By Denise Etheridge
Northeast Georgia Homeschoolers and their parents award homeschooling high marks. Homeschooled teens from White, Hall and Habersham counties say they are getting a quality education by staying home, and they believe themselves to be as socially active as their public school counterparts. Homeschooling parents say they like the flexibility homeschooling affords family schedules and that they can tailor their child's education to his or her individual needs.
Read entire article by clicking on the title above.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Parents blind to kids' drug use
Newsday Staff Writer
August 18, 2006
A national survey released yesterday documents an open secret in many communities: Just because mom and dad are home doesn't mean kids aren't partying with drugs and alcohol.
Nearly one-third of the 1,297 young people, aged 12 to 17, interviewed in the random survey reported use of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and prescription drugs at house parties where host parents turned a blind eye.
Building the future, one child at a time
Hometown
| Article published Aug 17, 2006 Building the future, one child at a time "While children only make up a small portion of our population — they are 100 percent of our future." As you read this, somewhere in your neighborhood, state and nation a child is receiving the message that they are "slow," "incapable," that they are "no good" or will "never amount to anything." From time to time, we hear on the radio, see on TV or read the horror stories of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated on our most vulnerable citizens. These stories make us sick and we quake with anger over how cruel adults can be. While less visible, the constant negative messages that some parents, teachers and other adults drill into our children's heads take their toll too. How many Bill Gates, Henry Fords, Booker T. Washingtons, Harriet Tubmans, Albert Einsteins and Fredrick Douglaseshas our society lost because a child's spirit has been crushed by an adult entrusted to raise them up? Not all successful people had ideal childhoods. Many of the people mentioned above overcame great odds to see their dreams become reality. The world is full of successful people who were once considered "slow," "different," or "odd" and were told they would never amount to anything. Those who escaped the negativity were fortunate to discover someone who believed in them — even if that only person was them! All people have the inherent capacity to effect change in their lives and we owe it to all of our children to provide them with the tools to help them succeed. Quality education is a great equalizer in this world. Our collective future is sitting in our classrooms today. The viability of our society, the strength of our economy, the quality of our lives, the vibrancy of our democracy and our place in the world all depend on how we educate our youth. When children are taught to hate, they hate, as we see in far too many situations across our nation and the world today. We need to give children the best start in life possible, filling them with love and knowledge along the way. Yet, believe it or not, and as tragic as it is, far too many of our children enter kindergarten or first grade not knowing their numbers, alphabet or colors. They do not know how to read because, not only have they not been read to, they have not been cuddled and loved. Human tragedy is compounded when a child begins life with the emotional scars of negativity ingrained so deeply that they seldom recover. For Michigan to be healthy, we need all of our children to be physically, emotionally and intellectually healthy. We need to create a shared vision and common agenda across this region and across our great state where every child has a sense of worth, where we all accept responsibility for ourselves, our families, our communities and society at large. We must nurture our children, families and communities in ways that build a quality of life for today and tomorrow. Here are some suggestions for building up our children and simultaneously building strong communities and likewise, a strong state and nation:
Further, take a moment to reflect on your life. Recall that special time when an adult, parent, pastor, grandparent, teacher, or coach made you feel like you were on the top of the world. Often it was a simple gesture: a kind word, a pat on the back, attending your piano recital, cheerleading event or football game — or just knowing that this person believed in you and was there for you. Yet, as simple as the gesture was, we can still recall with great intensity the joy we felt knowing that a special adult was there. When an adult touches your life in a positive way, it is a memory of a lifetime! Take a few minutes to call or visit that special person who made such a difference in your life and thank them for helping make you the successful adult you are today. Perhaps more important than saying "thank you"— emulate them. Promise yourself that you will take extra steps today and everyday to build up, and not tear down, your and others' children. The children of the world will become our collective future. Think how your small acts of kindness can help shape the world. Remember, the world would be a much cleaner place if we all sweep our own doorstep — think how clean it would be if we helped to sweep our neighbors'! Tom Watkins is a business and education consultant. He served as State Superintendent of Schools 2001-2005 and President and CEO of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, FL, 1996-2001. Read his internationally recognized report: The New Education (R)evolution at www.nacol.org. He can be reached at tdwatkins@aol.com |
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
A Study in Critical Thinking (Looking at Compulsory Education and the Push for an Earlier Start)
A Study in Critical Thinking (Looking at Compulsory Education and the Push for an Earlier Start)
by Wayne Walker
Wayne Walker is the publisher and editor of the Online Newsletter, HEADSUP (HOMESCHOOL EDUCATORS ON ACTIVE DUTY, SENDING UPWARD PRAISES). He writes the following article as a father and citizen concerned about the push for mandated pre-school programs in his state of Missouri and which seems to be prevalent across the U.S. It was written in response to an article that appeared in his local newspaper on the subject.
When compulsory school attendance laws were originally passed beginning in the mid to late 1800's and into the early 1900's, many states did not start compulsory attendance until age seven because it was commonly accepted that a lot of children were not developmentally able to handle the stress of school at ages five and six. However, as more and more socialist-thinking people, who viewed their role as changing society to fit their ideas, came to be in control of the educational establishment, an effort was made to get children away from their parents' control and into government-approved indoctrination centers at earlier and earlier ages. First, many states lowered the compulsory attendance age to six. Next came the push for mandatory kindergarten. Now, there is a move to demand mandatory pre-kindergarten classes for allchildren.
In the May 17, 2006, issue of the South County Journal, a free, local weekly newspaper in our area, there was a letter by Catherine Martarella headlines "PK-3: Maximizing children's potential." It appeared to be one of those generically prepared letters on an issue that are mass mailed to all media outlets to see how many will publish them. Catherine Martarella is the program director for Citizens for Missouri's Children, an organization founded in 1983 as a state-wide advocate for child protection, early care and education, health and mental health care and youth development. It is always good to know a little bit about the background and views of an organization to help one understand why they say and do certain things.
