Anna Kurth, Budgeteer News April 8, 2005 (Duluth, MN)
Robin Muench and her children Anya and Josef spend their mornings and early afternoons at home in a structured learning environment - but the afternoons are reserved for music lessons and field trips.
Read entire article: http://www.duluth.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=197867
Factory-like schooling may soon be a thing of the past.
By Britton Manasco, reasononline.com, April, 2005
School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency. --H.L. Mencken
At 16, Paul Boone writes articles reviewing new computer games for Mac Home Journal and aspires to launch a game development company of his own. Such ambitions are not that uncommon in his hometown of San Jose, California, the heart of Silicon Valley. What is unusual is how easily he has been able to incorporate his interest in computers into his education--and why.
Paul, his sister Cristie, 17, and brother Curtis, 12, have been educated at home, by parents who are convinced that children learn best when they are free to explore areas of interest in an independent, self-directed way.
Read article: http://reason.com/9607/Fe.MANASCO.shtml
Homeschooling Facts
by Greg Beato, reasononline.com April 2005
http://www.reason.com/0504/fe.gb.facts.shtml
(Editor's Note) One more reason to homeschool...
More and More, Kids Say the Foulest Things
Anti-Swearing Efforts Falling on Deaf Ears
by Valerie Strauss, Washington Post, April 12, 2005
Read the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44779-2005Apr11.html
Homeschooling and Encouragement
When Can We Do This Again?
by Amanda Bennett
Looking to put some excitement back into your homeschool? Searching for a new idea, a fun adventure instead of the drudgery of textbooks? I want the children to WANT to learn, and I would like to enjoy the process, too! Picture this – sitting with your child, learning about lighthouses, and touring the lantern room of a lighthouse online as you learn together. As the child experiences the adventure, they begin to want to know more, to question, to ask, "When can we do this again?"
Show Me The Way: How We Learned To Homeschool
by Alison McKee
In 1980, following the birth of our son, Christian, I returned to work as a special education teacher. A friend, looking for the perfect kindergarten for her son, mentioned an article on homeschooling by John Holt, an author who had been on my college reading list. That article changed my life forever. For the next two decades - as our children, Christian and Georgina, schooled themselves at home - we lived what we came to call "unschooled lives."
Laying Foundations
by Lorraine Curry
I lay on the beach, gasping for breath. I was a body surfer and even Maui's huge winter storm waves couldn't keep me home! The exhilaration was worth the battering. In college, I wanted to skydive, but my father wouldn't grant permission-a friend's son had been killed when his parachute failed to open. Later, I was enticed by the opportunity to succeed in life insurance sales, and became the first female member of our company's President's Cabinet. I've welcomed most challenges, but succeeding at this task of raising children has been life's biggest challenge-and its greatest adventure!
Whatever Happened to Childhood?
by Mary Hood, Ph.D.
This past week we have once again been experiencing the all-star baseball season, which usually eats up a good part of our summer. This is one of the times that I have the most contact with public school parents, and I actually enjoy the experience. I’ve always believed you can become too narrow in your thinking if you always hang around with people that are exactly like you. Most of these parents are really nice people, but I find we have little in common, and struggle to find things to talk about.
Voices of Experience
Graduation: A Time of Dread or Celebration? Parental Transitions
by Jean Reed
Homeschooling is a way of life. I hear from many parents that they dread the time when their children will be gone and this lifestyle will disappear, too. Some parents fear they will no longer be needed, that there will never again be anything as meaningful in their lives. For some parents these thoughts create anxiety, for others panic, and some see this time as a doorway to the future offering new adventures in living and learning for themselves. I know how easy it is to get caught up in the daily routines and activities of homeschooling. As homeschooling parents we work very hard to help our children look ahead to their future. It is vitally important to remember that we too have a future. Through exploring what lies ahead for yourself, you become a model for your children of how to take control of a new part of your own life.
Bianca, You Animal, Shut Up!
from the prologue of John Taylor Gatto's book
The Underground History of American Education
Our problem in understanding forced schooling stems from an inconvenient fact: that the wrong it does from a human perspective is right from a systems perspective. You can see this in the case of six-year-old Bianca, who came to my attention because an assistant principal screamed at her in front of an assembly, "BIANCA, YOU ANIMAL, SHUT UP!" Like the wail of a banshee, this sang the school doom of Bianca. Even though her body continued to shuffle around, the voodoo had poisoned her.
Do I make too much of this simple act of putting a little girl in her place? It must happen thousands of times every day in schools all over. I’ve seen it many times, and if I were painfully honest I’d admit to doing it many times. Schools are supposed to teach kids their place. That’s why we have age-graded classes. In any case, it wasn’t your own little Janey or mine.
Read the book or purchase it online:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologue.htm
Viewpoints
The Institutional Parent
by Douglas C. Minson
Public response to a new study that links aggression and varieties of misbehavior to day care has been conspicuous. The study, funded by a branch of the National Institutes of Health, found that children who spend a great deal of time in non-maternal child care are three times more likely to display aggressive behavioral problems than kids reared primarily by their mothers. Researchers maintain that the findings hold up even after factoring in variations in the quality of care, the sex of the child, and the socioeconomic status of the family.
