Anybody see this? NEA

Same things they’ve been saying for years.

Jean

Interesting that they kept it so short. No validation for the positions.
Sure seems like they find homeschoolers just a tad threatening - as in making them look bad. Too bad that’s valid.

Ah, yes. And when I dared on this forum to suggest that the teaching of reading was being held up by power politics in teacher’s unions, I got my head bitten off for teacher-bashing.

I am a special projects producer for television, and am researching a story on “new, new math” and the NEA’s endorsement of 10 very bad math programs…followed by outrage from professional mathmeticians. I have heard from many that the NEA is an almost secret society that lives in it’s own shell…but I didn’t really understand until I read the NEA’s opinion on homeschooling!! I hate the new math, and I am a brand new homeschooling mom..so I believe I will include that in my story.

I know each state reviews curricula to be used in public schools and comes up with a list of approved texts for math, science, social studies, etc. I assume that school districts choose texts from the approved list, but what about kids in resource room or in gifted programs? Don’t teachers working with these students sometimes chase down materials that will meet the needs of their students, even if those materials are not “state approved” ?

Jean

One of the things I liked about being a special ed teacher was that I was in no way a slave to the school’s materials. I would have them visibly available, and teach the same general content, if for no other reason that I got much more engagement from students because they were learning “regular” education stuff… but I was free to hunt around and modify and use what *worked.*

The down side of that is that sped teachers were given that freedom because there were no expectations for our students.

Sue,

I am sure you hunted down your own material for the benefit of the children. My experience has been that my child is not being taught following the regular ed path.

It is sad that each year he misses more of what he should be learning.

Marion,

I have read other posts of yours in which you have stated that your son isn’t being taught grade level science and social studies in the setting he is in. My son is LD and is mainstreamed for most subjects which has been a struggle because he is behind in reading. Still, most of his knowledge of science and social studies has come from home. (In other words, don’t overestimate what he is missing and underestimate what you can do). We mainly just read to him a lot—we have a book, for example, on ancient civilizations. He is learning about the the birth of civilization in the middle east—he knows there is fighting there now.

My son is very interested in these topics and while his reading is weak still, his curiousity is not. He also does better one on one where he can get all the vocabulary down (he has CAPD and isn’t very good at figuring it out in context). I figure it is giving him a framework to understand stuff in school also.

The other thing we’ve done is purchase history and science based reading books for him. My son reads at a third grade level and there is quite a bit of selection beginning at about a second grade level. He has read about Lincoln, Washington, the revolutionary war, tornadoes, dinosaurs, ect.

Beth

Kids’ nonfiction has gotten so good — it’s so much cheaper to make good pictures now. I steer lots of adults to the kids’ section for the basics on anything.

Personally I think textbooks should be re-invented. Teachers shouldn’t get a classroom set of the same undecipherable rhetoric. THey should get a CD with 20 textbooks’ worth of the same information but with different versions (reading levels especially) available and different choices of emphasis for the teacher to make. Who reads the *whole* text wiht the class anyway? Give each kid a binder and print out what you need.

Can you explain to me what you mean by “dare” and how you did it,and what do you mean that reading was being held up by power politics and the teachers union? Just wanting more information on this please. Thanks terri

Can you explain to me what you mean by “dare” and how you did it,and what do you mean that reading was being held up by power politics and the teachers union? Just wanting more information on this please. Thanks terri

Someone on one of the LDOnline boards was complaining about why schools cannot be convinced to use programs that actually teach reading, and I replied in this same format mentioning that unfortunately it will be hard to make changes until entrenched bad teachers and unions that are against actually teaching can be circumvented. Please note that I certainly do not blame all teachers — there are many out there who are trying their best against long odds in a poorly functioning system. However I was accused of teacher-bashing for this.
How reading teaching improvement is being held up by teachers’ unions: well, the NEA supports discredited teaching methods like “whole language”, and the NEA fights actively against any kind of knowledge or competency standards for teachers. Some teachers are highly competent, and some aren’t. The NEA fights against not only firing, but re-assigning or even not hiring people who are themselves very poor readers and writers.

