The St. Augustine Record recently published a wonderful article highlighting all that is wrong with the way “authorities” think about homeschooling (all block quotes are from the article).
“Abuse is a huge question in our office. We can’t get a handle on it,” said [home education coordinator Robert Schiavone].
That would be the home education coordinator for the county, obviously. And speaking to the League of Women Voters. I don’t know why he was talking about homeschooling and abuse to the League of Women Voters, but that is another matter.
I’m sorry that he can’t get a handle on the fact that people really should be accused of something before suspicion is aroused, but I guess I should be used to this by now.
Addressing questions about child safety, Schiavone painted a picture of an increasingly popular system that grants enormous parental independence.
Correction: homeschooling is an “increasingly popular system that [recognizes] parental independence [from the state].” I am sorry, but rights are not granted, they are guaranteed. Our Constitution is not set up to give me rights but to be sure that officials in school districts like yours cannot trample on them simply because your office “cannot get a handle” on a problem you cannot even prove exists.
While allowing children to progress at rates that sometimes surpass those of regular students, it also cuts them off from the oversight of traditional schools.
It does no such thing. While teachers are rightfully asked to report child abuse if they suspect it, they do not have “oversight” over the parent-child relationship. Since the teacher is the agent of the state, this is a very warped view of the state’s role in the family.
“The family can move and our office doesn’t know where the child has gone,” said Schiavone who works for the St. Johns County School District.
Oh my. The state does not know my every move. And that is a problem? We need those CTA cards Chicago is getting for everyone! Maybe we can make it so you cannot get gas without one. After all, there are two whole days a week and three whole months a year where the publicly educated child is not graced with oversight by the state.
We try to find them, but it’s hard to tell. It has happened. We lose a child and don’t know where they are.
And you want me to entrust the care of my children to you when you are losing children? Oh…you mean you don’t have paperwork on someone else’s child…a child you are not responsible for keeping in your care. If the parent knows where their own child is, then I am not so concerned. I am not particularly impressed by the nanny state’s model of child raising.
Asked why authorities have not pressed legislators for more oversight, Schiavone said home school parents have an exceptionally strong lobby that wants to retain freedom.
Yeah. Those annoying homeschoolers who want freedom. Can’t they just get with the 21st century already? That is such an archaic concept. We hardly even bother to discuss it in school anymore.
Their privacy is protected by federal laws.
Maybe at this point you would think that either Mr. Schiavone (who comes up as Machiavelli on my spell-check suggestion…irrelevant but funny) or the reporter would realize that perhaps it is the school district which is out of line? If federal law and fundamental notions of liberty protect the homeschooler from your inquiries, perhaps it is your inquiry that is problematic.
But hey, on the upside, Schiavone says he has seen more successes than failures. And I know this is a typo, but I find it amusing:
If done well, kids can sour.
Just like they do in the public schools?
Principled Discovery is a place to stop and discuss news and information related to faith, family and particularly education. Pour yourself a cup of tea and join the conversation! 
Homeschooling Blogroll
“After all, there are two whole days a week and three whole months a year where the publicly educated child is not graced with oversight by the state.”
Don’t forget that there are *gasp* FIVE WHOLE YEARS of non-governmental interference before they even start school, if Mom doesn’t work. Whatever shall we do?!
“If done well, kids can sour.”
That’s what that smell is!!!!
I don’t know what kind of preservative they need for that, but they should look into it.
The only thing sour here is the trash! And sometimes me in the morning before coffee.
Children are precious and they need to be kept safe. However, I agree that isn’t the role of the public school. They may have a role assisting an investigation, but schools are searching for anything to bring suspicion. The kids they can “keep a handle on” are affected by the neurosis, as well as the individuals who work with these kids.
I really wish you would send these writing into Editors of newspapers. You give much food for thought… a means of educating the public without being in a classroom… a form of home education for the general public LOL But seriously, you should consider submitting your pieces as Editorials or simply as Letters to the Editor.
OK, Shawna. For you, I will rewrite this over the weekend and send it to the St. Augustine Record. We’ll see if they print it.
You are doing such an excellent job of defending liberty and homeschooling that I got a little crazy and just dugg a bunch of your articles.
May God raise up more homeschool moms (and dads!) to mobilize a new generation of men and women that cannot be oppressed because they are just too free inside for anyone to push down.
ThirstyJon
Thanks, ThirstyJon! I’m always honored one someone reads something beyond the first entry.
Hi Dana –
I just read the whole news article. Between the officious official and the reporter, they have really bolluxed things up in this article.
I don’t expect everyone — homeschooler or not — to understand that there are different legal options for at-home learning here. But these people — especially the official — should know better than to publish this sort of nonsense.
Aside from the spurious accusations of rampant abuse, they have completely confused two of the options. The article mentions that — gasp! — “the county might have no contact with the home schooled child for 12 months.” Which is what the law requires for the HEP option.
But then it continues with discussions about a completely different option — the virtual school option — which is legally quite different. In that program, the student is at home but is legally a public school student and subject to all the same testing and curriculum requirements — including frequent contact with a ps teacher — as any other ps student.
I’m sure you know all this but don’t know how you’re going to untangle this mess in a letter to the editor.
Best of luck!
Nance
And, of course, they don’t even touch on the private school option.
We don’t even have the shockingly lax, according to this article, annual evaluation requirement. What is the world coming to?!
Nance
Yes, you would expect that the district’s homeschooling coordinator should know the details of the law.