Filed on September 30, 2009 at 3:09 am under by dcobranchi
and so clueless. The LOTD from my local paper:
Home-schooling may limit education
Homeschooling is great in teaching proper moral values and patriotic understanding of American ideas. The one-on-one instruction also gives children an opportunity to learn more by not being involved in other distractions we find in public schooling (“Home schooling takes off,” Sept. 4).
My concern is the isolation of these home-schooled children. Are they getting a chance to see and learn from other cultures that are part of America? Do they get to interact with and understand other people? Are they witnessing one side of a particular culture, religion, political group and not having the interactions to other ideas and beliefs that would allow children to grow and form their own opinions based on all the facts?
We have seen in the past family compounds or closed groups that held onto certain beliefs and found that many children were brainwashed and abused. They also were home-schooled without seeing outside communities.
I’m also wondering if home schooling is a different way of segregation under a different name, since those who are home schooled fall into a certain income bracket. Many who fall into minority groups do not enjoy this income bracket and use the public school system.
For those who are home schooled, are we robbing them of the experience of all the American people, so they can make their own decisions with facts and not just control information, therefore allowing true spiritual growth of our children?
Anthony P. Castillo
Fayetteville
Yes. Yes. No. No.
I hope that clears it up.
Filed on September 27, 2009 at 4:39 pm under by dcobranchi
most hackneyed cliche are…
Matt Fisher, Alden Ford, and Justin Tyler for “HomeSchooled” (New York, NY)
Three highly intelligent but socially inept home-schooled brothers try to make their way in New York City.
Filed on September 24, 2009 at 9:11 pm under by dcobranchi
Not them, too!
The American Legion Post 155 has been running its oratorical contests in Citrus County Area high schools since 1950.
Information packets with rules and entry forms for The American Legion Oratorical Contest have been given to the Guidance Counselors of Crystal River, Lecanto and Seven Rivers Christian High Schools, which are in the American Legion Post 155 area.
All high school students (no matter what grade) – public, private, or even home- schooled children – are eligible to enter.
Filed on at 9:07 pm under by dcobranchi
The state is looking at regulating home ed:
Alaska has the most lax home-schooling law in the country.
No one even knows how many Alaska children stay home instead of attending a public or private school — they aren’t tracked or monitored.
Home-school advocates say the lack of reporting and regulation is the way it should be because it leaves parents free to make choices for the child. But others say it leaves an uncounted number of children at the mercy of parents who don’t have what it takes to give kids what they need to avoid being left behind in life.
The tension between the two camps — traditional bricks-and-mortar educators and fiercely independent home-schooling parents — has existed for years with each bad-mouthing the other for real or perceived inadequacies.
Should Alaska join the ranks of other states by tightening its home-schooling laws?
State Education Commissioner Larry LeDoux wants to at least ask the question.
The newspaper article is very one-sided. Lots of quotes from educrats; none from home educators.
Filed on at 3:51 am under by dcobranchi
Can anyone explain this? It makes no sense to me.
Help your country – be a real American
This is a test. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country. Plus, be an American. If you want the benefits of Americans, become an American instead of being an American at your convenience.
I am an American for the freedom, opportunities, supposed freedom of speech, free to do everything I can, get everything I can from America without paying my blood, sweat and tears.
I am an American because I joined the military to get my education (GED), go to college, get a degree and live rent-free. However; if there’s a war, I have my rights, not a contract.
Warren Honor Jr., U.S. Army (retired)
Hope Mills
Filed on September 22, 2009 at 6:09 am under by dcobranchi
I wasn’t among the 144,000. Whodathunkit?
Then again, neither were you. 🙂
Filed on September 19, 2009 at 12:01 am under by dcobranchi
My favorite day of the year.
Filed on September 14, 2009 at 9:22 pm under by dcobranchi
I don’t stand for the singing of that song, either. I hope the kids win.
Filed on September 12, 2009 at 1:11 pm under by dcobranchi
James Carville: “If crazy were a pre-existing condition, the GOP wouldn’t be able to get insurance.”
Filed on at 10:57 am under by dcobranchi
World Nut Daily again lives up to its nickname and quotes a clueless doctor opposed to health insurance reform.
How would you describe the current system in America? Costly and imperfect, but dynamic and innovative. Consider this: I vividly remember how many seniors in my childhood church in the 1960s were on walkers or functionally blind. Visit the same church today and the demographics are essentially the same, but gone are most of the walkers and smoked glasses due to joint replacement and cataract surgery.
Yeah, health care in the early ’60s for the elderly was woeful. It’s MUCH better now, of course. I wonder what changed.
Filed on September 10, 2009 at 9:12 pm under by dcobranchi
DWI in a school bus loaded w/ kids.
Filed on at 6:21 am under by dcobranchi
Let’s give it up for the new & improved Hubble!
Filed on September 8, 2009 at 5:41 pm under by dcobranchi
Except when they’re not.
Filed on September 6, 2009 at 2:01 pm under by dcobranchi
Especially ones who seem to go out of their way to be obtuse.
Filed on September 5, 2009 at 2:47 pm under by dcobranchi
College for $99/month? Sign me my kids up.
Filed on September 4, 2009 at 9:12 pm under by dcobranchi
COD has an excellent suggestion to counter the g-school wingnuts.
Our kids are going to watch, too (assuming they’re out of bed by then).
Filed on at 8:53 pm under by dcobranchi
QOTD:
Most disturbing is that the White House has collaborated with the Department of Education to distribute a study guide to accompany the speech. The guide is chalk full of writing assignments for students, including an instruction for students to write a letter to themselves about what they can do to help President Obama.
Chalk full? LMAO!
Filed on at 8:30 pm under by dcobranchi
Rae Ellen Virgilio of Baltimore doesn’t have a clue what homeschooling is or isn’t.
Home schooling has never meant “unschooling.”
An ignorant teacher spouting off without the proper background in the subject matter? Whodathunkit?
Filed on at 8:17 pm under by dcobranchi
Threatening to homeschool for a day because Obama is giving a 10 minute speech about working hard in school?
I think the answer to the question posed above is obvious.
Filed on at 5:29 am under by dcobranchi
September, when every paper in the country feels compelled to run a “homeschooling is really on the grow” piece.
Including my hometown paper.
Filed on September 3, 2009 at 6:43 am under by dcobranchi
The school bus just rumbled past our house. 6:38 a.m.
Filed on September 2, 2009 at 3:10 am under by dcobranchi
LOTD
Boy, we have certainly downgraded the meaning of the word “professional.”
Public underestimates teacher assistants
I could not let the Aug. 16 Forum response by Charles Hill (“Teachers, detention, sports all in equation”) go unanswered without setting him straight, even if he was “just kidding.”
I cannot allow him to continue to perpetuate the myth that teacher assistants merely pass out drawing paper and crayons. We are professionals. We all have at least a two-year college degree and many have a four-year degree. We work with small groups in the classroom for both math and literacy. Teacher assistants run computer labs and are even Web masters for school Web sites. We are trained to screen hearing and vision problems for referral to the school nurse. We take loving care of special-needs children.
Oh, by the way, we also transport your children safely from home to school and back by driving the school bus. I could go on and on, Mr. Hill, but please come see for yourself and volunteer in our schools. With all the budget cuts, we will certainly need someone to pass out drawing paper and crayons.
Erika Brand, vice president, Cumberland County Schools Association of Teacher Assistants
Fayetteville
Filed on September 1, 2009 at 8:57 pm under by dcobranchi
Never ever again buy Bright Effects CFLs as the MTBF is probably around 3 months.