Home Schooling

Thousands of San Fernando Valley children completed the annual back to school ritual. But for some, they ventured no further than the kitchen table to begin a new school year. Home schooling is growing dramatically, with some estimates topping 1 million students in the United States.

Willow Shawl doesn't like to draw attention to her Type 1 diabetes. If a stranger asks about the insulin pump clipped to her jeans, the 10-year-old will say it's an iPod. Sometimes she'll forgo checking her blood-sugar levels to avoid the stares of her classmates as she pricks her finger. So for a while in third grade, when she started coming home from school with unusually high blood-sugar levels, her parents suspected she was slacking in her daily routine, even though Willow insisted otherwise.

Cal Lutheran University will hold a three-day home-schooling conference starting Friday. The Link Homeschool Conference workshops will include issues such as college admissions, foreign languages and attention deficit disorder. On Friday, the conference will run from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and focus on strategies for new home schoolers. Saturday's program, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., will feature families who have had success with home schooling.

What passes for an epiphany in most movies is hardly profound — "The Hangover" guys remember where they lost somebody, or Green Lantern realizes that true power does not necessarily reside in his glowing ring. The transformations in "Machine Gun Preacher" and "Dolphin Tale," both opening Friday, aim to be more spiritually and personally profound, and the filmmakers behind both new titles hope to attract a large number of religious moviegoers. Two years ago, the inspirational football tale "The Blind Side" resonated with religious audiences and became a blockbuster, grossing more than $255 million in domestic release.

Re "No ban on home schooling," March 12 Regarding California Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell's policy of allowing home schooling for parents who merely file the private school certificate: How will California be able to enforce the compulsory education laws if he removes himself from the leadership and support of the school districts, county superintendents and county child welfare departments? Because private schools are unregulated in this state, and home-schooling parents do not even need to worry about free-market forces demanding some basic quality level for teaching and education, isn't his position an all-out abdication of his sworn duty to ensure that every child in this state be provided an education?

Re "Ruling hits home schooling," March 6 I beg to differ with California 2nd District Court of Appeal Justice H. Walter Croskey, who wrote, "Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children." It's my understanding that the Constitution grants the government only specifically enumerated powers, and all powers not specifically granted to the government are retained by the people. Unless Croskey can cite where the Constitution grants the government the power to teach our children, that power is retained by us. Robert Westcott Alhambra -- What does the appellate court propose the public school system do with these 160,000-plus kids?

I have long felt that one page for commentary, allowing only three to five columns and a couple of editorial cartoons, was not enough for the Times' coverage area and readership. "Voices" looks like a wonderful way to get a few more opinions out, particularly to get opinions from those who are not regularly published. Special credit for including "Sermons." The clergy that I know are active on social issues and offer great perspective. LINDA HOYER, Whittier

I couldn't resist the impulse to respond to the issue of home schooling. As a mental health professional, I consult with two school districts regarding non-attendance in schools. I sit on a panel interviewing families and their non-attending child. Often non-attendance can be traced to chaotic over-burdened parents, uninformed, inadequate parents and/or an extremely willful rebellious child. Occasional exceptions include parents who genuinely believe they can provide a better education at home.

Parents may legally home-school their children in California even if they lack a teaching credential, a state appellate court ruled Friday. The decision is a reversal of the court's earlier position, which effectively prohibited most home schooling and sparked fear throughout the state's estimated 166,000 home-schoolers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had vowed to allow home schooling through legislation if the court did not act, praised the ruling.

Re "Defending home-style ABCs," April 3 In articles about the latest ruling affecting home schooling, I have not seen anything mentioning what a parent would have to do to obtain a credential. I home schooled my daughter for more than two years. It was a wonderful experience, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided I might enjoy earning some extra money as a substitute teacher. I don't believe I had to do anything more than take the California Basic Educational Skills Test and get fingerprinted.

It is where John F. Kennedy won the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination and where basketball once ruled — the Lakers, Clippers, Bruins and Trojans all called it home for a time. The NHL's Kings did too. And it once was a rock cathedral Bruce Springsteen hailed as "the joint that don't disappoint. " Yet even as the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena moves inexorably toward demolition, its oblong roofline still framed by that blazing candy-green ribbon of light, UCLA basketball will soon be back inside its doors.

Finding someone to replace windows just got a little more challenging because of tough new lead-safety requirements for contractors working on older homes. The Environmental Protection Agency's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, which kicked in last month, requires additional safeguards by contractors working on homes, schools and childcare facilities built before U.S. regulators banned lead paint in 1978. The intention is to reduce the harm from lead for contractors and their workers as well as for the people who live, work or attend school in older structures.

Portions of Rhode Island and Massachusetts went into survival mode Tuesday as homes were flooded, schools were closed and flights and trains were delayed because of record rainfall. Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri asked residents to get home by dinnertime to avoid the worst flooding in the state in more than 100 years. Thousands of basements were flooded across the state, the governor's office said. National Guard troops were activated in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The pregame lead-up at Pauley Pavilion includes a video message from Coach Ben Howland, who says, "This is our house." The Bruins' players, in the locker room before home games, always remind each other, "This is the place we've got to protect," forward Nikola Dragovic said. Yet, life under those 11 national championship banners has been anything but business as usual this season. UCLA proved that again Saturday in a 72-58 loss to California that had spectators flying for the exit as if the arena's renovation was to begin at the final buzzer.

Lucy Vodden, who provided the inspiration for the Beatles' classic song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," has died after a long battle with lupus. She was 46. Her death was announced Monday by St. Thomas' Hospital in London, where she had been treated for the chronic disease for more than five years, and by her husband, Ross Vodden. Britain's Press Association said she died Sept. 22. Hospital officials said they could not confirm the day of her death. Vodden's connection to the Beatles dates to her early days, when she made friends with schoolmate Julian Lennon, John Lennon's son. Julian Lennon, then 4 years old, came home from school with a drawing one day, showed it to his father, and said it was "Lucy in the sky with diamonds."

They have the thinnest skin, the shortest fuses and take the hardest knocks. In psychiatrists' offices, they have long been viewed as among the most challenging patients to treat. They are the kind of people who drive a friend away for interfering and subsequently berate that friend for abandonment. But almost 20 years after the designation of borderline personality disorder as a recognized mental health condition, some understanding and hope have surfaced for people with the condition and their families.

They have the thinnest skin, the shortest fuses and take the hardest knocks. In psychiatrists' offices, they have long been viewed as among the most challenging patients to treat. They are the kind of people who drive a friend away for interfering and subsequently berate that friend for abandonment. But almost 20 years after the designation of borderline personality disorder as a recognized mental health condition, some understanding and hope have surfaced for people with the condition and their families.

If the earthquake that killed 300 people here in April was the injury, then the Group of 8 summit underway in this ravaged town is surely the insult -- at least in the eyes of plenty of its inhabitants. While builders scrambled to get suitable facilities ready for the onslaught of world leaders and journalists, thousands of residents made homeless by the temblor continue to live miserably in tent camps.