"Home schooling now involves children numbered into the millions. The rate at which parents have decided to take charge of their children's quality of learning by choosing home schooling has more than tripled over the past decade."
In today's public schools, the atmosphere of learning is over- whelmed by an atmosphere of insecurity. Students are more worried about their safety than they are about their academic performance. Some parents find themselves praying that their children return home safe from school. From the level of school officials, academic learning takes a back seat to the measures of school security. Within the last decade violence has erupted on the school scene in shocking episodes. Tragedy has stuck deep into the hearts of American families from the lost of some of the dearest of love ones. The overall conditions of public schools are no secret to the American public. Parents have begun to consider alternative measures of assuring the education of their children.
"According to conventional laws of education, when a child fails to pass certain tests and requirements in home schooling educational officials demand that parents enroll their child in public or private school or else face the reprimands of civil disobedience. But what happens when a child fails in public or private school? Shouldn't parents be forced to take full responsibility of the child's failure and educate him or her at home? Not hardly! If every student that failed public school were ordered to be schooled at home, parents would definitely have to become much better parents, and public education would be headed for the morgue within a decade."
Thus Spake The 21 Century Philosopher & Progressive Pedagogue
More and more parents are now willing to make great personal sacrifices and shoulder the yoke of responsibility of assuring that their children achieves qualitative learning and a successful education. Many of such parents have chosen home schooling as their best and most affordable alternative.
Some parents are painfully discovering the extreme difficulties involved in the educating process of home schooling. They are finding themselves in a gauntlet of time, money and educational know-how, struggling to do the best they can with what they have. Determined to keep their kids from the hostile environment of public schools, these parents are at a crossroad of a dilemma.
"Any decisions of action in this society must face the dictates of economic law and order. The adequate availability of proper resources is definitely necessary for the development, progress and success of any social endeavor. Poverty is a human nightmare for anyone attempting success in any facet of our social system."
As a philosopher of progressive education and creator of my own educating system – Exceptional Education, I have founded the Concerned Parents Organization in order to support parents who demonstrate a genuine concern of properly raising their children. The CPO is designed and structured to provide economical, ecological, educational and parental assistance toward raising children properly, intelligently and successfully. In order to properly address the difficulties of home schooling I created the Americus Homeschooling Association as a legal, strategic and intelligent representative in support of role modeling parents who are willing and committed to becoming responsible educators. I personally take our AHA theme "Educating by Role Modeling" extremely serious. In fact, only parents who qualify as role models according to AHA standards are granted the privilege of membership in the association.
In the Americus Homeschooling Association the phrase "Homeschooling" takes on a whole new meaning in terms of educating. Homeschooling to us means that the home has taken charge of administering and insuring the child achieving qualitative learning and a successful education. The parent becomes the new self-appointed school superintendent. Homeschooling doesn't necessarily have to take place exclusively at home according to our homeschooling philosophy. Home is now school headquarters. The philosophy (Nungkyyii) in which AHA is founded, reflects the nature of parental instinct in the animal kingdom, which means that it is the chief responsibility of the parents that their young learn to survive and achieve a successful and happy life. This grandiose endeavor and exceptional level of responsibility naturally brands the parents as true educators, which makes teachers specialists of academics serving as educating assistants and co-parents.
In Nungkyyii the greatest method of learning is imitation. Therefore role modeling has been chosen as the most dynamic and effective method of teaching. "Our qualifications of a parent role model turns the parent world upside down." "Do as I say," Must be congruent with "Do as I do." Parents whose ill habits and immoral behavior dominates their lifestyle are not considered to be qualified role models. According to the laws of genetics, "Two skunks don't make a rabbit." Only those parents, whose habits, behavior and lifestyle demonstrate righteous, loving, positive, constructive and intelligent examples will qualify for membership in the Americus Homeschooling Association.
"We are dead serious about the successful expression of parenthood"
AHA is strategically and intelligently geared for the legal gauntlet of homeschooling verses the system. The association falls under the umbrella of our Private Schools of Self-Discipline, and therefore, considers each home school to be a satellite school operating under the legal constitution of our private schools. The legal division of our association will assist parents and make certain that they follow the guidelines and meet the requirements of the state's board of education's rules and regulations for home schooling. A committee of registered schoolteachers from the Purple Dragons Pedagogue Society will serve periodic terms on the board of education of AHA as tutors, advisors and assistants to our educating parents. A complete profile and portfolio will be kept current and up to date of each child's educational development and progress. Our legal goal is to eliminate any possible loopholes that the system may find to take legal action in attacking our homeschooling movement – out of political attempts to save face of the deteriorating situation and condition of public education.
AHA has a very unique educating program. It presents a full standard curriculum conducted by our pedagogues over the Internet, and supported by a tutorial program available to parents simply by bringing their children to an AHA educational branch. A student can attend any of our academic subjects at the convenience of their location by using their computer. All students will be required to have access to a laptop computer and wireless communications for Internet access. DVDs and CD-ROMs will be available for personal study of each academic subject of our curriculum. Group reviews will be conducted after the ending of certain segments of the subject's course. Students will be gathered together in order to reinforce the learning of their lessons, after which each student will undergo a personal evaluation. Personal evaluations will be used to measure and identify the student's quotient of knowledge, level and pace of learning and specific problems being encountered in his or her education. When a student's evaluation report registers that he or she has demonstrated the required academic performances and completed all educational assignments, the student's superintendent (parent) will be notified and headquarters (home) will promote the student and award him or her appropriately.
AHA will have a special tutorial program that keeps the educating parents aware and informed of the knowledgeable content of the academic subjects and lessons being learned by their children. AHA will have specially built structures to facilitate and accommodate its physical, social and educational activities. Parents will transport their children to our facilities for programs in sports and recreation, events of entertainment and socialization and organizational meetings and benefits.
The most important area of homeschooling is considered to be family culture. The philosophy of education according to Nungkyyii is not to educate the child merely for employment, but rather for becoming a greater human being, a productive and successful citizen and future role-modeling parent. The cultivation of the child's thoughts, behavior and character is expected to be traits of human development that are molded strictly by family influence. The family environment should be developed to such a level of cultural fortification that its influential traits are impenetrable by peer pressure. The family culture is the area considered to be the most crucial in determining the child's will, desire and determination to achieving a successful education because it is the area that will structure the child's lifestyle.
"Lifestyle sets the frame work of the child's reality"
Parents are required to establish a family culture in which the attainment of family values, the expression of family rituals and participation of group activities unify and fortify the family spirit. Principles, morals and ethics of personal and social conduct are structured with their importance in character development, stressed repetitiously and backed by parent role-modeling.
Home economics is learned and experienced through responsible roles in house keeping and overall management of the complete operation of the home. The family's cultural lifestyle should teach the child the art of succeeding in both living and parenting.
When parents invest qualitative time and adequate resources with appropriate supervision into the assurance of their children's education, they are making the best investment of their lives. The fruit that such investments will bear can produce emotional rewards that vibrate the nervous system throughout the stages of parenthoods – grandparenthood and great grandparenthood.
The Concerned Parents Organization and its Americus Homeschooling Association are looking forward to giving a dynamic display of role-modeling what successful homeschooling is all about and where its movement is headed in the future.
