homeschoolers allowed to join public h.s sports team...

[clibbyjo]

On paper, it sounds good that homeschoolers will be getting some sort of interaction with kids the same age. I am just afraid of a homeschoer getting a spot on a team that should have went to a kid that attends the school.

Why? Shouldn't the better athlete get the spot? Should MY kid be punished by not making the team because I chose to not send him to school that has PSAA scores much lower than my kids scores? I live in the district. I should send them to a school I KNOW is not as good as they are getting now just so they can play a sport? I pay very high taxes to this district. My community is rural and there is not a public option for anything. Its school activities or nothing. I already drive 1/2 an hour for fencing ,acting ,piano and hockey and pay for all out of pocket. Why should my homeschooled kid not have access to the only activities available in this area? I cannot build an olympic size pool in my yard because my boys want to swim.

What are you afraid of exactly?

[snarkbillie]

Why? Shouldn't the better athlete get the spot? Should MY kid be punished by not making the team because I chose to not send him to school that has PSAA scores much lower than my kids scores? I live in the district. I should send them to a school I KNOW is not as good as they are getting now just so they can play a sport? I pay very high taxes to this district. My community is rural and there is not a public option for anything. Its school activities or nothing. I already drive 1/2 an hour for fencing ,acting ,piano and hockey and pay for all out of pocket. Why should my homeschooled kid not have access to the only activities available in this area? I cannot build an olympic size pool in my yard because my boys want to swim.

What are you afraid of exactly?

I've run into these before. The woman I met really did believe that her kid "deserved" more than mine because he was sticking it out in the academically failing public school. It wasn't "fair" that my kids got to have their cake and eat it too. She said "it's like a choice you made, either have them get the best education or have them have the opportunity to be in marching band, they can't have both." Uh-huh lady.

[YPestis]

Why? Shouldn't the better athlete get the spot? Should MY kid be punished by not making the team because I chose to not send him to school that has PSAA scores much lower than my kids scores? I live in the district. I should send them to a school I KNOW is not as good as they are getting now just so they can play a sport? I pay very high taxes to this district. My community is rural and there is not a public option for anything. Its school activities or nothing. I already drive 1/2 an hour for fencing ,acting ,piano and hockey and pay for all out of pocket. Why should my homeschooled kid not have access to the only activities available in this area? I cannot build an olympic size pool in my yard because my boys want to swim.

What are you afraid of exactly?

I think some people feel public school is a "package". If you don't subscribe to one item, why should you be allowed the benefits of the other things? Others may feel that since homeschoolers aren't supportive of public schools in general, why should they receive benefits of other aspects of public education? However, as you stated, it's a matter of funding. If you paid for it, then your kid should be allowed to utilize the resources as long as your kid falls under the same standards as the public school kids (i.e academics, drug testing etc). I am personally not supportive of homeschooling unless for very specific reasons but if parents are paying into the system anyways, it's their right to use the other resources that's available to all children of that district.

[starfish]

On paper, it sounds good that homeschoolers will be getting some sort of interaction with kids the same age. I am just afraid of a homeschoer getting a spot on a team that should have went to a kid that attends the school.

I totally agree.

Have your child meet the attendance requirements, take the tests, meet the standards and then try-out.

Now what, exactly, are the homeschoolers afraid of ?

[starfish]

Why? Shouldn't the better athlete get the spot? Should MY kid be punished by not making the team because I chose to not send him to school that has PSAA scores much lower than my kids scores? I live in the district. I should send them to a school I KNOW is not as good as they are getting now just so they can play a sport? I pay very high taxes to this district. My community is rural and there is not a public option for anything. Its school activities or nothing. I already drive 1/2 an hour for fencing ,acting ,piano and hockey and pay for all out of pocket. Why should my homeschooled kid not have access to the only activities available in this area? I cannot build an olympic size pool in my yard because my boys want to swim.

What are you afraid of exactly?

Participating in extracurriculars is a privilege and not a "right".

