Why Is Homeschooling Important?

Two long-time homeschoolers tell us why they're happy they've chosen homeschool and why homeschooling is important for children. These distinctions are important here in America where freedom is to be key to our lives as citizens.

Bad Homeschool Bills In Oklahoma (2024) - Why You Should Fight Them Even If You DON'T Homeschool Your Kids

The bill discussed in this video (HB4130 - Swope), would cause Oklahoma parents homeschooling their children to be forced to register with the Department of Human Services, among other things. Even if you don't homeschool in Oklahoma, you should be extremely concerned about this bill. Why? Check out the video....

Parents Have To Parent - It's A Tough Job To Be Sure - But No One Can Do It But You

 

This morning I read a horrible news story about a 12yo girl who was beaten and tortured by 2 other 12yo girls at what was supposed to be a 'sleep over. That is a horrible situation and the girls must be punished - but let's talk honestly here.

Is SB1647 (Education Voucher) Now Only For Homeschooling Families? An Analysis.

 

Often, it takes hours to really read a bill because it's important to look up associated laws and terms that may not be obvious to the reader. Then it requires reading passages over and over and comparing them to other passages to make sure of context. Truly, to do it right, each bill requires a substantial time investment to read properly. And to think - legislators must read hundreds of bills during just one half  of session alone...

Government Take-Over in Invented Emergencies (SB1647 - The Oklahoma Empowerment Account Program)

A guest post by Emily Hladik (bio below)

The Problems With "School Choice"

Every legislative session in Oklahoma, the topic of "School Choice" rears its head. People become "School Choice" advocates because they believe the concept will put parents back in the driver's seat for their children's education. But what does the term "School Choice" actually mean?

Today - Especially If You're A Christian - You Should Be Educating Your Children At Home

Many years ago I had a conversation with a friend considering homeschooling her kids. She told me she wanted to keep them home, because, as a Christian, she was concerned about the anti-Christian messages her kids have brought home to her.

Parent Guest Post: What I Learned From The 2018 Teacher's Strike

Attribution: ABC news

This post was sent to me by "Elizabeth":

I have never thought of myself as any kind of activist. I have never marched in protest or in support of anything that I can remember. It isn’t that I don’t have opinions – I definitely have them. There are often facets to issues or politics that I don’t understand or, more likely, haven’t taken the time to research.

But my blood pressure rose when I received a text from my teen after returning to school following the Oklahoma teacher strike.

“Our teacher just had us write a paper on our feelings about the walk-out!”

ROPE - Restore Oklahoma Public Education Becomes ROPE 2.0 - Reclaim Oklahoma Parent Empowerment Effective 11/2/15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

11/2/15

Effective immediately, ROPE - Restore Oklahoma Public Education - will become ROPE2.0 - Reclaiming Oklahoma Parent Empowerment.

Though Restore Oklahoma Public Education has worked diligently to tutor Oklahoma parents and taxpayers about how issues such as the Common Core State Standards and threats to Student Privacy effect students using public education since its inception in 2010, its mission field has shifted markedly in the last several years.

Written Remarks From The Common Core Chaos Debate With Michael Petrilli

For those that would like to see the entire debate, please see this link on our YouTube channel.

Following are my prepared remarks from the Common Core Chaos debate. I have not transcribed any of the 4 or so extemporaneous questions, but I wanted to make the answers to the first four available, along with my opening remarks in the event they would be helpful.

OPENING REMARKS:

Before I begin, as the wife and daughter of men who served in the Armed Forces, I’d like to thank all Veterans for their service on this Veteran’s Day.

Next – I want to thank Dr. Piper very much for his gracious hospitality in extending the use of the Lyon Performance Hall for this event. Thanks to you as well Mr. Dutcher for loaning us your very capable moderating skills. Thank you also to those here in attendance and those watching via internet.

Finally, I’d like to thank you Mr. Petrilli for coming all the way from Maryland to debate this ordinary Oklahoma mom on the state of chaos you assigned Oklahoma public education during the recent Intelligence Squared; Embrace the Common Core debate in New York, following Oklahoma’s repeal of the Common Core State Standards and the loss of our NCLB Waiver.  I’m hoping you’ll come away from your short stay in Bartlesville convinced that it’s not the loss of our waiver, but Common Core itself that’s quite an excellent example of the butterfly effect.

In a way, I agree; there has been much chaos surrounding the repeal of the Common Core from Oklahoma and the loss of our Waiver.

First, however, we must consider the general chaos resulting from the Oklahoma state department of education taking billions of dollars from the pockets of taxpaying Oklahomans for public education, only to focus zealously on meeting the desires of the federal department of education, though their monetary contribution hovers at somewhere around 10% of Oklahoma’s entire education budget. Why should Oklahoma –or any state for that matter – give up any part of their control over education to the federal government for such an insignificant investment? I seem to recall an adage about a silk purse and a sow’s ear…

Then, we must consider the specific chaos resulting from state policymakers remaking Oklahoma education – tailoring it to fit a federal government blueprint including Common Core State Standards, Teacher Accountability measures and a State Longitudinal Database System (all which reinforce the Standards) in order for school administrators to receive ‘flexibility’ from essentially meaningless 100% student proficiency standards in English and Math prescribed by a law Congress refuses to reauthorize. What about flexibility for students, parents and teachers to have standards and resulting curricula that works best for them? After all, is public education about serving administrators or kids?

