I like this thought:
“Most economic fallacies derive from the tendency to think that there is a fixed pie—that one party can gain only at the expense of another.”
-Milton Friedman
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Monday, November 07, 2011
The benefits of homeschooling from the eyes of a fifteen-year-old
Recently I have asked two of my daughters what they liked about homeschooling. Today I asked my middle daughter. She thought about it for a while and then told me:
1) She liked being able to work with us on what classes she took. She liked having input and being able to be part of the decision process.
2) She recognizes that she gets along better with her sisters because they spend a lot of time together. Some of her friends are not very close to their siblings.
3) She likes the flexibility of being to accomplish her work on her schedule. If she masters a new concept she can move on to the next and not be forced to spend a full hour on some new idea.
4) And she likes that she gets lots of babysitting jobs. Over half the money she is earning right now comes from babysitting young children during school hours.
You can read what her sisters said they liked about homeschooling. The oldest said "The flexibility." The youngest said "Going your own pace."
1) She liked being able to work with us on what classes she took. She liked having input and being able to be part of the decision process.
2) She recognizes that she gets along better with her sisters because they spend a lot of time together. Some of her friends are not very close to their siblings.
3) She likes the flexibility of being to accomplish her work on her schedule. If she masters a new concept she can move on to the next and not be forced to spend a full hour on some new idea.
4) And she likes that she gets lots of babysitting jobs. Over half the money she is earning right now comes from babysitting young children during school hours.
You can read what her sisters said they liked about homeschooling. The oldest said "The flexibility." The youngest said "Going your own pace."
Will Dropouts Save America?
Michael Ellsberg has an interesting column in the NY Times. He askes Will Dropouts Save America? His column starts with:
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I TYPED these words on a computer designed by Apple, co-founded by the college dropout Steve Jobs. The program I used to write it was created by Microsoft, started by the college dropouts Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
And as soon as it is published, I will share it with my friends via Twitter, co-founded by the college dropouts Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams and Biz Stone, and Facebook — invented, among others, by the college dropouts Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, and nurtured by the degreeless Sean Parker.
American academia is good at producing writers, literary critics and historians. It is also good at producing professionals with degrees. But we don’t have a shortage of lawyers and professors. America has a shortage of job creators. And the people who create jobs aren’t traditional professionals, but start-up entrepreneurs.
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Michael makes several interesting points. For example in reference to a recent study he says most jobs are not created at small businesses, but at small businesses with are startups. Old businesses which happen to be small are not creating lots of new jobs. The new jobs are created by small businesses which are young.
He points out how traditiona public schools discourage students from become entrepreneurs.
It would be interesting to see how the percentage of homeschoolers who become entrepreneurs compares to those from government schools.
Hat tip: Pat Farenga.
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I TYPED these words on a computer designed by Apple, co-founded by the college dropout Steve Jobs. The program I used to write it was created by Microsoft, started by the college dropouts Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
And as soon as it is published, I will share it with my friends via Twitter, co-founded by the college dropouts Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams and Biz Stone, and Facebook — invented, among others, by the college dropouts Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, and nurtured by the degreeless Sean Parker.
American academia is good at producing writers, literary critics and historians. It is also good at producing professionals with degrees. But we don’t have a shortage of lawyers and professors. America has a shortage of job creators. And the people who create jobs aren’t traditional professionals, but start-up entrepreneurs.
----------
Michael makes several interesting points. For example in reference to a recent study he says most jobs are not created at small businesses, but at small businesses with are startups. Old businesses which happen to be small are not creating lots of new jobs. The new jobs are created by small businesses which are young.
He points out how traditiona public schools discourage students from become entrepreneurs.
It would be interesting to see how the percentage of homeschoolers who become entrepreneurs compares to those from government schools.
Hat tip: Pat Farenga.
