SAYS WHO?
This is a pretty sad LttE, but I’m not sure it’s 100% correct:
Jonathan Bartlett, Bottineau, N.D., letter: Grandparents should be able to teach kids
The Forum
Published Saturday, December 16, 2006North Dakota is known to be the most restrictive state in the nation in regards to its regulations concerning home education. This is clear in the case of grandparents wishing to school their grandchildren.
In Deuteronomy 6, parents are given the responsibility of educating their children within the home. However, when parents need assistance in the process, they have the right to choose who will replace or help them in their educational capacity. North Dakota has denied this right to its citizens by limiting the parents’ choice. There is absolutely no logical reason for a willing grandparent to be denied the privilege of passing on knowledge when his or her credentials in education are as legitimate as the parent’s.
The Bible teaches in Proverbs 13:22a and Proverbs 17:6 that grandchildren are a joy to grandparents and that grandparents should pass on not only a physical inheritance but also more importantly an educational one. As we all know, it is natural for grandparents to enjoy their children’s children, and it is just as natural that they pass on their hard-earned wisdom to them.
State precedence is clearly in favor of not restricting who the teacher must be. Thirty-six out of the 50 states do not require a parent to be the teacher, but instead, merely a “capable instructor.â€
Please defend freedom by showing your support of future legislation allowing grandparents to home school.
Here’s the relevant passage from the ND homeschooling law:
15.1-23-01. Home education – Definition. For purposes of this chapter, “home education” means a program of education supervised by a child’s parent, in the child’s home, in accordance with the requirements of this chapter.
“Supervised by” doesn’t necessarily mean “conducted by.” Do the supervisors in the g-schools do all of the teaching? Or are they, perhaps, monitoring the activities of the teachers in the classrooms? So why couldn’t a grandparent do the teaching and the parent do the supervising? And you could drive a truck through the loophole in that “in the child’s home” bit. Who’s to say that the child has only a single home. Perhaps he lives with his grandparents 8-5 and with his parents the rest of the time.
I have no hope that Mr. Jonathan Bartlett of Bottineau, ND will ever read this, but I hope he just goes ahead and home educates his grandkid.
UPDATE: BTW, ND really does have crappy homeschool laws.