February 25, 2015

I hope everyone is well. I was out driving in the snow yesterday. What a mess! I saw the truck that got stuck on top of the Jersey wall on the interstate. Crazy! We are waiting for more snow tonight. Everyone stay safe!


I was very surprised at the tone of the editorial in the Virginia-Pilot on February 21, 2015 entitled, Homeschool lobby wins special privileges. The editor seems to be accusing the homeschooling community of having "a wave of entitlement" and states that we are.undercutting "...the old-fashioned notion that... everyone must make choices, and those choices have consequences."

To the editor: You are correct. I made a choice and there are consequences. I chose not to put my child in schools that are failing the state tests and losing accreditation. I will not send them to schools that have been investigated by the federal government for civil rights violations. I do not wish to entrust my children to a system that is so disorganized and unaccountable that they threw away 1.5 million dollars in federal funds because they missed a filing deadline. All of these were news items in the Virginia-Pilot which it appears the editors do not read. The feeling of entitlement seems to belong to the people in charge of the schools ( and I don't meant the classroom teachers) who think they are entitled to keep doing what they are doing and still get the support of the public.

My eldest lays Lacrosse for a local school. This school is known for academics more that sports teams. He does it because he wants to play the game. The team is happy to have him to fill out the roster. He took his SAT at a local high school that is known for athletic prowess and academic and behavioral problems. This helps to pump up their numbers in terms of how many students are taking pre-college exams. Do the editors think this is a bad idea? It seems  that this is a win-win situation.

This new law really changes nothing. We pay taxes; we don't use the resources for the schools therefore the school is not spending money on us.. The individual system and the individual school can still say no if they feel that it is not in the schools best interest. I do not have a problem with that. If there are parents who are "shopping" high schools for the best athletic opportunity for their kids, I have not met them. Most parents left the schools for a different reason and I don't believe that anything, not even playing on a championship team will bring them back.

If you wish to read the editorial for yourself you can find it here:
http://hamptonroads.com/2015/02/homeschool-lobby-wins-special-privileges

I hope to hear from you soon
T