Elizabeth Riply of Portsmouth, NH has organized a benefit concert. Her mother requires Elizabeth to do a service project every year. Elizabeth decided to put together the concert, partly because she wanted to help out the Richie McFarland Center, and partly because she wanted to go to a concert.
I love homeschooling projects like this.
We've had our daughters do some service projects, but they have never organized one. I'll have to talk with Janine.
(Hat tip: HomeSchoolBuzz.com)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Valerie Moon should be writing for the VOA
I enjoyed Valerie's rewriting of a recent article on homeschooling by the Voice of America.
I was reminded of a line Ronald Reagan use to say: "Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so."
As homeschoolers one of the troubles we face is so much of the "convential wisdom" about homeschooling is wrong. Posts like Valerie's help to educate the general public.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
I was reminded of a line Ronald Reagan use to say: "Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so."
As homeschoolers one of the troubles we face is so much of the "convential wisdom" about homeschooling is wrong. Posts like Valerie's help to educate the general public.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Forces in Education in 1909
The Headmistress of The Common Room found this interesting diagram from 1909 on the Forces in Education:
The diagram is from Journey's Though Bookland by Charles Sylvester.
Even back in 1909 it appears most people thought learning happened mainly at school. Today probably most "experts" would claim that 80% of what a child learns is due to schools.
I like the claim that a full 25% of what a child learns is from books, but remember this was back in 1909. People read more then. Today with few children reading the fraction would be much smaller.
The Headmistress points out that the claim is only about 10% of what a child learns is due to their parents. I think this is higher today for most homeschool families, but may be lower for families with children in public schools.
The diagram claims that about 5% of what a child learns is due to work. Almost a hundred years later, I doubt very few children are really working now. I think in 1909 still about half of America was living in rural settings.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
The diagram is from Journey's Though Bookland by Charles Sylvester.
Even back in 1909 it appears most people thought learning happened mainly at school. Today probably most "experts" would claim that 80% of what a child learns is due to schools.
I like the claim that a full 25% of what a child learns is from books, but remember this was back in 1909. People read more then. Today with few children reading the fraction would be much smaller.
The Headmistress points out that the claim is only about 10% of what a child learns is due to their parents. I think this is higher today for most homeschool families, but may be lower for families with children in public schools.
The diagram claims that about 5% of what a child learns is due to work. Almost a hundred years later, I doubt very few children are really working now. I think in 1909 still about half of America was living in rural settings.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Teach your children phonics
Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld has long encouraged parents and teachers to use phonics to teach children to read. Kim at Life In a Shoe found a great article Dr. Blumenfeld wrote in 1993. In Dyslexia: Man-Made Disease he explains why phonics is so effective and why other methods are destructive. He draws a connection between teaching children to memorize how words look and dyslexia. He compares the method most schools use today of reading by memorizing words and reading by using phonics:
"In other words, there are two ways of looking at our printed or written words: holistically or phonetically. If you are taught to read phonetically from the start, you will never become dyslexic, for dyslexia by definition is a block against viewing words phonetically. Phonetic readers become good, independent readers because they have developed a phonetic reflex. To them literacy is as natural and effortless as breathing. A holistic, sight reader, on the other hand, must rely on memorization of individual word forms and use all sorts of contextual strategies to get the word right."
I was taught to be a sight reader. I struggled for years. It wasn't until about fifth or sixth grade that I become a reader, laregly by memorizing how words look. I never had the foundation of phonics and was a bad speller for decades. A couple years ago I bought my own copy of Phonics Pathway and have greatly improved my spelling ability.
Dr. Blumenfeld tells of an interesting experiment by an Edward Miller:
"Edward Miller has devised a very simple word-recognition test that dramatically illustrates the difference between a holistic and a phonetic reader. The test consists of two sets of words: the first set consists of 260 sight words drawn from Dr. Seuss's two books, The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham, and the second set consists of 260 equally simple words taken from Rudolf Flesch's phonetically regular word lists in Why Johnny Can't Read. Both sets of words are at a first-grade level.
A child who is already a phonetic reader will sail through both sets of words without any problem. But a holistic reader might sail through the sight words at high speed with no errors, but then slow down considerably and make many errors in the phonetic section even though these are simple first-grade words. "
I had heard that Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) had written his books to help with the whole word recognition movement. Dr. Blumenfeld quotes Dr. Seuss:
"They think I did it in twenty minutes. That d -- ned Cat in the Hat took nine months until I was satisfied. I did it for a textbook house and they sent me a word list. That was due to the Dewey revolt in the Twenties in which they threw out phonic reading and went to word recognition, as if you're reading Chinese pictographs instead of blending sounds of different letters. I think killing phonics was one of the greatest causes of illiteracy in the country."
