Anne

Ah, your children are just babies — you have plenty of time for the academics. I suggest spending the next several months just reading aloud to your kids while you rest up from your pregnancy. Read to them books you enjoy. Concentrate just on the reading aloud and obedience. Take up the academics next fall perhaps. That will be soon enough.

No, ACE would not be a good choice.

Laurie

Home Educating Family is hosting a giveaway for their best-selling Well Planned Day planner. Three Trivium Pursuit Blog readers will win a Well Planned Day planner and three others will win the popular On the Go planner. Leave a comment saying you’d like to be entered and you’ll be included in the drawing.

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Once a principle is lost, it can be regained only by very costly means. We must not allow the fundamental right of parental control over education to be compromised in the sphere of private education. Instead, we must press upon other spheres their responsibility to recognize and protect this principle. We recognize that in other states this fundamental right was already largely crippled if not lost altogether in practice. As a means of relief, they sought legislation in order to allow homeschooling so that they could begin to move toward re-establishing this fundamental principle. We do not criticize them for what they had to do. But Illinois is not so. Private education in Illinois is free of government regulation, and we must not begin to surrender that fundamental freedom through any kind of legislation which permits it to exist – even if that legislation comes in the guise of “no regulations attached.” The mere permission itself is a regulation which transforms a right into a privilege. In other states they are fighting to attain what we already have. Let us not surrender our liberty for the mere appearance of legislative security. “He who surrenders liberty in the name of security will have neither.” (Benjamin Franklin)

We oppose any and all legislation which would separate home-based private education from brick-and-mortar-based private education, or which could be construed as granting to us the freedom to homeschool. The government can acknowledge our freedom, and it can guarantee to protect our freedom, but the moment it grants to us our fundamental rights, those rights then cease to be fundamental as far as they are concerned.

The problems which we have had in Illinois have come from public officials who have stepped beyond the boundaries of their own lawful authority. We are not going to fix anything by tearing down the gate and asking those public officials to come in and be our guardians. What we need to do is to set up more of our own watchdogs to guard the gate and to bark loud and to show their teeth when public officials trespass. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

The Lord has, by many curious means, preserved a rare and precious jewel here in Illinois, and we would do wrong to surrender it into the hands of those who would carve it up while offering to us cheap trinkets of security and a mess of legal pottage in its place. Instead, may this jewel become a seed which gives birth to liberty trees throughout this land.

Harvey Bluedorn

Transcript: State Senator Edward Maloney joins Cisco Cotto on WLS-AM 890

2/14/11 – 9 minutes 35 seconds

CC: Right now, there is a bill that is pending before the Illinois State Senate that would require homeschoolers to register with the State Board of Education. There’s been some outrage on the part of homeschooling parents. They don’t like it, they think that it’s burdensome, they think that the system is just fine and so there’s no reason to change this. But State Senator Ed Maloney thinks that the state does need some oversight in this area and so he’s the one who’s proposed the legislation and he’s joining us now here on WLS. Senator, thanks for joining us.

EM: Good morning.

CC: So tell us, first off, what it is that you’re proposing for this registration program.

EM: Well, first of all, we’re going to have a subject matter hearing only on this issue either tomorrow or Wednesday because I have agreed with the homeschoolers to withhold the bill pending the discussion in front of the education committee. But my goal would be minimally to have homeschoolers at least register with their local school district or with the state board of education.

DD: Because right now, they don’t have to do that.

EM: That’s correct. We’re one of only a handful of states who has no regulations relative to the registration. Some states require registration with local school districts; some states require periodic standardized testing to assess progress of homeschoolers; some states require…have a curriculum that homeschoolers have to follow; and some states even have to have where the parents have to be certified or trained. So it runs that range from virtually no oversight to what I just explained…

DD: …that some of the other states have. So why make a change here in Illinois? I mean, is there something broken? Has there been some problem that’s…

EM: …well, no. Since we’ve proposed this, we’ve had a lot of anecdotal evidence, specifically coming from one regional office of education, a couple of people who are involved in truancy issues, indicating…I should preface this by saying I think, after my conversation with the homeschooling community, I think by and large, they do a very, very good job. But I don’t think anybody can attest to the fact that everybody is doing an outstanding job in this area and I think you do a disservice to kids if they are, in fact, not being homeschooled and are being…are staying home under other circumstances.