Finally, there’s the orchestrated chaos designed to fit the narrative that schools will lose money as a result of the loss of our Waiver. In truth, Oklahoma lost no money at all as a result of losing the waiver. Once the waiver was lost, we moved back under NCLB regulations that prescribe the redirection – not removal – of 20% of Title 1 funds only IF the state fails to meet adequate yearly progress. Considering this amounts to a mere half a percent of the total state education budget why suggest chaos?

Of course, there is definitely more chaos to be found in the system;

• Legislation enacting Common Core in Oklahoma was completed before the standards were even ready to read in final draft. People don’t buy cars without a test drive or chaos is sure to ensue – states shouldn’t buy standards sight unseen for the same reason.
• Attempting to align all schools across the nation to one set of untested, unproven standards based upon unsubstantiated claims they’re higher or college ready has created testing and teacher training chaos for states.
• Emphasizing college readiness has created chaos for elementary kids who now struggle through developmentally inappropriate material all in the name of higher standards.
• Emphasizing college access is creating job market chaos as tens of thousands of skilled labor jobs in Oklahoma go unfilled because students are funneled toward college over job training.
• Writing, enacting and facilitating education policy on the back of checks written by a billionaire computer entrepreneur non-educator can do nothing but cause chaos as educators scramble to enact policies in actual classrooms that were written in a vacuum.
• Some Oklahoma administrators have created chaos in the lives of teachers by forcing them to teach Common Core under a different name though it’s against the law via mandate of the people, because students need to be taught to a Common Core-aligned SAT, ACT or AP, or because “we just bought Common Core-aligned books”, or “we’ve already spent too much money on Common Core teacher training”, etc.
• Because Common Core has been tied into a neat little ball with nearly every other federally-offered education ‘reform’, we’ll have to endure the chaos of resurrecting Heracles to cut off all its’ heads.
• Though national educational tests and standards are contrary to federal law, chaos has resulted from the federal government paying testing companies to write a national Common Core test which costs too much, is hard to grade, and takes too many days out of classroom instruction.
• The high stakes test and punish cycle meant to provide Common Core with its rigorous accountability has become chaos for parents, kids and district IT employees, many of whom would rather sit in the unemployment line than go to work on McGraw/Hill online test day.
• The definition of chaos is frustrated students who can’t understand overly complicated, confusing Common Core math lessons - and frustrated parents who can’t help because they don’t understand it either
• Parents and families reordering their lives – and budgets – to pull kids into private or homeschools because their neighborhood public school is no longer working for them, is obviously, chaotic.
• And finally, chaos is the result in countless families as countless mothers (and dads) in countless states have set aside their primary duties of children, home and office to spend countless hours researching why their kids suddenly hate school, or math, or reading, only then to spend countless hours educating fellow parents and government officials that enacted Common Core legislation, about the chaotic nightmare that is the Common Core.

So, in conclusion, yes Mr. Petrilli, there is chaos here in Oklahoma, but it’s chaos that arrived on the heels of Common Core – long before the loss of any federal carrot and stick mandate – and I’ll be happy when we’ve driven a stake through all its hearts and ensured it never comes back to cause chaos in the lives of Oklahoma parents, kids or taxpayers again.

QUESTION 1
One of the most effective arguments against Common Core is that it represents a “federalization” or a “nationalization” of education. (Indeed, once the phrase “ObamaCore” started making the rounds in Oklahoma, it was game over.) But are those concerns legitimate? Is it fair to characterize Common Core as “Fed Ed”?

It’s absolutely a fair cop. As I’ve written frequently, there were four separate but overlapping programs established under the Obama Administration’s Department of Education that make up what I like to call the FOUR PILLARS OF EDUCATION REFORM: These are Common Core State Standards, Teacher Accountability Measures, Turning Around Failing Schools and instituting a State Longitudinal Database System to track children across all ages and stages of the educational spectrum and into the workforce.

States had to sign on to all four of these foundational programs at some level in order to get State Fiscal Stabilization funds in 2009, be competitive for Race to the Top grant dollars and/or qualify for Waivers from provisions of the No Child Left Behind law.

Though states could substitute their own standards as long as they were deemed College and Career ready by state institutions of higher learning, it’s no secret that entropy favors the easy road – why would states reinvent the wheel when they could simply take what was offered and move on to the teller? Doesn’t the fact that a vast majority of states have signed on to Common Core since 2009 say something about the veracity of that statement?

Consequently, as state standards were cast aside in favor of standards favored at the federal level as part of a federal government extortion exchange rate for money or flexibility, the Common Core state standards predominated across the nation. If the standards predominate across the nation and were an integral part of federal government programming, what other definition for the Common Core State Standards can there be but ‘nationalized education standards’?

In the final analysis, it matters not whether the Standards were penned by a private source or inside the walls of the Department of Education if the federal government adopts them as their own and uses them as a fulcrum for moving education policy in America from a local endeavor to a more centralized locus.

QUESTION 2
Some people who choose nonpublic educational options worry that Common Core will limit options for students. They say that the alignment of certain exams ( SAT, ACT, GED, Advanced Placement, etc.) to the Common Core will increase the likelihood that private-school students and home-schooled students will have to follow the Common Core. Are these concerns legitimate? Will private schools and homeschooled students be compelled to accept national standards and tests?

