Nevada Parents Choose Homeschooling over Common Core

While most of the children throughout Nevada wrap up their Christmas break and head back to school this week my Godson will be starting a new school – right under his bedroom. He and his siblings will begin homeschooling. His parents have made the decision to homeschool their three children in response to the government’s national Common Core State Standards Initiative. So I decided my first post of the new year would focus on homeschooling as it appears to be a solid answer to CCSSI.

In addition to speaking with my Godson’s mother, Amy Bauck, about her and her husband’s decision, I reached out to two other Nevada moms, and in interview fashion, I posed a number of questions to all three of them. I would like to share their responses but first I must tell you all up front that I have a great deal of regard for parents and grandparents who choose to homeschool even though I do not believe it is for every family. In fact, when I was approached years ago by a friend who asked whether or not my husband and I were considering homeschooling our oldest, I burst out laughing. I thought my friend was joking or suffering from an undiagnosed head injury. No - homeschooling is not for every family but I applaud those families who do homeschool.

Tamara Klinesmith is a young mother, in Southern Nevada, who after hearing about CCSSI chose homeschooling. “The more research I did, the more layers I uncovered, the more I felt compelled to keep my children as far away from (Common Core) as possible.”

Christy Armbruster, a Pediatrician in Elko, Nevada, echoes Tamara’s concern saying, “I officially decided to homeschool after I learned about CCSSI.”

When asked if there was any one specific issue with CCSSI that gave the final push to homeschool, Amy offered the following comprehensive response. “ I have several issues with CCSSI ranging from the over abundance of testing, the lack of fact based knowledge taught in the lower grades, the push toward persuasive, opinion based writing techniques and the pushing of standards that are not only age inappropriate but method-based whereas the teacher no longer has the ability to properly teach a child based on their development but merely teach the class to pass a test - a test which is based on the particular methods detailed out in the standards and/or the nation-wide testing.”

In her response to the same question Tamara doubles down on the lost authority of the teacher with her comment, “The power of the teacher in the classroom has been stripped away. The two most important people (in the process of learning) are my child and her teacher. No longer does the teacher teach from the love in her heart for teaching. Instead, she teaches as she is told to teach.”

I asked the moms if they believed they would be homeschooling had the Clark County and Elko school districts taken a stand against CCSSI. Both Amy and Tamara replied that they would not have thought to homeschool. Amy stating that, “homeschooling was never really on our radar...,” just as it had “never crossed (Tamara’s) mind” to homeschool. Christy stated she would most likely still be homeschooling as she, “does not trust the school system anymore,” due to contradictory messaging regarding testing.

Across the nation there is evidence that homeschooling is on the rise in general and gaining in popularity due to the forced implementation of CCSSI. Here is an article from November reporting on disillusioned parents choosing homeschooling. However, homeschooling is not without its detractors. There are those who believe a parent cannot teach their children because “teachers are trained in different ways children learn.” I don’t buy that and here is the flip side to that belief – teachers can’t really raise children because, “parents are trained in different ways to raise children.”

Where do all these geniuses think the “training” comes from? It originates with the children! A good mom doesn’t need a school of learning to train her that her crying child is in need of a diaper change, or food, or the removal of a big sister from the infant’s chest. A really good mom will know what the requirement is based on the cry itself: pitch, intensity, length.

The same may be said for a teacher, if, like the mother, the teacher is paying attention to the child. A good teacher should be able to hand a 2nd grader The Cat in the Hat – and note, if he can’t read it she’s just learned that she has to teach him differently. (That is also my argument for instant data. No need to waste millions on testing, tracking, and storing of a child's personal data! But that’s another post for another day.)

Of course the above is a simple comparison for the sake of argument. There will always be individual circumstances that may require additional training, e.g. special needs children. Please don’t misunderstand I have the utmost regard for teachers. What I have no regard for is the rampant dismissal of parents in the conversation about education of one’s own children. I still believe teaching is a noble calling and could remain so if we could just get all the businessmen and educrats and politicians out of the classroom and as Tamara Klinesmith stated, give it back to the “two most important people.” Until that happens I imagine concerned parents will find it difficult to stand idly by.

I attended parochial and public schools but I would argue, when done properly, that homeschooling has more pros than cons. My top five pros would be:

Curriculum. No more worrying about inappropriate subjects and projects being given to my child without my knowledge.

Development. No more worrying about whether my child is learning at her pace or the pace set by government.

Scheduling. No more worrying about missing the bus or morning bell. We schedule around the needs of the child/family.

Supervision. No more worrying about what illegal drug or activity my child is being exposed to on campus or on the bus. (That was a fun two days.)

Abusive Testing. No more worrying about which of the arts will be pulled from the curriculum to make time for preparing for test taking, learning how to take the test, and, of course, taking the test!

I’m adding a sixth reason because I think it speaks to the larger issue for parents in education. Reason six to homeschool for me would be the precious time I would have with my children. The parents I know are as crazy in love with their children as I am with mine. Christy Armbruster and Tamara Klinesmith both agree that the time they’ve taken back with their children is “priceless” and find that everyone is “benefitting.” Amy Bauck is very excited to be the one her children will be spending their school days with instead of “7 hours within school walls, under the direction of someone else.” (Amy is also planning a schoolhouse blog to share her family’s experiences.)

Joy Pullman, Managing Editor of The Federalist, a very successful homeschool graduate herself does not think everyone should homeschool. In fact, Joy said this in response to my question. “I think a good school is preferable to homeschooling—but the difficulty is that so few good schools are available.”

With public and (state) private schools all being coerced into the Common Core State Standards Initiative, I believe that many parents would agree with Joy. So rather than leave their children to flounder under the Common Core State Standards, cleverly renamed here in Nevada as Nevada Academic Content Standards, parents are literally taking education into their own hands.

Homeschooling may not be for everyone but neither is Common Core!

#homeschooling #ccssi #parentalcontrol