textbook is from 1952

I stumbled across this on the Rush Limbaugh website:

An Optimistic Homeschool Mom

RUSH: This is Cecilia in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Great to have you here.

CALLER: Hello, Rush. Thank you so much for taking my call.

RUSH: Yes.

CALLER: I want to tell you, I am living proof that your optimism for this country is not a false optimism. I homeschool three children, and my history textbooks were published in 1952. And I have to tell you, these are very popular. In the Catholic homeschooling community specifically, they foster an appreciation for the truth and the past. I say, based on the pope's speech in Washington, you'd swear that he read them, and I want to encourage your friends who get down on it sometimes. This is a movement that's going on in the United States, and it's big.

RUSH: I know it is.

CALLER: I'm sorry.

RUSH: I know it is. You know, Pope Benedict XVI loves America.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: This is his first trip here. He loves America. You could tell he knows more about the founding and the history of this country than a lot of Americans know. You could hear it throughout his remarks that he made throughout his visit. But your textbook is from 1952?

CALLER: Yes?

RUSH: It leads me to conclude something. I was talking about this with Snerdley here at the top of the busy broadcast hour. Before I tell you the final version of the story, I have a story here from Reuters: "Young Pennsylvania Voters Drawn to Obama -- 'Initially I thought I was really going to support Hillary, but I slowly changed because she's just so divisive, and I don't like her tactics,' said a senior at Duquesne University," Alexandra Nseir. She's 23. "Just by electing Obama, I think America's image will improve." Now, this woman is in college. She's a senior. My guess is, she has no interest in history because of the way it's been taught. It's probably been taught as mundane and boring. It's probably been taught as a political science class.

CALLER: I tell you, I have further evidence of the person's reasoning abilities that it gives my children. I brought my 12-year-old son to look at the Drudge Report headlines about Hillary Clinton's internal poll numbers, and I said "Son, what does this tell you?" And his response was, Operation Chaos is working.

RUSH: (laughing)

CALLER: I kid you not! I had to call you and tell you.

RUSH: (laughing) And so --

CALLER: There is hope for the country.

RUSH: There is hope for the country!

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: If an 11 year old understands that --

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: -- or 12 year old --

CALLER: All my children love you.

RUSH: Well, I appreciate that.

CALLER: In fact, last night at dinner, I said, "If you could have dinner with three people, who would it be? And they said the pope, the president, and Rush Limbaugh."

RUSH: No.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: No.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: No, no, no.

CALLER: I'm not making that up.

RUSH: Well...

CALLER: Does that make your day, or what?

RUSH: Of course it does. That's humbling.

CALLER: Well, you make our day every day. Thank you so much.

RUSH: Thank you Cecilia, I appreciate it.

I also found the college student's comment a little frightening. Voter awareness is at an all time low. I can respect legitimate differences in opinion, but I have complete disdain for voters who are swayed by sound bites on commercials or celebrity endorsements.

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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - Visions of the future

Gary, of HomeschoolBuzz.com, has some cool pictures of the future in this week's Carnival of Homeschooling.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Pretty Amazing: The Honda Accord Commercial

A friend sent me this:




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Technorati tags: Honda Accord

Getting your children interested in Astronomy

If children look at the Astronomy Picture of the Day web site every day I think many of them would develop a life long interest in space.

Saturday's picture is a good example. Robert Gendler gave me permission to include his picture of The Tarantula Zone:

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Technorati tags: Robert Gendler, Tarantula Zone

101 Great Computer Programming Quotes

My father forwarded a link to 101 Great Computer Programming Quotes.

Here's a sample:

"The city's central computer told you? R2D2, you know better than to trust a strange computer!" (C3PO)

"Hardware: The parts of a computer system that can be kicked." (Jeff Pesis)

"I've finally learned what 'upward compatible' means. It means we get to keep all our old mistakes." (Dennie van Tassel)


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Technorati tags: computer humor, computer, humor

Death, taxes and too much email

They say there are two certain things in life: Death and Taxes.

I'd like to add "too much email."

I'm trying to catch up on a few things. I came across an email from last week on the second Carnival of Canandian Homeschoolers at Jacqueline's Jabberings.

Submissions for the third edition are due May 2nd.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

Invitation to the Anniversary edition of the Carnival of Space

Fraser Cain, the current organizer of the Carnival of Space, has graciously asked me to host the anniversary edition of the Carnival of Space.

It is hard to believe a year has gone by!

Please send a link to a post about Space to carnivalofspace@gmail.com. Entries are due this Wednesday evening, April 30th. It is helpful if you include a brief summary of the post.


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Technorati tags: carnival, space

Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling

You have a little less than 10 hours to send in an entry for the next Carnival of Homeschooling, which will be hosted at HomeSchoolBuzz.com.

As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.

Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Book review: Bootstrapping Your Business: Start And Grow a Successful Company With Almost No Money by Greg Gianforte and Marcus Gibson

Greg Giantforte has a different take on starting up a business. His advice is not to first build the mousetrap, but to call a bunch of potential customers. If you have an idea for a business Greg's suggestion is to ask people:

"Would they buy a better mousetrap?"
"How would they use the mousetrap?"
"What features do they want in a mousetrap?"
"How much would they pay for the mousetrap?"

By spending a couple weeks doing market research before developing a product you have a much better idea exactly what customers want and what they would pay. If you don't find enough interest you've only lost a couple weeks, instead of months and thousands of dollars developing the mousetrap.

Bootstrapping Your Business: Start And Grow a Successful Company With Almost No Money by Greg Gianforte and Marcus Gibson is a quick read, packed with lots of good ideas.

I have been fascinated by out Paul Graham's thought that cheaper computers means startups are much cheaper. This trend continues to accelerate for example Google recently announced App Engine as a service to reduce operating costs for Web startups.

If you are interested in starting up your own business then check out Bootstrapping Your Business.


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Technorati tags: opportunity, Greg Gianforte

Good News Thursday: 24 Apr 08

Much of the news today is depressing. Newspaper headlines tell us about awful things happening in our neighborhood, at the national level, and around the world. Google News today reports 90 Killed in Fierce Fighting in Sri Lanka, Suicide Bomber Kills 5 Civilians in Southern Afghanistan and Delta & Northwest post huge loses.

I am trying something different. I invite you to join with me in focusing on good news. This can be as local as you just read a good book, or something earth shaking like world hunger is solved.

If you would like to contribute, in the "Your name" field below put the name of your blog, then in parenthesis include a short summary of the good news. For the "Your URL" field put the link to your post about the good news, use the perma link. Then mention Good News Thursday on your blog.






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Technorati tags: Good News

I may open an IRA for my oldest daughter

I enjoyed Carrie Schwab Pomerantz column Teach Kids About Building Wealth. She starts with:

"As a parent, there's no end to the important lessons you want to instill in your kids. You try to teach them about life and give them the skills they'll eventually need to be independent adults. It's easy when they're young. You teach them to look both ways before crossing the street and to study hard. But as they become teenagers, the issues can become more challenging: The birds and the bees is a topic that comes to mind, or the dangers of drugs and alcohol.
But right up there in difficulty level is talking about money. In fact, a survey of parents sponsored by Schwab revealed that most parents feel more comfortable having the sex talk than they do discussing finances. To my mind, money - and how to manage it - is one of the most important talks you can have with your child. And the sooner you have it, and the more open you are about managing money, the more prepared your child will be when starting to build wealth when he or she becomes an independent, working adult. "

Janine and I talk frequently with our daughters about money. I read The Richest Man in Babylon to them. They have an allowance. We let them buy books, toys, clothes and so on. They are learning to make choices and to save money.