Unfortunately, there are instances in which privately schooled students are being compelled to accept Common Core tests. In some states, private schools are required to administer state tests for accreditation purposes. These assessments require more than students being able to answer questions correctly to receive full credit. To get full credit students are required to show the Common Core instructional process used to arrive at their answer. In this way, private schools become coerced into teaching to the test to maintain accreditation and how does a school teach to the test without aligning their curricula – at least in part – to the Common Core? In a solid example of the overlap I mentioned among the four pillars, State Longitudinal Database Systems are used to collect private school test scores in order to provide verification to the accreditation board that the school is worthy of continued endorsement.

In states such as Indiana Ohio and Wisconsin, private schools can’t participate in voucher programs without a record of student outcomes on state tests.  If the private school wants to participate in a state voucher program, they must weigh the advantages of increased enrollment against the prospect of teaching to a Common Core-aligned state exam and possibly losing existing students.

Because homeschools most often use traditional educational methodology, the possibility for student success on Common Core-aligned college entrance exams doesn’t erode drastically due to a well-rounded educational foundation. The difficulty, however, comes when answering Common Core-aligned questions in math, for example, which utilize a confusing multi-step constructivist approach as opposed to the more straight forward traditional style. Consequently, homeschools – as private schools – must count the cost of attempting possibly confusing curricula in order to increase their chances of college admission.

In states requiring homeschool students to submit to state testing, parents have the option of either including Common Core-aligned curricula in order to increase their odds of providing the state a passing grade, or dealing with the fallout should their student be labeled less than proficient. Either way, the Common Core State Standards became impelled upon students via state testing policy.

QUESTION 3
The promotional materials for this debate were headlined “Common Core Chaos?” What is the state of play in Oklahoma now that we have rejected Common Core? Can the case be made that Oklahoma is actually worse off with all the uncertainty about standards and tests than if we had just stuck with the Common Core?

Can the case be made that there is anything certain about Common Core? What evidence is there that Common Core will improve student achievement? What data show Common Core will reduce college remediation rates? What students have graduated college following a steady diet of Common Core State Standards based curricula? None. There is no evidence, no data, no students because this whole experiment has been, well, experimental.

There is a case to be made for the converse, however. We know that the process of creating Common Core tests has been chaotic and the process of administering even the practice tests has created chaos in schools all across Oklahoma. We’ve seen the chaos created when parents with advanced degrees are unable to help even their elementary students with Common Core math homework, not because they are mathematically challenged, but because the problem solving methods make no sense. We’ve heard early childhood experts testify to the chaos in their classrooms created by the unhealthy levels of stress exhibited in younger kids as a result of classroom work based on developmentally inappropriate standards.

Additionally, states further along in the Common Core process than Oklahoma, like New York, are trying to get out of Common Core because of the chaos its causing in their state. Why would Oklahoma NOT want to avoid something that has become a colossal waste of money and frustration for others? Oklahoma needs to chart its own path – a successful one based upon excellent local standards that will build on the resiliency, tenacity and ingenuity of Oklahomans – traits that have created one of the most successful economies in the nation currently. We have a new State Superintendent and a springboard forward into educational freedom off the back of Common Core repeal – we need to take this opportunity and run with it.

QUESTION 4
A house editorial in the Washington Examiner made the point that “Common Core combatants likely agree on few things, but there is one point on which they do agree — America's public schools are failing and have been for many years.” Do you two agree on that point? If so, Jenni, what solutions do you propose in lieu of Common Core? And Mike, are there any solutions you favor in addition to Common Core?

Schools aren’t failing – public school policy is failing and taking education down with it. In fact, we’re seeing systemic failure as one ineffective/unproductive law is replaced or augmented by another and then another – in attempt to bring about results largely unattainable by legislative means. Education legislation and programming features a paucity of education history and research, focusing instead on the newest ‘trends’ in education such as ‘flipped classrooms’ where teachers basically help kids with their homework after they have been ‘taught’ the material via video at home.

Today’s education focus is entirely wrong-headed. Students should not be educated ‘for’ college or ‘for’ the workforce – they shouldn’t be subjected to the latest fads. Students should be educated broadly in the arts and sciences, history and classical literature – not subjected to restrictive curricula that emphasizes mainly math and English which are then taught as skills and not for the love and joy of learning and knowing.

Students are arm-twisted and mercilessly forced into education submission by a test and punish system that robs them of their personal responsibility for their own learning. Parents are held at arm’s length and often treated as adversaries by school administration instead of the responsible party for their child’s education.

The only way to solve the majority of these issues is educational freedom. Freedom that allows parents to choose the school with the curricula and set of standards best in line with their children’s unique and individual needs. Instead of funding flowing to the school, funds should flow from the parents to the school in the ultimate act of educational accountability.

For decades, public education has moved farther and farther away from the ones it directly serves – it’s time to put the responsibility for education back in the hands of parents. As Einstein said, Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.” It’s time for a paradigm shift toward personal responsibility and control of local education with parents at the helm.

Why I Choose To School My Children At Home And Why I Think You Should Too

by Jenni White

"Mom, are you going to check my paper?"  Sam, my youngest, is sitting next to me doing math right now, but because I'm attempting to write a blog, I ask him to hold on a minute.  Don't worry, he'll ask again in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

"Ok...let's look..." I answer, swinging away from my keyboard.

Obviously, I did not choose to homeschool my children so that I could get more done for ROPE.  I'm sure homeschooling and peace and quiet can be synonymous, but I don't find that often in the White house anymore.

It's not always been this way.  My kids haven't always been homeschooled.