CC: So you mean what you’re trying to prevent is parents who just don’t send their kids to school and don’t educate them or anything and you want to keep track of them. I mean, don’t truant officers keep track of kids who aren’t showing up in school until they find out they’re homeschooled?

EM: Basically, the school district has no right to investigate anybody who says they are homeschooling their children.

CC: Well, wait, now I thought that if a school district thought that kids weren’t learning what they were supposed to learn, they had the right to investigate.

EM: Yeah and if the parents say, “We’re homeschooling them,” then that’s the end of it.

CC: Oh no, see I thought…in fact this, I think, was on the board of education, the state board of education webpage. If the school district, if the administrator believes that that child is not learning what he or she is supposed to learn, they have the right to step in regardless of whether they are homeschooled or not.

EM: That’s not the assessment I got from the homeschool people.

CC: Okay.

EM: In fact, they feared that exact interference. They say that if we have to register then we will be bothered by the local school districts and I’m saying well right now, they can’t do that. And so, again, I think…I don’t think this is a big intrusion. I think that in order to protect the integrity of the system, I would think that those conscientious homeschoolers would want…would not want those people who are not doing this in a conscientious manner associated with them.

CC: But see, I think, here’s why…there are two reasons, I think, that people may have a problem with it. One, the fact that, I mean you talk about “anecdotal evidence” that has come out since you brought up the bill but it seemed like there was a solution in search of a problem initially. I mean you propose this and I’m not sure why, but it wasn’t because of all of these issues with homeschooled kids not getting the proper education. There are some stories that may have come out after that but you don’t hear…homeschooling’s been going on for decades in the state of Illinois and we haven’t heard any sort of widespread problems, so I think they have a problem with that. The other issue is the fact that I think parents, by and large, go, “If we’re taking responsibility for our kids’ education, ultimately, we the parents are responsible for the kids’ education and not the state of Illinois.” You know, so the state of Illinois, almost by default, has to educate some children but in other situations, these parents say, “No, we’re the mom and dad and we want to take care of this.”

EM: Yeah, I understand that but at the same time, there are…I think the state of Illinois is responsible for its citizens and if we have run into situations where the children are not being…where the parents are not being responsible in handling their child’s education, then we have to deal with it. And so again, I don’t think this is a big intrusion, to simply say, “We’re homeschooling our child.”

CC: But it’s unnecessary. See, people…because they hear this, not from you necessarily, but from politicians all the time, “Well we’re doing this and it’s no big deal,” even though, so far, the system seems to be working just fine and no one’s complaining about it. But all of a sudden, someone steps in and says, “I think we need to change this because the state wants to make sure that things are going right,” thereby making the state more important in the education of a child than the parent in the education of a child.

EM: Well, I don’t agree with that assessment.

CC: Well, I’m telling you, that’s how I…my children are not even school-age but when I first heard this, that’s what crossed my mind. Is the state of Illinois being…so you’re saying the state is more responsible for education that the individual parent.

EM: Well I’m saying the state ultimately is responsible for its citizens so if we have problems later on with these children who haven’t been educated in the proper manner then the state ends up dealing with them.

CC: Do you have that? ‘Cause homeschooling’s been going on for a long time. So do you have a bunch of ne’er-do-wells who were homeschooled kids?

EM: Well, I don’t know that.

CC: Well, see, but that’s my point, Senator. There’s a difference if someone comes to you and goes, “Lookit, we’ve got all these thousands of kids that can’t read and write and they’re in and out of jail and they’re having a horrible time and it’s because they were homeschooled.” Instead, those are the kids who come out of the public schools! And there’s no one who’s sitting here saying we need to actually fix the public schools or at least doing something substantive to do it. If there was a problem that you could diagnose, then maybe the homeschool parents would go, “Oh well, we get it, we want to make sure that those things are taken care of.”

EM: Well I’m saying…because…we don’t know what the problem is. I mean, we don’t know and I think that there are some issues here that…and there are some instances that should be looked into. I mean we…I mean I think that in this state, I’m not even positive, but you know in terms of regulations…I would hope that, again, the homeschool community would be kind of self-policing in this. We…have laws that the majority of people follow. I mean when we have driver’s licensing laws, okay, but at the same time, I can’t guarantee you that 100% of the people out on the roadway have valid driver’s licenses. I’m just saying that I think that I don’t see the intrusion of saying if you’re homeschooling, simply to let the local school district know.

