A HAPPY ENDING This one is just bizarre. The homeschooled siblings were playing in the yard behind their church. A thick pile of snow broke off the roof, completely burying the 5-year-old girl. Her brother was able to direct nearby state troopers to where he thought she was. The police dug her out, no worse for wear.
ANOTHER NEW BOOK HSLDA’s Mike Farris has released a new book, The Spiritual Power of a Mother: Encouragement for the Home Schooling Mom.
A WASTE OF SILICON The US has spent billions of dollars to wire the government-school classrooms. Yet, most of the time, these computers sit idle.
In 60 poor, rural South Carolina schools, I recently counted more than 10,000 computers in 2,000 classrooms. Only twice did I see an elementary student in a classroom using a computer. I did see students using them in ”computer labs,” but almost invariably to learn low-level keyboarding skills. Students seldom used modern, interactive instructional software. I did see teachers get e-mail during their breaks and a library aide watching afternoon soap operas on a big-screen TV.
The author has some recommendations as to how to “encourage” schools to use the technology, including this:
Offer subsidies to home-schooling parents to lease or buy software for their children’s instruction.
The loss of revenue may eventually get the attention of the public school managers who now ignore technology.
Gee, thanks a lot. I think I’ll pass.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE This editorial wants educrats to “Use Zero Tolerance With Sense.” Not likely. These policies were invented to shield them from criticsm for exercising discretion.
A PRODIGY This homeschooler is tearing up chess tournaments and regularly beats adults. He’s 6.
A PSA I received an email today noting that The Cato Institute has just published a book Voucher Wars about the Cleveland voucher case. You can get more info here.
LATE BLOGGING I’ll be in training all this week so blogging will have to wait ’til I get home in the evenings. I should have new stuff up by 7.
ANOTHER BEE, ANOTHER WIN A homeschooler won the Western PA spelling bee title and will be making the trip to DC for the Nationals.
PRO & CON The Detroit News publishes a “debate” on whether MI should raise their compulsory attendance age to 18. No surpise I’m in the “against” camp but I think Mary Pizzimenti misses two important points. 1) How can we justify forcing kids to stay in school until they’re 18 when, in this age of high stakes tests, there’s no guarantee they’ll graduate? 2) Why are kids subject to what amounts to a 11-13 year jail term in the first place?
GO FOR A THREE-PEAT A homeschool team successfully defended its TN mock trial state championship. Last year the same team went on to win the Nationals. Good luck, TN.
GOVERNMENT SCHOOL GRADS? A PA paper ran an online poll asking whether the school district should pay for students who enroll in a statewide cyber charter. 83 percent said “No!” These taxpayers just don’t get it, though. Many of the quotes confused cyber charters with private schools or homeschooling. There were also several “socialization” quotes. Here’s my favorite:
“I have had three children go through the public school system and would not have it any other way. They became well-rounded individuals and learned the proper social skills to survive in today’s helter skelter society.”
Proper social skills? I had no idea the government-schools were so good and wholesome. I think I’ll enroll my kids on Monday.
THE RITALIN SLIPPERY SLOPE? An airline attendant slipped some Xanax into a fussy 18-month-old’s apple juice. Where on earth did he get the idea that it was ok to drug a child to get her to settle down and stop squirming in her seat?
RIIIIIIGHT! In another RI school, a 15-year-old boy was arrested for pulling a knife on a girl and threatening to kill her and her brother.
“I think he was kidding, but, of course, that doesn’t excuse his behavior,” said [Principal] Knowlton. “But I don’t get the sense he brought the knife to school with any malicious intent…
“The schools are safe,” [Supt.] Scherza said. “… But I think this highlights, ironically, something we’ve been pushing for a while, which is the importance of getting a policeman in the schools.”
I fail to see the irony.
NOT THE FIRST, BUT THE SECOND I don’t think I’ve blogged any Second Amendment stories but this one is related to schools. It is also a good example of political knee-jerkitis. A couple of RI kids brought handguns to school to show-off for their friends. There is no indication they planned to use them as they were unloaded and kept at the school for several weeks. OK, kids do dumb things sometimes. But, they’re kids. What excuse do the politicians have for their response?
It would be a felony to basically allow anyone under 21 to touch a gun, even if unloaded and equipped with a trigger lock! This is just plain absurd. I learned to shoot in the Boy Scouts at age 13 and owned a semi-automatic rifle by my 14th birthday. I still have the rifle and will pass it to my oldest son when he is ready. (BTW, I think the rifle is probably officially an illegal assault weapon; it holds 18 .22 LR in the pipe.) I never thought I would be a gun nut, but the anti-gun forces have moved so far to the left, that I’m now right (in more ways than one).[C]hange Rhode Island’s law on safe storage of guns, making it a felony to allow anyone under 21 access to a gun, loaded or unloaded.
