Filed on June 10, 2006 at 8:30 am under by dcobranchi
This one is really good.
As a home-schooling mom (and a Southern Baptist to boot), I need to respond to Malcolm R. Howell’s letter(“Southern Baptists’ position ‘absurd’,” May 31) expressing concerns about the home-schooling movement in our country.
First, I would like to assure him that a resolution in support of home schooling will in no way force children to flee from public schools. I agree that we are called to go out into the world and to influence the world.
It is yet one more challenge that we face as we home-school our children. The decision to place children in a parochial or home school is a very personal one that requires sacrifice on the part of the whole family. Yet, more and more families are choosing these options.
While I believe that home schooling is the best decision for my children, it is not for everyone. I have enjoyed learning along with my four children. So far, I have taught my 16-year-old son chemistry (with labs), anatomy (with multiple dissections), geometry and algebra II.
No, I am not a certified teacher, but with the help of great textbooks, I have been able to effectively teach these subjects. He takes tests written by the textbook authors, and I score them. We also take standardized tests to measure his performance compared to students nationwide. My son has scored well enough on the college entrance exams to gain admission to the university of his choice.
Perhaps at one time the public schools were the backbone of our society. That time has passed. Public schools have become so mired in political correctness, social engineering and standardized testing that the teachers find themselves unable to teach in effective ways. Their hands are tied by miles and miles of red tape and stacks and stacks of paperwork.
With over 40 days of standardized testing each year plus days spent meeting the required number of classroom tests, little time is left for instruction.
Ask public school teachers about recent changes in their paperwork load and I’m sure that they would be happy to elaborate. Ask them about discipline problems and the limits placed on them by the administration. I’m sure they’ll have any number of horror stories to share with you.
Yes, the ground is level in public school, but in leveling the ground the highest peaks have been eliminated. Children should be taught to soar, not to settle for a place on “level ground.”
I challenge anyone who questions the validity of a home-school education to attend a home-school convention and to observe the level of dedication on the part of the parents and those who serve them. Make an effort to meet home-schooled kids. They are everywhere: working in part-time jobs, on field trips, serving in their churches. Get to know them and see what great, well-rounded kids they are.
Please don’t judge their worth to society based on an uninformed view of home schooling. These kids will be serving in the world and they will have been taught Christ’s words and commandments. Just watch; you’ll see great things.
You have already seen great things from home-schooled students. Any number of our Founding Fathers were taught at home, as were Abraham Lincoln and many other great people in our history. This country was built by home-schooled students and was founded for the principles of freedom which we now exercise as we teach our children at home.
As I close, I would like to answer a few of the common prejudices concerning home schooling. Yes, sometimes we sleep later than our public-schooled peers, but we still get all of our work done. Sometimes the kids do their schoolwork in their PJs; I don’t notice that they learn less. Moms who home-school aren’t too lazy to take their kids to school; we actually teach all day every day with every opportunity.
Home schooling isn’t the cheap way out; it costs an arm and a leg to adequately educate a child at home. These families sacrifice time, money and friends to home school. Please don’t make it worse by labeling these kids as anything but the success stories that they are.
SAMANTHA FOLSE
Coden
Well done, Mrs. Folse.
Filed on at 8:24 am under by dcobranchi
When homeschoolers spread the same misinformation that the educrats do, we’re in trouble:
Students typically pursue the GED, which empowers a student to pursue college just like with a regular high school diploma, because they dropped out of high school, for whatever reason.
Thigpen, son of Buddy and Susan Thigpen, grew up in Gainesville as a homeschooler, then moved to Russia with his family when he was 15.
His parents, involved in missions and humanitarian work, continued to homeschool him.
“I had finished most of the courses required for a diploma, but not all of them,” Thigpen said.
He returned to the United States in January 2005, after eight years in Russia, and began to pursue his GED through Lanier Technical College’s Adult Learning Center on Stallworth Street in Gainesville.
“I knew I wanted to go to college, so I needed to get a diploma,” he said. “Even if I was not going to college, it made sense to get some sort of diploma.”
He’s going to a Bible college. I find it hard to believe that the school wouldn’t accept a missionary’s certification that he had completed his home education in Russia.
