More families are deciding that school’s out – forever
Kate Hammer
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published on Friday, Sep. 10, 2010 5:00PM EDT
Last updated on Saturday, Sep. 11, 2010 5:46PM EDT
It has been Saturday in the Laricchia household for nearly a decade.
The family's three teenagers, Michael, Lissy and Joseph, have known nothing of alarm clocks, races for the school bus, arguments over homework or report-card angst since their parents started “unschooling” them in 2002.
The small but growing movement the Laricchias have joined is known by many other names, including deschooling, life learning and edu-punk. At base, unschooling is home-schooling returned to its postwar progressive roots, far from the Bible-thumping mould that has come to dominate the modern image of home-schoolers. . . .
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Homeschooling is legal in India
Until earlier this year, there was no compulsory education law in India, and as school was not required, homeschooling wasn't illegal. The pressure there was from grandparents, because of the emphasis on professional degrees as a mark of success.
This week there is a clarification of the law. It will require each state to provide education, but not require every child to attend those schools.
From Homeschooling in India – An Education called Life
Homeschooling – Legal in India as per RTE act 2009
SEPTEMBER 8, 2010
In addition to the half page feature on homeschoolers in India in today’s Times of India Pune edition, there is an important legal article too on the front page titled – RTE: Homeschooling too is fine, says Sibal
Here is what it says -
RTE: Homeschooling too is fine, says Sibal
But States Must Ensure Education For All: Minister
Neha Madaan | TNN Pune
Homeschooling parents can continue to educate their children at home now that HRD minister Kapil Sibal has clarified the ministry’s stance.“The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 wants every child to be in school,but if somebody decides not to send his/her children to school, we are not going to interfere. The compulsion is on the state, not on the parents. Parents are free not to send their children to school, but teach them at home. We cannot be micromanaging,” Sibal told TOI on Tuesday.
The Act stipulates eight years of formal education for all children between 6 and 14 years of age. Homeschooling parents believe in individual skills and want to nurture them in their children at home rather than in schools. The Act, outlining the duties of the parents,says,“It shall be the duty of every parent or guardian to admit or cause to be admitted his or her child or ward, as the case may be,to an elementary education in the neighbourhood school.”
The 25-odd city-based homeschooling families and scores from other cities have been looking at the implications of the Act and seeking clarifications over whether it is a punishable offence. Educational expert Alok Mathur said homeschooling is not punishable under the Act. Mathur, the director of teachers’ education at Rishi Valley school in Andhra Pradesh, which imparts alternative education, was part of a group which met Sibal a few weeks ago in Delhi. The meeting was initiated on behalf of a Delhi-based homeschooling parent. “I accompanied him for the meeting since a group supporting alternative schooling had sent a letter to the minister along with the homeschooling petition. I was among the signatories,” said Mathur. According to him, the minister, at the meeting, had said that the purpose behind the Act is to make it obligatory for the government to provide reasonable quality education to all sections of society, especially the poorest and deprived sections. In the minister’s view, if parents wished to and had the means, they can homeschool their children.
A Delhi high court division bench in April 2010 heard a PIL which said that the Act infringes on the freedom of parents and should be amended for homeschooling. The petition was dismissed, but the bench asked the petitioners to make a representation to the HRD ministry seeking its views on homeschooling. The homeschoolers group’s letter to Sibal asked him to accommodate homeschooling in the RTE Act or clarify its stand on homeschooling and alternative education. At the meeting, according to Mathur, Sibal had said that he did not feel that the government should enact or provide any special provision to cater to the specific needs of ‘gifted and talented’ children. “The minister associated these children with the betteroff sections of society who are already empowered to provide specifically desired education for their own children in the manner they wish to,” Mathur said. Nyla Coelho, coordinator for the Goa-based Taleemnet, a facility to support meaningful and alternative education, said, “The Act is more about giving the masses a chance to literacy. The government would not intervene if parents wish to homeschool their children. I have wanted to convey this to the parents of homeschoolers in Pune to allay their doubts about the Act.”