Sue — a word of caution. Yes, with a good teacher in a good school system, what you advise could be absolutely wonderful. With a non-supportive school system with low expectations, and with a time-serving teacher, the design-your-own type of program has proved to be an even worse disaster. Many of these were tried out in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Some good teachers and schools work miracles. Others just collect the very most basic remedial-level material and run all the kids through it with zero expectations. My first year teaching was a trial by fire. My Grade 9 algebra students had had for two years a teacher they loved; all year I kept hearing “When is Mr. Z coming back? He was a GOOD teacher, not like you.” Unfortunately, Mr. Z was not a math teacher and had apparently spent most of the class telling jokes and stories. The kids were working on a weak Grade 4 level, and had never heard of such concepts as area. He had done the factoring chapter, because he liked that, but that is all the math he did all year, one chapter not related to any other math. I was in constant trouble for being autocratic and negative, ie asking kids to do math work and correcting them when they were wrong, a horrible change after a *fun* teacher. The basic lockstep curriculum, bad as it may be in many ways, is a minimal guarantee of minimal teaching. As a child, I had a couple of incompetent teachers myself, and the very strict curriculum used in our school system saved my education, especially in math.

That’s the rule rather than the exception ‘round here. Special Ed means no accountability, so if you can entertain ‘em, you’re wonderful.

I feel homeschooling can be appropriate for some students; however, of the 13 students that have returned to public education after being home schooled….only one had the appropriate “social behaviors” to be accepted with the general population. There would be peeks in their academics but many glaring holes over all in some knowledge. I am amused by the constant reminder that it was a “home schooled” student that won the National Spelling Bee as well as many of the finalist….What student wouldn’t be at that level if all day for weeks and months studying only or mainly preparing for that event just like an athlete would. Public education is supposed to be well rounded. A student can focus on one area if they choose once they get to high school and still maintain their “social skills”.

I’m curious since I was recently discussing the question “when is the best time to send kids to school after homeschooling” with some other parents. I’m also curious about exactly what sort of “social behaviors” the students you have worked with were lacking. It seems to me that the kids in our homeschool group have pretty good social skills, but I’d like to know what problems you have noted.

Jean

I met a small number of homeschooled students when I was teaching college classes. I also helped a neighbour set up a reading curriculm for her five kids. In general they were just fine socially. One college student had problems, but he was the kind of kid who would have been a problem student anywhere (and many publicly schooled students also had problems!). This is of course not a statistically significant sample, but people who have done large-scale studies have said the same thing — the whole “social-misfit” idea is largely a myth, used by people who have no reasoned arguments against homeschooling.

Uhhh, for example what kindof students? You mean the ones that would otherwise pulldown the schools standardized test scores? You know LD kids?
What gaps in knowledge? You mean the answers to standardized test and on approved curriculum? I’ve seen that homeschoolers have a much broader education and general knowledge than do ps students who are just taught what are on tests. It’s very obvious in comparing the two when abroad.
The homeschoolers in my U.S. hometown who swept the county’s science and debate competetions this year and expect to do very well at the state level were not hothoused or drilled but worked on their own time wth their teams just as in the local HS. I would suggest that those homeschoolers who do well on spelling bees have simply been taught how to decode words and spell properly unlike most publicly educated kids . You seem behind the times. Colleges are actually competing to get homeschooled kids because they don’t have to be remediated.
Also haven’t seen any homeschooled kids returning to public schools getting automatic weapons and opening fire on classmates and teachers. Is that the kind of socialization you are holding up as an example? I suspect you simply let your predjudices color your view. It’s called cognitive dissonance.

I guess if I were still a kid I would rather just talk in school, have circle time ( my favorite the kid gets to go to a group and do what they want), instead of do actual hard work and learn.

This idea of babysitting sped kids then the parents have to be the bad ones making them read and do work they should do at school. It doesn’t get it with me.

Glad to hear your perspective. I’ve seen a couple of studies that show that homeschool kids do indeed have adequate social skills, and I know the kids that I see week in and week out are socialized. I have noticed that when homeschool kids get to middle school age, they often become frustrated with some of the behaviors of their peers at church, scouts, etc. I’ve heard several young ladies lament “all they ever talk about is clothes and boys- it’s kind of boring”. I suspect that these kids would not “fit in” if they went to middle school, but the older kids who go to high school or start taking classes at the community college while in high school are doing fine. Since we plan to homeschool through high school it’s not an issue for us, but for parents trying to decide if they should send the kids to middle school or keep homeschooling until high school, it might be interesting to know more about how homeschoolers make the transition into middle school.

Jean