Some one posted a comment asking "....what do you think of this article about all day kindergarten, in which the early reading ability is stressed?"
First, I think all day kindergarten is a bad, bad idea regardless of what they are doing there. When it comes to curriculum, a one size fits all philosophy is bad for children. Some will do well reading early while other will fail miserably and learn to hate reading.
I saw a study that showed that children who did academics in preschool and kindergarten did test better until about 4th grade. At that point, you could see no difference between the early academics group and the “play” group. However, in 5th to 12th grade you could see a difference. The early academics group got further and further behind because the children learned to hate “learning.” They simply burned out. A coercive program is going to have this effect. You can force a young child to do something, but eventually the child will push back.
Children who do well in early academics are children who are developmentally ready. My next door neighbor’s son taught himself to read at 4 years old. Now at 6 he is reading Harry Potter and his 11 year old brother’s text books. Of course, he would be bored in a “reading intensive” kindergarten. His parents chose a developmental kindergarten, so he goes to school for a half day to play.
I’ve outline my children’s reading history in another post.
Somehow they've gotten stuck on the idea that early is better. I wonder how those coming up with these recommendations could be so ignorant of basic child development or common sense. Many of the greatest minds, like Albert Einstein, were late readers.
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Technorati tags: kindergarten
Monday, May 08, 2006
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Carnival of Kid Comedy, week 9, is up
Kim has this week's Carnival of Kid Comedy up at Life in a shoe.
Starting next week the Carnival of Kid Comedy will hit the road.
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Technorati tags: Carnival of Kid Comedy, humor, blog carnival, children
Starting next week the Carnival of Kid Comedy will hit the road.
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Technorati tags: Carnival of Kid Comedy, humor, blog carnival, children
A stitch in my side
Today, I walked all our girls to a local grocery story which is about a mile from our house. During the walk, I had an interesting conversation with my 5 year old daughter.
"Mommy, I have a stitch in my side," she comments.
I jokingly reply, "Does that mean you are a sewing machine?"
She answers back with, "Stitch means a cramp."
Later in the walk she motions to a long driveway behind an apartment complex and asks, "Mommy, is that an alley? An alley is an little street, right?"
Then she explained how she acquired her new vocabulary words. Because the older girls were such late readers (8 years old and 9 years old), we got into the habit of listening to books on tape. Recently, the older girls have been listening to various books from the Story of the World series by Susan Wise Bauer, as well as Harry Potter books and books from the Redwall series. When the 5 year old hears a word she doesn't know, she asks her older sisters what the word means.
I frequently get comments about my children's vocabulary. We aren't trying to be pretentious. My daughters talk with the words they've heard from audio books. I can sometimes tell when my older daughter learns a new word from a book she has read because her pronunciation is not quite right.
The girls also retain a lot of information from the audio books. We were playing Professor Noggin's American Revolution card game. I lost. Even my 5 year old did better than I did because the 11 year old and 9 year old would signal her or give hints.
All children from homes with a love of learning, whether in public school, private school or homeschool, can have these kinds of experiences. Homeschoolers have the advantage of more time and opportunity.
"Mommy, I have a stitch in my side," she comments.
I jokingly reply, "Does that mean you are a sewing machine?"
She answers back with, "Stitch means a cramp."
Later in the walk she motions to a long driveway behind an apartment complex and asks, "Mommy, is that an alley? An alley is an little street, right?"
Then she explained how she acquired her new vocabulary words. Because the older girls were such late readers (8 years old and 9 years old), we got into the habit of listening to books on tape. Recently, the older girls have been listening to various books from the Story of the World series by Susan Wise Bauer, as well as Harry Potter books and books from the Redwall series. When the 5 year old hears a word she doesn't know, she asks her older sisters what the word means.
I frequently get comments about my children's vocabulary. We aren't trying to be pretentious. My daughters talk with the words they've heard from audio books. I can sometimes tell when my older daughter learns a new word from a book she has read because her pronunciation is not quite right.
The girls also retain a lot of information from the audio books. We were playing Professor Noggin's American Revolution card game. I lost. Even my 5 year old did better than I did because the 11 year old and 9 year old would signal her or give hints.
All children from homes with a love of learning, whether in public school, private school or homeschool, can have these kinds of experiences. Homeschoolers have the advantage of more time and opportunity.
FYI: Mary Griffith has a blog
Mary Griffith, the author of a number of books on homeschooling, has just started a blog: Viral Learning: Reflections on the Homeschooling Life.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Mary Griffith
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Mary Griffith
Hot Potato (Continued)
In my recent post, I commented on the report that a grandmother accidentally dropped a baby off at the wrong address, thinking it was daycare. I've been trying to picture how that could happen. After doing some research, I found a local news report with an interesting twist to the story.
"The woman who lives there takes care of a number of children and when a woman approached her with the young boy, she says she was not clear if this was one of children for whom she has been providing care."
Now doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy. The daycare provider didn't even recognize the children under her care. And you think your child gets "special" attention at daycare.
It wasn't until 4 pm that the mother and grandmother contacted the police. Obviously, they don't check in with the babysitter during the day to see how the child is doing.
I don't think these are evil people. They just have been swallowed up by the destructive trends of our generation.
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Technorati tags: parenting, daycare, preschool, child neglect
Friday, May 05, 2006
Hot Potato
Do you remember the children's game of "hot potato." Everybody stands in a circle and passes a beanbag around pretending it is a very hot potato. When the music stops, the person holding the beanbag is out.
This recent news article, Grandma drops baby off at wrong address, reminded me of that game. The mother handed off her baby to the grandmother (so fast that the grandmother only had a wrong address), who then handed off the baby to a total stranger (not stopping even to exchange a few words). The grandmother thought she was dropping the child at day care.
"Police received a call from a woman who said another woman she didn't know had driven up to her home, handed her a baby boy and a diaper bag and left."
I'm wondering just how fast the grandmother handed off the baby that she didn't realize her mistake. This reminds me of the tragic stories of babies who died because their mother's forget to drop them off at daycare and mistakenly left them in the car all day.
The baby's family didn't realize their mistake until seeing the baby's picture on the news hours later. The poor little boy spent the day in foster care. (What a bonus. They get free daycare for a day.)
I don't think this family is so unusual. They epitomize the modern parenting attitude: I don't care who is watching my kid as long as it is NOT me.
With the push to universal preschool, I think we will see more stories like this. Busy pseudo-parents will be even less attached to their children than before. It is easy to have something slip your mind if you don't think about it much anyway.
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Technorati tags: parenting, daycare, preschool, child neglect
This recent news article, Grandma drops baby off at wrong address, reminded me of that game. The mother handed off her baby to the grandmother (so fast that the grandmother only had a wrong address), who then handed off the baby to a total stranger (not stopping even to exchange a few words). The grandmother thought she was dropping the child at day care.
"Police received a call from a woman who said another woman she didn't know had driven up to her home, handed her a baby boy and a diaper bag and left."
I'm wondering just how fast the grandmother handed off the baby that she didn't realize her mistake. This reminds me of the tragic stories of babies who died because their mother's forget to drop them off at daycare and mistakenly left them in the car all day.
The baby's family didn't realize their mistake until seeing the baby's picture on the news hours later. The poor little boy spent the day in foster care. (What a bonus. They get free daycare for a day.)
