, but we meet the state requirements for each grade. I don't believe that would happen for us if we completely unschooled.

Does that negate our "learn at every turn" attitude? Not as much as you might think. To reiterate, our first step is to put the boys in a rich environment.  To a large extent, I have input into what is in that environment. So, I research the most interesting textbooks, workbooks, field trips, experiments and cross-curricular projects I can to accomplish the requirements in ways that will catch the boys' attention. Then I turn them loose. With the occasional nudge, they enjoy their studies for the most part.

Wow! All of that before I even finished a cup of coffee! I can't imagine what I'll accomplish when completely coherent.

I'll admit that I've been dreading the start of school this year. This is my first year homeschooling two boys through a charter. I homeschooled Kipp informally last year, but this year is for real. So, I have to find a way to effectively teach both boys consistently. And I've got to keep a soon-to-be two year old occupied in the process. Not a task to be taken lightly, for sure. 

Well, for all my fears, today was perfect. I awoke to find that Landry had snuck down stairs and started working in his math workbook before anyone was awake. And things just rolled from there. Rather than lacking focus, both boys were interested in their work and worked so hard that we finished early enough for a quick trip to the library and the park.

I'm not naive enough to think there wont be hard days this year, but I store up memories of days like today to remind me of what is possible. And, tonight, I know it really is possible to homeschool  Landry and Kipp at the same kitchen table and feel that both is getting a meaningful learning experience.

Now, let's see what tomorrow brings!

The 2nd District reversed itself on the homeschooling issue.

Click here for the court's opinion.

I decided to step back a bit. Instead of starting with the rough curriculum outline, I think it might make more sense to introduce my sons.

Landry is seven years old and will do 3rd grade work. He is very interested in chess and read the first three volumes of the Harry Potter series before he was seven. Landry is exceedingly logical and analytical. He stays up at night, trying to work out how to build a bridge across our pond. At the same time, he can be a challenge to teach because he is very energetic and very dramatic and works hard to put off working at all.

Kipp is five and a half years old, and his work will probably straddle kindergarten and 1st grade. Kipp loves to build. He collects small objects from old computers and creates things with them. He can also go on forever telling a story if someone will listen. I think the only thing holding Kipp back is my lack of time to sit with him consistently. Kipp is my quiet, mild son. My biggest concern for Kipp is that he receives his fair share of attention, especially in light of his very dominant older brother.

Galen will be two this September, and he wants desperately to make up the three-year age gap between him and his brothers. I've started pointing out colors and counting when possible, and you can actually see the wheels turning in his mind. He observes everything and picks up on patterns and cause and effect immediately. I've never had a plan for either Landry or Kipp at this age, but Galen is a different child and does not want to be left out of his brother's activities. So, I'm attempting to put together a very informal preschool for him.

On rereading this post, I realize that it is impossible for a mother to really describe her sons, let alone in a few sentences. I hope I've done them justice. If not, you'll just have to keep reading to get to know them better!

I think this is hilarious. Enjoy! Click here.

Tomorrow, I will pick up the materials I ordered last May from our charter. Over the next few days, I will post rough lesson plans for all three boys. Over time, I will be able to see what worked and what didn't, where we veered in a new direction and where we stayed the course. Maybe the most interesting part, however, will be the moments when the boys make connections across the curriculum that I did not forsee or run with something in a way that I didn't expect. That's when the magic of homeschooling really seems to happen.

Here's hoping for a school year full of those moments.  

This is a reprint of an article I wrote that will appear in the August 2008 edition of the California HomeSchooler Magazine.


Somewhere around the middle of this past April, I began wanting nothing more than to take off my "teacher hat" and fling it under Amtrak as it rolled through Loomis around 6:30 on any given morning. Fortunately, my desire did not outweigh my need to sleep till 7:00 am, if by some miracle my three sons hadn't already woke me with their list of demands.

It wasn't that I didn't love teaching my sons. No, that was never my problem. I was just sick and tired of being a taskmaster. I hated hurrying my crew into the car for their various lessons each week, always dreading that we would be late. I despised nagging my oldest about completing his math and grammar workbooks and constantly calculating whether he would finish those books too early, too late or just on time for the end of the school year. Even supposedly fun activities, like field trips, had become a drag. How could this fit into my lesson planning? Had we done enough pre-trip research? Is there any way I could get double bonus points by making it a cross-curriculum activity? A simple act, such as my sons discovering a pair of wild ducks in our pond or a caterpillar on the deck, would send me scurrying to the computer to reserve books, rather than sitting down and enjoying the moment with my boys.

So, I devised a plan. For the summer, I would stop playing teacher. I temporarily halted all lessons, and I stopped thinking of everything in terms of the educational scorecard kept in my head. I accumulated a list of fun outings and a fresh cache of games, art supplies and building toys. I bought a swim pass for the local pool. And I decided that my highest priority was to have fun with and enjoy my sons.