A check of the website of Citizens for Missouri's Children shows that their mission is "To advocate the rights and well-being of all Missouri's children, especially those with the greatest need." Their vision states, "We believe that all children in the state should benefit from public policies that guarantee they are protected and secure in nurturing environments, allowing them to thrive and grow to their greatest potential." This is so noble-sounding! Of course, everyone supports the well-being of all children. Yes, we agree that public policies should promote and support caring families in which children are protected and secure in nurturing environments, allowing them to thrive and grow to their greatest potential. However, notice what is missing in the quotes. There is no mention of "family" or "parents" anywhere! I have an idea this organization's view, when translated into simple language, is that government is better at protecting, securing, and nurturing children than their own families are.
Let us now look at the article itself. It begins, "As Missouri considers increasing its investment in prekindergarten, we must consider this public investment in early learning. Maximizing these public dollars requires aligning standards, curriculum and assessment from pre-kindergarten through kindergarten, and into the early elementary grades. That's the PK-3 approach. PK-3 begins with voluntary full-school-day pre-kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-old children. Compulsory schooling begins in kindergarten with a curriculum that builds on pre-kindergarten experiences. Children learn social skills and self-discipline as well as reading and math."
When people who think that the government does a better job at anything that promotes increased government spending on their pet projects, why is it that they always call it a "public investment"? The answer is that they want someone else to pay for their plans. Obviously, someone is going to have to do all this "aligning standards, curriculum and assessment" and then monitor it. And who better to do that than the same leftists and government bureaucrats who are promoting it in the first place? What a wonderful way to guarantee their job security! And to control the minds of impressionable children in the process! See what I mean about getting children away from their parents at increasingly early ages? Voluntary full-school-day prekindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-old children? Why should anyone in his right mind think that three and four year old kids should be cooped up in a school room for six or eight hours every day, five days a week for half a year? Also, what starts out as "voluntary" (though usually under great pressure) eventually becomes "mandatory." Kindergarten used to be thought of as "voluntary" but now it is "mandatory" under this thinking. Finally, why cannot children learn social skills and self-discipline from parents and family? Or are parents nowadays just too stupid to teach their children these things?
However, there are supposed to be all kinds of benefits for this "public investment." According to the article, "Research supports the PK-3 approach. A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association tracked 1,500 disadvantaged minority children in Chicago for 16 years....Called the Child-Parent Centers, these programs were part of the Chicago Public School system. The study found that CPC participants were almost 30 percent more likely to complete high school than a comparison group of equally disadvantaged children." Someone has said that figures do not lie, but liars sure do figure.
What struck me about this research is that it only deals with disadvantaged children. Most of us would probably agree that in situations where children are growing up in a home where both mom and dad are away working all day or otherwise absent and there is hardly any parental supervision or nurturing it might be better for those children to be in an early learning center. However, to take these exceptional situations, apply the conclusions drawn from them across the board to all families, even those where the parents are present and nurturing, and then seek for laws to require every three and four year old to start PK-3 programs in public (or state-approved private) schools is the height of absurdity! These people really must think that all parents are just too stupid to raise their children, so the government, through PK-3 programs, will have to do it for them.
In another attempt at proving the benefits of PK-3 programs, the article says, "According to the recently released Child Well-Being Index (CWI) report, the rise in 9-year-old's math and reading performance as measured by the National Assessment of Education Progress ('the nation's report card') corresponds with the dramatic expansion of pre-kindergarten since the mid '90s." Notice carefully what is NOT said. It is not said, because there is evidently no evidence whatever to prove it, that the rise in 9-year-old's math and reading performance WAS CAUSED BY the dramatic expansion of pre-kindergarten. Ms. Martarella would undoubtedly have given her eyeteeth if she could have said that. But she did not because she could not, although she obviously seeks to imply it. All she could say was that the rise "corresponds with" the expansion. The truth is that there could be any number of other factors which may have contributed to the rise.
The stated reason (again, I believe that the real, unstated goal is to get children away from their parents and under state control as early as possible) for this mandatory early learning push is to give children a "Head Start" (the name of another similarly-aimed government anti-poverty program of questionable value) so that "children reach fourth grade equipped with the skills needed to learn at a higher level." Forty years ago, when I was in elementary school, what we accomplished in first, second, and third grades seemed to do quite nicely, thank you! But do such early learning programs really increase readiness? The research examined by Dr. Raymond and the late Dorothy Moore show otherwise. Dr. Moore was an official in the Reagan Education Department and shows in Better Late Than Early and School Can Wait, which led to their other books promoting homeschooling, Home Grown Kids and Home Spun Schools, that children who grew up with stimulating environments in nurturing homes until they were eight or nine did just as well in school when placed with other children their age without the danger of academic burnout.
This past year, there was a movement in California for universal preschool. Diane Flynn Keith in an article "Universal Preschool: What?s Behind the Claims That It Will Stop Crime, Secure Your Child?s Future, Save Social Security and Provide A Free Government Nanny!" (The Link; Volume 8, Issue 2; pp. 13, 22, 37, 49, 51) states, "In fact, there are a number of revered child development experts who strongly oppose the institutionalization of mainstream young children in academic programs and warn of the potential damage intellectually, psychologically, emotionally, socially and physically to them if separated from their parents and homes." She cites Mary Eberstadt?s Home Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs and Other Parent Substitutes and David Elkind's Miseducation: Preschoolers At Risk. She also quotes renowned educational psychologist and authority on brain development in children, Jane Healy, Ph.D., who in Your Child?s Growing Mind: Brain Development and Learning From Birth to Adolescence, says to parents, "Give your child the gift of patience for the broad-based mental experiences that will underlie joyous learning throughout life?Childhood is a process, not a product, and so is learning. In a society that often respects products more than the processes of creation and thought, it is easy to fall into the trap of anxiety over measuring achievement in isolated skills. Have faith in childhood and yourself. Children?s brains generally seek what they need, and nature has given you the instincts to help them get it."
