Homeschool Alliance of North Carolina

“NEW CASTLE - Despite carrying one of the lightest offseason regimens in her recent history, Alice McKennis’ alpine ski season is off to quite the start.

The 18-year-old New Castle native, at home in Colorado for the holidays, has already scored four top-10 finishes in a pair of Canada Nor-Am Cup stops…….

McKennis, who excels at pretty much everything she does, is also a beast in the classroom. At just 18, she’ll wrap up a degree in business through Phoenix Online. She earned her GED at 16 after a childhood of home-schooling.

Her future is bright - blindingly so - but for now, McKennis is just happy to be home for the holidays…”

For the complete story go to:

http://www.postindependent.com/article/20071224/SPORTS/851832268/-1/rss01

“Many parents of home schooled children are likely wondering how the 2008 Presidential Candidates are feeling about the issue of home schooling. Many of the candidates have not made a formal statement regarding home schooling, perhaps because many of them think the issue is not as pertinent as other issues. However, Ron Paul has voiced his opinion on home schooling. He calls it a “practical alternative” for families. He strongly supports the issue and option of home schooling in America and puts such a strong emphasis on it, one wonders why the other candidates haven’t mentioned their takes on this interesting educational issue. According to USAElectionPolls.com and their reports of the ARG polls, Ron Paul is still only coming in with 1% of supporters at this point. One could guess that 1% are home school supporters, no doubt.”

For the complete article visit:

http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?storyid=23092

“Battling the attention span of 6-year-olds is a daunting task for many adults. As girls and boys file into the studio space for 16-year-old Nick Alter’s hip-hop class at Dana’s Studio of Dance in Southlake, the level of energy is high…

Then, at eleven, Nick was diagnosed with Tourrette’s syndrome — a disease which causes involuntary tics.

Tourrette’s syndrome often arises during adolescence and is commonly associated with obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit disorders according to the National Tourette Syndrome Association. The symptoms can vary in severity. After a long struggle with the disease, Nick began home schooling and also realized that dance seemed to be the perfect therapy for him he said.

“Dance was a motivation to work through my issues. It helped with my confidence and self esteem,” Nick said”

For the complete article visit:

http://www.planostar.com/articles/2007/12/19/southlake_times/news/00000001sl.txt

Another article concerning the same family:

“PRICE, Utah, December 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An apparent paperwork error by state officials has resulted in a jail threat to a Utah homeschooling family. Denise Mafi must enrol all her children in a state school immediately or face the state seizing them and even a possible jail sentence for truancy…

Mafi said she had submitted the required affidavit for the 2006-2007 school year by fax but, although a source inside the District affirmed that Mafi had come to pick up the forms, the state officials lost her paperwork. Now officials are claiming that she did not file the affidavit and when Mafi appeared in court, a plea agreement arranged with the prosecutor was thrown out by the judge.

Mafi told WND, “He threw out the plea and we go to trial on January 9th. I have no chance with this judge. He will find me guilty. He already has. So I will probably be spending some time in jail.”

Mafi has been homeschooling her children for nearly ten years without problems. Although she has already received the go-ahead from state officials for the 2007-2008 school year, the judge ordered all the children to be enrolled in school this year. ”

For the complete article visit:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/dec/07121809.html

“A threat by a Utah judge to take away a homeschooling mom’s children if she failed to enroll them in public school, and make sure they were in attendance every day, has been escalated to the level of the state Legislature, according to a homeschooling leader.”I can tell you there are several legislators working on this, including one on the judicial retention committee,” John Yarrington, president of the Utah Home Education Association, said. “There’s no excuse for this kind of bias and prejudice.”

At issue are the threats issued by Judge Scott Johansen, who serves in the juvenile division of the state’s 7th Judicial District

He said in a court hearing for the homeschooling mom, Denise Mafi, that he would order the removal of her children from her custody if she failed to enroll her children in the public school district and keep them in class every day, unless they had a physician’s note excusing them. ”

 For the complete story please read here:

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59263

“Three years ago if someone would have told the Journey homeschool co-op kids they would be buying shoes for Vietnamese children who had to walk to school barefoot in the snow, they may have scratched their heads, wondering what that person was talking about. And if the kids, who range from 2 to 12 years old, had been told they would put electricity in a school on the other side of the world, they might think that person was crazy…

Manning says the co-op students got excited about helping the Vietnamese kids in their sister school after learning more about their situation. To help alleviate some of the conditions the Vietnamese kids were faced with, the Journey homeschool kids began efforts to raise money for school supplies, food for families, and money to send more kids to school than what Vietnamese families could afford…

The co-op, however, focuses on school-based needs and the kids in the Tan Minh B School. Last year the small group raised $900 from various fund raisers. One of those was a garage sale organized and manned by the homeschool students.”

For the full story please visit:

http://erstarnews.com/content/view/1763/141/

“DES MOINES — Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s rise may have been a surprise to many, but not to a tightly knit group of social conservatives with something fundamental in common.

Thousands of evangelical Christians who school their children at home have found a candidate they can support in Huckabee, and they provide the former Arkansas governor’s outsider campaign with hundreds of volunteers. ”

 for the complete article please read here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=3980243

“The Woodlands Homeschoolers Robotics Team, which took third place in best T-shirt design category, advanced to the state competition after winning at the regional competition. …
The key project that earned the students the trip was an award-winning robot.”

 For the complete text please visit:

http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19109277&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532542&rfi=6

“A woman who homeschools her four daughters has been elected head of the board that oversees public schools in South Carolina.

Kristin Maguire of Clemson was voted chairwoman-elect for the State Board of Education on Wednesday. She is scheduled to become chairwoman in 2009.

Maguire was previously named to the board by Republican Governor Mark Sanford.

The board’s nominating committee preferred Trip DuBard but he was voted down 9-7. Maguire was elected on a voice vote.

At least one former teacher spoke against Maguire’s election at the board’s meeting. ”

That is the complete article but here is the link:

http://www.live5news.com/news/state/12416721.html

“A teenage girl was sentenced yesterday to life in prison with all but 25 years suspended for chasing down and fatally stabbing another girl whose cell phone she tried to steal after they left a light rail train last year in Baltimore….

The victim’s parents had pulled Nicole out of Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore the previous year because they feared for her safety. They opted to home school the girl, who had her sights set on attending college.”

 The story isn’t a pretty one but to read the complete article visit:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.lightrail07dec07,0,5385815.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout