The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Spring Edition

Sisterlisa is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at The HomeSpun Life.

She starts with:

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I am hostessing the Carnival of Homeschooling this week and will be having many homeschool parents and potential homeschool parents visiting my blog. The last time I hosted the carnival I offered cyber coffee to those arriving, however I don't have any brewed this time. My apologies. I had planned to have the carnival ready earlier in the morning, but since when does our schedules actually stay on track all the time? And to top it off, my browser kept closing, stalling, and jumping around. I think there are ants in it's pants. So I compiled this post in notepad. :P So, without further adieu, The March 30th Homeschool Carnival! (For those who submitted to the carnival, please swing over to get a graphic to announce the carnival here at Why Homeschool)
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Enjoy!


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

School-Homed?

Have you heard of the latest trend in education?

Increasing Number Of Parents Opting To Have Children School-Homed

WASHINGTON—According to a report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education, an increasing number of American parents are choosing to have their children raised at school rather than at home.....

In addition to providing better supervision and overall direction, school-homing has become popular among mothers and fathers who just want to be less involved in the day-to-day lives of their children.

"Parents are finding creative ways to make this increasingly common child-rearing track work," Miller said. "Whether it's over-relying on after-school programs and extracurricular activities, or simply gross neglect,† school-homing is becoming a widely accepted method of bringing children up."

Despite the trend's growing popularity, Miller said that school programs are often jeopardized or terminated because shortsighted individuals vote against tax increases intended to boost educational spending......

Though school-homing has proven to be an ideal solution for millions of uninvolved parents, increasingly overburdened public schools have recently led to a steady upswing in the number of students being prison-homed.

All I can say is that there are some very, clever people out there.

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

Drew Carey wants to fix Cleveland

Drew Carey wants to fix his home town of Cleveland, has a series of videos on things he would fix. In this one he addresses the schools.



I would love to see more of these changes, but I am concerned entrenched bureaucracies will fight the needed changes, fight anything that may make them look bad. And so homeschooling grows ...

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

You have less than seven hours to send in your entry for the next Carnival of Homeschooling.

Sisterlisa will be hosting the carnival at The HomeSpun Life.

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

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


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

Congress for Kids

I found this website mentioned on an educational newsgroup. I briefly checked it out. Looks pretty good.

The site include games and quizzes, as well as basic explanations on things like the Constitution, the three branches of government, the Bill of Rights and so forth.

Congress for Kids



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

Homeschoolers in the News

A recent news article describe an accused child molester/killer as "home-schooled before moving to Florida."

What does that mean? His parents pulled him out of public school for a year? He was homeschooled his entire academic career? What?

I searched the news articles hoping to find more information about his homeschooling background. I was unable to find any more information than "home-schooled before moving to Florida."

I did, however, find more information about his childhood in which his upbringing is described as "bizarre." This article doesn't mention homeschooling at all. It does mention that when the accused was a young child, his older sister (who was 8 years old at the time) was married to their step-father. That kind of strikes me as a headline grabber.

I wish the media wouldn't hang the homeschool label on persons accused of heinous crimes without qualifying what that means.

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

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up

Jennifer is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at HomeGrownMommy.com.

She starts with:

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There is such a wealth of information in Carnival of Homeschooling for this week, that it is really hard to know where to start! I'll just have all you contributors know that it took me 3 times longer than I thought to put this carnival together because every time I got done reading one of your articles, I just had to keep reading more and more articles from your blogs!
I genuinely hope everyone enjoys this week's edition and that you are blessed with some encouragement and some new ideas from your time. Enjoy!
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Pop over to the carnival and read all the entries which distracted her.




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

My Adventures at School

It has been a little less than a week since I enrolled a foster child in high school. This has been my chance to see life on the other side of things since we have never sent any of our own children to public school.

There are some very nice and dedicated people who work at the school, but for the most part I don't like the whole system.

I hadn't realized how it would feel giving up that much control of your child's time. Since this is a short-term placement for a foster child, it is not quite the same impact on me as one of my own children, but I can see that I don't like it at all. However, sending a child to school is in some ways harder with a foster child. With my own kids, I can trust them to tell me what is really going on. With this kid, I have no idea. We don't have the relationship or the history.

