Filed on January 19, 2006 at 5:59 am under by dcobranchi
Some good news on the legislative front:
Concord (NH)— The busy Senate yesterday voted to eliminate some homeschooling paperwork, sent the issue of workforce housing for more study, and enhanced criminal penalties for assaulting the elderly.
The Senate, on a roll call vote, passed House Bill 406, which eliminates filing of curriculum plans for home-schooled children.
The bill removes all requirements for curriculum reporting from parents. Children will still be tested every two years to determine what they are learning.
The Senate passed the measure, 17-5, and before that, defeated an amendment 8-13 that would require a one-time curriculum plan be submitted to local superintendents for home-schooled children.
“The best interests of the child would be served by one curriculum plan at the outset of their education,†said Sen. Iris Estabrook, D-Durham. “My concern remains that without this requirement we will have no information for two years until they take the assessment requirement. . . . This is not living up to our responsibility to ensure that children are receiving an excellent education.â€
Sen. Peter Bragdon, R-Milford, said the state is asking people “who are busy enough trying to educate their own children to provide paperwork that won’t be looked at till later.â€
Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, said the state is entitled to that information. “It’s a good amendment,†D’Allesandro said.
Sen. Robert E. Clegg, R-Hudson asked “why we burden people with more government paperwork? We’re overstepping. I certainly don’t think we need to burden people with more paperwork.â€
The bill reduces paperwork compared to the amount of detail now required, Sen. Margaret Hassan, D-Exeter, said.
“This is an excellent mechanism, in a self-discovery process, whether parents are capable of the task of educating their children.â€
It seems a lot of New Hampshire state senators have forgotten their state motto.
Filed on January 18, 2006 at 4:32 pm under by dcobranchi
When Zero Intelligence selects stories for Least Intelligent of the Year, I hope this one makes the list:
A school board in the far northwest suburbs has expelled a 16-year-old high school student after he drew what officials said was a gang symbol in his notebook.
Board members of McHenry Community High School District 156 emerged from a closed-door session Tuesday night and unanimously voted to expel Derek Kelly, 16, from McHenry East Campus High School for the rest of the school year.
Kelly had been accused of drawing on his daily school planner a rendering of a cross with a crown — the crown being a gang symbol, according to school officials.
And here’s the oh-so-dangerous drawing.
Filed on at 5:53 am under by dcobranchi
Another perv in the g-schools:
A high school teacher who used the Internet to woo a student has pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation.
Lee Ayers, 50, a 20-year veteran of New Hampton High School and a former basketball and volleyball coach initially pleaded innocent, but changed the plea to guilty last week.
He was charged with sexual exploitation by a school employee in November after authorities said he sought a sexual relationship with one of his female students through a Web site used by teenagers and young adults to build relationships.
Perverts in the public schools? Can’t happen. We know that “schools are the safest place for students to be.”
Filed on at 5:07 am under by dcobranchi
The following essay, which originally appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, is being reproduced here in full with the permission of the author and copyright holder.
***************************************************************************
For Professors’ Children, the Case for Home Schooling by W. A. Pannapacker
If you want to bring a conversation to a dead stop on the academic cash-bar circuit, just mention casually that you are home schooling your children. You might as well bite the head off a live chicken. Most professors are likely to be appalled, and those who are not will keep their mouths shut. Still, all indications are that the number of families who home school is growing rapidly – somewhere between 5 percent and 15 percent per year, according to the U.S. Department of Education — and the number of home-schooled children now hovers somewhere between one and two million. A recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll indicates that 41 percent of families had a positive view of home schooling in 2001, as opposed to only 16 percent who did in 1985. By almost every measurable outcome, home schoolers in general outperform their public-educated peers, and many colleges are beginning to rework their admissions procedures to accommodate the growing numbers of home-schooled applicants.
Nevertheless, I have spoken with more than a few professors who say that home schooling is dangerous: It is a threat to public education, it is anti-feminist, it isolates children, it is a form of religious fanaticism, it is a means of avoiding diversity, and – most withering of all – it is an instrument of ideological conservatism. They sometimes joke about home education by mentioning horror films such as Carrie and Children of the Corn.
