Share Your Vision
Obama's transition team has asked us to share our vision. You can do that here. This is an excerpt of mine:
As you prepare to address the agenda item of education, I ask that you take the needs of home educators seriously. Many universities, such as your alma mater Harvard, have been discovering that home educated students make some of the strongest students.
The home education community is growing. With it, are growing numbers of People Of Colour. (We now make up 26% of the community.) Many of us have chosen to home educate our children because we can no longer wait for change.
I'm very proud to feel as if I am raising a world citizen. I follow an educational philosophy with I call directed autonomy. It is a variation on a philosophy often referred to as "unschooling." Since, I allow my son to make some choices about what he wants to learn, I've been surprised at where he leads me.
Needless to say, this can get expensive. We manage. We are very fortunate to be able to afford extra classes. Not everyone can.
For this reason, I hope you will support S. 3076, the "Homes Act." As I am sure you know, this would relieve some of the financial burden of homeschooling families by providing a tax deduction of $500 per child (with an annual limit of $2,000.)
In addition, I hope you will also support S 3243 and 3244, the Education Savings For All Act. It seems unfair to me that only public and private school families have the opportunity to invest in a Coverdell Education Savings Account. I am sure you are well aware that this legislation would stop the discrimination faced by parents who choose to educate their children at home.
I strongly support better schools. I look forward to better resources for teachers. Every child deserves an excellent education. However, as you know, change does not happen over night. And true educational reform will not occur in time for my son to benefit from it. Therefore, as you develop polices and actions regarding education, I hope you will remember that there are many families who prefer to educate their children at home.
Throughout the election, you repeatedly reminded us that we had a responsibility to part of the change. And when you won, you let us know again that we had just begun making change happen in this country. I applaud the way in which your transition team has used all available technology to open the lines of communication between your team and the American people.
As you prepare to address the agenda item of education, I ask that you take the needs of home educators seriously. Many universities, such as your alma mater Harvard, have been discovering that home educated students make some of the strongest students.
The home education community is growing. With it, are growing numbers of People Of Colour. (We now make up 26% of the community.) Many of us have chosen to home educate our children because we can no longer wait for change.
I'm very proud to feel as if I am raising a world citizen. I follow an educational philosophy with I call directed autonomy. It is a variation on a philosophy often referred to as "unschooling." Since, I allow my son to make some choices about what he wants to learn, I've been surprised at where he leads me.
Needless to say, this can get expensive. We manage. We are very fortunate to be able to afford extra classes. Not everyone can.
For this reason, I hope you will support S. 3076, the "Homes Act." As I am sure you know, this would relieve some of the financial burden of homeschooling families by providing a tax deduction of $500 per child (with an annual limit of $2,000.)
In addition, I hope you will also support S 3243 and 3244, the Education Savings For All Act. It seems unfair to me that only public and private school families have the opportunity to invest in a Coverdell Education Savings Account. I am sure you are well aware that this legislation would stop the discrimination faced by parents who choose to educate their children at home.
I strongly support better schools. I look forward to better resources for teachers. Every child deserves an excellent education. However, as you know, change does not happen over night. And true educational reform will not occur in time for my son to benefit from it. Therefore, as you develop polices and actions regarding education, I hope you will remember that there are many families who prefer to educate their children at home.
Throughout the election, you repeatedly reminded us that we had a responsibility to part of the change. And when you won, you let us know again that we had just begun making change happen in this country. I applaud the way in which your transition team has used all available technology to open the lines of communication between your team and the American people.
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