WV considers "Tebow" bill

No, it has nothing to do with abortion or homosexuality ...

State lawmakers are considering allowing home-schooled kids the right to participate in school-based sports and extracurricular activities.
An amendment was added that will allow this to apply only to private school.

Tim Tebow bill on verge of passing state senate

 

My wife is a public school teacher, supportive of the mission of public schools to the core.

But over the last few weeks and months, she has said on many occasions that part of her, at this point, wishes she could home school. There are obvious drawbacks, particularly socially and with instilling a sense of community. But a ton of upside, as well, if you're up to it.

I'm Catholic and she's been in a church probably less than 10-20 times in her life, for funerals and weddings.

 

Which is why the bill should definitely be passed. These kids need more opportunities to socialize, and sports (among other activities) gives them that. Other extracurricular activities are included, which is also a good move. I am not familiar with homeschooling because I don't have kids and such a thing barely existed when I was in school. Is it taught by teachers/tutors or parents, or some combination of the two?

 

Do home-schooled children in West Virginia not have access to other publicly funded athletics programs - parks and rec, etc.?
If the answer is no, then they should have access to the scholastic programs.

 

Hmmm ... they need more opportunities to socialize ... I wonder if there's anything available to them that might fill this need, say, a place to go during the day and meet with thousands of children their age.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Different people and places do it different ways, I'm sure, but one group in our area is more or less a school setup. It's a bunch of families where the parents have expertise in certain areas or a teaching background, and they teach the classes to groups of kids just like a normal school. They have set schedules and even some sports teams that compete against other home school groups. The classes meet in a church so they can move around to different rooms as needed.
The curriculum is, I'm sure, laced with a heavy dose of religion. At least with this group. The structure, though, isn't that weird.

 

That seems a lot like, you know, school. We actually have at least one team in our coverage area that is made up exclusively of home-schooled kids.

 

Same here. That's how I know a bit about them. We did a story on them once when they were trying to start a basketball team and get some publicity. It was interesting seeing how they'd arranged things. It was like a co-op for education.

 

Sports should be completely disassociated with education. If you want your kid to play a sport, sign him up for a sports club.

 

Do that and you open a Pandora's Box for Deion Sanders' fiasco of sports academy, and such.

 

Parents and taxpayers get what they pay for, or don't.

 

I suppose this is like a lapsed Methodist like myself just going to church for the good stuff, like on Easter and Christmas.