Home schools untroubled by court decision
After graduating from the Los Angeles County public school
system, San Benito County residents Robin and Steve Sando decided
decades ago not to educate their children in public schools.
Home schools untroubled by court decision
After graduating from the Los Angeles County public school system, San Benito County residents Robin and Steve Sando decided decades ago not to educate their children in public schools.
Robin Sando has home schooled all seven of their children. She is teaching her younger children still, who are 11, 9 and 8.
Their lifestyle is in jeopardy after a Feb. 28 state court ruling.
A court decision on Feb. 28 denied parents the right to home school, unless they have a valid California teaching credential in the grade being taught, according to a Web site from California Courts.
The court is currently re-hearing the case.
The Sando residence is a large suburban-style home near Spring Grove School. They raise sheep full-time and pigs for the fair.
“We were just not impressed with what was happening in the public schools,” Robin Sando said.
The Sandos also wanted a Christian influence in their children’s lives.
“I would almost say they are equal,” Sando said.
They had a few friends who were home schooling. It seemed like the best option for them.
“There are many ways to accomplish home schooling, as well as many materials,” Sando said. “You can just go online, buy the stuff that you need and go from there.”
There is no obvious classroom – learning happens everywhere. The kids receive instruction all around the house.
Each child’s books are kept in a separate plastic bin.
School starts at 8:30 a.m.
“I’ve never had a hard, fast schedule,” Sando said. “Sometimes it’s a harder subject and they need more time to learn it.”
She teaches the same subjects in the same order each day – math, history, language arts and science. Reading, spelling and grammar are included in language arts.
Next year, she might add a foreign language, using either a computer program or a private tutor.
After lunch the children do independent assignments.
“We try to finish by 2,” Sando said.
Her kids are involved with many activities outside the home, including after-school activities, Sando said.
“We have been involved with 4-H for 14 years,” Sando said. “We’re involved in our church.”
Her children take field trips through their church, Sando said.
“One of our goals is that our kids can interact with kids of any age,” Sando said. “When you’re left in a classroom with kids only one age, that’s your socialization.”
Teens do need to interact with kids their own age, Sando said.
“We will have our kids come together and have what we call co-op classes,” Sando said.
Co-op classes are usually twice a week. Parents in the group teach the classes.
“My high schoolers all did co-op situations,” Sando said. “Whoever their teacher is will give them assignments to do at home.”
They have taken upper level math and science courses online or asa correspondence courses.
“One of my daughters did chemistry at Gavilan College,” Sando said. “It’s good for them, getting them out there. Getting them integrated in a traditional setting.”
Sando’s children are registered through a private Christian school. That means they do not have to take the same standardized tests that public school children must take.
“When it gets down to it, can they write, can they do math, can they read well?” Sando said. “If you have given them the tool to learn, then when they get to the college level they will learn.”
Her oldest child was home schooled from third grade through ninth grade. She has since graduated from college and has a job in alumni relations at Stanford Medical School.
Her other children were home schooled through 12th grade.
Sando’s 22-year-old daughter is in graduate school studying international trade policy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Her 21-year-old daughter is a senior in college at John Brown University in Arkansas. Her 19-year-old son is living on his own and studying at De Anza College to be an auto mechanic.
College was not a shocking transition for her children, Sando said.
“A lot of universities will tell you that home schoolers tend to adjust very well,” Sando said. “I think a traditional setting school really spoon feeds you information. You don’t have to research it or find the information for yourself.”
Home schoolers tend to be better at time management and independent learning, Sando said.
“I’ve been blessed to stay at home all these years,” Sando said. “When you start having lots of kids, sending them to private school, you have to deal with economics.”
There are many benefits to home schooling, Sando said.
“When you home school, you have more freedom,” Sando said. “That’s one of the perks of home schooling. I can schedule school in the summer and take vacations in the fall.”
Home schooling is one of the hardest things that any parents will do, Sando said.
“But it is worthwhile,” Sando said. “You get to teach them to read and open up that world for them. You get to see them progress. When they go off to school for six hours, you miss chunks.”
Sando is not worried about the court decision, she said.
“I’m not scared; I’m just waiting to see,” Sando said. “I could guess that if the court upheld the current decision, there would be a movement on the legislative side. So, I’m pretty confident, one way or another, people will have the right to home school.”
There are many different ways to home school, said Mary Kay Sgheiza, principal of the Monterey County Home Charter School, a public school for grades K-12.
“You can do it through a public school like ours, or a private religious school,” Sgheiza said.
Another option is registering with the state as a private school, Sgheiza said. Parents can fill out an affidavit that makes them the agent responsible for their child’s education.
The Monterey County Home Charter School offers support for home school children from San Benito County, Sgheiza said.
State officials consider it a home independent study program, Sgheiza said. Students must meet the same standards and tests as other public school students.
The program is free.
“It’s their tax dollars,” Sgheiza said. “It’s just like any other school.”
Between 40 and 50 kids from San Benito County are enrolled in the program each year, Sgheiza said.
“It is monitored extremely closely,” Sgheiza said.
Attendance is based on work completed, Sgheiza said.
“The teacher who goes out to their home has to document that they are putting in a minimum, a minimum of education activities,” Sgheiza said. “If the work is not done over a two-week period, that puts the child in jeopardy of being dropped from the program.”
Most kids are enrolled for a limited amount of time, Sgheiza said.
“We have about 5 percent of our kids who have been in since kindergarten and they go all the way through,” Sgheiza said, “because their kids are philosophically home schoolers.”
Most kids go for other reasons.
“A lot of career type kids,” Sgheiza said.
Gangs are another popular reason, Sgheiza said.
“We have a large percentage of our kids who are escaping gangs or their parents are fearful of the gangs,” Sgheiza said.
Some kids need a year of one–on-one instruction to bring them back up to grade level, Sgheiza said. Other kids are more advanced than their peers, Sgheiza said.
Jack O’Connell, California superintendent of public instruction, disagreed with the court’s February ruling.
“Under current law, parents may home school their children if they hold credentials or if they qualify as ‘private schools,'” O’Connell said in a press release.
The court is currently conducting a review regarding the legal status of home schooling.
“I hope that upon completion of this review, the court will clearly affirm the circumstances under which parents may home school their children in our state,” O’Connell said.
The February decision brought up an old controversy, said Tim Foley, San Benito County superintendent of schools.
“That was out of left field for me, because I thought that was kind of a sleeping dog,” Foley said. “I did not expect the requirement of a teacher, a credentialed teacher.”
Home schooling is just another option for parents, Foley said.
“This office, and I personally, have great respect for what home schoolers are doing,” Foley said. “We want to be there for them in any way we can. We do not have an adversarial relationship with them.”.com
