Judge orders homeschoolers into public district classrooms

Judge orders homeschoolers into public district classrooms

www.wnd.com

A North Carolina judge has ordered three children to attend public schools this fall because the homeschooling their mother has provided over the last four years needs to be "challenged."

The children, however, have tested above their grade levels – by as much as two years.

~snip~

In the North Carolina case, Adam Cothes, a spokesman for the mother, said the children routinely had been testing at up to two years above their grade level, were involved in swim team and other activities.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
The pros and cons of Homeschooling
Questions for parents who homeschool
Home schooling ambush

So......kis doing great on testing and judge is forcing them into public school - the father wants this in a divorce setting. Not right!

Settle the divorce in divorce court and keep the government out of how someone chooses to raise the children. My fear is that this is going to start happening more and more across America also.

Do we have home schoolers here?? I'd like to know what you think about the attacks on homeschooling.


www.wnd.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Champagne

I'd like to know what you think about the attacks on homeschooling.

I expect "home schooling" to be attacked and eventually outlawed. TPTB want to drumb propoganda into the kids heads and use the kids to spy on their parents. Therefore home schooling has to go.

I'd like to know what you think about the attacks on homeschooling.

I expect "home schooling" to be attacked and eventually outlawed. TPTB want to drumb propoganda into the kids heads and use the kids to spy on their parents. Therefore home schooling has to go.

Agreed! Not to mention forcing the 'state's' rights over the parents. I believe this is unconstitutional! The public school system does not educate our children the way I was educated about the history of America and America - period!!

Just another way yo control us.......

While I completely agree the govt should stay out of homeschooling...

the father is a parent and if he wants his kids to go to public school, well, I don't know what to say.

It's interesting that the judge said that he wants the kids to go to public school because the teaching that they got from their mom needs to be "challenged". I remember sitting in biology class in high school and never heard a challenge to evolution. In fact, where I'm from it's against the law.

I never heard anything any teachers said challenged. When I was a junior and senior in high school, all my teachers were über liberal. They'd go on rants and raves about how dumb Republicans/conversatives are, even threatening to fail those that voted for Republicans. Keep in mind, this was high school! I remember being called stupid for being a Christian and being blamed for the country going downhill. In history, we were taught about all religions, how great they were. Except Christianity--it was evil. No one was allowed to challenege that point of view. This was a public school too.

The judge said the husband has not been supportive of his wife's homeschooling, and "it accomplished its purposes. It now was appropriate to have them back in public school."

Mangum said he made the determination on his guiding principle, "What's in the best interest of the minor children," and conceded it was putting his judgment in place of the mother's.

And he said that while he expressed his opinion from the bench in the court hearing, the final written order had not yet been signed
...................
According to Williams' website, the judge also ordered a mental health evaluation for the mother – but not the father – as part of the divorce proceedings, in what Williams described as an attack on the "mother's conservative Christian beliefs."

In my opinion, there are two types of parents who homeschool their children. The first kind do so for educational reasons. That is why their children test 3-5 grades higher than the average child their age. Good for them-that is hard work.
The second type is those who have certain ideological beliefs that conflict with mainstream society so they feel the need to keep their children out of school in order to maintain that belief.
IMO-these children usually test higher anyway due to the fact all that one-on-one time in mathematics or reading (core skills) really pays off.

So you have a divorce preceeding where one parent doesn't want it anymore because he feels its harming the children and the other wants to continue. Its not like they went and found these parents and tried to pull the kids out of the home to attend public school. The husband believes this education (it seems quite a conservative christian one) is becoming detrimental to their lives and it is time for them to become part of society so their futures are more secure in that regard......
It probably is the best thing for the children.
I don't think it sets a precedent for other families in this case.

While I definitely support homeschooling as an option (if public education were better I might feel differently, but in its current state it's just ridiculous) I do worry about children who are homeschooled for purely religious reasons - they shouldn't be completely insulated from other beliefs, and if they do go against the beliefs of the parents it's harder for them to find anyone to turn to. However, having grown up around a lot of religiously-motivated homeschoolers (since my sisters were homeschooled) the majority were incredibly competent, even though most parents didn't have any training in education.

But in this case it seems to have more to do with one parent's desires, so it still comes down primarily to parents' rights. Personally I think it would make sense to ask the students what their opinions are.