Keith concludes, "For 80% of the preschool population, learning at home with loving parents -- who may also occasionally and thoughtfully use private and co-op preschool programs in their community that emphasize imaginative play and facilitate a child?s natural curiosity -- is a better model for the healthy intellectual, physical, social and emotional development of young children than any government preschool program could ever be. More than ever, parents need to be informed in order to maintain their right to determine the educational path of their own children without government mandates or interference....We should all care enough to examine the research and claims made in support of government funded and/or mandated universal preschool before we allow it to take hold."
Sharna Olfman, Ph. D., who is a clinical psychologist, an associate professor of Psychology in the Department of Humanities and Human Sciences at Point Park College in Pittsburgh, PA, and editor of the book All Work and No Play: How Educational Reforms are Harming our Preschoolers, issues similar warning in an article "The Push for Early Childhood Literacy: A Risk Factor in Child Psychopathology" (Home Educator's Family Times; March/April, 2006; pp. 8, 25). She concludes, "It is a striking paradox that as adults feel increasingly entitled to place their individual needs first, we are creating educational environments that do not respect children's individuality or their special status as children. We introduce concepts long before children are ready to master them, deny their need for play, subject them to uniform curricula and assessment, and label and drug the children who do not fit in. Our preoccupation with understanding the genetic and neurological bases of illness, while ignoring the power of the environment, also speaks to our increasingly mechanized conceptualization of human nature."
So, beware of attempts to mandate universal preschool. Home educating families will be affected if such programs are adopted. In states like Missouri where records have to be kept by homeschooling parents for students falling under the compulsory attendance ages, record keeping will become even more onerous as records will have to be kept for three, four, five, and six year olds as well as those who are actually of "school age." There is one more item in Catherine Martarella's article that I would like to point out. "To help qualified teachers make a career of early education, we must pay them what we pay all other elementary school teachers." Translation: Watch your pocketbook and look for a HUGE TAX INCREASE if these programs are adopted.
by Wayne Walker
Wayne Walker is the publisher and editor of the Online Newsletter, HEADSUP (HOMESCHOOL EDUCATORS ON ACTIVE DUTY, SENDING UPWARD PRAISES). He writes the following article as a father and citizen concerned about the push for mandated pre-school programs in his state of Missouri and which seems to be prevalent across the U.S. It was written in response to an article that appeared in his local newspaper on the subject.
When compulsory school attendance laws were originally passed beginning in the mid to late 1800's and into the early 1900's, many states did not start compulsory attendance until age seven because it was commonly accepted that a lot of children were not developmentally able to handle the stress of school at ages five and six. However, as more and more socialist-thinking people, who viewed their role as changing society to fit their ideas, came to be in control of the educational establishment, an effort was made to get children away from their parents' control and into government-approved indoctrination centers at earlier and earlier ages. First, many states lowered the compulsory attendance age to six. Next came the push for mandatory kindergarten. Now, there is a move to demand mandatory pre-kindergarten classes for allchildren.
In the May 17, 2006, issue of the South County Journal, a free, local weekly newspaper in our area, there was a letter by Catherine Martarella headlines "PK-3: Maximizing children's potential." It appeared to be one of those generically prepared letters on an issue that are mass mailed to all media outlets to see how many will publish them. Catherine Martarella is the program director for Citizens for Missouri's Children, an organization founded in 1983 as a state-wide advocate for child protection, early care and education, health and mental health care and youth development. It is always good to know a little bit about the background and views of an organization to help one understand why they say and do certain things.
A check of the website of Citizens for Missouri's Children shows that their mission is "To advocate the rights and well-being of all Missouri's children, especially those with the greatest need." Their vision states, "We believe that all children in the state should benefit from public policies that guarantee they are protected and secure in nurturing environments, allowing them to thrive and grow to their greatest potential." This is so noble-sounding! Of course, everyone supports the well-being of all children. Yes, we agree that public policies should promote and support caring families in which children are protected and secure in nurturing environments, allowing them to thrive and grow to their greatest potential. However, notice what is missing in the quotes. There is no mention of "family" or "parents" anywhere! I have an idea this organization's view, when translated into simple language, is that government is better at protecting, securing, and nurturing children than their own families are.
Let us now look at the article itself. It begins, "As Missouri considers increasing its investment in prekindergarten, we must consider this public investment in early learning. Maximizing these public dollars requires aligning standards, curriculum and assessment from pre-kindergarten through kindergarten, and into the early elementary grades. That's the PK-3 approach. PK-3 begins with voluntary full-school-day pre-kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-old children. Compulsory schooling begins in kindergarten with a curriculum that builds on pre-kindergarten experiences. Children learn social skills and self-discipline as well as reading and math."
When people who think that the government does a better job at anything that promotes increased government spending on their pet projects, why is it that they always call it a "public investment"? The answer is that they want someone else to pay for their plans. Obviously, someone is going to have to do all this "aligning standards, curriculum and assessment" and then monitor it. And who better to do that than the same leftists and government bureaucrats who are promoting it in the first place? What a wonderful way to guarantee their job security! And to control the minds of impressionable children in the process! See what I mean about getting children away from their parents at increasingly early ages? Voluntary full-school-day prekindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-old children? Why should anyone in his right mind think that three and four year old kids should be cooped up in a school room for six or eight hours every day, five days a week for half a year? Also, what starts out as "voluntary" (though usually under great pressure) eventually becomes "mandatory." Kindergarten used to be thought of as "voluntary" but now it is "mandatory" under this thinking. Finally, why cannot children learn social skills and self-discipline from parents and family? Or are parents nowadays just too stupid to teach their children these things?
However, there are supposed to be all kinds of benefits for this "public investment." According to the article, "Research supports the PK-3 approach. A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association tracked 1,500 disadvantaged minority children in Chicago for 16 years....Called the Child-Parent Centers, these programs were part of the Chicago Public School system. The study found that CPC participants were almost 30 percent more likely to complete high school than a comparison group of equally disadvantaged children." Someone has said that figures do not lie, but liars sure do figure.
