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        <title>Homeschooling works! -  - awsmom8&apos;s Blog - Tehachapi News</title>
        <link>http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/awsmom8/14239</link>
        <description>For those of you who look down on homeschooling, let me tell you about my experience.&amp;nbsp; Both my children have attended Tehachapi schools since 1st grade.&amp;nbsp; My son flourished, while it seemed my daughter was getting left further and further behind.&amp;nbsp; After several evaluations, she was placed in RSP for children with learning disabilities.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Progress in reading was painfully slow, despite 2 hrs of homework (in the 2,3, and 4 th grade) every evening,&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; We drove her to Bakersfield 2-3 times a week to Sylvan and still she was behind.&amp;nbsp; In 2006, the state testing placed her at grade level 2 for reading, and she was 11 yrs old.&amp;nbsp; I then decided to home school her as I felt it was her only chance at receiving the help she needed.&amp;nbsp; She is now a student at Valley Oaks Charter School, a home school program thru Kern County Superintendent of Schools.&amp;nbsp; She has a wonderful resource teacher, Mrs. Rosander, and together we developed a curriculum to meet my daughters needs.&amp;nbsp; Well, after one year of homeschooling, she has gone from grade level 2 in reading to grade level 5-- a remarkable feat!&amp;nbsp; Her state test scores in general were falling 30-50 points every year, but this year she stopped the backward slide and even gained 40 pts. She is still 2 years behind, but I believe she will be close to grade level at the end of this year. The one size fits all education model offered by the school district leaves many children behind.
I do find it interesting that when you home school, the student to teacher ratio is 20:1, yet when she was at Techachapi School district, she had as many as 36 other students her classroom.</description>
        <itunes:summary>For those of you who look down on homeschooling, let me tell you about my experience.&amp;nbsp; Both my children have attended Tehachapi schools since 1st grade.&amp;nbsp; My son flourished, while it seemed my daughter was getting left further and further behind.&amp;nbsp; After several evaluations, she was placed in RSP for children with learning disabilities.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Progress in reading was painfully slow, despite 2 hrs of homework (in the 2,3, and 4 th grade) every evening,&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; We drove her to Bakersfield 2-3 times a week to Sylvan and still she was behind.&amp;nbsp; In 2006, the state testing placed her at grade level 2 for reading, and she was 11 yrs old.&amp;nbsp; I then decided to home school her as I felt it was her only chance at receiving the help she needed.&amp;nbsp; She is now a student at Valley Oaks Charter School, a home school program thru Kern County Superintendent of Schools.&amp;nbsp; She has a wonderful resource teacher, Mrs. Rosander, and together we developed a curriculum to meet my daughters needs.&amp;nbsp; Well, after one year of homeschooling, she has gone from grade level 2 in reading to grade level 5-- a remarkable feat!&amp;nbsp; Her state test scores in general were falling 30-50 points every year, but this year she stopped the backward slide and even gained 40 pts. She is still 2 years behind, but I believe she will be close to grade level at the end of this year. The one size fits all education model offered by the school district leaves many children behind.
I do find it interesting that when you home school, the student to teacher ratio is 20:1, yet when she was at Techachapi School district, she had as many as 36 other students her classroom.</itunes:summary>
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                <title>Sep 7,  2007 at 07:09 AM : The public school...</title>
                <description>&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The public school system is in shambles!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I am sure there are teachers out there that are good, but they get lost in all the federal and state mandated crap.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Home schooling is the best if one can do it. You folks are providing good information for those that need it on this subject. &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Those that cannot or afford a private school, you have to keep teachers and administration accountable.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I strongly believe in school vouchers. &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;This makes public schools competitive when they have to compete for taxpayer money. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
                <link>http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/awsmom8/14239/#c_135892</link>
                <guid>http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/awsmom8/14239/#c_135892</guid>
                <itunes:summary>&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The public school system is in shambles!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I am sure there are teachers out there that are good, but they get lost in all the federal and state mandated crap.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Home schooling is the best if one can do it. You folks are providing good information for those that need it on this subject. &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Those that cannot or afford a private school, you have to keep teachers and administration accountable.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I strongly believe in school vouchers. &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;This makes public schools competitive when they have to compete for taxpayer money. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</itunes:summary>     
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                <title>Sep 23,  2007 at 04:09 PM : Fabulous result. ...</title>
                <description>Fabulous result.  Keep it up.  Mom!</description>
                <link>http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/awsmom8/14239/#c_142137</link>
                <guid>http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/awsmom8/14239/#c_142137</guid>
                <itunes:summary>Fabulous result.  Keep it up.  Mom!</itunes:summary>     
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