Filed on at 7:14 am under by dcobranchi
Christopher Heard obliterates Rev. Jim’s latest anti-homeschooling piece. West really is a buffoon, isn’t he? I find it hard to believe that a Southern Baptist church pays him each week. I wonder if all the congregants are family members.
Filed on June 9, 2006 at 3:50 pm under by dcobranchi
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R- HSLDA) received a present of dog feces through the mail slot at one of her campaign offices. As she is Farris’ lapdog, perhaps someone thought they were returning something she had dropped.
Yeah, I REALLY don’t like her.
Filed on at 2:26 pm under by dcobranchi
A Latin update.
While ordering the materials for Ecce Romani I noticed that they had what are called Marketing Bundles for all three Ecce Romani books. These are only available on the OASIS site and were priced at a penny. I figured they must be some kind of brochure but that there might be some useful information. And at a penny a piece, how could I go wrong? Well, I went very wrong. The marketing bundle was not a brochure. It was the full hardback textbook. Yeah, they shipped me three texts, each one with a retail value of $55.47.
I’m going to attempt to return them, of course.
Filed on June 8, 2006 at 10:10 pm under by dcobranchi
I’m in a discussion with some folks who believe (I hope mistakenly) that the big statewide group suggests over-complying with the law– sending in forms that aren’t required and “homeschooling” for 180 days (another non-requirement). I was accused of being angry and possibly hiding something because I refuse to over-comply.
I need some help here. Am I out-of-line?
Filed on at 9:20 pm under by dcobranchi
Here’s an interesting homeschool/mom blog.
Filed on at 8:29 pm under by dcobranchi
My lovely wife worked with Merck on honing the marketing plan for this vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. It’s being approved for females now, but Lydia says the data indicate that males should also be vaccinated. Of course they can’t get cervical cancer, but they can carry HPV, and they’re also susceptible to genital warts.
Filed on at 6:25 am under by dcobranchi
I love the smell of snark in the morning:
Sentence fragments leave readers hanging
Columnist Bill Kirby supports honor cords for graduating high school seniors in Moore County (“Moore policy casts shadow on excellence,†June 2).
This letter is not about Moore County.
Instead, I wonder if Kirby won an honor cord when he was in high school.
For journalism class, maybe?
Or basic English?
Here’s why I ask.
Out of his entire column, all but three paragraphs consist of only one sentence apiece.
And those three aren’t much better. Each one of them contains only two sentences.
On top of that, many of his sentences are not really sentences at all.
They’re just clauses.
And many of them begin with conjunctions.
Others are even smaller sentence fragments.
Just like this one.
He must think it’s cute.
Or stylish.
Or modern.
I think it’s choppy.
And disjointed.
And annoying.
But I really can’t blame Kirby. He’s just copying a style of writing employed by far too many syndicated op-ed columnists.
Actually, anybody can write this way.
It may carry a punch, but there’s no flow.
No continuity.
No grouping of related ideas into coherent units of thought.
Certainly, it’s all right, on occasion, to use a one-sentence paragraph, or even to leave a sentence fragment hanging.
Just for emphasis.
But all the time?
I don’t think so.
On the other hand, I didn’t major in either journalism or English.
So who am I to complain?
Ed Beddingfield
Fayetteville
Of course, I’m guilty of every one of those sins. But, you get what you pay for. 🙂
Filed on June 7, 2006 at 10:11 pm under by dcobranchi
An update to a post from a while back.
The Catholic school teacher who was fired from her job for signing an advertisement supporting abortion rights has lost her appeal.
The U.S 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed a District Court
ruling that Michele Curay-Cramer’s rights were not violated when Ursuline Academy, a private Catholic school in Wilmington, fired her in 2001.
Yeah, I do remember most of what I’ve posted over the years.
Filed on at 9:46 pm under by dcobranchi
The latest edition of the Home Educator’s Family Times is up.
Filed on at 6:55 pm under by dcobranchi
I’m glad home educators aren’t implicated in this scam:
Legal or not, ethical or not, some private-school parents are enrolling their children in struggling public schools they don’t intend to send them to, in hopes of using state money to pay tuition.