I’m an English professor, and my spouse used to work in academic administration. We have three daughters, ages 6, 4, and 2. And we have been home schooling them for two years now. If all goes well, we plan to continue teaching them at home at least until they are old enough for high school. We always planned that one of us would stay home while our children were young, but the idea of home schooling only developed recently in the context of our present circumstances. Teaching our daughters to read and write, beginning around the age of 4, seemed like a natural thing for us to do. Along with potty training, it was just part of the ordinary business of being a parent. Being avid readers ourselves, we have about 4,000 books in our house, which now includes a children’s library. I suppose it was inevitable that we would spend a lot of time reading to our children, and they would have an early desire to learn to read for themselves and for each other.
We live surrounded by woods and farmland, so our daughters are constantly asking us to look up plants and insects in the Audubon field guides. We have a reasonably well-supplied children’s science lab and art studio. And, in the course of routine travel and shopping, it’s easy to cultivate our daughters’ curiosity about the world by visiting museums, zoos, libraries, schools, factories, and farms. These are things that most parents do, though they may not regard their activities as part of some kind of curriculum.
In a typical day, our 6-year-old daughter will study phonics, spelling, writing, history, geography, and math. She may perform some elementary science experiments, or she may work on an art project in emulation of Seurat or Pollock. On some days other children – not necessarily other home schoolers – will come to our house to play. Sometimes they’ll open our costume chest and dramatize something they’ve been reading, such as The Hobbit. Other times they’ll go outside and play hide-and- seek or go on an “expedition” to find specimens for the family museum. Even though our younger daughters have not yet started their formal schooling, they are eager to imitate their oldest sister, and the pace of learning seems to accelerate with each new child. On good days, home schooling seems like the most natural method of elementary education one could imagine.
We are not ideologically committed to home schooling any more than we are opposed to public education. And we are aware of the limitations of home schooling under some circumstances, just as we are aware of the difficulties faced by many public schools, even in relatively well-financed school districts. Ultimately, we want the best education for our children, and, on the whole, home schooling seems like the best option. It is also one that our daughters seem to desire, and, if any of them wanted to go to the nearby public school, we would certainly consider it.
Nevertheless, my spouse and I do feel the sting of criticisms that we hear in academe from people who don’t know that we are home schoolers – or, worse, from those who do. Of course, we agree that these criticisms apply in some cases. But we also think it is unfair to judge a diverse range of home-schooling practices by associating the movement – if it can be called that – with its most extreme and marginal practitioners.
In search of some reassurance, I have had many discussions with other professors who home school, primarily at my home institution but also with a number of faculty members in other parts of the country. From those conversations I have noticed a number of common motives, circumstances, and beliefs among faculty members who educate their children at home:
They are rarely religious or political extremists. Many professors observe that it is difficult to achieve consistent moral training in public education. They sometimes state that private education in religious schools is too doctrinal or resistant to modernity, particularly in the sciences. Some lament that public and religious education seem to have become battlefields for activists for whom the “vital center” has been abandoned, along with a spirit of civic responsibility.
They want the best education for their children, but they are not wealthy. Professors are usually well informed about what constitutes a good education in terms of methods and resources. The experience of small classes and one-on-one tutoring inevitably convinces teachers of the effectiveness of methods that can easily be replicated in the home, though they are prohibitive for all but exclusive private schools that are usually beyond the reach of academics with more than one child. Home schooling, therefore, becomes a logical choice when the costs of private education and day care become greater than one parent’s income.
They enjoy learning. For nearly all professors, the chance to review and expand their own youthful education in a variety of fields is a treat that almost transcends the educational needs of their children. Mathematicians, for example, relish the chance to reread the literature they half-missed when they were mastering geometry, and English professors, like me, enjoy the chance to relearn the astronomy they once loved before calculus crushed their hopes for a scientific career. They often see themselves as learning with their children rather than simply teaching them.
They are confident in their ability to teach. Professors often see teaching their own children as part of a continuum of pleasurable obligations to the next generation; they seek to integrate the values of their profession with the values they live at home. Since professors often teach the teachers, they tend to believe – perhaps with some hubris – in their ability to teach effectively at all grade levels. But more often, they recognize their limitations and seek collaboration with other parents – often professors themselves – with different areas of expertise.
They benefit from flexible schedules. Academics tend to work about 50 hours per week during the academic year, but they also have control over their schedules and long periods of relative autonomy. Most professors have a co-parenting ideal, but in practice one partner – usually the mother – becomes the primary home educator, while the father assumes a secondary role with some seasonal variation. Some express discomfort with this circumstance because they recognize the sacrifices that each partner requires of the other.
