Someone on one of my board shared this and it is worth repeating

Study Shows State Regulation of Home Schooling Unnecessary

The National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) has published a new study based on empirical research that compares the performance on college-admissions tests of home school students from highly regulated states to those from states with little or no regulation. The results will not come as a surprise to most of our readers:

"The authors of this study find no evidence from their analysis that
supports the claim that states should exercise more regulation of homeschool families and students in order to assure better academic success in general or improved higher-education success in particular. On the contrary, the findings of this study are consistent with other research findings that homeschool students perform well academically -- typically above national averages on standardized achievement tests and at least on par with others on college-admissions tests - and do so regardless of whether they live in a state that applies low, moderate, or high governmental regulation of homeschooling."

Read the report.... http://tinyurl.com/3g5al2
NHERI http://tinyurl.com/3kftvn

I realized some people haven't heard about this update

this is via Mercury News click link for complete story

Case that led to Calif. home school ban dismissed

The Associated Press

Article Launched: 07/12/2008 12:30:22 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES—A legal ruling outlawing most forms of home schooling in California could come under renewed scrutiny because the court case on which it was based has been dismissed.

On Thursday, a family court judge terminated its jurisdiction over two of the eight children of Phillip and Mary Long of Los Angeles.

Homeschooling in the News: Pottawattamie County Spelling Bee (Iowa)

From The Daily Nonpareil

Grade level winners who participated Saturday included:

Fourth grade - Tyler Krueger of Riverside, first place, and Max Ross of St. Albert, second place.

Fifth grade - Brett Probst of Lewis Central (Titan Hill), first place; and Courtney Arterburn of AHST, second place.

Sixth grade - Tina Anderson of Riverside, first place, and RaeAnn Harbeck of Lewis Central Middle School, second place.

Seventh grade - Emily Selander of HOPE Homeschool, first place; and Jessica Helms of Walnut, second place.

Eighth grade - SteveAnne Knauss of Kirn Junior High, first place, and Tyler Culjat of Lewis Central Middle School, second place.

Homeschooling in the News: Educating at Home: Home-School Families find ways to network

The complete article can be found here.

I think it is a great read for those who homeschool and others who are just interested in it. There are often so many misconceptions that information always helps.

Educating at home: Home-school families find ways to network

By DOROTHY SCHNEIDER
dschneider@journalandcourier.com

It's not what you think.

That's a key piece of advice Lorri Wiegand offers to any parents considering home instruction for their child.

"When you talk to a lot of people it seems they think you're holed up at home and your day goes completely as planned," Wiegand said. "And you might think with home-schooling you'd be at home a lot, but we're out and about a lot."

Wiegand -- whose children are currently in third grade, first grade and preschool -- started home-schooling years ago because she was impressed by family members who were doing it.

Her children are some of the estimated 2 million homeschooled across the United States, according to figures from the National Home Education Research Institute. And families of those students are finding ways to network and share resources more than ever.

Tippecanoe County and the surrounding area have many such groups.

Mari Doerr and her husband, Kevin Doerr, are the regional representatives for the Indiana Association of Home Educators and they help disseminate information to the eight-county region.

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Homeschooling in the News: Homeschooling Missionary Family Narrowly Avoids German Deportation for Now

You can find the entire story at this site. Here is an excerpt.

Homeschooling Missionary Family Narrowly Avoids German Deportation for Now

By Peter J. Smith

UELFELD, Germany, December 21, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A US Baptist missionary family has narrowly avoided deportation from Germany for their commitment to educate their children at home thanks to successful eleventh hour negotiations by home school advocates.

The International Human Rights Group (IHRG) reports that its European Counsel, Dr. Ronald Reichert, convinced German officials to drop a deportation order that would have required Mr. Clint Robinson, his wife Susan and their three children to leave Germany on Thursday for the outlawed practice of homeschooling their children.

"The deportation has been postponed while we continue to negotiate a settlement on the visa and homeschool issue," Joel Thorton, President of IHRG, told LifeSiteNews.com. "I think they were convinced because Ronald Reichert convinced them that it was best to resolve the issue rather than act rashly."

Thorton explained that the authorities have been feeling pressure from a number of political fronts as well.

Homeschoolers in the News: Celine Dion

I notice that people who don't homeschool often have problems trying to understand the homeschooling family. They try to define it in one way when each family approaches homeschooling in its own way. I hope that by letting the world know about various homeschoolers, they will knock down misconceptions.

While reading my Parade magazine I noticed that Celine Dion and her family homeschool their son.

Here is a snippet of the article:

Her son is being home-schooled. “It’s working extremely well,” she told me. And is Mom or Dad le professeur?

“Neither one,” said Céline. “We have a wonderful teacher. Her name is Kerri. There! Now she will be the world’s most-famous teacher.”

When Céline flies in February to Johannesburg, the first stop on her yearlong world tour, both Renés will join her—Angelil running the show, and their son in tow. How big is her traveling party?


You can read the entire article at Parade.com

A bit about the fellow homeschoolers - Will & Jada Pinkett Smith

I love this quote because I truly believe it reflects what so many homeschoolers believe:

In 2005, Jada Pinkett Smith told Essence that the decision to home-school was based partly on the family's extensive travel schedule – but also on dissatisfaction with the other options.

"The school system in this country – public and private – is designed for the industrial age," she said. "We're in a technological age. We don't want our kids to memorize. We want them to learn."

The complete article can be found at People.com

Homeschooling in the News: Heisman winner has priorities in order

Many people know by now that Florida quarterback, Tim Tebow, won the famed Heisman Trophy this year. What some do not know is that he was homeschooled. Here's a piece of an recent article in the Baptist Press:

"I love the University of Florida, I love being a Gator. I love Gator Nation," Tebow said. A homeschool student who played for Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Tebow helped Florida win a national title last season as the Gators' backup. He is the first major college player to run for at least 20 touchdowns and throw 20 TD passes in the same season. This year's 22 rushing TDs are tied for the FBS record (formerly Division 1-A) for rushing TDs in a season by a quarterback.

You can check out the article in its entirety here

-OldSchool