The 30th Carnival of Space is up

This week's Carnival of Space is up at Bad Astronomy Blog.


----------
Technorati tags: carnival, space

Elizabeth Edwards on homeschooling

Christine Escobar interviewed Elizabeth Edwards about homeschooling. This post of the interview comes up easier for me.


Elizabeth Edwards talks about the decision to homeschool. Four years ago when her husband, John Edwards, ran for president they found it was hard on their children. They decided to go with homeschooling during the 2008 campaign as a better option for their children.


"Well, we knew that from our previous experience campaigning was going to require a lot of time away from home. And taking several months for campaigning and seeing the children only every few days, it was not ideal for us. And the way we'd be able to see them more, include them more, let them be part of the experience..., you know they were young the last time, it was easier to pull them out, but in public school, in 2nd grade and 4th grade, you shouldn't be pulling them out willy-nilly just because that's a convenient time for you, even if we could get away with it, it would leave the impression that our children were entitled to special treatment and we do not think that."

They are using a tutor. The children go over to a specific room at their house which sounds like it is set up as a school at home. Elizabeth says the children get to choose if they want to attend an event for their father.

The interview is long. Elizabeth says they like homeschooling but they are very supportive of public schools.



----------

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

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

The next Carnival of Homeschooling will be hosted by Summer Minor at Mom Is Teaching.

You have about 58 hours to send in an entry.

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

Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.


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

Mark your calendar for December 3rd

The nominations for the 2007 Homeschool Blog Awards are in. Janine and I are flattered to be in four categories. There are a lot of new and interesting blogs. One of the things I find overwhelming about the blogosphere is just has fast it keeps growing.

Voting starts December 3rd.


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

Student Suspended For Talking About Nooses

This is a pretty bad case of zero intelligence.

Several kids in a high school band at Lee's Summit High School in suburban Kansas City, Mo. were talking with each other. In Students Suspended For Talking About Nooses we are told:

"Some kids on the drum line said they were talking about the best knots to use to tie up the drum equipment. 'Someone asked if anybody knew how to tie a noose and Travis did admit he knew how to tie a noose,' Kim Grigsby said."

The boy, Travis Grigsby, is almost an Eagle Scout and knows his knots. He explains that you should not tie this knot, because you could get in trouble. Little did he know that you could get in trouble for just admitting you knew the knot.

A black boy in the drum line complained saying he was offended. The school decides to give Travis a ten day suspension. The parents complained and the school reduced the sentence to five days. It is still enough to affect their grades.

The schools are teaching the children that there is no justice, that there is no rule of law and they could be punished when those in authority take a whim.

I wonder how many parents will start homeschooling as a result of this incident.

(Hat tip: : Opinion Journal)


----------
Technorati tags: public school, public education, children, education, zero tolerance, zero intelligence

The collection from a couple years ago

Before Janine and I started blogging I use to print off interesting articles, thought provoking posts and other random stuff I found while browsing the internet and blogosphere. I built up a large collection. It was over twelve inches tall. I spent two hours yesterday thinning and it is now down to about five inches.

I came across this thought in the collection:

"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

I don't think there is a vast conspiracy, but the current programs of public schools have a tendency to discourage children from reading for fun. Many of our friends with children in public schools are frustrated that their children don't enjoy reading. In contrast every homeschooler I know either likes to read, or loves to read. I don't know any who look at reading with distaste.

And all that reading does led to thinking!


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

Another Thanksgiving thought

I found the following thought from Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list in my in-basket today:

We should be thankful for the good things we have and, also, for the bad things we don't have.
-Anon


----------
Technorati tags: Thanksgiving

Public schools - a Gordian Knot or a Sisyphean activity?

As I mentioned before I am afraid public schools have become a Gordian Knot. As they are currently structured it is almost impossible for students to receive an excellent education, let alone a good education. I don't think public schools can be fixed without major changes.

Reading Jay Mathews' recent column on How to Fix Struggling High Schools I had a different image. I was reminded of Sisyphus. From Wikipedia is this summary:

-------

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king punished in the Tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll down again, and repeat this throughout eternity.