In fact, when my husband David and I had our first son, Coleman (we also have a married daughter, Bryna, 31) he and I left our little self-remodeled 50's bungalow for a bigger house in the neighborhood where I grew up - so he could attend a 'Blue Ribbon' public school - we never even considered anything else.

Coleman - and our adopted daughter Betty - started half-day kindergarten at that little school in 2007 and I was irritated they were only going a half day.  It made no sense to me that other schools had full day kindergarten and mine had only half.  I joined PTA, went to every Kindergarten presentation, helped them with their reading every evening and enjoyed both kids' teachers tremendously.

In 2008, the school offered full year kindergarten and by 2009, I was standing in line so Sam, could be in half-day pre-k.

During the end of 2008, something began to change in me.  Until this time, I was a pretty typical stay-at-home mom; cleaning house, making meals, doing laundry and very involved in my church.  I did have a home business I began in 2003 named for the son we lost between Coleman and Sam (MarshallsMemories), and I scrap-booked and made jewelry in my 'off' hours, selling my wares mainly on Etsy.com, but other than that, nothing remarkable.

Though I had voted in nearly every election since I was 18, I had never really been involved in 'politics'.

I registered Republican at 18 (I adored Ronald Reagan) and, excepting a fall from the wagon with Clinton's first term, I found Republican ideals more suited to my own.  Voting was one thing; researching a candidate's voting record or background, another.  That had never been on my radar screen, yet toward the middle of '08, I began researching then-presidential candidate Barrack Obama and became concerned about what I found. Never before much interested in America's form of government, civics or history, I suddenly wanted to know as much as I could about as much as I could.  The more I found out about Communism, Marxism and America's Republican form of government, the more I became convinced public schools had, by and large, simply quit teaching the fundamentals of American history and government.

One thing led to another with my research and by 2010, a friend (Julie McKenzie) and I had started ROPE as a way to shed light on the fact that American students were graduating high school with little to no education in the founding of our country and the science of civics. In fact, ROPE's first stab at legislation was to make sure kids were reading American foundational documents.  From there, we began studying public school funding and many, many other topics relating to the education of our youth across Oklahoma and America.

Interestingly, I spent the first several years of my career as ROPE president, researching and writing about public school issues after dutifully seeing my kids off to school.  In fact, I remember complaining bitterly when school was canceled for snow or cold, or there was an assembly.  My property taxes were going to pay for this school to be open, why wasn't it?  My kids needed to be in school, not sitting around home watching TV.

I knew there were parents out there who schooled their kids at home yet I thought them only slightly sane.  Why would anyone bring their kids home for school?  How were they going to get a good education?  Parents weren't teachers for Pete's sake, what parent thought they could adequately educate a child for college by keeping him home?  Even having been a teacher - even with a Master's Degree in Biology - this thought was anathema.  I was fairly certain homeschooled kids did little but run around their neighborhoods during regular school hours, driving their scooters in front of cars like a homeschool family that moved (briefly) into our neighborhood.  How in the world did these kids make friends?  Who was around to hang out with during the day?  None of this made any sense to me.

As a Christian, I had also come to believe that my Christian children could be salt and light to nonbelievers at their school.  Why would I even think of removing my kids from public school when they could be leading others to Jesus within the confines of the school room walls?*

Throughout the years, I was active in PTA at the school.  I tried to attend every meeting I could and did what I could to help out with PTA functions.  One day at a PTA meeting, I spoke up and asked why we were raising so much money for the school (we had 10's of thousands in the school PTA account).  I was told it was for the school's computer lab and to pay for a new gymnasium that we could use during the week and rent out for basketball games/practice on the weekends.  Once, when I opined that elementary kids didn't really need to learn how to operate computers, I had the immediate and distinct notion I had broached the unbroachable.  It was clear these kids MUST have computer time or they would fall behind their peers at other schools - did I want our kids to be computer illiterate?  I had just read research indicating that electronics for elementary-aged kids can prevent them from focusing by shortening their attention span, so I shared this.  Clearly, no one in the room was interested.

After studying traditional math (in comparison to the Common Core) I shared - at another meeting - that our school should NOT be using Everyday math, but instead adopt Saxon or Singapore texts.  This revelation was met with disinterest in the least and consternation at worst.  For a number of months I tried to get other parents/teachers on board with the idea, but our Principal finally put the hex on the idea by reporting that the school couldn't afford the textbooks.  PTA, of course, needed their money for a computer lab and gymnasium.  It was then I realized that even math illiterate kids can get on the computer and play roundball, and maybe my ideals about education weren't those of my fellow parents or school.

No matter how many children you have, no two will be alike.  I have four, and while none of them are carbon copies of one another, I managed to get a more introverted boy and a girl and a boy and a girl who love going and doing and being right in the middle of everything.  Coleman is one of my introverts.  From a young age that kid would sit by himself, perfectly content building Lego's or drawing, so I shouldn't have been surprised when during the middle of a VERY TOUGH 3rd grade year (lots of bullying and an overbearing teacher who didn't like my son much), he came to me crying and begging me to homeschool him.

What?  He was just having a reaction to the year, I was sure, yet even after he was moved to another class to try and make it easier for him to learn, he would regularly beg me to keep him home for fourth grade.  Two things happened fairly quickly near the end of that year; a homeschooling mom joined the ROPE board and she began sharing personal experiences about her homeschooling, and Coleman fell face first off the swings, and was made to sit in the office with his face so swollen he could barely open his eyes until they finally got around to calling me. That was it.  Though I wasn't sure how the whole schooling the kid at home would work, I decided to take on the challenge and my husband reluctantly agreed.

