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

Don't forget to send in your submission for the next Carnival of Homeschooling.

Katherine will be hosting it at No Fighting, No Biting!.

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.




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

Which headline do you believe?

Today, I read two news stories that seem to contradict each other.



Parents spend more time with children than generation ago

Parents are spending triple the amount of time with their children compared with a generation ago as middle classes try to give their offspring a head start in life, a study by an Oxford academic has found.

Family life 'squeezed into 49 minutes a day'

Average parents spend just 49 minutes with their children, figures show, as a lack of cash is identified as the biggest obstacle to a positive family life.

Research suggested that rising numbers of “pound sign parents” only valued activities that cost money – leaving children to themselves at other times.

I'm curious about the methodology of both studies. I wonder how they measure and quantify time. For example, does the Oxford study take into account declining family size. I can see how it could seem like parents are spending more time with their children simply because they have fewer children to divide their time. [20 hours per week divide by 4 children versus 20 hours a week divided by 2 children].

Do the studies count time spent in the same location with an electronic device (television, video game, driving carpool with the radio on, a teenager texting on his cell phone) the same as playing ball in the yard or a face to face conversation?

Both articles concur that parents spend a great deal of time "entertaining" their children.

The research, by a leading sociologist at Oxford University, suggested that many parents are as keen as possible to spend hands-on time with their children, going on cultural trips or reading to them – whereas in a previous generations many parents were more relaxed about children entertaining themselves.

From the "pound sign parents" article:

“A third of all parents think quality family time costs money and an astonishing 68 per cent of parents see money as the biggest barrier to spending more time with their family.

Looking back on my own childhood, I can remember quite a few trips to museums and state parks, but few activities outside of school and church. I remember lots of time playing with my brother and sister or with the kids in the neighborhood. I don't think my parents knew where we were most of the time. We just had to be home for dinner.

If I participated in a study like the above mentioned, I'm not sure how I would measure the time spent with my children, even though were are home together much of the day. Walking through a room and having a short interactions, still doesn't add up to a lot of time. What does "Did you do your Spanish yet?" and "Please, unload the dishwasher" count for in "family time?"


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

Where have all the adults gone, long time in passing

One of Peter Paul and Mary's famous songs asked the question "Where have all the flowers gone?"

While reading another instance of Zero Tolerance I wondered "Where have all the adults gone?"


Shane Finn is a 14 year old austistic boy. He drew a picture of one stick figure shooting another. He labled the shooter as himself and the stick figure victim as the teacher. OK, this isn't a nice thing to do. But in our hyper sensitive society now the boy is facing criminal charges.

One article reports "School authorities could not say much about the student because of privacy laws, but they did confirm that Shane will face a tribunal and is being charged with making terroristic threats."

Think about that for a minute. A 14 year old austic boy is facing charges of making terroristic threats. Where have all the adults gone?


Isn't there one adult left in the school? Couldn't someone just say drop it and move on?

The song "Where have all the flowers gone?" ends by asking another question "When will they ever learn?"

I wonder if we'll ever learn that zero tolerance can be carried too far?

(Hat tip: Best of the Web Today)


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

Good idea for delaying gratification

Tobias Buckell writes in Delaying gratification:

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I have this thing I do, learned as a habit that helps me save money over time. I keep a list of cool things I want to buy.

Whenever I see something that prompts an ‘oh, cool, I’d like one of those’ reaction, I put it in my ‘things I want to buy list.’ That way, my brain is comforted that I won’t forget that I wanted that cool gadget, and I know where to look for it later to investigate it further.

But a cool thing happens. It’s not a ‘todo’ list as such, so it often gets ignored as I take care of the things that need taken care of right away. It’s often only once a month or so I go over the list.

When I go over the list, I will often delete items that, two months later, just aren’t so cool.
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I think this is a great idea.

