Common Core And Homeschooling

Many schools are experiencing the implementation of

Common Core.  Parents are finding out that the

regulations that determine how the child will be

educated might be more involved than they might have

thought.

Homeschooling parents have considered themselves immune

to the effects and regulations of Common Core because,

after all, they are educating their children at home. 

But is it realistic to believe that homeschoolers can

avoid the broad umbrella of Common Core?



There are a number of ways that Common Core may affect

homeschoolers, both directly and indirectly.  The

following information is by no means exhaustive.

Data Collection

Currently homeschool students seem to be off the radar

in many states.  By right and by choice homeschooling

families tend to want to keep their students out of the

system.  However, one of the components of Common Core

is that it allows for a database of student information

which begins in kindergarten and continues through the

student’s entry into the workforce.

In states where students are not required to register

in any way to homeschool the amount of data collected

on that student will be minimal.  However, for states

that seek more control over their homeschoolers, those

homeschoolers will be providing information for that

database.  While it may not seem like much, this

database is accessible by outside sources which might

not need to access student’s names and other personal

information.



Standardized Testing

Homeschooling students in many states are not required

to submit to standardized testing.  In a number of

states homeschool students who are not associated with

church schools are required to participate in state

testing.  Homeschool students who are required to

participate in state testing will have a fundamental

freedom removed from them.  Because they will be tested

according to state standards, which are aligned with

Common Core Standards, homeschool students will have to

study homeschooling curriculum that will prepare them

for those tests.

This removes the freedom to choose certain curricula. 

Homeschoolers pride themselves on their ability to

choose the curriculum that is best suited for their

student’s learning style and also their philosophical

reasons for homechooling.  By having to study curricula

that are aligned with Common Core the homeschoolers are

being forced to participate in a system that many of

them oppose.

And College Entrance Exams

At a point in the foreseeable future college entrance

exams will be rewritten and adapted to fit the

curriculum that is being taught in public schools.  The

curriculum in public schools across the country will be

aligned to Common Core Standards.  Part of the reason

Common Core is being enacted is to make the curriculum

all across the country standard.  Because of this, it

makes perfect sense for the college entrance exams to

reflect this.

Just as with standardized testing in elementary school,

middle school, and high school, college entrance exam

requirements will, by default, require that

homeschoolers conform to learning the body of knowledge

that will allow them to do best on these exams.  If

they choose to study homeschool curricula that do not

currently conform to the Common Core Standards, or do

not adapt to align with those standards they will be

penalized for this lack of conformity by potentially

lower test scores.

Finally, from the standpoint of someone who does not

mind data being collected on their children, and

consequently their families, and who does not mind that

curriculum choices are being made for their children

without their input or their control, it might seem odd

that anyone would object to the implementation of

Common Core standards and requirements across the

country.  However, there is a whole group of people,

generally homeschoolers, who do not believe that the

state or the federal government have the right to

control how their children are educated.  Neither the

state nor the federal government should have the right

or ability to collect, store, and disseminate

information on the student or family.  Common Core

might seem like a step toward Big Brother and away from

the freedoms that they enjoy as homeschoolers.

Linda is a writer and homeschooling parent of a middle

school.  Her homeschool curriculum choice,

Time4Learning, provides elementary through high school

curriculum.  Linda also writes a weekly blog, Web-

Home-School.

Article Source:

http://www.edarticle.com/articles/42814/common-core-

and-homeschooling.php