Judge orders homeschoolers into public district classrooms

[Revmitchell]

A North Carolina judge has ordered three children to attend public schools this fall because the homeschooling their mother has provided over the last four years needs to be "challenged."

The children, however, have tested above their grade levels – by as much as two years.

The decision is raising eyebrows among homeschooling families, and one friend of the mother has launched a website to publicize the issue.

The ruling was made by Judge Ned Mangum of Wake County, who was handling a divorce proceeding for Thomas and Venessa Mills.


More Here

 

[North Carolina Tentmaker]

This case is a great example of why both parents need to be in agreement before you decide to homeschool.

This case is not a homeschool case, it is a divorce case. Does the father still have the right to control his children's education.

In this case the Father's education choice, public school, has to seem more moderate in the eyes of the court than the mother's "Bible Only" homeschool plan.

I agree with the judge on this one.

 

[Beth]

I don't understand

I don't understand what you have written here...are you saying that the mother didn't teach them any other subject other than Bible? If the children test out two years above grade level, they must be getting science, language arts, math and history in their curriculum.

I hope this sister in the Lord truly leans on Him during this time. She is certainly going through quite a number of trials.

Beth

This case is a great example of why both parents need to be in agreement before you decide to homeschool.

This case is not a homeschool case, it is a divorce case. Does the father still have the right to control his children's education.

In this case the Father's education choice, public school, has to seem more moderate in the eyes of the court than the mother's "Bible Only" homeschool plan.

I agree with the judge on this one.

 

[North Carolina Tentmaker]

In the article linked to on the 2nd thread on this subject over in the News section here:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4727161/

The mother Vanessa Mills makes the statement:

My teaching is strictly out of the Bible

I took that to mean that she uses the Bible as her only Textbook. I have known other homeschool families that believed the same thing. They attempt to teach English, History, Science, and everything else using nothing but the KJV Bible.

No! I do not agree that this is the best approach to education, but I have met families who do. And I support their right as parents to follow that course of education for their children.

To me the curriculum is a non-issue. If the issue is "you can homeschool if you use an approved curriculum" then you have given up your right. If the state can dictate or approve the curriculum they still control the education of your children.

The issue here is that these children have two parents and while one wants to homeschool the other does not. In this case I think the Judge was wise to drift more toward what is the norm in society vs the extreme.

OK, lets assume this woman is a great Christian lady and is teaching her children perfectly. The next lady might be teaching wicken or voodoo. She might be teaching her children to offer animal sacrifice or practice their worship of mother earth through ritual procreation. And say this next family has a Father who wants to protect his children from this.

You see, we have to take the religious aspect out of it. Once the divorce is final can the Father do anything to protect his children from teaching he disagrees with? It is the rights of the Father to protect his children that are in question here. If he has been a good father in the eyes of the court and has shared custody does he have any say so over their education?

I think the Judge has chosen a prudent path here that conforms to what we consider the norm as a society. This woman is not being forbidden from teaching he children anything, it is just that they will have to go to school and learn other things besides what their mother wants to teach.

 

[Steven2006]

This is a sticky situation. What if a Christian couple divorces, and the mother marries a Muslim and chooses to home school her children with a Muslim program? If it was me, I would want the right to insist on public schooling. This is just another example of the problems families face when they divorce.

 

[ReformedBaptist]

I think the issue here is the judge. The ruling should be who gets the kids in the divorce, and then that parent decides the child's education.

The court is out of line. This is heading in the wrong direction and sets a bad precedent.