(Hat tip: Instapundit)


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Technorati tags: delayed, gratification

Linda Dobson's going to be on the radio and wants your help

Helen Hegener writes in Linda Dobson’s Seeking Input:

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Linda Dobson, HEM’s long-running columnist for “The Road Less Travelled” and the administator of Parent at the Helm (PATH), writes: “I’ve been invited to do an hour radio call-in talk show next month. I don’t know anything about it except that it’s well-syndicated and, well, they asked me to talk about homeschooling. I never have to be asked twice to talk about homeschooling, in the hope that reaching just one more parent will make life and learning richer and more meaningful for yet another child (who will soon be yet another adult in our society).

“I write to ask for your input and ideas as to what you believe are the most important aspects of homeschooling today that should be shared with listeners.

“If you were to tell people just one thing you think is most important about homeschooling, what would that be?”

Linda has a list of other questions she’d love to see your answers to in preparing for her radio show. Click over to her PATH site and share your insights and experiences!
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If you have some ideas, go share them with Linda.


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

Yet more reasons to homeschool, from the archives

Long ago, before Janine and I started blogging, I used to browse around the internet looking for reasons to homeschool. Earlier this year I've been working through some old email and came across some of the links I had saved, so I started posting some of the reasons to homeschool. (Posts 1, 2, 3)

Here are yet more from 2004:

Reason to homeschool: Because "Children taught at home tend to learn better, to be happier, to be more sociable, and to be more independent than those who are made to spend large amounts of time in school." as reported by Home-education in the UK.

Reason to homeschool: Because People should not be mass manufactured!

Reason to homeschool: Because public schools are not accountable to the parents. Joanne Jacobs explained that government schools are Unaccountable to parents.

Reason to homeschool: Because the teachers push to have the children labeled ADHD so the students will be medicated and less trouble.

Reason to homeschool: Because the schools want your children after school hours also. The officials say it is for the children, but the truth is it is about the money.

Reason to homeschool: Because some schools want to put chips in the children. The students will be easier to track if the Schoolchildren to be RFID-chipped.

Reason to homeschool: Because the school system won't teach the children english. N.Y.C.’s Bilingual Education: Still Crazy After All These Years explains that Latino parents want the schools to teach English, but the "we-know-better" educational establishment just blows them off.

Reason to homeschool: Because the teachers unions are so political. Political Activism Takes Center Stage with the NEA covers some of the ways the NEA tries to influence politics, in issues for beyond anything remotely related to education.


And if that is not enough, here are 53 Reasons To Homeschool.


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

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Memorial Day edition

Melissa is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys In the Yard. She reminds us of the many wonderful things that happen in May:

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May, May, May!
The month of May can be so FuLL...
There’s the beautiful weather to be out enjoying
Mother’s Day is in May
Nature is abounding with new things during the month of May
Some of us are enthusiastically wrapping up our homeshool year in May
Weddings begin to pop up in May
There are May flowers to stop and smell
And who would miss National Dance Like a Chicken Day, which is in May!?!?

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And then she focuses in on Memorial Day.

Go head over and read what homeschoolers are saying these days.




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

Homeschooling highlights from December 2005

Janine and I have been blogging about homeschooling for close to five years now. If you missed some of our early posts, you have missed some of our best thoughts. Here are some highlights from December of 2005:

Janine writes about an important reason to homeschool - time.

Henry wrote about the importance of work and homeschooling.

Janine wrote about unschooling lessons our children learned about economics.

We had a long post about Susan Wise Bauer - her books & her "typical" days of homeschooling.

Henry wrote up a report of Joanne Jacobs' kickoff meeting for her new book.

Henry wrote about why vouchers are not going to happen soon.

We kicked off the Carnival of Homeschooling in December 2005. The first carnival went up in January of 2006. There were several posts about the carnival: the affects of the carnival, the initial request for submissions, ways to help the carnival and reasons to submit a post.


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

We are nearing the end!!!

This morning my oldest daughter reported that she has just one more week of math, two more weeks of some online courses, and three more weeks of everything else. On June 11th our family will be done with another academic year!!! Yeah!

