Homeschooling: October 2003 Archives

More on the Home Schooling Article

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OK, this article from CBS has me scared silly, well because I scare very easily about this kind of thing. Something that will motivate social workers to start investigating home schooling families simply because they home school. Somehow we are more suspicious. Somehow we are more neglectful, which is something I do not understand because it is easier to send a child off to school for a minimum of six hours a day and have no concept of what they are doing during the day (not that people who send their children to more traditional schools are neglectful, I just do not see the logic simply on the basis of "where" they school).

With that said, recently my parents went on a retreat where they met the Parish Life Director of the Novus Ordo parish that my new home is a part of geographically. She said there are a few home schoolers in the area, and that they are cultish in nature and home school to cover for their family problems. In all honesty, I think there is some truth to this. When I lived in New Jersey, it seemed less so, so I am not sure what the difference is here except the horrible formation on a diocesan level. Anywho, the conversation with this lady has prompted a bit of family pressure to put the children in school, even though my father, as the Director of Assessment knows first hand how decrepit morally and academically the public schools are and as a Deacon knows how heretical the Catholic schools are. I guess not seeming "weird" or "cultish" is more important.

Now CBS is doing the "expose" on the hidden life of home schoolers, adding more fuel to the fire. I am hoping it is just a passing frenzy and that it will not incite a new type of witch hunt because witch hunts seem the norm for anything not PC lately.

Yikes

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HSLDA has an article about a feature CBS news ran last night. Can I just say "ick"? I have more to say on this, but it will have to wait until later...

In the meantime, this is the info from the HSLDA email (which I am sure many of you have received):

October 14, 2003

Dear HSLDA Members and friends:

CBS National News ran a negative homeschooling report last night
titled "The Dark Side of Homeschooling" and will run a further report
this evening. The reports focus on a handful of child abuse cases
during the past 5 to 10 years involving families claiming to be
homeschoolers.

Last night's segment discussed the murder of Kyle, 13, and Marnie
Warren, 19, by their brother Brandon, 14, and his subsequent suicide.
The Warren family is from Johnston County North Carolina.

To view the CBS story go to:
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1139

Missing from the CBS story was that: Social Services had contacted
the family eleven times, were well aware of the condition of the home
and had been working with the family.

However, to any fair-minded reader the story leaves the impression
that homeschooling equals child abuse.

We are outraged that CBS would ignore the obvious facts and draw the
erroneous conclusion that homeschoolers need to be strictly
regulated. The story is a shameless attempt to smear an entire
community of committed, dedicated parents.

The real story is CBS's bias against homeschooling and it is using
this distorted story to encourage the regulation of homeschoolers.

Please call Viacom (parent company of CBS) and CBS to express your
opposition to the biased reporting and smear campaign against
homeschooling. Highlight the fact that homeschooling was not the
cause of the childrens' deaths and that you expect CBS to have higher
journalistic standards.


Viacom President and CEO - Mel Karmazin
P - 212-258-6000


CBS Evening News - LA Bureau
P - (323) 575-2202


Sincerely,

J. Michael Smith
HSLDA President


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