I don't think this family is so unusual. They epitomize the modern parenting attitude: I don't care who is watching my kid as long as it is NOT me.
With the push to universal preschool, I think we will see more stories like this. Busy pseudo-parents will be even less attached to their children than before. It is easy to have something slip your mind if you don't think about it much anyway.
----------
Technorati tags: parenting, daycare, preschool, child neglect
Thursday, May 04, 2006
The Sewing Machine (Revisited)
Here are some pictures of my sewing project that I mentioned in my post I discovered my sewing machine.I tried to add them to my original post with no luck. Sometimes Blogger will just choke on picture upload. So, this is how my project began with my grandmother's old Sears Kenmore sewing machine
The first step in my sewing journey, after reattaching the hem, was adding eyelet trim to the hem and sleeves of the dresses we bought in Williamsburg.
This is my make-up-your-own-pattern apron.I improvised a "shift" to go under the dress by modifying an old nightgown.
Last of all this is the finished product. Two more outfits to go. I promised my other daughters that theirs would be done by Halloween.
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Technorati tags: sewing, sewing machine, Singer sewing machine
Interview: Pat Farenga - long time supporter of Home Schooling
Below is an interview with Pat Farenga done via email. It was nice to learn more about John Holt. And I enjoyed learning more about Pat Farenga. I liked Pat's line: "I’m more convinced that knowledge is a vast public resource rather than a scarce private commodity to be doled out by school authorities."
Again, I hope you enjoy the interview.
-------------------
Brief bio:
Patrick Farenga has been involved with homeschooling for over 25 years. He first started by working for John Holt, one of the early pioneers of homeschooling. John was very instrumental in getting parents to recognize the value of homeschooling. After John's death, Pat carried on the work as publisher of Growing Without Schooling until the last issue in 2001. Pat has written many articles, book chapters, and books. He is frequently contacted by the media for his insights into homeschooling. He has appeared on television and radio talks shows. And he frequently speaks at homeschooling conferences. For more information about Patrick Farenga, check out his biography.
Personal:
When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A musician or a writer.
In your 1997 interview with Helen Hegener you mentioned that you played the piano and tenor saxophone. Are you still playing them? Have you picked up any new instruments? What do you enjoy about music?
Yes. I’m very active in a blues band right now, playing sax and writing arrangements. I haven’t picked up any new instruments yet, though I would love to try the baritone saxophone and the vibraphone or marimbas.
I get a feeling from playing music that calms and nourishes my spirit, which is why I think I’ve always enjoyed playing music since I was 8 and never had to be told to practice.
I have also always enjoyed making music with other people and I get quite a charge when I “click” with another musician or with a group, and we start talking in music. I love the improvisatory aspects of music because, when it is working well, you are connecting on a dimension outside the written music and I find that to be exhilarating.
What style of homeschooler are you? Has it changed over the years?
I consider myself a homeschooler who lives and learns by using the work and ideas of John Holt, which are usually called “unschooling.” John used ”homeschooling” and “unschooling” interchangeably, so I didn’t “grow up” being aware of the distinctions we make today with those words.
I love unschooling, the word John invented to better describe homeschooling, but now the term has become so trendy that I fear it is making people overly self-conscious about how they live and learn with their children. The last thing I want to do is make parents feel they should not try or do something with their children, such as taking a class or using a textbook, because some one will be judging them as to whether or not they are good unschoolers.
What has changed in my style of homeschooling over the years is that I’ve become even more convinced of the value of following children’s interests regardless of whether or not they have any connection to school curricula. I’m more convinced that ordinary parents can help their children learn and grow without duplicating any school methods in their homes. I’m more convinced that knowledge is a vast public resource rather than a scarce private commodity to be doled out by school authorities.
Public Education:
Also back in your 1997 interview you talked about the problems with schools teaching so children could pass tests, instead of trying to give them an education. Were you surprised by how prophetic you were with the increased emphasis on testing, and the No Child Left Behind law?
Not at all. Indeed, I’m flattered by your comment but I’m a mouse standing on the shoulders of giants. Ivan Illich and John Holt both saw the conflation of passing tests with proof of education, and both felt, as their lives were ending, that this conflation was increasing in our society.
What are your biggest worries today about public schools? Have your concerns changed much over the years?
My biggest worries about public school today are how we are so strongly linking our adult futures to our performance in school as children, and how we are making school the only appropriate place for children to learn. We need to make school LESS like school so we can explore the varieties of experiences that can make a learning society. However, we seem hell-bent in going completely in the opposite direction, towards a teaching society that conscripts and controls learning experiences for the sake of easier record-keeping and monetary accountability.
My concerns have changed over the years: I used to focus tactically on homeschooling a lot, such as on how homeschoolers could do end-runs around schools, by using the language and concepts of alternative schooling to support homeschooling. However, now I’m more concerned about the larger picture: how education has become an unchallenged good, and how learning and teaching, even among unschoolers, have become fetishes. There is a down-side to education, and I don’t just mean the money-pit arguments or the civil liberties arguments that have been around for decades. I’m referring to how our belief in education causes us to extend childhood for teens; the traditional benchmarks of adulthood – moving out to live on one’s own, getting married, working full-time, having children - were reached by age 21 in the sixties; now they aren’t reached until the late twenties and early thirties, because being in school has become so encompassing of our young’s time. Indeed, I’m now concerned about our society deciding to support “womb to tomb education,” with all sorts of certificates and classes being required before we can join or do anything as adults. I see how this benefits educationists, but this benefit has the cost of undermining one’s “pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.” But, we seem, as a society, more willing than I ever thought to give up those pursuits in the name education.
John Holt:
Some parents who are new to homeschooling may not know much about John Holt. Could you briefly tell us about him?
John Holt was a fifth-grade teacher in private schools who wanted to know why he could teach a class and yet they didn’t learn what he was teaching. Unlike most educators, John took his teaching personally and refused to blame the students for not learning. Instead, John looked closely at his teaching methods and at the school environment, and he realized that those factors were what needed changing, not blaming the parents and the children.
And tell us about your experience with John?
He was a gentle, thoughtful man. He was very generous with his time and he enjoyed talking about music and audio recording as much as he enjoyed speaking about education. Indeed, towards the end of his life John did not enjoy speaking about education reform – it was just the same issues dressed in new clothes and he was tired of it. He much preferred talking about music, politics, and books over how we can reform schools, since, as he learned, and as I fear I’m learning, most people really do want the schools that we have, which is why they haven’t changed much since they were first created in the mid-eighteen-hundreds.
For people who wanted to learn more about John Holt, and what he taught, where would you suggest people start?
Any book by John is a good starting place, except for Escape for Childhood. That book is out of print anyway, the only one of his ten books that isn’t in print right now. Escape upsets both liberals and conservatives to no end with its logical application of the rights of citizenship to people regardless of their age.
However, if, as I’m sometimes asked, to read one book by Holt:
For parents of preschoolers I recommend either Learning All the Time or How Children Learn, the revised 1983 edition.
For parents with kids in school I recommend How Children Fail, the revised 1983 edition and The Underachieving School.
For teachers I recommend How Children Fail, Freedom and Beyond and What Do I Do Monday? For anyone interested in education theory and practice, Instead of Education: How to Help People Do Things Better, has long been a favorite of mine.
