Oh, my Goodness, another unleashed opinion? Yep. I started to answer an email inquiry on a chat thread about homeschooling with the "help" of public school based partnership programs. Poor, dear gal...I just kept typing, and typing, and typing! LOL...Very cathartic, though.
By the way, some names changed to protect the innocent! lol~
Hello, Nina! Nice to "meet" you :D,
About your questions on public schools offering partnerships to homeschooling families, I will share a little more thinking with you, I know I had expressed some reservations~based on the tendencies we found living in Pennsylvania~
The public school based partnership most known around me is the Berrien Springs Partnership, run by Berrien Springs School District. I did not want to join as soon as I read through their requirements. They wanted required courses, seated hours in one of their classrooms, names, ages, grades of the children...hmmm. I wondered why they needed all that if they were "there to help."
My cautious perspective is only from one Pennsylvanian who had to for each child, do the following...Log days or class hours per required subject in a binder, submit my typed "intent to homeschool' form to the local school district each year by an August deadline, have standardized tests done on each of my children at the designated years 3rd, 5th, I think and 8th grade, pay an outside of the home evaluator to evaluate each child.
Evaluators have to interview the child, ours would have him read to her and recount field trips and socialization activities, so she could type out a form she would send to the local school district saying, "Yes, this child is complying with Pennsylvania law (being taught something.)"
Finally, each of my children needed to have a compiled binder with samples of their work, submitted by us by the appointed deadline towards the end of the school year. There was a comprehensive list of what all needed to be in there.
While admittedly, "partnerships" for homeschoolers require much less than this, I would want any Michigander who values their freedom and autonomy as a family, to consider what the schools are capable of in regards to stripping you of them.
Some might say, well, that is a good system, it keeps those families from neglecting their child's education~ but this strips away at the whole question you all in Michigan have for years gotten to explore, which is~ how does our family best get our children ready for their futures?
That is a journey, not a form to fill out. A journey requiring prayer, time, teamwork form those best qualified to care, and freedom from governmental red tape.
Personally, I feel that social services and aware neighbors are often the antidote to the problem of the "homeschooling" family who is not caring for their child. Children shouldn't be left to slip through the cracks, but that is why there are child welfare agencies and phone numbers to call.
In my opinion, government schools should not be the ones concerning themselves with my children. They don't understand family based learning. And overregulation lines the pockets of people who would much rather keep homeschooling moms and dads underconfident in their abilities to guide their own children's education. What parent in their right mind would leave the public system and enter a homeschooling lifestyle when it was made so purposefully onerous? Where you as parents had to PROVE you were above suspicion after pulling your child out of their system?
From where I am sitting, this is a basic restriction of freedom. And I can tell you that the bureaucrats did not mind one iota that my husband and I lost countless hours, Saturday mornings, weekday afternoons on data entry. We would rather being reading to a child. That really upset me.
While there are wonderful, talented and caring teachers in many governments schools, I think it is a fair generalization that school districts have people who need to stay employed, with a justified workload. I really, truly don't want my child's name on a form that someone who doesn't even know them or really care all that much, get to use them as leverage and pay-justification.
In looking over the Berrien Springs program, I saw a lot of mandates. Information needed to be handed over and number of hours in their classrooms had to be met, meaning travel time and time away from home. That, to me meant, the school district in no way believed my husband and I had it covered, making the school's offer of "help" look very suspect. And who would want to be "partnered" to someone who didn' believe in you?
If a school district really wanted to "help" homeschooling families, why do we have to submit our children's names, ages, grade levels and go through their requirements. Why don't they offer a menu of classes, charge a fee if necessary, and have us come in? It begs the question.
I want to encourage you to decide jointly with your spouse what you want to do based on your feelings about your young person and their best needs. The great news on all these opinion boards are that all that really matters is what you and he want to do, these are your precious kids, and you know better than any post-er on a thread. :D
As for me, I am hoping to see homeschooling parents grow stronger in their confidence and enjoyment of being with their kids. Seeing the discovery firsthand. Marveling as much at how the children have grown and matured, as how the family as a whole has grown and matured!
Sending you my best wishes~
Jenny,
I would really be interested in hearing about your experience in Pennsylvania. My child is beginning a home school cooperative and it sounded so great…until I started thinking about it...