Currently my oldest daughter is reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! I ask her to read a couple minutes every morning. A few times I've caught her still reading a half hour later! My second daughter is saving money to fly back to Virginia and see her cousins. My youngest is saving money to buy stuff for a remote control plane.

Carrie Pomerantz continues in her column by making the point at we should encourage our children to take advantage of 401k plans. If children learn the habit of saving now, it will pay great dividends down the road.

There are months when my 13-year-old makes almost $200. I think it may be time to look into opening an IRA for her.


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Technorati tags: finance, education

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - introducing the Homeschool Bag Lady

Dana, of Principled Discovery, introduces us to the Homeschool Bag Lady in this week's Carnival of Homeschooling. Drop in. You might recognize a homeschool bag lady.




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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Hulu: Another place to watch old and new TV shows and movies

Last month I leared about AOL Televsion. Now I've come across Hulu, which also hosts both television shows and movies.

All of this is free! Amazing.


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Technorati tags: online, online television

Gregory Millman now has a blog

I enjoyed Gregory Millman's column last month and mentioned it on our blog. I sent Mr. Millman an email and thanked him for the column. Recently he sent me an email saying he was joining the blogging world!

Homeschooling: A Family's Jouney looks good. I plan to check it out on a regular basis.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

$24,600 per student - The real cost of Public Schools in DC

Most states spend less than $10,000 a year per student to fund public schools.

Not Washington DC, which is run by Congress. It looks like the public schools in Washington DC spend around $24,600 per student!

Joanne Jacobs posts:

"While claiming to spend $8,322 per student, the District of Columbia’s public schools actually spend $24,600 per student, writes Andrew Coulson of Cato in the Washington Post. That includes operating and capital spending from all sources."

The next time someone from Congress tries to tell the states how to run public schools just roll your eyes.


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Technorati tags: children, public school, public education, education

Two cool pictures from Astronomy Picture of the Day

I check out the Astronomy Picture of the Day web site, every day. There are many cool pictures there. Below are a few recent ones.

Steve Crouch gave me permission to post a scaled down version of his picture of The Running Chicken Nebula:

Tony Hallas gave me permission to post a scaled down version of his picture of The Sunflower Galaxy:

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Technorati tags: Steve Crouch, Running Chicken Nebula, Tony Hallas, Sunflower Galaxy

How to know when you've reached Sainthood

This came in this morning from Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:

Sainthood emerges when you can listen to someone's tale of woe and not respond with a description of your own.
-Andrew V. Mason, M.D.


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Technorati tags: Sainthood, Andrew Mason

Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling

You have a little less than 10 hours to send in an entry for the next Carnival of Homeschooling, which will be hosted at Principled Discovery.

As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.

Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

BananaSlug - an interesting variation on Search Engines

Google and Yahoo! are the two most popular search engines right now. There are dozens of others; here is a list of a 100 alternative search engines.

I recently found a fun variation on search engines. BananaSlug takes the pattern you want and throws in an extra word:

"With normal Google searching, there are many web pages that you may never have a chance to see. So BananaSlug throws in a random word from a category of your choice. This results in pages you probably overlooked. They all have your search term in them, but the added twist gives you something new every time!"

BananaSlug tries to avoid the more popular web sites and allow you to explore The Long Tail.

I enjoyed playing around with it. BananaSlug led me to some pages I hadn't see before.


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Technorati tags: search, engine

Good News Thursday: 17 Apr 08

Much of the news today is depressing. Newspaper headlines tell us about awful things happening in our neighborhood, at the national level, and around the world. Google News today reports A bloody day of fighting in Gaza and Bus crash kills 44 children in India.

I am trying something different. I invite you to join with me in focusing on good news. This can be as local as you have planted your garden, or something earth shaking like life discovered on other planets.

If you would like to contribute, in the "Your name" field below put the name of your blog, then in parenthesis include a short summary of the good news. For the "Your URL" field put the link to your post about the good news, use the perma link. Then mention Good News Thursday on your blog.






