Homeschooling vs. “credits”

Homeschool parents don’t need to track their children using a system of credits because we know our children and can tell whether or not they’re learning anything of value. I preferred the portfolio method of creating documentation for high school aged homeschoolers. With that method the student’s best work is kept in a file, eventually to be organized in a looseleaf binder that could be shared with college counselors.

Homeschool parents can also create a transcript but don’t expect your high school to accept credits just because you say the subjects were covered.

Today I’m happy to see I’m not alone in rejecting the system of credits set up by public school administrators. Homeschoolers in Missouri are fighting against a 2009 state House bill, 43-116, which would require high school dropouts to earn 16 credits in a half-day program while they work part-time in a “skilled profession” (I’m not sure what they mean by ’skilled’.) The Missouri homeschool support group, Families for Home Education, monitors legislation and takes action to protest any pending bills that could interfere with homeschool freedoms.

Families for Home Education formed in 1983 and brought a class action lawsuit against the state department of child welfare (Division of Family Services, aka. DFS) for taking homeschooled children away from their parents. They fought against typical CPS injustices by having parents keep a journal of all DFS contacts. The parents then learned to write affidavits documenting harassment, threats, and unjust actions by DFS agents.

Also sued in the class action lawsuit were three school superintendants, the Commissioner of Education for the state of Missouri, twenty DFS employees, and the juvenile court. (Ellis, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. O’Hara, et al., Defendants.) This resulted in a judicial decision that the Missouri legislature should create a homeschool law for the state.

There’s no doubt that the group, Families for Home Education, has clout because they represent hundreds of member-families throughout the state. If any homeschool familiy wants legal protection, there’s no better way than to join a state homeschool advocacy group.

Credits can stay in the public schools… as something special for public school employees who can’t remember who’s completing worksheets and who’s not any other way. Homeschool educators know their children well enough to dispense with the credit concept entirely.