The father in this case is using his own children to get back at the mother. So he uses their homeschooling and comes up with some lame-a$$ story about their performance, all the while calling into question the mother's competency to school them. The father is a pathetic loser for using his own children as pawns in a bid for selfish revenge and the judge is a moron for not seeing that.

reply to post by sos37


My first thought as well. The article even mentions the man didn't want to have to be partially responsible to pay for homeschooling expenses.



My second thought was the judge wanted the children to be exposed to the liberal and secular ideologies of public school, also very apparent in the article.

If the children were in some way being harmed, then that would leave this case open to argument. But the article mentioned they already went to public school in the past and were doing very poorly. Then they began home schooling and are now around two years ahead of the curve.

Please. This judge had no right to place his personal opinion over the mother's judgment and the facts supporting her decision. Not to mention he ordered mental evaluation for the mother.

@ This farce of a judge and ex husband.

There really needs to be some kind of combination for the benefit of the child.

I personally am against children soley home schooled because of personal Ideology (that includes Atheists).

Children are pre-adults. Which means they are the next generation in the Real World.

Children's minds should not be pawns of a parents personal belief - - or government propaganda.

I feel Children should be required to at least attend some kind of public run debate class - - to fully expose them to ALL things of this world.

I think there is more to the story, if it is real. From what I seen on that site, it is biased towards homeschooling. I don't think they would tell the complete truth if it could hurt their cause. It is easier to pick it apart and warp it to fit their agenda.

Provocative Subject!

This story is a tragic, but classic example of the machine that is aka as our court system. The Family Courts are full to brimming over with cases of Mom and Dad getting a divorce...sadly putting children in the middle.

For the children the divorce itself is tragic...children who were once in the middle of two parents who loves each other, are now in the middle of a war between those two parents. Not always is the fault of the parents both the same. The courts love this opportunity to wrench away the rightful power of the parent. What better time to swoop down and ravage a family?

The Judges are all hooked in the the Public School system...and they are all cozied up to the psychologists and the mediators. It is a system...and a corrupt one at that. Who do you think contributes money to the Judges election campaigns?

The Judge in this case could be challenged, and if I were this woman...I would get a hold of Home School Legal Defense.

Previous case law would support the Mother, and her decision to allow the children to continue in homeshcooling, or at least a private Christian school. The previous four years on home schooling are enough of pattern to establish that this was previously agreed on by both parents. Just because the dad changes his lifestyle now does not mean he should have the right to force it on the kids. Again, case law would support the mom
She needs a lawyer, not a publicist!

I don't support children's minds should ever be soley manipulated by their parents - or anyone else.

Sometimes things need to be broken down - thrown out - and completely rebuilt.

In my opinion - - Public schools need to offer a type of group debate class - - covering world wide subjects and Ideologies.

All minds need to be exposed to the real world. The one these kids are going to be living in.

I don't see an answer in Either / Or. Public school OR Home schooled.

And cases like this are the reason some folks just shouldnt breed (particularly the father as he seems to be a real piece of work). While the children may be testing higher than their peers in terms of school subject matter they do need to experience public school in all its horror so they can build up a thick skin and learn to how deal with others. That aside the courts really do need to step out of this matter if there is no discernable harm being done to the children either mentally or physically by them being home schooled, just one more intrusion by the federal government...

Originally posted by Helig
And cases like this are the reason some folks just shouldnt breed (particularly the father as he seems to be a real piece of work).

The news article says very little about the father. How do you come to this intense conclusion of him?

I read it more that his ex-wife - the children's mother is overly religious to the point of harming the children from accepting and living in the real world.

The judge seems to agree with the father. And I bet he has more information to base his judgment on then this short article.

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but being home schooled myself I felt the need to share a bit about my experience.

I spent my high school years learning at home, the main reason was due to the social hierarchies becoming to great a distraction to allow me to work and study properly. There were also issues with the school system, especially on my rate of absence dues to stress related conditions brought on by going , and the district itself was poorly run. When my family finally decided on homeschooling many of our friends and relatives were against it. Their biggest argument was not one regarding ideologies or learning but rather "social skills", and how learning at home would cripple me. When my mother filed the proper paperwork it was surprising how little the school cared when I was suddenly out of the system, there were no phone calls to child protective services, and I was basically given the textbooks for my grade level and my mother would fill out a paper during each quarter report with no examination or further inspection by the school.

