Homeschooling in California and Update

First, the update... yesterday, for the first time ever, Rachel gave one of her sisters a piggyback ride. In fact, she gave several. :) I'm thinking it's an herbal formula we've been using the past two months called (this is just something we've found works for us and may not work for others) Complete Bone and Tissue Formula (syrup form). It's from the Christophers. We've liked it so much that we're thinking of using another product of theirs called Kid-e-Trac. That, combined with the nutritional supplements we've been using for years now (we use Dr. Schulze's Superfood recipe and cayenne now and then) should really help Rachel.

(BTW, we believe that herbs should only be taken until the body has healed itself. That means a clear focus on foods and general wellness instead of popping herbs like they're a cure-all.)

Sarah has been having some behavioral issues lately. Mostly talking back and hitting. I think it's the white flour. We don't have her on the GF/CF diet anymore since we found that as long as we kept dairy out, she seems to do better. However, I'm now convinced that white flour is a big no-no. Each time she has it, even in a small quantity, her behavior the next day gets worse. Whole wheat flour doesn't seem to have the same effect. She also seems to do better when we limit the amount of bread (whole wheat soaked and cooked seems to do her the best so far).

As for babysitters, no luck so far. Will widen my advertising this week.

Now, for homeschooling and California's recent ruling.

It's pretty disheartening. In countries like Germany, homeschooling has been banned entirely. And now, in California, the most recent ruling indicates that only a parent with teaching credentials can teach their child at home.

I'm no lawyer, but I do have some thoughts on the scope of this ruling. If only parents with valid teaching credentials can teach their child at home, what about parents of special needs children? It's conceivable that a state could also demand a specialization in teaching special needs children if you want to teach them at home yourself. This is a pretty big, panicky, slippery slope because I'm taking one ruling in one state and applying it to the nation. Actually, I'm taking more than one ruling in the state of California (I'll have to look for it since it was by the Ninth Circuit and had to do with parental rights v. the state) as well as the Nate ruling the other day. It's just I live in one of the best states to homeschool, law-wise, and I don't want anything to change.

It doesn't hurt that I'm a confirmed cynic.

I'm also glad that the CA superintendent has issued a statement (see the first relevant article linked above... fifth para.) that seems to say he won't enforce this ruling because the current system works well.

Update: found this article with this beautiful quote:

But Croskey, without hearing arguments from the school, opined that the situation was a "ruse of enrolling [children] in a private school and then letting them stay home and be taught by a non-credentialed parent."

I was taught from K-6th grade through a correspondence course. Looking back after my time spent in two public school systems (one in Texas and one in CA), I realize I learned far more than others my age and didn't suffer in the slightest when it came to friendships and socialization. Or, I should say, no more than any average pre-teen does. ;) And the primary teaching was by... my parents! It's just the way things work out with a correspondence course when kids are young.

So, yes, this ruling does seem to not only affect homeschooling parents but also those who use distance learning and correspondence courses sponsored by private schools, public charter schools, and universities.

This is bigger than I thought.

Another Update: this article from Albert Mohler found through another site adds yet another gem of a quote. This time, the article quotes the actual text of the ruling (found here in pdf format if you want to look at the original). This is the text from the original... not Mohler's thoughts.

The trial court's reason for declining to order public or private schooling for the

children was its belief that parents have a constitutional right to school their children in their own home. However, California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children. Thus, while the petition for extraordinary writ asserts that the trial court's refusal to order attendance in a public or private school was an abuse of discretion, we find the refusal was actually an error of law. [emphasis cavamil's]

I haven't finished reading the ruling, and I'm not a lawyer, so I can't bring any expertise on this matter, but it sounds like this is the way things have been in California for a long time. It's just that a "truce" of sorts has been in place between the homeschoolers and the public school system there. However, what disturbs me the most is that bolded phrase in the above quote. This, of course, goes back to the argument of who takes care of the child and I've run out of blogging time for the day. More tomorrow if I can.

Update and Progress

This is going to be the first of two posts today.

Rachel has been showing a lot more interest and a lot more frustration with academics. She loves school and got upset with me this week when I didn't immediately have everything for school together right when she wanted it. :) Considering that last year she couldn't have cared less if I was teaching her numbers or letters, I'm very happy.

Also, she has been writing letters on her own. A year ago I had to figuratively pull teeth to get her to write anything at all. Now, she writes about 4-5 letters consistently (she's really fascinated by the shape of "A") and writes "letters" to me about various things. Her sentences this month have stayed at an average of 3-4 words in length. We're still working on grammar in many cases, but I'm thrilled at the sophistication I'm starting to see.

Sarah is doing very well with phonics and reading. Comprehension and sequence are a struggle (no surprise) so I'm going to make that a focus during the summer and in the playroom (we're figuring out a new schedule now that some time has opened up). In math, Sarah has been learning how to add two-digit numbers and has been doing excellent on her number facts. Her rigidity still shows up, but she's slowly becoming more flexible.

Sarah showed more progress a couple days ago: she wanted to watch a movie and my husband said no. In the past, she would have said, "But we HAVE to!" and threatened to lose it emotionally. In the recent past, she would have said, "But we have to!" and pouted, eventually finding something else to do. This time, she said, "But Dad, I like it. I want to watch it." She still kind of pouted, but she found something else to do. I hope that last response will become a new trend with her.

Both girls have been doing a lot better with company. I didn't even notice until we had a friend over this last Sunday. He said that the girls were a lot calmer and interacted better than they were when he first started coming by (two years ago). Sarah didn't climb on him and neither got into his face... much. :) I was very proud of both of them.

Although we've been using SR principles informally, I still have Getting the Playroom Going Part-time as a goal. The principles work, but the best results we've seen have been during time in the playroom. So, I've made a couple calls regarding babysitters. Hope I hear back soon. I'll let y'all know if anything pans out (sans details to protect privacy of babysitter).

Where are we now?

It's been a busy weekend and it's a busy day today as well. This week our focus is on fine motor skills and finding a way for me to do therapy during the day. One option is hiring a babysitter for a couple hours, twice a week, in the afternoon. Has anyone out there had any experience with this? Any thoughts?

No daycare. I've heard too many stories. I'd rather bully my husband into working from home twice a week for the next six months.

Also, has anyone heard anything about equine therapy? I'm considering it as a supplement to our main therapy. I will Google it, but I'd also like personal anecdotes if anyone has them.

A final note: the Autism Treatment Center has come out with a new developmental model... and I love it! It is so much better than the first edition. The first one, though helpful, was a bit difficult to understand at times and not very user-friendly. This one is much better, and seems designed to easily fit in with whatever paperwork you've created for your child's program. Makes creating a curriculum much easier. I'm printing out two copies of the addendum for our girls. In a few months, I'll write about how it's worked out in practice.