On February 28, 2008, a California appellate court surprised the world. In the case of Re: Rachel L., they reinterpreted the state's education code and handed down a ruling that said, in effect, homeschooling is now illegal, unless the parent is a certified teacher. Well, man oh man, the news hit the wire within mere minutes. The media picked it up, everybody from the San Francisco Chronicle to FOX News ran stories. Homeschoolers from coast to coast began blogging about it, writing emails to friends, posting it to mailing lists, updating their web sites. It was a tense situation, but then it turned into a downright earthquake. A few days after the fact, HSLDA (the Home School Legal Defense Association) sent out an Alert to its members, requesting signatures on a petition they intended to send to the California Supreme Court. They wanted the Court to "depublish" the original decision so it couldn't take away your homeschooling rights. Or mine. Parents read it, panicked and forwarded the link to all corners of the globe.

I am here to say, relax. The sky is not falling. And please ignore this petition. It'll just annoy the court and it's not needed in any case. HSLDA should have checked with the folks in the know in California -- the state homeschooling organizations -- before they unilaterally stepped in and broadcast their alarmist "solution." Unfortunately, HSLDA's SOP seems to be to Leap Before Looking. I'm not a big fan. And here's the tip of the iceberg why.

Anyway, the situation is well in hand. Gov. Arnie came out with this statement, championing home educators' rights and denouncing the ruling, causing cheers and high fives across the nation. The two big state organizations, CHN (California Homeschool Network) and HSN (HomeSchool Association of California) are keeping a close eye on the situation. They also have several members who are also lawyers, working on finding solutions. In addition, Debbie Schwarzer, HSC's Legal Team Co-Chair just posted two great updates, Appellate Court Case, Please Remain Calm and the even more amazing Good News Update announcing that two of the finest law firms in the state have offered their help! Pro bono no less! (In other words -- FREE.) (WOW.)

Here are the best places to to check for updates. (These folks are much better at this stuff than I am.)

A to Z's Home's Cool
HEM Takes a Closer Look: Is It Time for California Homeschoolers to Panic?
Home Education Magazine: News and Commentary
Homefires: California Homeschool Legal Challenge

In closing, what's this got to do with us here in the adjoining western states? Everything. Nothing ever happens in a vaccuum. What you can do: Pay attention to the news. Know your homeschooling law like the back of your hand. You can't stand up for your rights if you don't know what they are.

Tags: Home School | homeschooling | legal

Boy, I've been gone a long time, haven't I? I know, I know. Sorry. My brain blanked out there for awhile. It's been such a year, the poor thing needed a vacation.

I ran across a great little article called Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills recently on the Unschooling List. It really struck a chord with me because I've long grumbled about parents who feel it's a good idea to over-schedule their kids' time. From toddlerhood on -- heck, babyhood in some cases, Junior's daily life pretty much requires its own Blackberry. Things start out simply enough, with a few play dates and play groups, maybe some 'enrichment' classes (I never got this; aren't all classes enriching?), but then good intentions go awry and suddenly its somehow necessary to outdo the Jones' with this blur of soccer practice, dance recitals, after-school programs, piano lessons, tennis lessons, fencing meets, karate competitions, summer camp, bible camp, scouts, Sunday School, planetarium visits, museum excursions, ad nauseum. Holy Time Crunch, Batman. When does the kid get time to just be a kid?

Turns out, hours of unstructured play is like chicken soup: it's natural, it's good for you and it just works. "It seems that in the rush to give children every advantage — to protect them, to stimulate them, to enrich them — our culture has unwittingly compromised one of the activities that helped children most. All that wasted time was not such a waste after all."

Oh, and while you're at it, here's a song, Where Do The Children Play? by Cat Stevens -- a blast from my high school past, no less -- to listen to while you read. Even more apropos today than when it was released. One smart dude, that guy.

Tea for the Tillerman
Cat's classic CD. Worth every penny.

Radio Free School Blog
Tantrum space for unschoolers by, for, and about
people who eschew factory learning.

Tags: unschooling | Home School

Blog Forecast: Expect scattered, occasional rants on the state of home educating today. Spotter activation will not be needed.