They value unstructured learning. Professors know how much time is lost by learning in an institutional setting. A large portion of the time spent in school is devoted to moving students around, dealing with disruptions, health problems, different amounts of preparation, and unequal rates of learning. Without all the crowd control and level seeking, the formal requirements of education can be completed in only a few hours a day, leaving lots of time for self-directed learning and play. As a result, home-schooled children generally learn faster and with less boredom and less justified resentment.
They see the results of public education. Every professor seems to complain that most high-school graduates are not really prepared for college, either academically or emotionally. More and more, our energies are devoted to remedial teaching and therapeutic counseling. Most believe that something is wrong in public education, or the larger culture, that can only be dealt with, in part, by selective withdrawal. Home-schooled students are not always perfect, but they seem more respectful, attentive, mature, and academically prepared than their peers. And they do not automatically perceive teachers as “the enemy” out of peer solidarity.
They privilege the family over peer groups. Professors often celebrate diversity as a value in education, and, among those who home school, many mention the value for their children of cross-generational experiences instead of identifying only with a peer group. In large families, children also benefit from teaching their younger siblings, who are generally eager to keep up. Home-schooled students are less likely to become alienated from their families as a result of antisocial, anti-intellectual peer conformity. They develop a set of values that enable them to resist the negative socialization that outweighs, by far, the benefits of segregation by age.
They have negative memories of their own education. Although it takes some probing, nearly every professor with home-schooled children mentions traumatic childhood experiences in school. Professors, as a group, tend to have been sensitive, intelligent children who were picked on and ostracized. They foresee the same treatment for their own children, and they want to do everything they can to prevent the children from experiencing the traumas they experienced. Professors recognize how many of our most brilliant students have been emotionally or physically terrorized for a dozen years before they arrive at college. School sometimes teaches otherwise happy and intelligent children to become sullen and secretive and contemptuous of learning.
It is hard to overemphasize this last point as a motive for home schoolers. In my own memory, the difficulty of school was never the work; it was surviving the day without being victimized by students whose violence was beyond the capacity or desire of adults to control. My spouse remembers the cruelty of girls in cliques, who can be even more cunning at the infliction of pain and permanent emotional scarring than any of the boys who sometimes sent me home with torn clothes and a bloody nose.
No doubt, my spouse and I have had to forgo some career options for our present way of life. Home schooling our children means we have to live on an assistant professor’s salary. It also means living in a small town in the Midwest instead of an expensive city on one of the coasts. It means living in an old farmhouse that I am, more or less, renovating by myself. It means not eating out or going on vacations very often. It means driving older American cars instead of shiny new Volvos. But the big reward is the time we get to spend with our children.
I suppose, on some level, my spouse and I are rebelling against an academic culture that tells us we should both be working at demanding professional jobs while our children are raised by someone else. But we value this time with our children more than career advancement for its own sake. We don’t regard ourselves as conservatives. We feel like we’re swimming against the mainstream of a culture that has sacrificed the family for economic productivity and personal ambition. We don’t think home schooling is right for everyone, but it works for us, for now. Of course we will make some mistakes, but on the whole, we think home schooling our children may be the most important thing we will ever do.
Filed on January 17, 2006 at 8:29 am under by dcobranchi
Long-time home educator Carol Forsythe is organizing DEhomeschoolers. The (hopefully statewide) inclusive group is designed to help independent home educators work together to preserve homeschooling freedoms.
[Full disclosure: Carol is a good friend from my DE days.]
Filed on at 6:36 am under by dcobranchi
Mike Cassidy needs to go back to J-school. No way should a news piece ever start like this:
Sure, I was an eye-roller.
I mean, we all know about home-schooling, right? Wacky families on the political fringes. Protective parents sheltering their kids from reality. Hopeless nerds who break out in hives at the thought of a school dance.
Then Julie Boiko hit me right between the eyes. OK, she didn’t punch me. She’s too cool. Too collected. Too practiced at smacking down the questions about being 17 and home-schooled since kindergarten.
What dreck! I’m pretty sure the assignment was not for Cassidy to write his autobiography. It’s too bad, too. The real subject of the piece is a successful HEK.
Filed on at 5:55 am under by dcobranchi
Henry Cate has the latest installment of the Carnival of Homeschooling up. As expected, he does another good job.
Filed on January 16, 2006 at 5:58 pm under by dcobranchi
Bad legislation heading your way. Chris has the details.
Filed on at 5:30 pm under by dcobranchi
Ulrike has put together a useful list of candidates’ stands/statements on education.