I spent the next four years studying hard, and being encouraged to study subjects that peaked my interest as well as the information from the textbooks, and when the time came I took my SATs and my GED to help me get into college. My SATs were considered average but my GED was well above the average level. when I found a college I liked I was asked to take a scholarship test and was awarded a full scholarship. After obtaining an Associates Degree, and graduating top of my class I switched to a Larger and more respective college and was put into their Honors program which pays nearly my whole tuition. Currently I am a straight A student who is 12 classes away from completion and have several advisers who will basically do anything to help me, and the head of my fields department stating that only a handful of people over his many years instructing students have the skill and dedication that I have shown for my craft. As for friends, I have many, and am quite the social butterfly.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I like to consider my experience with home school a success story.I was lucky that my family was very open to religious ideals, and I was given the freedom to pursue anything I wished. That's how any teacher should treat a student in a ideal world, home school or public. Most schools behave in a very standard way, they teach you the curriculum that is deemed crucial by those that run the system. There is little deviation from these because not many public school teachers are hired to do more than that. They show up, they read or talk, and they go home and grade work, it's just a job to them. The states that ban evolution basically just remove it from the curriculum, it's not fair, but it's a public opinion issue that took a majority, so it doesn't matter. If you want to teach you kids evolution as an alternative in those states, no one is stopping you, the parent.

I'm getting long winded here, I didn't even get to the point...the main thing here is this battle is being fought for the wrong reason, the father doesn't want to pay more support for the homeschooling, which isn't right...while he should have a say, he's just trying to keep his costs down.

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but being home schooled myself I felt the need to share a bit about my experience.

I spent my high school years learning at home, the main reason was due to the social hierarchies becoming to great a distraction to allow me to work and study properly. There were also issues with the school system, especially on my rate of absence dues to stress related conditions brought on by going , and the district itself was poorly run. When my family finally decided on homeschooling many of our friends and relatives were against it. Their biggest argument was not one regarding ideologies or learning but rather "social skills", and how learning at home would cripple me. When my mother filed the proper paperwork it was surprising how little the school cared when I was suddenly out of the system, there were no phone calls to child protective services, and I was basically given the textbooks for my grade level and my mother would fill out a paper during each quarter report with no examination or further inspection by the school.

I spent the next four years studying hard, and being encouraged to study subjects that peaked my interest as well as the information from the textbooks, and when the time came I took my SATs and my GED to help me get into college. My SATs were considered average but my GED was well above the average level. when I found a college I liked I was asked to take a scholarship test and was awarded a full scholarship. After obtaining an Associates Degree, and graduating top of my class I switched to a Larger and more respective college and was put into their Honors program which pays nearly my whole tuition. Currently I am a straight A student who is 12 classes away from completion and have several advisers who will basically do anything to help me, and the head of my fields department stating that only a handful of people over his many years instructing students have the skill and dedication that I have shown for my craft. As for friends, I have many, and am quite the social butterfly.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I like to consider my experience with home school a success story.I was lucky that my family was very open to religious ideals, and I was given the freedom to pursue anything I wished. That's how any teacher should treat a student in a ideal world, home school or public. Most schools behave in a very standard way, they teach you the curriculum that is deemed crucial by those that run the system. There is little deviation from these because not many public school teachers are hired to do more than that. They show up, they read or talk, and they go home and grade work, it's just a job to them. The states that ban evolution basically just remove it from the curriculum, it's not fair, but it's a public opinion issue that took a majority, so it doesn't matter. If you want to teach you kids evolution as an alternative in those states, no one is stopping you, the parent.

I'm getting long winded here, I didn't even get to the point...the main thing here is this battle is being fought for the wrong reason, the father doesn't want to pay more support for the homeschooling, which isn't right...while he should have a say, he's just trying to keep his costs down.

Side note, while I support religious freedom, I feel it's not fair to limit your kids from learning about alternative ideas just because of your beliefs or stigmas. for instance that family on TLC with the 20 kids home school their kids to protect them from outside influences, as if it were going to poison them. Once I saw them take the children to an anti-evolution museum, which only paints the theory, (emphasis on theory) in a negative light. I myself accept evolution as it is now, but keep in mind that science changes all the time, so I'm open. However, this family is in a unique position to show their children both sides of this argument and refuses to. It's things like these that paint home schooling in a bad light to the public, but it's a case by case entity, like most things in life, and essentially it's up to the parents.

Yes - I certainly am in no way against home schooling.

I'm only suggesting - - weekly or bi-weekly public discussion groups - - allowing those home schooled to get a full glimpse of the world.

I am against children being raised in single-minded controlled conditions. Such as an extreme religious view - - which would also include Atheism.

Also - I feel if there is something going on in the home that is not healthy - every child needs the opportunity to speak with people outside the home.