Compulsory Preschool?

Different states have different requirements regarding the age for compulsory education to begin,  Here in Washington state, that age is 8.  Kids can begin school earlier of course, but by law, they are not "required" to.  IT is however, compulsory that your child be in school, or some form of formal learning when they are eight.  The question here is...what if it were required by law for parents to send children to school at the tender age of four?  How about by the age of three? 

"Preposterous!" (You think to yourself....as you wonder how preschools will be run and who will be paying to operate them.) 

You might think it's a bad idea, expensive for taxpaying citizens... but not everyone thinks so.  President Obama, for one, has compulsory preschool on his agenda.

"By the end of this decade, let’s enroll 6 million children 

in high-quality preschool, and let’s make sure that we are 

making America stronger.  That is good for families; it’s 

also good for the children, because we know investing in

high-quality early childhood education makes all the 

difference in the world, and those kids will do better."

~ President Barack Hussein Obama, Rhode Island College, October 31, 2014

It's not a new idea... Obama has talked about it for years, with hopes of getting people on board with legislation to make it happen in the next ten years. He will also take every media opportunity count for political maneuvering to that end.

The date was  May 21st, 2013, and  President Obama was on national television.  He was  informing the country about the death toll after a terrible tornado tore through a sleepy city in Oklahoma the previous night.  He began by saying:

"Good morning, everybody. As we all know by now, a series of storms swept across the Plains yesterday, and one of the most destructive tornadoes in history sliced through the towns of Newcastle and Moore, Oklahoma. In an instant, neighborhoods were destroyed. Dozens of people lost their lives. Many more were injured, and among the victims were young children, trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew -- their school."                                                                                                            -President Obama

Remarks by the President  May 21, 2013,  
Tornadoes and Severe Weather in Oklahoma, 
State Dining Room, whitehouse.gov

Did you catch that?  The young children were killed while trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew... "their school."  Apparently school is not one of the safest places.... it's the "safest." Apparently those young children thought school was safer than even their home.

Well, we have heard about how in Washington State, schools are getting "safer."  In fact, the schools are, (no kidding,) ridding their playgrounds of a terrible danger..... swings!  Sadly, it's not a concern for the children's safety and well-being that drives the removal of swings; it's insurance liability.  With no swings to fall off of (or get hit with during playground recess, school will be much safer.. until you walk home.

Walking to, and from, school and home,  can be a dangerous journey, and it is dangerous, not just for the little ones, but also for older kids as well. There are known incidents of bullying, from time to time, both during school and after school, and there is as always, the risk of a child  being lured by sexual predators, both outside and inside the school grounds if they are left unsupervised by a caring adult and unprotected.  In many schools, the kids there are so "safe" that they not only need to hire security policemen to help keep the peace and use video cameras to monitor the children in the school.  While school and home should both be considered to be safe places for children, this is obviously, not always the case. 

 We have to face the truth...in school or home, there are dangers.  People are not perfect and life is full of risks and challenges.  So is is just a casual remark of the president as he spoke his own words or are his words calculated, written by a team of speech writers, and then delivered to send a certain message or create a specific effect upon the hearers?  Truth is that this kind of comment spoken when emotions are high, servesd to promote a particular ideology... one that exchanges the role of a parent in the life of a child with teachers and replaces what a child thinks about the home, with "school."

Have you ever heard, for example, that it takes a village to raise a child?  This is a concept that is not only politically motivated but also directly taught to children in the schools.   The impetus for this ideas became popular with the help of the former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, (and her ghost writers)  in her book by the same title:  It Takes A Village To Raise A Child.

It's a "collectivist" mentality, one that usurps the authority of parents in the life of their own children and it's running rampant.  In more recent days, MSNBC helped to proliferate the idea that children do not belong to their parents but rather, to "the collective." (No Joke!) This was done most notably through Melissa Harris-Perry, (Click on ther name to see the MSNBC video)  Melissa Perry is a well-known author, school professor, abortion rights activist and television host that a lot of people admire, but thankfully, not everyone agrees and her comments raised a lot of controversy.  

There are still people who do understand that their children are not the possession of the state, but there certainly are plenty of people,  who  embrace this idea that your children belong to the collective... to the village...to the state.. and, ultimately, to the world.   

Take Paul Reville, for example.  He is the Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a proud supporter of the Common Core Curriculum being perpetrated en mass upon our kids in school.   Reville says, along with many others that your children are not your children, as he declares, your children belong to "all of us."


These people think they know better and feel that they must be in control.... even when it come to deciding what your child can and will (or will not) read or learn in school, and what will and will not count for school credit to graduate... regardless of what you , as a parent may object to.   The anointed ones have a vision... and they believe that they have your child's best interest at heart and  know what is best for your kids, and you... (if you are not sub-servant to them in their role of authority over your kids,) are to have no say in the matter.

