Concerning the California & National attack upon the Homeschool Movement:
Chip's letter: http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/mar2008/chip311-3.htm
The article stated:
"As the movement has grown, its autonomy has become worrisome to some. Concerns center mostly on the need for state accountability in ensuring that children are educated to a certain standard. But, as in the California case, the potential for child abuse is also becoming an issue."
"...ensuring that children are educated to a certain standard."
Could it be the real worry is that the NEA is embarrassed by the trophies that homeschoolers are taking home every year:
1. NOW, AGAIN, a homeschooler won the 2007 National Spelling Bee last night!
13-year-old w-i-n-s National Spelling Bee
California eighth-grader triumphs over Canadian runner-up with ‘serrefine’
Evan O'Dorney receives a trophy from Kenneth Lowe, President and CEO of the E.W. Scripps Company, after correctly spelling a noun that describes small forceps.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/01/SPELLINGBEE.TMP
2. And a homeschooler won the 2007 Geographic Bee:
TODAY'S NEWS
Thursday, May 24, 2007; Page C14
Hué to Go: Girl Wins National Geo Bee
That was the question that Caitlin Snaring of Redmond, Washington, answered correctly to win the National Geographic Bee yesterday. The answer: Hué (pronounced Hway).
A place in history: Caitlin Snaring, 14, reacts after winning the title and a $25,000 college scholarship. (By Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)
Caitlin, 14, didn't miss a single question in two days of competition. The only girl among this year's 10 finalists, she is the second female winner of the 19-year-old contest -- and the first in 16 years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052301447.html
3. And a homeschooler won the 2007 Heisman Trophy:
Homeschooler wins Heisman Trophy! December 8, 2007
Tim Tebow, the sophomore quarterback at Florida won the Heisman Trophy earlier this evening.
Normally, I would not consider this to be big news, but there is so much more to this story than just college football.
http://onemom.wordpress.com/2007/12/08/homeschooler-wins-heisman-trophy/
My point being I think the NEA is lobbying these activist judges.
Also, the article stated:
"As the movement has grown, its autonomy has become worrisome to some. Concerns center mostly on the need for state accountability in ensuring that children are educated to a certain standard. But, as in the California case, the potential for child abuse is also becoming an issue."
Are they talking about child abuse like this?:
Sex assaults by teachers (in the public school system) on students an 'epidemic'
An estimated 5 million students in United States schools have been assaulted sexually by teachers, according to a congressional report. But no one is calling for investigations or law enforcement crackdowns, there have been no campaigns to ban the offenders from schools, and in many states there aren't even any requirements such predator attacks be reported to education licensing agencies.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=39748
Or the multitude of criminal assaults on students that are not being reported nationally?:
School Crime Reporting Leaves Out Dozens of Violent Crimes
Yet according to school system crime reports, it never happened.
2 Wants to Know compared law enforcement records (Guilford County Sheriff’s Department, Greensboro Police Department and High Point Police Department) with the school system’s reports to the Department of Public Instruction.
And we uncovered 90 violent offenses the district left out.
Police reported 24 sexual assaults, including rapes.
The system only recorded three.
Where law enforcement reported 18 robberies.
The district had four.
And authorities recorded eight cases of school arson.
The school system recorded zero.