CC: The burden isn’t on the intrusion. That’s not where the burden is. The burden should be on the state of Illinois to show that there is a problem that needs to be solved and that’s why it has an interest in this.

EM: Well I think there will be evidence at this hearing that there may be some problems. They may not be widespread but there may be some problems.

CC: One other thing I want to ask you, because I went through your bill that you’re proposing and it looks to me as though this would apply not only to homeschool kids but also to any parent who sends their child to a non-public school.

EM: No, no that’s why we withdrew that bill, because that went further than…the problem is that I understand in statute, homeschoolers and private school students are…the same definition covers both so that’s why I withdrew that bill and…told the homeschool people that I would not advance that legislation and that’s why we agreed to have this subject matter hearing only before any legislation is proposed.

CC: All right, I’m gonna ask you this. The teacher’s unions…are they at all talking with you about this, is this something that they want?

EM: That’s not…I have not

CC: Are they donors at all to you?

EM: No, no. I have not discussed this issue with any teacher’s union at all.

CC: All right. State Senator Ed Maloney, appreciate you talking with us here on WLS.

EM: Thank you.

CC: His bill..the one I got online apparently is not going to be the final bill. He says that he’s making some changes because the language in this bill would make it apply to all…well anyone who sends their kid to a private school, religious or otherwise so he’s changing it so that it’s just homeschoolers. What do you think? Is that the threshold, is the threshold intrusion? Whether or not something is intrusive? To make you register – is that the threshold or should the state of Illinois say we have all of these kids who are incapable of basic skills: reading, writing, math, all of this. And so the state has to step in because these homeschoolers just aren’t getting it done. Shouldn’t that be the threshold? And if there’s no problem, if the homeschool kids are doing just fine, then why in the world do we need to have the parents register with the state of Illinois so the state can keep tabs on you.

Attend the Illinois Christian Home Educators Freedom Summit tomorrow in Springfield.

Cisco Cotto on WLS interviewed Illinois State Senator Ed Maloney this morning regarding his move to regulate homeschooling in Illinois. A few things stood out to me in this interview which I think may be helpful to keep in mind as we interact with him and the Education Committee:

1. He has not been aware of any problems with homeschooling. He expects to discover anecdotal evidence of kids falling through the educational cracks through this process. Clearly this legislation is not motivated by a failure of the homeschool community to do its job well.

2. He points out that Illinois is one state of only a very few states that do not require some sort of registration with the state. I find it very telling that, instead of being proud of this freedom and seeking to protect it, he covets the power that other states have and works to seize it for the state of Illinois. This power grab seems to be the root cause of this proposed legislation.

3. He compared homeschool registration to getting a drivers license, but he offered that there was no way we could ensure that everyone on the road has a drivers license. Exactly. Requiring homeschoolers to register will not guarantee that the rare people who hide their children’s truancy under the guise of homeschooling will be brought to light, nor will it secure an education for those unhappy children.

4. He imagines that the homeschool community would welcome this “quality control” (my words, not his) so that our reputation would not be tarnished by those who are not doing a good job of homeschooling. I think some real statistics, and not some hoped-for anecdotal evidence to the contrary, would demonstrate that we have nothing to fear from these real or imagined families. Perhaps we might suggest, as has been articulated elsewhere, that it would be more useful for the State to direct its attention toward the egregiously failing public school systems.

5. Ed Maloney believes that the State is responsible for its citizens. He repeated this a couple of times, particularly when Cisco pressed him on whether it’s the parents’, not the State’s, responsibility to educate their children. This, no doubt, is a core belief for him, and his position is not likely to be altered on this point. Perhaps, though, some legal and founding documents of the State of Illinois might be cited to restrain him from implementing his philosophy on the citizens of Illinois.

Let’s not neglect to support this committee and our fellow homeschoolers in prayer. May God continue to use us all to accomplish His will and work in the world.

Attend the Homeschool Freedom Summit: Response to SB 136 on Tuesday, February 15 in Springfield, Illinois.

Another difficulty was the cooking — how to get meals on the table, especially since I was pretty particular about what we ate. No sugar, no white flour, no pre-prepared foods — I think I might have been a bit overly particular. I solved that problem by teaching my three girls how to cook (starting at age ten), and they took that job over completely. I gave them total jurisdiction over the kitchen, which suited me just fine.