What struck me about this research is that it only deals with disadvantaged children. Most of us would probably agree that in situations where children are growing up in a home where both mom and dad are away working all day or otherwise absent and there is hardly any parental supervision or nurturing it might be better for those children to be in an early learning center. However, to take these exceptional situations, apply the conclusions drawn from them across the board to all families, even those where the parents are present and nurturing, and then seek for laws to require every three and four year old to start PK-3 programs in public (or state-approved private) schools is the height of absurdity! These people really must think that all parents are just too stupid to raise their children, so the government, through PK-3 programs, will have to do it for them.
In another attempt at proving the benefits of PK-3 programs, the article says, "According to the recently released Child Well-Being Index (CWI) report, the rise in 9-year-old's math and reading performance as measured by the National Assessment of Education Progress ('the nation's report card') corresponds with the dramatic expansion of pre-kindergarten since the mid '90s." Notice carefully what is NOT said. It is not said, because there is evidently no evidence whatever to prove it, that the rise in 9-year-old's math and reading performance WAS CAUSED BY the dramatic expansion of pre-kindergarten. Ms. Martarella would undoubtedly have given her eyeteeth if she could have said that. But she did not because she could not, although she obviously seeks to imply it. All she could say was that the rise "corresponds with" the expansion. The truth is that there could be any number of other factors which may have contributed to the rise.
The stated reason (again, I believe that the real, unstated goal is to get children away from their parents and under state control as early as possible) for this mandatory early learning push is to give children a "Head Start" (the name of another similarly-aimed government anti-poverty program of questionable value) so that "children reach fourth grade equipped with the skills needed to learn at a higher level." Forty years ago, when I was in elementary school, what we accomplished in first, second, and third grades seemed to do quite nicely, thank you! But do such early learning programs really increase readiness? The research examined by Dr. Raymond and the late Dorothy Moore show otherwise. Dr. Moore was an official in the Reagan Education Department and shows in Better Late Than Early and School Can Wait, which led to their other books promoting homeschooling, Home Grown Kids and Home Spun Schools, that children who grew up with stimulating environments in nurturing homes until they were eight or nine did just as well in school when placed with other children their age without the danger of academic burnout.
This past year, there was a movement in California for universal preschool. Diane Flynn Keith in an article "Universal Preschool: What?s Behind the Claims That It Will Stop Crime, Secure Your Child?s Future, Save Social Security and Provide A Free Government Nanny!" (The Link; Volume 8, Issue 2; pp. 13, 22, 37, 49, 51) states, "In fact, there are a number of revered child development experts who strongly oppose the institutionalization of mainstream young children in academic programs and warn of the potential damage intellectually, psychologically, emotionally, socially and physically to them if separated from their parents and homes." She cites Mary Eberstadt?s Home Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs and Other Parent Substitutes and David Elkind's Miseducation: Preschoolers At Risk. She also quotes renowned educational psychologist and authority on brain development in children, Jane Healy, Ph.D., who in Your Child?s Growing Mind: Brain Development and Learning From Birth to Adolescence, says to parents, "Give your child the gift of patience for the broad-based mental experiences that will underlie joyous learning throughout life?Childhood is a process, not a product, and so is learning. In a society that often respects products more than the processes of creation and thought, it is easy to fall into the trap of anxiety over measuring achievement in isolated skills. Have faith in childhood and yourself. Children?s brains generally seek what they need, and nature has given you the instincts to help them get it."
Keith concludes, "For 80% of the preschool population, learning at home with loving parents -- who may also occasionally and thoughtfully use private and co-op preschool programs in their community that emphasize imaginative play and facilitate a child?s natural curiosity -- is a better model for the healthy intellectual, physical, social and emotional development of young children than any government preschool program could ever be. More than ever, parents need to be informed in order to maintain their right to determine the educational path of their own children without government mandates or interference....We should all care enough to examine the research and claims made in support of government funded and/or mandated universal preschool before we allow it to take hold."
Sharna Olfman, Ph. D., who is a clinical psychologist, an associate professor of Psychology in the Department of Humanities and Human Sciences at Point Park College in Pittsburgh, PA, and editor of the book All Work and No Play: How Educational Reforms are Harming our Preschoolers, issues similar warning in an article "The Push for Early Childhood Literacy: A Risk Factor in Child Psychopathology" (Home Educator's Family Times; March/April, 2006; pp. 8, 25). She concludes, "It is a striking paradox that as adults feel increasingly entitled to place their individual needs first, we are creating educational environments that do not respect children's individuality or their special status as children. We introduce concepts long before children are ready to master them, deny their need for play, subject them to uniform curricula and assessment, and label and drug the children who do not fit in. Our preoccupation with understanding the genetic and neurological bases of illness, while ignoring the power of the environment, also speaks to our increasingly mechanized conceptualization of human nature."
So, beware of attempts to mandate universal preschool. Home educating families will be affected if such programs are adopted. In states like Missouri where records have to be kept by homeschooling parents for students falling under the compulsory attendance ages, record keeping will become even more onerous as records will have to be kept for three, four, five, and six year olds as well as those who are actually of "school age." There is one more item in Catherine Martarella's article that I would like to point out. "To help qualified teachers make a career of early education, we must pay them what we pay all other elementary school teachers." Translation: Watch your pocketbook and look for a HUGE TAX INCREASE if these programs are adopted.
At This School, Students Decide What To Learn
At This School, Students Decide What To Learn Posted 2006-07-24
By Brad Jenkins
It sounds like the kind of school a child dreams about: Kids make the rules, and they decide what they want to learn and when.
It’s how Sarah Diener Beachy grew up, and it’s how she wants to teach other students.
Beachy, a 27-year-old who lives just outside Harrisonburg, is the founder of Shenandoah Valley Community School, which enters the scene as public-school alternatives continue to gain attention.