If you have young children, take the time to teach them phonics. The effort will pay dividends for years.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education, reading, phonics
"In other words, there are two ways of looking at our printed or written words: holistically or phonetically. If you are taught to read phonetically from the start, you will never become dyslexic, for dyslexia by definition is a block against viewing words phonetically. Phonetic readers become good, independent readers because they have developed a phonetic reflex. To them literacy is as natural and effortless as breathing. A holistic, sight reader, on the other hand, must rely on memorization of individual word forms and use all sorts of contextual strategies to get the word right."
I was taught to be a sight reader. I struggled for years. It wasn't until about fifth or sixth grade that I become a reader, laregly by memorizing how words look. I never had the foundation of phonics and was a bad speller for decades. A couple years ago I bought my own copy of Phonics Pathway and have greatly improved my spelling ability.
Dr. Blumenfeld tells of an interesting experiment by an Edward Miller:
"Edward Miller has devised a very simple word-recognition test that dramatically illustrates the difference between a holistic and a phonetic reader. The test consists of two sets of words: the first set consists of 260 sight words drawn from Dr. Seuss's two books, The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham, and the second set consists of 260 equally simple words taken from Rudolf Flesch's phonetically regular word lists in Why Johnny Can't Read. Both sets of words are at a first-grade level.
A child who is already a phonetic reader will sail through both sets of words without any problem. But a holistic reader might sail through the sight words at high speed with no errors, but then slow down considerably and make many errors in the phonetic section even though these are simple first-grade words. "
I had heard that Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) had written his books to help with the whole word recognition movement. Dr. Blumenfeld quotes Dr. Seuss:
"They think I did it in twenty minutes. That d -- ned Cat in the Hat took nine months until I was satisfied. I did it for a textbook house and they sent me a word list. That was due to the Dewey revolt in the Twenties in which they threw out phonic reading and went to word recognition, as if you're reading Chinese pictographs instead of blending sounds of different letters. I think killing phonics was one of the greatest causes of illiteracy in the country."
If you have young children, take the time to teach them phonics. The effort will pay dividends for years.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education, reading, phonics
Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books is up
Semicolon is hosting her weekly Saturday Review of Books. This is a great place to look for a new book to read. It is just before 9:00 AM PST and already there are 65 links.
Her post is dynamic. You can add a URL to a book review or a post about books. If you have recently posted about a book, head over and add the URL.
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Technorati tags: book, review
Her post is dynamic. You can add a URL to a book review or a post about books. If you have recently posted about a book, head over and add the URL.
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Technorati tags: book, review
Friday, January 18, 2008
Book review: Marriage and Caste in America by Kay S. Hymowitz
Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age by Kay S. Hymowitz is thought provoking, scary, and a bit uplifting. Kay Hymowitz's basic premise is society's greater acceptance of children outside of marriage over the last fifty years has had disastrous affects on children from poor parents.
The introduction starts with:
"My argument in these essays can easily be summed up: the breakdown of marriage in the United States - which began about forty years ago as divorce and out-of-wedlock birthrates started to soar - threatens America's future. It is turning us into a nation of separate and unequal families."
Kay frequently talks about the life scripts we have been taught. Like the scripts for a play, the options we are taught as children guide us through life, giving us direction and encouraging us to make certain choices.
Kay says that in general children from middle class and upper class families tend to leave home, go off to college, get an education, get a job, get marriage and then have children. Parents orient much of their life around teaching and guiding their children to follow the same life script.
In contrast children from poor parents tend to have little direction, often having babies while they are only fourteen or fifteen. They rarely marry, rarely go off to college, and rarely get decent jobs. They are never taught life skills like hard work and delayed gratification. They have a much different life script.
This book explains how important marriage and family are to society. The foundation of society is the family. Married parents see as their mission preparing their children to be adults. When children are raised outside of a strong family, the children suffer, and society suffers.
This book is well written. It makes a number of excellent points. I marked up almost every page. Here are a couple of the enlightening points:
1) Educated women are more likely to have children after marriage. They "... know they'd better marry if they want their children to succeed academically, which increasingly is critical to succeeding in the labor market." (p. 25)
2) Middle class parents raise their children differently that poor families. For example "... in the first years of life, the average number of words heard per hour was 2,150 for professors' kids, 1,250 for working-class children, and 620 for children in welfare families." (p. 80)
Much of the book focuses on children from black parents. The statistics are scary. Kay writes that the worst problems associated with the decline in marriage has happened in black families. Much of this seems to be a result of welfare. Though this was not the intention, black women were rewarded with money for leaving their man. In some cities in America 80% of the children are living with a single parent. The book shows how most of these children will not be part of the success that so many middle class children take for granted.