Today, Sisyphean can be used as an adjective meaning that an activity is unending and/or repetitive. It could also be used to refer to tasks that are pointless and unrewarding.

-------

Jay Mathews writes about Jonathan Lewis, a senior at a Washington D.C. high school. Jay says everyone wants Jonathan to graduate, even Jonathan wants to graduate. "But every step on his journey exposed another failure of the educators, parents and students on whom the public school system depends."

Jay goes on to list several problems with this high school and then says we need to fix this problem. Many of these problems are hard problems, for example one teacher didn't even know Jonathan was in his class, because "the school's scheduling and information system fail to inform the teacher that he is supposed to be there."

It is my analysis that we can not "FIX" public schools they way they are currently structured. For decades tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of dedicated and smart people have worked to improve public schools. Every year they try to roll the rock up the hill, but like Sisyphus, the rock slips past them and rolls back down. In many ways the hill is getting bigger and the rock is slipping down sooner.

Albert Einstein is reported to have said that "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." It seems like the frequent attempts to "fix" public schools have become insane.

To improve public schools we need to fundamentally change them. One big improvement would be to get the federal government out of public education. This would allow parents more influence and teachers more autonomy. Each state could try finding what is best for their students. Our current system forces all 50 states to follow the same basic, sometimes broken, pattern.

Another good change would be to have a true voucher system. Every voucher system I've read about has too many rules and laws. For example vouchers are often only available to a few students, and the vouchers are often good for half, or less, of the money the public schools get. Vouchers would allow parents to find schools best for their children.


Jay Mathews is looking for suggestions on how to improve public schools. If you have some ideas you can send him email at mathewsj@washpost.com. I will send him an email encouraging him to consider fundamental changes.

Until we do some major changes, the insane efforts to improve public school system will be as productive as pushing a boulder up a hill and watching it roll back down. I have enjoyed reading Greek Tragedies. It is not much fun to see it repeated in our society.


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

My daughter's mutant power

After a traditional large Thanksgiving dinner yesterday we are all eating a light breakfast. My seven-year-old came into the study and said she had only eaten a single, small roll. She wanted to know if that was OK, because she was full. I said yes. We talked about how we should only eat when we are hungry.

She sat on the chair next to me for a minute and then asked: "Can I have a piece of pie, like the big girls?"

I expressed surprise that she had any room in her stomach. She then explained, with a twinkle in her eye, that she had two stomachs. One stomach was for regular food and one was for desert.

This explains a lot.


----------
Technorati tags: Thanksgiving, parenting, children, family

Do you want to follow the money?

I am going to preface this post with a disclaimer: in general we won't post much about politics. One reason is this blog is focused on homeschooling while branching out into family and education issues. Another reason is I can not remember any one changing their mind after an argument about politics.


My mother sent me a link to a report on the money for 2008 Presidential Election. I was surprised to find that so far Hilary Clinton ($90M) has collected more money that Mitt Romney ($53M) and Rudy Giuliani ($30M) combined. I was also surprised to see that Obama Barack ($80M) has collected more money than the rest of the Republican candidates.


I think it is going to be an interesting election year.


----------
Technorati tags: election year, presidential campaign, money, election, whitehouse

Happy Thanksgiving

To those who are celebrating Thanksgiving today, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.

From the presidential Thanksgiving proclamation:

"Americans are a grateful people, ever mindful of the many ways we have been blessed. On Thanksgiving Day, we lift our hearts in gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy, the people we love, and the gifts of our prosperous land."

May you have many reasons to be thankful.


----------
Technorati tags: Thanksgiving

While we are on the topic of politics

I must state for the record I am not for or against this candidate, but I really like his sense of humor.







-----------------------------------
Related Tags: politics, education, homeschooling, Chuck Norris, Mike Huckabee

Is this a promise or a threat?

Obama calls for $18-billion boost in education spending

Manchester, N.H. -- Barack Obama proposed an $18-billion increase in federal education programs today, accusing Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards of shortchanging public schools.

The Illinois senator outlined a broad agenda to expand early childhood education, reduce high school dropout rates and improve substandard schools in impoverished areas.

I get very nervous when big spending politicians criticize each other for not spending enough.


