Monthly Archives: June 2010

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Candidates for California Superintendent of Public Instruction

I know this is very last minute but I wanted to post some of the replies I received today from the candidates that are running for Superintended of Public Instruction. Voting for the California Primary Election closes at 8:00 PM today, so if you haven’t voted and you have a heart for home schooling, here are the candidates and their responses to the question: “What is your view on home schooling?”

  • Gloria Romero
    I couldn’t contact her in my email list because her email address is not published anywhere. I find this a little odd for a state senator but, having exhausted my efforts in trying to located a contact email address, I chose to give up lest I spent my entire day trying to find her email address.
  • Lydia Gutierrez
    “Thank you for doing the ground work in wanting to support the best person who will fight for your child’s well being.
    I fully support homeschooling. Before traditional education, children were taught at home or self-taught, like our most favored President, Abraham Lincoln. I am concern what has been happening around the world of children being forced to go to public school or even families having to flee their country because of fear of being arrested because they homeschooled.
    We must fight for parental rights and this is why I supported the ‘Right to Work’ initiative that would not allow unions to use dues for political use without the permission of the member. My union, California Teacher’s Association (CTA) supported the ‘No’ vote on Proposition 4. This was wrong; every parent has a right to know what is happening to his or her child at school.
    When it comes to educating a child, the best scenario is parents, teachers, and the community are playing an active role in the child’s academic success.”
  • Alexia L. Deligianni
    “I support a parent’s right to homeschool their child.”
  • Leonard J. Martin
    Please refer to a previous post of mine detailing Mr. Martin’s response to this question.
  • Grant McMicken
    No response as of this writing.
  • Karen Blake
    “I fully support home schooling. I would work to keep the home schooling a viable option for all parents.”
  • Daniel M. Nusbaum
    “Dear Ms. H., I support and encourage families who privately homeschool their children. As long as the parent(s) have sufficient education, they should be left alone by government to teach their own children. If anything, government could and should do more to support homeschooling parents in their efforts, by providing teaching materials and other educational support requested by parents in order to be the best homeschoolers they can be! If elected I will educate myself to learn as much as I can about the homeschooling movement and the laws pertaining to it in California.” [NOTE: This is from his website. I could not find an email address for Mr. Nusbaum]
  • Tom Torlakson
    “Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate having an opportunity to respond to questions from voters. I’m glad you took the time to ask on Election Day!

    Homeschooling is an option about which many parents feel strongly and want to pursue. So, I support parents’ rights to choose this option for their children. “

  • Faarax Dahir Sheikh-Noor
    No response as of this writing.
  • Henry Williams Jr.
    “We homeschooled our children for 12 years in California (San Francisco Bay Area). I will see to it that parents have the full freedom to home educate their children.

    Sending you my Candidate Statement attachment with important media links.

    Just loaded this MUST WATCH YouTube video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTQug1jSlpI&feature=channel

    See: Queering the Schools
    http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_2_queering_the_schools.html

    In addition, I am highly recommending that Californians vote for Ken Miller as our next governor. Here are 2 of his media links.

    https://download.yousendit.com/OHo2SkhkNmNiR0pFQlE9PQ

    https://download.yousendit.com/OHo2SkhaTlE5NVh2Wmc9PQ

    Please feel free to forward this information to your circles of influence to help them decide on what is best for their families.”

  • Diane A. Lenning
    “Hi Robert, I support “free choice” in education which includes home schooling. My nephew was home schooled and got a quality education. It is important for parents and students to have choices in education.”
  • Larry Aceves
    “Larry believes that homeschooling is a parent’s right and if a parent chooses to home-school their child, he would support that decision.

    I hope that this helps to answer your question. If not, please let us know.”

If I get more responses I will post them as they come. Again, sorry for the late posting.

It’s been 15 years already?

Today marks 15 years of marriage for my wife, Sandi, and I. Looking back on it, sometimes it feels longer than that. Other times, it feels shorter.

Regardless of how long it may or may not feel, the fact is Sandi and I have set ourselves apart in the world of marriage. Most marriages end after just a few years. Some make it as long as we have just to call it quits. Still, others never call it off. Whatever the circumstance, what Sandi and I have, by the grace of God, is quite an accomplishment.

Anyone that has known either her or I knows that we have had our share of trials, tribulations, struggles and challenges. But on the same plane as those we have also had an extraordinary number of successes, achievements, accomplishments and victories. You have to have those in order to make it in marriage for any length of time.

So I enter today thinking about 15 years of marriage, and almost 19 years of being together, I like to think of those times when we have had our act together, when we’ve been able to hold each other’s hand overlooking the carnage of the battlefield upon which a great victory we’ve just had. I like thinking of those moments when all we could really see was the joy in each other’s face as we realized that we did, indeed, make the right decision saying “I do”.

I love you Sandi, more today than yesterday but not nearly as much as I’m going to love you tomorrow. We’ve grown together, taught each other, lifted each other and supported each other. We’ve done a lot of everything in our 15 short years of marriage and as I look to the future, I can smile knowing that we have so many more years ahead of us to spend loving each other, enjoying each other and becoming even better best friends.