The book ends on a positive note. There are a number of statistics that hint we've hit bottom and marriage is on the rise. The percentage of marriages seems to be rising, and the number of divorces is falling.
This is a good book, well worth reading. I strongly encourage you to at least check it out from the library.
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Technorati tags: marriage, family, Kay Hymowitz, parenting, children
The introduction starts with:
"My argument in these essays can easily be summed up: the breakdown of marriage in the United States - which began about forty years ago as divorce and out-of-wedlock birthrates started to soar - threatens America's future. It is turning us into a nation of separate and unequal families."
Kay frequently talks about the life scripts we have been taught. Like the scripts for a play, the options we are taught as children guide us through life, giving us direction and encouraging us to make certain choices.
Kay says that in general children from middle class and upper class families tend to leave home, go off to college, get an education, get a job, get marriage and then have children. Parents orient much of their life around teaching and guiding their children to follow the same life script.
In contrast children from poor parents tend to have little direction, often having babies while they are only fourteen or fifteen. They rarely marry, rarely go off to college, and rarely get decent jobs. They are never taught life skills like hard work and delayed gratification. They have a much different life script.
This book explains how important marriage and family are to society. The foundation of society is the family. Married parents see as their mission preparing their children to be adults. When children are raised outside of a strong family, the children suffer, and society suffers.
This book is well written. It makes a number of excellent points. I marked up almost every page. Here are a couple of the enlightening points:
1) Educated women are more likely to have children after marriage. They "... know they'd better marry if they want their children to succeed academically, which increasingly is critical to succeeding in the labor market." (p. 25)
2) Middle class parents raise their children differently that poor families. For example "... in the first years of life, the average number of words heard per hour was 2,150 for professors' kids, 1,250 for working-class children, and 620 for children in welfare families." (p. 80)
Much of the book focuses on children from black parents. The statistics are scary. Kay writes that the worst problems associated with the decline in marriage has happened in black families. Much of this seems to be a result of welfare. Though this was not the intention, black women were rewarded with money for leaving their man. In some cities in America 80% of the children are living with a single parent. The book shows how most of these children will not be part of the success that so many middle class children take for granted.
The book ends on a positive note. There are a number of statistics that hint we've hit bottom and marriage is on the rise. The percentage of marriages seems to be rising, and the number of divorces is falling.
This is a good book, well worth reading. I strongly encourage you to at least check it out from the library.
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Technorati tags: marriage, family, Kay Hymowitz, parenting, children
Interesting post on YouTube traffic
I enjoyed this post: YouTube’s Traffic Continues to Snowball. YouTube is dominating the online video market with about 30%, the next closest compeditor has just 4%. The article said:
"During November, 138 million people, or about three-quarters of Internet users in the United States, watched on average 3 hours and 15 minutes of online video, or 45 minutes more than they watched in January. That’s still less than the amount of time average Americans spend in front of their TVs each day. "
Amazing. Maybe television networks will soon become the next horse and buggy.
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Technorati tags: youtube, online video
"During November, 138 million people, or about three-quarters of Internet users in the United States, watched on average 3 hours and 15 minutes of online video, or 45 minutes more than they watched in January. That’s still less than the amount of time average Americans spend in front of their TVs each day. "
Amazing. Maybe television networks will soon become the next horse and buggy.
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Technorati tags: youtube, online video
Thursday, January 17, 2008
A great story about four friends
Kat at No Fighting, No Biting! shares a great story about four friends.
I've printed it off to share with my daughters.
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Technorati tags: important
I've printed it off to share with my daughters.
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Technorati tags: important
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Mrs. C reminded me of "Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth"
Mrs. C of Homeschool and Etc. recently reminded me of a good video, Math Education: An Inconvient Truth, about the problems with how math is taught in public schools:
I saw this video some time last year. I don't know why I didn't add it to the blog. It may have been before I realized how easy it was to include YouTube videos in a blog.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
I saw this video some time last year. I don't know why I didn't add it to the blog. It may have been before I realized how easy it was to include YouTube videos in a blog.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
A few items from reddit
I like to skim entries on reddit.com. There is a huge variety, a nice cross section of the internet. Here are a few I came across today:
Guardian Unlimited has a good article on Project Gutenberg: great literature for free. A few times we've referenced Project Gutenberg. If you haven't heard of Project Gutenberg, or haven't checked them out for awhile, now is a good time to see what they've been up to.
Bruce Schneier challenges the conventional wisdom in Talking to Strangers. His main point is that telling children to "never talk to strangers" puts them at greater risk. For example "Brennan Hawkins, the 11-year-old boy who was lost in the Utah wilderness for four days" avoided strangers, making it harder for him to be found. I'll have to talk with my daughters and see what they would do in a similar situation. Bruce reminds us that in general "good guys are common and bad guys are rare."