If I hadn't been seen as the bizarre white-haired White lady at that school before, I was by the first day of school 2010-2011.  I enrolled Sam and Betty in 1st and 4th grades respectively, while submitting a letter to the office that I would be schooling Coleman at home and signing up for another year of PTA - this time with the intention of running for President.**

I began Coleman in Classical Conversations that year.  One day a week I went to an Edmond church 'campus' where kids of all ages and stages came together to learn all sorts of facts about all sorts of things.  In the morning, Coleman had Foundations (the facts portion of the curriculum) and in the afternoon he had Essentials of the English Language where he learned to diagram sentences and write essays.  At home during the week while his siblings were in school, Coleman would study his facts, practice his English assignments and write a paper on a different topic each week.  I added Saxon math and had him read and outline a junior classic book every couple of weeks.  Though I suspect both David and I thought he would soon tire of the self-paced work and lack of friendship, he blossomed, and I learned more about traditional (classical) education vs the progressive education taught in most public schools today.

ROPE had just taken on Common Core and I was speaking and writing and lobbying frequently at this point.  Disinterested with the idea of hanging with Mimi or Grandmama during many of my outings, he chose to come along to the Capitol, to meetings - wherever I was headed - and he had a blast (most times!).

Meanwhile, I was still following what the other two were doing in public school, but by now my eyes had fully opened and I was beginning to see the light.  The assignments Betty brought home from school made my new blog (begun in July of 2011) several times, as did school newsletters and other items.  Her fourth grade teacher and I did not see eye-to-eye and her deeply progressive, rude, student teacher nearly caused my husband apoplexy after a meeting scheduled to discuss some of her more interesting worksheets on Global Warming and Native Americans.

First grade wasn't treating Sam any better.  His teacher should never have been responsible for an elementary classroom.  She was, if anything, more equipped to muscle around teen children - she had absolutely no empathy and seemed to have cared less for little ones in general.  Certainly a Common Core apologist, she was proud to tell me that our school was an early adopter of the standards, knowing the state would force the issue the following school year.  During his tenure in her first grade class, he learned to spell words like Kapok Tree (thanks to the chapter on rain forest deforestation) while learning nearly zero English grammar mechanics for spelling (i before e except after c, etc.).  Even today, that kid can spell very, very little no matter how hard I have tried to teach him by phonemes.  Then there was the math.  Oh my word.  Though my child could easily be classified ADD, I have no doubt in my mind that his math experiences in first grade are what set him back at least two grades and made him absolutely detest the subject.  The fact that he can't sit still and concentrate doesn't make him hate math, it just makes him hate sitting down for any length of time.

By the end of 4th and 1st grades in public school while homeschooling one simultaneously, I had simply gotten to the point where I had zero compunction about removing the other two kids lock stock and barrel from public school and pulling them onto the CC campus with Coleman.  I'm sure the school was absolutely ecstatic to see me go, and we were just as pleased to leave.

And there you have it.  The genesis of the White family homeschool experience.

Today, we're still with Classical, but we're now at a campus well outside the city, near the little town where we've moved to start a farm.  Apparently, once you jump off one conveyor belt, it's becomes easier to jump off the rest (packaged food vs fresh food, internet news vs Big Media news, classic shows on Netflix vs commercial television - we've jumped off them all).  Sadly, as I look back, I see how brainwashed Americans - especially mothers - have become.  We women bought into that 'bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan' mentality back in the '70's and now we have no qualms dropping off even our youngest children to be raised by someone other than ourselves during the day while we are at work.

I did the math one day.  Did you know that each year your child/children are in school, you are allowing someone other than yourself to influence your children 1,190 hours = 50 days = 14% of a year?  Did you know that every year our state/federal government want your children to be in school MORE hours and MORE days?  How many can you lose and expect your child to graduate high school (let alone college) comfortable with your set of values?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that homeschooling is the panacea for producing 'perfect' people (how about that for alliteration!?) - there is no formula for perfection and there is only One that was - I'm simply saying that the more you influence your child, the less someone else is influencing your child.

Neither am I saying that all homeschools produce excellent results, or are done for the right reasons or should be held up as education models for all to see.  I am saying, however, that more parents are equipped to homeschool than are.  I'm saying that more parents can homeschool than think they can.  I'm saying many parents don't even entertain the option because they think themselves ill-equipped.

Over twenty years ago when people like my friends, former state representative George Faught and his wife Becky, began homeschooling their children - in the days when people in IGA would call the truant officer because Becky had her kids in the store while she shopped - there were very few resources for parents that wanted to homeschool.  This isn't the case today.  Today there are wonderful online resources (not K12 or other online schools associated with state public schools) such as Freedom Project Education, and others such as Sonlight and A Beka that can provide excellent road maps to an excellent education for ANY parent, regardless of educational background.

As I've said many times in many different venues, God blessed you with your children.  He gave them to you to raise, not to a school or a teacher.  We are admonished to "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6), and that admonition is for parents directly, not through teachers or schools indirectly.  Though I in no way mean to embarrass or anger parents who choose to send their children to public schools, or the many teachers who bring their wonderful values with them into the classroom to provide the best education they can for each child, I think it is important to think on these things and listen to our hearts.  Could God be calling you to homeschool?  If He is, step out and follow His lead - He will bless you in your efforts.  If God is not calling you to homeschool, make sure to take time with your children when they are at home - indoctrinate them in your worldview - watch carefully the items that come home - stay in contact with your child/children's teacher/s - make public education work for your family.