It's a battle.  But thanks be to God, there is still freedom in our country to send kids to private school and the freedom to homeschool them too.  Parents do have a special authority and a responsible role to fulfill in the lives of their kids.  The state has no right to take that away... but those of this mindset work hard to get people to think differently... and then perhaps just give it away without contest.

And so, we heard the president, speaking for the "collective" again, when he recently told a gathering at Rhode Island College that there are choices "we" (the collective) want parents to make and choices "we" do not want parents to make.   

He said,

"And sometimes, someone, usually mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her learning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result, and that's not a choice we want Americans to make."

Apparently, Americans are not to decide things for themselves,  like weather to say home with kids or work.  After all, one choice that "we do not want Americans to make" is the choice to leave the workplace and stay home with kids. 

 Needless to say, his saying this riled up a lot of stay-at-home mothers and in doing so, the president has been duly reminded that Americans have the freedom, yes... freedom, to make their own choice in what they do with their lives and that some women (and men) actually like their babies and young  children and like being home with their kids and believe it is good for the children too.

Obama's example is about a woman who leaves a well paying job at her workplace to stay home with her kids.  Is this a single mom? We do not know.. And we can also note that he neglects to say "baby." ( Why didn't he say, "baby?") Noteable too is that a woman usually does not get paid for being a stay-at-home mother, so how did she earn a lower wage by staying home with her kids?  Is he talking about welfare?

Secondly,  in his make-believe scenario, we see how we are supposed to view children as being a burden. After all, her leaving work to be a mother affects her negatively... for a long time.... in fact, for " the rest of her life." It's a mindset.  It's an ideology... and it's wrong.  It's also being promulgated on unsuspecting people who, by a continuous outpouring of subtle suggestions think as they are told to think. by those they admire.

Mr. Obama did not talk about how, as president, he would like to see your taxes pay for  daycare and preschool that would be offered for "free" to all those working moms and dads.  (Well, "free" much the way that "free" public elementary and high school are currently offered to... or rather, "forced," upon people... which means you and I will be taxed.)  And by the way, for the last fifty years we have had "free" day cares and preschools, called Head Start.. However, it's been reported, that  "the 48-year experiment with federal preschool has failed to deliver long-lasting, positive developments for its participants."  (source, Fox News 1-13-14.)    

Now, as our president, Obama says that he wants to implement some kind of  compulsory preschool.  He wants to see " 6 million children be enrolled in these "preschools" within the next decade.
 

"By the end of this decade, let’s enroll 6 million children 

in high-quality preschool, and let’s make sure that we are 

making America stronger.  That is good for families; it’s 

also good for the children, because we know investing in

high-quality early childhood education makes all the 

difference in the world, and those kids will do better."

~ President Barak Hussein Obama, Rhode Island College, October 31, 2014

 Remarks by the President on Women and the Economy,

This is the full speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sSO91Zv4uU#t=38 

Do not be deceived.  They won't all do "better."  Big government and capitalism objectors will however do better.... because mothers and fathers will be both working, paying taxes to support government projects and leaving their children in the care of those who maake a living working for the government.  On the other hand, it is a proven fact that children playing and learning learning with mom and dad...loving, being loved, and being a part of family is actually one of the most important thing in a child's life....especially at an early age.  

This is why homeschooling, homeschooling without governmental meddling or governmental monetary incentives, makes sense, particularly in the early years.  Not only that, homeschooling works!

...........................................

Broaden your horizon... Here are some related sites to explore what people are saying on the topic of compulsory preschool:

http://www.universalpreschool.com/faq/ 

http://www.schoolimprovement.com/should-your-state-make-preschool-mandatory/

http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/hslda/200204110.asp

http://www.ed.gov/early-learning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Start_Program  

On the Education of Young...Nature Studies

I recently read a chapter from an old book, School of the Woods by naturalist, William J. Long.  The book, written in 1902, was at one time used in public schools under the title of the Wood Folk Series.
Intrigued by what I read, I post you this small portion for your educational reading:

'That interesting little comedy by the quiet river, one of the thousands that pass every day unnoticed in the summer woods, first opened my eyes to the fact that all wild creatures must learn most of what they know as we do; and to learn they must be taught. I have had that fact in mind in gathering together from my old notebooks and summer journals these sketches of animal life, which group themselves naturally about one central idea, namely, the large place which early education holds in the life of every creature.

That animal education is like our own, and so depends chiefly upon teaching, may possibly be a new suggestion in the field of natural history. Most people think that the life of a wild animal is governed wholly by instinct. They are of the same class who hold that the character of a child is largely predetermined by heredity.