“Let’s make it nice and simple,” [Police Chief] Silva said. “If you have a weapon in your home, and there is a possibility of someone under 21 encountering that gun, you better secure it.”
A SHOCKER! 
Libertarian – You believe that the main use for government is for some people to lord it over others at their expense. You maintain that the government should be as small as possible, and that civil liberties, “victimless crimes”, and gun ownership should be basic rights. You probably are OK with capitalism. Your historical role model is Thomas Jefferson.
Which political sterotype are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Well, I don’t believe that a “use for government is for some people to lord it over others at their expense.” That is what happens in the current system but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t designed that way.
THIS IS SINFUL and I use that word in the biblical sense. ColdFury blogs an horrific example of how kids who are “different” can get tortured in the government schools. This time, the kid is gay and his torturers are the administrators. They “outed” him to his parents, suspended him for talking about being gay, and forced him to read from the Bible as a “punishment.” The ACLU is threatening to sue the school. Good! If the school wants to settle, the ACLU should demand that the teachers and administrators involved be fired. (link via Skip Oliva)
TEE HEE Here’s a pretty standard story about a local spelling bee. The humor? The typo in the headline.
$8,521 That’s the US average expenditure per pupil for the government schools, according to the Census Bureau. (Turn to page 23 for the Table.) The District of Columbia, with arguably the worst schools in the nation, spends the most per pupil, a whopping $15,122.
FAIRLY UNBALANCED Fox News is reporting that some schools are notifying parents that they can opt-out of having their children’s personal info sent to military recruiters.
Critics say the schools involved are acting shamefully by dodging the spirit if not the letter of the law. Because America’s armed forces are all volunteer, supporters of the law say the military must have valid contact information for prospective recruits.
Yeah- it’s just terrible that these schools are notifying parents of their rights under the law. What is this country coming to? Fox then quotes a right-wing talk-show host (I guess he’s an expert?).
Hewitt said such districts should be punished for violating the intent of the law.
“I hope the federal government comes along and does exactly what it said it would do, which is cut off their federal funds,” he said.
Ridiculous! It was a bad law to begin with. I applaud the schools’ attempts to protect their students’ privacy.
WHEN IS A VOUCHER NOT A VOUCHER? When it’s called a “freedom scholarship” by a politician. A rose by any other name. Regardless, a TX state legislator is proposing a “scholarship” program that would allow students from poor districts to attend any private school. The teachers, of course, have declared war.
“Freedom scholarship or whatever, it’s still a voucher,” said Larry Shaw, executive director of the United Educators Association. “People are going to pull their kids, put them in private schools that are not qualified to teach them, and then we will get them back three years later.”
Good, good. All the assumptions are right out there in the open: Unqualified to teach; back in three years.
I think this is just a feel-good proposal for the politicos, as the requirements placed on any private school accepting vouchers seem a bit off-putting.
In exchange for the money, private schools would be required to administer state assessments and to disregard race, national origin or ethnicity when accepting students. Schools with more applicants than classroom space should select students through random drawings, the bill suggests.
Those state exams will likely be the deal-breaker. They’re curriculum based so a private school would either have to adopt the state’s curriculum or see its students perform poorly on the test. Either way, not a very attractive offer.
REALLY BAD LUCK (AND BAD POLICE WORK) A homeschooling family of 10 bought a used van in an auction and then took it on a trip. Upon reaching a border crossing, drug-sniffing dogs “hit” on their van. A search found 22 kilograms of hashish hidden inside the upholstery. The family was arrested for narcotics trafficking. BUT- the van had previously been impounded by the police when they found 50 kilograms of hashish hidden in the engine compartment. The police sold the vehicle to the auction house. The father is hoping to be released on bail in three weeks.
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE Max Burns (R-GA) and John Boehner (R-OH) are seeking co-sponsors for a bill that would prohibit edu-crats from forcing kids to take Ritalin in order to attend the government schools.
BUSH’S BRAIN REDUCED In searching for some homeschooling articles, I ran across an ad for this, pointing out that Bush’s Brain was on sale for $19.57. Or, you can buy a slightly used Brain for $19.09. I guess they really do sell everything at Amazon.com.
LETTERS Oregon state Senator Starr stirred up a hornet’s nest with his remark about pulling kids out of the government schools. Click here for a nice selection of Letters to the Editor- both pro and con.
