Guilty until proven innocent?

I've already mentioned our experience with the Local Education Authority in Hartlepool; it was a pleasant experience, but one I was glad to only have to deal with on an annual basis.

However, that was September and this is November. This week Queen Elizabeth II gave the State Opening of Parliament Speech on her throne in the House of Lords to the members of both houses . This annual speech is similar to the President's State of the Union Address. The content is written entirely by the Government, approved by the Cabinet, and essentially outlines policies and plans for the coming years parliamentary session. Following the speech, there is apparently a debate and vote. I'm not sure what they vote on as British politics are a great mystery to me. But it's not relevant to the point I'm hoping to make.

In this speech one of the statements read:

Legislation will be brought forward to introduce guarantees for pupils and parents to raise educational standards.

On the face of it, this is a remarkably sensible task of Parliament to take on. it is known as the Children, Schools, and Families Bill. State education in England, just like public education in America, is seriously flawed from the national curriculum to excessive bullying and youth suicide to the increasing exclusion of parents by schools from the education process. So no reasonable person would question the Government's motives behind this bill.

Except home educators who have a reputation for being anything but reasonable. This is because home educators in the UK are fully aware of the fine print that can be found between the lines of the Queen's statement.

One of the main elements of this bill is Safeguarding the Vulnerable. Again, something any civilized nation and individual would aspire to do. However, this Government (alarmingly) believes home schooled children to be one of those "vulnerable".

• Safeguarding the vulnerable - strengthening the powers of local authorities and others with regards to registration, inspection and intervention will mean effective systems are in place to protect those that most need it. The Bill will introduce a new home educators’ registration system and take new powers for Secretaries of State to intervene in youth offending teams that are failing and potentially putting young people and their communities at risk.

Surely now you can understand why there has been such an outcry amongst the home education community in England and elsewhere.

This all began with what is called the Badman Report. Graham Badman CBE (no idea what that stands for and I'm sure it probably doesn't matter) was recruited to put together a report to the Secretary of State (not the same as our Secretary of State from what I can gather). In June 2009 Badman's Review of Elective Home Education in England was released...all 84 pages of it. The Secretary of State Ed Balls (I know, these names seem a little too perfect) received the totalitarian recommendations with great enthusiasm.

Again, I am not claiming to be well versed in British politics (or even culture) or able to understand the full ramifications of this legislation. But I've been doing tons of research and following the news. Here are some legal ramifications of the Children, Schools, and Families Act for home educators:

* Compulsory registration with and monitoring by the Local Education Authority (LEA).

* Power would be given to the LEA to enter and inspect a home without a warrant or even due cause (basically home schooling your child is all the due cause for suspicion they'd need).

* Parents would be required to submit an academic years worth of lesson plans as well as objectives and a time table in order to prove that they are providing their child with a "suitable education". Of course, the curriculum, lesson plans, etc. would all need to be approved by your local LEA bureaucrat.

* The LEA would have the legal right to interview children ALONE. No parental consent would be required.

And it gets worse. A memorandum submitted by Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) takes these Orwellain measures even further.
OFSTED is responsible for auditing and grading schools to ensure they are meeting national guidelines. From what I understand it's an arbitrary process that basically makes life miserable for schools and staff and is most likely not an accurate snap shot of a school's performance. (In America we have No Child Left Behind. In England they have OFSTED.)

"Current guidance states that parents may employ other people to educate their children and that parents are responsible for 'ensuring that those whom they engage are suitable to have access to children'. Registration would not of itself prevent those who have a conviction for offences against children, including parents, step-parents or privately-employed home tutors, from home educating children. Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks should be a requirement of registration."

At first glance it appears this only refers to private tutors, but notice the highlighted portion. The CRB checks would be a requirement of registration. OFSTED believes that parents should have to pass a criminal background check in order to spend the daylight hours with their children! Will they also perform CRB checks on the parents of pupils who attend school since these families will be spending the evenings and term breaks together? I'd say probably not, but rumor has it the language in the bill may allow for it in order to avoid charges of discrimination against the home educating minority.