…Since the statewide voucher initiative, called the Ohio EdChoice Scholarship program, was created last year, the department has been clear that students currently enrolled in private schools or home-schooled can’t participate.
But it’s unclear what “enrolled” means
Private schooler are registering their kids at the local failing g-school just days before the end of the year, fully intending to “transfer” back to their private school in September. If this is a real loophole, it needs to be closed. Fast.
Filed on at 6:17 pm under by dcobranchi
I was all set to post a really snarky response to this idiot. Alas, Blogger is being its typical non-responsive self. I’ll post an update when comments are again open. (Tip Credit: Ryan @ Edspresso)
UPDATE: Blogger’s unbloggered.
Filed on at 6:28 am under by dcobranchi
The Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. For once, the supposedly lower resolution one (linked above) looks better than the high res version. I think they forgot to sharpen the latter.
Filed on at 5:57 am under by dcobranchi
CA’s Prop 82, the free babysitting plan, went down in flames, 60 percent to 40.
Filed on June 6, 2006 at 11:07 am under by dcobranchi
Extra credit for holding it.
Even though Daniel Thornton occasionally needed to go to the bathroom during his AP history course last year, he also needed a B on the midterm to maintain his grade. So he did what lots of students at Forest Park Senior High School in Woodbridge do in their Darwinian pursuit of academic success: Thornton endured a full bladder and instead hoarded his two restroom passes, which, unused, were worth six points of extra credit.
…Teachers have whipped up creative ways to minimize restroom visits during class. Some schools have an extra-credit incentive program, which is not universally embraced among parents or within academic circles. Although advocates say the passes — which can be used for numerous destinations — maximize classroom time, critics say it is unfair to give anyone an academic advantage based on something as unacademic as bathroom habits.
“What’s the correlation between holding your urine and succeeding on a history test?” asked Kevin Barr, principal of Georgetown Day School, a private school in the District. “My basic assumption is always that kids need to be comfortable and safe to excel in the classroom.”
There’s lots more idiocy where this came from. My favorite bit:
Other schools use a more archival approach to keep track of students and their bathroom habits: log sheets on which students must jot down the time they need to leave class and their destination. A teacher’s initials are also needed.
…At Albert Einstein High School in Montgomery, students find any scrap piece of paper — or a hand will suffice — on which to sign a teacher’s name and time. But Principal James Fernandez said he wants to order agenda books with log sheets for next year.
“The agenda books provide accountability,” Fernandez said.
I belive educrats have only a three three word vocabulary– “zero tolerance” and “accountability.” I guess I shouldn’t expect any better from the dumbest college majors. And the g-school teachers wonder why their “profession” (Hah!) gets so little respect? (Tip credit: Skip and Jason)
Filed on at 10:57 am under by dcobranchi
Kakistocracy— government by the worst elements of society.
I don’t know why, but Chris’s post made me think of this.
Filed on at 6:11 am under by dcobranchi
This says it all, doesn’t it?
Filed on at 6:08 am under by dcobranchi
The CoH is posted yesterday (or is it tomorrow?) over at the PalmTree Pundit’s place.
Filed on June 5, 2006 at 9:57 pm under by dcobranchi
Don’t sweat tomorrow’s 6/6/06 date. The real Mark of the Beast may be 616. Sorry, Cavalor– the party will have to wait another century (via a comment on RedStateRabble).
Filed on at 9:40 pm under by dcobranchi
The NYT today has a short piece on a supposed resurgence of paid tutoring in lieu of attending school. A couple things jumped out. 1) The NYT still needs a fact-checker:
Home schooling is legal in every state, though some regulate it more than others. Home-school teachers do not require certification, and the only common requirement from state to state is that students meet compulsory-attendance rules.
2) I’m in the wrong line of work:
The cost for such teachers generally runs $70 to $110 an hour.
Overall, the article is interesting enough but it’s nothing Earth-shattering.
Filed on at 9:20 pm under by dcobranchi
A reasonable conservative has some reasonable proposed constitutional amendments.
Filed on at 7:12 pm under by dcobranchi
The Discovery Channel has evidently been airing a documentary on Patrick Henry (Dominionist Bible) College. It next airs in late June.