Here are some good thoughts about Teaching Preschoolers About Money.
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Technorati tags: Project Gutenberg, parenting, children, security, money
Guardian Unlimited has a good article on Project Gutenberg: great literature for free. A few times we've referenced Project Gutenberg. If you haven't heard of Project Gutenberg, or haven't checked them out for awhile, now is a good time to see what they've been up to.
Bruce Schneier challenges the conventional wisdom in Talking to Strangers. His main point is that telling children to "never talk to strangers" puts them at greater risk. For example "Brennan Hawkins, the 11-year-old boy who was lost in the Utah wilderness for four days" avoided strangers, making it harder for him to be found. I'll have to talk with my daughters and see what they would do in a similar situation. Bruce reminds us that in general "good guys are common and bad guys are rare."
Here are some good thoughts about Teaching Preschoolers About Money.
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Technorati tags: Project Gutenberg, parenting, children, security, money
Check out Blog Carnival
Thursday, the 17th, the Carnival of Homeschooling will be featured all day at Blog Carnival.
Blog Carnival does a great job of tracking the hundreds of different carnivals. If you haven't reviewed the full list recently, check it out. There are news carnivals being started up each week.
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Technorati tags: Blog Carnival
Blog Carnival does a great job of tracking the hundreds of different carnivals. If you haven't reviewed the full list recently, check it out. There are news carnivals being started up each week.
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Technorati tags: Blog Carnival
Humor: Reasons for public school
Scott Ott of ScrappleFace created Top 10 Reasons to Criminalize Homeschooling:
1) Most parents were educated in the underfunded public school system, and so are not smart enough to homeschool their own children.
2) Children who receive one-on-one homeschooling will learn more than others, giving them an unfair advantage in the marketplace. This is undemocratic.
3) How can children learn to defend themselves unless they have to fight off bullies on a daily basis?
4) Ridicule from other children is important to the socialization process.
5) Children in public schools can get more practice “Just Saying No” to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.
6) Fluorescent lighting may have significant health benefits.
7) Publicly asking permission to go to the bathroom teaches young people their place in society.
8) The fashion industry depends upon the peer pressure that only public schools can generate.
9) Public schools foster cultural literacy, passing on important traditions like the singing of “Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg…”
10) Homeschooled children may not learn important office career skills, like how to sit still for six hours straight.
(Hat tip: The Maritime Sentry)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
1) Most parents were educated in the underfunded public school system, and so are not smart enough to homeschool their own children.
2) Children who receive one-on-one homeschooling will learn more than others, giving them an unfair advantage in the marketplace. This is undemocratic.
3) How can children learn to defend themselves unless they have to fight off bullies on a daily basis?
4) Ridicule from other children is important to the socialization process.
5) Children in public schools can get more practice “Just Saying No” to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.
6) Fluorescent lighting may have significant health benefits.
7) Publicly asking permission to go to the bathroom teaches young people their place in society.
8) The fashion industry depends upon the peer pressure that only public schools can generate.
9) Public schools foster cultural literacy, passing on important traditions like the singing of “Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg…”
10) Homeschooled children may not learn important office career skills, like how to sit still for six hours straight.
(Hat tip: The Maritime Sentry)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
A couple interesting posts from EducationNews.org
EducationNews.org is a good place to go for news about education. It covers a wide range of issues with education and public schools.
Today I found a couple good posts:
Nancy Salvato argues that we have strayed far from the original intent of the founding fathers in Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting an Establishment of an Education System. She is right, at the time our nation was created we had NO public school system. The founding fathers would be appalled by our intrusive public education system.
George Leef covers a topic that many parents aren't aware of in his column Teaching Teachers How Not to Teach. He starts with:
"When Mom and Dad see little Sally’s report card, it probably never occurs to them to wonder how competent her teacher is. Teachers, after all, are professionals. They’re trained in university programs and licensed by the government, so they must be good at their jobs – right."
If you have children in the public school system, you should read about what the teachers were taught.
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Technorati tags: parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Today I found a couple good posts:
Nancy Salvato argues that we have strayed far from the original intent of the founding fathers in Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting an Establishment of an Education System. She is right, at the time our nation was created we had NO public school system. The founding fathers would be appalled by our intrusive public education system.
George Leef covers a topic that many parents aren't aware of in his column Teaching Teachers How Not to Teach. He starts with:
"When Mom and Dad see little Sally’s report card, it probably never occurs to them to wonder how competent her teacher is. Teachers, after all, are professionals. They’re trained in university programs and licensed by the government, so they must be good at their jobs – right."
