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Homeschooling Online
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Question:
The current cover story in "Reason" magazine is about the growing
homeschooling movement. It's a good article; although veteran
homeschoolers may not find anything new in it, I thought it might be
good to know that homeschooling is getting positive coverage in a
fairly widely read (for a free-market rag) national magazine.
Do you think such coverage is a good thing, or do you think that
increased publicity may invite more government regulation of
homeschooling?
By the way, this is my first post to the group. I consider myself a
"homeschooler-to-be"-- I have a one year old boy. I've been
listening in for a while and found it to be a wonderful resource.
Answer:
-Personally I think good publicity is just good publicity. My experience is
that governments regulate based on their own legislative cycle. As long as
homeschoolers keep aware of the legislative cycles (and we do) and muster
themselves to some semblance of unity of voice during those cycles (and
mostly we do), and base our presentations on sound common arguments of
democratic liberty and positive results (and well... we try), then we do
well and continue to grow as a movement.
We have enough good arguments and enough good results that I think it is
time for home-schoolers to come out of the closet - stand some of our best
spokes-people out in front of us - and duck. :-) (just kidding)
Seriously though, hiding and being defensive about what we do is not much
of an option anymore.
- I'm a home educating mom of four children who
have never been to school. I have many opinions on the good and bad of
publicity. I think we just have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages.
I homeschooled the first of my four children without any support or
contact with other homeschoolers for two years. Since I was an unschooler,
I found no comfort in the more religious circles. I was scared and
frightened as well as lonely. My children felt weird and "different." I
was so relieved to find others who educated their kids at home in a
relaxed atmosphere (and so were my children, of course). If it hadn't been
for an article in the newspaper, it would have been quite awhile before I
had found these wonderful people. The group that had formed had at the
core of its beliefs that they should be vocal. They did lots of PR and
interviews. They are now my friends and companions. I have recently become
the coordinator for this large organization (over 100 member families). We
do lots of community work, homeschool scouts, widely publicized "Getting
Started" workshops for new homeschoolers and are general outspoken
purposefully. But....
I notice that the more vocal and out front we are, the louder our
opposition. More intense arguments are raised on more fronts. When we were
small and quiet we weren't much of a threat to school districts. In
Central Ohio we are now increasing our numbers 50% each year for the last
4 years. Dollars and cents are now an issue for districts loosing children
to home education. They don't get state funds for children not on the
daily rosters.
I personally feel the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I don't want
anyone to struggle needlessly to reinvent the wheel. There are battles
we've fought and won in one district only to have them arise in another.
Shared information keeps us informed and illuminates repetitious
conflicts. But we have to acknowledge the downside and be prepared to deal
with the issues raised. Of course if the media coverage is negative or if
it has mistakes within it, then groups and individuals should act quickly
to correct the mistakes.
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