-----------------------------------
Related Tags: politics, education, homeschooling

The Carnival of Education is up

This week's Carnival of Education is being hosted by the NYC Educator.

If you would like to submit to the next Carnival of Education, go here.


----------
Technorati tags: education, school

Fun video about Homeschool Girl

This video is cute:



I was impressed that they built the music video using Sims. My favorite line was "she's three grades ahead."

(Hat tip: The Duncan Yo-Yo's)


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

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - week 99

Gary is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at HomeSchoolBuzz.com.

He has some delightful pictures reminding us of the first Thanksgiving.


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

What does $7 billion dollars buy? Not much.

By the way, New York again leads all other states in school spending per pupil, according to the latest census figures. However, some of that can be explained by the higher cost of living. Waste is always an issue. With over a million students, it is very difficult for such a large organization to be efficient. It has been commented that there are more students in the system than people in eight U.S. states.


In school reform, billions of dollars — but not much bang

When Mayor Bloomberg took control of the city's schools, he made a solemn promise to raise student achievement and rein in a notoriously inefficient and money-wasting school system. In fact, in his January 2003 speech unveiling his administration's Children First reforms, the mayor suggested that the $12 billion then going to the schools was sufficient to bring about academic improvement. That's because he and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein were now going to "make sure we get the most value for the school system's dollar."

Five years later, we have new, unimpeachable data on the schools that allows us to assess whether the mayor's promise to deliver a much bigger education bang for the taxpayers' buck has been fulfilled.

The short answer: not by a longshot. First, let's examine the dollar side of the equation. The 2003 budget for the schools, Bloomberg's first, was $12.5 billion, including pension costs and debt service. About $1.2 billion of this total came from federal education funds, another $5.6 billion from the state, and $5.6 billion from direct city contributions. The current budget, including pension and debt service, stands at $19.7 billion. This represents an increase of $7 billion - more than 50% - in total education spending in five years.

All that money didn't come equally from those three funding sources. The increased federal contribution has been only $700 million, and state aid is up by some $2.3 billion. The increase in direct city education spending during the Bloomberg administration is a spectacular $4.3 billion, or 76% - the biggest surge in school spending in the city's history.

And now, with the release late last week of the urban district portion of the 2007 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), we have the most complete picture of how much - or, to be more accurate, how little - academic improvement that extra $7 billion has bought for our schools.

Every two years, the NAEP tests a sample of each state's fourth- and eighth-graders in math and reading, and also compares outcomes in 11 of the nation's large urban school districts. The federal NAEP tests, often referred to as the nation's report card, provide the most reliable comparison of student academic achievement among the states, as well as of the degree of student improvement in particular states or districts.


In eighth-grade math, however, New York was the only one of the 11 districts to be more or less flat from the 2003 to the 2007 tests. And that was true for every ethnic and racial subgroup in the city. Fourth- and eighth-grade reading tests were even more discouraging for the city. There was no significant change in reading proficiency for fourth-graders from 2003 to 2007. And reading scores were actually down in the eighth grade. The average scale score for our students went from 252 in 2003 to 249 in 2007.


The reality is that $7 billion in extra education spending has so far produced only pennies' worth of academic improvement in most grades. The sooner we all face up to that bottom line, the sooner we can start speaking honestly about how to remedy the situation.

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

Having more than three children helps men live longer

Hey Men! Would you like to live till a hundred? There are some obvious things to do. You need to eat well, exercise and take care of your self.

A study led by Leonid Gavrilov found a surprising result:

"Both farming and having large number of children (4+) at age 30 significantly increased the chances of exceptional longevity by 100-200%."

The Chicago Center on Aging reviewed The World War I Draft Registration Cards. HealthDay reports:

"From 1917 to 1918, almost all adult males aged 46 or under were required by law to fill out these cards, which asked them to detail a number of physical and social attributes."

With the data based on these draft cards the study found a dramatic connection between having children and living to a hundred.


I wonder what connection is between men having lots of children and living longer? My first guess would have been the opposite way. The more children we had, the more worn out I felt.

One thought came to me after reading the article is that as we've had more children I've felt a greater responsibility to take care of myself so I can take care of my family. I use to go rock climbing in my twenties, but once I got married I stopped. I started eating better. It used to be that I often had seconds on desert. Now I'll go light or even skip desert.