RTE: Homeschooling too is fine, says Sibal
This week there is a clarification of the law. It will require each state to provide education, but not require every child to attend those schools.
—Sandra
From Homeschooling in India – An Education called Life
Homeschooling – Legal in India as per RTE act 2009
SEPTEMBER 8, 2010
In addition to the half page feature on homeschoolers in India in today’s Times of India Pune edition, there is an important legal article too on the front page titled – RTE: Homeschooling too is fine, says Sibal
Here is what it says -
RTE: Homeschooling too is fine, says Sibal
But States Must Ensure Education For All: Minister
Neha Madaan | TNN Pune
Homeschooling parents can continue to educate their children at home now that HRD minister Kapil Sibal has clarified the ministry’s stance.“The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 wants every child to be in school,but if somebody decides not to send his/her children to school, we are not going to interfere. The compulsion is on the state, not on the parents. Parents are free not to send their children to school, but teach them at home. We cannot be micromanaging,” Sibal told TOI on Tuesday.
The Act stipulates eight years of formal education for all children between 6 and 14 years of age. Homeschooling parents believe in individual skills and want to nurture them in their children at home rather than in schools. The Act, outlining the duties of the parents,says,“It shall be the duty of every parent or guardian to admit or cause to be admitted his or her child or ward, as the case may be,to an elementary education in the neighbourhood school.”
The 25-odd city-based homeschooling families and scores from other cities have been looking at the implications of the Act and seeking clarifications over whether it is a punishable offence. Educational expert Alok Mathur said homeschooling is not punishable under the Act. Mathur, the director of teachers’ education at Rishi Valley school in Andhra Pradesh, which imparts alternative education, was part of a group which met Sibal a few weeks ago in Delhi. The meeting was initiated on behalf of a Delhi-based homeschooling parent. “I accompanied him for the meeting since a group supporting alternative schooling had sent a letter to the minister along with the homeschooling petition. I was among the signatories,” said Mathur. According to him, the minister, at the meeting, had said that the purpose behind the Act is to make it obligatory for the government to provide reasonable quality education to all sections of society, especially the poorest and deprived sections. In the minister’s view, if parents wished to and had the means, they can homeschool their children.
A Delhi high court division bench in April 2010 heard a PIL which said that the Act infringes on the freedom of parents and should be amended for homeschooling. The petition was dismissed, but the bench asked the petitioners to make a representation to the HRD ministry seeking its views on homeschooling. The homeschoolers group’s letter to Sibal asked him to accommodate homeschooling in the RTE Act or clarify its stand on homeschooling and alternative education. At the meeting, according to Mathur, Sibal had said that he did not feel that the government should enact or provide any special provision to cater to the specific needs of ‘gifted and talented’ children. “The minister associated these children with the betteroff sections of society who are already empowered to provide specifically desired education for their own children in the manner they wish to,” Mathur said. Nyla Coelho, coordinator for the Goa-based Taleemnet, a facility to support meaningful and alternative education, said, “The Act is more about giving the masses a chance to literacy. The government would not intervene if parents wish to homeschool their children. I have wanted to convey this to the parents of homeschoolers in Pune to allay their doubts about the Act.”
RTE: Homeschooling too is fine, says Sibal
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Christian Unschooling
I've been working on web links and updating Christian resources. This seemed a good place to mention that.
Imagine being a homeschooler and getting pressure from relatives, friends, schools...
Imagine being an unschooler, and getting pressure from relatives, friends, schools and homeschoolers.
Imagine, then, being a Christian unschooler, and getting pressure from relatives, friends, schools, homeschoolers and other unschoolers.
It can't be easy. It is NOT easy. If anyone has resources in addition to these that promote gentle, natural parenting for Christians, please leave a comment with a link.
The pages I was working on:
Links I've added or spruced up:
Imagine being a homeschooler and getting pressure from relatives, friends, schools...
Imagine being an unschooler, and getting pressure from relatives, friends, schools and homeschoolers.