Filed on at 10:15 am under by dcobranchi
Via Mike Sabo, a very cool photo.
Filed on at 6:50 am under by dcobranchi
The anti-dominionist Talk2Action has a really good piece on PHC and Michael Farris. Here’s the homeschooling bit:
Patrick Henry College is a dominionist college that especially targets the product of the ever-increasing dominionist “homeschool” industry–kids who have been educated their entire educational careers on correspondence-school material (and yes, the vast majority of dominionist “homeschooling” is in fact correspondence schooling, typically run by either dominionist churches or the publishers of the curriculum) like A Beka’s curriculum and other educationally substandard dominionist curricula packages designed more as “indoctrination for Junior” than as formal education.
Patrick Henry College was founded in 1998 by Michael Farris, then head of a group called the Home School Legal Defense Association–a dominionist correspondence-school lobbying association that, in addition to working for expanding legal loopholes for dominionist “homeschooling” has also explicitly promoted dominionist causes unrelated to correspondence-schooling, frequently attempts to lock out non-dominionist homeschool associations out altogether (and was actually successful for a time in South Carolina), explicitly promotes only pro-dominionist homeschooling groups (several of which require actual statements of faith for membership) and notably does not list several major inclusive state groups, and even uses dominionist parents’ fears of CPS as recruitment tactics, has worked on expanding legal loopholes that permit horrific acts of religiously motivated child abuse to go undetected and even promote books on religiously motivated child abuse, and leaders have even coached their members on how to derail CPS investigations.
There are tons of links and lots of background. Well-worth a read.
Filed on June 4, 2006 at 7:30 pm under by dcobranchi
Homeschooling math humor via Melissa Wiley.
Filed on at 6:02 pm under by dcobranchi
This mom wants to, needs to, home educate.
Filed on at 5:49 pm under by dcobranchi
I can’t wait to see what Spunky does with Rev. Jim’s latest.
OK- so here’s the rub. For the same reason that I have problems with home-schooling (i.e., untrained persons doing a job they have no skills for) I have problems with house-churching.
I don’t know Mr. Rodger’s and I’m sure he’s a great guy. But has he any sort of training to teach or preach or did he just decide one day that he would rather stay at home and have church on his own schedule than get in his car and drive down the road a little. In other words, is he (and are those who meet with him) Christians by the schedule of their own convenience? And what qualifies him, and gives him the right, to speak for God?
Now I think I understand Rev. Jim’s opposition to home education. He’s an elitist, through and through. God forbid (no pun intended) someone take on some task without a certificate from the appropriate governmental licensing agency. And that last sentence quoted ought to be calligraphed on parchment, framed, and hung on the reverend’s office wall. What arrogance!
UPDATE: This penultimate ‘graf seems a bit telling:
Or- perhaps I just think the house Church movement is a bad idea because I value the institutional church as my home and family. And when someone thumbs their nose at your family, it tends to annoy you.
Anyone know if Mrs. Rev. Jim is a g-school teacher?
UPDATE: I wrote above that he was an “elitist,” but that really wasn’t the word I was searching for. I just figured it out. He’s a credentialist.
Filed on at 8:36 am under by dcobranchi
This has nothing to do with education, but the Wilmington (DE) News-Journal has a good piece on DuPont and Central Research & Development (CR&D). I’ve spent approximately half my career in CR&D and was located at the Experimental Station prior to transferring down to Fayetteville.
Filed on June 3, 2006 at 9:02 pm under by dcobranchi
I hope there’s more to this study than is reported here, because it seems like there’s a big logical flaw.
URINE samples from hundreds of French children have yielded evidence for a link between autism and exposure to heavy metals. If validated, the findings might mean some cases of autism could be treated with drugs that purge the body of heavy metals.
Samples from children with autism contained abnormally high levels of a family of proteins called porphyrins, which are precursors in the production of haem, the oxygen-carrying component in haemoglobin. Heavy metals block haem production, causing porphyrins to accumulate in urine. Concentrations of one molecule, coproporphyrin, were 2.6 times as high in urine from children with autism as in controls.
