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.

Vaccines and the Government's Concession

Spent so much time on the update, I don't have anything more for this... but this is huge! I know the language is just ambiguous enough to avoid actually making a concession; however, for the government to change its defense like this says a LOT.

For the sake of time, I'm just going to link to this great article on what this concession means.

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).

Nate Tseglin

Nate Tseglin is a seventeen year old autistic boy, removed from his home because his parents actually did what their doctor recommended they do. No, wait. He was removed because his parents didn't want to drug him. No, wait...

I'm really not sure what to make of this one. The stories I've heard from people around me who have had dealings with CPS make me think that it's just a department filled with people who have no idea what they're doing: some care more than others. Stories like this, though, make me ill. I keep wondering what else could be going on, but the more I think about it, the more I get the feeling that this is really how it is. I'll add links as this story progresses.

First, from AutismVox: Nate Tseglin Removed From His Home and Institutionalized. Why?

Second, the actual article from the OC Register: Child Abuse By the Government (title not at all inflammatory /sarcasm)

This blog post from Adventures in Autism not only mentions the OC article, but also has a really great link to another blog on psychiatric medicine. It's an interesting take on the profession, and I agree with most of what's said. We've been very fortunate that Rachel and Sarah have never been self-destructive, just distant. Days like this I realize just how much of a blessing that is.

Great Breakthrough!

So, this past Saturday was not the most fun. I've been dealing with very little sleep (teething infant) and trying to get my "interview" planned out so that as soon as I get a list of doctors I'll know what to ask them (heard some interesting stuff on that score that makes me wonder if I should go with a D.O.) and a birthday party planned and... it was a long day.

The point? I wasn't doing as well with my informal eye contact attempts with Rachel and Sarah this past weekend.

Here's the fun part. :)

Rachel came up to talk to me. Not a big thing. She asked if anything was wrong. I was busy with something and didn't look at her, told her nothing was wrong I was just busy.

She then said, "Mom?"

Still focusing on something else I said, "Yeah?"

"Over here."

I looked up at Rachel who gave me full eye contact, smiled broadly, then walked away.

:)

The Autistic Spectrum Parents' Daily Helper (review)

The Autistic Spectrum Parents' Daily Helper, a workbook by Philip Abrams and Leslie Henriques, is designed for high functioning children in the autistic spectrum. It consists of two parts. The first is for the parent, filled with tips on interacting with a child in the autistic spectrum and teaching basic life skills. It also has tips on helping others understand your child as well as tips to help your child interact with the outside world. The second part is for your child and has many reproducible pictures, forms, games, and other helps. Both parts comprise about half the book.

This is a very good book, especially for those with children below the age of five. The authors do very well emphasizing the importance of play in helping a child come out of his/her shell. The games are fun and Abrams brings his training (ABA and Floortime) and his own experience into the advice regarding interaction. Unfortunately, although I agree on the importance of structure and consistency, this book doesn't stress the importance of giving your child a space where they are in complete control. My personal experience has been that when a child in the autistic spectrum has a space where they have complete control, their iron-grip on structure outside that space begins to lessen. Even an hour or two where they set the structure helps.

In spite of that, I enthusiastically give this book four stars out of five. Great resource and an enormous asset to any home with a child in the spectrum.

We're back!

I'm pretty sure I've completely lost all my readers. But just in case anyone reads this, I just wanted y'all to know that we're back online and I'll be adding content tomorrow. I've got a writing schedule worked out and everything.

In the meantime, I will be hiring a babysitter to watch my other kids during the day while I work with my two eldest in the playroom. Any suggestions (finding, screening, etc.)? Know anyone interested in earning a little extra cash? Please send me your comments.