If you have children in the public school system, you should read about what the teachers were taught.
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Technorati tags: parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Dr. Helen points out the Banita M. Jacks has nothing to do with homeschooling
The recent case of Banita M. Jacks having murdered her four children is sad. Several newspapers have claimed it proved homeschooled needs to be regulated.
Dr. Helen responds with What's Homeschooling got to do with it? She writes
"Sorry, I don't buy this, kids fall through the cracks at school everyday (they even get abused in DCS custody!) and the D.C. case had little to do with homeschooling and more to do with finding an excuse to keep the police out of the house."
Kate makes a similar point in Mother’s Abuse Brings Scrutiny To Homeschooling.
It turns out that the government failed these four children. The D.C. Mayor is going to fire 6 social workers.
We don't need more laws. An infinite number of laws will not stop stupid, crazy, or evil people come committing crimes.
This was not a result of "homeschooling" needing more oversite. This tragic event is the result of a crazy woman doing unthinkable things to her own children.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children
Dr. Helen responds with What's Homeschooling got to do with it? She writes
"Sorry, I don't buy this, kids fall through the cracks at school everyday (they even get abused in DCS custody!) and the D.C. case had little to do with homeschooling and more to do with finding an excuse to keep the police out of the house."
Kate makes a similar point in Mother’s Abuse Brings Scrutiny To Homeschooling.
It turns out that the government failed these four children. The D.C. Mayor is going to fire 6 social workers.
We don't need more laws. An infinite number of laws will not stop stupid, crazy, or evil people come committing crimes.
This was not a result of "homeschooling" needing more oversite. This tragic event is the result of a crazy woman doing unthinkable things to her own children.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Another "Why my kids don't go to public school" story
I'm not saying that this is the school's fault, but that socializing children in large groups in schools leads to lower moral development.
Police question teens about nude cell pics
I shouldn't be so shocked that this happened at a junior high school. By the way, Farmington Junior High School has a great schools score of 9 out of 10 with above average standardized test scores.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Police question teens about nude cell pics
FARMINGTON — Police are questioning a group of teenagers accused of trading nude pictures over cell phones.
The six or so Farmington Junior High School students took pictures of themselves and traded the images, Farmington Police Lt. Shane Whitaker said Tuesday.
"They're sharing amongst an inner circle of friends. It's all consensual, they're not sharing them with adults," he said.
A parent of one of the kids found the pictures on the child's cell phone and called police. That led police to begin investigating and start questioning the teens.
The 13 and 14-year-old boys and girls have been taking pictures of their own genitals and breasts.
"They're taking pictures of themselves and sending it to another friends," Whitaker said.
The kids who have been questioned told detectives they did it "kind of as a joke." It could potentially be a crime, however. Police said they expect to take the case to the Davis County Attorney by the end of the week to decide if there will be any charges filed against the teens.
"We'll get to the bottom of it by interviewing everybody," Whitaker said.
I shouldn't be so shocked that this happened at a junior high school. By the way, Farmington Junior High School has a great schools score of 9 out of 10 with above average standardized test scores.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Economics in one lesson by Henry Hazlitt
Willa at In A Spacious Place posted a review of Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. She even found an online copy of the book.
The book starts with:
"Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine-the special pleading of selfish interests. While every group has certain economic interests identical with those of all groups, every group has also, as we shall see, interests antagonistic to those of all other groups. While certain public policies would in the long run benefit everybody, other policies would benefit one group only at the expense of all other groups. The group that would benefit by such policies, having such a direct interest in them, will argue for them plausibly and persistently. It will hire the best buyable minds to devote their whole time to presenting its case. And it will finally either convince the general public that its case is sound, or so befuddle it that clear thinking on the subject becomes next to impossible."
The first chapter concludes with:
"From this aspect, therefore, the whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."
I think the book does a great job of helping to remind us to focus on more than just the obvious effects of a proposed project. I plan to have my daughters read this book when they are around fifteen.
Update I - 15 Jan 08
In a comment Willa pointed out that this is part of a discussion going on at the Dominion Family blog. Here is Week 1 and Week 2.
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Technorati tags: Henry Hazlitt, Economics
The book starts with:
"Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine-the special pleading of selfish interests. While every group has certain economic interests identical with those of all groups, every group has also, as we shall see, interests antagonistic to those of all other groups. While certain public policies would in the long run benefit everybody, other policies would benefit one group only at the expense of all other groups. The group that would benefit by such policies, having such a direct interest in them, will argue for them plausibly and persistently. It will hire the best buyable minds to devote their whole time to presenting its case. And it will finally either convince the general public that its case is sound, or so befuddle it that clear thinking on the subject becomes next to impossible."
