More Parents Turn to Homeschooling: 62% Increase in the Last Decade
|
By Victor Skinner
The National Catholic Register reports that recent data from the U.S. Department of Education shows explosive growth in homeschooling among American families, particularly in the last 10 years, when the number of students between the ages of 5 and 17 went from 1.09 million in 2003 to 1.77 million in 2012.
Homeschooled students now represent about 3.4 percent of the school-age population, a percentage that's increased significantly for a variety of reasons.
"The first one would be to have them get an individualized education that meets the needs of each student; the second was that we were drawn to a classical curriculum; and the third would be flexibility in time with family," Fredericksburg, Va. homeschool mother Christina Banks told the news site of her reasons for educating her children at home.
"It has become demystified, and it's become more acceptable, socially and culturally, for people to home school," Mike Donnelly, a homeschooling father and attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Foundation, told the Register.
The Education Department's 2012 "
National Household Education Survey" shows the reasons behind parents' decision to homeschool their children has shifted in recent years from mostly religious reasons to concerns about the public school environment and lacking academics.
"Ninety-one percent of parents cited concerns about the environment of public schools, 77 percent cited moral instruction, and 74 percent expressed concerns about the academic instruction," the Register reports. "A lower number, of 64 percent, listed wanting to give their children religious instruction as a reason, followed by 44 percent saying they wanted their child to have a nontraditional form of education."
Read the rest here.
|
Free School Starter Webinar
|
|
|
| Princeton Learning Coop.NJ |
AERO will be offering, for the first time ever, a free webinar on school starting. If you are interested in participating in it just send us your e mail address and we'll send you an invitation with log in info. Reply to this e news or write to
[email protected]
If you plan to start your new alternative in the next year or two and you want to avoid common pitfalls, enroll in the online School Starters Course before it fills up. It is already one-third filled. This does not include the applicants for scholarships.
We have received several applications for the partial scholarships for the School Starters Online Course. We're also looking for more donors so that we can offer discounts to more of the students in the course. We are still taking applicants for the scholarships. Just reply to this newsletter or write to [email protected] and tell us what your vision is and why you need the scholarship in no more than three or four paragraphs.
A scholarship application does not guarantee registration for the course. Enrollment will close when we reach 25 individuals or groups. If you register now at the regular tuition (which will probably go up significantly next year) your place in the course is guaranteed.
|
The Praxis of Hip Hop, Self-Actualization, and Democratic Education for Addressing the Roots of Violence
|
|
John Harris Loflin
Jose Manuel Evans
Black & Latino
Policy Institute
Indianapolis, Indiana USA
Abstract
The unmet need for recognition is at the root of human aggression and violence. Each person has a basic need for food, clothing, and shelter. We also have a personal need for respect and regard, and to reach our potential. For marginalized communities of low-income urban youth of all colors, normal actions taken to meet such needs can become difficult. Efforts are stymied or blocked by society and individuals in the form of injustice and prejudice, as well as discrimination through social, economic, and political isolation. Having these needs unmet, leads to feelings of frustration, powerlessness, hopelessness, and eventually to apathy--the stage before violence. Thus, violence per se is not our problem, normalcy and indifference are. Situations which enable true human regard and respect will reduce the tendency to meet these needs in ways having anti-social consequences. Such genuine situations are characterized by actions toward meeting psychological-social needs through personal and cultural clarification, and self-actualization. The use of pedagogies of recognition and democratic education in our urban public schools, appreciating global Hip Hop culture via validating youths' search for authenticity, and an urban community enabling the uniqueness, self-determination, and human potential of each and every citizen are recommended.
|
| News About John Gatto: He Needs Your Help |
|
AERO contributor and Rethinking Everything Founder Barb Lundgren sent us the following update on John Gatto:
John Taylor Gatto and his wife Janet need our help! If you can donate money to assist with their ongoing living expenses, they would be so grateful. If you or your group can fund a state of the art iPad for John, he is so eager to have this at his side. (If you can do this, be sure to notify his me, so he only receives one! I can be reached via his site or at
(
[email protected]
). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, John and Janet are both very much in need of some moral support. They would be so delighted to hear from you. Please send them a card, a letter, a memorable story, something your kids or family painted or drew or created.
John and Janet both are confined to their apartment with little mobility. Both have suffered serious strokes. Verbal communication is difficult. Still, they are both determined to survive and heal. Still, John continues to write and help folks via his blog. We are all better people through their committed work. Please help if you can! Visit John's medical fund website for the mailing address to send checks and cards/letters/special somethings:
www.thejohntaylorgattomedicalfund.com
. To read John's blog and learn more about his work, visit his primary website:
www.johntaylorgatto.com
.
Thank you!!
|
| Taiwanese Students Occupy Education Ministry Over Textbook Controversy |
Ed: Sent by AERO Member Adler Yang, who, so far, has survived the monsoon (with his building shaking)
Dozens of Taiwanese students briefly occupied the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taipei last night to protest a series of "minor" adjustments (課綱微調) to school textbooks which activists and academics claim are Sino-centric and whitewash the authoritarian period in Taiwan's history.
Scaling ladders, the activists slipped by police and
stormed the ministry building late on Thursday evening. According to the police, 18 activists subsequently barricaded themselves inside Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa's office, using furniture to block the door. By about 1 a.m., police had succeeded in expelling the students, some of whom had their hands tied behind their backs with plastic restraints.
Read the rest
here.
|
Do you have a news or resource item you think Education Revolution newsletter readers would find useful? Send it to [email protected].
|
 |
Thank you for your ongoing support. With
your help, we will make learner-centered alternatives available to everyone!
Sincerely,
Jerry Mintz
Executive Director
Alternative Education Resource Organization
|
 The Ten Signs You Need to Find a Different Kind of Education for Your Child
|
|
Many parents don't realize that the education world has changed drastically since they were in school. Schools and class sizes used to be smaller, dropout rates lower, in-school violence almost unheard of, and teachers weren't terrified of showing affection to their students, or of discussing moral values. Of course, even then, school was far from perfect, but at least the teachers-and usually the principal-knew every student by name, something that is increasingly rare today.
Because our public school system has deteriorated considerably, many parents, teachers, and individuals have taken it upon themselves to create public and private alternatives to that system; and it is important for parents to know that they now have choices.
So how do you know that it's time to look for another educational approach for your child? Here are some of the signs:
1. Does your child say he or she hates school?
If so, something is probably wrong with the school. Children are natural learners, and when they're young, you can hardly stop them from learning. If your child says they hate school, listen to them.
|
|
|
|
|