Traditionally in the summer we relax on the math, history and english. Janine will take a bit of a break, and then start preparing for the next school year.

I will step up my homeschooling involvment. I will give out random assignments. For example several times I've had our girls memorize some poems. The older girls are asked to read, or sometimes reread, various books. My oldest daughter has read How to Read a Book twice. My second daughter has only read it once, so some time this summer I'll have her read it again.

This year I'm going to have them do yardwork. I want to plant some blueberries in the backyard, they'll do a lot of the work. We have been thinking about getting a few chickens, so we may have them prepare a corner in the garden.

We're really not even half way through our homeschooling adventure. About the time our oldest heads off for college Baby Bop will formally be starting his education.

But it is nice to wrap up a chapter.


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

This is why engineering is important

This is a classic in the engineering field:



By pushing a swing at the right moment you can add more energy, and thus more height. By pushing again and again, the swing can go higher and higher. This is a well known issue with bridges built in windy places.

The bridge became a swing and was destroyed by the wind pushing and pushing.

I heard an explanation about what happened with the first Tacoma Narrows bridge. The engineers for the bridge about the problem, and they compensated for the harmonics by designing the bridge to dampen out the oscillation. But they only thought about first order oscillation.


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Technorati tags: Tacoma, Narrows, Bridge

Public schools will stay broken as long as it costs half a million to fire a bad teacher

One of the biggest problems with government schools is how hard it is to get rid of bad teachers. LAUSD's Dance of the Lemons is a great article on this topic. One of the points it makes is how horrible it is for children who suffer through a year with a bad teacher. Yet when a principal tries to fire a bad teacher, he will soon find itis almost impossible. The average cost to fire a bad teacher seems to be half a million dollars, and the attempts aren't always successful.

The article starts with:

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Several years ago, a 74-year-old Dominguez Elementary School fourth-grade teacher was having trouble controlling her students as her abilities deteriorated amid signs of "burnout." Shirley Loftis was told by Los Angeles Unified School District administrators to retire or be fired, and she did retire, but hardly under the school district's terms.
The principal at Dominguez, Irene Hinojosa, recalls how she spent three years documenting Loftis' poor teaching skills and inability to control 10-year-olds. "From the minute I observed her, she basically didn't seem to have the knowledge of the standards and how to deliver them," Hinojosa tells L.A. Weekly. "I had her do lessons on the same standard over and over again, and children did not get it. On simple math concepts [such as determining perimeters and area] — over and over, she didn't know how to deliver."
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There are few professions which are as well protected as teaching in public schools. Think about it, the teacher inflicted great educational harm on students over three years. There is such a focus on making sure that no teacher ever is wrongly let go, that generations of students have suffered. it would be easy to make the point that government schools aren't really about education, but a jobs program.

It should be much easier to fire bad teachers. Until this happens public schools will never get better.

The article makes a number of great points. It is a bit long, but well worth reading.

(Hat tip: Instapundit)


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

Do you want to add a bit of pizzazz to your home movies?

Ed Driscoll shares his secret for making it look like he was driving across the Golden Gate bridge.

You could use the same approach for driving anywhere in the world, or maybe even other worlds.

(Hat tip: Instapundit)


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Technorati tags: special, effects

Yesterday was pretty hectic and I didn't mention Google's cool thing

Yesterday was the 30 year anniversary of Pac-man. Google had as their logo for the day a playable version of Pac-man.

Hopefully it will be up in their gallery soon.


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Technorati tags: pac-man

Kind of funny

This is kind of funny, in a sad sort of way:

Like many others, the last two years has been hard for the company I work at. My group has had six, maybe seven, layoffs over the two years.

Early this year I worked on a special project. As a token of their thanks the company sent me a nice jacket. My second daughter saw it and said "Oh great, they want to make sure you are warm, when we are homeless."

(As a side note, I don't think we are in any danger of being homeless.)


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Technorati tags: economy

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

Don't forget to send in your submission for the next Carnival of Homeschooling.