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Technorati tags: Good News

Living in a police state

Beverly Eakman writes that Schools are preparing pupils to accept a police state. She reviews some recent horrible instances of public schools crossing the line. For example:

"It seems that in 2003 an honor student in Arizona at Safford Middle School named Savana Redding, an eighth-grader with no disciplinary record, was strip-searched — and I mean really strip-searched, down to the crotch of her panties — in pursuit of nonprescription ibuprofen tablets."

One of the points in her column is that many teachers and principals today believe that it is reasonable for public schools to be like jails, where the inmates have few rights:

"All this has been going on for some 25 years — so long that teachers, principals and superintendents under the age of 50 have little or no memory of a time when privacy actually was important and humiliation was unacceptable."

Maybe one of the most important reasons to homeschool is to make sure at least a few of the next generation understand the proper role of government. If they understand the constitution and are organized, they'll be able to stop, or slow down, the trend of more and more government.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education

One way for the government to save money

Lew Rockwell asks What If Public Schools Were Abolished? He reminds the reader that public schools are twice as expensive as private schools. He proposes getting rid of public schools and sending children to private schools.

Currently the United States spends over a half a trillion dollars a year providing education for K through 12. If we saved half of this, it adds up to real money. Lew acknowledges that it wouldn't be easy to get there. He proposes that a town some where in the US gives it a try and sees what happens.

I doubt that it will happen, at least any time soon, but it is interesting to think about what would happen if we got rid of public schools.

Just think how much money we'd save if everyone homeschooled!


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Technorati tags: children, public school, public education, education

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up

This week's Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up at In the Sparrow's Nest.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Charlotte, Mason, Charlotte Mason

This is mind boggling

The San Jose Mercury reports that school officials had scheduled to take "12 busloads of students, teachers and community leaders" to "rally on the steps of the Capital."

School officials were going to spend tax money to beg and threaten for more tax money.

Think about that for a minute.

California has one of the highest per student spending rates in the nation. Billions are spent every year to educate children. Right now California is tighting up its budget. But rather than look for ways to more effectively spend the money, the East Side Union High School District wanted to take hundreds of students to Sacramento and intimidate legislators into raising the budget for education.

The students would have been taught a lesson. They would have been taught that when they don't get what they want to raise a fuss and a stink, rather than making do or doing without.

Most of us have budget issues. We don't get to buy everything we want. We have to make sacrifices and hard choices.

East Side Union High School District must think it lives in a different universe where the normal laws of economics don't apply.

I find it mind boggling that school officials thought it was OK to bus students for over two hours to Sacramento to beg for more money.


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Technorati tags: children, public school, public education, education

Paul Jacobs has a great line about public education

Yesterday Paul Jacob had a column on The Sugar Pushers. He writes that public schools are concerned about pure sugar on the school grounds because "Refined sugar is so bad for you it’s wicked!"

I was surprised to learn that in California "the ban on intra-curricular sugar is legislative and statewide."

Paul Jacob then concludes his column with:

"Seems the public schools are always panicking over something. Now, it’s sugar. When will they panic over poor education?"


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Technorati tags: children, public school, public education, education

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - the home edition

The NerdMom, of the Nerd Family, invites you into her home for this week's Carnival of Homeschooling.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Another piece of evidence that "certification" may not produce excellent teachers

Joanne Jacobs reports on a study by CALDER. In Teach for America makes the grade Joanne starts off with:

"Despite minimal training, novice Teach for America high school teachers are more effective, especially in math and science, than traditionally trained teachers, a new study by CALDER, a research center at the Urban Institute in Washington, concludes."

You could make the claim that more training reduced the effectiveness of teachers. By having less time in some school of education, those selected by Teach for America are free to be better teachers.

I think the best response is that Teach for America is picking people who know the subject material and are strongly motivated to make a difference, but they don't want to put up with the bureaucracy of getting a certificate.

