N.C. Homeschool News 7/27/08

Legislative session ends with little effect on homeschooling


The N.C. General Assembly completed its 2007-2008 session this month after passing only a few bills directly impacting homeschooling. Two changes were made to the home education statute, both of them requiring the Division of Nonpublic Education to make information available to homeschoolers through their website. Section 115C-565 was amended to include the following:

The Division of Nonpublic Education, Department of Administration, shall also provide to home schools information about cervical cancer, cervical dysplasia, human papillomavirus, and the vaccines available to prevent these diseases. This information may be provided electronically or on the Division's Web page. This information shall include the causes and symptoms of these diseases, how they are transmitted, how they may be prevented by vaccination, including the benefits and possible side effects of vaccination, and the places where parents and guardians may obtain additional information and vaccinations for their children.

The Division of Nonpublic Education, Department of Administration, shall also provide to home schools information on the manner in which a parent may lawfully abandon a newborn baby with a responsible person, in accordance with G.S. 7B‑500. This information may be provided electronically or on the Division's Web page.

The bills required the same information to be distributed to students in public and private schools as well, and was not targeting homeschoolers.

A number of other bills which would have effected homeschooling in one way or another died in committee. These included proposals for raising the compulsory attendance age to 17 or 18 (H1474 and H2289 = S1812); tax credits for special needs children who attend nonpublic schools (H388 = S2059); and tax credits for nonpublic school students generally (S702 = H430 and S703 = H421).

One additional effort would have required public school students to meet the standard defined for homeschoolers. House Bill 494 would have replaced the North Carolina-specific tests with nationally standardized tests, as required of nonpublic schools since 1978 and homeschoolers since 1988.

(NCHSN Exclusive)


85 Sex Offenders Live Within One Mile of Davidson County Schools

Sex offenders are not allowed to reside within 1,000 feet from a child-care center, school or park. However, this does not include home schools or institutions of higher education.

(Lexington Dispatch, 7/21/08)



Homeschooling will allow gymnast time with "elite" coaches

Mary Scott Alexander wants to be an elite gymnast one day, maybe even compete in the Olympics. So the Charlotte 11-year-old plans to be home-schooled starting in the fall. That will make it easier for her to practice more at her training center, Southeastern Gymnastics. ...

And the staff knows how to train elite gymnasts. Four of them, including director Ludmilla Shobe, have coached on national levels in Eastern Europe. It's rare for an N.C. gym to have such a coaching pedigree, and it's likely a reason Southeastern has developed many standouts.

(Charlotte Observer, 7/20/08)

N.C. Homeschool News 7/20/08

Asheville public schools shrink while nonpublic schools grow


Public school officials in Asheville are wondering why a significant number of parents are taking their children out of the system rather than send them to Asheville Middle School. Homeschooling is mentioned as one alternative, but just as an observation rather than a problem. (Asheville Citizen-Times, 7/20/08)



New Christian school is a hybrid but doesn't fit homeschool definition

A new "university model" Christian school opening this year in Boone will offer services to homeschoolers and incorporate a certain amount of home instruction in their full program. However, parents should be aware of the state's legal definition of homeschooling and be sure their family's educational program clearly fits one definition or the other to avoid becoming inadvertently truant. (Boone Mountain Times, 7/17/08)


Reminder: Homeschooled sixth graders need new vaccines, too

The New Bern Sun-Journal continues the statewide series of articles about new school vaccination requirements, which includes homeschoolers as well as those in traditional schools.
(New Bern Sun-Journal, 7/14/08)


Wilmington family interviewed for TV report on homeschooling


The family of Brett and Ashley Teeter are featured in this story from WWAY-TV in Wilmington.
(WWAY-TV, Wilmington, 7/13/08)



Homeschooled Motocross rider wins big in Tennessee event


Taylor Futrell, 17, of Clinton, N.C., was the winner in four races at the Kawasaki Team Green Motocross Championships, held at Muddy Creek Raceway in Bountville, Tenn. Futrell won the Schoolboy Classic after winning the MX Lite, MX A Pro, and College Boy races in the same event. This was his first professional outing in six years of motorcycle competition. (Tri-Cities Sports.com, Kingsport, TN, 7/15/08)

N.C. Homeschool News 7/13/08

NEWS



N.C. newspaper sponsors homeschooling blog


In what may be a first in North Carolina, the Hendersonville Times-News is hosting a homeschooling blog on their newspaper's website. Homeschooling in Henderson County is edited by Kerry Jones, a western N.C. native and mother of two homeschooled sons, and features a weekly listing of "opportunities and events" as well as news and announcements of interest to homeschoolers.




N.C.'s vaccination rules held up as standard for U.S. homeschoolers


An article in the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics worries that unvaccinated homeschoolers are a public health problem, and holds up North Carolina's requirements as a good example for other states. Homeschooling researcher Dr. Milton Gaither (Messiah College, PA) reviews the article here and notes that a desire for privacy should not keep homeschoolers from joining the debate:

[H]omeschoolers do themselves and others a disservice when they remove their voices from this important public discussion in an quixotic effort to go off the grid. But given the lack of evidence in this article, it is by no means clear that homeschoolers are in fact off the grid on this issue.

(Milton Gaither, Homeschooling Research Notes, 7/11/08)




Homeschool family business is one of Charlotte's "top food experiences"


The Charlotte Observer recently highlighted Waxhaw's New Town Farms as one of Charlotte's "culinary 50":

A lot of hands keep Charlotte's local-food movement growing. But Sammy and Melinda Koenigsberg are the roots. He was co-founder of the Matthews Community Farmers Market. Their farm was one of the first in the area to add Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions. They're both active in Charlotte's Slow Foods chapter. Oh, and they home-school eight kids. Their enthusiasm for local food is infectious.

(Charlotte Observer, 6/17/08)

N.C. Homeschool News 7/06/08

NEWS


Apologia publisher purchased by N.C. homeschool leaders


Apologia Educational Ministries, publisher of the Apologia Science textbook series, has been purchased by Davis and Rachael Carman of Waxhaw. The Carmans, long term board members of North Carolinians for Home Education, plan to expand the publisher's business into non-science curriculum and practical and inspirational books, and have already signed on Zan Tyler and Deborah Bell while retaining Apologia founder Dr. Jay Wile. (Read the full story on NCHSN)


Editorial: Homeschoolers "should be willing" to submit to Social Service inspections

The Rocky Mount Telegram's July 2 editorial says homeschoolers "should be applauded" for their efforts to "give their kids a leg up and to protect them from unwanted outside influences." However, their recommendation doesn't mesh with the positive comments:

Quite often, public and private school employees intervene and report suspicious behavior to social service officials. Sometimes schools are able to save good kids from bad parents.

But there is no one to protect home-schooled children from abusive parents.

Because of that, home-school families should be willing to submit to more oversight, perhaps in the form of occasional visits from social workers.

(Article: Rocky Mount Telegram, 7/2/08 - Letters to the Editor can be submitted here.)

On again? Raleigh newspaper includes homeschoolers in tax credit

Amid mounting opposition from public school organizations, the special needs education tax credit again includes homeschoolers, according the Raleigh News & Observer -- but is unlikely to come for a vote this session. (News & Observer, Raleigh, 7/3/08)