"Growing Without Schooling" is now all online
Milton Gaither shares a great resource:
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In addition to many other wonderful historical resources, the site has every back issue of every year of Growing Without Schooling, the first national newsletter about homeschooling and the most important historical resource extant for the early years of the homeschooling movement. If you’ve never read through any of it I highly recommend doing so–Holt’s writing is lively and compelling, and many of the issues with which he was wrestling in the late 1970s continue to have resonance today. Issue 1 begins in August of 1977, and the final issue takes you to December of 2001. Most remarkably, it’s all free, just as Holt would have wanted it to be.
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In addition to many other wonderful historical resources, the site has every back issue of every year of Growing Without Schooling, the first national newsletter about homeschooling and the most important historical resource extant for the early years of the homeschooling movement. If you’ve never read through any of it I highly recommend doing so–Holt’s writing is lively and compelling, and many of the issues with which he was wrestling in the late 1970s continue to have resonance today. Issue 1 begins in August of 1977, and the final issue takes you to December of 2001. Most remarkably, it’s all free, just as Holt would have wanted it to be.
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Are you just starting out homeschooling?
Carolyn Morrison is a long time homeschooler. She has recently posted Top Ten Things I Wish I’d Known When I Began Homeschooling. If you are just starting out with homeschooling the post could be eye opening.
Some of our best posts from May 2006
Janine and I have been blogging about homeschooling for over five years now. If you missed some of our early posts, you have missed some of our best thoughts. Here are some highlights from May 2006:
We have a post about how often Reading leads to thinking.
Janine wrote about Destructive Family Trends in two posts: Part 1 and Part 2.
May was the big month for interviews posted on our blog. Here is our interview with Brad Miser, author of Absolute Beginner's Guide to Homeschooling, and our interview with Barbara Frank author of a couple homeschooling books. We also intereview Isabel (Izzy) Lyman, one of the first homeschool bloggers and Pat Farenga, a long time supporter of homeschooling.
And here is my review of Joanne Jacobs' book Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School That Beat the Odds.
I found it interesting that the blog became an extension of my memory.
In May of 2006 the Carnival of Homeschooling was still pretty new. Several questions came up about hosting the carnvial and I posted some guidelines for hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling.
We have a post about how often Reading leads to thinking.
Janine wrote about Destructive Family Trends in two posts: Part 1 and Part 2.
May was the big month for interviews posted on our blog. Here is our interview with Brad Miser, author of Absolute Beginner's Guide to Homeschooling, and our interview with Barbara Frank author of a couple homeschooling books. We also intereview Isabel (Izzy) Lyman, one of the first homeschool bloggers and Pat Farenga, a long time supporter of homeschooling.
And here is my review of Joanne Jacobs' book Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School That Beat the Odds.
I found it interesting that the blog became an extension of my memory.
In May of 2006 the Carnival of Homeschooling was still pretty new. Several questions came up about hosting the carnvial and I posted some guidelines for hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling.
Another reason to homeschool - to escape the crazy homework load
An often made fallacy is that if a little of something is good, more of it must be better. People will go way overboard. The truth is for many things it is important to find a balance. It is important to eat, but not to excess. It is important to work, but not a hundred hours a week.
One of the places this fallacy is being implemented to great destruction is by assigning hours of homework each day to young children. The movie Race to Nowhere focuses on the damage done by too much homework.
The Homework Revolution is a great column by a young school student who refutes many of the common arguments for more homework. This was one of the great points made:
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Is homework really necessary? Most teachers assign homework as a drill to improve memorization of material. While drills and repetitive exercises have their place in schools, homework may not be that place. If a student does a math worksheet with 50 problems but completes them incorrectly, he will likely fail the test. According to the U.S. Department of Education, most math teachers can tell after checking five algebraic equations whether a student understood the necessary concepts. Practicing dozens of homework problems incorrectly only cements the wrong method.
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And this point is one of our first reasons for homeschooling:
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Some people argue that homework toughens kids up for high school, college, and the workforce. Too much homework is sapping students' strength, curiosity, and most importantly, their love of learning. Is that really what teachers and parents want?