(Hat tip: Reddit.com)


----------
Technorati tags: aging, health, children

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

The next Carnival of Homeschooling will be hosted by Gary at HomeSchoolBuzz.

You have about 6 hours to send in an entry.

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

Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.


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

Do you want your children to do better on math tests? Buy a 100 books

There is a joke that goes:

"A statistician refuses to fly after reading the alarmingly high probability that there will be a bomb on any given plane. Later he finds that the probability of there being two bombs on any given flight is very low. Now whenever he flies, he always carries one bomb with him."


In Readers are Leaders Carmon writes about a recent NEA study that found children from families with a hundred books or more do better on math tests. I wonder how many parents will go out and buy a hundred books. Like Carmon, I have trouble imagining a house with less than ten books.


The study, To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence, is by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The report was just announced today and is hitting the news. Google News shows hundreds of hits. This report is a follow up to a 2004 NEA report.

Dana Gioia, the NEA Chairman, says: "This study shows the startling declines, in how much and how well Americans read, that are adversely affecting this country's culture, economy, and civic life as well as our children's educational achievement."

From the press release the key findings of the report are:

1) Americans are reading less
2) Americans are reading less well
3) The declines in reading have civic, social, and economic implications


The New York Times article that Carmon referenced says there are people challenging the claims of the report:

"The new report is likely to provoke as much debate as the previous one. Stephen Krashen, a professor emeritus of education at the University of Southern California, said that based on his analysis of other data, reading was not on the decline. He added that the endowment appeared to be exaggerating the decline in reading scores and said that according to federal education statistics, the bulk of decreases in 12th-grade reading scores had occurred in the early 1990s, and that compared with 1994 average reading scores in 2005 were only one point lower."


I don't know if reading is declining in the United States. I expect it is. One of the benefits we find to homeschooling is our daughters have more time to read. They love to read. They view reading as a reward.


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

School threatens parents with 10 days in jail

Why am I not surprised.




No Flu Shot for Kids? Go Directly to Jail

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (Nov. 17) - Scores of grumbling parents facing a threat of jail lined up at a courthouse Saturday to either prove that their school-age kids already had their required vaccinations or see that the youngsters submitted to the needle.

The get-tough policy in the Washington suburbs of Prince George's County was one of the strongest efforts made by any U.S. school system to ensure its youngsters receive their required immunizations.

There is some debate on the efficacy and safety of all immunizations. Whether it is dangerous, harmless or beneficial, forced immunization sounds like Nazi Germany. It reminds me of the medical experiments they would do on the prisoners in the concentration camps.

So Circuit Court Judge C. Philip Nichols ordered parents in a letter to appear at the courthouse Saturday and either get their children vaccinated on the spot or risk up to 10 days in jail. They could also provide proof of vaccination or an explanation why their kids didn't have them.

Who gave the school that kind of power? Even if I wanted my child to have a flu shot or thought it would be wonderful if every child was immunized, I wouldn't send my child to a school system that threatens parents with jail over such a minor point.

The fatality rates for influenza are highest for children under the age of 5, thus a forced immunization for school aged children is not much of a benefit to them. The Immunization Action Coalition which exists to promoted immunization states on their web page that "Influenza-associated deaths are uncommon among children...".

In fact, the fatality rate for school age children is less than 50 per year in the entire United States. Doctors recommend that routine flu immunization begins at age 50!! I don't know too many 50 year olds who are students in public school.

I did some research and found that the benefit of flu immunization of school age children is a reduced illness rates of unvaccinated adults, such as school staff and elderly. If vaccines were limited, such as during a pandemic, immunizing school children may provide herd immunity to the society as a whole. This phenomenon exists because schools and institutional settings are such a breeding ground for disease.


UPDATE: The headline mentions the flu vaccination, but I can't find it on the school website. It is possible that the flu shot is not required. However, I found that chickenpox was required.


Preparing for a pandemic is a great idea but forced vaccination of children is not the way to do it. It sets a dangerous precedent. So much for living in a free country. You are not doing someone a favor if you have to twist there arm first.