No matter what, be sensitive to your kids and keep them under your wing as long as possible.  They are only little a short while and after that, your influence wanes.  Although I will continue to fight for public education (and so should we all), until parents can return to the position of authority in their child's education within the system, as many of us as can, should be out of it.  The system won't change on its own, and a wheel deprived of cogs won't work and must be re-built, or demolished back to step one.  Let's stay engaged and committed to restoring public education, but let's not throw our kids in the deep end of the pool to dog paddle as we do.



*I learned subsequently (through an experience with my daughter), that few young children can withstand the pressure of their peers or put aside their desire to please their teacher with enough force or consistency to keep the worldview imparted to them by their parents.  As strong as we like to think our children are in the Lord, until they've been able to understand and articulate their Christian worldview well enough to attain apologist status, kids will more than likely adapt to the worldview espoused by their peers/teachers.  Children should never be sacrificed on the altar of evangelism and sadly, this is often the case when Christian children are left to defend their faiths inside secular schools.

** I was told I would not be allowed to run for PTA president because I was "too political".  Yes, it's true.  There you have it.  If PTA weren't an arm of NEA and the ultimate in everything political, I wouldn't have laughed so hard I nearly wet my pants, yet that's exactly what I did.

Disheartened and Exhausted

This post is not sanctioned by ROPE's board.  This is a personal post I have wanted to make for weeks.....

One week ago Wednesday, I couldn't go on.  I mean, I got out of bed knowing I needed to dump my kids again to go to the Capitol for filing day (we wanted to be there to distribute our thoughts on Common Core to the new filers for public office) but my heart wasn't in it.  I dutifully fulfilled my household morning chores and got out the door with the kids in tow complaining about having to sit at the Capitol - yet again - and either wait for me to finish my work or for their Mimi to come pick them up.

Once we got there, I got them seated at chairs around a table and turned toward our group outside the doors to the new senate offices on the second floor.  As I walked toward them, I turned around one more time to check on the kids.  Betty (12) had school work, Coleman (nearly 12) had his MP3 player and Sam (9) had - as usual - Lego's.  All of them sat there with such dejected - and bored - looks on their faces it made me feel like the worst mother in the world - like I was dumping puppies along the side of a deserted road.  In fact, it made me really wonder what in the world I was doing.

For four years now while ROPE has worked to educate people about Common Core, these poor kids have been shuffled here and there - dumped off on Mimi, Grandmama and Grandpapa, neighbors, aunts - anyone who would/could take them - so I could go to the Capitol for a meeting or a rally, or to speak.  Though I began to homeschool all three of them two years ago, they have hardly been in their books since January as my fight to stop Common Core has escalated to a blood sport and I have been 'needed' here and there seemingly 24/7.

That week I had a speaking engagement in the city Monday night (necessitating arrangements to get Betty back and forth from tumbling), Tuesday night I drove to Claremore to speak (I cooked early to have dinner on the table for everyone before I left), Wednesday night we had church, Thursday night both Coleman and Sam had baseball games (necessitating great planning since they were completely on either side of the city), Friday night I had plans to attend the GOP Delegation Dinner, Saturday morning I had plans to attend the GOP rally and Saturday night was the wedding of one of my husband's friends.

I had also been up nearly every night until well after midnight researching  and writing blogs to show legislators why Oklahoma needs to keep PASS and dump our contract with Measured Progress since these messages need to be reinforced once we leave and aren't there 'on site' to lobby.  In fact, most of the last several months of this year I've been unable to get up in the am for my regular workout because I've been too tired to get up after being up late writing.

Despite all  this, I still had laundry to do, homeschool lessons to start, phone calls to make and return, articles to read, emails to  create and send, a turkey pen that needed to be finished, a pen for two new puppies that needed to be built and a garden to get in.  After Wednesday, I knew something had to give.  I knew I simply couldn't carry on.  More than that - I knew I didn't want to carry on.  Consequently, I canned the events of Friday night and Saturday morning - and a number of ROPE duties since.

Oddly, it was just several weeks previously, I had given serious thought to filing for State Superintendent at the last minute.  I simply cannot see Janet Barresi re-elected knowing what I know about the machinations of the state Department of Ed since she took office.  Though I like Joy Hoffmeister a great deal as a person, few people have studied the NCLB waiver, State Longitudinal Database System and Common Core in depth, thus I had worked myself into believing I needed to run to do whatever I could do to make sure this current elitist-inspired-micromanagement-heavy-education-'reform'-nonsense stopped.

When I brought the idea up to my husband - this better-than-I-deserve man who has carried on in my continued absence over the years raising kids, cooking meals and folding laundry all while cheer leading my efforts - reminded me that our kids wouldn't be kids for long, but said he would support me if I felt I really needed to take that hill.  My mother told me absolutely no, for the same reason my best friends told me no - I would more than likely stir the ire of Dr. Barresi further, inciting a media campaign I couldn't hope to challenge without money - and I wouldn't have any.  It was too late in the season and the only money to which we'd have access would come from individual donors while Barresi self-funds her campaign in the millions.

I think this was one of the final straws on this camel's back.