Filed on at 9:48 am under by dcobranchi
New ad ——>
(And, no, it’s not for Blair Witch, III)
Filed on at 5:07 am under by dcobranchi
North Carolina– The Nanny State
Lanell Perkins and Carla Ross know how important early detection of eye problems can be to a child.
“Vision affects reading, being able to see the teacher especially in guided instructional sessions, seeing information on a chart or dry erase boards,” Ross said. “The eye exams increase the likelihood of school success rather than setting a child up for failure and having him try to catch up later.”
So they support a new law signed by Governor Mike Easley in August. That law, which will be enforced by the N.C. Department Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, requires every child entering kindergarten in a North Carolina public school to receive a professional eye exam before entering school in 2006-2007. The only thing, Ross and Perkins say, is the law does not go far enough.
The new law does not affect children who attend private, charter or home schools.
“They require a kindergarten physical for every child regardless of what school they attend so why not eye exams too?” Perkins asked.
I agree. My kids often complain about not being able to see the white board when my wife is lecturing to them sitting 30 feet away. And Perkins is wrong about the law, too. NC home education law does not mandate a physical exam, only that they be up-to-date on their vaccines.
Filed on at 4:56 am under by dcobranchi
A group in Canada thinks marketing home education supplies is the next Amway:
Some of the other free services that Ladybug Homeschool offers are:
1. Free gift reminder e-mail service. If you have an anniversary, birthday, reunion or any other occassion to remember, they will remember it for you. All you have to do is fill out the form and Ladybug Homeschool will send you a reminder e-mail before the big event.
2. Free homeschool information kit. This will be mailed to your house with all the information you might need to make for a successful homeschool year. This kit also inlcudes activities for your children.
3. An opportunity for homeschool parents to generate an extra monthly income by owning their own homeschool store online. As a homeschool store owner you will not need to ship any products or deal with wholesalers. You will just rake in the money.
4. Free online games, homeschool links and worksheets for children and parents.
5. Free newsletter that will help you save on your homeschool supplies and will also provide you with helpful homeschooling information.
6. Ladybug Homeschool also offers a loyalty program where you will receive points for every purchase you make. These points can then be redeemed toward products on the site.
7. Free online help and consulting service for first time visitors and free online help for repeat visitors.
I wonder if they’d let me be their first international distributor. I wouldn’t mind raking in a bunch of money.
UPDATE: And further cementing its place in the “Stupid Homeschool Press Release” category, this one didn’t manage to give the URL for their client’s website.
Filed on January 15, 2006 at 6:32 pm under by dcobranchi
A bit more detail on Hurst v. Newman, the ID case out of CA. The teacher of this supposedly secular philosophy class wrote a letter to the local newspaper explaining her rationale for offering the class. Included was this quote:
“I believe this is the class that the Lord wanted me to teach,” she wrote.
The legal term for that is shooting ones’ self in the foot.
Filed on at 8:33 am under by dcobranchi
At the end an otherwise nice article on homeschooling in Northern Kentucky, they list the pros and cons of home education. I’ve no quibble with the pros, but some of the cons seem a bit “off.”
Cons
* Demands on time and finances
* One parent often gives up career and income
* Being with children 24/7
* Limited extracurricular activities and sports
* Socialization concerns
* Living outside of the norm
* No quality control
Being with our kids and living outside the norm? Those aren’t bugs. They’re features.
Filed on January 14, 2006 at 12:56 pm under by dcobranchi
The 2nd installment of the Carnival of Unschooling is up.
Filed on at 9:38 am under by dcobranchi
From an HSLDA page lauding homeschoolers’ political activism:
Homeschoolers are among America’s most active citizens. When we teach our own children in our homes, we do the hard work of building a self-governing society. When we speak out about legislation that directly affects us, we fulfill our Founders’ dream of participatory government.
This from the organization that in the last three years has essentially played the K Street game, the very antithesis of participatory government.
Filed on at 4:55 am under by dcobranchi
Online gambling research?
BROOKLYN, Ohio– A high school research assignment on Internet pornography was canceled after parents in this Cleveland suburb complained.
Superintendent Jeff Lampert said that although the teacher’s apparent goal _ to discuss the harmful effects of pornography _ was well- intentioned, he agreed with parents that the assignment was inappropriate for 14- and 15-year-old freshmen at Brooklyn High.
The assignment asked students to research pornography on the Internet and list eight facts about pornography. Students also were asked to write their personal views of pornography and any experience they had with it.
Lampert said he doubted the teacher would face any punishment.