Imagine, then, being a Christian unschooler, and getting pressure from relatives, friends, schools, homeschoolers and other unschoolers.
It can't be easy. It is NOT easy. If anyone has resources in addition to these that promote gentle, natural parenting for Christians, please leave a comment with a link.
The pages I was working on:
Overcoming Pressure from Conservative Christians to Spank
Unschooling in the World
Links I've added or spruced up:
Christian Unschooling: http://christianunschooling.com/A yahoo group I had listed has disappeared, but here is a search page for Christian unschooling groups on yahoo; this is not a recommendation, just a resource: http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=christian+unschoolers&sort=relevance
Christian Unschooling (facebook page): http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=93561561941
Parenting in Jesus' Footsteps: http://www.parentinginjesusfootsteps.org/
Parents for Nonviolent Parenting: http://www.nospank.net/cnpindex.htm
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Problems from early daycare
Family under the microscope
Avoid putting the under-threes in daycare if you can
Oliver James
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/08/oliver-james-daycare-under-threes
The article came to my attention in this paragraph:
...which appears at the end of this blog post at BigThink.com: http://bigthink.com/ideas/21812
It's #16 in a series called "Month of Thinking Dangerously." This one is called Parents Don't Matter, and has a pro and con (quoting studies and articles). Oliver James was quoted in the rebuttal section, why parents DO matter.
Avoid putting the under-threes in daycare if you can
Oliver James
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/08/oliver-james-daycare-under-threes
The article came to my attention in this paragraph:
In an op-ed for the Guardian, James described a study measuring the amount of cortisol, the stress hormone linked to our flight-or-fight response, in babies left at daycare facilities. On the first, fifth, and ninth days, the babies’ cortisol levels doubled from their home levels. Five months later, the levels, though no longer doubled, were still significantly elevated. And these effects appear to be long lasting, he says: “When cortisol is measured at age 15, the longer a child was in daycare when small, the higher its levels. As high cortisol has been shown many times to be a correlate of all manner of problems, this is bad news.”
...which appears at the end of this blog post at BigThink.com: http://bigthink.com/ideas/21812
It's #16 in a series called "Month of Thinking Dangerously." This one is called Parents Don't Matter, and has a pro and con (quoting studies and articles). Oliver James was quoted in the rebuttal section, why parents DO matter.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Deciding to Home-School
I've never seen a more beautiful description of a decision to homeschool a young boy as this, by Chandra Hoffman:
Why would someone decide to homeschool?http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/deciding-to-home-school/
Why would someone decide to homeschool?http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/deciding-to-home-school/
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Long interview in Spanish
EDUCAR EN CASA – Homeschooling. Entrevistamos a la experta Laura Mascaró sobre todos los aspectos de esta opción educativa
Continuar leyendo en El Blog Alternativo: http://www.elblogalternativo.com/2010/08/16/educar-en-casa-homeschooling-entrevistamos-a-la-experta-laura-mascaro-sobre-todos-los-aspectos-de-esta-opcion-educativa/#ixzz0wt5riiCX
Twenty-two pages of interview!!!
Continuar leyendo en El Blog Alternativo: http://www.elblogalternativo.com/2010/08/16/educar-en-casa-homeschooling-entrevistamos-a-la-experta-laura-mascaro-sobre-todos-los-aspectos-de-esta-opcion-educativa/#ixzz0wt5riiCX
Twenty-two pages of interview!!!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Unschoolers: an interview and a report
http://www.telegram.com/article/20100810/NEWS/100819960/-1/massmoms&TEMPLATE=MASSMOMS
Beth, the mom in the video, sent me a note and said, "We recently were interviewed (for over an hour and a half!) and he squished it into 2.5 minutes....but I really think the overall story was very favorable to unschooling."
A quarterly summary by Shannon Burton, of learning activities sorted roughly by subject. (Most unschoolers don't take notes that way, nor need to, but Shan is in New York State and keeps a portfolio.)
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