Humm...sounds like homeschooling parents. They know their children, they are strongly motivated, and they typically are fed up with the bureaucracy.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education

The Best Game Ever

A friend just sent me the URL to the Best Game Ever. A group from NBC turns a little league game into a major league game, complete with a blimp.





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Technorati tags: little league

Real costs - gas v. education

Mark J. Perry asks You Thought Gas Prices Were High? He contrasts the 10% increase from 1986 to 2006 in inflation-adjusted dollars to the 53% skyrocketing increase for the amount of money spent per public school pupil.

(Hat tip: Instapundit)


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Technorati tags: parenting, children, public school, public education, education

Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling

You have about 5 hours to send in an entry for the next Carnival of Homeschooling, which will be hosted at Nerd Family.

As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.

Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Rising taxes and closing Catholic private schools

The New York Times reports: More Catholic Schools Closing Across US:

"About 1,267 Catholic schools have closed since 2000 and enrollment nationwide has dropped by 382,125 students, or 14 percent, according to the National Catholic Education Association. The problem is most apparent in inner cities, in schools like St. Monica with large concentrations of minorities whose parents often struggle to pay tuition rather than send them to failing public schools."

A drop of 14% is huge. Catholic schools tend to be one of the cheapest private schools. They do a great job of teaching their students. But many families are no longer able to pay.

It is almost like the government has said yes you can use private schools, but we'll raise your taxes so high that you would be able to afford them.

Sad.

I wonder how many of these parents will turn to homeschooling? It is much cheaper.

(Hat tip: edspresso)


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education

It soon may make cents not to go to college

One of the big reasons for spending tens of thousands of dollars and several years at college is over a life time the increased education will pay back with bigger paychecks. Many people claim that a college education will generate at least a million dollars in higher wages over a career.

Charles Miller questions this assertion. He writes:

"... using assumptions more in line with current realities, might reach the shocking conclusions that American higher education today has gotten too expensive for what it produces; that it has become too costly for the typical student ... that education (a college degree) does not pay!"

Investing is always about looking for getting a great return, getting the biggest bang for the buck. If it costs $50,000 and four years to get a BA or BS, and that will give you a million dollars over forty years, then a college education is probably a good investment. For the last several decades the cost of higher education climbs twice as fast as inflation. If the economic benefit is more like a half a million, over forty years, then hundreds of thousands of dollars for tuition, board and room, and lost opportunities may make tradition colleges a bad investment.

Janine and I do value education. We are trying to teach our daughters to value education. We are trying to instill in them a life long habit of learning. Currently we plan to send them off to college. I wonder though what our grandchildren will be doing for higher education.

(Hat tip: Joanne Jacobs)


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education

Wow - public school socialization

A couple times a year there will be a kid or a couple kids in the news who do something awful, who happen to be homeschool. Homeschool critics will jump up and down claiming that homeschooling by its very nature produces evil children and so it should not be allowed. Well if allowed, it should be heavily monitored and regulated.

By that logic public schools should be shut down after an incident like this: Girl-On-Girl Fight Trend Growing Online. A girl was lured to a house and then beaten by six girls for 30 minutes, while two boys stood outside as lookouts. The report says the assailants showed no remorse. In fact one of the girls "asked if she would be able to make it to cheerleading practice the next day..."

The beaten girl can no longer see well out of one eye or hear very well from one of her ears. I can't image what it would be like to be beaten for thirty minutes. I am afraid she will be suffering for years, both physically and emotionally. She'll have trouble trusting people. She'll be fearful of noises and strangers.

To an extent public schools do foster badly behaved children, but the real blame for events like this should be placed squarely on the parents, and the teenagers themselves. In a just society the six girls would be in jail for years.

(Hat tip: The Education Wonks)


Dr. Helen has more in See Jane Hit.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education

Carnivals of Space is up

This week's Carnival of Space is up at WillGater.com.


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Technorati tags: carnival, space

Are you certified to feed your children?

