Note: If you are unfamiliar with South Carolina's homeschool laws and would like to know more, there's a summary here at homeschoolacademy.com. I would have linked to scstatehouse.gov, but the website is down today. Hopefully it will be back up soon.
To South Carolina's General Assembly and all concerned citizens:
The 2012-2013 school year has
been a special one for our family. This
year our firstborn daughter turned five and we began our official first year as
a homeschool family. We’ve known since
she was a baby that we would homeschool.
Our reasons for choosing this path are many and deep, and we take it
seriously. Our journey to this first
homeschool year has been filled with research, networking, and
preparation. We’ve spent hundreds of
dollars on curricula, books, and manipulatives.
Last summer we drove out of state for a wonderful homeschool
conference. We are active members of a
homeschool enrichment cooperative. We
pour our time, money, and energy into this for our children’s sakes. Knowing this, can you imagine how I felt upon
learning that lawmakers in our state were devising a plan to have us jump
through extra hoops and pay more money? The passing of House Bill 3478 would mean less time and money for diligent, responsible homeschoolers to spend actually homeschooling.
While there may be a few parents who do not fulfill their responsibilities,
the majority do. All of the homeschool
parents I know go above and beyond. Likewise, most
third option accountability associations do an excellent job of ensuring that
parents know what is required and seeing that they fulfill it. Palmetto Homeschool Association, which our
family uses, certainly does. It has
always been clear to me that failing to submit the documents certifying that we
have completed the required work is unacceptable and could result in
termination of our membership. No, it is
not required that we submit details of what we do every day; more specific records are
maintained privately at home. But why
would I lie? A school bus passes our
house every day. If I were a lazy,
uncaring parent, all I’d need to do to be within the law is nudge my daughter
out the door to get on the bus every morning.
Of course, most of the parents of public school children I know are also passionate about their children's education. They spend
hours helping with homework, chaperoning field trips, and volunteering at the
school, but none of that is required by law.
If I really didn’t care, I
could put my kids on that bus once they reach kindergarten age and have six
hours to myself every day. We could
become a dual-income family and enjoy more luxuries. Instead, I choose to stay home with my
children and homeschool. A large portion
of our spending money goes into buying educational items or to pay for family
field trips. As I think of a few of my
homeschooling friends, I know I am not the only one. We are passionate about
helping our children learn and grow. If
this bill were to become law, it would take money we could put towards our
children’s education away from us. The
sponsors of this bill have apparently seen some poor examples of homeschooling
parents, but this is no reason to hurt all the good ones with expensive and
invasive measures.
This proposed legislation
would create financial hardship for many homeschooling families. Membership in our third option accountability group, Palmetto Homeschool Association, tops out at $65 per year for an entire family of homeschoolers. It's quite affordable and has fulfilled our needs perfectly, but the sponsors of this this bill want to kill it. Membership in SCAIHS, the second legal option,
costs upwards of $400 per year depending on several factors. What’s more, the president of SCAIHS has said
the organization “adamantly opposes” the legislation, according to this article on wyff4.com. Is it
really wise to place thousands of extra protesting families under the auspices of this organization without their
permission? Also, if this bill becomes law, we will be having tests
administered in our home so that our daughter will be in her own learning
environment, particularly while she is still very young. Public school children get this for
free. I have no idea how much in-home
testing would cost us, but we could make some budget cuts if necessary to afford
it. Many families wouldn’t be able to
pay that extra money.
The proposed new requirements
could create more than just financial stress for families. Forced testing of homeschoolers is unfair. First of all, public school
children are taught from the same curriculum and learn the material that will
be on the test in the same environment in which they will test. They would be much more comfortable testing
than children who were accustomed to learning at home. I took standardized tests when I was a public
school child, and I remember my teacher telling us not to worry and to do our
best. For a public school child, the
test is no big deal. For a homeschooled child, however, there's a chance it could be. The law states that if a child performs below
the appropriate grade level on a standardized test, as one of several invasive remedies,
the child may be forced to attend public school. Some children, despite a teacher’s best
efforts, do not test well. Some of them
might have debilitating anxiety. Some of
them might naturally be a grade level or two behind on one subject, while ahead
in another. This happens in public
school classrooms all the time! Would it
be fair to fire these students’ teachers?
Is it fair to cause me and my children anxiety all year long because if,
for whatever reason, they perform poorly on the test I could be fired as their
teacher? This probably would not happen to us, but it could happen to some families and it would completely change a homeschooling family's way of life.
The government has no
business reaching into our lives in the way this bill proposes. It is not the will of the people, and it's certainly not
what the freedom-loving people of South Carolina want and expect from their
legislators. We parents raised these children. We’ve changed diapers, fed them, taken them
to the dentist, washed their clothes, and read “Goodnight Moon” fifteen times
in a row. We’ve done everything for them and have poured our
very lives into helping them grow. Now that our children are school-aged, there are some who would suggest
that we are not qualified or don’t care enough to offer our children a decent
education. That is simply uncalled for. The vast majority of those who homeschool strive
to offer the very best education to their
children—and in the United States of America, and especially in our state which
values freedom so highly, they should always
have the right to do it as they see fit.
Lawmakers, please abandon this and any future efforts to restrict the
freedom of homeschooling families. It’s a waste of our time and tax dollars, and
propositions of increased government control certainly won’t win you any
popularity in our state.
Sincerely,
Jenny, a hardworking homeschooling mother
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