Personally, after many years of watching animals in their native haunts, I am convinced that instinct plays a much smaller [6] part than we have supposed; that an animal's success or failure in the ceaseless struggle for life depends, not upon instinct, but upon the kind of training which the animal receives from its mother. And the more I see of children, the more sure am I that heredity (only another name for accumulated and developed instincts) plays but a small part in the child's history and destiny; that, instead, training—early training—is the chief factor; that Loyola, with a profound wisdom in matters childlike, such as the world has rarely seen, was right when he said, in substance: "Give me a child till he is seven years old, and it matters not much who has him afterwards. He is mine for time and eternity." Substitute seven weeks for seven years, and you have an inkling of the unconscious thought which governs every little mother in the wilderness.school."

School of the Woods by William Long 1902

You can read in it's entirety, here, (thanks to the Gutenberg Project.)

I think Long made some excellent points and observations.  As I reflected upon the importance of education given to an animal's young by it's mother (and father) I would think of my own observations of both kittens and a hawk that lives nearby.  If it is like this for animals, what is it like in the human experience?  Without a doubt, the teaching and training of children in the early years of their life is phenomenally important, and they absorb so much, making them truly incredible and intelligent beings at even an early age.  This is why, as parents, and especially as mother's, we should be attentive to our children.  It is us parents who first love them, and teach them many other valuable life lessons, including and example of how to live and work and communicate.

The book piqued my curiously.  I found out that in it's day, it was being used in many schools to teach children about animal behavior.... "scientifically," (observational) until the author drew controversy.  I learned too, that some people, even the President at the time, didn't like Long's sentiments of fondness for the animal life he observed and studied and wrote about.  They called him a "nature faker."

The main reason for the dislike, I believe, is that the evolutionary theory of Darwin was pervasive and persuasive at the time. People wanted to think ("wisely" according to the wisdom of the age) that animals were solely dependant on their inborn instinct to do what they do, not any form of particular reason or intelligence.  Many therefore simply concluded that Mr. Long was a "nut." They didn't like the suggestion that animals actually used "reason" and even had to "learn" things from their parents in order to survive.

 (If you skipped the links above, you can read a little about the very popular

 and public controversy regarding these books on your own.  

Start with wikipedia if you like and then perhaps read one 

Long's other book's description here.)

Was Long a "nut?"

Well, that controversy was way back in 1902.   It's 2014... over a hundred years later, and do you know what?  People, like Long, observe animals like tigers... or penguins or otters up close and personal to report their findings that these animal babies must learn certain things from their own moms and dads.  Some creature even learn their names from their parents... like parrots.

 I am not surprised... are you?

Here is an article touting some of the BEST animal mom's.

Memo Release Party

State laws differ.  In Connecticut, you do not have to file an Intent Form in order to be legal homeschoolers, as we do here in Washington State.  This did not stop school officials from creating one for people to file with the schools.  Apparently, after not being able to create legislation to require one, they found a simple solution: Send out a  memo.

The problem, says the article on homeschooling, is that filing an " intent form" is not required by the law in Connecticut. The schools simply made up the idea for a form and "suggested," to workers and parents that a form be on filre.  It's not a law.  However, people have been being asked to file this way, and not knowing any different, they comply.

 Workers at the school then continue to perpeturate the practice.  Parents, who eventually are asked to fill out the forms, simply  do what is asked of them by school officials to do, and tell others that this is what they did and what one must do.  Meanwhile the form serves to gather information about those who choose to homeschool; information that is not only private, but not required by any law. One homeschooling parent was quoted in the New York Post article saying that the Education Department started distributing the memo to do this in the early 1990s, after a failed attempt in the state's legislature to require one of parents who chose home school. Connecticut attorney and homeschool law expert Deborah Stevenson is also quoted as saying, “They do this intentionally. It’s not a mistake.”

There is such a things as the due process of law.  One would expect officials, school officials,  to honor that.

It's likely some local school district "memos"  have gone out regarding homeschoolers in Spokane too, but one who is not in-the-loop of receiving the possible memos can only speculate. However, there is some pretty good evidence for it.

Take, for example, the  Declaration of Intent to Provide Home Based Instruction  forms.  (DOI)You may or may know this, but our local school district personnel have been notorious about asking more information than is truly necessary on these forms. It has been deduced, that this is for their data collection about these home-schooled children, and it is easily gathered from the parents when they file their forms.  Because the schools routinely have done this, and in an effort to protect the privacy of homeschoolers and uphold the intent and integrity of the Home Based Instruction law, Washington's homeschool support organizations like CHNOW and WHO have been forced to provide forms that do present an actual representation of what is required by law.

 If you plan to homeschool, you might compare these organization's forms with the one your school district offers you.  You will see if they ask more information than they are required by law to know.