"An initial home visit should be carried out before the child is removed from the school roll to determine the safety and suitability of the home education."

A parent would need approval and permission(!) to take responsibility (the responsibility that is theirs in the first place) for their child's education.

It seriously leaves me breathless. Progressives (worldwide) believe they know what is best for the average citizen and for the collective body. My children do not belong to the State or society. It does not take a village. It takes me. Let me do my job. Please.

If I can digress for just a bit. Khyra Ishaq was only 7 years old when she died in May of 2008. She and her 5 siblings were taken out of school to be "home schooled" by their mother, amid allegations of bullying. Within 10 weeks Khyra was dead from starvation.

This case is one that Badman and the likes of him love to bring up when talking about the importance of strictly monitoring home educating families.

No one disagrees that this case is horrific. But this case does not highlight the failure or danger of home schooling. Rather it highlights the failure of Birmingham Social Services.

"One employee in Birmingham’s children’s services department told The Times that social workers were overloaded and individuals could not be held “responsible for everything” given the “lack of resources and limited support”. “There is a lack of social workers, too much work and people are leaving because the job is too stressful,” she said."

During the initial trial (there will be a retrial in 2010 due the relieving of 3 jury members) it was reported "that school teachers had repeatedly raised serious safeguarding concerns with the council while the children were at school but that Government guidance on safeguarding procedures had not been followed". It was also reported (and confirmed by the Birmingham Council) that of the 19 children in Birmingham who had died as a result of abuse or neglect, 16 of them were known to social services, police, or health workers to be at risk.

So let me see if I can figure this out:

*Children are slipping through the cracks and dying because DCFS is under staffed and overwhelmed with cases.
*One home schooled child is killed as a result of this failure.
*People are outraged and the Government is embarrassed. But instead of doing the right thing and taking responsibilty for this failure and resolving to "learn serious lessons and to address the urgent issues of recruitment, retention and training of social workers", they have chosen to single out home educators and paint all of us with a broad brush of suspicion.
*In a stubborn (stupid?) move, the focus has been conveniently placed on the (fictitous) need for safe guarding home educated children. So now the Government is poised to add thousands more children to the DCFS rolls. Yes, that same DCFS that has blamed the preventable deaths of children like Khyra and Baby P on staff and resource shortages now will be responsible for ensuring home educators are providing a "suitable" education.

It makes perfect sense.

Our local bureaucrat came for a visit.

And we survived. Admittedly, we were nervous about it. Homeschooling is by no means mainstream here so we were prepared to be on the defensive. However, Sue (our caseworker) was friendly, kind, and far more interested in being supportive rather than critical. She told us that her actual job description is to monitor home educating families, but she has always made sure to add support to that as well. Despite the fact that we had not at all prepped our kids for this home visit (honestly!), they really pulled out all the stops. Eli was naming every animal toy in his room and even classifying them into mammals, fish, reptiles, etc. He also showed Sue his shape puzzle, taking care to point out the trapezoid and pentagon. Connor was his usual chatty self telling her about the things he'd learned from our science experiments such as force, water tension, niches in ecosystems, and accuracy and precision. Isaac spent most of the time hiding....so much for busting the myth that homeschooled children aren't well socialized. Of course, this morning he decides to sit down and read the Spanish story book we checked out from the library. Where was that 3 days ago, dear??

In the end, Sue had nothing but praise for us, the curriculum, and our boys. I'm not gonna lie, that felt nice.

Extra curricular activity idea

We made sure to reinforce to the boys that we "don't go ninjin nobody that don't need ninjin".

Week in review

I'm declaring our first week of home schooling a success.

First of all, I survived. (Not only did I survive, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself!)

Secondly, the boys were more than cooperative, in fact they were eager about school and their work. (Except maybe Isaac with handwriting...he's 6, a boy, and left handed. It will be legible in a few years I'm sure.)

And finally, they actually learned something! The older boys successfully memorized my favorite Emily Dickinson poem as well as added all sorts of geography terms to their vocabulary.



To see a few more photos from our first week click here.