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It is a good column, well worth reading.
One of the places this fallacy is being implemented to great destruction is by assigning hours of homework each day to young children. The movie Race to Nowhere focuses on the damage done by too much homework.
The Homework Revolution is a great column by a young school student who refutes many of the common arguments for more homework. This was one of the great points made:
----------
Is homework really necessary? Most teachers assign homework as a drill to improve memorization of material. While drills and repetitive exercises have their place in schools, homework may not be that place. If a student does a math worksheet with 50 problems but completes them incorrectly, he will likely fail the test. According to the U.S. Department of Education, most math teachers can tell after checking five algebraic equations whether a student understood the necessary concepts. Practicing dozens of homework problems incorrectly only cements the wrong method.
----------
And this point is one of our first reasons for homeschooling:
-----------
Some people argue that homework toughens kids up for high school, college, and the workforce. Too much homework is sapping students' strength, curiosity, and most importantly, their love of learning. Is that really what teachers and parents want?
-----------
It is a good column, well worth reading.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Stories like this restore my faith in humanity
As I mentioned Wednesday Janine is reading Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church. The book tells of a football team from a prison for teenage boys and how one high school treated them during a game.
Janine found this video A Game of Hope which tells the great story:
There are some games in which cheering for the other side feels better than winning has more details.
I wish there were more people like coach Kris Hogan.
Janine found this video A Game of Hope which tells the great story:
There are some games in which cheering for the other side feels better than winning has more details.
I wish there were more people like coach Kris Hogan.
Friday, November 04, 2011
Looks like we'll be part of the new trend
Even before the birth of our first daughter Janine and I have been planning on our children attending college. We both earned Bachelors and wanted our children to have the addtional education that comes from college.
Just this last year we started rethinking this. Our oldest is in her senior year of high school. She is taking a couple classes at a local junior college. It tunrs out one of the local community colleges has a great project in Interior Design, which is what she is currently exited about. We've been under going a mental shift because now her tenative plan is to earn her Associates and then leave to earn her Bachelors at a tradtional four year college.
The Washington Post reports that Two-year colleges draw more affluent students. The article starts with:
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Julie Hong grew up in the sort of leafy Montgomery County suburb where college is assumed. Her parents had saved for the expense since she was a baby. When the time came, they said she could go wherever she wished. She chose a community college.
Comparatively affluent students are picking community colleges over four-year schools in growing numbers, a sign of changing attitudes toward an institution long identified with poorer people.
A recent national survey by Sallie Mae, the student loan giant, has found that 22 percent of students from households earning $100,000 or more attended community colleges in the 2010-11 academic year, up from 12 percent in the previous year. It was the highest rate reported in four years of surveys.
In the lengthening economic downturn, even relatively prosperous families have grown reluctant to borrow for college. Schools are finding that fewer students are willing to pay the full published price of attendance, which tops $55,000 at several private universities. More students are living at home.
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Read that third paragraph again. In just one year the number of students from higher income homes almost doubled from 12% to 22%. In one year.
The article goes on to say that many families with good incomes are deciding not to spend through the nose for the four year college experience.
This is just another sign that the education bubble will burst.
Hat tip: Instapundit
Just this last year we started rethinking this. Our oldest is in her senior year of high school. She is taking a couple classes at a local junior college. It tunrs out one of the local community colleges has a great project in Interior Design, which is what she is currently exited about. We've been under going a mental shift because now her tenative plan is to earn her Associates and then leave to earn her Bachelors at a tradtional four year college.
The Washington Post reports that Two-year colleges draw more affluent students. The article starts with:
----------
Julie Hong grew up in the sort of leafy Montgomery County suburb where college is assumed. Her parents had saved for the expense since she was a baby. When the time came, they said she could go wherever she wished. She chose a community college.
Comparatively affluent students are picking community colleges over four-year schools in growing numbers, a sign of changing attitudes toward an institution long identified with poorer people.
