Posted in Curriculum, Homeschool Jurisprudence, Homeschool Law, tagged American University, Gehzad Jalali, Jim Dwyer, Judith McMullen, Kathleen Ambruso Acker, Kimberly Yuracko, Mary W. Gray, mathematics, Matthew Pascal, Notices of the AMS on October 23, 2012| 3 Comments »
This post reviews Kathleen Ambruso Acker, Mary W. Gray, Behzad Jalali, and Matthew Pascal, “Mathematics and Home Schooling” in Notices of the AMS 59, no, 4 (April 2012): 513-521.
All four authors of this paper are affiliated with American University. The stated aim of this misleadingly titled paper is to analyze the legal framework for homeschooling, noting especially the place of mathematics in it, and then to examine how well homeschooling prepares students for college and employment. (more…)
Posted in Curriculum, public school and homeschool partnerships, tagged Communitarianism, feminism, J. C. Blokhuis, Jim Dwyer, liberalism, neo-Aristotelianism, parens patriae, Postmodernism, prima facie, Randall Curren, Rob Kunzman, San Antonio v. Rodriguez on September 11, 2012| 4 Comments »
This is the second of a two-part review of Randall Curren and J. C. Blokhuis, “The Prima Facie Case Against Homeschooling” in Public Affairs Quarterly, 25, no. 1 (January 2011): 1-19.
In my previous post I argued against the historic backstory Curren and Blokhuis provide as the underpinning of their argument. Today I will look at the argument itself. In general they make two basic claims. First, they claim that all children are entitled to equal public protection of their educational interests, which means that all forms of education, including private schooling and homeschooling, must provide equal educative opportunities. Second, they claim that the nature of knowledge is such that, especially at the secondary level, parents (or any other citizen) can be presumed to lack competence to teach, and that anybody who wants to teach must overcome this presumption of incompetence by proving their merit.
Curren and Blokhuis elaborate on these claims through a three-part argument. I will first summarize their argument and then offer some critiques. (more…)
A second, fully revised edition of my 2008 book Homeschool: An American History, was published in March of 2017. Get it here!
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Homeschooling Research Notes 