I'm relieved to find that it isn't taking us nearly as long as I'd thought it would to finish school (we're done by noon). This means I should be able to spend plenty of time with Eli in the afternoon as well as stay on top of my chores around the house. Also, we're hoping to add a foreign language to our curriculum in January and I now know that it will be easy enough to fit it in with our daily tasks.

Here's to hoping things go this well long after the honeymoon phase has ended!

The Adventure Begins

Monday is the first official day of school at Ingold Academy. I'm frantically searching for a denim jumper to wear and I only have a few days to learn how to sew and make my own butter. But I digress.

Some of our family (and friends) have been concerned about our decision to home educate. This shouldn't bother me...but it does because as you might recall I take criticism (or outright disapproval) personally. So in an attempt to set some folks straight (and to give myself another opportunity to toot my own horn) I thought I would share a little bit about Ingold academy.

Ingold academy will not be school at home as that defeats the purpose of home schooling. Ingold academy will not be a means by which we simply pump our children full of information. Ingold academy will not involve a rigid schedule or copious amounts of worksheets or even regular testing.

(My grandmother has just fallen out of her seat.)

Ingold academy will be a place where all of life is a learning opportunity. Ingold academy will strive to encourage our children's natural passion for learning thereby helping them to self educate for joy's sake (rather than for a desired grade). Ingold academy will practice smart record keeping but for the most part we will gauge our children's progress through natural dialogue and interaction.

As some of you may know I do suffer from OCD (my husband's diagnosis, not a medical professionals). Therefore I do prefer things a certain way, organized and structured. Practically speaking our day should go something like this:

7:30 Wake up
8-8:30 Eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth
8:30-9 Chores
9-9:15 Bible
9:15-9:30 Handwriting
9:30-9:50 English
9:50-10 Math Drill (and snack if needed)
10-10:30 Geography
10:30-10:50 Science (add 20 min. if there is an experiment)
10:50-11:10 Music/Art (add 30 min. if art)
11:10-11:30 Reading
11:30-11:50 Spelling
11:50-12 Lunch prep
12-1 Lunch and free time
1-2 Math

Afternoon P.E., free play, crafts, computer time, outings

Evening Read aloud with Mom or Dad

It may not look like this every day of the week...or at all after the first few weeks. I am a novice at this after all!

The curriculum we've chosen (which I like to think of as just a fancy word for guide rather than mandate) is My Father's World. The first year will give the boys a foundation in world geography followed by a chronological journey through world history. In addition we will be using Singapore Math 3A and 3B for Connor and 1A and 1B for Isaac. As a supplement to what I perceive to be light science on MFW's part my Engineer (read: smarty pants) husband will be doing various hands on experiments and lessons with the boys. I've also ordered Singapore English Grammar in addition to the Primary Language Lessons recommended by MFW's. (I need just as much help in that department as my children.) For spelling they each have their grade level Spelling by Sound and Structure.

What about Eli? I wasn't sure what to do with Eli honestly until...yesterday. I am doing my own thing inspired mostly by this curriculum . I'm not a terribly creative person but even I can handle choosing a book (that he will enjoy hearing all week) and running with a theme. For example on Monday we start with Stellaluna and Bats at the Beach. We will work on the letters Ss and Bb and the sounds they make, study bats and nocturnal animals in science, read poems about bats, sing Bats Are Sleeping (to the tune of Frere Jacques), read Psalm 139 for Bible, learn about opposites (dark/light, up/down, etc.) and count the mosquitoes on our dinner plate for math. And I didn't have to pay ridiculous shipping costs. Eli will learn plenty through play and exploration and doing things he loves (reading and singing with Momma).

But how will they get the proper socialization? First, I don't even know what this means, but I think I know what people who ask this question think it means. (I also don't know what that sentence means...hopefully you can figure it out.) My knee jerk response is to say that my eldest came home with marks on his neck where another boy had tried to choke him...this happened while the teacher was taking a break thus leaving 30 eight year olds unattended in a classroom. If that's what you mean by "socialization" then I'll pass. But perhaps a better answer is the older boys are will be joining a football (it is soccer...let's not even try to pretend) team as well as boy scouts (as a side note, Bear Grylls, Connor's hero, is the Chief Scout). They are also involved in the children's ministry at church and we have a gang of children in our neighbourhood that they enjoy playing with.