For parents considering homeschooling, or who are homeschooling and want to move into unschooling, Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling.
For musicians, or anyone interested in Holt’s biography, Never Too Late is the book.
Holt’s collected letters, A Life Worth Living, is the best portrait of John Holt as a thinker, writer, and person. Ohio State Univ. Press published it in 1991 and it is now out of print, but it is a treasure-trove of great material and a unique guide to the changes in society from the forties to the eighties.
Has it been hard to often be in the shadow of John Holt?
For me, yes. I’ve been very conscious of how many people, in and out of the homeschooling movement, are aware of John’s work and get support from it and I’ve always tried to properly credit and promote John’s work without letting his readers and supporters down. Now, as I get some distance from Holt Associates/GWS, I’m beginning to feel less like a curator and more like a thinker in my own right.
I’m bringing some closure to this period of my life now, as I work with the Boston Public Library to move Holt’s archives from my house and some storage facilities to the library.
Homeschooling:
What kinds of questions does the media ask you about now? Are they still harping on socialization? Or have they found some new concern?
They still harp on socialization. As more people homeschool the media is doing more stories about it, but they aren’t much different stories than what was appearing in the eighties. There are probably more stories about teenage homeschoolers doing high school and college now than in previous years, but that makes sense as the movement grows and its children get older. The common questions and answers that Holt wrote for homeschooling in the original edition of TEACH YOUR OWN needed very little updating by me in 2003.
In general do you see the environment for homeschooling more positive or more negative than ten or twenty years ago? And why?
It is more positive because more people are homeschooling now than ever before, and their success inspires others.
What are some of the positive changes you've seen in homeschooling over the last twenty years?
1) Conventional purveyors of textbooks and school curricula view homeschooling as a serious market and that has made homeschooling more accessible to parents who don’t like to consider themselves as being “alternative” anything.
2) Homeschooling is now sometimes mentioned as an option for families by school officials, psychologists, and social workers.
3) Grown homeschoolers are now taking their place as parents, and some are deciding to homeschool their own children.
4) Increased awareness and support for local and state political initiatives to keep homeschooling as free and open as possible at a time when educationists are circling their wagons and demanding conformity from its adherents.
5) The growth of online, charter, and voucher schools have all made homeschooling more palatable to the general public. When I was growing up, you could only go to public or private school; if you didn’t fit somewhere in there, you were a dropout. Now, there are many niches to place your children in. But only homeschooling allows learning to be viewed as an embedded activity in the natural world of families and communities, rather than as a prdouct made by teaching children in a special place where nothing but learning is supposed to occur.
What are some of your worries about the future of homeschooling?
1) Homeschoolers’ desire to copy the public school in their home so their children “won’t be left behind if...”
2) How affluent parents use homeschooling as a means to distinguish their children from others who compete for admittance to prestige colleges. This could turn homeschooling into the same “education by zip code” problem we have in schools today, where some public schools are “more equal” than others.
3) The growth of cyberschools that, in order to get state funds, lobby government to change the definition of homeschooling to mean being enrolled in their type of school. People who want cyberschools should have them – I’m not opposed to distance learning – but there are many legislative dimensions to defining who is a homeschooler and what is homeschooling and I’d hate to see all those efforts, made over a period of years, get short-circuited by companies who see this as a way to get guaranteed income by putting electronic schools in people’s homes.
If you could start over, what would you do differently in the way you homeschooled your own children?
I’d spend less time worrying about what my relatives and school officials thought about homeschooling. They’ve all come around, in one form or another, to supporting us in our homeschooling.
You have written extensively about homeschooling, including a few books. If someone wanted start reading your writings, where on the web would you suggest they start?
www.holtgws.com
I’m working on www.patfarenga.com as I type this, and it should be up and running by the end of May, 2006.
Again, thank you for making the time for the interview.
Update I: 5 May 2006
Pat and I had a slight miscommunication, and I've a few additions to the above interview.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Pat Farenga, Patrick Farenga, John Holt, unschooling, Growing without schooling
Again, I hope you enjoy the interview.
-------------------
Brief bio:
Patrick Farenga has been involved with homeschooling for over 25 years. He first started by working for John Holt, one of the early pioneers of homeschooling. John was very instrumental in getting parents to recognize the value of homeschooling. After John's death, Pat carried on the work as publisher of Growing Without Schooling until the last issue in 2001. Pat has written many articles, book chapters, and books. He is frequently contacted by the media for his insights into homeschooling. He has appeared on television and radio talks shows. And he frequently speaks at homeschooling conferences. For more information about Patrick Farenga, check out his biography.
Personal:
When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A musician or a writer.
In your 1997 interview with Helen Hegener you mentioned that you played the piano and tenor saxophone. Are you still playing them? Have you picked up any new instruments? What do you enjoy about music?
Yes. I’m very active in a blues band right now, playing sax and writing arrangements. I haven’t picked up any new instruments yet, though I would love to try the baritone saxophone and the vibraphone or marimbas.
I get a feeling from playing music that calms and nourishes my spirit, which is why I think I’ve always enjoyed playing music since I was 8 and never had to be told to practice.
I have also always enjoyed making music with other people and I get quite a charge when I “click” with another musician or with a group, and we start talking in music. I love the improvisatory aspects of music because, when it is working well, you are connecting on a dimension outside the written music and I find that to be exhilarating.
What style of homeschooler are you? Has it changed over the years?
I consider myself a homeschooler who lives and learns by using the work and ideas of John Holt, which are usually called “unschooling.” John used ”homeschooling” and “unschooling” interchangeably, so I didn’t “grow up” being aware of the distinctions we make today with those words.
I love unschooling, the word John invented to better describe homeschooling, but now the term has become so trendy that I fear it is making people overly self-conscious about how they live and learn with their children. The last thing I want to do is make parents feel they should not try or do something with their children, such as taking a class or using a textbook, because some one will be judging them as to whether or not they are good unschoolers.
What has changed in my style of homeschooling over the years is that I’ve become even more convinced of the value of following children’s interests regardless of whether or not they have any connection to school curricula. I’m more convinced that ordinary parents can help their children learn and grow without duplicating any school methods in their homes. I’m more convinced that knowledge is a vast public resource rather than a scarce private commodity to be doled out by school authorities.
Public Education:
Also back in your 1997 interview you talked about the problems with schools teaching so children could pass tests, instead of trying to give them an education. Were you surprised by how prophetic you were with the increased emphasis on testing, and the No Child Left Behind law?
Not at all. Indeed, I’m flattered by your comment but I’m a mouse standing on the shoulders of giants. Ivan Illich and John Holt both saw the conflation of passing tests with proof of education, and both felt, as their lives were ending, that this conflation was increasing in our society.
What are your biggest worries today about public schools? Have your concerns changed much over the years?
My biggest worries about public school today are how we are so strongly linking our adult futures to our performance in school as children, and how we are making school the only appropriate place for children to learn. We need to make school LESS like school so we can explore the varieties of experiences that can make a learning society. However, we seem hell-bent in going completely in the opposite direction, towards a teaching society that conscripts and controls learning experiences for the sake of easier record-keeping and monetary accountability.