School districts in Washington have also been known to redirect parents interested in homeschooling to register somewhere else besides the superintendent's office, (as specified in the Home Based Education Law.) Usually they redirect them to the school's local parent partnership program office.

http://www.spokaneschools.org/domain/3121
TEC/Bryant School, website lists as a first form the DOT form for parents to file in order to "homeschool"  This school is a parent partnership.  Here is their list of forms offered:
"Declaration of Intent to Homeschool    Field Trip Permission Slip    New Student Intake Form 

Request for Part Time Attendance      Inter-District Transfer Request Form      Statement of Understanding  

TEC order form 11-13-13        CBC Application  CBC Proposal"

Additionally, when a parent is at the schools program location and interested in the program offered by the school, the parent is given the form for home based instruction.  (DOI)  If the parents falsely assumes this program location is "homeschooling," and eventually enrolls their child "full time" in the "homeschool" program, the parent is then informed that they are no longer under " home based instruction" law, and the form they once filed is miraculouly made null and void.  Sad to say, when this happens it is nothing short of a bait and switch tactic.  The reason for offering the intent form at the school is feigned.  It is not so that you can "homeschool," but so that you who have been officially registered home based educator, will join the program. 

There must have been some memo that went out, otherwise the schools would have left homeschoolers alone and let them file at the superintendents offiuce as required by law.  Instead they made up new procedures for their own benefit.

In days passed, not just any student could join the alt ed program.... the program was first specifically for "at risk" students.  In  the 2010-11 school year, approximately 40 percent of ALE student's  were enrolled in programs offering "parent partnerships."  (See this link for reference on that figure.)  Derr Park's HomeLink boasts 500 students.

DOI forms being made available at a place that is home to the local Parent Partnership Program or an Alternative Learning hub deceptively serves to validate the program offered.  The place and person that homeschoolers want to register with is the superintendent of schools office for their district.  It's simple.  Read through the Pink Book, download a DOI form from a homeschool support organization, fill it in drop it off and get a dated copy for your records, or send it registered for proof that you complied with law.  Then homeschool your child.

Filing a Declaration of Intent to Provided Home Based Instruction form, (DOI) means you want to homeschool and intend to do so. It does not mean that you intend to join the program offered at the school.  However, if you have filed an intent form to join the local parent partnership program you need to know that you have essentially documented for the school that:

 1) homeschooling independently did not work for you, (you obviously thought you could homeschool but determined that you need the help and support of the program you joined) and
2) Your now "at risk" child,  (who cannot succeed in a regular program because they have a parent who wants to be directly involved instead of leaving the student's education to the state approved teacher in class,) needs this program in order to succeed in school. Your child needs the supervision of paid personnel at school.

Homeschoolers also please note...  You are not "asking for permission" to homeschool from the school personnel, but are making known your intent to the superintendent of schools so that your student will not be considered truant if someone reports you for not sending your child to school.

Additionally, our school districts have often taken the liberty to use the collected databased gathered from these intent forms to "direct market" their programs at the school specifically to homechooling parents.  Howsociation ever, some people know the home school laws, and recognize this illegal action and they have brought it to the attention of both homeschool support organizations and local schools.  Schools have formally apologized to homechoolers for this too.

Most egregiously, school districts claim to be interested in "homeschooling" and offer their support in a parent's decision to "homeschool."  It's egregious because schools have no buisness supporting home school any more than they "support" private or parochial schools or those parent's in theier decision to use a different method of school.  What they actually attempt to do with the "support" they offer is to co-opt the homeschool movement and engage in redefining for you and for me, (for the general public, and for educators as well,) the definition of "homeschool."

 It's quite deceptive.   They even present themselves as "Home School Resource Centers." or "Enrichment Options for Homeschoolers."   Meanwhile, the WSSDA, (Washington State School Directors Association) states that the Parent Partnership Programs are an integral, cost-effective part of the overall public school comprehensive educational program.  Yes, they are.  Make no mistake, the PPP is created to stop you from being the person in charge of your child's education.

There must have been another memo.

"What is Spokane Valley Learning Academy?  We are a program designed to support homeschool families with enrichment classes, help with curriculum, and offer moral support from the Central Valley School District. We at SVLA believe in homeschooling and support your decision to do so."

"Home Link is Deer Park's Parent Partnership Program, where parents of home schooled children work with Deer Park teachers to provide varying degrees of traditional "on-site" instruction as well as plans for meeting educational goals at home."

Maybe there were several?