A recent national survey by Sallie Mae, the student loan giant, has found that 22 percent of students from households earning $100,000 or more attended community colleges in the 2010-11 academic year, up from 12 percent in the previous year. It was the highest rate reported in four years of surveys.
In the lengthening economic downturn, even relatively prosperous families have grown reluctant to borrow for college. Schools are finding that fewer students are willing to pay the full published price of attendance, which tops $55,000 at several private universities. More students are living at home.
----------
Read that third paragraph again. In just one year the number of students from higher income homes almost doubled from 12% to 22%. In one year.
The article goes on to say that many families with good incomes are deciding not to spend through the nose for the four year college experience.
This is just another sign that the education bubble will burst.
Hat tip: Instapundit
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Heritage: The Truth About Public School Teacher Pay
A recent report came out this week on Assessing the Compensation of Public-School Teachers.
There are were a number of interesting points:
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Public-school teachers earn higher wages than private-school teachers, even when the comparison is limited to secular schools with standard curriculums.
Workers who switch from non-teaching jobs to teaching jobs receive a wage increase of roughly 9 percent. Teachers who change to non-teaching jobs, on the other hand, see their wages decrease by roughly 3 percent. This is the opposite of what one would expect if teachers were underpaid.
We conclude that public-school-teacher salaries are comparable to those paid to similarly skilled private-sector workers, but that more generous fringe benefits for public-school teachers, including greater job security, make total compensation 52 percent greater than fair market levels, equivalent to more than $120 billion overcharged to taxpayers each year.
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Hat tip: My mom.
There are were a number of interesting points:
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Public-school teachers earn higher wages than private-school teachers, even when the comparison is limited to secular schools with standard curriculums.
Workers who switch from non-teaching jobs to teaching jobs receive a wage increase of roughly 9 percent. Teachers who change to non-teaching jobs, on the other hand, see their wages decrease by roughly 3 percent. This is the opposite of what one would expect if teachers were underpaid.
We conclude that public-school-teacher salaries are comparable to those paid to similarly skilled private-sector workers, but that more generous fringe benefits for public-school teachers, including greater job security, make total compensation 52 percent greater than fair market levels, equivalent to more than $120 billion overcharged to taxpayers each year.
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Hat tip: My mom.
Blogging may be light this month
I am working hard on NaNoWriMo project which is part of the National Novel Writing Month.
So far I am up to 2,800 words.
So far I am up to 2,800 words.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Why the TSA bans liquids
This explanation of why the TSA bans liquids on airplane flights makes a lot of sense.
Hat tip: Boycott Flying
Hat tip: Boycott Flying
New way to carve a pumpkin
Recently our daughters carved several pumpkins. This approach never occurred to me:
Hat tip: Judy Aron.
Hat tip: Judy Aron.
Oxymoron? Effective Government
From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:
If you put the federal government in charge of the
Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.
-Milton Friedman
(1912-2006)
If you put the federal government in charge of the
Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.
-Milton Friedman
(1912-2006)
Homeschool Product Reviews
Laurie Bluedorn introduces the Home Educating Association Reviews site with this explanation:
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Introducing the first comprehensive, easily-searchable homeschool curriculum review site with in-depth reviews written by expert reviewers. Besides the numerous reviews on the site now, over a dozen will be added each week. This is a project of Home Educating Family (publishers of Home Educating Family magazine and Well-Planned Day planners) and part of the larger BIG thing coming to homeschooling this spring: homeschoolconvention.com
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Almost Christian
Janine is reading a fascinating book called Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church. Janine plans to post a review when she finishes the book.
In the author reports finding that too often in an attempt to make Christianity pleasant and fun, it gets watered down. The CNN article Author: More teens becoming 'fake' Christians gives a summary of the main points. The article starts:
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If you're the parent of a Christian teenager, Kenda Creasy Dean has this warning:
Your child is following a "mutant" form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.
Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." Translation: It's a watered-down faith that portrays God as a "divine therapist" whose chief goal is to boost people's self-esteem.
Dean is a minister, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of "Almost Christian," a new book that argues that many parents and pastors are unwittingly passing on this self-serving strain of Christianity.
She says this "imposter'' faith is one reason teenagers abandon churches.
"If this is the God they're seeing in church, they are right to leave us in the dust," Dean says. "Churches don't give them enough to be passionate about."
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In the author reports finding that too often in an attempt to make Christianity pleasant and fun, it gets watered down. The CNN article Author: More teens becoming 'fake' Christians gives a summary of the main points. The article starts:
----------
If you're the parent of a Christian teenager, Kenda Creasy Dean has this warning:
Your child is following a "mutant" form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.
Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." Translation: It's a watered-down faith that portrays God as a "divine therapist" whose chief goal is to boost people's self-esteem.
Dean is a minister, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of "Almost Christian," a new book that argues that many parents and pastors are unwittingly passing on this self-serving strain of Christianity.
She says this "imposter'' faith is one reason teenagers abandon churches.
"If this is the God they're seeing in church, they are right to leave us in the dust," Dean says. "Churches don't give them enough to be passionate about."
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Interesting post about a TSA agent
In Honestly, I don’t really remember Michael Maharrey writes
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I think my loathing of TSA stems from the fact that it is probably the most “in your face” encounter I have with overreaching federal power. I know other unconstitutional acts engaged in by the fed probably have more of a detrimental impact on my day-to-day life. But when I am queued up in my stocking feet wondering if I should choose a grope or a scan, it brings unconstitutional federal power right out in the open.
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He follows this up with an account of how he asked a TSA agent:
"Do you guys swear an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution?"
The TSA agent says he doesn't remember.
It turns out that all TSA agents swear and oath to uphold the Constitution. Michael poins out that so much of what the TSA is doing is in contradiction with the Constitution.
Hat tip: Maria C. Mitchell
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I think my loathing of TSA stems from the fact that it is probably the most “in your face” encounter I have with overreaching federal power. I know other unconstitutional acts engaged in by the fed probably have more of a detrimental impact on my day-to-day life. But when I am queued up in my stocking feet wondering if I should choose a grope or a scan, it brings unconstitutional federal power right out in the open.
----------
He follows this up with an account of how he asked a TSA agent:
"Do you guys swear an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution?"
The TSA agent says he doesn't remember.
It turns out that all TSA agents swear and oath to uphold the Constitution. Michael poins out that so much of what the TSA is doing is in contradiction with the Constitution.
Hat tip: Maria C. Mitchell
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
Please remember to send in a post about homeschooling for the next Carnival of Homeschooling.
Next week's carnival will be held at Under the Gold Apple Tree.
Next week's carnival will be held at Under the Gold Apple Tree.
This will be the 306th edition.
Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
A little more science
This is a classic:
The Astronomy Picture of the Day has this explanation:
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If you drop a hammer and a feather together, which reaches the ground first? On the Earth, it's the hammer, but is the reason only because of air resistance? Scientists even before Galileo have pondered and tested this simple experiment and felt that without air resistance, all objects would fall the same way. Galileo tested this principle himself and noted that two heavy balls of different masses reached the ground simultaneously, although many historians are skeptical that he did this experiment from Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa as folklore suggests. A good place free of air resistance to test this equivalence principle is Earth's Moon, and so in 1971, Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott dropped both a hammer and a feather together toward the surface of the Moon. Sure enough, just as scientists including Galileo and Einstein would have predicted, they reached the lunar surface at the same time. The demonstrated equivalence principle states that the acceleration an object feels due to gravity does not depend on its mass, density, composition, color, shape, or anything else. The equivalence principle is so important to modern physics that its depth and reach are still being debated and tested even today.