I also have no clear picture of what the school or the students are promoting as far as lifestyle and morality (or the lack there of). She (the foster child) came home with an anti-war button with some meaningless slogan which she put on her backpack. She told me that "some man" had given it to her at school. I thought it was a little strange that an adult was permitted on school property to hand out any type of propaganda and/or paraphernalia, no matter what side of the issue it was.

I will be glad when this little adventure in public school land is over.

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

I enrolled a child in school yesterday

I spent a few hours at our local high school enrolling a foster child. There were quite a few things that annoyed me about the whole process.


1) The forms asks if the child is A) Hispanic or B) Non-Hispanic.

Since when has the entire world been divided into two categories? Why is Hispanic so darn special that they get to define everyone else as a "Non."


2) The questions about race are annoying. The form lists about a dozen different options for Asian (Hmong, etc.) and some other pet minorities (American Indian, Pacific Islander, etc.). None of the categories applied to our foster child who is from Iraq. She could either pick "white" or "black."


3) The questions about the parents are annoying. The form asked about my marital status and educational background and the names of the other children in the house hold (which I left blank).

I understand why it would be a good idea to track children in family groups but the questions still seemed intrusive.


4) We were told that our foster child could NOT wear either a solid red or solid blue shirt to school or even near the school. The school assured us that there was not a gang problem on campus, "just a few gang want-a-be's." Oh, that made me feel so much better, especially since I could see them hanging around all over the school.


5) The guidance counselor, who by the way was very nice, explained all the class options where the student could get "easy" credits.

A foreign born student in foster care does benefit from "easy credit" but hasn't a diploma lost its value when it is so "easy" to get.


6) The public school system does a wonderful job of teaching children about their "rights" and nothing about their responsibilities. I can't go into any more details here.


7) The school has the craziest class schedule.

I know this dates me, but when I was a kid, we had 7 class periods every day. While this school does have 7 class periods, most students are encouraged to take only 6 classes and one of those is a study hall.

Students attend those 6 classes on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Wednesday and Thursday are block schedule. On Wednesdays, the student starts an hour later and attends classes 2, 4, and 6. On Thursdays, the student attends classes 3, 5, 7.

Oh, except this Friday, she will miss a class for some sort of pep rally-awards ceremony.

Go figure.


8) The enrollment process is very inefficient.

They ask for the same information over and over again. I wanted to write, "Just go back and look at form 1. It's all there."


Now, I'm off to homeschool co-op. Hallelujah!

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

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

Jennifer will be hosting the next Carnival of Homeschooling at HomeGrownMommy.com.

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

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




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

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - Celebrating Life

Beverly is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at About Homeschooling.

She starts the carnival with:

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I was all set to do a St. Patrick's Day themed carnival, but the events of the week have changed my mind. As I am on the other side of raising my kids, I am so thankful to have had the privilege of raising them and more so to be actively involved in the lives of my grandchildren. We take so much for granted, especially life itself.

A week ago today, a precious little baby boy was born to my son's boss and his wife, their first born child. A mere 6 hours later, sweet little Wren breathed his last breath. We don't know why. My heart breaks for this young couple. It was hard on my son and his wife to attend the services, especially since they're expecting a baby too.

As we mourn the loss of precious little Wren, whom we never met, we reflect on our own precious children and grandchildren. I am so thankful for each and every one of them. I can't imagine life without them. I've invited them to tag along to the carnival so you can meet them. As you meet my grandchildren today, I encourage you to take a moment and reflect on the precious children in your life. Leave a comment and share what's special about each of your children.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

Spending On Public Education 44% Higher Than Reported.

As Henry's brother I've had a lot of exposure to home schooling, but have yet to take the plunge. Part of it is the thought of home schooling with six kids sounds overwhelming. Part of it is the schools in our area are pretty good.

Now the school district is facing budget cuts at the moment which made this article "Spending On Public Education 44% Higher Than Reported" by Cato. The schools here are saying they are spending $12,000 per student, and now will have to make do with $10,000. If a classroom has 20 kids, it seems like they should be able to survive on $200,000 per classroom. But now the question after this article is, how much are they really spending, and where does it all go?

The schools are asking for input, suggestions, but without disclosure of where the money is going, I wonder how effective it will be. It feels a bit like they want parents to buy into the fix and then say, "There is no solution but to raise taxes!" but then maybe I'm too cynical. So perhaps the district will do something stupid, the education will suffer, and we'll finally take the plunge into homeschooling.