"Five Mile Prairie School is home to the Mead Education Partnership Program (MEPP) a Home School Resource Center that operates as an alternative school."(quotes added for emphasis) 

Meanwhile, these "homeschool" programs use tax dollars to fund the "homeschool" they offer.  What is so terrible about this is that the home based instruction law....(remember that DOI form?)...specifically stipulates that "under no circumstances may a student who is receiving home-based instruction be reported as a full-time equivalent student.... for purposes of receiving state funds."   (See number 10 ans 11 on page 17..) Yet, they do.... "receive state funds" per student, while making the student and their family think that they are homeschooling.    Then, while receiving funding, calling the participants "homeschooler's"... they "share the wealth" of one more child enrolled in the district with parents who will happily discard the DOI's intent.  It's done in exchange for being in the "enrichment program" offered at the... as they call it,  "Home School Resource Center."

And there are no doubt financial rescourcse available .The program is full of resources....  (a.k.a. money.)

Program directors and teachers, get paid salary as they promote the partnership programs as "homeschool."  They even do this in premiere venues to homeschoolers, like  "homeschool workshops." (Note the 11:30, 12:30, and 1:30 offerings ) Schools win awards for "distinction" and they are promoted this way to the public while working to make the program as appealing as they can to specifically attract homeschoolers to sign up. Parents who think the program suits their needs and join are allowed to spend allotments of money on books and classes specifically chosen by them to be used by their kids.

Besides being lauded as "homeschoolers" they get accolades as they work alongside district teachers, teach classes in the school, (sometimes teaching for pay) and this while helping their own kids earn the required credit hours that apply to grades and WAC requirements.

Take for example Five Mile Prairie in Mead:

"Five Mile Prairie School, for the third year in a row, has been named a 2013 "School of Distinction" winner - this year at the middle and high school levels. Five Mile Prairie is a K-12 instructional partner with our home school families." Mead Schools 

These programs also advertise their homeschool "expertise" to prospective "homeschool "parents, knowing full well that the end result will be to get money when parents sign up.  Giving the false impression that the program is supportive of "homeschooling."  the point is for parents to join, thereby nullifying the DOI they previously filed.   It's tricky.  Some, like Northstar, clearly make themselves out to be homeschooling experts....  to earn your trust:

"Our certified teachers have experience in alternative learning, homeschooling and learning challenges."  Northstar School 

And they do this  while stealthily hiding themselves behind privately created "FREE" webpages  like weebly, instead of using regular district media.  This. intentional or not, looks more like home school than public

Then you also have the stealth appearance whereby a program lie TEC outwardly is presented as being a program for homeschoolers:

"The Enrichment Cooperative (TEC) is Spokane Public Schools’ parent partnership program for homeschoolers. Established in 2002, it provides both core and enrichment curriculum for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade." 

 "Who We Are"  statement for TEC @ Bryant School, August 14, 2014

 But then, on the inside,  (in the "who we are" statement is in the official Handbook for the school using just about the same verbage, they tell it like it really is:

"The Enrichment Cooperative (TEC) is Spokane Public Schools’ Parent Partnership Program. Established in 2002, it provides both core and enrichment curriculum for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.)

Nothing about being a program for homeschoolers mentioned there.

Why the difference?

 It's bait on the outside... but once you are in... it probably does not matter any longer because you have been informed and agreed that you are no longer under the Home Based Instruction Law.   That is the switch.  It's no big deal not to be under the home based instruction law if they still call you a "homeschooler"  Right?

Who cares about home based education?  Who cares about the home based education law?  Not the people in the program.  They want government funding for their public school program. and as far as they are concerned, the home school law can now be torn in two.

And then there is the local and social media who helps the cause of stopping home school.  They got a memo too.  For when the schools started putting money into building and designing these programs, the Spokesman Review told it's readership:

"Five Mile Prairie School works with students of all ages who are being homeschooled in the Mead School District. Homeschoolers can attend classes their parents don’t feel qualified to teach to make sure they meet graduation requirements."  

Visitors from Indonesia Are a Force for Learning by Pia Hellenberg, 10/11/12 Spokesman Review

By the way, homeschool law defines how parents who homeschool are "qualified" to teach.  State law has "requirements" for homeschooling.  Those parents may not have a degree in classroom management, but they are qualified.... legally qualified to direct and oversee and teach their own children here in WA,  Some even take a qualifying course in order to honmeschool.  In Home School, the requirements of the state are  even often exceeded by homeschooling families who do not have to meet the requirements the same way as the public schools.

And you can bet having these programs in every district is expensive.  They are truely and example of  "your tax dollars hard at work."  Meanwhile the schools send home those yearly school supply lists as if they have no money to spend on school supplies for your kids.  Parents shop and donate things like crayons and spiral notebooks... for "community use" and even classroom paper products to be used in their children's classroom in the school.  However, the school spends lots of money on "homeschoolers."