How many elections are truly won by the grassroots anymore?  Some to be sure, but most individuals from the rank and file taxpayer order who deign to enter to role of  'public servant' are bloodied and bruised by ugly and outright mean-spirited campaigns run by monied individuals and groups such as the Chamber of Commerce who simply love the status quo (I'm thinking specifically of the Paul Blair/Clark Jolley Senate race last cycle) more than they care about the Constitution, or Liberty or Republican principles of government.  The election machine has become one that chews up and spits out not only the Founders original ideals for the process, but the very individuals it was created to protect and serve.  This infuriates me.  It actually infuriates me to have to  throw plans to run for an elected office out the window because another candidate could/would attempt to sully my name just to win an election, hurting my family and the work I've done over the years in the process.

Since I began my foray into politics in 2008, I haven't been blinded to this notion, but I guess after years of seeing regular everyday folks  getting trashed in the name of politics - or shut out Iof the process altogether by those who have more money than they - I'm just sick of it.  But I'm also sick of banging my head against this wall while most everyone else is sitting in their easy chair watching with bated breath to see who wins American Idol.

The other straw was exactly that...this last Tuesday, I was invited to speak in Norman.  I was going to speak on Common Core and a bit of its history and where our current bill (HB3399) is now.  Barely 20 people showed up and only two sets of those were actual parents with kids in school.  Where was everybody else?  Where were all the other parents?  God bless these families who attended, but for Pete sakes, there are thousands of parents whose children go to Norman public schools. Where were any of them?  Do they care?  If not, why am I leaving my kids at home and my chores undone so my husband who works a full time job and then has to come home and do my work for me, just to tell people about something they clearly care little about - for free?  Yes, everything I do, from research to travel to writing to lobbying to attending conferences - is all done for free unless someone donates money to the cause.  In fact, all of us at ROPE use our own household budgets to cover our expenses.  We certainly appreciate those who have donated their hard-earned money over the years, but our expenses have always exceeded our donations.

Yes, over the last year, we have made great strides in our attempt to Stop Common Core in Oklahoma.  We've had people attend functions at the Capitol in numbers we've never had previously, yet of all those hundreds of faithful who have showed up for our functions this year, nearly 10,000 attended a rally at the Capitol under the auspices of providing more funding for public schools.  This frustrated me enough to write about it, yet when I did, I was condemned by teachers (some of whom felt so angry at me they deemed it necessary to use profanity - others who unsubscribed from our email list) who were offended that I was frustrated.  Yes, I've been called names and berated for my work previously and I could care less what the Oklahoman, the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce and Stand On Children think about me, but I've never been berated by teachers before - on our own Facebook page - by people we are trying to help - for free.  How may people really want to do a job where you're subjected to an emotional beating for free?

True, some of the attendance at our functions has to be due to the seeds we have been planting since 2010, but a lot of it is the fact that this is the first year Common Core has really been implemented in schools to any real degree since next year is set for full implementation.  Many parents were awakened by Oklahoma's 3rd grade reading retention law - many by testing - but whatever the reason, most were activated as the problems came knocking on their door.  ROPE didn't awaken them - we may have been here to answer questions in some cases - but I honestly feel we have 'awakened' few parents over the years.

I know how this sounds.  At least I can imagine.  I'm sure it sounds like a bunch of whining and complaining about something I don't have to do if I don't want to do it.  Well sure.  This was a blow-off-steam kind of a blog.  However, the disheartened burnout phase is real - mitigated by the very real circumstances described above.

I'm not about to quit yet - we haven't gotten HB3399 across the finish line and a new Superintendent (and hopefully a new governor) - but it may take a while to get the wind beneath my wings again.  Thinking about the prospect of the next time I have to drop my kids off to do something for ROPE makes me cringe as much as the house, school and farm work piling up while I'm doing it - but it's more than that.  Until people in Oklahoma (and America, frankly) wake up to the clear and present danger posed by our ever-increasing government and our ever-shrinking sphere of liberty, we're toast.  In fact, we're fast becoming Rome and the pressure of trying to bring in water while Nero fiddles and the plebs file into the Vomitorium, or the Colosseum to watch lions eat Christians, is exhausting.

How Common Core Affects Small Business AND Home Schoolers!

One of the things we here at ROPE have been trying to get people to recognize for some time, is the effect of Common Core on Home School students/families and small booksellers/publishers.

Last week, Oklahoma had it's final in a series of Common Core Interim Studies in the House Administrative Rules Committee Chaired by Representative Gus Blackwell.  November 5th, 2013, teachers, superintendents and parents were encouraged to share with Oklahoma legislators, their feelings on the Common Core.

Of those that participated (and we had 12 individual testimonies) we feel that Andrew Pudewa of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, was one of the most outstanding.  His company produces educational materials for home schools, private schools AND public schools.  Because he is a small niche market, he has an economic message for those pushing Common Core that we believe EVERYONE should hear.  In addition, he is also able to articulate his concerns about Common Core in relation to the home schooling community.

His message is VERY clear - Common Core is forcing small niche booksellers/publishers to show how they are aligned with Common Core in order to keep what little market share they have.  This, in turn, upsets home school parents, many of whom are aware of the dangers of Common Core from a government overreach perspective, and do not want to support booksellers/publishers who align to the Common Core.