In any case, Cato has a video which is kind of an executive summary of the paper, I found it worth watching:

I like the close quote of "It is impossible to have a public debate about education policy if public schools can't be straight forward about their spending."

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

Beverly will be hosting the next Carnival of Homeschooling at About Homeschool.

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

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


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

Census questions about race

I really hate it when I'm expected to indicate my race on a form. I usually leave it blank, mark "other" or write something like "none of your business."

Then there is the issue of adoption. Are they asking about my child's DNA or cultural affiliation? And to make matters worse, is race an issue of skin pigmentation, mother tongue, where your great grandparents were born, or the shape of your eyes?

I ran across this article which suggested writing "American" for race on the upcoming census form.

Instead, we should answer Question 9 by checking the last option — "Some other race" — and writing in "American." It's a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection of unconstitutional racial classification schemes. In fact, "American" was the plurality ancestry selection for respondents to the 2000 census in four states and several hundred counties.

So remember: Question 9 — "Some other race" — "American". Pass it on.

I really like that idea. However, as a casual genealogist, I don't want to make it harder for my great-great grandchildren to get information about me.

I think I will follow this suggestion for Question 9 and indicate that our household is "American," but I will make sure I leave a well documented family tree for my children.

Hat tip: Instapundit

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - the Party Edition

Misty is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at Homeschool Bytes. She starts with:

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One thing we always come back to in our homeschooling house . . . is having fun together. Sure, there are difficult days homeschooling. But, when we look around at each other, we see the freedom to learn, live, and love together every day. It’s really a ‘Party’ of homeschooling every day at our house, and we love it!
With all the tools, materials, LEGOS, and especially ideas around our house, something is being built every day. Here are some ideas for having a homeschool . . .
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling

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

Misty will be hosting the next Carnival of Homeschooling at Homeschool Bytes.

You have less than eight hours to get your entry in!

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

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




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

Would you like to be a little more involved in politics?

I've been working on an idea for a couple months and finally started up a new blog. Often our lives are so busy it is hard to fit in one more activity. The idea behind Minuteman Lobbyist is that you can be involved without making a major time commitment.

If this sounds interesting, check out Call to Arms: Be a Minuteman Lobbyist.


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Technorati tags: politics

Hadn't realized just how many earthquakes Chile was hammered with

USGS tracks the earthquakes over the last seven days. This maps shows the major earthquake and all the aftershocks Chile was hit with. But it wasn't until I looked through this list that I realized just how many aftershocks there were. And some of the aftershocks would have been considered major earthquakes any where else.


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Technorati tags: earthquake, Chile

So much repeats from generation to generation

I think we've had three major reorganizations in the last two years. I've thought about this quote each time:

"We trained hard, but it seemed every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization."

From Petronii Arbitri Satyricon AD 66. Attributed to Gaius Petronus
Gaius Petronus, a Roman General


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Technorati tags: organization

A good thing to remember each morning - This Too Shall Pass

One of my brothers posted this on Facebook:



Pretty impressive, the video has gotten 2.4 million hits in three days!

I wonder how many times tries they did before they got it?


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Technorati tags: life

Being prepared

The Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared." If we have some money put aside that it isn't so scary to lose a job. Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, writes about some Lessons for U.S. Preparedness From Haiti Relief Efforts: Analysis:

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Which brings us back to a theme Popular Mechanics has been driving home for years: self-reliance. If you're at the scene of a major disaster, it may be a long time before outside help arrives. But one person is sure to be there: you. And nobody cares more about helping you and your family in time of disaster than, well, you. So it makes sense for you to be prepared to take care of yourself—and look out for your neighbors—for some time afterward. That means having adequate stocks of food, water and basic tools on hand. (Experts say that Haitians should have had at least two weeks of food on hand, but of course many Haitians can't afford to keep such reserves. Americans, generally speaking, can.)
Here at Popular Mechanics, we've posted a number of special issues on disaster preparedness, with stories on the top first-aid kits you can buy, steps to save yourself when a natural disaster hits, stories about smart survival tactics that saved lives, hundreds of must-have survival gadgets and gear and a lot more. There's also lots of government help on such topics. (This L.A. Fire Department guide (pdf) on earthquake preparation is actually applicable to a lot of other potential disasters. And there's much more information available at Ready.gov.)
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You might check out some of the links so you can be prepared.