Spokesman Review reported:

 'The Five Mile Schoolhouse looks like a million bucks. Make that $1.7 million, the approximate amount of taxpayers' money spent to gut and gentrify the little brick schoolhouse at North Five Mile and Strong roads. About six years after talk of demolishing the boarded-up school swept across Five Mile Prairie like a grass fire in late summer, the building will open Sept. 5 as the new home of the Mead Education Partnership Program, which combines home schooling with classroom time."

SCHOOLHOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: Restored and Modernized Historic Five Mile Prairie Building 

Will Be Site For Home-Schoolers, Byline: Hilary Kraus, Spokesman Review, August 24, 2006

By the way, Homeschooling is not "combined with classroom time" in the school if you are in the program as a full time student.  Your DOI is voided at the start.  What is taking place here is public school.... both at school and at home.   Homeschooling, also known as Home School,  actually is independent of the local public school, like private school  Home School requires no school campus "classroom time."

The Spokane Journal of Business reported on the cost of these Five Mile School and it's planned use too:

"Mead School District plans to renovate its historic Five Mile Prairie School at a cost of $2.8 million to house its supplemental home-school program.  

Spokane's Journal of Business, 11/23/2005

Supplemental home-school program?   Does that mean ancillary classes?

No.  It's not ancillary if you are a full time student.  To people who do not think home school is adequate, a "supplement" this sounds pretty good.  

Take a memo.... if you will. It might be a great program for some people,  but....

For more information on the Connecticut "suggestion" to file an intent form see:
http://www.teachct.org/ct-law/notice-of-intent/

http://cthomeschoolnetwork.org/home-schooling/link-legal/ct-state-guidelines/

http://www.responsiblehomeschooling.org/policy-issues/state-by-state/connecticut/

See also: http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/EDU/Documents/AlternateLearningExperience.pdf

Pg. 4

"State law makes a distinction between ALE programs and home-based instruction. Many students in PPPs may have been receiving home-based instruction prior to enrolling in the ALE program. However, ALE programs are subject to public school district oversight and rules,including those governing curriculum approval and testing. In contrast, home-based instruction is not subject to public school district rules; rather, it is the parents’ responsibility to oversee students’ education and progress. "

Trojan Horses

Epeius would be proud.  Like his huge, hollow wooden  horse the public schools offer a well designed gift to homeschoolers.... the parent partnership programs.  Let's take a look at the" mission statements" for some of the local areas Parent Partnership Programs before we wheel them into our campsand call them, "homeschool."  If one is not careful, the gift could be the demise of all.  Perhaps it is wise to first look a gift horse in the mouth....

Looking at an organizations mission statement can show you a lot about the entity.  These programs often claim to "support" homeschooling.  They also claim to be in support of parents who desire to be overseers of their child's education.  Are they telling the truth?

The truth is that these programs cannot support home based education and like it or not, parents already ARE overseers of their children's education in matters related to schooling.  While the people managing these programs are wonderful people, while they are being homeschool friendly, some of them ex-homeschoolers themselves who really know the "ropes", one must not misinterpret this friendliness as support.  No. No. No.  Beware.  Like Epeius's Trojan Horse of old, it's a beautiful gifting to the homeschooling community... from the very entity that has always been opposed to homeschool. This "friendliness" of the public school is used as a catalyst for change. Let them into your family life as a homeschoolers and they will effectively change what you think and what you can and cannot do.


For example, The Deer Park Washington's HomeLink Parent Partnership Programs states:

"Deer Park Home Link is a Parent Partnership Program dedicated to serving the needs of families who have chosen to be their children’s primary educators. Our goal is to support – not to replace – the instruction done in the home. We believe that by drawing on the strengths and resources of both the home and the public school, we can offer an education that combines the best of both worlds."

 "Deer Park Home Link is a Parent Partnership Program dedicated to serving the needs of families who have chosen to be their children’s primary educators." 

  As a parent, being your child's primary educator is  not a "choice" that only some parents make and others do not. This role of teaching children face to face and hand to hand begins by a parent as soon as the child is born.  It is certainly flattering to the prospective parent to have the school officials exalting and affirming their  "choice." It may seem comforting to hear that the teachers at the school are dedicated to serving you and your needs, but it is merely flattery.  By the way, parents, all parents, ARE the  primary educators of their own children, period.  This is not some choice they make and it is not a designation pronounced upon "some" of the more special  parents by the school.  In fact, parents in school partnership programs are often referred to at high school graduations as learning coaches, or educational mentors, 
while the teachers have served as the "educators"

Parents, even those who are not potential prospects for these programs, who have not inquired about ":homeschooling" are the primary educators of their own kids.  They also have rights in matters concerning their children's well being in and out of schools.  And believe it or not, parents from all walks of life actually do care about and are involved in their children's education.  This is true whether they home educate or send their kids to either public or private school. 
 In some places parental involvement is it's called the PTA.

