Not educating child

[disykat]

I am glad you had the courage to call. IF they are donig nothing wrong, then CPS will investigate and then leave them alone.

I agree. If CPS was not the "correct" place to call, they'll refer the case to the correct place.

 

[tlbwriter]

Is her last name Duggar?

 

[hereyago]

Sounds like unschooling to me.

SHe may be unschooling, but she is also wanting to unwork if she tried to get the OP to let her leave in the afternoon so her DD can do her job for her with OP"s kids.

 

[bigredbill]

I think a better option would have been to call the school district. They are the ones in charge of homeschooling.
I think calling CPS was too much because you just don't know what is going on. You got your information from a kid. Now, we homeschool sort of. DS is 15 and attends a virtual school. They have a set amount of work that has to be done each week. It is divided up by the day. He is currently done with his online school work for the rest of the day except for a phone call he has to make later. Now, he is watching my one year old so I can work. I work at home on the computer. I pay him to watch her while my fiance is at work so I can get a head start and not work late into the night. To an outsider, my home looks much like you described. I would hate to have CPS called on me because someone doesn't like my parenting choices.

Understand your point, but we do know what is going on in this case. The mother has told us exactly what she is doing. She has owned up to the fact that there is no educating going on -- no text books, nothing online, no testing -- nothing. She wants her daughter to help raise their youngest son instead. This family has spent a large amount of time in our home in the past. We tried to encourage her to utilize a virtual school or some sort structred curriculum. She refused.

 

[hereyago]

Is her last name Duggar?

I just spit my tea out!

 

[Nayan]

I think a better option would have been to call the school district. They are the ones in charge of homeschooling.
I think calling CPS was too much because you just don't know what is going on. You got your information from a kid. Now, we homeschool sort of. DS is 15 and attends a virtual school. They have a set amount of work that has to be done each week. It is divided up by the day. He is currently done with his online school work for the rest of the day except for a phone call he has to make later. Now, he is watching my one year old so I can work. I work at home on the computer. I pay him to watch her while my fiance is at work so I can get a head start and not work late into the night. To an outsider, my home looks much like you described. I would hate to have CPS called on me because someone doesn't like my parenting choices.

Same here. My son does virtual school as well for a few hours a day and after he's done then he's free to do whatever. I would hate to be called out too.

 

[princessmom29]

Is her last name Duggar?

If not, mabye she should change it. Then, she will have thousands of people to defend her!

 

[happygirl]

I know in my state, if you are saying your are homeschooling then they take your word for it. Homeschoolers aren't required to take test of update anyone on progress they are making.

OP yes you way overstepped your boundaries.

 

[Coconut36]

Understand your point, but we do know what is going on in this case. The mother has told us exactly what she is doing. She has owned up to the fact that there is no educating going on -- no text books, nothing online, no testing -- nothing. She wants her daughter to help raise their youngest son instead. This family has spent a large amount of time in our home in the past. We tried to encourage her to utilize a virtual school or some sort structred curriculum. She refused.

I get that you are trying to help the child but you don't have the right to police everyone else and what they do or how they do it.

CPS IMO is very much the wrong place to go to..that is for serious serious stuff..school district or local truancy program for your city/state/county would be more appropriate but I do ask..what are the ages regarding education and homeschooling in your state? Before you called did you review them to find out if the mother is even doing something that would be illegal or go against the laws for homeschooling in your state?

 

[princessmom29]

Same here. My son does virtual school as well for a few hours a day and after he's done then he's free to do whatever. I would hate to be called out too.

the difference here is that the mom has TOLD the OP that they are doing NO schooling AT ALL.

 

[Hannathy]

I think you did they right thing and I am very much an anti nanny state person. I feel the Government is in to much of our business as it is BUT in this case it was warranted.

They are neglecting their daughter. Neglect is a form of abuse and they are neglecting her education which is mandated by law.

I also think homeschoolers should have to take testing to prove they are teaching.

 

[golfgal]

Same here. My son does virtual school as well for a few hours a day and after he's done then he's free to do whatever. I would hate to be called out too.

HUGE difference between taking classes via virtual school and doing NOTHING.

