A little bit of news.
From an article about alienated gifted students in the public schools:
According to the U.S. Department of Education, home-schooling rose 29 percent across the country between 1999 and 2003.
In a separate article which discusses how U.S. universities are easing policies for homeschoolers, Ana Beatriz Cholo (AP) writes:
Last fall, however, Riverside [the Riverside campus of the University of California] joined a growing number of colleges around the country that are revamping application policies to accommodate homeschooled students….
UC Riverside is actively recruiting homeschoolers, said Merlyn Campos, interim director of undergraduate admissions.
“There are a lot of students out there that are very prepared for a college level education,” she said. “They are kind of being forced into going into a community college.”
Frank Vahid, a UC Riverside computer science professor, was among those who lobbied for the change, contending the school could gain a competitive advantage because homeschoolers have a lot to offer.
Vahid’s own children are taught at home. His 15-year-old son also takes community college classes and will likely try to transfer into to a public university.
That is good news because the University of California system of schools were not overly welcoming to homeschoolers over the past couple of years because of their special rules that affected homeschoolers adversely — even the article uses the term “lost cause.”
Jessica Marks writes about a homeschooled visual artist named Brittney Diamond who airbrushes with a mixture of liquid lead, charcoal and pencil:
Art that she creates upstairs in her home has been valued at thousands of dollars, and people can’t get enough of her work….
Brittney only learned about airbrushing six months ago.
What gives her the edge is that she’s home schooled, [mother] Teri said.
“The one thing with home schooling has helped children find their passion,” she added.
For Brittney, that was art - and specifically, airbrushing….
Though art is a passion for Brittney, she only spends about an hour a day in her studio working on it.
If you’d like to see what Brittney Diamond’s work looks like, I found two paintings at the Liquid Lead Art Studio which is selling prints — “Jack Sparrow” and “a horse.” The pirate painting is startling in its intensity; it seems to capture what Captain Jack is all about.
From Salem, Oregon, we get a fun story about homeschooler Jordan Berrier. He plays basketball for the local public school and his nickname is “Homeschool.”
“He’s one of the more popular kids at school, and he doesn’t even go to school here. People all over the place know him and chant Homeschool for him when he’s announced.”
Berrier, a senior by eligibility standards, has tried going to public school a few times, but it never has stuck.
There was a three-day stint at an elementary school — he doesn’t remember which — and a semester of taking electives at Adam Stephens Middle School.
He has taken a few weight-training classes at McKay, but he has done better academically in the home-school environment.
Bill Poehler takes the obligatory prejudicial swipe at other homeschoolers with:
Unlike a lot the [sic] typical home-schooled students, Berrier (pronounced like Perrier) is well-adjusted and blends in enough with his McKay teammates that outsiders can’t tell the difference.
I believe Poehler is actually saying that a lot of typical home-schooled students are not well-adjusted and don’t blend in. I wonder if he’s basing that opinion on anecdotal evidence or something actually substantial.
Okay, I think that’s enough news for now. It’s enough for me for sure.