My concerns have changed over the years: I used to focus tactically on homeschooling a lot, such as on how homeschoolers could do end-runs around schools, by using the language and concepts of alternative schooling to support homeschooling. However, now I’m more concerned about the larger picture: how education has become an unchallenged good, and how learning and teaching, even among unschoolers, have become fetishes. There is a down-side to education, and I don’t just mean the money-pit arguments or the civil liberties arguments that have been around for decades. I’m referring to how our belief in education causes us to extend childhood for teens; the traditional benchmarks of adulthood – moving out to live on one’s own, getting married, working full-time, having children - were reached by age 21 in the sixties; now they aren’t reached until the late twenties and early thirties, because being in school has become so encompassing of our young’s time. Indeed, I’m now concerned about our society deciding to support “womb to tomb education,” with all sorts of certificates and classes being required before we can join or do anything as adults. I see how this benefits educationists, but this benefit has the cost of undermining one’s “pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.” But, we seem, as a society, more willing than I ever thought to give up those pursuits in the name education.
John Holt:
Some parents who are new to homeschooling may not know much about John Holt. Could you briefly tell us about him?
John Holt was a fifth-grade teacher in private schools who wanted to know why he could teach a class and yet they didn’t learn what he was teaching. Unlike most educators, John took his teaching personally and refused to blame the students for not learning. Instead, John looked closely at his teaching methods and at the school environment, and he realized that those factors were what needed changing, not blaming the parents and the children.
And tell us about your experience with John?
He was a gentle, thoughtful man. He was very generous with his time and he enjoyed talking about music and audio recording as much as he enjoyed speaking about education. Indeed, towards the end of his life John did not enjoy speaking about education reform – it was just the same issues dressed in new clothes and he was tired of it. He much preferred talking about music, politics, and books over how we can reform schools, since, as he learned, and as I fear I’m learning, most people really do want the schools that we have, which is why they haven’t changed much since they were first created in the mid-eighteen-hundreds.
For people who wanted to learn more about John Holt, and what he taught, where would you suggest people start?
Any book by John is a good starting place, except for Escape for Childhood. That book is out of print anyway, the only one of his ten books that isn’t in print right now. Escape upsets both liberals and conservatives to no end with its logical application of the rights of citizenship to people regardless of their age.
However, if, as I’m sometimes asked, to read one book by Holt:
For parents of preschoolers I recommend either Learning All the Time or How Children Learn, the revised 1983 edition.
For parents with kids in school I recommend How Children Fail, the revised 1983 edition and The Underachieving School.
For teachers I recommend How Children Fail, Freedom and Beyond and What Do I Do Monday? For anyone interested in education theory and practice, Instead of Education: How to Help People Do Things Better, has long been a favorite of mine.
For parents considering homeschooling, or who are homeschooling and want to move into unschooling, Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling.
For musicians, or anyone interested in Holt’s biography, Never Too Late is the book.
Holt’s collected letters, A Life Worth Living, is the best portrait of John Holt as a thinker, writer, and person. Ohio State Univ. Press published it in 1991 and it is now out of print, but it is a treasure-trove of great material and a unique guide to the changes in society from the forties to the eighties.
Has it been hard to often be in the shadow of John Holt?
For me, yes. I’ve been very conscious of how many people, in and out of the homeschooling movement, are aware of John’s work and get support from it and I’ve always tried to properly credit and promote John’s work without letting his readers and supporters down. Now, as I get some distance from Holt Associates/GWS, I’m beginning to feel less like a curator and more like a thinker in my own right.
I’m bringing some closure to this period of my life now, as I work with the Boston Public Library to move Holt’s archives from my house and some storage facilities to the library.
Homeschooling:
What kinds of questions does the media ask you about now? Are they still harping on socialization? Or have they found some new concern?
They still harp on socialization. As more people homeschool the media is doing more stories about it, but they aren’t much different stories than what was appearing in the eighties. There are probably more stories about teenage homeschoolers doing high school and college now than in previous years, but that makes sense as the movement grows and its children get older. The common questions and answers that Holt wrote for homeschooling in the original edition of TEACH YOUR OWN needed very little updating by me in 2003.
In general do you see the environment for homeschooling more positive or more negative than ten or twenty years ago? And why?
It is more positive because more people are homeschooling now than ever before, and their success inspires others.
What are some of the positive changes you've seen in homeschooling over the last twenty years?
1) Conventional purveyors of textbooks and school curricula view homeschooling as a serious market and that has made homeschooling more accessible to parents who don’t like to consider themselves as being “alternative” anything.
2) Homeschooling is now sometimes mentioned as an option for families by school officials, psychologists, and social workers.
3) Grown homeschoolers are now taking their place as parents, and some are deciding to homeschool their own children.
4) Increased awareness and support for local and state political initiatives to keep homeschooling as free and open as possible at a time when educationists are circling their wagons and demanding conformity from its adherents.
5) The growth of online, charter, and voucher schools have all made homeschooling more palatable to the general public. When I was growing up, you could only go to public or private school; if you didn’t fit somewhere in there, you were a dropout. Now, there are many niches to place your children in. But only homeschooling allows learning to be viewed as an embedded activity in the natural world of families and communities, rather than as a prdouct made by teaching children in a special place where nothing but learning is supposed to occur.
What are some of your worries about the future of homeschooling?
1) Homeschoolers’ desire to copy the public school in their home so their children “won’t be left behind if...”
2) How affluent parents use homeschooling as a means to distinguish their children from others who compete for admittance to prestige colleges. This could turn homeschooling into the same “education by zip code” problem we have in schools today, where some public schools are “more equal” than others.
3) The growth of cyberschools that, in order to get state funds, lobby government to change the definition of homeschooling to mean being enrolled in their type of school. People who want cyberschools should have them – I’m not opposed to distance learning – but there are many legislative dimensions to defining who is a homeschooler and what is homeschooling and I’d hate to see all those efforts, made over a period of years, get short-circuited by companies who see this as a way to get guaranteed income by putting electronic schools in people’s homes.
If you could start over, what would you do differently in the way you homeschooled your own children?
I’d spend less time worrying about what my relatives and school officials thought about homeschooling. They’ve all come around, in one form or another, to supporting us in our homeschooling.
You have written extensively about homeschooling, including a few books. If someone wanted start reading your writings, where on the web would you suggest they start?
www.holtgws.com
I’m working on www.patfarenga.com as I type this, and it should be up and running by the end of May, 2006.
Again, thank you for making the time for the interview.
Update I: 5 May 2006
Pat and I had a slight miscommunication, and I've a few additions to the above interview.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Pat Farenga, Patrick Farenga, John Holt, unschooling, Growing without schooling
Selections from JoanneJacobs.com - 4 May 2006
Joanne Jacobs found a Fordham report on charter schools. Those in charge of allowing organizations to open charter schools are getting more selective about who they give permission to. They claim they want to inprove the standards. I wonder if at least part of the problem is charter schools as a whole are doing better, and thus making the public schools look bad.
She also has an update on the Doty Family, a homeschooling family in Washington State. A couple years back Jude Doty was fined for using his sons in construction jobs. The fines totaled $100,000. The family has moved to Idaho. Part of the claim is the government was worried about the safty of the children.