Autism is thought to have a number of unknown genetic and environmental causes. Richard Lathe of Pieta Research in Edinburgh, UK, says he has found one of these factors. “It’s highly likely that heavy metals are responsible for childhood autistic disorder in a majority of cases,” he claims. The study will appear in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology.
Lathe says these porphyrin metabolites bind to receptors in the brain and have been linked with epilepsy and autism.
The researchers restored porphyrin concentrations to normal in 12 children by treating them with “chelation” drugs that mop up heavy metals and are then excreted. It is not yet known whether the children’s symptoms have eased, but Lathe cites anecdotal reports suggesting the drugs might do some good.
They didn’t detect heavy metals. So, unless the only potential cause of elevated porphyrin levels is heavy metal exposure, they’re jumping the gun with chelation therapy.
Filed on at 8:48 pm under by dcobranchi
The SF Chronicle reports that the “tide has turned” against CA’s universal pre-school proposal:
In a dramatic shift, voters say they would reject a statewide initiative on Tuesday’s ballot that would provide free preschool for all California 4-year-olds, a Field Poll released today shows.
Forty-six percent of those surveyed said they would vote against Proposition 82, while 41 percent said they would vote in favor, according to the poll. But the outcome remains uncertain because 13 percent of likely primary voters were still undecided on the measure.
What? No “free” babysitting?
Filed on at 12:05 pm under by dcobranchi
If you’re in the market for a new PC, you’d be hard-pressed to beat this deal:
Dell Small Business has the Dimension 5150 Desktop Pentium D 820 2.8Ghz 1GB/80GB Serial ATA, DVD, 19in Dell LCD, 1yr warranty for $549 shipped free, tax is charged.
I love TechBargains.com.
Filed on at 12:00 pm under by dcobranchi
Chris found a great update to the Jolt chewing gum saga.
Filed on at 6:45 am under by dcobranchi
Thanks for all the tips a couple weeks back. We (read, I) decided to use Ecce Romani. Reviews were generally very positive, and it seems to be aimed at a slightly younger student than some of the other programs. This actually turned out to be one of the deciding factors as Katelyn will also be studying Latin next year.
Next up– finding a good source on photography. The girls both want to learn. There’s lots on the web. The problem is separating the wheat from the chaff.
UPDATE: I should have mentioned that I purchased 4 of the Activity books. Lydia and I will be learning (and doing the assignments) right along with the kids. I’ve always wanted to learn Latin. Ain’t homeschooling cool?
Filed on at 12:58 am under by dcobranchi
No, not really.
Filed on June 2, 2006 at 5:17 pm under by dcobranchi
The Indian press is taking last night’s results as evidence that Indian-Americans are no longer the top dogs:
Only two Indian American students – Rajiv Tarigopula and Kavya Shivashankar – made it to the top five in the contest once dominated by them.
Only two in the top five? Oh, the shame of it!
Filed on at 4:57 pm under by dcobranchi
Fairly Remote = When Hell Freezes Over
New York Rep. Vito Fossella (R) introduced in April his Tax and Education Assistance for Children (TEACH) Act of 2006 (H.R. 5230)–a new education tax credit plan that would offer each family credits of up to $4,500 per year for elementary or secondary school tuition against taxes owed. Fossella, a product of Staten Island public schools himself, has maintained a strong school choice track record throughout his five terms in Congress.
…Meanwhile, Reps. Phil English (R-PA) and Charles Pickering (R-MS) announced in April their own federal tax credit plan for businesses making contributions to qualified scholarship organizations. Their Business Supporting Education Act (H.R. 4834) would offer businesses tax credits of up to $100,000. To qualify for the tax credits, contributions would have to be to scholarship groups that give at least 90 percent of their donations to students whose family incomes fall at or below 250 percent of the poverty line.
…Both bills were referred to the appropriate Congressional committees, where at press time observers viewed their near-term prospects for action as fairly remote.
I think tax credits are much to be preferred to vouchers, as the latter give way too much power to the government which would get to decide what was and what wasn’t a legitimate expense. Let the parents keep their tax dollars and spend it as they will. I really don’t get, though, the $4500 bill. The federal share of taxes for g-schools is way less than $4500/kid.
