More on American schools

We already have parents in prison because school is so unattractive to their children that they won't go and parents who are told they are not allowed to take their own children away during term time, unless you home educate it looks to me like you have sold your soul to the state in taking advantage of free schooling! THis video rings very true to me.

Are we heading this way?

I am so tired at the moment and sleeping so much in the afternoon that despite promises to the contrary I don't have the oomph to blog much.

Added to that the depression at so many Local Authorities acting outside their legal duties and so many tales of what amounts to abuse and neglect on the part of the NHS on the lists I belong to, something that resonates all too clearly in my own life, I do not feel I have anything useful to offer.

However this so shocked me that I had to share it.

'Fourth, such policies criminalize childish, otherwise innocent behavior and in many cases create a permanent record that will haunt that child into adulthood. Moreover, by involving the police in incidents that should never leave the environs of the school, it turns the schools into little more than a police state. For example, 9-year-old Michael Parson was suspended from school for a day and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation after mentioning to a classmate his intent to “shoot” a fellow classmate with a wad of paper. Despite the fact that the “weapon” considered suspect consisted of a wadded-up piece of moistened paper and a rubber band with which to launch it, district officials notified local police, suspended Michael under the school’s zero tolerance policy, and required him to undergo a psychological evaluation before returning to class. Incredibly, local police also went to Michael’s home after midnight in order to question the fourth grader about the so-called “shooting” incident.'

Link here.

Is so then surely we will have uprising here as well!

The DCSF are going to Investigate us

2010001 DCSF: Home Education - A Feasibility Study of the Educational Experience and Attainment of Home-Educated Children

Tendered

Expected start date 12-May-2010

Invitations to tender sent out: week-commencing - 6 March 2010 DCSF intends to commission a study to investigate the.feasibility of embarking on a longitudinal project investigating the provision of teaching and learning for, and the attainment of, home-educated children. The overarching aim of the feasibility study will be to - A small-scale investigation at LA-level to assess numbers of home-educated children known to them - Research with voluntary organisations to establish number and type of children known to them - Research with families who home educate It is anticipated that the project will start in April 2010 DfES Objective Close the gap in educational achievement for children from disadvantaged backgrounds Key Research Priority DfES Project Manager John Screeton Contractor Author

Close the gap in educational achievement for children from disadvantaged backgrounds 


This is particularly disgusting and disingenuous as research clearly shows that those on the lower socio economic scale benefit most from home education, unlike their peers in schools who are almost without fail let down.


Well Screeton does not have the the connotations that Badman and Balls have but I wonder who he is?  Could this be him?  There is a John Screeton on here.  He was doing this in October, so yet another schooly mindset methinks, not promising.


I do hope that the DCSF will not find a home education voluntary organisation willing to help them with this project, they have used up every ounce of good will they ever had this last 14 months and even yesterday Ed Balls was continuing to spout the completely false Khyra connection to the uninformed British public on netmums.  He knows that we know that he has known since before the Badman Review was launched that home education wasn't the issue. 


'But in the small minority of cases where there are concerns about the safety and welfare of a home educated child it is important that the child's welfare comes first. In the tragic case of Khyra Ishaq, it is clear that concerns about her welfare after she was home educated were not properly pursued by either the school authorities or children's services. It was following her tragic death that I asked Graham Badman to do his Review and I think his recommendations are fair and right.'


To be still smearing us in this way after being thoroughly debunked shows that he does not give a damn for our good opinion or our votes and he certainly does not deserve our cooperation in any form.


I also hope that families will not feel the need to cooperate, Danae makes the argument against, pointing out that the results will be skewed by the reluctance of most families to participate and that a fair and honest piece of research is unlikely in our experience anyway.    mum6kids of Thinking Love wonders 'how on earth do they expect home ed families to forget what has been said and done and just go along with it?!'  And Kelly points out the dangers of the wrong sort of research while promoting research after our own heart at The Art of Survival.


Well we have had enough of them, they have stolen enough of our time, I hope the need for blogging here will reduce dramatically while the desire to blog here will blossom as I return my energy to where it belongs, home educating.

The State I'm In

I am a very visual person, which explains somewhat why I cannot always find the most diplomatic words with which to express myself.

As the attack on home educators grinds remorselessly on

in spite of no evidence to support it,

inspite of many articulate and intelligent arguments against it.

In spite of the consultation analysis being unpublished and a promise made to take this into account

In spite of the DCSF select committee report being as yet unpublished

I have developed a mental image of my self that guards the door to my house

it used to look like this




but since the publication of this it has undergone metamorphosis and I now looks like this.