The last post I'll mention is about a new National Geographic survey. At first I thought it was the same survey Daryl mentioned a couple months back. The findings are basically the same, US young adults don't know much about geography. This recent survey had a different set of specific examples of what many young Americans don't know.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Joanne Jacobs, Charter schools, Jude Doty, National Geographic
She also has an update on the Doty Family, a homeschooling family in Washington State. A couple years back Jude Doty was fined for using his sons in construction jobs. The fines totaled $100,000. The family has moved to Idaho. Part of the claim is the government was worried about the safty of the children.
The last post I'll mention is about a new National Geographic survey. At first I thought it was the same survey Daryl mentioned a couple months back. The findings are basically the same, US young adults don't know much about geography. This recent survey had a different set of specific examples of what many young Americans don't know.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Joanne Jacobs, Charter schools, Jude Doty, National Geographic
Some homeschool humor
Awhile back I came across a web site with some funny homeschool stories. Here are a few of them:
I overheard my 7 year old daughter talking to the neighbor girl. The neighbor girl was telling my daughter that she didn't have to go to school that day because of parent-teacher conferences. My daughter asked her what that meant and the neighbor girl explained it was when her Mom talked to her teacher. "Oh, we have that in home schooling too," replied my daughter. I was a bit puzzled until my daughter added, "My Mom talks to herself all the time." (Kelli from CA)
When I first started homeschooling, I read the books that said in effect 'your toddlers will learn amazing things right along with your older kids.' I thought it may be true for others, but how much can a little kid actually assimilate? One of the ideas I used in my homeschool is turning our kitchen table into a constant source of geography by putting a world map on the table and a clear piece of plastic for a tablecloth over it. Messy housekeeper that I am, I had a very hard time keeping this clean and we have since had the map decoupaged onto the table. I walked in to find my two year old sitting on top of our kitchen table. I walked up to him ready with my outstretched hand to swat his behind for being on the table (an infraction he'd been spanked for before). As I approached, ready to strike, he pointed and said in his baby voice, "Look, Mama, Staylia!" I hesitated for just a second when he said, "Cocodiles. Staylia." As I diverted my attention from his rear end to the map...low and behold...he was pointing to Australia. My ready swat became a "Goooooood Boy!! That is Australia. Crocodiles DO live in Australia." From that day on I was a believer. Even MY youngest children benefit from our homeschool. (Jenn from Indiana)
If you enjoyed this, go check out the complete collection.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, humor, parent-teacher conferences, example
I overheard my 7 year old daughter talking to the neighbor girl. The neighbor girl was telling my daughter that she didn't have to go to school that day because of parent-teacher conferences. My daughter asked her what that meant and the neighbor girl explained it was when her Mom talked to her teacher. "Oh, we have that in home schooling too," replied my daughter. I was a bit puzzled until my daughter added, "My Mom talks to herself all the time." (Kelli from CA)
When I first started homeschooling, I read the books that said in effect 'your toddlers will learn amazing things right along with your older kids.' I thought it may be true for others, but how much can a little kid actually assimilate? One of the ideas I used in my homeschool is turning our kitchen table into a constant source of geography by putting a world map on the table and a clear piece of plastic for a tablecloth over it. Messy housekeeper that I am, I had a very hard time keeping this clean and we have since had the map decoupaged onto the table. I walked in to find my two year old sitting on top of our kitchen table. I walked up to him ready with my outstretched hand to swat his behind for being on the table (an infraction he'd been spanked for before). As I approached, ready to strike, he pointed and said in his baby voice, "Look, Mama, Staylia!" I hesitated for just a second when he said, "Cocodiles. Staylia." As I diverted my attention from his rear end to the map...low and behold...he was pointing to Australia. My ready swat became a "Goooooood Boy!! That is Australia. Crocodiles DO live in Australia." From that day on I was a believer. Even MY youngest children benefit from our homeschool. (Jenn from Indiana)
If you enjoyed this, go check out the complete collection.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, humor, parent-teacher conferences, example
Links to interesting postings - 4 May 2006
Mother Crone has some good thoughts about how to teach study skills to children, and how to help parents reinforce the skills.
Mother Tenn writes about date nights with her children. There is great value in spending one-on-one time with your children.
At Six and the City is a good quote: "I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind ofpeople who think decorating consists mostly of building enoughbookshelves."-Anna Quindlen.
At A Large Christian Homeschooling Family is a suggestion on how to help children be better library detectives. (Hat tip: Trivium Pursuit)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, study skills, books, library detective
Mother Tenn writes about date nights with her children. There is great value in spending one-on-one time with your children.
At Six and the City is a good quote: "I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind ofpeople who think decorating consists mostly of building enoughbookshelves."-Anna Quindlen.
At A Large Christian Homeschooling Family is a suggestion on how to help children be better library detectives. (Hat tip: Trivium Pursuit)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, study skills, books, library detective
I've discovered my sewing machine.
I inherited from my Grandmother an old Singer sewing machine with built in cabinet. It has sat in my front room, being used as an end table, for ten years or more. I haven't sewn anything more than a hem since my freshman year of high school. I attended a jr. high and a year of high school in a small town in Wyoming which had a very good Home Ec department. As a result, I learned to cook and sew in jr. high and high school. These are skills everyone should know a little about.
Any way, while we were on our trip in Williamsburg, I broke down and bought the girls the colonial girl dresses they sell there. The problem was that the dress was not long enough for my oldest daughter who is quite tall for her age. It came only to below the knee, instead of to her ankles. It really bugged me that the dress was not historically accurate being so short.
My first step was to unpick the double hem and make it a single. For some reason, the hem at the bottom of the dress was a separate piece of cloth folded over. So I removed it, unfolded the cloth and sewed it back on to the bottom of the dress. (Luckily the dress also comes with two seams which could be easily removed to lengthen the dress.) I guess in those days they planned ahead.
The dress still was not long enough. I took myself and the girls down to the fabric store and looked for matching material to make the dress longer. We couldn't find anything even close, so we looked a eyelet trim instead. We found a wide, old fashioned looking eyelet that added another 5 inches to the dress.
After figuring out how to load the bobbin, I sewed the trim to the bottom of the dress. I then sewed the trim to the inside edge of the sleeves. I improvised a "shift" to go under the dress by modifying an old white lace nightgown.
I had some white material laying around the house from an aborted project from the previous year. I decided to improvise an apron. I basically sewed a pillowcase like I learned in jr. high. At the open end of the pillow case I ironed in pleats. I single row of stitches across the top held it in place. I cut another piece of clothe into a wide sash and hemmed the edges. I then positioned the pleated edge in the middle of the sash horizontally, folded the sash over and sewed around the edges of the sash/waist band. Now the apron and the ties were connected.
The ensemble looks pretty good and old fashioned. My friend at the DAR tells me the eyelet trim at the bottom is not historically accurate, but there are only a handful of people in the United States who would know that.
I promised I would make the other embellishments for the other girls by Halloween. The whole process took me a few hours, minus the trip to the fabric store. The girls are now excited about learning to sew. I think this is going to work out much like when my oldest daughter learned how to crochet.
I'm excited about doing more sewing. Being worried about making a mistake while following someone else's pattern had stopped me from doing sewing in the past. Because I was improvising, there was no "wrong" answer, so I wasn't stressed about it. Sewing costumes is a great place to start to learn to sew. I think I will give the kids material and just let them "play" with the machine.
And for myself, maybe I will break down and buy a pattern next time.