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Technorati tags: emergency, disaster

Sad news - Jaime Escalante has cancer

I think Jaime Escalante is a great man. He made a big difference in the lives of hundreds of students. These children were often given up as unsalvageable by most of society. If you haven't seen Stand and Deliver, check it out.

I am sad to learn that Jaime has cancer:

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Jaime Escalante, the legendary Garfield High School math teacher immortalized in the film "Stand and Deliver," is battling cancer.
The news about Escalante, 79, was posted on the Web page of actor Edward James Olmos, who portrayed the educator in the critically acclaimed 1988 movie.
Olmos said Escalante was in serious condition and that his family had run out of money to pay the medical bills."The treatment he needs has depleted all the funds his family can raise," Olmos said in the announcement on his website. The family "did not want to ask for help, but we took it upon ourselves to get the word out to all the country and around the world, to make his final days as comfortable as possible -- and maybe even give him a chance to beat the cancer that has afflicted him."
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Technorati tags: Jaime Escalante, children, education, government schools, children, public school, public education

One of the reasons we homeschool

Jay Mathews has a column titled Training teachers like ice skaters. A main point is that society currently does a poor job of training teachers. Jay writes:

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People trained in very complex skills, such ice skaters, chess players, violinists, quarterbacks or surgeons, often do something called deliberate practice.
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And then he quotes Mike Goldstein:

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"A kid who practices 10 hours playing sloppy pick up basketball with his friends might develop less than a kid who has a focused two hours of practice with measurable, highly specific, small chunk feedback," Goldstein told me in a long email. "Similarly, a rookie teacher who simply student teaches or acts as an assistant teacher might simply be repeating the WRONG moves.
"Deliberate practice means (1) specific & technique-oriented, (2) high-repetition, and (3) paired with immediate feedback which includes telling the novice what to do."That's what we do: 'Do X. Now you say it, right in front of me. Tone needs to be firm: do it again.' High dosage feedback, after every day of student teaching. And feedback that is directive. Don't say 'Here's 5 different ways you could try.' Cut through that.
"This is labor-intensive but, we think, has big payoff."
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The same principle translates into how we train children. I argue that the current public school approach of the factory model is similar to how teachers are taught. Topics and knowledge is thrown at the students in a variety of ways, constantly changing with the latest fad.

As homeschooling parents we can be more directive and make sure our children really learn the material.

(Hat tip: Joanne Jacobs)


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

Good news for life long learners

Learning keeps brain healthy reports:

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Using a novel visualization technique they devised to study memory, a research team led by Lulu Chen and Christine Gall found that everyday forms of learning animate neuron receptors that help keep brain cells functioning at optimum levels.
These receptors are activated by a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which facilitates the growth and differentiation of the connections, or synapses, responsible for communication among neurons. BDNF is key in the formation of memories.
"The findings confirm a critical relationship between learning and brain growth and point to ways we can amplify that relationship through possible future treatments," says Chen, a graduate researcher in anatomy & neurobiology.
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As a group I think homeschoolers are more agressive about learning as a lifestyle.


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

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Oddities Edition

Gary is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at HomeschoolBuzz.com. He starts with:

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Welcome to the carnival of homeschool oddities edition. I was trying to categorize all the wonderful posts submitted to us this week when I noticed many of them defied categorization. They are truly oddities. (Am I right, many homeschoolers would consider themselves oddities?) Coincidentally, I also remembered seeing some truly odd items on amazon recently so I set off to find a few to bring to you. I bet you didn't know what you can buy on the intertubes these days.
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I often feel like an oddity. Do you?

Enjoy the carnival.




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

The importance of attitude

My division at work had layoffs about six weeks ago. I survived. It has been a rough eighteen months. We have had six, maybe seven layoffs and lost about half of the original 350 people. On her last day on site one of the employees handed this quote out to her friends:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
Charles Swindoll


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Technorati tags: attitude

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

The next Carnival of Homeschooling will be held at HomeschoolBuzz.com. You have twelve hours to get your entry in!

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

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





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