Uniforms are optional but highly recommended and will look something like this:

Where has common sense gone?

In case you haven't heard, Michael Vick is back in the headlines along with his (former) favorite past time. Vick has been released from prison and will be playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, much to the disappointment of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of the Cruelty of Animals. Vick is naturally apologetic and is promising to make the most of the second chance he has been given. However, spending two years in prison, having Tony Dungy as your mentor and vowing to make a new life for yourself hasn't been enough to silence the moral outrage across the country. Now Vick is also being blamed for other dog fighting rings and the fact that those involved have gotten smarter about hiding their illegal business. Sigh.

I wrote about Vick's sentencing in December of 2007. I thought it would be appropriate to re post in honor of his release and the fresh cries for justice for the defenseless from the public:


My Rant for the Week

You read the title, right? Then consider yourself warned.....

As we've all been made aware of by every media outlet in the country Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison as a result of the federal charges filed against him. Fine. He deserves it. PETA celebrated the sentencing and now have turned their attention to the state charges that Vick will also have to face.


"Respectfully remind Mr. Poindexter that a vigorous prosecution of this and any cruelty case—and the pursuit of stringent penalties against animal abusers upon conviction—is in the best interests of the county's human and animal residents and sends the message that the defenseless must be safeguarded and that cruelty will not be tolerated." (PETA.org)


"The defenseless must be safeguarded". True. Animals should never be tortured. But the whole outcry surrounding the Vick case would almost make me laugh if it weren't so horribly sad.

Pet owners in America spend $5.4 billion on their pets each year. Owners can even buy health insurance for Rover. Meanwhile, "the number of Americans who lack sufficient health care coverage rose 5.7 percent to 43.6 million in 2002 according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the report, 15.2 percent of Americans were uninsured, an increase for the second year in a row." And celebrities have made this national crisis regarding the humane treatment of animals their little pet projects (no pun intended). Just recently Ellen DeGeneres was found weeping on the set of her show because a pooch couldn't stay with her hairdresser. Here's something to cry about, Ellen:

"The number of children in foster care in the United States continues to grow. At the end of 1994, there were 468,000 children in foster care in this country, a 70% increase since 1984. It is estimated that between 86,000 and 100,000 of these children will not return to their birth families and will need adoption planning services. Given current trends, it is likely that the number of children in foster care who need adoptive parents will continue to increase." (The Adoption Institution)


Why isn't Hollywood concerned about the adoption of homeless unwanted children? Why aren't more Americans speaking up in outrage for the ethical treatment of the real vulnerable in our country? The vulnerable children who have been abused and neglected and mistreated. These children have futures that are uncertain and homes that are sometimes only temporary refuges from the harsh reality of their unstable lives.

One of the atrocities people have highlighted which is found within the indictment is the "destroying or otherwise disposing of dogs not selected to stay". So in our country the vulnerable who are protected from being destroyed are these guys:






But not this guy:





You cannot shoot your dog in the head. But women are afforded, under the law of this great nation, the right too pay a doctor to rip the child growing in her womb apart limb by limb. My intention is not to be a sensationalist. I'm simply trying to point out the terrible discrepancies in what Americans call unethical.


As I type this my dogs lounge lazily under my feet. They're well fed, warm, and loved in our family. I agree that this should be the case for all pets. However what I find even more disturbing is the truth that all across America and all across the world there are children going hungry, cold, and unwanted. Where is all the media coverage and outcry demanding justice on their behalf? The double standards that we as Americans are forced to live with are too much for me to tolerate.

In (an unbelievable and despicable) summary, a dog is given the right to life in America. This right overrides any right to privacy claims made by the owner. An unborn human baby is denied the right to life in America. This right is negated by a woman's right to privacy. Awesome.

Thus Saith Connor

"You shouldn't cut corners. If you cut one corner you just end up with two more."