The first chapter concludes with:
"From this aspect, therefore, the whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."
I think the book does a great job of helping to remind us to focus on more than just the obvious effects of a proposed project. I plan to have my daughters read this book when they are around fifteen.
Update I - 15 Jan 08
In a comment Willa pointed out that this is part of a discussion going on at the Dominion Family blog. Here is Week 1 and Week 2.
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Technorati tags: Henry Hazlitt, Economics
The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Martin Luthor King Edition
Judy Aron is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling her blog Consent Of The Governed.
In honor of Dr. King Judy celebrates the freedoms that we have as homeschoolers.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
In honor of Dr. King Judy celebrates the freedoms that we have as homeschoolers.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Monday, January 14, 2008
Diversity vs. Math
Jay P. Greene and Catherine Shock wrote Adding Up to Failure for the City Journal. They conducted an interesting study. They looked at the courses to prepare teachers at many of the nation's top education universities. They compared the number of diversity courses to the number of math courses and found the average was 1.82 diversity courses for every math course.
Stop and think about that for a minute.
The article started off with:
"A good education requires balance. Students should learn to appreciate a variety of cultures, sure, but they also need to know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide."
I would have changed it slight to:
"A good education requires balance. Students should learn to appreciate a variety of cultures, sure, but they also need to know how to first add, subtract, multiply, and divide."
It is these kinds of articles that point out one of the strengths of homeschooling. Parents aren't distracted from the core of an education. Children who are homeschooled have a solid foundation. They know how to read, how to write, and can handle the math. From there they can then move on to other things like appreciating other cultures. Unfortunately children in public schools never get the foundation.
(Hat tip: Friends of Dave)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Stop and think about that for a minute.
The article started off with:
"A good education requires balance. Students should learn to appreciate a variety of cultures, sure, but they also need to know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide."
I would have changed it slight to:
"A good education requires balance. Students should learn to appreciate a variety of cultures, sure, but they also need to know how to first add, subtract, multiply, and divide."
It is these kinds of articles that point out one of the strengths of homeschooling. Parents aren't distracted from the core of an education. Children who are homeschooled have a solid foundation. They know how to read, how to write, and can handle the math. From there they can then move on to other things like appreciating other cultures. Unfortunately children in public schools never get the foundation.
(Hat tip: Friends of Dave)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
The answer to why so many people are unhappy
From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:
If one only wished to be happy,
this could be easily accomplished;
but we wish to be happier than other people,
and this is always difficult,
for we believe others to be happier than they are.
-(Charles-Louis Secondat) MONTESQUIEU (1689-17550
Philosopher and jurist
Bits and Pieces January 2008
I remind myself often that I live better than Kings did 500 years ago. Yet it is easy to feel like I don't have enough.
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Technorati tags: happiness
If one only wished to be happy,
this could be easily accomplished;
but we wish to be happier than other people,
and this is always difficult,
for we believe others to be happier than they are.
-(Charles-Louis Secondat) MONTESQUIEU (1689-17550
Philosopher and jurist
Bits and Pieces January 2008
I remind myself often that I live better than Kings did 500 years ago. Yet it is easy to feel like I don't have enough.
----------
Technorati tags: happiness
Ed Driscoll on the future of television
The last several years has seen a great decline in the power of newspaper. Newspaper sales have dropped off because many people use blogs to follow the news.
Blogs provide great flexibility for both the content producers and the readers. Janine and I can write about what we find interesting. Those who click on our posts and enjoy them can return for future posts. Blogs provide many more options for finding what you are interested in reading about.
Ed Driscoll has an interesting thought in I Wonder If This Scares CNN? He extends the trends with blogs to sites like Youtube and their effect on traditional television. For example a recent show on Breitbart.tv (which I hadn't heard of before) attracted about 400,000 viewers. Contrast this "CNN in primetime attracted less than 700,000 daily viewers" as of 2005. The amazing thing is CNN has a huge budget, and these online sites typically have a much smaller budget.
Ed is right; CNN should be scared.
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Technorati tags: television, blogs
Blogs provide great flexibility for both the content producers and the readers. Janine and I can write about what we find interesting. Those who click on our posts and enjoy them can return for future posts. Blogs provide many more options for finding what you are interested in reading about.
Ed Driscoll has an interesting thought in I Wonder If This Scares CNN? He extends the trends with blogs to sites like Youtube and their effect on traditional television. For example a recent show on Breitbart.tv (which I hadn't heard of before) attracted about 400,000 viewers. Contrast this "CNN in primetime attracted less than 700,000 daily viewers" as of 2005. The amazing thing is CNN has a huge budget, and these online sites typically have a much smaller budget.