That has to be the dumbest teacher in the world. Why are they withholding his/her name? (via Joanne Jacobs)
Filed on January 13, 2006 at 7:39 pm under by dcobranchi
Or at least the B.C. portion thereof:
VANCOUVER – In B.C., the knives are out. The federal election race is closer here than in any other province, with tight, three-way contests in many of the province’s 36 ridings.
…The release pointed to comments made by Jim McMurtry, in a letter he wrote in 2003 to Teachers, a magazine published by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation.
A public school teacher, Mr. McMurtry is a strong opponent of home schooling. In his three-year-old letter, he wrote that parents who home school their children “participate in what can be perceived as a form of child abuse.”
Mr. McMurtry stands by the remarks in his letter. Reached yesterday, he said that home-schooled children are sometimes forced to “do piecemeal work in the garment industry and in the construction industry … home schooling in some cases is tantamount to child abuse when children are deprived of a nurturing environment. I believe that.”
Y’all know what to do.
Filed on at 7:29 pm under by dcobranchi
My final word:
Researchers have sequenced the bird flu viruses that killed two people in Turkey in early January, and say that one of them contains a worrying mutation.
This genetic tweak can make the H5N1 virus more adapted to humans than to birds, and more adapted to the nose and throat than to the lungs. This latter effect could help to increase the chances of bird flu being transmitted between people, researchers say.
They add that many more mutations would probably be necessary before the virus is capable of sparking a full-blown pandemic, in which disease spreads like wild fire from person to person.
Yeah, it’s all hype.
BTW, the article throws out that there have been 18 confirmed cases in Turkey in just two weeks. You can apologize whenever it’s convenient.
Filed on at 12:33 am under by dcobranchi
Check out today’s APOD. If you have broadband (or are the patient type) be sure to click on the photo for the high-res version. Truly amazing.
Filed on January 12, 2006 at 11:15 pm under by dcobranchi
on the hoof.
Fluoroescent green pigs via modern science. Very cool. (HT: Jason)
Filed on at 8:00 am under by dcobranchi
for the state with the crappiest home education laws…. (drumroll)….
South Carolina.
Their new and improved version might be better. But better is still far from good. (via NCSW)
Filed on at 6:23 am under by dcobranchi
Found via GoogleNews:
Award recipients
Area residents win big at Pa. Farm Show
…Mason Dixon Homeschoolers, Waynesboro — both squares (eight dancers each), organized by Mary Hudzinski, earned blue ribbons in the youth category.
Filed on at 6:20 am under by dcobranchi
Who writes these stupid press releases?
Home Schooling Online: The New Education Revolution Wave
…Also, part of Brilliant’s programs are the ASE Automotive preparation training, Speech Therapy and Accent Reduction Programs, all-new Christian Home Schooling, and other partnership programs available worldwide.
Run by a newly executive board, is now under the direction of CEO, Anthony House. You can visit their educational site at www.brilliantschools.com.
Filed on at 6:08 am under by dcobranchi
Life in Fayetteville, where the results of a Newsmax.com poll make it into the LttE:
No warrants necessary for presidents
One of your polls shows that 856 surveyed believe a warrant is necessary for the president to authorize wire tapping for national security. But another survey of over 150,000 is quite different. Which is right, the 150,000 plus survey or the 856 poll?
Americans overwhelmingly support President Bush’s authorization to the National Security Agency to tap the private conversations of U.S. citizens to search for evidence of terrorist activity, an exclusive NewsMax.com poll reveals.
In one of the largest responses to a NewsMax poll ever, more than 150,000 people across the Internet have made their opinions known about this controversy.
And they resoundingly say that the president was justified in taking this action to protect America.
Here is a breakdown of the poll results for several key questions:
Has President Bush been justified in tapping the conversation of U.S. citizens?
Justified — 80 percent
Not Justified — 20 percent
Do you believe the President must have a court-approved warrant to conduct a wiretap?
Yes — 23 percent
No — 72 percent
Not Sure — 5 percent
Do you believe President Bush’s claim that he undertook this action to protect America?
Yes — 83 percent
No – 17 percent.
John J. Guss
Fayetteville
Yes, a self-selected poll on a right-wing site is much more accurate than a scientific, randomized poll conducted by a respected polling organization.
Filed on at 6:04 am under by dcobranchi
Re-published with permission. From Helen Hegener.
This is an open invitation to join a discussion list for a new
national effort for promoting and defending homeschooling rights and
freedoms. This preliminary mission statement appears at the
discussion list site:
Stillwater Homeschool Alliance
~Building Understanding and Perspective~
The primary goals of the Stillwater Homeschool Alliance include
working for a greater understanding of homeschooling issues and
concerns, thereby promoting a more informed, cohesive, and effective
homeschooling community.