Beachy’s private school, which opens next month with three students, may be the most unorthodox of the local options.
The school, according to its written philosophy statement, is a "noncoercive educational community in which students are free to pursue their interests and direct their own learning."
Each morning, Beachy will meet with students and find out what they want to learn. Beachy, a former public school teacher, will teach or she’ll call on volunteers from the community to teach more specialized lessons.
"We believe everyone has an intrinsic desire to learn," said Beachy, who took a year off her studies at Eastern Mennonite University to visit other learner-centered schools.
Read Article: Click on Title Above.
By Brad Jenkins
It sounds like the kind of school a child dreams about: Kids make the rules, and they decide what they want to learn and when.
It’s how Sarah Diener Beachy grew up, and it’s how she wants to teach other students.
Beachy, a 27-year-old who lives just outside Harrisonburg, is the founder of Shenandoah Valley Community School, which enters the scene as public-school alternatives continue to gain attention.
Beachy’s private school, which opens next month with three students, may be the most unorthodox of the local options.
The school, according to its written philosophy statement, is a "noncoercive educational community in which students are free to pursue their interests and direct their own learning."
Each morning, Beachy will meet with students and find out what they want to learn. Beachy, a former public school teacher, will teach or she’ll call on volunteers from the community to teach more specialized lessons.
"We believe everyone has an intrinsic desire to learn," said Beachy, who took a year off her studies at Eastern Mennonite University to visit other learner-centered schools.
Read Article: Click on Title Above.
Benefits of Homeschooling
Homeschool Benefits
As a home-school student I would like to answer some of Alison Farmer’s queries ("Public Schooling Is Best," July 21) about home education.
First, home-schoolers are not isolated. They cooperate in order to provide their children with many "academic possibilities." I have had the privilege of sitting under university accredited parents in multiple classes, including "adequate" science labs and "collaborative" Shakespeare discussions. No home-school parent would claim to be proficient in all subjects, but by each sharing talents and knowledge it becomes achievable.
Second, home schoolers do "lose out on the socialization of a public school environment," but it is not us who lose. My friends tell me stories of how frustrating it is to face the influences that surround them everyday, especially the pressure to become sexually active.
But, I am not "sheltered." I have been taught the consequences of choices, and how to respond in difficult situations. I am confident in my response. As far as being "class president" or "quarterback", few people have that opportunity in a large school. Most home-school families have chances for leadership and responsibility through sibilings.
In a "real world" situation, there are annoying things that other people do. In a home-school setting, you’re living with those people and learning how to deal with them appropriately, which is a "trial of growing up." Home schooling is not "tearing apart the basis of American education," but was the foundation of early American education, and largely influenced the one room school house until the 20th Century.
As a home-schooled junior, I am thankful for my home education, and feel fully prepared to face the future. But before you begin to ban homeschooling, I invite you to dinner so you can see how "sheltered, isolated, and unsocialized" my family is. Chances are, you might be surprised.
Lydia Smith
Harrisonburg
As a home-school student I would like to answer some of Alison Farmer’s queries ("Public Schooling Is Best," July 21) about home education.
First, home-schoolers are not isolated. They cooperate in order to provide their children with many "academic possibilities." I have had the privilege of sitting under university accredited parents in multiple classes, including "adequate" science labs and "collaborative" Shakespeare discussions. No home-school parent would claim to be proficient in all subjects, but by each sharing talents and knowledge it becomes achievable.
Second, home schoolers do "lose out on the socialization of a public school environment," but it is not us who lose. My friends tell me stories of how frustrating it is to face the influences that surround them everyday, especially the pressure to become sexually active.
But, I am not "sheltered." I have been taught the consequences of choices, and how to respond in difficult situations. I am confident in my response. As far as being "class president" or "quarterback", few people have that opportunity in a large school. Most home-school families have chances for leadership and responsibility through sibilings.
In a "real world" situation, there are annoying things that other people do. In a home-school setting, you’re living with those people and learning how to deal with them appropriately, which is a "trial of growing up." Home schooling is not "tearing apart the basis of American education," but was the foundation of early American education, and largely influenced the one room school house until the 20th Century.
As a home-schooled junior, I am thankful for my home education, and feel fully prepared to face the future. But before you begin to ban homeschooling, I invite you to dinner so you can see how "sheltered, isolated, and unsocialized" my family is. Chances are, you might be surprised.
Lydia Smith
Harrisonburg
Thursday, May 18, 2006
How public schools are sabotaging America
Note: This commentary encourages parents to look at other means to educate their chilcren - rather than "subjecting
children to educational malpractice" in the public schools. Sam Blumenfeld has been a long time friend to homeschooling
parents and children. J. Boswell
by Samuel Blumenfeld
Commentary
©2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Top CEOs in the computer field have been bemoaning the fact that American schools are not turning out students who are proficient enough in math and science and able to do the work needed in the computer industry. Nor are our students able to compete with their counterparts in other countries, namely India and China.
Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel, said in an interview in USA Today (Nov. 8, 2001) that our education system "is dumbing down the U.S. citizenry and educating the rest of the globe" in our graduate schools. Our educators haven't "fully recognized that the standard of living is going to be dependent on the quality of the workforce." That strong warning, issued over four years ago hasn't made much of a dent in the thinking of America's public educators.
Read the entire article - click on the title.
children to educational malpractice" in the public schools. Sam Blumenfeld has been a long time friend to homeschooling
parents and children. J. Boswell
by Samuel Blumenfeld
Commentary
©2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Top CEOs in the computer field have been bemoaning the fact that American schools are not turning out students who are proficient enough in math and science and able to do the work needed in the computer industry. Nor are our students able to compete with their counterparts in other countries, namely India and China.
Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel, said in an interview in USA Today (Nov. 8, 2001) that our education system "is dumbing down the U.S. citizenry and educating the rest of the globe" in our graduate schools. Our educators haven't "fully recognized that the standard of living is going to be dependent on the quality of the workforce." That strong warning, issued over four years ago hasn't made much of a dent in the thinking of America's public educators.