Mellisa will be hosting it at Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys...

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.




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

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up

This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Under the Golden Apple Tree.




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

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

You have just ten hours to send in your submission for the next Carnival of Homeschooling, which will be held at Under the Golden Apple Tree.

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.



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

Astronomy mysteries

I enjoy listening to podcasts while gardening or whenever, and one of the podcasts I really enjoy is Astronomy Cast. They recently had a series of podcasts on mysteries in astronomy that I found fascinating, could be a great resource for someone out there.

• Ep. 174: Mysteries of the Solar System, Part 1
• Ep. 175: Mysteries of the Solar System, Part 2
• Ep. 176: Mysteries of the Milky Way, Part 1
• Ep. 177: Mysteries of the Milky Way, Part 2
• Ep. 178: Mysteries of the Universe, Part 1
• Ep. 179: Mysteries of the Universe, Part 2

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or at http://feeds.feedburner.com/astronomycast.

Does this justify laziness?

From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:

I sincerely believe that there is a time in life for drifting. There is a time for sitting back and getting in touch with yourself. Some of our most interesting illuminations and ideas will come when we take time to reflect, time to kick back and cruise awhile.
-Rudolfo Anaya
Bits and Pieces April 2010


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Technorati tags: reflection, Dan Galvin

Clever things criminals do

Recently I read an article about how criminals were learning lessons from CSI and other cop TV shows. For example more crooks were using bleach to clean up crime scenes.

Bogus Jury Duty notices lead to identity theft reports on another way crooks are being more clever:

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A caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you neverreceived a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your SocialSecurity number and date of birth to be able to verify the information andcancel the arrest warrant. Giving out such information has resulted inidentity fraud in at least 11 states, including Oklahoma, Illinois, andColorado. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwidealerts on their websites, warning consumers about the fraud.
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The FBI's suggestion is to: "Never give out personal information when you receive an unsolicited phone call."


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Technorati tags: identity, theft

How to fix public education

Bullying can be a real problem in some public schools. It can range anywhere from students physically beating up a classmate to saying nasty things on Facebook or other places on the internet.

In a column last month JAMES TARANTO writes about a situation where a teacher was bullying the students. I love Mr. Taranto's concluding thought:

"Maybe this problem could be solved if school districts adopted a policy of hiring only grown-ups."


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

Anyone see "The Cartel?"

Bob Bowdon & The Cartel is an interview with Bob Bowdon who produced a documentary on public education. The article makes the movie sound interesting? Has anyone watched The Cartel?


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

Fun - the world's largest beaver dam

We live in an amazing world.

World's biggest beaver dam discovered in northern Canada:

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Researcher Jean Thie said Wednesday he used satellite imagery and Google Earth software to locate the dam, which is about 850 metres (2,800 feet) long on the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park.
Average beaver dams in Canada are 10 to 100 metres long, and only rarely do they reach 500 metres.
First discovered in October 2007, the gigantic dam is located in a virtually inaccessible part of the park south of Lac Claire, about 190 kilometres (120 miles) northeast of Fort McMurray.
Construction of the dam likely started in the mid-1970s, said Thie, who made his discovery quite by accident while tracking melting permafrost in Canada's far north.
"Several generations of beavers worked on it and it's still growing," he told AFP in Ottawa.
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Just amazing.


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Technorati tags: beaver, dam

Warning: The Constitution is bad for children

Wilder Publications warns:

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This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today. Parents might wish to discuss with their children how views on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and interpersonal relations have changed since this book was written before allowing them to read this classic work.
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The Volokh Conspiracy explains:

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The book involved? A reprint of The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation. The language is apparently boilerplate from the publisher, and appears on (among other things) The Wind in the Willows, The Federalist Papers, Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil (good idea, there, especially as to “interpersonal relations,” though have views really changed so much since then?), and Marx & Engels’ Manifesto of the Communist Party. Thanks for the pointer to Walter Olson (Cato@Liberty), and to Cory Andrews.
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I love this line:

"Mike suggests that school is trying to inoculate our children against 'Reading for Pleasure,' since that has been known to stimulate thinking. *gasp*"
- Kate Collins

Maybe that is the issue with the Constitution, if children read it, then they might ask embarrassing questions about what in the world is our government trying to do.