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Technorati tags: sewing, sewing machine, Singer sewing machine, Williamsburg
Any way, while we were on our trip in Williamsburg, I broke down and bought the girls the colonial girl dresses they sell there. The problem was that the dress was not long enough for my oldest daughter who is quite tall for her age. It came only to below the knee, instead of to her ankles. It really bugged me that the dress was not historically accurate being so short.
My first step was to unpick the double hem and make it a single. For some reason, the hem at the bottom of the dress was a separate piece of cloth folded over. So I removed it, unfolded the cloth and sewed it back on to the bottom of the dress. (Luckily the dress also comes with two seams which could be easily removed to lengthen the dress.) I guess in those days they planned ahead.
The dress still was not long enough. I took myself and the girls down to the fabric store and looked for matching material to make the dress longer. We couldn't find anything even close, so we looked a eyelet trim instead. We found a wide, old fashioned looking eyelet that added another 5 inches to the dress.
After figuring out how to load the bobbin, I sewed the trim to the bottom of the dress. I then sewed the trim to the inside edge of the sleeves. I improvised a "shift" to go under the dress by modifying an old white lace nightgown.
I had some white material laying around the house from an aborted project from the previous year. I decided to improvise an apron. I basically sewed a pillowcase like I learned in jr. high. At the open end of the pillow case I ironed in pleats. I single row of stitches across the top held it in place. I cut another piece of clothe into a wide sash and hemmed the edges. I then positioned the pleated edge in the middle of the sash horizontally, folded the sash over and sewed around the edges of the sash/waist band. Now the apron and the ties were connected.
The ensemble looks pretty good and old fashioned. My friend at the DAR tells me the eyelet trim at the bottom is not historically accurate, but there are only a handful of people in the United States who would know that.
I promised I would make the other embellishments for the other girls by Halloween. The whole process took me a few hours, minus the trip to the fabric store. The girls are now excited about learning to sew. I think this is going to work out much like when my oldest daughter learned how to crochet.
I'm excited about doing more sewing. Being worried about making a mistake while following someone else's pattern had stopped me from doing sewing in the past. Because I was improvising, there was no "wrong" answer, so I wasn't stressed about it. Sewing costumes is a great place to start to learn to sew. I think I will give the kids material and just let them "play" with the machine.
And for myself, maybe I will break down and buy a pattern next time.
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Technorati tags: sewing, sewing machine, Singer sewing machine, Williamsburg
Selections from HomeSchoolBuzz.com - 4 May 2006
HomeSchoolBuzz.com links to a sample articles on homeschooling. Gary found a few recently that I especially enjoyed.
Brad Edmonds writes at LewRockwell.com about homeschooling. Brad did a great job of providing an overview of homeschooling and why people homeschool. It talking about minorities, he says: "While most minorities in government schools do worse than white children on standardized tests, among home-schooled children the differences disappear – black, Latino, and white home schoolers all do about the same."
In Ohio, Home schoolers bring love, joy to nursing home. Every month a group of homeschoolers go to a nursing home. Talk about socialization. Here young children are doing service and bounding with people who had provide them wisdom.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Brad Edmonds, nursing homes, socialization
Brad Edmonds writes at LewRockwell.com about homeschooling. Brad did a great job of providing an overview of homeschooling and why people homeschool. It talking about minorities, he says: "While most minorities in government schools do worse than white children on standardized tests, among home-schooled children the differences disappear – black, Latino, and white home schoolers all do about the same."
In Ohio, Home schoolers bring love, joy to nursing home. Every month a group of homeschoolers go to a nursing home. Talk about socialization. Here young children are doing service and bounding with people who had provide them wisdom.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Brad Edmonds, nursing homes, socialization
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Reminder - send in your submission for the next Carnival of Kid Comedy
You have about two days to get in a submission for the next Carnival of Kid Comedy. Here are the rules.
The carnival will be hosted at Life in a Shoe this week, and then Kim has arranged for other bloggers to take turns hosting. Here is the schedule.
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Technorati tags: Carnival of Kid Comedy, humor, blog carnival, children
The carnival will be hosted at Life in a Shoe this week, and then Kim has arranged for other bloggers to take turns hosting. Here is the schedule.
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Technorati tags: Carnival of Kid Comedy, humor, blog carnival, children
The Carnival of Education, week 65, is up
This week the Carnival of Education is at The Education Wonks.
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Technorati tags: carnival of education, education, teaching
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Technorati tags: carnival of education, education, teaching
Homeschooling is getting more exposure in the Blogosphere
Almost every day I check this URL:
http://www.technorati.com/search/HomeSchooling
Technorati has a graph on the left hand side showing how many posts mentiong homeschooling each day. A couple weeks back, before our trip to Washington DC, the scale use to be 100, 200, and 300. Now it is 200, 400, and 600.
My memory is the average number of posts use to be in the 100 a day range. It is cool that the scale has shifted up, and the average is a bit higer than it was a couple months back.
Update I: 4 May 2006
Oh, if you want to see this trend, I've been using "any authority" for results. If you go with the default of "a little authority" you will end up with a smaller selection.
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Technorati tags: Technorati, homeschooling
http://www.technorati.com/search/HomeSchooling
Technorati has a graph on the left hand side showing how many posts mentiong homeschooling each day. A couple weeks back, before our trip to Washington DC, the scale use to be 100, 200, and 300. Now it is 200, 400, and 600.
My memory is the average number of posts use to be in the 100 a day range. It is cool that the scale has shifted up, and the average is a bit higer than it was a couple months back.
Update I: 4 May 2006
Oh, if you want to see this trend, I've been using "any authority" for results. If you go with the default of "a little authority" you will end up with a smaller selection.
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Technorati tags: Technorati, homeschooling
Do we support "the rod?"
A comment was posted on the last Carnival of Homeschooling asking if we support "the rod?"
I'm not exactly sure what that means. It is not a phrase used in my vocabulary.
In my childhood, I was swatted by my parents maybe three times. It probably wasn't very productive, but it did no lasting harm. Because my own experience with spanking is so benign, this is not a "hot" topic for our family.
As an inexperienced parent, I have given a swat to a defiant child. I didn't find it very helpful either. That is one of the reason we don't spank. However, I don't necessarily rule it out as an appropriate parental response.
Some years ago, I had the following experience at a gathering with a few families and children. Two homeschool families in particular stick out in my mind. Family A's children were whiny and disruptive. In contrast, the children in Family B were well mannered and sat quietly during the program. I pulled the mother of Family B aside, motioning to here quietly sitting children and asked about her parenting technique. She smiled at me and said, "We spank them." [This is a direct quote.]
I've been in the home of Family B many times. They were and are very loving parents. Their home is a happy and cheerful place. I've never seen them spank their children. I believe that spanking was something they used rarely. But, they were not afraid to let their kids know who was in charge and that certain behavior wouldn't be tolerated. These children have turned out wonderfully. I would NOT characterize their home as abusive or their parenting style as harmful.
As a side note, Family A's children are turning out rather well too. So, maybe in the end, it didn't matter whether they spanked or not.
I don't personally know anyone who has harmed or killed a child as a result of a physical punishment. I don't believe such behavior is motivated by a rational process, but is more likely the result of mental and emotional instability. For a few, abuse is a result of "personality disorder" which is a psychobabble way of say they are just plain "evil." Evil people are going to do bad things to children because that is what evil people do. Books or boycotts aren't going to change the behavior of that type of person.