GOOD NEWS! Three drug companies are developing an experimental compound which dramatically reduces allergic reactions to peanuts. Schools and churches, in particular, really struggle with this deadly allergy. The drug faces an uncertain future and, even if produced, could cost $10,000 per year.
WAY OT & WAY OVERDUE I should have linked to PolStateReport a long time ago. It covers local politics from the ground level. I’m one of the DE contributors. It’s now in the blogroll.
“FUNNY” FAMILY The ABC Family channel has been running a reality series called “My Life is a Sitcom.” Tonight at 8 p.m. the featured family are homeschoolers. If anyone gets this channel (we don’t) and wants to review the show, please comment away.
SERIOUS MONEY NYC is spending $70M this year so that some 1000 teachers can go on six or twelve month sabbaticals. The veteran teachers collect 70% of their base pay but are required to take college courses while they’re away. There is no requirement that the courses actually have anything to do with teaching.
The catalog of courses that Kingsborough [College] sends to teachers – obtained by The Post – offers a variety of light, therapeutic and recreational courses, including “Beginning Tennis,” “Exploring Leisure” and “Introductory Horticulture.”
United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said she will fight to retain sabbaticals in the next round of labor negotiations.
“Sabbaticals are a good retention tool to keep teachers teaching,” Weingarten said.
I’m sure they are.
SMART KID Here’s a brief profile of a homeschooler who started taking classes at a local community college at 13. This kid has his head screwed on straight.
Puente said he has not missed out on any experiences because he was home schooled.
“I heard nightmares about the drama of people making fun of each other and boyfriends and girlfriends breaking up,” he said about friends who attended public school.
Puente said home schooling helped him build a strong relationship with his parents that most students don’t have the opportunity to develop.
BUZZZZZ Slightly OT. Here’s an article about keeping bees in MD. A homeschooling family is featured.
FUZZY MATH Here’s a strong indictment of NYC’s Everyday Mathematics.
The curriculum’s failure was undeniable: not one of my students knew his or her times tables, and few had mastered even the most basic operations; knowledge of multiplication and division was abysmal. Perhaps you think I shouldn’t have rejected a course of learning without giving it a full year (my school had only recently hired me as a 23-year-old Teach for America corps member). But what would you do, if you discovered that none of your fourth graders could correctly tell you the answer to four times eight?
The curriculum derives from a pedagogical philosophy that goes by several names—“Constructivist Math,” “New-New Math,” and, to its detractors, “Fuzzy Math.” I’ll stick with “Fuzzy Math,” since the critics are right. Nothing about Fuzzy Math makes much sense from a teaching standpoint.
One weakness is its emphasis on “cooperative learning.” Fuzzy Math belongs to a family of recent pedagogical innovations that imagine that kids possess innate wisdom and can teach each other while a self-effacing “facilitator” (the adult formerly known as a teacher) flutters over them. If the architects of Everyday Mathematics had their way, I would have placed my children in various groups, for the most part unsupervised, so that they could work on one elaborate activity after another, learning on their own.
We’re teaching old math. Math-U-See is a great program with plenty of practice on the fundamentals.
ALL MY KIDS ARE VALEDICTORIANS The NYT reports that parents are suing school districts over who is or is not declared valedictorian. kids are chooisng their classes based on how many points an “A” is worth in the battle to win the title. In response, some schools are doing away with it completely. Of course, at the “Heartland Christian Academy” of New Castle, DE, everyone is valedictorian. 🙂
RI SPELLING BEE Twelve-year-old homeschooler Coburn Childs won the Rhode Island spelling bee. On to the Nationals! The article is worth a read as it includes many words from the contest. I consider myself a pretty good speller and would have been tripped up by many of these.
BIG NUMBERS This site is pretty cool. It explains large numbers (all the way up to quintillion) in terms of piles of pennies.
POINDEXTER WOULD LOVE THIS Steven Johnson of Slate tries to guess why Google purchased Blogger. He figures Google will be able to track and record all of your web wanderings into some blog-type software.
How might Google’s tools improve the existing Blogger technology? One feature might work like this: Each time I search for something on Google, a list of URLs is generated. When I click on one of those URLs, the page I’ve selected is automatically blogged for me: storing for posterity the text and location of the document.
This is an extremely scary proposition: a database with all of your web-searching habits permanently recorded on Google’s servers somewhere. I’m sure Poindexter and his Total Information Awareness project would just love to get their hands on that. And, we couldn’t stop them, either. In fact, we probably wouldn’t even know they had gotten access. This would be a privacy nightmare. If Johnson is right, I think it’s time I start moving to MT.
HOW ‘BOUT 24/7? This Boston Globe Op/Ed berates the Bush Administration for cutting funds for after-school care. It’s just not right that kids are let out of jail three hours before their parents get home.