With homeschooling you can expose your children to dangerous books in the safety of your own home. :-)

(Hat tip: Instapundit)


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

Would you like to be on the Today show?

The Today Show is asking Do you have experience with home schooling?

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Do you home school your kids? Were you home-schooled as a child? Tell us why you or your family chose that option and how it has worked out. Share your stories and experiences and we may use them in a future story for TODAYshow.com.
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They have a form to fill out. If you are interested, go to the link and write about your experiences.

(Hat tip: Home-ed mailing list)


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

Get some candy, go to detention

Judy Aron recently posted on Facebook a link to Jolly Rancher lands Brazos ISD third-grader in detention for a week:

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ORCHARD, Texas – A third-grader at Brazos Elementary was given a week’s detention for possessing a Jolly Rancher.
School officials in Brazos County are defending the seemingly harsh sentence. The school’s principal and superintendent said they were simply complying with a state law that limits junk food in schools.
But the girl’s parents say it’s a huge overreaction.
“I think it’s stupid to give a kid a week’s worth of detention for a piece of candy,” said Amber Brazda, the girl’s mother. "The whole thing was just ridiculous to me."
Leighann Adair, 10, was eating lunch Monday when a teacher confiscated the candy. Her parents said she was in tears when she arrived home later that afternoon and handed them the detention notice.
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The state allows parents to send candy with their children, but the school was upset that Leighann got a piece of candy from a friend.

Mind boggling.

I hope the parents consider pulling their daughter from school. With homeschooling the parents would never have to worry about their daughter having a piece of candy. (At least for now, who knows what kind of crazy laws the government will be passing in the future.)


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

Another reading milestone

When Baby Bop arrived at our home 2.5 years ago (at the age of 14 months), he had no interest in story books. We suspected that he had very little language development due to hearing loss and general neglect.

I began reading to Baby Bop while I fed him his bottle. He would tolerate it as long as he was drinking. To keep his attention, I would point out the objects in the pictures that went along with the text. It was quite a laborious process.

From this experience, I became aware of all the little things that parents do (or don't do) that effect brain development of their children and their long term consequences.

Over time and with substantial effort, Baby Bop began to show more interest in books. Fast forward to today and it is quite another picture. Books, books, books. He can't get enough of books.

Baby Bop made two steps recently on the pathway to reading. He is now able to listen and following a story line without pictures. We've added books on tape at bedtime in addition to our regular bedtime/story time routine. We started with the Magic Tree House series from the library. Listening to books above a child's reading or speaking level is a great way to building vocabulary and more sophisticated grammar usage.

A few days ago, we crossed into another new realm. Our nap time routine goes something like this. I read 3+ picture books to Baby Bop while he sits on my lap. He then gets into his bed and I read aloud from a variety of books. The rule is that I will read as long as he doesn't move too much and keeps his head down. We've learned from experience that Baby Bop will quickly go to sleep if we can get him to stop moving.

Yesterday he lay quietly in the bed with the covers over his head, but I could see that his head wasn't completely down. I asked him to put his head down. A few minutes later I would notice that his head was back up. I repeated this process three or more times, but he still wasn't going to sleep.

I was puzzled why Baby Bop's head lay in such an odd position. Finally, I pulled back the covers to find that Baby Bop had two books under the blanket that he was "reading." This reminded me of the covert reading habits (flashlight under the covers or a towel on the floor to block the light under the door) of my other children.

This morning while I ran an errand with my oldest daughter, I told her about "what cute thing Baby Bop did yesterday." Her response was, "He is so one of us."

From our experience, I know that a love of books can be nurtured in any child. However, I don't know how you do it well in an institutional setting. It is a 24/7 type lifestyle. That is one of the reasons why universal preschool, Sesame Street or full day kindergarten will not erase the educational divide. It takes a family to educate a child.