Read the entire article - click on the title.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Taught at home, off to college is new trend
Admissions are up as students shed academic stigma
Monday, May 15, 2006
Jennifer Smith Richards
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
There are nine children in the Taylor family, all of them homeschooled.
And all of them, dad William Taylor says, are college-bound. Elyshia is at Franciscan University of Steubenville now. Ashley was just accepted to Case Western Reserve and Denison universities on full scholarships.
"Colleges started competing for her to come," said Taylor, who lives in Groveport.
Ohio colleges — especially private ones — report that more home-schooled students are applying and being admitted than ever before. Some schools have relaxed their years-old, stringent requirements for home-schoolers to gain admission, now favoring a national admissions test and proof of a rigorous curriculum.
"We’ve seen a tremendous increase," said Nicole Evans, associate director of admissions at Ohio Dominican University.
And the colleges are glad to admit more home-schoolers, she said.
Read the entire article at The Columbus Dispatch - click on title.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Jennifer Smith Richards
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
There are nine children in the Taylor family, all of them homeschooled.
And all of them, dad William Taylor says, are college-bound. Elyshia is at Franciscan University of Steubenville now. Ashley was just accepted to Case Western Reserve and Denison universities on full scholarships.
"Colleges started competing for her to come," said Taylor, who lives in Groveport.
Ohio colleges — especially private ones — report that more home-schooled students are applying and being admitted than ever before. Some schools have relaxed their years-old, stringent requirements for home-schoolers to gain admission, now favoring a national admissions test and proof of a rigorous curriculum.
"We’ve seen a tremendous increase," said Nicole Evans, associate director of admissions at Ohio Dominican University.
And the colleges are glad to admit more home-schoolers, she said.
Read the entire article at The Columbus Dispatch - click on title.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
From homeschool to college
From homeschool to college (Worcester Magazine Online, 5/4/06)
By Joan H. Bress, LICSW, CEP
The number of homeschooled college applicants has risen dramatically in the past decade. There are currently 2 million children who study at home rather than at school, and the number is expected to reach 3 million by 2010. While an estimated 50% of these children attend college, many college admissions offices are still not certain about the best way to evaluate the academic experiences of these students.
In conversations I have had with numerous college admissions officers, I have not encountered any whose college has a policy of refusing admission to students who have been homeschooled. Although concerns and cynicism exist at some colleges, most colleges express interest in receiving applications from homeschooled students. Colleges that have accepted homeschooled students appreciate the maturity and self-direction these students demonstrate. They believe that because homeschooled students have been involved in shaping their own education, they tend to be motivated learners and are comfortable assuming positions of leadership, both in class and in social situations.
(Read entire article - click on the title above.)
By Joan H. Bress, LICSW, CEP
The number of homeschooled college applicants has risen dramatically in the past decade. There are currently 2 million children who study at home rather than at school, and the number is expected to reach 3 million by 2010. While an estimated 50% of these children attend college, many college admissions offices are still not certain about the best way to evaluate the academic experiences of these students.
In conversations I have had with numerous college admissions officers, I have not encountered any whose college has a policy of refusing admission to students who have been homeschooled. Although concerns and cynicism exist at some colleges, most colleges express interest in receiving applications from homeschooled students. Colleges that have accepted homeschooled students appreciate the maturity and self-direction these students demonstrate. They believe that because homeschooled students have been involved in shaping their own education, they tend to be motivated learners and are comfortable assuming positions of leadership, both in class and in social situations.
(Read entire article - click on the title above.)
Monday, May 01, 2006
NTERVIEW: JUDY ARON - DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT NHELD (National Home Education Legal Defense)http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Thursday, April 27, 2006
This interview was conducted by Mr. Henry Cate of Why Homeschool blog or whyhomeschool.blogspot.com:
http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/04/interview-judy-aron-director-of.html
Below is an interview with Judy Aron done via email. Judy makes some great points. One of the ones which resonanted with me is how children who are being homeschooled need to realize their education is a partnership and take initiative. Her thoughts about how all homeschoolers need to be informed and involved with poltics reminded me of some of the reviews I've read about An Army of Davids (which I have, and hope to read soon) by Glenn Reynolds.
Bio:
Judy Aron is a long time Homeschooling Activist. She has been heavily involved in protecting the rights of parents: particularly homeschoolers. Currently Judy works as the Research Director for the National Home Education Legal Defense (http://www.nheld.com/). Judy was also Vice President of CT Homeschool Network, and currently is their legislative liaison. (http://www.cthomeschoolnetwork.org/). She is wife to Michael Aron, and mom to 3 wonderful kids. David is a graduate of Boston University, Jeff currently attends Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Rachel is pursuing her high school studies at home.
Personal:
Judy, tell us a little about yourself. Where did you grow up? What hobbies do you have? Where is the most exciting place you've traveled to?
I was born in Far Rockaway, New York, and attended public school there up until my parents had to deal with bussing and other problems with the school system. Yes, I recall being bussed quite far away from my home to a horrible school. So, when I was a ìtweenagerî we moved to ìupstateî New York, to a little town called Accord. I attended public school there and then graduated from Rondout Valley High School and went on to attend SUNY New Paltz, where I earned a BA in Economics in 1978 with a dual minor in Business Administration and Computer Science. I graduated Magna Cum Laude. Shortly after graduation I married my husband Michael Aron and we moved to Connecticut. I worked for the Travelers Insurance Company as a manager in Data Processing, and after having my second child I hung up the corporate suit and stayed home to be a parent full time. It was a wise decision, and one that I will never regret, despite the hardship of giving up half of our income at the time. During my time at home and raising a family, I did all kinds of things including obtaining a real estate license, running a travel agency out of my home for a time, and doing lots of community work.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON THE TITLE OR ON THE LINK IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH.
Editor's Note: Judy Aaron and Deborah Stevenson of NHELD will be presenting workshops at the 2006 New
England Homeschool & Family Learning Conference held in Boxborough, MA, July 14, 15, 2006.