"Our goal is to support – not to replace – the instruction done in the home. "

This is, simply put, not true.  Let's remember... these programs are supposedly for "homeschoolers" and home based "instruction" is the term frequently used by schools to identify what homeschooling is and who is a homeschooler.   They say that they do  not want to replace the "instruction" going on in the home, as if they support you in your home based instruction, but they do not.  When you join the program your home based instruction becomes something completely different and IT IS REPLACED with public school.

Your instruction of your children is replaced with school goals and objectives and even religious material which the family might already be using as a honeschooler must go.   These programs only allow school district approved non-sectarian materials,  or at least they are supposed to. (Truth be told, there have been some serious discrepancies in the past.) Not only that... but the students time at home if they were previously homeschoioling MUST be replaced with some time being spent on a school campuses.

 This is not homeschooling and it's not anything done"support" of homeschooling.  These programs work to replace home based instruction with schooling based at the school.
Parents must even sign an affidavit when they enroll their kids, stating that they clearly under stand that they are  now enrolled in the public school.  

Home based instruction is done from the home with the parents in complete charge over decisions and curriculum and testing options.  These Parent Partnerships work hard to market to the homeschooling community and their goal is to replace home based instruction 
with public school based instruction, and yet they so  boldly assert that they do not replace it. 

Something is wrong with this approach.

"We believe that by drawing on the strengths and resources of both the home and the public school, we can offer an education that combines the best of both worlds."

"The best of both worlds" sounds good, but as you probably know, one cannot have their cake and eat it too.  No one can serve two masters, because either they will hate the one and love the other, or they will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  Either you homeschool, pubhlic school, or privaste school in Washington State to meet the compulsory education laws.  There is no provision to homeschool your kids and have the state pay for your homeschooling.  You cannot homeschool and take money to do it from the state.

And,  make no mistake, everything academically done by the student for credit whether done at home or school, is done to meet the goals, objectives and  requirements of the public school.  
These programs are full time public school if you are enrolled full-time in the program.

Essentially, by enticing parents to join calling what is being done "homeschool" and pretending to support "homeschooling" your local public school is  coopting the homeschool movement.

The East Valley Parent Partnership Mission Statement reads:

"Our mission is to partner with families by offering access to educational opportunities that enrich their child's learning experience.

East Valley Parent Partnership is a program designed to support homeschool families with enrichment classes and help with curriculum. East Valley believes in homeschooling and supports your decision to do so."

Our mission is to partner with families by offering access to educational opportunities that enrich their child's learning experience.

 Because of the Home Based Education Law,  homeschoolers can take a class at the school, they can participate in sports, band or even running start  without being enrolled in these partnership programs. (And can do so without the approval of the National Education Association too.)

Speaking of  "enrichment."  Did you know that the East Valley Schools get  $8,600.00 dollars for every student that enrolls in the program.  That's a bit of enrichment foe the district who only has to hace the student one day per week on compus.  Of course they offer to enrich the parent who signs their kid up too....  via reimbursements.  The program offers  $500.00 per student...as part of the incentive to get "homeschoolers" or potential homeschoolers, to join.  

(Is that per school year or per semester? Hmmm. better check on that.) 

 Do you have four kids?  Do the math.  That's $2,000.00. 

 However, in exchange for joining, you must stop your "home based instruction."  But don;t worry they will affirm you as a homeschooling parent anyhow... as they make you jump through all their hoops. 
You will not bite the hand that feeds you... will you?
Probably not.

 Students in Parent Partnership are required by law to spend time on campus, 
 take the WASL and  MSP, HSPE or EOC tests, and must have a have 
a WSLP and participate in the Core Curriculum too.  
You give up "home based instruction" to become a full-time East Valley school district involved..

"East Valley Parent Partnership is a program designed to support homeschool families with enrichment classes and help with curriculum. East Valley believes in homeschooling and supports your decision to do so."

One thing you can be certain of in the above statement is that the program is "designed."

  It's designed to stop home school and curb the homeschool movements notion that parents are qualified to educate their own children from home just as well, if not better than the public school.
It's designed to stop people from exercising their freedom to choose private or home school.
 It's designed to create or recapture lost revenue for schools.
It is also designed so that some ambitious parents can draw a paycheck (or financial reimbursement for "homeschooling" their own children) with government funding intended for public school.

East Valley Public School is a public school funded by the state and you can rest assured that public school cannot financially or philosophically "support" homeschooling any more than they could support private school.  The state does not have any jurisdiction to FUND a parent's decision to "homeschool."  in fact, if the school is receiving full funding for students that are "home schooled,"  then they are   breaking the law which states that "under no circumstances may a student
 who is receiving home-based instruction as defined in chapter 28A.225 RCW be reported as a full-time equivalent student for purposes of receiving state funds."