Well, thus far, I don't think I've ever had such a wonderful summer. And I suspect my boys will agree as well. We've geocached on new trails, thrilled to spy a new type of bird or wildflower. When the heat or smoke has kept us inside, we've pulled out a new board game or tried making a new recipe. We've gone to a variety of free shows and inexpensive exhibits.  We've tended our organic veggie garden and fruit trees and eaten the fruits of our labor. (Who knew how exciting it could be to discover one bright red strawberry uneaten by bugs!!)  We've maintained feeders for different birds and a squirrel around our house, just to get to see them up close. And we've stayed up late, probably too late, reading stacks and stacks of wonderful books.

The funny thing is, I strongly suspect the boys learned at the same rate this summer as they did during the school year. And they also discovered that their mother isn't always crabby.

Now, some would blame my charter for my difficulties during the school year. Truthfully, I cannot place the blame anywhere but on myself. The boys' ES never placed demands on me. I placed them on myself, with my need to complete projects and check tasks off lists. And, I'm pretty certain that I will fall back into my old habits to some extent once we pick up our books in August. Still, I'm going to post this article in my office as a reminder to myself to bring a bit of summer vacation into the new school year.

In a past life, I was a lawyer with significant appellate experience. As the California case challenging the right of parents to homeschool has unfolded, I've followed Debbie Schwarzer's commentary and found her analysis to be excellent.

Here are her latest comments, reprinted with permission:

Right now, CA law on homeschooling is exactly the same as it was in January of
this year before any of us had ever heard of the Long family and this case.
When the appellate court issued its opinion in February, it did say that the
only legal exemption from public school attendance for some (that's SOME)
families was the tutoring exemption under Section 48224 of the Ed Code. But
lots of us either form our own private schools or enroll in private schools
formed by others in reliance on the exemption under Section 48222 of the Ed
Code. The court really didn't like the school (Sunland Christian) that the
children in this family were enrolled in, and they said a lot about brick and
mortar schools and made a big deal of children being IN a school (since Sunland
was virtual and didn't have a building, no children were IN its school). But
the reason I said SOME above was that we think that even under that original
opinion, families who formed their own private schools and taught their children
IN them were probably OK. It was the families enrolled in other people's
private schools who were most directly affected by the decision.

But then the court agreed at the end of March to rehear the case. What that
means is that they were basically going to have a "do-over" of the whole thing.
By court rules, their February opinion was vacated, meaning that it was as if it
had never existed. Lots and lots of groups filed friend-of-the-court briefs
(amicus briefs) in May, including a joint brief filed by the three large
CA-based groups (HSC, CHN and CHEA), and the court had the new hearing on June
23.
They have not yet issued a new opinion, but will probably do so before the end
of September. So, in light of the vacation of the original opinion, the prior
understanding of the law hasn't changed.

So what if the court issues an opinion tomorrow and it seems to somehow say that
parents need to be credentialed to teach their own, as their February opinion
did, or has some other restriction on homeschooling? Well, we have been told by
people who have reason to know that for certain that decision will be appealed
by the family in this case. And the CA groups would petition the appellate
court and, if they don't act, the CA Supreme Court to "stay" enforcement of the
decision pending the appeal. What that means is we would tell them not to start
enforcing the new interpretation of the law until the entire appeal process had
run its course. Given the huge burden on parents to try to get credentialed, we
think there's a good chance one of those two courts would agree. If they grant
a stay, then the law goes back to being interpreted the way it is being
interpreted now until the whole appeals process is done, which could take months
or even years.

What if both courts refuse to grant a stay? The effect would depend on whether
the Supreme Court either agrees to hear the appeal OR agrees to "depublish" the
opinion (we were all set to ask them to depublish the February opinion, which
means that the opinion would still be binding on the family involved in the case
but would not be binding on anyone else in the state who wasn't a party to that
case. In addition, in any future litigation, no one would be entitled to quote
(or "cite") that case as authority.

If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the appeal but won't stay the decision, then
believe me, the three big CA groups and HSLDA (we work together closely on all
matters involving these issues to make sure we give consistent advice) would be
thinking about what to tell people. But that's probably some months from now,
so see a little further below for the advice we'll probably be giving people for
this school year.

