http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tsimpson/23024 I homeschooled our eldest daughter.&nbsp;&nbsp; Her homeschooling experience was short lived...very short...2 days.&nbsp; I am a very patient person; however, my ability to actually teach her/challenge her was left to the teachers.&nbsp; Don't get me wrong, we teach our children on a daily basis and are very involved in their schooling/education.&nbsp; We have confidence in the public school system and our daily involvement has enabled our girls to become honor students&nbsp;and most importantly, well mannered, positive citizens of our our community.&nbsp; What I am very concerned about is the government telling parents that they CANNOT teach their children at home.&nbsp; I know many homeschooled children and while they are not&nbsp; schooled outside of their home, they are honor students and are involved in extra curricular activities which enable them to interact with their peers.&nbsp; What is next?&nbsp; Is the government going to tell us where we take our children to church, what movies we can take them to, what types of clothes we buy them???&nbsp; We need to stand up for our rights!&nbsp; We need to band together, regardless of what political party we are.&nbsp; It is time for parents to be parents and stop depending on the government and the schools to raise our children.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is our&nbsp;God given right &nbsp;to raise these children up to become law abiding citizens, positive role models and we need to be positive role models to them and not rely on others to raise them!&nbsp; They say it takes a village, well............you need to start in your own &quot;village&quot; first! I homeschooled our eldest daughter.&nbsp;&nbsp; Her homeschooling experience was short lived...very short...2 days.&nbsp; I am a very patient person; however, my ability to actually teach her/challenge her was left to the teachers.&nbsp; Don't get me wrong, we teach our children on a daily basis and are very involved in their schooling/education.&nbsp; We have confidence in the public school system and our daily involvement has enabled our girls to become honor students&nbsp;and most importantly, well mannered, positive citizens of our our community.&nbsp; What I am very concerned about is the government telling parents that they CANNOT teach their children at home.&nbsp; I know many homeschooled children and while they are not&nbsp; schooled outside of their home, they are honor students and are involved in extra curricular activities which enable them to interact with their peers.&nbsp; What is next?&nbsp; Is the government going to tell us where we take our children to church, what movies we can take them to, what types of clothes we buy them???&nbsp; We need to stand up for our rights!&nbsp; We need to band together, regardless of what political party we are.&nbsp; It is time for parents to be parents and stop depending on the government and the schools to raise our children.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is our&nbsp;God given right &nbsp;to raise these children up to become law abiding citizens, positive role models and we need to be positive role models to them and not rely on others to raise them!&nbsp; They say it takes a village, well............you need to start in your own &quot;village&quot; first! en-us Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:34:52 PDT <p>&nbsp;Bravo!&nbsp; I'm currently working on our new issue of The Southwest Voice, and we have a home school teacher writing the &quot;School News&quot; article.&nbsp; You make some excellent points.&nbsp; Our teachers are invaluable, but they must be credentialed because of the responsibility of teaching so many kids over the course of so many years.&nbsp; Who is to say, however, that there aren't plenty of parents who are educated and dedicated enough to teach their own children at home?&nbsp; I think this court ruling struck a nerve among many parents, including myself--who has never attempted to home school my children.&nbsp; Gads!&nbsp; I take my hat off to anyone who'd want to!&nbsp; I love my kids, but they truly needed to structure and socialization of a classroom.</p> <p>Great blog.</p> http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tsimpson/23024/#c_210049 http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tsimpson/23024/#c_210049 <p>&nbsp;Bravo!&nbsp; I'm currently working on our new issue of The Southwest Voice, and we have a home school teacher writing the &quot;School News&quot; article.&nbsp; You make some excellent points.&nbsp; Our teachers are invaluable, but they must be credentialed because of the responsibility of teaching so many kids over the course of so many years.&nbsp; Who is to say, however, that there aren't plenty of parents who are educated and dedicated enough to teach their own children at home?&nbsp; I think this court ruling struck a nerve among many parents, including myself--who has never attempted to home school my children.&nbsp; Gads!&nbsp; I take my hat off to anyone who'd want to!&nbsp; I love my kids, but they truly needed to structure and socialization of a classroom.</p> <p>Great blog.</p> <p>&nbsp;I agree. Nice blog post.</p> <p>I hated going to a public school. I went to a tiny rural school kindergarten through eighth grade, and I hated every year of it. I was always mad at my parents for sending me back every year. They knew I wanted to be homeschooled, but they wouldn't do it. It irks me the way my parents' opinions have changed over the years between sending me to public school and always considering homeschooling for my little brother, who is six years younger than I am. He is still attending this tiny rural school, but my parents are now considering homeschooling him for high school. I resent that, obviously.</p> <p>I went to Liberty for high school and just graduated last year. I was so fed up with the high school that I left and went to Valley Oaks Charter, which was the best school I had ever attended. Of course, the guilt got to me and after two weeks I went back to Liberty for a few different reasons.</p> <p>I'm not a fan of college, but at least it's better than high school. Freedom!</p> http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tsimpson/23024/#c_210991 http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tsimpson/23024/#c_210991 <p>&nbsp;I agree. Nice blog post.</p> <p>I hated going to a public school. I went to a tiny rural school kindergarten through eighth grade, and I hated every year of it. I was always mad at my parents for sending me back every year. They knew I wanted to be homeschooled, but they wouldn't do it. It irks me the way my parents' opinions have changed over the years between sending me to public school and always considering homeschooling for my little brother, who is six years younger than I am. He is still attending this tiny rural school, but my parents are now considering homeschooling him for high school. I resent that, obviously.</p> <p>I went to Liberty for high school and just graduated last year. I was so fed up with the high school that I left and went to Valley Oaks Charter, which was the best school I had ever attended. Of course, the guilt got to me and after two weeks I went back to Liberty for a few different reasons.</p> <p>I'm not a fan of college, but at least it's better than high school. Freedom!</p>