I saw this posted at HomeschoolBuzz.
Homeschooling 2.0 from FrontPageMag.com
This refers to an article about the current state of homeschooling since its beginning by extremists who were willing to risk legal opposition for the right to educate their own children. I'm just going to summarize parts of it, in hopes that others might be enticed to read the whole article. It can be found here.
These days, homeschooling is growing among African Americans, Hawaiians, Native Americans, Jews, Muslims, Aryans and wiccans who don't want their children assimilated with everyone else. The homeschool population is more diverse and no longer the exclusive domain of protestant evangelicals.
People homeschool for a greater of reasons than they used to - no longer for religious reasons, but because of academics, learning disabilities that schools aren't handling well, as a way to allow students time to compete in professional sports or acting, to accomodate families' travel-lifestyles. One mom said, "My homeschooling group . . . [is] FAR more diverse than the neighborhood school I pulled my oldest child out of years ago."
"The number of homeschooled young children is beginning to plateau, but homeschooling for older children is still a high-growth market. The result has been an explosion in innovative programs for older children."
The ways people homeschool is also changing. More are unschooling, using co-ops, and creating other alternatives. As more people start homeschooling for non-religious reasons, homeschool groups are more diverse - and that can lead to problems: "Disagreements over 'what kinds of uniforms are appropriate for home-school cheerleaders and whether rock music may be played at home-school events' are not uncommon as life-long homeschoolers rub shoulders with each other and with new recruits fresh from the public schools. Not a few Christian homeschoolers have pulled their children out of co-ops, clubs, and sports teams over such concerns. None of these small-scale culture skirmishes begin to match, however, the controversy generated by the growing popularity of government-sponsored programs for homeschoolers. Many public school districts, having lost the fight to criminalize homeschooling, now openly court homeschoolers. School districts with high rates of homeschooling have seen significant drops in funding, tied as it is to per-pupil enrollment." Public schools might offer off-campus classes, use of on-campus computers or library, dual enrollment--but that can be a way for government schools to get their foot in the door, so to speak, and can lead to more government regulation and limits on homeschooling as more homeschoolers come under the umbrella (and potential control) of government-sponsored programs.
Online charter school programs (virtual schools) have popped up recently "both to service homebound or other special needs students and as an effort to lure homeschoolers (and the tax dollars they represent) back into the public education system." Some private corporations started their own cyber-schools, with government funding, but after a bad beginning, and complaints from school districts whose money was being paid to these private corporations, many closed and "those that survived tightened their lines considerably, to the great frustration of the many formerly-independent homeschoolers lured by free computers and textbooks into these schools but resentful of the regulations and regimentation that seemed to increase every year."
"Cybercharters have many enemies. Many politicians and public school people agree with Texas Democratic Rep. Patrick Rose that 'we ought not be in the business of supporting for-profit education. Any program that takes money out of our public schools would be against our better judgment.' ... They also note that textbook suppliers have been making tremendous profits from public schools for decades. Some cybercharters have been criticized by public school advocates for supporting religious instruction with public monies. In the early years of the movement cybercharters in some states allowed parents to purchase their own curricula, and many chose religious homeschooling materials... Over time, however, state governments have clamped down on such activities. ... Charter schools are now, with rare exception, wholly secular."
Virtual charters, who expected opposition from government schools, are surprised that homeschoolers themselves have opposed them. "HSLDA Senior Counsel Chris Klicka has called the virtual charter movement a 'Trojan horse,' warning that 'if anything can destroy the Christian homeschool movement, this will.'"
The entire article can be found here.