People who abuse children as a result of their mental and emotional instability are easily swept along with the latest fad or persuasive argument. Maybe, what they read will effect their behavior. This is where a little finesse comes in handy. There is a big difference between giving your kid a swat on the behind and child abuse. Insinuating that they are one and the same diminishes credibility. Most people are turned off by such emotional comments or other dramatic rants. Such things are down right annoying and rather insulting. No one is motivated to change by misrepresentation, exageration or words that attack and demean.
I admit that I also dislike candlelight vigils, walk outs, protest marches, and other events were some group thinks it is ok to name call anyone who disagrees with them. I do respect personal boycotts. There's an Indian restaurant that we no longer go to because the owner was convicted of importing slave labor from India. We don't eat at that restaurant because we don't want to finacially support him.
Now back to the original question. Do we support "the rod?" That all depends on what the "rod" means to you.
Do I worry that someone is going to harm their child because they read our blog, which promotes the Carnival of Homeschooling, that linkes to a blog post, that is hosted by a blogger site, that advertises a book; and, that after seeing an advertisement or reading a blog post someone will be diabolically tricked into ordering the book, following its advice to the point they are inexplicably transformed from loving parents into child abusers?
No, I don't worry about that at all.
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Technorati tags: spanking, discipline, child abuse, Pearls, the rod, Carnival of Homeschooling
I'm not exactly sure what that means. It is not a phrase used in my vocabulary.
In my childhood, I was swatted by my parents maybe three times. It probably wasn't very productive, but it did no lasting harm. Because my own experience with spanking is so benign, this is not a "hot" topic for our family.
As an inexperienced parent, I have given a swat to a defiant child. I didn't find it very helpful either. That is one of the reason we don't spank. However, I don't necessarily rule it out as an appropriate parental response.
Some years ago, I had the following experience at a gathering with a few families and children. Two homeschool families in particular stick out in my mind. Family A's children were whiny and disruptive. In contrast, the children in Family B were well mannered and sat quietly during the program. I pulled the mother of Family B aside, motioning to here quietly sitting children and asked about her parenting technique. She smiled at me and said, "We spank them." [This is a direct quote.]
I've been in the home of Family B many times. They were and are very loving parents. Their home is a happy and cheerful place. I've never seen them spank their children. I believe that spanking was something they used rarely. But, they were not afraid to let their kids know who was in charge and that certain behavior wouldn't be tolerated. These children have turned out wonderfully. I would NOT characterize their home as abusive or their parenting style as harmful.
As a side note, Family A's children are turning out rather well too. So, maybe in the end, it didn't matter whether they spanked or not.
I don't personally know anyone who has harmed or killed a child as a result of a physical punishment. I don't believe such behavior is motivated by a rational process, but is more likely the result of mental and emotional instability. For a few, abuse is a result of "personality disorder" which is a psychobabble way of say they are just plain "evil." Evil people are going to do bad things to children because that is what evil people do. Books or boycotts aren't going to change the behavior of that type of person.
People who abuse children as a result of their mental and emotional instability are easily swept along with the latest fad or persuasive argument. Maybe, what they read will effect their behavior. This is where a little finesse comes in handy. There is a big difference between giving your kid a swat on the behind and child abuse. Insinuating that they are one and the same diminishes credibility. Most people are turned off by such emotional comments or other dramatic rants. Such things are down right annoying and rather insulting. No one is motivated to change by misrepresentation, exageration or words that attack and demean.
I admit that I also dislike candlelight vigils, walk outs, protest marches, and other events were some group thinks it is ok to name call anyone who disagrees with them. I do respect personal boycotts. There's an Indian restaurant that we no longer go to because the owner was convicted of importing slave labor from India. We don't eat at that restaurant because we don't want to finacially support him.
Now back to the original question. Do we support "the rod?" That all depends on what the "rod" means to you.
Do I worry that someone is going to harm their child because they read our blog, which promotes the Carnival of Homeschooling, that linkes to a blog post, that is hosted by a blogger site, that advertises a book; and, that after seeing an advertisement or reading a blog post someone will be diabolically tricked into ordering the book, following its advice to the point they are inexplicably transformed from loving parents into child abusers?
No, I don't worry about that at all.
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Technorati tags: spanking, discipline, child abuse, Pearls, the rod, Carnival of Homeschooling
Selections from reddit.com - 3 May 2006
It has been awhile since I posted about selections from reddit.com. The following were found via reddit.com:
The Charlotte Observer reports that children will not be allowed nap time in kindergarten. Children need their sleep, but the schools are pushing academics.
CPSC, a government organization, is trying to hurt the rocket hobbist industry, and home chemistry labs.
A list of the 100 Most influential Books. There were a lot I didn't recognize. I was surprised by how many were about sex.
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Technorati tags: kindergarten, nap time, model rockets, chemistry labs, influential books, reddit, reddit.com
The Charlotte Observer reports that children will not be allowed nap time in kindergarten. Children need their sleep, but the schools are pushing academics.
CPSC, a government organization, is trying to hurt the rocket hobbist industry, and home chemistry labs.
A list of the 100 Most influential Books. There were a lot I didn't recognize. I was surprised by how many were about sex.
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Technorati tags: kindergarten, nap time, model rockets, chemistry labs, influential books, reddit, reddit.com
Companies who donate money to public schools
Last week Daryl Cobranchi at HE&OS asked if you had "a million dollar grant to advance home education, what would you do with it?" There were some interesting and thoughtful comments.
The company I work at every year gives money to a few excellent teachers at public schools. There are some sizeable amounts of money involved. Each year a request goes out for nominations for good teachers. This seems unfair. Each time I think about submitting my wife or some other homeschooler who is doing a great job.
But I'm sure the bureaucracy would reject any such nomination, at least at first. Maybe if there was a campaign by dozens of homeschoolers we might be able to get such companies to stop and reconsider.
Other than having some money to buy more stuff, I don't see any great benefit. The reality is homeschooling doesn't cost that much money. We already have a building to use. The other large expense, salaries for teachers, is not an issue for homeschoolers.
Would it do any good to try and get companies to contribute some resources to homeschoolers? I'm curious to know what other people think about asking companies to help out homeschoolers.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, school grants, school funding, teacher awards
The company I work at every year gives money to a few excellent teachers at public schools. There are some sizeable amounts of money involved. Each year a request goes out for nominations for good teachers. This seems unfair. Each time I think about submitting my wife or some other homeschooler who is doing a great job.
But I'm sure the bureaucracy would reject any such nomination, at least at first. Maybe if there was a campaign by dozens of homeschoolers we might be able to get such companies to stop and reconsider.
Other than having some money to buy more stuff, I don't see any great benefit. The reality is homeschooling doesn't cost that much money. We already have a building to use. The other large expense, salaries for teachers, is not an issue for homeschoolers.
Would it do any good to try and get companies to contribute some resources to homeschoolers? I'm curious to know what other people think about asking companies to help out homeschoolers.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, school grants, school funding, teacher awards
Request for submissions for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
We'll be hosting the next Carnival of Homeschooling.