Our kids’ school schedules are out of sync with their parents’ work schedules. It is plain dumb that from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, we just let kids loose. Yes, many families make heroic efforts to deal with this problem. But many others — especially in households that desperately need two incomes — are put in a terrible dilemma. Filling the 3-to-6 gap is one of our most urgent social needs, a point made regularly by law enforcement officials.
Which article in the Constitution covers after-school care? Oh yeah, the same one that gives the feds the right to jail our kids for 13 years.
AMEN What a wonderful Letter to the Editor.
Please allow me a moment to express my appreciation to some unsung heroes in our Pahrump Valley – our home-schooling families.
During the last several years of traveling to and residing in the valley I have had the good fortune of meeting with a number of local families that, upon talking to you I learn, are home-schooling (their chil-dren).
In each and every case, I have been impressed by children’s character, their respect for other people (adults and children of all ages), and pleasant spirits. Your election to accept your God-given responsibility to educate your children, and do it fervently, is highly commendable.
The more research I do in this area, the more I look into studies of educational achievement and achievement of all kinds by home-schooled children, I become completely convinced that your children are indeed getting a superior education. So I thank you. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for your investment of your time, your money, yourselves in your children’s education. Yes, you pay your property taxes like everyone else, and yet you still make the sacrifice of footing the bill to pay for your own children’s education, whatever it takes. Every person in this valley concerned about the amount of property tax he or she pays, even if he or she never has had the good fortune to meet you, should be grateful for the responsibility you are accepting yourself and thus saving everyone else tax dollars.
Beyond that though, because of you and the growing number of others like you around the country and indeed around the world, people can also have considerable hope for the future of this valley, this country, and our world. I know I do. I pray the Lord continues to bless you and your families in your commitment.
NEA TARGETS MEN The NEA laments that the number of male government-school teachers is at its lowest level in 20 years. They aim to recruit more men into the profession:
Identify and Recruit Young Men into Teaching in High School
There is a perennial shortage of male applicants to schools of education. Initiatives to identify prospective teachers early in their academic careers have proven successful. Secondary school surveys, career counseling, and college preparatory courses can help boost enrollment.
What? No affirmative action?
SOME SYRUP, SENATOR? And speaking of politicians, the OR State Senator who told parents to run away from the public schools has waffled.
“We all say things we’d like to take back,” said Starr, R-Hillsboro. “I’ve devoted a good part of my life to trying to encourage improvement in public schools.”
…Starr said he wrote the line in anger after getting a letter from a constituent who said children were being harmed by home schooling.
PARANOIA A WI school district is facing a budget crisis. In a public meeting, the following exchange occurred:
A questioner, citing estimates of 20 to 40 home-schooled students whose attendance at Butternut School could considerably increase the amount of state aid, raised a question about a compulsory attendance law that was also raised by another questioner at a presentation on the referendum question at the Chippewa Town Hall on Feb. 20.
He said that when he went to school, the law required attendance until the age of 16. Sherman said the law still exists, but those home schooling their children have succeeded in arguing that being home schooled satisfies the requirement.
Asked whether there were any kind of standards for holding parents accountable, Sherman said every attempt to impose such accountability on parents home schooling their children and on private “choice” schools in Milwaukee gets defeated when it comes up in the legislature.
He said there is a new standard of accountability for public schools under President George W. Bush’s “Leave No Child Behind” program, but there is no accountability for parents home schooling their children or for the private schools.
Subtle. Notice- We have “succeeded in arguing” that homeschooling is “real education.” That “succeeded” speaks volumes. Likewise, the accountability questions. I’d love to vote for a politician who, just once, would come right out and say that homeschooling is legal, it’s a parental right, and just get over it!
HOMESCHOOLED FOR A DAY A high school freshman thought she could learn what it was like to be homeschooled by “pretending” for a day. She didn’t “get” it, at all.
Although I found many advantageous and attractive aspects to home schooling, in the end, I needed socialization.
If you are home-schooled, although there are several alternatives to making new friends, you miss out on a lot of extracurricular activities.
The fact that you have no true peers except your family makes me feel lonely! As a social butterfly, I guess I wasn’t cut out to be home schooled!
ILLINOIS EDITORIAL This is one of the lamest editorials I have read in a long time. The editors present no facts to back up their position that IL homeschoolers should face government regulation. To tell the truth, I’m not really sure what they’re even trying to argue.
Who is making sure children are schooled?
State Sen. Dan Rutherford may have been waiting for the wrong crowd to speak up over his proposal to have home-school parents register with public school officials.The Chenoa senator said he was dropping his proposal for voluntary registration because of a lack of support among home-school groups. That lack of support isn’t surprising. They don’t want government intervention.