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I recently had a conversation with Helen Hegener, managing editor of HEM, and one of our conversation threads meandered over to the subject of support, and support groups themselves. We've both been hearing several support group leaders lament on email lists about the declining volunteerism of their members, due to general lack of interest, time, money, or what-have-you. The leaders are trying to figure out why, and what to do about it. In the meantime, they're running out of energy trying to keep things afloat. It's not just happening here and there. Oh no, it's a nationwide trend. And that's not to imply that it's a new complaint, either. These same woes have been going on as long as I've been homeschooling.

For instance, in 1994, about a year after I began, I joined the original statewide organization here in Colorado: CHEA. CHEA was the all-inclusive group that had rallied homeschoolers across the state to come together, formulate, compose and work to get our home school statute passed into law in 1988. (Sadly, CHEA no longer exists. It went kaput around 2001.) Anyway, when I got there in '94, there were a total of 6 volunteers and $57 in the bank account. That was it. This was the state organization that put out a bimonthly newsletter, manned a Homeschooler FAQ Telephone Hotline, kept watch on the Colorado legislature for us, and sponsored the National Scripps Howard Spelling Bee and Odyssey of the Mind for homeschoolers? I was astounded. I was flabbergasted. Heck, I was horrified. These people needed help.

After a few meetings and a feel for what they needed and how things worked, I, (being my oddball, energetic self), dived right in. I made an estimated 2.4 million phone calls, rounded up a slew of volunteers (many hands make light work), became Volunteer Coordinator, Newsletter Editor, revamped their antiquated advertising rates, contacted every support group we knew of in the state to update the outdated 4-year-old contact info, and got elected to the Board of Directors. Within a year, CHEA was solvent again. In fact, they were so in the black, we began planning our first-ever statewide conference. None of it was easy. But, it was necessary - if I wanted to keep my inclusive, statewide org alive. And it was fun. It's very satisfying to succeed at something you believe in.

Getting folks to volunteer to do something (anything) within a support group has always been a struggle. Me being me, I see it, but I don't get it. Don't people want the satisfaction of keeping their dreams alive? Don't they want these wonderful support centers to be there when they need them? If you don't pitch in and contribute a little, who's going to? "Somebody else"? Who are these somebody elses? If every one of us said that, there'd be no support groups left in the world.

It was a problem then, but it seems a lot worse now. There's a lack of connection, or commitment, or something. There's this feeling of disconnectedness out there. Support groups struggle to get started, and then they struggle to stay afloat. Helen and I wondered if it was because of the internet boom. I mean, it seems to be, read your email, pop off a reply or two, and there you have your 'support'. Okay, that's fine, that's great. It works. For awhile. But, what about IRL? Park days? Mom's Night Out? Spanish or Science classes? What about mentors who'll answer your phone calls and speakers who'll share their expertise with your group? Do we all live in a vacuum? I certainly wouldn't want to homeschool in one. Good grief, I wouldn't have a single shred of sanity left by this point.

So it begs the questions: should we be thinking about support groups the way we always have? Or are we veterans being too 'old school'? Maybe we should be envisioning Support 2.0 instead? (Whatever that might entail.) But if that's not it at all, what could we, should do, can we, do about this ho-hum, I-want-it, but I-won't-help-out attitude?

Any ideas? I'd love to hear your comments.

Tags: Support | Home School | volunteering

I'm still working on articles for the blog (better know as yet more of Cindy's Musings - you do come here to read my crazy babblings, don't you?), but I have a million topics on the brain, and, truth be told, every article takes me forever. Well okay, not forever. But, a long time.

In the meantime, the summer is not quiet. Far from it. We've got goodies going on all over the place . . . .

Ask A Homeschooler! July 29th. Have lots of questions about homeschooling? Well, here's your chance! Read more . . .

Homeschool Conference at The Hangout. August 18th. Workshops, panels, a vendor hall and a Kids' Track. Read more . . .

Homeschool Learning Cruise. September 9th. Wanna join Mary Ann "The Homeschool Mom" on a homeschooling cruise to Bermuda? Read more . . .

Knowledge Master Open. December 2007 - March 2008. An international academic contest for 5th-12th graders. A database of 142,000 different questions! Read more . . .