In the case where I called CPS, this person had kids that are 10-14 years old that CAN'T READ--not even a little bit--"because they don't want to read" Yeah, great idea...

 

[disneyjunkie]

So not providing any form of education is NOT a form of abuse?

Neglect, not abuse

Here teachers/school staff can call CPS for educational neglect.

 

[princessmom29]

I know in my state, if you are saying your are homeschooling then they take your word for it. Homeschoolers aren't required to take test of update anyone on progress they are making.

OP yes you way overstepped your boundaries.

So we are supposed to just look the other way and allow kids to be neglected when parents say they are "homeschooling" but we know better? I couldn't sleep at night knowing I allowed that kind of neglect of a child to continue.

 

[golfgal]

Neglect, not abuse

Here teachers/school staff can call CPS for educational neglect.

Neglect is a form of abuse.

 

[luvsJack]

I agree totally with what you did and I made the decision to do the same thing myself when a former friend of dd's was in this same situation.

I have a real issue with people taking their kids out of school to "homeschool" so that mom has an excuse not to work or wants to keep the kids around to clean her house or take care of younger siblings.

I know many kids that are homeschooled that are getting a wonderful education, but that is not always the case. If a child is not getting educated at school, the parents should step in and go to the necessary people to have something changed--and most do. If a child is not being educated by the parent nor the school because they are being "homeschooled" someone should be able to step in and speak up for them.

 

[Pigeon]

I think you did they right thing and I am very much an anti nanny state person. I feel the Government is in to much of our business as it is BUT in this case it was warranted.

Translation: I only want the nanny state as it pertains to other people's lives.

 

[nancytoby]

Calling CPS is saying that there may possibly be a reason to investigate. It's not convicting anyone of anything.

Isn't the news in the last week enough to convince people it's better to have things looked into (and possibly dismissed) than ignored?

You did the right thing.

 

[Wadekind]

I have an issue with one of my wife's former friends, who also used to be our nanny. I say "former", as my wife has little contact with her now. She had brought such drama and poor influence into our household, we decided our family was better off without her.

However, I still have a major concern with her. She took her (then) 13 year old daughter out of school last year to "home school" her. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue -- I respect the decisions of families that are doing what they feel is best for the education of their children. The concern I have is that she doesn't educate her daughter at all. Instead, she uses her as a babysitter for their one-year old.

We had utilized the mom as a nanny over the summer, but let her go when she told us that she would not be putting her daughter in school again. In fact, she wanted to be able to leave her nanny responsibilities in the early afternoon, and have her daughter finish up watching our kids each day. We told her that we couldn't do that, didn't feel that what she was doing to her child was right, and that we'd need to find a new nanny.

We recently found out from the daughter that no home schooling has taken place this fall, and that she is primarily responsible for taking care of her younger brother. My wife has had multiple discussions with the mother in the past, trying to advocate for the daughter, to no use. We have been essentially told to "butt out".

After a great deal of thought and prayer, my wife contacted Child Protective Services and filed a complaint. Do you think we overstepped our bounds?

If nothing needs to be done then CPS will determine that and life will go on. No harm no foul. If your information is true then you helped. Either way you did the right thing.
It doesn't matter what rules are in place for homeschooling in your state, or if you did not understand the situation, doing nothing when you believe there is an issue makes you culpable.

 

[Pigeon]

So not providing any form of education is NOT a form of abuse?

It's not the role of some random busybody to sic CPS on someone when they really and truly have no idea of what education someone is providing.

I am not a homeschooler. I would rather set fire to my own hair than homeschool. But it is the right of the parent to determine what kind of education is appropriate for their child, whether I agree with it or not.

There is a faction that homeschools because they want to indoctrinate their children with their religious beliefs, including many that are contradicted by science. I don't agree with it, should I call CPS on them?

There is another faction of homeschoolers that do what they call "unschooling," allowing the kids to decide for themselves what they are interested in learning. I can only imagine that for a lot of kids it involves a great deal of XBox, but it's not my responsibility to insert myself into the situation.

The Amish stop educating their kids at 8th grade. I find that reprehensible, but the Supreme Court thinks it's the right of the parents to do so.