If the Supreme Court neither stays enforcement nor takes review of the case (and
historically, the state Supreme Court, just like the U.S. Supreme Court, only
agrees to review a tiny percentage of cases), then the groups will work like mad
to figure out if we can live with the situation OR if we need to seek a
legislative solution. We have all been doing a lot of work with the legislature
since February trying to convince them that we don't need legislation until all
other avenues have failed AND the situation is intolerable, so hopefully they'll
continue to hold off until we tell them that we have no other choice. For
example, if the court were basically to reissue its February decision, we might
think that families who were in private schools would be OK if they were in
their own private school, just not someone else's, and also try to get the law
clarified that homeschooling through a parent's own school or through a school
formed by others where capable parents did the teaching was fine. But this
wouldn't happen for a while, since the current legislative session adjourns at
the end of August, and they're not supposed to act on any bills other than ones
that were introduced by early summer. There were no bills involving
homeschooling pending, so probably none would be introduced until early next
year when the new session starts after the elections.

There has been one other interesting development in the case, but it really
doesn't affect us as much as we wish it would. The children in this family were
"under the jurisdiction" of the juvenile court. That meant that the court had
found that the parents weren't doing a good job, and that the court had the
power to make some types of decisions that usually only parents can make (such
as where to educate a child). In these cases, the juvenile court is supposed to
look at the facts every six months to make sure that the children still needed
to be under its jurisdiction. Obviously, with help, some parents get better and
no longer need the court looking over their shoulders. Here, it had been two
years since the juvenile court had reviewed this jurisdiction issue. Finally,
after the rehearing took place, it did, and it found that things had changed
enough that the children didn't need to be under its jurisdiction. We thought
that was great, and that maybe the appellate court would drop the whole issue
since it couldn't make any orders that would affect these children, but it turns
out the attorneys who were appointed to represent the children are appealing the
termination of jurisdiction. So while we think
the appellate court really shouldn't issue any opinion about homeschooling in
this case, it still might. There are two other appeals pending in the same
matter, so it's obviously been a very complicated set of proceedings.

As you can see, there are a number of different ways this can all play out, and
it's premature to make too many plans until we know what happens. But I believe
that all of the major CA groups and HSLDA will, for the start of this school
year, be telling people to do what they have always done (in other words, if
they have filed their own affidavit before, do that, if they used someone else's
private school, do that, if they were in a public school ISP or charter, do
that, but
don't change what you're doing out of any fear of what the legal issues are). We
DON'T think that families need to not homeschool, or enroll in a charter if they
otherwise wouldn't have, because of this case.

The best advice you can give new homeschoolers is to join one of the major
California-based groups. People from each of these groups are working hard on
this matter and staying in close touch with people who know what's happening in
the case, and these groups will be giving out new information as necessary.
There is no better way to stay informed than to join a group and either check
its home page frequently or join its e-list (all the groups have them) for
announcements. Of course, we'd prefer if everyone would join the HomeSchool
Association of California. We do not think it is necessary for people to join
HSLDA unless that's consistent with their personal values and philosophy (HSLDA
is a conservative Christian organization, and while they accept memberships from
all homeschoolers, their goals and desires may not be the same as any given
family's). We think it a little unlikely that truancy officers will start
fanning out across the state to hassle homeschoolers until it's a
bsolutely clear that the court and the legislature refuse to help us.

The Attorney General, the Governor and the Superintendent of Public Instruction
all believe that homeschooling privately, not through a public ISP or charter,
is legal. They did not agree with the appellate court's interpretation.
Homeschoolers are not without friends in high places, and families who wish to
teach their own children should do so with confidence. They should take steps
to stay informed, but they shouldn't be fearful.

I hope that explains the situation for you. Please let me know if there's
anything you don't understand.

Debbie Schwarzer
HSC Legal Team co-chair

Salutations! I'm Annie, and I homeschool three very blond and very energetic boys between the ages of 22 months and 7 years. The two oldest are enrolled in a small public charter, and the consensus is that they are gifted. We have not confirmed that with testing, however, because it wouldn't change our homeschooling.

My parenting philosophy from day one has been to pay close attention to each boy and give that child what he needs, even if it is not always what he wants.  In the past, needs have included extra hugs, more sleep, a different diet, more exercise, more or less structure, more individual attention, and more responsibility.  Currently, each needs an appropriately challenging learning environment that exposes him to new ideas and experiences permitting deeper connections. In short, they need opportunities to learn at every turn. While they will not take full advantage of every opportunity, I am passionate about providing them with the choice to do so.

My homeschooling style is best described at eclectic. Because I am driven by what each child needs at a given moment, no one homeschooling philosophy works all the time for all three boys. I find value in Susan Bauer and Jessie Wise's The Well-Trained Mind, the Charlotte Mason method, and unschooling, and use elements of all three as needed. I also choose to meet all the educational requirements for my state.

Why am I blogging? Homeshooling parents and teachers tell me frequently that I do something different in formulating my sons' curriculum. I am not completely convinced that is true. I am absolutely certain that I do not have all the answers. However, my goal is to record our homeschooling journey on the off chance that another parent might benefit.

And thus begins Learn At Every Turn.