Ed is right; CNN should be scared.
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Technorati tags: television, blogs
German homeschool update
Homeschool family reaches England
It is a pretty scary scenario. I haven't heard any accusations of abuse or educational neglect, so it is odd that the government is reacting so harshly. I just don't get why this has become such a big deal in Germany.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Germany
A German family has completed its flight to Great Britain after the mayor of their hometown filed a court action to give custody of the children to the state because the parents have been homeschooling, according to an advocacy group.
Officials with Netzwerk-Bildungsfreiheit said Klaus and Kathrin Landahl and their five children, including four of school age, "are in safety in England. They reached Dover on Saturday midnight."
However, officials said the court has not issued a final ruling in the case brought by the mayor of Altensteig, a city with a sister-city promotional relationship with Butte, Mont.
Chief Executive Paul Babb of Butte told WND he had not been aware of such controversies and he would have to solicit input from members of the community before determining whether "this would impact this relationship."
He said he believes "it's the parents' right to school their children they way they see fit."
Netszerk-Bildungsfreiheit said the situation with the Landahl family is just one of many such attacks on German homeschoolers, which appear to be coming more frequently and with more intensity.
Just this week, a message was sent from a Bavarian man who identified himself as "Mathew."
"This morning we received a call from the German ministry of education. Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning they will send the police to our home and take Josia (6), Lou Ann (10) and Aileen (13) by force, to the public school," the worried father wrote.
"We have been teaching our children through the German Home School Association for 10 years with the approval of the German School authorities. Even though we spend most of the time outside of Germany (in Eastern Europe), the government insists that our children visit the German school," he continued.
"If we do not comply the government will ultimately revoke our rights as parents and take custody of our children. Since the Supreme Court ruled against homeschooling last fall, most of the homeschooling families have left, some even fled, the country. The government is cracking down ruthlessly on families and there is no legal protection," he said.
He said the family's next scheduled ministry trip, six weeks in Romania, Hungary and Croatia, now is threatened by the education ministerial order.
The Landahl family already had deregistered as residents in Germany, but a spokesman for the advocacy group said the Altensteig mayor "has filed a lawsuit with the local family court to take custody [of the children] away from the Landahls."
"As the mayor knows that the family wants to leave Germany and that they have deregistered, his attempt is that the family court takes custody away in a so-called … (preliminary warrant) which means that custody can be taken away without a hearing [for] the parents," he said
He said in this case, authorities are seeking to deprive the parents of their right to make decisions about their children's schooling as well as their right "to determine the place of abode."
The group spokesman compared the actions of the German government to those more usually associated with the old East Germany or Soviet Union in that "not only parental rights are limited more and more, also the right to choose where you want to live is restricted."
It is a pretty scary scenario. I haven't heard any accusations of abuse or educational neglect, so it is odd that the government is reacting so harshly. I just don't get why this has become such a big deal in Germany.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, education, Germany
Friday, January 11, 2008
Another problem with public schools
Ned Vare makes a point I hadn't considered before. He writes that Schools Search for Weakenesses, not Strengths at School is Hell. Schools have an incentive to find children's weaknesses:
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Schools make extra money (lots of it) by diagnosing "disabilities." The schools have what they call, "the bounty system" to get thousands per "diagnosis," from the state, even though the diagnoses are often made on flimsy grounds.
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Ned continues with:
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Strangely, there is no incentive for identifying a child's strengths or gifts or talents. Therefore, schools no longer look for those strengths.
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There is a book called The Greatest Management Principle Ever. The premise is that which gets rewarded gets done. Schools are being rewarded for finding the areas where children are weak. And taking it one step farther, the students get extra attention for having these weaknesses. The children are rewarded for having weaknesses.
Several years ago Janine and I read a parenting book with a similar focus. The author said most children get ten negative comments for every positive comment. He said parents would get much better behavior if they focused on complimenting their children with sincere praise.
I am so glad we can homeschool. We can focus on our daughters' strengths.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
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Schools make extra money (lots of it) by diagnosing "disabilities." The schools have what they call, "the bounty system" to get thousands per "diagnosis," from the state, even though the diagnoses are often made on flimsy grounds.
----------
Ned continues with:
----------
Strangely, there is no incentive for identifying a child's strengths or gifts or talents. Therefore, schools no longer look for those strengths.
----------
There is a book called The Greatest Management Principle Ever. The premise is that which gets rewarded gets done. Schools are being rewarded for finding the areas where children are weak. And taking it one step farther, the students get extra attention for having these weaknesses. The children are rewarded for having weaknesses.
Several years ago Janine and I read a parenting book with a similar focus. The author said most children get ten negative comments for every positive comment. He said parents would get much better behavior if they focused on complimenting their children with sincere praise.