[clibbyjo]

Participating in extracurriculars is a privilege and not a "right".[/quote

Homeschoolers who meet all the same standards to compete deserve the same "privileges".

[BlondeAgent007]

My kids test in the mid-high 90's on standardized tests which is about 20 points higher than the school district average.The district calls me every year to ask if I want my kids want to test with the school to help boost their scores.(I decline and pay to have my kids tested privately) My kids were ASKED to join the swim team because they are good enough swimmers. Since my state requires me to turn in the test scores, they can easily check and see just how high my kids scores are. My district cares more about winning sports than grades from what I can tell, so I doubt they would ever ask me for any kind of grades.

I don't have a problem with homeschoolers joining school activities. What I want to know is, why would you decline to have your kids test with the kids at the school if it will boost the school's scores and get them more funding? You do use some of their resources too.

I just don't know why you spend the money to have your kids privately tested when the school would do it for free and it would help them to fund the activities your kids enjoy. After all, baseline tax funding goes to teachers and academics primarily, some choice sports teams.

[mnb357]

I don't have a problem with homeschoolers joining school activities. What I want to know is, why would you decline to have your kids test with the kids at the school if it will boost the school's scores and get them more funding? You do use some of their resources too.

I just don't know why you spend the money to have your kids privately tested when the school would do it for free and it would help them to fund the activities your kids enjoy. After all, baseline tax funding goes to teachers and academics primarily, some choice sports teams.

I cannot speak for clibbyjo, but if it were me w I would not allow my children to be tested under these conditions because it further adds to the manipulation and misinterpretation of data which is the (or a good part of) the bunk that is NCLB. Moreover, when testing g with the school, at least here, things such as income, race family dynamo.if are reported. As such, I refuse to allow my Ps kids to take the test. The school pro.notes them via a portfolio of the year's work. I find this a more accurate assessment of a grade schooler's academic level.

[mnb357]

And forgive the seemingly litllliterate nature of my last post...ie family dynamo should be fsmily dynamic.i. I have yet to master typing on my Kindle.

[keeperrox]

I totally agree.

Have your child meet the attendance requirements, take the tests, meet the standards and then try-out.

Now what, exactly, are the homeschoolers afraid of ?

Please tell me this was written in jest. Because if it was not, I don't even know where to begin (and again, I AM a public school teacher).

[emmiedahl]

I don't have a problem with homeschoolers joining school activities. What I want to know is, why would you decline to have your kids test with the kids at the school if it will boost the school's scores and get them more funding? You do use some of their resources too.

I just don't know why you spend the money to have your kids privately tested when the school would do it for free and it would help them to fund the activities your kids enjoy. After all, baseline tax funding goes to teachers and academics primarily, some choice sports teams.

My local school had a bad habit of losing homeschoolers' scores. Seriously, 20 homeschool children show up and take the test and none of them make it to the state? That is why I paid someone to test them. The first year I had to; the second year I figured why make them test twice? It was an established pattern of behavior.

[clibbyjo]

I don't have a problem with homeschoolers joining school activities. What I want to know is, why would you decline to have your kids test with the kids at the school if it will boost the school's scores and get them more funding? You do use some of their resources too.

I just don't know why you spend the money to have your kids privately tested when the school would do it for free and it would help them to fund the activities your kids enjoy. After all, baseline tax funding goes to teachers and academics primarily, some choice sports teams.

Do you really want the answer? Its damn long. Shortened version:

I decline for many reasons,mosly problems I have with the district in general. My kids just joined the swim team this past spring. They have not used any school resources until then and it was at the request of the swim team captain they join, not mine. The swim team is a "club" so it is not treated the same way as say their football team. Everyone pays to join swim team and the coaches are paid by us, so really we are just paying for the use of the pool.The school does not fund the swim program,they have a pool that the swim team uses. I am learning the swim team has a million fund raisers throughout the season. The pool is also open in the winter for "community swim" for anyone living here because there is nothing else available in this area.This money also helps fund the swim team.

