"...A Failure to Assimilate"
Recently, the Omaha Public School District has come under some fire for its response to a homeschooling family's desire to enroll one of their children in a Public School class as a take-out (or part-time) student. The school said that they could do that, but it would cost about a thousand dollars tuition. To me, and many others, this seemed not so much the actual cost of the class (because you know they are not spending that much per child for the class for a regular student) but more like the price tag was based on some sort of punitive effort on the part of the school system.
When confronted with this situation, some of the public seemed to be functioning under some of the basic misunderstandings that plague homeschoolers and homeschooling. Many letters were written to the Omaha World-Herald about this situation, and it provided fodder for discussion among people in general as well. A few of the points were valid, but in general the case, while having a seemingly common crux was, as the saying goes, like comparing apples to oranges.
I know my homeschooling readers already know this, but for the eddification of the general public, yes, we homeschoolers do pay taxes for the education system. No, we do not get a tax break of any sort for home schooling. That, in short, means we do not homeschool to save ourselves a few pennies. (If you homeschool and have figured out how to save money at the same time, apply to Suite and maybe they'll let you write a column about it; the rest of us need to know how that is done!) I have been asked the tax question many times, so I know a lot of people think that is why we're doing this. So, now you know it isn't. And also, this man's family (the one who wanted to put his son in school for only one class) would technically be paying twice for the privelege.
Debate also centered on the idea that this family had somehow, due to wanting to sign Junior up for one class, unofficially declared homeschooling a dismal failure. Pro-public schooling voices practically shouted, "Well, if he needs to put his child back in a public school, that means homeschooling lacks in some very important ways." Well, not necessarily, he only wanted to sign up for one science class. Science has changed somewhat at the higher levels since parents were kids, and so have the materials needed to study it effectively. If I am paying taxes to support the materials and teachers, why can my child (with enough fair warning to the local school system) not enjoy the usage of these materials? Thus entered the question of "deserving".
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