Filed on at 3:46 pm under by dcobranchi
I had to highlight this bit of digression in a review of the movie The Breakup:
You probably don’t know it, but we all just avoided national tragedy last night. I’m not talking about Iran developing a nuclear bomb and missiles capable of delivering them to the eastern seaboard. Seriously, big deal. I live in California.
What I’m talking about is last night a 13 year old girl from New Jersey won the National Spelling Bee. Why is that so harrowing? It isn’t. What should concern us all is that the second place finisher? Canadian.
That’s right, from Canada. Foreigners have now infiltrated–and nearly won!–the last innocent American competition. The pride of America’s youth were almost rent asunder as a whole by an upstart from some other country.
As it turns out, in Canada they don’t teach you to spell words like “weltschmerz”, the word the runner-up missed, opening the door for our Katharine Close of Spring Lake, NJ. You know what else they apparently can’t spell in Canada? “National.”
It’s not the International Spelling Bee, it’s the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Held in Washington, DC. The capital of our nation.
I know “national” is kind of generic and could apply to many countries, but come on: is Canada even really a nation? Don’t they have the Queen of England on their money? Not only is she a foreigner to them, she’s a foreigner who doesn’t even hold any kind of political power in her OWN country. How are we supposed to take these people seriously? And they think they can just waltz in here and humiliate OUR school system network of private and home-schools? I don’t think so, Gordie Canuck. Our kids might not be able to find Canada on a map, but that doesn’t mean we can’t kick your asses and send you back to… wherever it is Canada might be.
Kicking Canadian ass! Hell, yeah!! 🙂
Filed on at 6:26 am under by dcobranchi
Bush panders to the homophobic base.
President Bush will promote a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on Monday, the eve of a scheduled Senate vote on the cause that is dear to his conservative backers.
Filed on at 6:04 am under by dcobranchi
Ron writes about the naive home educator here.
Filed on at 5:45 am under by dcobranchi
Life in Fayetteville is always entertaining:
Are Christians living the Gospel?
What say ye, Christians? Are ye living the Gospel?
In light of Opus Dei, a secretive Catholic sect, and “Da Vinci Code,†a fiction based on non-canonical gospels being displayed on film and books about Jesus: Is it creating doubt, uncertainty and controversy about Christian faith?
Beware the leaven (teachings) of the Pharisees (and the Church?). They have taken away the key of knowledge (of the Kingdom of Heaven).
Inquiring minds and curious people want to know and so are drawn to controversy and entertainment.
Many books have been written about God and Jesus, but many people fail to read history of religion, especially one’s own religion, so they are dispelled by film.
Opus Dei and “The Da Vinci Code†raise more questions than answers. But if indeed it is fiction, where are the disclaimers?
So what is the answer? Are you living the Gospel?
Charles Ventura
Lumber Bridge
Filed on June 1, 2006 at 8:22 pm under by dcobranchi
One HEK left, Jonathan Horton. ABC profiled him at the top of the show. He’s cute and geeky and a terrible basketball player. 🙂
UPDATE: A liveblog of the Bee.
Filed on at 4:44 pm under by dcobranchi
Tonight.
Filed on at 1:54 pm under by dcobranchi
to know that I don’t like the USHA. From their “About Us” page (that I somehow missed yesterday):
Our legislative position is simple. We will speak out in support of political leaders and legislation that support the rights and benefits of homeschooling families. We will also voice our opposition to those who seek to restrict or stand in the way of homeschooling freedoms. We do believe that protection of the family itself is an important issue to homeschooling as well. Without a strong family unit, homeschooling would be impractical at best and impossible for most. [emphasis added]
That sounds an awful lot like another advocacy group with which we are all familiar. Sally, you’ve earned my opposition in less than 24 hours. Congrats!
Filed on at 6:31 am under by dcobranchi
From Spunky’s blogspot site (where she’s fighting her own battles):
I also read a variety of blogs. I read the blogs of those that believe in public education with their whole heart. I read the blogs of liberals, conservatives, Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, atheists, and even a few morons. (No Daryl, that last one wasn’t a reference to you!)
Now why would she think I’d interpret it that way? 🙂
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