The area I live in is football country. No one cares about anything but sports and that is mostly football. This is one of my main gripes with the district. Their football team has never won more than 1 game a season .(if that, they usually lose every game,every year) . What does the school do? They spend 4 million dollars putting in an astroturf top of the line football field. This was done FIRST, before adding a new computer lab for the highschool.Cutting gym and art programs so the can have their precious fake grass. The high school took 3 years to remodel. The kids went to school under construction all that time,while the shiny new field was down in record time.The football team still loses every game and the academic's take a second place to sports here. Most of the people here think that's great they have a new field and people go to high school football games like they are pro games around here.

So after all that,why would I want to have my kids tested in a school that only wants them to boost their scores to get more money for stuff I don't agree with? If my district was ranked high, and they actually put some focus on things other than football(or mostly sports) my kids would probably go there.I have 2 friends who went to this district and one who taught there herself. One is homeschooling her own kid because a teacher(who still teaches there) told her to "quit reading, you are never going to learn anything". The one who taught there quit after 2 years when her own 6 year old son was bullied in the hall and was crying. She went to HUG HER OWN CHILD and she got in trouble for showing favoritism. Yeah, I know one million other "behind the scenes" stories which just cemented my choice to homeschool.

[clibbyjo]

My local school had a bad habit of losing homeschoolers' scores. Seriously, 20 homeschool children show up and take the test and none of them make it to the state? That is why I paid someone to test them. The first year I had to; the second year I figured why make them test twice? It was an established pattern of behavior.

I copy everything I turn in and ask for a signed/dated receipt. This has never happened to me,but I know of many cases in bigger districts here it happens every year.

[BlondeAgent007]

Thank you for responding, you all made valid points. I thought the swim team was like the swim teams I am familiar with, which is clearly not the case. It helps to know details about the situation, which is why I said something. It makes more sense now why you wouldn't want them to test with the school. Kids need computers, supplies, and classroom exposure to elective subjects before they need extra curricular activities. Especially ones like football, where kids are purposefully left out because of their physical abilities, not interest. I wouldn't want to let my kids academically bolster them either.

I had no idea test scores got lost that often. I have no experience with home schooling.

I didn't mean to derail. Carry on 8-)

[tacky]

My local school had a bad habit of losing homeschoolers' scores. Seriously, 20 homeschool children show up and take the test and none of them make it to the state? That is why I paid someone to test them. The first year I had to; the second year I figured why make them test twice? It was an established pattern of behavior.

I have my kids tested by a private company. My district doesn't allow homeschoolers to test with them. I have to send in our test scores/excuse letter/curriculum list at least twice every year. Every year. It became a running joke in our family: "How many copies of test scores will we have to send in this year?" Last year I only had to send them twice, but the year before it was three times, including one letter threatening to take action on me for not reporting when I'd already reported twice. I had receipts from the post office, but they weren't satisfied with that and they will not accept the forms if they are delivered in person. They have to be mailed. Now I send them registered mail and require a signature. They still make me resend the forms, but at least if it does come down to some kind of legal tussling I will have record of what I sent.

I fully expect a letter telling me I neglected to report sometime next week. It's like clockwork.

[Alecto]

I think part of the problem is simply "How do we make it fair?"

My mother is a school administrator in a rural school in a rather poor area. In general, there are 2 types of homeschoolers - those who are actually homeschooling and those who are using homeschool to keep from being fined/going to jail over absenteeism. The second group also tends to include parents who "homeschool" so their kid doesn't have to meet the GPA requirements for sports.

Now, the kids who attend public school have to meet certain attendance/GPA requirements to play sports. How do the schools even that playing field for ALL students, so they have to meet similar standards to participate? I know in many areas the actual homeschooling parents outweigh the "homeschooling" parents, but that's not the case where my mom lives.

I don't think there is an easy answer here, but I wish that homeschooling parents and school administration would sit down and work out some sort of compromise that benefits them and helps weed out those abusing the system.