This reminds me of something I read in School Figures: The Data Behind the Debate. A study by Caroline Hoxby (Chapter 6: Students and their families) found that

"....the combined explanatory power of school input variables and neighborhood variables (such as the education, income, and racial composition of the local population) do not come close to matching that of family background variables."

In other words, (surprise-surprise) family is the greatest determining factor for educational achievement.

If schools want to increase academic performance of children (which is debatable and something for another post), educational remedies should begin and be directed by the parents. In a real sense, all schools should be parent co-ops, not daycare centers.


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

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The May Flowers Edition

The Tutor is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at Apollos Academy.

She starts with:

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April showers bring May flowers.
Has the weather where you are been as topsy-turvy as it has been here? If so, you probably received your May flowers in April and your April showers in May like we did. Here at the Carnival of Homeschooling, we may not have the power to change the weather (although it would be nice since we've gone from 70 to 90 to 50 and back to 90 in a span of about 5 days here), but we can enjoy some May blooms.
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Our weather hasn't been quite so crazy, but we did have rain on Mother's Day.




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

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

I am so grateful to my mother. Love you mom.

And I am so grateful to my wife, who is a wonderful mother to our children. Love you Janine.

I hope all the mothers reading our blog have a wonderful day today, and wonderful days throughout the year.


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Technorati tags: Mother Day

Boarding School for Foster Children

Since I'm a foster parent, this article caught my eye.


State boarding for care children

A new range of Academy boarding schools would be created by a Conservative government to improve the life chances of looked-after children in England.

Mr Gove said he wanted to set up new state-funded academies so that academy providers could open schools with a residential facility "so that children in the greatest need can secure a placement which offers them the very highest standards of education and care".

This idea is a bit horrifying to me, but I find the concept of boarding school appalling anyway. I simply can't imagine why loving parents would send their adolescent or younger children away to school and only see them on occasional weekends and holidays, unless it were for drug treatment or some other psychiatric residential treatment program.

I read a report that the number of children sent to boarding school is booming in the Commonwealth and is seen as a springboard to future success. If you are coming from that perspective, sending foster children away to boarding school would seem magnanimous.

The article mentioned "state funded boarding schools." I'm not clear if that would mean a voucher system for private boarding schools or that the government would actually run the schools. If the government sets up boarding schools for foster children (which sounds suspiciously like orphanages), nothing good will come of it. Years ago when the United States and Canadian governments tried the same tactics with children from Indian reservations, the reports of child abuse were staggering.

I suppose that a motivated foster child might do better academically in a well-run (private) boarding school, away from a negative family environment. But, it still sounds pretty cold and lonely to me.


On the education/parenting continuum, homeschooling is at one end and boarding school is at the other. From where I stand at my end of the continuum, I can't imagine what that would be like. However, in the next few years as my children leave for college, I will get a glimpse of it.



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boarding school government school parenting foster care

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

In all the distractions of Mother's Day, don't forget to send in your submission for the next Carnival of Homeschooling, which will be held at Apollos Academy.

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.





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

Update: Family History and Homeschooling

In my Family History and Homeschooling post, I briefly describe an event I attended recently. Portions are now available on line (though I am waiting anxiously to buy the DVD of the entire event when it becomes available.)


So, here's the opening segment, A Celebration of Family History "Woven Generations".






They have a few other segments available on line, but this is my favorite one.

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Tags : homeschool , home education , public school , family history , parenting , education , David McCullough

fatter and stupider

While this is NOT a funny topic, I thought this was a funny opening statement

"....watching television makes toddlers fatter and stupider....."



Watching TV 'makes toddlers less intelligent'

....Scientists who tracked the progress of pre-school children found that the more television they watched aged two-and- a-half the worse they were at mathematics, the more junk food they ate, and the more they were bullied by other pupils.