I like Thomas A. Bowden's column: Your Child is Not State Property. He makes a point I've often said:

"Education, like nutrition, should be recognized as the exclusive domain of a child's parents, within legal limits objectively defining child abuse and neglect. Parents who starve their children may properly be ordered to fulfill their parental obligations, on pain of losing legal custody. But the fact that some parents may serve better food than others does not permit government to seize control of nutrition, outlaw home-cooked meals, and order all children to report for daily force-feeding at government-licensed cafeterias."


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education

This may surprise you: A TV in the bedroom can be bad for a teenager's health

I'm surprised that someone thought that it was useful to have a study find out that Teens who have TV in their bedroom are less likely to engage in healthy habits:

"University of Minnesota School of Public Health researchers have found that older adolescents who have a bedroom television are less likely to engage in healthy activities such as exercising, eating fruits or vegetables, and enjoying family meals. They also consumed larger quantities of sweetened beverages and fast food, were categorized as heavy TV watchers, and read or studied less than teens without TVs in their bedrooms."

I wonder what will be next? Study finds: Exercise is good!


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Technorati tags: parenting, children

Anyone have an opinion on House Resolution 1076?

Congressman Howard McKeon has introduced House Resolution 1076 which says parents have the right to educate their children, including homeschooling them. Here is the start of the resolution:

"Calling upon the courts to uphold the fundamental and constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children.
Whereas the modern homeschool movement in the United States demonstrates that homeschooled children are a vital component of the American education system;
Whereas homeschool graduates act responsibly as parents and as students in colleges and universities, are valuable in the workplace, and are productive citizens in society at large;
Whereas many studies confirm that children who are educated at home score considerably above the national average on nationally-normed achievement tests, and above the average on both the SAT and ACT college entrance exams;"

At one level this seems like a good idea. But I worry that once Congress starts debating this, the language could change and it might end up that parents only have the right to homeschool if they follow some government standard.

What is next? Will Congress decide that parents have the right to feed their children? Or buy toys for their children? Or ...

For more information about the resolution go to Thomas (Library of Congress) and entery 1076. Currently it is the fifth item listed.


(Hat tip: Life, Liberty and Family)


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Howard McKeon

A new homeschooler carnival - one for Canadians!

Mama Squirrel at Dewey's Treehouse wrote about the First Carnival of Canadian Home Educating Bloggers.

Jacqueline's Jabberings hosted the carnival.

It is cool there is yet another homeschooling carnival.


I just remembered I forgot to mention the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival hosted last week at One Child Policy Homeschool.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Charlotte, Mason, Charlotte Mason

Good News Thursday: 10 Apr 08

Much of the news today is depressing. Newspaper headlines tell us about awful things happening in our neighborhood, at the national level, and around the world. Google News today reports that the Chinese human-rights record spurs Olympic boycott calls and Apparent Tornadoes Hit Texas, Oklahoma.

I am trying something different. I invite you to join with me in focusing on good news. This can be as local as you have planted your garden, or something earth shaking like life discovered on other planets.

If you would like to contribute, in the "Your name" field below put the name of your blog, then in parenthesis include a short summary of the good news. For the "Your URL" field put the link to your post about the good news, use the perma link. Then mention Good News Thursday on your blog.





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Technorati tags: Good News

Yet another reason to homeschool - help stop a pandemic

This is interesting 1 in 7 cases of bird flu could be prevented by closing schools in event of pandemic:

"Closing schools in the event of a flu pandemic could slow the spread of the virus and prevent up to one in seven cases, according to a new study published today in the journal Nature. School closure is the non-pharmaceutical policy option that health organisations and governments most often consider to control the spread of a future flu pandemic, but there had previously been little evidence about its potential effectiveness."

Maybe the next time someone asks why we homeschool I'll say to help stop pandemics.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - the Working out edition

Jocelyn, a sixteen-year-old homeschool student, is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at her blog A Pondering Heart.

Jocelyn put together the "Working out" edition of the carnival.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Homeschool Humor

I just love the way the internet allows amateur artist a forum.