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The Astronomy Picture of the Day has this explanation:
----------
If you drop a hammer and a feather together, which reaches the ground first? On the Earth, it's the hammer, but is the reason only because of air resistance? Scientists even before Galileo have pondered and tested this simple experiment and felt that without air resistance, all objects would fall the same way. Galileo tested this principle himself and noted that two heavy balls of different masses reached the ground simultaneously, although many historians are skeptical that he did this experiment from Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa as folklore suggests. A good place free of air resistance to test this equivalence principle is Earth's Moon, and so in 1971, Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott dropped both a hammer and a feather together toward the surface of the Moon. Sure enough, just as scientists including Galileo and Einstein would have predicted, they reached the lunar surface at the same time. The demonstrated equivalence principle states that the acceleration an object feels due to gravity does not depend on its mass, density, composition, color, shape, or anything else. The equivalence principle is so important to modern physics that its depth and reach are still being debated and tested even today.
----------
We have hit a milestone!
Previously our most prolific year in terms of our number of posts was 2008 when we wrote 908 posts. I'm not sure why, but the following two years were much lower with 739 posts in 2009 and 560 posts in 2010.
This year we are on fire. According to Blogger this is our 909th post!
I think we are on track for breaking a thousand posts this year.
This year we are on fire. According to Blogger this is our 909th post!
I think we are on track for breaking a thousand posts this year.
Some of our best posts from April 2006
Janine and I have been blogging about homeschooling for over five years now. If you missed some of our early posts, you have missed some of our best thoughts. Here are some highlights from April 2006:
In Education, as business, what gets rewarded gets done examines some reasons for why there is little improvement in public education.
For awhile I was interviewing people. I think Interview: Judy Aron - Director of Research at NHELD was my first.
Book review: A Son of Thunder by Henry Mayer is a book review of a biography of one of my favorite founding fathers: Patrick Henry.
Another reason to homeschool: Interesting Report on Educator Sexual Misconduct
You can also read about our trip to Washington DC: Our arrival, Day 1, Day 2 part 1, Day 2 part 2, Williamsburg, Days 3 to 5 and Days 6 & 7.
In Education, as business, what gets rewarded gets done examines some reasons for why there is little improvement in public education.
For awhile I was interviewing people. I think Interview: Judy Aron - Director of Research at NHELD was my first.
Book review: A Son of Thunder by Henry Mayer is a book review of a biography of one of my favorite founding fathers: Patrick Henry.
Another reason to homeschool: Interesting Report on Educator Sexual Misconduct
You can also read about our trip to Washington DC: Our arrival, Day 1, Day 2 part 1, Day 2 part 2, Williamsburg, Days 3 to 5 and Days 6 & 7.
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Saintly Edition
Gary is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at HomeschoolBuzz.com.
The carnival starts with:
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Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling. Today is celebrated by some Christians as the Festival of All Saints. This likely began as a Christian response to the Pagan Halloween tradition (which also has been co-opted by Christians as the Festival of all Souls or more recently, Harvest parties). It’s been a time-honored but controversial strategy to counteract the popularity of pagan rituals by Christianizing them. Although it’s a stretch to weave all these posts into some kind of saintly theme, at least I’ll decorate this carnival with some righteous artwork.
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The carnival starts with:
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Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling. Today is celebrated by some Christians as the Festival of All Saints. This likely began as a Christian response to the Pagan Halloween tradition (which also has been co-opted by Christians as the Festival of all Souls or more recently, Harvest parties). It’s been a time-honored but controversial strategy to counteract the popularity of pagan rituals by Christianizing them. Although it’s a stretch to weave all these posts into some kind of saintly theme, at least I’ll decorate this carnival with some righteous artwork.
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New and improved
From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:
Anything labeled "NEW" and/or "IMPROVED" isn't. The label means the price went up. The label "ALL NEW", "COMPLETELY NEW", or "GREAT NEW" means the price went way up.
Anything labeled "NEW" and/or "IMPROVED" isn't. The label means the price went up. The label "ALL NEW", "COMPLETELY NEW", or "GREAT NEW" means the price went way up.
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