As always check here for details on how to submit. Entries are always due Monday evenings at 6:00 PM, Pacific Standard Time.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, blog carnival, Carnival of Homeschooling
As always check here for details on how to submit. Entries are always due Monday evenings at 6:00 PM, Pacific Standard Time.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, blog carnival, Carnival of Homeschooling
Links to interesting postings - 3 May 2006
Valerie Moon is blogged up a storm yesterday at her News & Commentary Home Page. She writes about a 2006 Congressional High School Art Competition that homeschoolers can participate in. And I learned of a new reason to homeschool: to boycott. Parents in Illinois are protesting armed guards at the local high school.
Spunky is giving away a Benz Microscope and Apologia Biology Set this week. Click Here to get the details.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, public schools, Art Contest, Art Competition, Spunky, Benz Microscope, Apologia Biology Set, Apologia Biology
Spunky is giving away a Benz Microscope and Apologia Biology Set this week. Click Here to get the details.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, public schools, Art Contest, Art Competition, Spunky, Benz Microscope, Apologia Biology Set, Apologia Biology
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Our vision of the Carnival of Homeschooling
The Carnival of Homeschooling is a forum where homeschoolers can discuss issues relating to homeschooling.
Our message is that homeschooling is good for families, good for children, and good for society.
As a group, we are non-conformists, which is expected, considering the type of people who are attracted to homeschooling. We are not looking for consensus. We do not expect consensus. Actually consensus might be rather boring. However, we expect polite dialogue with posts and comments that are enlightening, edifying, and supportive of homeschooling.
You are not going to agree with every point made. If a blogger has an issue which is near and dear to his heart, he is welcome to vent on his own blog, or post comments on the submitter’s blog. Off tangent comments aren’t appreciated on the carnival because it detracts from our message.
If you can’t work and play well with others, take your toys and (quietly) go home. Remember, each week of the carnival is different. You can always come back the next week.
Our message is that homeschooling is good for families, good for children, and good for society.
As a group, we are non-conformists, which is expected, considering the type of people who are attracted to homeschooling. We are not looking for consensus. We do not expect consensus. Actually consensus might be rather boring. However, we expect polite dialogue with posts and comments that are enlightening, edifying, and supportive of homeschooling.
You are not going to agree with every point made. If a blogger has an issue which is near and dear to his heart, he is welcome to vent on his own blog, or post comments on the submitter’s blog. Off tangent comments aren’t appreciated on the carnival because it detracts from our message.
If you can’t work and play well with others, take your toys and (quietly) go home. Remember, each week of the carnival is different. You can always come back the next week.
Guidelines for hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling
There have been a few questions about hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling. Below are the current guidelines:
I've posted my goals and expectations for general participants for the Carnival of Homeschooling:
http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/01/participating-in-carnival-of.html
In addition to the expectations for participants, here are my additional expectations for hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling:
1) Expect hosts will read:http://www.10000birds.com/hostwiththemost.htm
2) Hosts will put out a wide call for submissions. The greater the variety of posts, the more our readers will learn, and the more chance they will find something interesting.
3) Hosts will respond promptly to submissions. With all the problems of spam and filters, it is common courtesy to reassure our participants their submission were received.
4) Hosts will have carnival up in a timely manner. Submissions are due Monday evenings at 6:00 PM PST. The goal should be to have it within 12 hours? This means the host will get much of the work done during the previous week as submissions come in.
5) The host will work to promote the participants. Hosts should minimize self promotion.
6) Promotion of that week's carnival is part of the responsbility of being the host. The host will ask other bloggers to mention the carnival. The other hosts will help.
7) At the end of each carnival the host will point to the host for the next carnival, and how to enter submissions.
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There have been a few questions about what submissions are approriate for the Carnival of Homeschooling and under what situations can a host reject a submission. I've really struggled with creating a concise set of guidelines.
There some obvious things which eject a submission, for example:
1) The submission isn't about homeschooling
2) The submission has already appeared in a carnival of homeschooling
3) The submission is vulgar or racist
4) The submission is OK, but from an inappropriate site, like a porn site, white supremiscist, terrorist, and so on.
5) The submission promotes an illegal activity
But there are other areas where the host may be reluctant to include a post. I tried to craft some rules and guidelines on what seemed reasonable. It started feeling like the tax code, too complicated. We are all volunteers, working together.
After several hours of thought and talking with my wife I have come to the conclusion that for that week, I'm just going to trust the host's judgment. If there is a post the host doesn't feel is appropriate, I do ask the host let the submitter know, and forward the post to me. The submitter is welcome to resubmit that post for the following week.
I've posted my goals and expectations for general participants for the Carnival of Homeschooling:
http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/01/participating-in-carnival-of.html
In addition to the expectations for participants, here are my additional expectations for hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling:
1) Expect hosts will read:http://www.10000birds.com/hostwiththemost.htm
2) Hosts will put out a wide call for submissions. The greater the variety of posts, the more our readers will learn, and the more chance they will find something interesting.
3) Hosts will respond promptly to submissions. With all the problems of spam and filters, it is common courtesy to reassure our participants their submission were received.
4) Hosts will have carnival up in a timely manner. Submissions are due Monday evenings at 6:00 PM PST. The goal should be to have it within 12 hours? This means the host will get much of the work done during the previous week as submissions come in.
5) The host will work to promote the participants. Hosts should minimize self promotion.
6) Promotion of that week's carnival is part of the responsbility of being the host. The host will ask other bloggers to mention the carnival. The other hosts will help.
7) At the end of each carnival the host will point to the host for the next carnival, and how to enter submissions.
---------------
There have been a few questions about what submissions are approriate for the Carnival of Homeschooling and under what situations can a host reject a submission. I've really struggled with creating a concise set of guidelines.
There some obvious things which eject a submission, for example:
1) The submission isn't about homeschooling
2) The submission has already appeared in a carnival of homeschooling
3) The submission is vulgar or racist
4) The submission is OK, but from an inappropriate site, like a porn site, white supremiscist, terrorist, and so on.
5) The submission promotes an illegal activity
But there are other areas where the host may be reluctant to include a post. I tried to craft some rules and guidelines on what seemed reasonable. It started feeling like the tax code, too complicated. We are all volunteers, working together.
After several hours of thought and talking with my wife I have come to the conclusion that for that week, I'm just going to trust the host's judgment. If there is a post the host doesn't feel is appropriate, I do ask the host let the submitter know, and forward the post to me. The submitter is welcome to resubmit that post for the following week.
Links to interesting postings - 2 May 2006
The Head Mistress at The Common Room has a good list of the Nuts and Bolts Homeschool Tools. She starts with: "These are some basic tools I have recommended over the years when new homeschoolers ask me about supplies and materials."
Susan at Corn and Oil posts an article, So What Has Your Government Been Doing Lately?, by Judy Aron. Judy continues to urge parents to closely watch the government and be involved.
At EveryWakingHour a mother writes about homeschooling from her children's perspective. Her daughter explains how many of her peers miss the purpose of education, and of life.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, public schools
Susan at Corn and Oil posts an article, So What Has Your Government Been Doing Lately?, by Judy Aron. Judy continues to urge parents to closely watch the government and be involved.
At EveryWakingHour a mother writes about homeschooling from her children's perspective. Her daughter explains how many of her peers miss the purpose of education, and of life.
----------
Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, public schools
The Carnival of Homeschooling, week 18, is up
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is being hosted at The Thinking Mother by the Christine.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, carnival
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, carnival
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