His words are concise - his message should resonate with EVERYONE concerned about Common Core in America.  We hope you find his words as enlightening as did we and will find a way to move this message far and wide.  The Chamber of Commerce needs to understand that it's hard to build a pro-business message for Common Core when there is an entire sector of the business world they are not only neglecting, but actively working against by promoting Common Core.

Home schoolers should become more active in the fight against Common Core, because eventually, after they've wiped out public schools as we know them, they'll be at your door.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZK5ycZKlQY&feature=c4-overview&list=UUffrnW6WlGtduw0C7NXNWKg

Open Letter to Rep. Janine Nollan On Common Core and HB 2543

Rep. Nollan,

We have talked on many occasions about our interest in public education. I know you missed our interim study on the Common Core. I am attaching it here. I ask you to review it carefully and contact me with any questions as we will be attempting to have the Common Core repealed again this year and would appreciate your assistance.

It is important to remember that as Conservatives, we want LESS government, not more. The CCSS will REDUCE our options and choices, not broaden them and ALL public education reform today should be about broadening our choices and giving parents and our state the opportunity to manage education for Oklahoma's children and not have that decided by others who do not live in our beautiful state and do not know our way of life!

In this vein, your bill HB 2543 which forces home school parents such as myself to 'register' my children with the state. Having discussed this with you on a passing basis one time, I know you have personal concerns about home schooling, but I reminded you at that time that what you were describing was a deviant, not the norm. I urge you to read my blog where I recount Charlie Meadows experience as a judge for the Oklahoma Home School Speech and Debate contest.

I ask you to please look further and deeper into home school. Do NOT penalize those of us who want to educate our children at home because there are some that take advantage of our freedoms but do not. Reducing the freedoms of others is NOT the way to insure the safety of children. Once government begins to oversee EVERY aspect of our lives - and we are well on our way toward that situation today - ALL freedom will be lost. You must, as did our Founders, believe in the resilience and autonomy of our families in the face of government and allow those to fail who would fail and those who would succeed to do so.

God bless your efforts and thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you on this issue. OCHEC has already warned their membership of your bill. Please assure us all that you will drop this bill and work outside the system of government, inside the home school movement, to advocate for best practices in home school environments.

Very Sincerely,

Jenni White

President, Restore Oklahoma Public Education

I Can Bring Home the Bacon...

I sort of had a mental breakdown when I read Brandon Dutcher’s post this morning.

I can't possibly articulate the number of times I have thought of the movie Logan's Run lately myself - not only in terms of public education today - but the way in which our federal government has usurped nearly every aspect of our lives. We are not people anymore, we are numbers – numbers on a computer screen for health care and insurance companies, and public schools from elementary to college – and we have allowed ourselves to become just that.

Why do very few people today understand that ‘numbering’ people has been done before? Please, ask a Jew who has survived Auschwitz. They’ll tell you what it’s like to be a number and how easy it is for those doing the numbering to completely dehumanize every individual numbered.

I wish these kinds of posts (thoughts) would truly waken people to the fact that children are a gift from a God that expected PARENTS to raise them for Him without pawning them off onto public schools or the mall or - where ever with whom ever – so you could go to work or struggle to survive.

I truly FEAR that until we start seeing kids as gifts from God we will never truly decide to throw off our 'worldly' trappings in order to create two parent families with mothers who take up the mantle of protector, tutor and disciplinarian (note I didn't say, 'scheduler of activities' here) things in this country cannot change.

I don't say that lightly, either. Nor am I attempting to wage the war of hypocrisy among my fellow parents.

It is a fact that until I began homeschooling our oldest son this year I had not understood this in totality. Before my son became MY FULL AND COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY during EACH AND EVERY DAY, I had developed a really great double-speak about the necessity of parents to get their kids out of public school and be actual parents - not guardians - of their children.

Once my son became my actual responsbility, I became absolutely and completely convicted of the kind of mother I had been to my children in their previous years. I don’t think I ever realized how content I was when I could simply drop them off at our ‘safe’ public elementary school every day and go about my regular routine of criticizing our public school administration and elected officials. I was, after all, ‘at home’. I didn’t work ‘outside’ my home. I was ‘here’ for my kids.

I find it sad but true, that since the beginning of the women’s movement in the 60’s and the following “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never, let you forget you’re a man” mantra from the early 1980’s, American women have allowed a wholly ungodly group of individuals to tell us supposedly Godly women how to behave – what was and wasn’t important in our lives.

Obviously, Enjolie thought that working outside the home while reading to your kids before you put them in bed to ‘service’ your husband was appropriate and we bought it. The real problem became that once we figured we could ‘do it ourselves’, what did we need men for? We could take our kids and leave that boring (unattractive, not earning enough money…whatever…) man and make it on our own. Too bad the commercial didn’t tell us that by simply taking care of ourselves, not only would our kids suffer, but the communist and socialist sympathizers had plans for them when we finally created that selfish lifestyle advertisers sold us – plans to make them Godless, automatons who prayed to the “environment” and “social justice”.

Now, we’re seeing their plans played out in schools everywhere across the country, yet most American women are Enjolie women who haven’t awakened from their ‘80’s “me” coma yet.

Now, I fear, the only thing that will wake them is social collapse – and that, make no mistake, is coming and coming fast.

My only hope lies in Christ and the absolute fact that God is sovereign and knows all things and works all things for good for those who follow His word.

I pray for a spiritual awakening to take hold in this country (particularly mothers) every day…looking around, I’m afraid we’re vastly overdue…