Newspaper Response Letter...

We recently had our PC refurbished. I've been rummaging through some of the files to make sure that as much was transferred as possible. In the process, I came upon a response to a local newspaper article about homeschooling that I wrote & had forgotten about...the same ol' misunderstandings about cyber/charter schools being the same as real homeschooling & 'socialization.' This was from January 1, 2007.

Blessings from Ohio...Kim<><
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Dayton Daily News response letter – Jan. 1, 2007

Dear DDN,

I was just reading the article by James Cummings regarding homeschooling in the area. Over-all, Mr. Cummings did a nice piece; however, one thing he mistakenly led your readers to believe is that on-line cyber/charter schools, such as Ohio Virtual Academy, are homeschools. It is Ohio Administrative Code fact that cyber/charter schools are actually PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE HOME. They are covered under an entirely different section of OAC than homeschooling. Just because the students are “doing” school IN their homes doesn’t mean that they are homeschooling; they are two different things. Cyber/charter schools do not have the freedom to customize their lesson plans to their student’s needs or interests; they are restricted by public school regulations.

When reporters interview public school “officials” regarding homeschooling – which they know virtually nothing about – homeschoolers often feel a mix of aggravation and humor. Aggravation because the supers so often repeat falsehoods that homeschoolers have confronted them about time and time again; humor because…well...for the same reason. If you want information about homeschooling, just go to a homeschooler. Gladly, Mr. Cummings did that, except for his misunderstanding about cyber/charter schools.

When these public school “officials” say that homeschoolers need the socialization that only public schools offer, do they REALLY think that that is a selling point? Why do they think that exposing our kids to bullies, nearly constant cursing, negative peer pressure, drugs, theories being taught as fact as reasons to send our kids to public schools or that this type of behavior is what the “real world” is all about? Do you curse profusely, bully and threaten co-workers, take their lunch money, do drugs at work, socially punish others who do not dress or act like you at your workplace without getting fired? Or what “real world” situation do you know of where everyone is in the same age-group, doing the same work at the same time? I don’t know of any in our real world.

In our real world, we learn around different age-ranges, occupations, settings; using hands-on, books, clubs, mentors, apprenticing, church and real life. God and Jesus are not curse words in our school, They are our Master Teacher.

The socialization argument is such old hat. Homeschoolers are faced with SO MANY opportunities to socialize, do community work and volunteer that one of the biggest problems new homeschoolers have is to decide what NOT to do – to learn to say “no” to too many outside activities! We graduated our oldest daughter this past June (homeschooled her entire life) and one of the things I did was to read off a two-page, single-spaced list of things that she did during her homeschool career; such things as: working on election campaigns – both local and Presidential – logging in over 75 hours of community service activities in 2 years, writing for a national newsletter, plus dance and sports, to name just a few.

With all due respect to Huber Heights superintendent, William Kirby – what “resources and environment” can he possibly offer better than homeschooling? Why would a homeschool parent want to ruin what we have already worked so hard to accomplish in academics, spiritual and character development by sending our children into a dumbed-down situation like what our public schools offer? And cost? Public schools are constantly crying for more and more money – several thousand dollars per year, per student! We have very successfully homeschooled for the past 14 years on around $500 a year – TOTAL! Oh, what I could do with several thousand dollars a year for each of my kids – but it hasn’t been necessary. Parents and other tax payers should be asking the public schools what they’re doing wrong.

There is truly NOTHING that public schools have to offer that we cannot do BETTER ourselves.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Kim Wolf
Miami County, Ohio Homeschool Coordinator