Home School Charters
by Eileen Spatz and Karen Anderson
Home school charters
luring home school families with offer of $1000 per child for books and
materials
Subject: Home school charters
(specifically one based in Lincoln, CA—near Lake Tahoe) called "One 2 One
Learning Foundation," are recruiting home school families in all regions
of California, and setting up identical charters in Texas and Oregon (and possibly
other states).
However, this alert should also serve
as a caution for home schoolers who use county home school centers,
district-based home school programs, and public school ISP’s.
The issue: State and federal
involvement in education has caused a great number of parents to opt for
homeschooling, and for various reasons:
Many
parents lament the extreme interpretation of "separation of church and
state" by the nation’s schools, seeing that the non-existence of God in
school offers only half an education, and is causing a disturbing cultural
change in America.
Many
parents became fed up with the schools experimenting on their children with
poor teaching methods and using weak curriculum that have handicapped them in
the basic skills.
Many
parents have detected the political messages in the textbooks, literature
selections, and assignments that are in direct conflict with their traditional,
conservative values.
Parents
who are informed about the federal involvement in education via the legislation
passed in 1994 called Goals 2000 and School to Work, have pulled their kids out
to prevent them from being pulled into a system which, when fully implemented,
has socialist implications.
SEEKING INDEPENDENCE
Because of these reasons, most home
schoolers have decided to remain INDEPENDENT from the state and purchase their
own textbooks and materials out of pocket.
Even though the state has various options now for home schoolers,
offering to give them free materials and support, the
savvy homeschooling family is willing to bypass the temptation to sign on with
the state.
WHY?
Why would anyone pass up help that is rightfully due us (via our tax
contributions)? It is crucial that home
schoolers understand the danger that participating in state funded charters,
ISP’s, etc poses to the future of homeschooling. By signing on with the state, a homeschooling
family is UNKNOWINGLY giving up freedoms.
Please read the following resolution
passed by the National Education Association (NEA) in
1998:
B-67: Home Schooling. The National Education Association believes
that home schooling programs cannot provide the student with a comprehensive
education experience. When a home
schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state requirements. Instruction should be by persons who are
licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum
approved by the state department of education should be used. The Association also believes that home
schooled students should not participate in any extracurricular activities in
the public schools.
Sadly, if the NEA
wants to stop home schooling, as we currently practice it, it WILL happen. It is important to understand just how
powerful a union the NEA is. They are a rich and, therefore, influential
lobby that shapes the nation’s schools via politicians who accept their
campaign contributions. The NEA is an organization which, in 1933, drafted its credo,
"The Humanist Manifesto," based on socialist ideology.
To date, the NEA
has succeeded in instilling their socialist beliefs into our public schools,
and was aided immensely in this effort when Goals 2000 and STW
(federal education laws) passed in 1994.
Home schooling is the one hindrance to the "seamless web of
lifelong learning" which is supposed to involve ALL children (per the
actual legislation), including private and home schooled children. Home schooling families have got to be in a
position to fight this federal takeover.
A link with information about these federal education laws is offered
below. Please read up on this!
Private schools are also being drawn
into the plan via accreditation agencies (WASC and ACSI, for example) that are buying into the government’s
national education system and then selling the rhetoric to unsuspecting private
school administrators. In order to
capture the home schooled kids, the state needs to pull them back into the
state public school system (which the charters and ISP’s are doing by offering
cash for books, free computers etc.).
The political power of homeschooling
families is being eroded daily as uninformed parents are lured into
state-funded home school charters that offer $1,000 per child per year as
bait. The Lincoln, CA-based charter is
sending recruiters (called educational facilitators, or EF's)
out to various regions of the state and holding meetings with several home
schooling families at a time. There are
350 such recruiters working in California at this time.
The recruiter will receive a stipend of
$1,000 per child per year for every child they sign up. The balance of the state money ($3,000 per
child after paying out the $1,000 to the family and the $1,000 to the EF) goes directly to the Lincoln, CA school district! This is akin to a multi-level marketing
scam. Home school families just see all
those "free" books they can get, and don’t
hesitate to sign up, not realizing that this could hurt them in the long run.
It is always difficult to walk away
from "freebies," like free books, supplies, consumable materials,
computers, etc. But home schoolers MUST
be strong and resist this ploy to attract their families back into the state
system (including public school ISP's and county charters). In the long run, our freedom to home school
as we see fit, using our own curriculum and operating independently, will be
lost as the state resumes control over our families (per the NEA's wishes).
Please read the attached articles on
state charters and pass this information on to your fellow home school
acquaintances. This is a very dangerous
situation. Do NOT take your freedom to home
school for granted!
Give to
Caesar What is Caesar's
Many of you may not be aware of the restructuring
of the public schools, via the federal government (Goals 2000/School to
Work). It will eventually affect the
home school community. To read about
this, please access the How the Federal Education
Programs Will Affect Home Schoolers by the Texas Education Consumers
Association.
Please pass this message on to fellow home school
friends and support group leaders.
Eileen Spatz is a home school mother of
three from San Clemente, CA. She has been researching education issues for
five years and writes for various publications (on education and social
issues).
Karen Anderson is a home school mother
of a second grader and is editor of popular newspaper The Napa Sentinel,
based in Calistoga, CA. She has been
active in education issues for several years as well.
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