Tags: Home School | unschooled | conference | kids

I don't know about you, but whenever I'm shopping for something, I always look for a homeschool business first. I love supporting others in their endeavors, because I know just what it's like to be a small homeschool business. It's fun, it's long hours, it's great learning fodder for the kids, but it's also difficult. We little guys are out there, competing against the big boys who have oodles of bucks for advertising, flyers, inserts, promotions, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Then we have those 'mega homeschool sites' that sell everything from advice to crayons and calculus programs, but they wouldn't know a real homeschooler if one walked up and bit them in the nose. They exist only because we're 'a market' and they can make lotsa $$$ off of us. Argh. Don't get me started.

If you believe as I do, and you'd like real homeschool businesses from real homeschoolers, visit my Shop With Homeschoolers page. And, if you're a HS biz owner, and you'd like to do a link exchange, look for instructions at the bottom of the Shop page. Please know that both you and your site will be checked out thoroughly before addition. What can I say. I'm a pain that way.

Tags: Home School | shopping | small business

New Mexico Homeschool Community's "Not Back To School Fair"
Friday, August 17, 207
Taylor Ranch Community Center
Time: 9-2PM (set up can begin as early as 8:15AM)
Cost: FREE (Free for both vendors and visitors! Can you believe it?)

Space available: 6' fold out tables; access to electricity if needed.

20 tables reserved for families who wish to swap and/or sell their curriculum and new/used materials. Families who have businesses as well as homeschool are welcome to bring materials to advertise on these same tables. Another 20-25 tables are reserved for community resources such as museums or homeschool friendly businesses, local teachers, etc.

Outside of book learning the world is our classroom and there are so many choices out there for learning that you just never know what will work for you!

For more info, email Tabitha or call her at (505) 792-4110. For even more fun stuff, like a chance to win Bobby McFerrin concert tickets or review a new PBS show and receive a free DVD, check out Tabby's cool 'n groovy New Mexico Homeschool Community blog.


Mentoring the Classics
June 29-30, 2007
Castle Rock, Colorado

Amy Bowler, a homeschooling mom, will be hosting George Wythe College of Cedar City, Utah, at a professional seminar entitled "Face to Face with Greatness: World Views and the Emerging State", an intensive, two-day event which studies in-depth the foundations of freedom, and how religion, societal traditions and the development and breakdown of civilizations effect history.

Find a great leader in history, and you will nearly always find two central elements of their education—classics and mentors. Great men and women of history, studied other great men and women.

In preparation for this seminar, participants will read "The Fourth Turning" by William Strauss and Neil Howe, as well as a selection of readings from Frederick Bastiat, Samuel P. Huntington, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, and others.

It includes a hands-on workshop on how to mentor the classics. George Wythe professors will give presentations and attendees will participate in colloquia on the readings, and diagram founding documents. Colorado certified teachers can receive 1 credit hour toward re-certification through attendance at this seminar.

For further information, or to reserve your seat and receive the reading materials in time, email Amy Bowler or call 719-528-6424.

Even more events . . .

Tags: conference | Home School

I didn't even know that this existed until just today, and it's been around for 6 years! Six! Geez Louise, man. Where have I been?

Radio Free School, is radio for unschoolers, broadcast by an unschooling family in Canada. They come up with a variety of speakers (oftentimes on-the-fly) and any number of topics. A new show is broadcast every Wednesday. If this week's show doesn't float your boat, browse the archives on their website. Also check out their blog, which begins, "Tantrum space for un-schoolers at radio free school, the weekly radio show by for and about people who eschew factory learning. Open season on all things we might bump up against."

LOL. Check it out.

And a thousand thanks to Mary Nix at the HEM Support Groups Blog, which is where I found (snitched? stole? hijacked?) this info. She's a font of good information, she is.

Tags: unschooled | Home School | radio

A couple of friends asked me, of all the inventive names I could've come up with for this new blog, why in the world did I pick The Sound of Learning? Now, I'm only guessing, but I'm assuming they meant to imply the name didn't sound inspiring. Too simple, perhaps? Too Plain Jane? Or maybe they couldn't associate it with anything familiar.

To me, picking the name was all about association.

