The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Ring
Do parents need professional credentials to homeschool their children? The answer is a resounding yes, according to a recent California appeals-court decision. The controversial verdict, upholding an unenforced ruling from 1953, requires California parents to receive teacher certification in order to homeschool their kids. The homeschooling community has reacted to this decision with outrage: These parents insist they are both entitled and equipped to educate their own children. But many educators applaud the decision, believing that certified teachers should always be the ones who educate students, whether at school or at home. Was the California decision the right one? Tell us what you think.
Do parents need to have a teacher's certificate to home school?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 13, 2008 - 19:18.
I am just completing my first year of home schooling for my six year old in Kindergarten. I thought it would be easy since I already know my colors, shapes, ABCs and 1, 2, 3s. It is quite a challenge to keep the child motivated and focused as well as keeping up with all the county and state requirements. I do not have a teaching certificate but I am thinking of getting it in order to ensure that I know all that I need to teach my children most efficiently. I will do whatever it takes to make learning at home work for my children. The rest will be up to them.
parents taught them to talk
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 22, 2008 - 09:24.
parents taught them to talk and walk i think they should be able to teach them the rest if they want to
Accountability & certification
Submitted by Michelle (not verified) on April 20, 2008 - 05:21.
I am a single mother who works full-time, has a home-based business, and I homeschool 4 teenagers. It took me about a year to get on track and figure out which lessons and learning styles worked for each child. I pulled them out of school because they were NOT learning. They were bogged down with homework, trying to study for "standardized" tests and hadn't learned anything. They were getting bullied in school, hit on by "bi-sexual" girls, and having trouble keeping up with the workload. One of my daughters (in the 9th grade)had forgotten how to write in cursive! My kids also could not write a decent report and had terrible grammar, spelling, comprehension, etc. And they were getting A's and B's in school! My son was failing because he was bored to death in 7th grade and is now learning at a level as high as the older kids. He is actually at a higher level of reading and grammar. He is taking 8 subjects, writing a book and learning html and how to design a computer game. He is 13 years old.
That is what homeschooling is for. Some parents abuse it and don't take it seriously. But even more parents do NOT abuse it and are doing what we are supposed to do. Raising and educating our children.
Homeschooling vs. certified teachers
Submitted by Maridee Stanley (not verified) on April 12, 2008 - 15:11.
Frankly, it takes both certified teachers and parents to optimally educate a child. The school day is not always long enough to fit in all the hands-on activities, critical thinking discussions, and independant practice needed to master today's demanding curriculum. Certified teachers understand the benifit to students provided by parents who listen to their children read every night, practice math facts in the car, make sure the homework gets done and so forth. Homeschooling parents need to understand that certified teachers have techniques to instruct effectivly. I know of few parents who could add a kinesthetic component to blending and segmenting to help a kindergartener to read. When educating a child, it takes a village, or at least both certified teachers and parents, to assure a successful outcome
I am a speech-language
Submitted by dina (not verified) on April 28, 2008 - 12:12.
I am a speech-language pathologist with over 25 years experience, have taught many to read using techniques far more effective and unknown to the average grade school teacher, and yet, the fact that I do not have a teacher's certificate makes me "unqualified", as deemed by the education gestapo, to teach reading. I have homeschooled my three children from birth. My children are all different and learn in different ways. This "kinesthetic" modality you speak of is nothing new. It is simply using motoric involvement, but really, when it comes to reading, most teachers haven't been trained to understand that reading is not about using pudding to write letters in to form words, it's about using the sound patterns formed by one's mouth to understand what the letters (visual modality) mean. And, reading continues to be a skill which is not being taught well for many in the schools. Homeschooling has more than proven itself to be a viable and efficient education alternative. Frankly, if higher learning establishments, such as Harvard, Yale, Standford, MIT, etc. make concerted efforts to recruit homeschoolers; if the man who established the mapping of the human genome was homeschooled; or, the everyday scientists, lawyers, even teachers who've been homeschooled, managed to do so, without the direct instruction of certified teachers, then why should you or the courts challenge it?
It takes both teachers and parents to make education work
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 21, 2008 - 09:11.
Ah, if only this were true for all schools and all teachers, we wouldn't even be having this discussion!
Homeschooling vs. public schools
Submitted by in hawaii (not verified) on April 10, 2008 - 23:25.
I am still trying to gather my own opinion on whether or not parents should have credentials in order to home school. After reading a few opinions, I was just curious to know, if many people think that many parents are well qualified to teach their children without credentials, what is the big deal about becoming certified? If they are well qualified, then becoming certified should be no problem. The same thought goes for other areas of expertise, for example, you can't become a CPA without taking and passing the CPA exam, etc...
Many parents who homeschool
Submitted by dian (not verified) on April 28, 2008 - 12:16.
Many parents who homeschool already have degrees in a vast array of professions. Many work part-time, have businesses, as well. Again, the rights of the parent to school their children is founded in the Constitution. Many teachers who teach in private schools are not certified teachers, and yet, no one is challenging them to get certified before being allowed to teach. Frankly, teaching is not doing surgery, or designing bridges or houses.
Parents should have the choice
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 21, 2008 - 09:37.
The issue here is that parents would not be taking their kids out of school to homeschool them if they thought that certified teachers and institutions were doing a better job than they could. A degree in teaching unfortunately does not qualify every person to teach every child in every circumstance, and parents should have the choice of taking their child out of a less-than-optimal environment without having to stop their lives and go get a 4 year teaching degree, just like you and I should not have to get a degree in CPA to do our own taxes.
Homeschooling vs public schools
Submitted by LuLu (not verified) on April 18, 2008 - 19:56.
Yet, you can do your own taxes.
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