This interview was conducted by Mr. Henry Cate of Why Homeschool blog or whyhomeschool.blogspot.com:
http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/04/interview-judy-aron-director-of.html
Below is an interview with Judy Aron done via email. Judy makes some great points. One of the ones which resonanted with me is how children who are being homeschooled need to realize their education is a partnership and take initiative. Her thoughts about how all homeschoolers need to be informed and involved with poltics reminded me of some of the reviews I've read about An Army of Davids (which I have, and hope to read soon) by Glenn Reynolds.
Bio:
Judy Aron is a long time Homeschooling Activist. She has been heavily involved in protecting the rights of parents: particularly homeschoolers. Currently Judy works as the Research Director for the National Home Education Legal Defense (http://www.nheld.com/). Judy was also Vice President of CT Homeschool Network, and currently is their legislative liaison. (http://www.cthomeschoolnetwork.org/). She is wife to Michael Aron, and mom to 3 wonderful kids. David is a graduate of Boston University, Jeff currently attends Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Rachel is pursuing her high school studies at home.
Personal:
Judy, tell us a little about yourself. Where did you grow up? What hobbies do you have? Where is the most exciting place you've traveled to?
I was born in Far Rockaway, New York, and attended public school there up until my parents had to deal with bussing and other problems with the school system. Yes, I recall being bussed quite far away from my home to a horrible school. So, when I was a ìtweenagerî we moved to ìupstateî New York, to a little town called Accord. I attended public school there and then graduated from Rondout Valley High School and went on to attend SUNY New Paltz, where I earned a BA in Economics in 1978 with a dual minor in Business Administration and Computer Science. I graduated Magna Cum Laude. Shortly after graduation I married my husband Michael Aron and we moved to Connecticut. I worked for the Travelers Insurance Company as a manager in Data Processing, and after having my second child I hung up the corporate suit and stayed home to be a parent full time. It was a wise decision, and one that I will never regret, despite the hardship of giving up half of our income at the time. During my time at home and raising a family, I did all kinds of things including obtaining a real estate license, running a travel agency out of my home for a time, and doing lots of community work.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON THE TITLE OR ON THE LINK IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH.
Editor's Note: Judy Aaron and Deborah Stevenson of NHELD will be presenting workshops at the 2006 New
England Homeschool & Family Learning Conference held in Boxborough, MA, July 14, 15, 2006.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Harris Poll: One-third of U.S. Adults Know Someone Who Homeschools Their Child
One-third of U.S. Adults Know Someone Who Homeschools Their Child
Two-thirds of adults cite dissatisfaction with academic instruction as aPlease click on the title to be directed to the original article and to read it in its entirety.
main reason why they think parents in general or they themselves homeschool
their children
ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The passage of the No Child
Left Behind Act has focused attention not only on public education in the
United States, but on alternatives to public education as well. One such
alternative is homeschooling, a growing trend in recent years(1). One-third
(34%) of U.S. adults know someone who currently homeschools their child.
Among those households with children who are old enough to have attended
school, eight percent report that their child has been homeschooled at some
point in their education.
These are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,435 U.S. adults
surveyed online by Harris Interactive(R) between March 8 and 14, 2006.
Reasons for homeschooling
Homeschoolers A Small But Growing Minority- Harvard "Homeschool Anonymous" takes flight
by Rachel Pollack
The Harvard Crimson online edition
Crystal E. Winston ’06-’07 never had a prom. She never rode a school bus, went to gym class, or received a report card. Like a growing number of students around the country, Winston, went to school by staying at home—from kindergarten through senior year.
Winston, a history of art and architecture concentrator in Mather House, says her mother taught her at home because the St. Louis school district where she grew up was “way terrible.”
“There weren’t many options for us,” Winston says. “My mom wanted us to have a certain set of values growing up, and she wanted to make sure that we got those if we were homeschooled.”
The Department of Education reported in 2003 that 2.2 percent of the American school-age population was homeschooled. And experts at the Graduate School of Education say that a majority of those families choose to homeschool their children for religious reasons.
But even as the homeschooling trend takes root nationwide, a disproportionately tiny number of these students ever win entry to Harvard.
‘A GROWTH INDUSTRY’
In 1989, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said that around five to 10 homeschooled students applied to Harvard yearly.
Following the rise in the number of homeschoolers nationwide, between 100 and 200 homeschooled students applied to Harvard this year, says Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis ’70-’73. Lewis adds that many other applicants were homeschooled for part of their education.
“It’s a growth industry. We’ve probably had an increase in numbers over the past 10 years,” she says.
Lewis says she cannot give exact figures because the admissions office does not place homeschooled students’ applications into separate categories.
Despite this increase in the number of applicants, Lewis says Harvard usually only accepts between three and eight homeschooled students each year, a number significantly lower than this year’s overall acceptance rate of 9.3 percent.
Read article - click on title to read entire article at it's source web site.
The Harvard Crimson online edition
Crystal E. Winston ’06-’07 never had a prom. She never rode a school bus, went to gym class, or received a report card. Like a growing number of students around the country, Winston, went to school by staying at home—from kindergarten through senior year.
Winston, a history of art and architecture concentrator in Mather House, says her mother taught her at home because the St. Louis school district where she grew up was “way terrible.”
“There weren’t many options for us,” Winston says. “My mom wanted us to have a certain set of values growing up, and she wanted to make sure that we got those if we were homeschooled.”
The Department of Education reported in 2003 that 2.2 percent of the American school-age population was homeschooled. And experts at the Graduate School of Education say that a majority of those families choose to homeschool their children for religious reasons.
But even as the homeschooling trend takes root nationwide, a disproportionately tiny number of these students ever win entry to Harvard.
‘A GROWTH INDUSTRY’
In 1989, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said that around five to 10 homeschooled students applied to Harvard yearly.