The long term goals of the Alliance shall include encouraging
grassroots homeschooling efforts, providing homeschool-specific
information to groups and individuals, and advancing the rights and
responsibilities of parents who wish to educate their children at
home.
As a first step in achieving these goals this Alliance will work
toward developing a coalition of individuals, support groups,
businesses, organizations and other entities which support the
long-term interests of the homeschool movement.
This Alliance will also work toward the development of The
Stillwater Institute for Homeschooling Research and Studies, which
will seek to inform legislators, educators, media reporters, legal
professionals, researchers and others with a bona fide interest in
homeschooling via position statements, news releases, white papers,
opinion pieces and more.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There are two options for joining the new discussion list. Visit the
list website or subscribe via email:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StillwaterHomeschoolAlliance/
You can also join by sending a blank email to
StillwaterHomeschoolAlliance-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Thank you for your interest and your support!
Helen Hegener
Stillwater Homeschool Alliance
Filed on January 11, 2006 at 4:25 pm under by dcobranchi
This one seems even more obvious than Kitzmiller. Just how dumb do you have to be to win an election to a school board?
A rural high school teaching a religion-based alternative to evolution was sued Tuesday by a group of parents who said the class should be stopped because it violates the U.S. Constitution.
…An initial course description sent to parents in December said it would examine “evolution as a theory and will discuss the scientific, biological and Biblical aspects that suggest why Darwin’s philosophy is not rock solid.”
The El Tejon district’s Board of Trustees approved the course 3-2 with a revised syllabus in a Jan. 1 session, during which board members had to vote up or down on the entire winter session curriculum.
Classes started two days later with a class plan that relied solely on videos, not guest speakers.
The Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State said that with one exception the course “relies exclusively on videos that advocate religious perspectives and present religious theories as scientific ones.”
Calling it a philosophy class does not get around the Lemon test. ID will lose this one, too.
Filed on at 4:09 pm under by dcobranchi
Watch this video clip of a news story in which Tom Delay threatens TV stations for running a negative ad. Do you get the feeling that the station just gave Delay a big “Screw you!”?
Filed on at 3:37 pm under by dcobranchi
Here’s the Education & Homeschooling category.
Filed on at 6:57 am under by dcobranchi
to text-crazed teens: Let them pay for the stupid cellphone themselves.
None of my kids has a cellphone. I don’t even have one, Luddite that I am. I may get a pre-paid phone sometime in the future, but right now I’m enjoying the $65/month I was sending Cingular a whole lot more than I’m missing the convenience.
Filed on at 6:44 am under by dcobranchi
Man, I hate these things.
“There is no better place for a student than to be in school,” Councilman and former school board member Frank West said. “I think it will make this city a safer place.”
The new ordinance would affect students younger than 18 in the Moreno Valley and Val Verde unified school districts. Police would be able to stop, question, issue citations to and pick up adolescents who are in public places between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on school days.
HEKs are “exempt,” whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.
Filed on at 6:37 am under by dcobranchi
Home educator (and letter carrier) Tom W. Miller is about to have his second novel published. Numbers three through six are in various stages of pre-publication.
Filed on at 6:28 am under by dcobranchi
Izzy found a great comment from a state senator about HEKs vs. g-schoolers. A couple of additional bits of info– Sen. Crutchfield is the sponsor of the scholarship bill, so it appears that he intends it to exclude HEKs. And Sen. Crutchfield was a g-school teacher for 28 years. Somehow I have a feeling those two little facts are related.
Here’s contact information for the “good” senator (and, no, I did not make up that email address):
Senator Johnnie Crutchfield
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Rm. 416
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 521-5607
(405) 530-2361 (fax)
bigger@oksenate.gov
Filed on at 2:34 am under by dcobranchi
I think that many times testing critics’ complaints of cultural bias in tests are just a bunch of hand-waving nonsense. Scoop seems to have found a couple of examples of the genuine article in the practice test for NY’s high stakes 8th-grade test:
“The year 1999 was a big one for the Williams sisters. In February, Serena won her first pro singles championship. In March, the sisters met for the first time in a tournament final. Venus won. And at doubles tennis, the Williams girls could not seem to lose that year.” And here’s one of the four questions:
“The story says that in 1999, the sisters could not seem to lose at doubles tennis. This probably means when they played
“A two matches in one day
“B against each other
“C with two balls at once
“D as partners”
OK, class, do you know the answer? (By the way, I didn’t cheat: there’s nothing else about “doubles” in the text.)