I did some checking on the Prince George’s County Public Schools and the surrounding community. I wonder what role demographics played in this policy.

Policies like the above mentioned are a reason why we chose to homeschool. Public education has become a weapon for political expediency.


----------
Technorati tags: public school, forced vaccination, homeschool, herd immunity

Maybe not a good idea

Some home-schoolers shun shared campus

The home-school program in the Edmonds School District lost almost a quarter of its students over the past year in the wake of the district's decision to relocate its alternative high school to the same campus as the home-school program.

I can understand why parents are concerned. I would be a little concerned by this.

They cited police calls to the alternative school that included two incidents involving weapons and five involving drugs.

I see potential for problems.

The separation is so complete, in fact, that some teens at the two schools are hoping for more interaction.

"They're kids like us. If we could hang out with them, that would be cool," said Garrett Spesock, an eighth-grader in the home-school program.

I don't think I would want my kids to think it is "cool" to hang out with the stoners, gang bangers, drop outs, and unwed mothers who are the majority of students in the alternative school. That is not to say there are not good kids at the alternative school and the potential for positive relationships. I am saying that this mix brings with it a risk that I wouldn't choose for my grade school homeschool student.

My experience with my local alternative school has left me with a very bad impression of this type of program and the behavior of students who attend. My local alternative high school is a daycare for teenagers that hands out unearned diplomas. The students leave with an inflate sense of their abilities and zero competency.

If it were like the program in San Jose that Joanne Jacobs writes about, then it could be a good mix.

--------------------------------

The 29th Carnival of Space is up

This week's Carnival of Space is up at Riding with Robots.


----------
Technorati tags: carnival, space

Interview with Elizabeth Warren, author of "The Two Income Trap"

Steve Walden found this great interview with Elizabeth Warren, author of The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke.



As Steve writes the interview is long, a full one hour; however, it is worth listening to. Even better - listen to it with any teenage children you have.

Elizabeth makes some interesting points. She says that over the last four decades the percentage of our income spent on food, clothing and appliances has gone down. I was surprised. It is the amount of of our income going to mortgages which has sky rocketed. I think she said that the average American family now spends 35% of their income on mortgages.

Elizabeth emphasized that one of the big problems with finances in America today is that so many people don't have reserves, so they have a hard time getting through a temporary dip in income. The point is made in The Richest Man in Babylon that you need to pay 10% of your income to yourself, building up your nest egg and reserves.

Another problem is when people are in hard times, financial institutions will offer to "help" people out. Elizabeth points out that credit card companies and other businesses are really just looking to milk people in trouble. They tack on fees (hidden in the fine print) and jack up the interest rates. The result is people in trouble slide out of their middle class life style even faster when they are "helped."

I found this interesting - Elizabeth says one solution is to have vouchers. This way parents would not have to compete for expensive houses in the "best" school districts. I think it would help, but I am afraid vouchers are not going to happen, maybe ever.

I disagreed with her premise that we need more laws. Elizabeth wants more regulation of the loan industry. I think the real solution is for people to be educated, and then learn some discipline. There are way too many people who spend like there is no tomorrow and when tomorrow comes they are sunk. More laws won't fix bad behavior.

The book sounds worth reading and I plan to check it out of the library the next time I go.


----------
Technorati tags: Elizabeth Warren, finance, education

Unintended consequences - public schools and diet

Joanne Jacobs reports on the results of Boulder schools trying to force their students to eat healthy foods in Sweet and down low. Some schools banned sweets and sodas from vending machines. Several students saw this an opportunity.

Joanne writes:

"His parents thought he was selling drugs. He took them out to dinner to explain: He was a candy pusher using his Costco connection to buy low and sell high. Another Boulder boy got his parents to finance his candy purchases but complained when lower-priced competition cut into his profit margin."

I'd love to see where these entrepreneurs end up.

This reminds me a bit of prohibition. The school administrators decide to dictact what the students "will" eat at school. The students rebel. Many of them are still eating what they want to eat, but now there is an underground economy.

The school is teaching the students to break the law. I'm sure this was an unintended consequence.

Joanne concludes with: "...they’re learning economics, marketing and math."


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