But what about the voice of the children? Who is guaranteeing that they are being educated if they are not in school? Home-schooling parents need not be chastised or ridiculed, but educators should be up in arms if there is no guarantee that children are receiving an education.
If a child is enrolled in public school and misses a few days, parents are required to explain the absences. Doesn’t anyone care when children never show up for public school?
A MUST READ The latest EducationalFreedom journal is up. Some really interesting (and sad) articles are linked, including Cathy Henderson’s response to Isabel Lyman’s “The Why of Homeschool?” article from the other day. I’m shocked- shocked, I say- that Cathy’s homeschooled daughter doesn’t speak six languages. 🙂
SORRY, CHRIS A fat one down the middle. This article incorporates two of my favorite things: homeschooling and my beloved Yankees.
Chris Hammond is a small-town guy from Wedowee Ala., and he always will be. No matter that Hammond has signed on to pitch the next two years of his career for the Yankees in the world’s largest media market. He’s a down-home guy with a thick southern drawl and a keen sense of the importance of family. In fact, his family is so important to him they they’ll all be coming with him this year, everywhere he goes.
His wife, Lynn, will be home-schooling oldest son Andy (6), and Jake (4), and daughter Alex (3) will be on every trip, too.
I now have a new favorite pitcher. Way cool. (via Cathy Henderson)
A TIME FOR WAR Not on Iraq, but on the public schools. At least, that’s what this NYT Op/Ed claims we’re in. Schools, as government agents, are facing budget crunches and are being forced to cut back.
“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been in the district 35 years,” [the Buffalo superintendent] said. “I mean we’re looking at crazy things, like a four-day week, no kindergarten, no pre-kindergarten, no sports.”
It just goes to show how far the schools have drifted from their mission that cutting pre-K and sports are considered “crazy things.” I’d start by eliminating pre-K but parents would never be willing to give up that “free” daycare. Guess I’ll never be elected to the School Board, eh?
WHEW! OK, I’m finally home and can take a serious look at the TN article below. I am not a heartless ideologue. Parents who hurt their kids, IMO, deserve the worst punishments society can devise. Drawing-and-quartering comes to mind. The article is ostensibly about a poor 4-year-old boy who was slain, apparently by his parents. The lede, though, immediately raises alarms:
An unknown number of Nashville children are being missed by the educational system and falling beyond the reach of a possible safety net because the resources aren’t available to track them, officials said.
Danger! Danger! This type of paragraph often leads to “some people may claim to be homeschooling but may just be using it as a cover-up of abuse.”
Schools provide ”a system of checks and balances to see that a child is properly fed, clothed and emotionally stable,” said Metro Police Department spokesman Don Aaron. ”If a child is not in the school system, you lose one of the checks and balances.”
And, we all know which kids aren’t in the “system.”
[S]chools are an important safety net, said Carla Aaron, Department of Children’s Services spokeswoman…But the system fails when children don’t go to school, said Catherine Knowles, director of the Metro Schools Homeless Education Program.
OK, they’re not talking about homeschoolers. But…
Regardless of the resources, advocates believe that it’s incumbent upon the community to call the local school system and report when they see, or suspect, that a child is not being educated.
Watch out TN homeschoolers.
AS DUMB AS IT GETS A man was arrested for wearing a pro-peace T-shirt in a shopping mall. He was charged with trespassing when he refused security guards’ “request” to take off the shirt, which he had just purchased in the mall. The alleged trespasser is a lawyer. I hope he eats the town’s prosecutors for lunch. A true no-brainer.
UPDATE: I guess I’m the dummy. According to Instapundit and Volokh, the Supreme Court overturned the position that “malls are the modern day town square” a while ago. Evidently, there are no First Amendment rights at the mall. Some state Supreme Courts have interpreted their constitutions differently. I should leave the lawyering to the lawyers.
ONE TO WATCH I don’t have time to properly comment on this now but I wanted to post the link so I could find it again. It’s one of those “We need the schools to make sure parents aren’t abusing their kids” stories.
STARR REPORT Oregon State Senator Charles Starr, that is. The Education Committee chair told parents in his state to run– not walk– away from the public schools.
Starr’s statement in the letter won’t cost him his job running the education panel, Senate leaders said. But school advocates and officials, who look to the Legislature for help in improving the state’s public schools, said Starr’s comment shows a clear disdain for the system. And they note that he has a disproportionate share of power in deciding its future.
Gutsy politician. I like that.
A BUSY DAY I’m tied up ’til around 9 pm. I may be able to sneak a blog or two before then but definitely before bed.