OK, it’s just the practice test, and maybe the obvious bias is why this item didn’t make the cut. But, if I were a parent with a kid in the NY g-schools, that practice item sure wouldn’t give me a case of the warm fuzzies.
Filed on January 10, 2006 at 2:14 pm under by dcobranchi
50 Books is one of the finalists in the BoBs literary category. Doppelganger’s is one of the few blogs on my “daily read” list.
Filed on at 5:38 am under by dcobranchi
It’s still all about the science:
Bible-believing parents should instruct children
Reports on the Pennsylvania school district that decided not to include intelligent design with the theory of evolution in its biology curriculum got me thinking. First, I believe in the biblical account of creation. While it distresses me that schools refuse to include the intelligent design argument alongside Darwin’s theory, the ultimate responsibility of teaching children about intelligent design belongs to parents.
Parents who believe in the biblical account of creation need to teach their own children what they believe. It’s never too early to teach children about God’s creation. Then when children encounter Darwin’s theory in school, parents need to help their children challenge it and see how it measures up to the biblical account of creation.
After all, by giving students different viewpoints, you’re encouraging critical thinking skills.
Dawn von Fricken, Wilmington
Filed on at 5:26 am under by dcobranchi
I was interviewed last night by a journalist working on a book. The most interesting question was what I thought the biggest challenge to home education in the near term (1 – 3 years). I came up with two (which might really be one). I thought the issues we would continue to face would be cyber charters and home educators begging to have their kids permitted to take g-school classes or play g-school sports. They seem to be two sides of the same coin– the gradual merging of (formerly) independent home education with the public schools. Cyber schools try to pull homeschoolers back into the system, and (some) parents volunteer to push their kids back in.
But I’m sure I missed some other issues. What do y’all think we’re likely to face?
Filed on at 5:16 am under by dcobranchi
New York is considering lowering the age to 5 from 7. Two more years of unnecessary paperwork for home educators. Two more years of having to comply with NY’s horrid home education laws.
Filed on at 5:09 am under by dcobranchi
I’m no softee on sex-offenders but basically banning them from civilization after they’ve served their time is wrong. And this proposal is even more wrong:
What should Colorado do? We have a few counties that have been losing population. Why not find some fading and isolated town, and establish a reservation for convicted sex offenders after they’ve served their prison time? The place would be tightly policed and no children would live there. Since the offenders would be pretty much stuck there, they’d work cheaply, and there must be companies interested in a supply of low-cost labor. So it should quickly become self-supporting, while meanwhile protecting, to some degree, the rest of Colorado.
I believe those are called prisons. BTDT, remember? And this column isn’t from some Neanderthal at LGF or the FreeRepublic. This is from a regular columnist for the Denver Post.
Filed on January 9, 2006 at 5:26 pm under by dcobranchi
The DHS (I know, I know) has released recommendations for how people should prepare in case (when?) the avian flu strain mutates to one that is easily passed among humans:
Bracing for a possible flu pandemic, the government is urging people to prepare to teach their kids at home, chart family members’ blood types and allergies and find out in advance if they will be able to work from their house.
…[T]he government suggests stocking a supply of water and nonperishable food and prescription drugs.
We’re doing that and then some. By next winter I’ll have a three-month supply of non-perishable food on hand, and our propane tank will be full. We’ll have a gas stove for cooking and a gas fireplace for warmth (if the electricity goes out there may be no one available to fix it). We’ll also have a hand pump for our well (again, in case of electricity failure). I’ve already decided that if I have to go to work, I’ll sleep in my office and communicate home by phone only. The family may go a little stir-crazy, but they should all be able to avoid folks who are sick. I hope. (Tip credit: Tad)
Filed on at 4:56 pm under by dcobranchi
Mike Smith on Section 522.
Filed on at 4:42 pm under by dcobranchi
If anyone else out there was also negged by the CoH for being family unfriendly, Chris has a solution.
Filed on January 8, 2006 at 8:21 pm under by dcobranchi
My FSM post was not welcome and so the CoH and I have gone out separate ways.
Filed on at 7:32 pm under by dcobranchi
Our kids can spell (or at least run a spell-check):
This is a package on the benifits and drawbacks on home-schooling
In addition to being a poor speller, the reporter manages to screw up the description of the homeschooling laws. From the article:
Under state law, in order for a parent to home school their child they must have taken 45 college-level credit hours and completed a course in home-based education at a post-secondary school or vocational institution.