Also, it seemed like we had to spend a good deal of time in conflict resolution — addressing problems as they came up. How to live peaceably with one another when you’re living in close proximity with brothers and sisters and mother and father 24/7 — that is a true challenge. It’s hard for all of us, and those who don’t appear to have this problem are just good at hiding things.

Here’s another difficulty — one that can drag even the strongest person down and is especially hard for women to handle — dealing with the rejection and disapproval of friends and relatives. When we started homeschooling in the late ’70′s — well, you can probably imagine what most people were thinking. I don’t remember being too bothered by it, though, mainly because my husband and I were 100% united on the issue plus we quickly made many friends who were also homeschooling. If you surround yourself with people who oppose and disapprove of what you do, you will quickly experience homeschool burn-out.

I have two special “wishes” for homeschooling families — no, wait, I have three:

1. Don’t be afraid to get help when you need it, and EVERYBODY needs help once in awhile — help with an academic or learning difficulty, help in a marriage, help with a personal problem, help with an addiction.

2. Read to your kids, even when they’re way too old to sit in your lap.

3. Don’t just study the “regular” subjects. Mom, study things that interest you. Like pottery or genealogy. Bring the kids along with you as you learn.

OK, I guess I have four:

4. This is one you won’t want to hear but I’m going to say it anyway……. maybe I’ll save it for another time. You probably know what I’m going to say anyway. It starts with a T and ends with a V.

What do you see as the most difficult part of homeschooling?

Dr. Arthur B. Robinson

Taken from the Chris Klicka Caring Bridge web site:

Dear praying friends,

There is a part of me that would have liked to keep this news to ourselves for a little while. Chris’ journey toward home has been very public, which has been a blessing to us through your intercession and words of love and encouragement. Yet, at this moment, while his loss is so fresh, I had hoped to savor his last moments with us and his passing all to ourselves, but such is not the case.

So with great sadness and with a joy that we can barely contain, we announce that our husband/father Chris has gone home to be with the Lord. He slept peacefully last night, though his breathing was shallow and very rapid. Then this morning when the hospice nurse came to check him over, she commented specifically how low his blood pressure had gotten and that with the mottling around his knees and ankles, grayer skin tone and coldness in his face, that he didn’t have much time left with us.

I had been sitting with Chris this morning telling him about Megan and her wedding dress and how kind God was to let all us girls be together when she found it. I told him I had so hoped he could see her in her dress before he went Home, and as I was talking two little tears trickled down his cheeks. I know he would have loved to see her! I know, too, he so wanted to be able to communicate with us at the end. It broke my heart to see his sadness. I imagine, though, too, that his tears were mingled with joy for Megan’s future with Brendan.

After Anna (the hospice nurse) took Chris’ vitals a second time, his blood pressure having dropped some more, she recommended that I get our kids down to see and talk to their dad.

I called them all from wherever they all were around the house, and when the last child came, Bethany announced, “Hey, Dad, we’re all here. We love you!” Chris took one more breath and was gone.

I know to try and describe our sadness–the longing and aching in our hearts right now–would be impossible, so I won’t try. I will share a picture the Lord gave within minutes after Chris’ departure.

I saw him with his old western boots and jeans on (like he used to wear at Grove City College when he would run over to see me at my dorm–he was a senior and I was a freshman when we met there), running at top speed in Heaven. I pictured a huge smile (the one I love best) on his face and fellow saints yelling out greetings of welcome to him, some even asking him to stop and visit with them, and heard his reply, “I’ve got to run for the Lord up here. I’m making up for lost time down on Earth. I’m praising God and have to use my legs to do it. Stop me in about 100 years, and we’ll sit down and have a nice long visit!”

Two days before God brought Chris home the Lord gave me this short verse to encourage me:

“No longer cloaked in frail humanity,
His spirit soars to gain Celestial joys,
Unimpeded by death’s dark night
And free from the weight of sin’s alloys.

My beloved sings! The object of his song
Is the One who bled and died for him,
No sweeter name did e’er he speak
Or treasure in his inner man.”

Thank you, for both grieving AND rejoicing with us, and for your continued prayers for us these next weeks and months!

Looking forward to that day, when we too, shall see our beloved Jesus face to face,

Tracy, for Chris (one last time) and the whole Klickaclan