I am so glad we can homeschool. We can focus on our daughters' strengths.
----------
Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
Would you like to stop contributing to Social Security?
Brad Igou has a fascinating story about The Amish & Social Security. In brief the Amish were able to get an exception from being forced to contribute to Social Security.
I did a little research on with Google and it really does appear that the Amish don't have to contribute to Social Security.
I wonder if anyone has joined the Amish just to avoid paying into a broken system.
(Hat tip: Reddit)
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Technorati tags: Amish, Social Security
I did a little research on with Google and it really does appear that the Amish don't have to contribute to Social Security.
I wonder if anyone has joined the Amish just to avoid paying into a broken system.
(Hat tip: Reddit)
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Technorati tags: Amish, Social Security
The SWAT team takes homeschool boy may have crossed the tipping point
After posting Tuesday about SWAT takes homeschooled boy from home I set up a Google Alert for "Tom Shiflett" "Garfield County" and I have gotten a ton of links. This story is getting picked up by blogs and the news media. Even Instapundit has mentioned it.
I try to be careful about back seat driving. It is always easy to solve other people's problems in hindsight.
As more information has come out it does appear the father may have been a bit of a hot head, but the police way, way over reacted.
This is one of the most complete write ups I've read. The mother says:
---------
Between 10 and 11 … a sheriff came to the door. My husband met him at the window and he began to question my husband. My husband spoke with him and answered all his questions. The sheriff then said if Tom would just let him speak with Jonathan (our 11 yr. old son) this whole matter (story following) would be closed," she documented.
"Tom said, 'You are saying, 'If I let you speak to Jonathan this whole matter will be closed.?' Then Tom called for Jonathan to come to the window," she said.
"As soon as Jonathan was visible to the sheriff, a SWAT team appeared shining lights on Jon's face and others were bashing at the door with a ramming device. My daughter resisted and pushed against the door to stop them as she didn't know who they were. I told her to back up and not try to fight them. They then entered our home, held a gun to my daughter's face and others of them, five or more, rushed into the living room and physically forced my other children to the ground."
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If this is true I don't see how we can trust anything the sheriff says about the incident.
Instapundit makes the point:
"... I doubt they'd have gone this route in a fancy neighborhood nearly as quickly as in a trailer park."
I think this story may have crossed a tipping point as it is being written and talked about in so many newspapers and blogs. It will be harder to just sweap under the rug.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
I try to be careful about back seat driving. It is always easy to solve other people's problems in hindsight.
As more information has come out it does appear the father may have been a bit of a hot head, but the police way, way over reacted.
This is one of the most complete write ups I've read. The mother says:
---------
Between 10 and 11 … a sheriff came to the door. My husband met him at the window and he began to question my husband. My husband spoke with him and answered all his questions. The sheriff then said if Tom would just let him speak with Jonathan (our 11 yr. old son) this whole matter (story following) would be closed," she documented.
"Tom said, 'You are saying, 'If I let you speak to Jonathan this whole matter will be closed.?' Then Tom called for Jonathan to come to the window," she said.
"As soon as Jonathan was visible to the sheriff, a SWAT team appeared shining lights on Jon's face and others were bashing at the door with a ramming device. My daughter resisted and pushed against the door to stop them as she didn't know who they were. I told her to back up and not try to fight them. They then entered our home, held a gun to my daughter's face and others of them, five or more, rushed into the living room and physically forced my other children to the ground."
---------
If this is true I don't see how we can trust anything the sheriff says about the incident.
Instapundit makes the point:
"... I doubt they'd have gone this route in a fancy neighborhood nearly as quickly as in a trailer park."
I think this story may have crossed a tipping point as it is being written and talked about in so many newspapers and blogs. It will be harder to just sweap under the rug.
----------
Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
I wonder if Emily will be the next Mrs. Fields?
Home-schooled Littlestown teen runs cookie business is a fun story. A young girl starts up a small business as a homeschool project, just to see how business works. Then she gets way more orders than she expected.
I am sure she is getting a great education about business.
I'll print this story off four my eleven year old daughter. The last couple weeks she has been cooking up a storm. She is making at least one of our meals each day. She has been telling use for years that she wants to be an author when she grows up, but maybe she'll also run a cooking business on the side. We'll see.
(Hat tip: Homeschool Buzz.com)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
I am sure she is getting a great education about business.
I'll print this story off four my eleven year old daughter. The last couple weeks she has been cooking up a storm. She is making at least one of our meals each day. She has been telling use for years that she wants to be an author when she grows up, but maybe she'll also run a cooking business on the side. We'll see.
(Hat tip: Homeschool Buzz.com)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
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