The Homeschoolers Song


Online Videos by Veoh.com


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Tags : homeschool humor, homeschooling, the homeschoolers song

Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling

You have about 7 hours to send in an entry for the next Carnival of Homeschooling, which will be hosted at A Pondering Heart

As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.

Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

The Idaho version of how much people like public schools

Two months ago I blogged about survey results that reported only 11% of those in Nevada "would send their children to public schools if they had other options."

Bryan Fischer reports that only 12% of Idaho parents would choose public school if had a choice:

"A poll commissioned by the prestigious Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and co-sponsored by the Idaho Values Alliance found that only 12% of Idahoans would chose a "regular public school" if they had a full range of options.
Even more striking, this figure drops to just 4% among Idahoans age 36-55, who are the chief consumers of public education services in Idaho."

As Bryan points, out this is devastating.

You can download the report by Paul DiPerna of the Friedman Foundation for Education Choice.

Here is a selection from the executive summary:

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Nearly half of Idaho voters are not satisfied with the state’s current public school system—47 percent rate Idaho’s public school system as “poor” or “fair.” If we exclude the one out of five voters who are undecided, this proportion jumps to 59 percent.

Two out of every three likely voters (67 percent) say Idaho’s level of public school funding is “about right” or “too high.”

Idaho voters value private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling. When asked “what type of school would you select in order to obtain the best education for your child?”, Idahoans prefer private schools (39 percent) over other types of schools. Charter schools (25 percent) are the second most desired option. About one out of five respondents (21 percent) would prefer to homeschool their child.

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Again, these kinds of numbers are devastating. In the United States few parents are content and happy with public schools. They don't see that as positive service. Most parents feel trapped in being forced to send their children to public schools, or pay again for the education of their children by sending them to private schools.

There have been a few instances in history when a ruling power walked away when enough people said they had enough. For example England freed India when Gandhi preached peaceful civil disobedience. This eventually resulted in the birth of the Indian nation.

Maybe at some point enough people will say they have had enough and the public school system will change. Who will be our Gandhi?


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Technorati tags: parenting, children, public school, public education, education

John Stossel defends homeschooling

You have probably already heard about the editorial by news journalist John Stossel, in response to the California court ruling which attempted to outlaw homeschooling. If you don't recognize the name, he wrote Stupid in America.

Here are few excerpts from his editorial,Upside Down Education.

I think the state court is looking at the state Constitution upside down. The court finds no constitutional right to homeschool one's children. But in a free country, people are free to do anything not expressly prohibited by law. If the Constitution is silent about homeschooling, then the right is reserved to the people. That's how the framers of the American Constitution said things are supposed to work.

I'm please that he looked at the issue through the perspective of Constitutional soundness. The California courts are notorious for trying to reinterpret and redefine the American Constitution.

I found the 300 + comments on the article at Townhall.com very entertaining. I am continually amazed how eager some people are to blindly entrust their freedoms to government agencies.

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Justice H. Walter Croskey, California appellate court

Have you watched a presentation with bad power point slides?

Don McMillan covers all the bad ways to use power point slides:





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Technorati tags: power, point, slides, Don McMillan

A little good news

I'm a Type 1 Diabetic and have been since I was 12 years old. Every year I have my children screened for the autoantibodies that indicate the pending development of Type 1 Diabetes. This blood test is provided for free by the TrialNet Natural History Study.

Each year I literally hold my breath as I open the response letter that comes six weeks later. Since each child's test results come in a separate letter, I repeat this process three time. I am happy to report that all my girls are negative for the autoantibodies.

At some point, if my children do test positive, they could enter a research program that test treatment options that can delay the onset of diabetes. I'm happy that I don't have to worry about this year.

Click here to see a video explaining the clinical trials, TrialNet, and Natural History.

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Tags : Type 1 Diabetes, autoantibodies, Natural History study, TrialNet