I've been homeschooling a long, long time. Since 1993 in fact. And yep, my kids are grown and gone. But, I'm still homeschooling. I homeschool myself. Maybe that sounds funny, but homeschooling isn't just about educating kids. It isn't only about grades K-12, or yearbook pictures, or passing the SAT with a 1400, or donning caps and gowns. These are just arbitrary timelines and society's so-called important milestones. It's about sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts, and in-laws. It's about quietly getting up at O-Dark-Thirty to watch a sunrise in your jammies, holding cups of steaming, homemade hot chocolate. Days when you figure out there must be a better way to open a new bag of flour other than ripping it wide open and having it go POOF all over the kitchen. It's about the lifelong friends we accidently meet when the car breaks down on the side of the road. And it's about parents as well; the journey homeschooling takes us on, slowly changing us along the way, taking us by surprise. We discover that, despite everything else going on in our lives, we [ahem] old folks still love to learn. We find that waiting for a simple baking soda and vinegar 'volcano' to erupt, or spending days composing silly lyrics out loud with a 6 year old, to a song that will never be published, all because her older brother has taken up some very out-of-tune guitar-playing (absolutely sure he's going be the next Eric Clapton and thrill us with his award-winning music videos on VH1), delights us more than any outside career ever could. Our days are a crazy patchwork quilt, filled with 1001 little, tiny learning moments that inspire, intrigue and spark our rusty imaginations into gear like the days we celebrated single digit birthdays. Most days are full of bursts of laughter. We collapse into bed every night, exhausted, but never having felt so good about the world or so close to our children.

That's what I was thinking about when I named this blog. All the laughter, all that fun we had. I don't think I've ever laughed so much, or been so creative, or learned as many things, as when I homeschooled my boys. All those nutty things that happened (most of them unexpected), the constant kid-noise, the endless questions and chatter, the impromptu field trips - now, that's The Sound of Learning.

Homeschooling shouldn't be a chore. It shouldn't give you a headache. And if it does, hey, back up, change a little and try something different. What have you got to lose? Learning is fun, it should make you and yours happy. To quote a famous line from a popular movie, ". . . And I'm not talking about no – Mmmhh, this tastes like real butter kind of happy. I'm talking about … Julie Andrews, twirling around like a mental patient on a mountain top kind of happy now. That’s the kind of happy I’m talking about."

My sentiments exactly. And I did do some twirling around at times (yep, there are a few home movies, and nope, you don't get to see them), but thinking about Julie Andrews led me to another thought; The Sound of Music. My eyes lit up. How perfect! How apropos! I mean, think about it. First we see her on that mountaintop, singing one of the most joyous songs ever written, an ode to the day, an ode to every new experience that comes her way. She does try to contain herself, to behave and follow all the rules, but the girls' so full of life and plain ol' unabashed happiness, it's a continuous battle. She's basically a square peg trying to fit herself into a round hole because that's the way she thinks she should be (sound familiar?). Her fellow nuns know it, and they shake their heads in bemusement, asking How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? They see that's she's got to stop forcing herself into that round hole and find another way. Wisely, the Mother Superior sees it as well, and decides to send Maria away on a task, to give her time to think and discover who she is.

And what Maria accomplishes in that temporary assignment, just by being herself! My, my. Quietly balking at whistle calls and regimentation of the children, making clothes out of what's handy (fairly ugly drapes), teaching the kids to climb trees, row boats, learn music, sing songs, put on a complicated puppet show, deal with personal fears, first heartbreak, and finally, that you can't just run away from your personal problems and expect them to go away on their own. Does this sound like a homeschooling family, or what?

For those of you that don't know, Maria is a real person. And this is the true (albeit Hollywood-ized) story of what happened to the blended von Trapp family. Of course, they didn't burst into song every 15 minutes (I don't think so, anyway), but it's definitely a great family movie I'd recommend watching. We did. Then we read the book for comparison. It ended up being the springboard to a fabulous history lesson. Not to mention world culture, geography, modern media, and songwriting (Hoping it would help the kid improve his sour guitar playing. It didn't. Oh well, mistakes are learning, too.).

The Sound of Music - The Sound of Learning. It should always feel this way. For me, it still does.

Tags: Home School | unschooled | volunteering