....The study found that for every extra hour of TV a week the two-year-olds watched there was a 6 per cent decrease in maths achievement (though not in reading), a 7 per cent decrease in classroom engagement, and a 10 per cent increase in "victimization" by peers, such as teasing, rejection and assault. Each extra hour also corresponded with 9 per cent less exercise, consumption of 10 per cent more snacks, and a 5 per cent rise in body mass index.

Most of these finding are pretty intuitively obvious. However, I was surprised by the correlation between television viewing patterns at two years old and being a target of a bully in the classroom years later. Is it more than just a weight issue (more tv means less activity, which means heavier kid, which means more likely to be targeted by a bully)?

Even the researchers were a bit surprised by the long-term negative effects of television watching in early childhood.

"Although we expected the impact of early TV viewing to disappear after seven-and-a-half years of childhood, the fact that negative outcomes remained is quite daunting.

...A New Zealand study which went up to the age of 26 demonstrated that childhood viewing was "significantly associated" with leaving school without qualifications, concluding that the link was clear regardless of early problems or socio-economic status.

I wonder how content effects this trend. My older children use tv or computer for a large percentage of our homeschool efforts. Of course, they aren't 2 years old, but I can't help but worry that this has a negative influence on older students as well.

I can also see a logical weakness in connecting television viewing at age 2 and later problems. Most likely, if a child watched that much television at a young age, that trend would continue through childhood and adolescence. Could it be that the negative outcomes are a result of the sum total of television viewing over childhood, and not just at one particular age or stage?

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

Funny thought about phones and computers

From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:

I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone.

Bjarne Stroustrup - computer science professor, designer of C++ programming language (1950- )


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Technorati tags: computers, phones, Bjarne Stroustrup, Dan Galvin

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Marriage Edition

MrsMamaHen is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at MrsMamaHen.com. She writes about some of the similarities between marriage and homeschooling. She starts with:

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Homeschooling and Marriage have some similarities that may not be obvious at first, but with some reflection, they are pretty clear.
For instance. A marriage has to have good foundations. Trust, compassion, compromise.
Homeschooling has to have good foundations as well.
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Drop in and enjoy.





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

In the News

This article caught my eye.

Experience Doesn’t Teach

....wide body of research shows that on average, teaching experience beyond three years contributes little or nothing to student learning. In fact, according to a review of the research literature by Stanford economist Eric Hanushek, only 41 percent of “high-quality” estimates—analyses that account for prior student proficiency—could distinguish any relationship between the amount of time a teacher has spent in the classroom and his or her effectiveness....

The results of a study by Hanushek, Steven Rivkin, and John Kaine published in Econometrica, one of the world’s most prestigious economics journals,.... found that the teacher to whom a child gets assigned is the main school-based factor determining the size of his test-score gains during a given year. Seeking to identify the characteristics of the most effective teachers, they found that experience and credentials accounted for only about 2 percent of a teacher’s contribution to a student’s test-score gains.

....Since the number of years teachers spend in the classroom hardly explains why some of their students show lots of progress and others show none at all, it makes almost no sense to decide, entirely based on seniority, whom to let go and whom to retain.

.....A recent National Bureau of Economic Research paper by Brian Jacob and Lars Lefgren found that principals are quite good at identifying the best and worst teachers in their schools. Just as other scholars have, Jacob and Lefgren found that teacher experience was unrelated to the size of student test-score gains. However, principals’ subjective rankings of their teachers correlated well with measures of teachers’ influence on student scores. Principals struggled to distinguish one moderately effective teacher from another, but they could accurately identify the best and worst teachers in their schools..

I hardily support the end of teacher tenure. It's one of the many reasons we've opted out of the public school system. Too many good teachers are let go while really bad teachers keep their jobs.

Even if my children do not go to public school, my tax dollars do. I like to see them used well.



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

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

You have just about ten hours to send in your entry for this week's Carnival of Homeschooling, so act now, don't hesitate, submit your post before you forget or get distracted.

MrsMamaHen will be hosting the carnival tomorrow.

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.





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