  These children and their parents are supervised, monitored, assessed, evaluated, and their work is documented by a certificated teacher employed by the school district or under contract.
Homeschooling, on the other hand, is parent directed and their homeschooled students
 are not under the direct supervision of the local school personnel. 

 Furthermore, there are homeschool support groups to support 
not just your decision to homeschool but state legislation that governs homer education laws, 
and they will tell you... Parent Partnerships are NOT homeschooling.

Bryant School's TEC program saysL

 Mission Statement:  Preparing students for life by fostering
academic achievement.

Motto: One Student At A Time

No comment.

In MEad there is the MEPP Parent Partnership.  Their mission statement reads:

"MEPP East is a Mead School District Parent Partnership Program designed to serve parents who want to be the primary educators of their children. Teachers and parents work together to design an education specifically suited to each child...with a combination of educational activities and clubs as well as off-site courses. The site-based classes are designed according to parent input and reflect the needs of our particular families. We honor parents and partner with them to provide support."

"MEPP East is a Mead School District Parent Partnership Program designed to serve parents who want to be the primary educators of their children. "

This program, like Deerp Park and others, is designed too. 
 It's designed to serve those parents who want to be the "primary educators" of their kids....

"Teachers and parents work together to design an education specifically suited to each child...with a combination of educational activities and clubs as well as off-site courses. The site-based classes are designed according to parent input and reflect the needs of our particular families. We honor parents and partner with them to provide support."

Parent partnership programs might like families, but they do not work to foster or support the homeschooling movement.  If you desire homeschool support, contact a national or state or local homeschool support organization, like the Home School Legal Defense association or the Washington Homeschool Organization.  Get in touch with the Christian Homeschool Network of Washington.  They will not be able to give you money to spend like the school apparently does, but they will defend your right to make educational choices for your family, including your ability to present your homeschooled student with a diploma for the work they accomplish and the use of religious curriculum
 in doing so if you'd like.

At Five Mile Prarie Parent Partnership in Mead, they tell us :

 "We collaborate with parents to customize education in order to prepare students for life's responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities. 

Vision Statement: We strive to provide an academically challenging, safe, and supportive learning environment for our most cherished resource, the children, while recognizing parents as their primary educators. Our learning community is committed to supporting the diversity of interests and abilities of all students in achieving their academic goals. We are committed to impart the love of learning to each child.
 Goals:  

1. Continually explore and develop learning activities designed to enrich student learning. 

2. Utilize curricula that improves each student's performance as measured by assessments. 

3. Provide staff and parents with learning opportunities that enhance their ability to instruct students. 

4. Create opportunities for the homeschool community to interact and support one another."

"Create opportunities for the homeschool community to interact and support one another."

 Hardly.

What they are doing is drawing families out of home-based education into public school and inviting those people to create their own support group within and in support of the public school program .  The autrocity here is not that these parents choose a public school for their kids.... they can do that if they wish.  It is not that the parents get an offer of money or special classes dangled before them enticing them to join.  it is not even the fact that some parents get paid to work in the programs and then recruit others.   The autrocity is that the schools often call participants "homeschoolers" and the program "HOMESCHOOL" programs.
This needs to end.

Anyone in these parent partnership programs who is an adult reciving money should realize that they do a terrible disservice to the Washington State Homeschool Law by calling this program "home school" and by telling others that they are "homeschooling" in the parent partnership program, (unless they are only part time enrolled.)  This is because they are in public school and not under home based instruction law... which is "homeschooling."   Let it be known that public school is tighly linked to the National Education Association, (NEA)  and for the last 30 years the  National Education association had dispised homeschooling.  
Funny to think that now the schools "support" homeschooling.... don;t you think?

Even today in 2014, the NEA Resolution B-83 stand against not only parents as the "primary educators" 

of their own children, but they demand that children be sent to public schools.  In the case of parents "homeschooling" the NEA demands that "only state approved corriculum be used."
This is what is taking place in your parent partnership program. 

 Unbeknownst to some of the individuals who promote Parent Partnerships as ":homescvhooling" or as "homeschool enrichment" they are playing  right into the fowlers snare.  If the NEA  supporters  have their way, the freedom to homeschool that we have under Washington law would disappear 

and the parent partnership concept would replace it.

Parent Partnerships are on a mission to seek willing participants who will change what homeschooling looks like from the inside out.  They call it homeschooling, but their goal is not to empower you to do home based education, nor to support it legislatively, nor to defend your right as a parent to "home educate" your kids.  Rather they intend to get you on board with them, control what you teach and supervise your in all you do.... as you answer to them.

It's high time to realize what these Parent Partnerships are.... supervised, alternative, NEA-sponsored-public school....  done PARTLY in the home.   To the homeschooling community, they come as a "gift" from the school.

They are a Trojan Horse.