…Additionally, the student must have contact with a state-certified instructor an average of one hour per month and the curriculum taught to the student must cover 11 basic subjects, including reading, writing, spelling, language, math, science, social studies, history, health, occupational education, and art and music appreciation.
And from the NHEN summary of WA’s law:
To homeschool in Washington, parents must comply with one of four options:
1. Be supervised by a certificated person who provides a minimum of one contact hour a week average per month.
2. Have forty-five college level quarter credit hours or its equivalent in semester hours.
3. Complete a course in home-based instruction at a post secondary institution or vocational-technical institute.
4. Have the local school superintendent deem you sufficiently qualified.
Parents are required to:
1. File a Declaration of Intent at proper time.
2. Keep certain records to be forwarded to any other public or private school to which the child transfers.
3. Have the child take a standardized test annually (those approved by the State Board of Education and given by a qualified person) or have the child evaluated by a certificated person currently working within the field of education. The test/evaluation is only for parent information; it is not required to be seen by school officials unless the parent wishes to admit the student to public school.
4. Provide instruction in the 11 required areas.
OR not AND. And not a single mention of having to meet with a g-school teacher monthly. Of course, NHEM might be wrong. Yeah. Sure. (Via HSWatch list-serv)
Filed on at 6:19 pm under by dcobranchi
Some cybersquatter saw fit to register cobranchi.net, cobranchi.org, and cobranchi.info.
As near as we’ve been able to determine, there are a total of 19 Cobranchis in the entire world- 6 of them in my house. I doubt there’s going to be a huge demand for these other domains.
Filed on at 7:36 am under by dcobranchi
Here’s a cute column from a soon-to-be first-time father.
Filed on January 7, 2006 at 8:09 pm under by dcobranchi
[Editorial comment– This post was originally intended for Week 2 of of Carnival of Homeschooling. For reasons beyond my control, it was not included. I’ve submitted it for Week 3 even though it might not exactly match the theme. Caveat reader.]
That’s the topic for this week’s Carnival. I haven’t ever listed our reasons, so here’s my chance. Y’all might guess, given the topics that we usually cover here at HE&OS, that we’d be entirely secular, but you’d be wrong.
We pulled our kids out of the local public schools so that we could teach them our religion. We found that our religious values just would not be, just could not be taught in the public schools. Our kids were being taught all sorts of things that directly conflict with our beliefs. Things like Intelligent Design/Creationism. Yeah, Adam and Eve and all that. In our home, we know that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created everything starting with a mountain, some trees and a midgit [sic]. Yes, we’re Pastafarians.
We follow an orthodox Pastafarian curriculum for our homeschool. Thus, Fridays are holidays and we “homeschool” Sunday through Thursday. And we have spaghetti and meatballs (His Holy Communion) for lunch at least once a week. Now, of course, the government schools serve the holy meal, but never in full pirate regalia.
All of our curriculum is FSM-based. Science, of course, is taught from the perspective that everything we see, all the so-called scientific evidence for evolution/Darwinism is a fabrication by the FSM, put there for His amusement. Thus, scientific naturalism is utterly rejected (something we have in common with the IDists/Creationists). We don’t do “experiments” in science class, as our prophet has explained that the FSM will reach out his noodly appendage to change the results. So, experiments in science class seemed kind of silly. For art, we study the old masters. Spelling is not stressed in our homeschool; the Prophet has acknowledged that he is a terrible speller. We figure if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for our kids.
We have found that homeschooling is the best way to ensure that our kids are raised in our faith and with our values. Ramen!
[Note to all 1st time visitors: The above is a joke. Relax. And have a plate of spaghetti on me.]
Filed on at 6:27 pm under by dcobranchi
Iowa (again).
A pre-filed bill would increase the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18. This could affect home educators by forcing them to comply with the homeschooling laws for two extra years. (Hat tip: Bobbi M.)
Filed on at 6:11 am under by dcobranchi
Not even close.
Filed on at 6:06 am under by dcobranchi
Asheville is too far away for us to pull this off. Darn!
ï€ Homeschool adventures: Skiing and snowboarding at Sugar Mountain for ages 9 to 17. Package includes lift ticket, lesson, and rental. Bring lunch, water and wear ski clothes. Departs Montford Recreatoin Center. Cost: $34 for Asheville residents; $36 for non-residents. Call 251-4029.
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