Following the rise in the number of homeschoolers nationwide, between 100 and 200 homeschooled students applied to Harvard this year, says Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis ’70-’73. Lewis adds that many other applicants were homeschooled for part of their education.
“It’s a growth industry. We’ve probably had an increase in numbers over the past 10 years,” she says.
Lewis says she cannot give exact figures because the admissions office does not place homeschooled students’ applications into separate categories.
Despite this increase in the number of applicants, Lewis says Harvard usually only accepts between three and eight homeschooled students each year, a number significantly lower than this year’s overall acceptance rate of 9.3 percent.
Read article - click on title to read entire article at it's source web site.
Friday, April 14, 2006
A baker's dozen: The Diel family believes in working, plaing and praying together
Great story about life, love and learning in a large family... (HEFT ed)
by Amy Siewart (GMToday) Greater Milwaukee 4/13/06
Size does not appear to be an issue for the tight-knit family, whose household is efficiently run, family members are healthy and most importantly happy. It would make any small family stand up and applaud.
To grasp how many years Diane Diel was pregnant or with a baby in her arms, she was 20 when she had James and 45 when she had Joseph ó a quarter of a century. "When I had my first one it was a great experience and I thought one is just fine," Diane laughs. "It really has been a journey. I didnít know they would all come from me!" she exclaims. Early in their marriage, Jim and Diane thought they would possibly adopt children instead of conceiving their own.
That whole idea was set aside after several pregnancies occurred.
The entire Diel family including son James (left) holding his baby with his wife sitting behind him, gathered for this family photo during the 2005 holiday season.
"This is an area of our lives where we are going to trust God," Diane says. "Weíve been blessed. Theyíve all been healthy."
The couple began reading the Bible after experiencing some difficult times early in their marriage. "We started taking God at his word and in the Bible we read that children are a blessing," Diane explains.
by Amy Siewart (GMToday) Greater Milwaukee 4/13/06
Size does not appear to be an issue for the tight-knit family, whose household is efficiently run, family members are healthy and most importantly happy. It would make any small family stand up and applaud.
To grasp how many years Diane Diel was pregnant or with a baby in her arms, she was 20 when she had James and 45 when she had Joseph ó a quarter of a century. "When I had my first one it was a great experience and I thought one is just fine," Diane laughs. "It really has been a journey. I didnít know they would all come from me!" she exclaims. Early in their marriage, Jim and Diane thought they would possibly adopt children instead of conceiving their own.
That whole idea was set aside after several pregnancies occurred.
The entire Diel family including son James (left) holding his baby with his wife sitting behind him, gathered for this family photo during the 2005 holiday season.
"This is an area of our lives where we are going to trust God," Diane says. "Weíve been blessed. Theyíve all been healthy."
The couple began reading the Bible after experiencing some difficult times early in their marriage. "We started taking God at his word and in the Bible we read that children are a blessing," Diane explains.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
New Article from (Pacific) Time Magazine - School's Out Forever
http://www.time.com/time/pacific/magazine/article/0,13673,503060417-1181679,00.html
Sunday, Apr. 09, 2006
It was several months before anastasia was born that her parents decided she wouldn't be going to school. Her mother, Katharina Russell-Head, had driven the idea, doubtful that schooling was the best way for children to learn. Without instruction, she reasoned, infants accomplish the astonishing feats of learning to walk and talk. "I wondered what would happen if you applied that same philosophy - just letting them be - to children after the age of five," she says. "Would they continue to do their job as children?" There's a twist in Russell-Head's case. A schoolteacher in Melbourne for 10 years before Anastasia came along, she might have been expected to regard teaching as a job best done by professionals. But that's not her view at all. While teacher training is worthwhile, she says, its main benefit is to prepare trainees for tutoring large groups. "Anyone can teach one-on-one," she says. "And my method wasn't really teaching, anyway. It was just being there." Academically, Anastasia seemed to thrive at home, an impression confirmed when - curious about school and keen to develop her musical talent - she started at the somewhat alternative Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School in Year 10. "She immediately excelled in everything," her mother says. "But after two weeks she came home and said, 'Mum, do you mind if I stop being top in everything? It's embarrassing.'" Anastasia is now 27 and concert manager at the Victorian College of the Arts. With her parents and sisters, she was a pioneer in a field that has grown markedly in Australia and New Zealand since the 1970s, when homeschooling reappeared after an absence of more than a century. Because a portion of homeschooling families choose not to tell authorities what they're doing, no one knows exactly how many children are involved in it. In Australia, estimates range from between 0.2% and 2% of the school-age population. Analysis of available numbers suggests the true figure is around 0.5% - or about 10,000 to 20,000 kids. Click on Title Above to read article.
Sunday, Apr. 09, 2006
It was several months before anastasia was born that her parents decided she wouldn't be going to school. Her mother, Katharina Russell-Head, had driven the idea, doubtful that schooling was the best way for children to learn. Without instruction, she reasoned, infants accomplish the astonishing feats of learning to walk and talk. "I wondered what would happen if you applied that same philosophy - just letting them be - to children after the age of five," she says. "Would they continue to do their job as children?" There's a twist in Russell-Head's case. A schoolteacher in Melbourne for 10 years before Anastasia came along, she might have been expected to regard teaching as a job best done by professionals. But that's not her view at all. While teacher training is worthwhile, she says, its main benefit is to prepare trainees for tutoring large groups. "Anyone can teach one-on-one," she says. "And my method wasn't really teaching, anyway. It was just being there." Academically, Anastasia seemed to thrive at home, an impression confirmed when - curious about school and keen to develop her musical talent - she started at the somewhat alternative Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School in Year 10. "She immediately excelled in everything," her mother says. "But after two weeks she came home and said, 'Mum, do you mind if I stop being top in everything? It's embarrassing.'" Anastasia is now 27 and concert manager at the Victorian College of the Arts. With her parents and sisters, she was a pioneer in a field that has grown markedly in Australia and New Zealand since the 1970s, when homeschooling reappeared after an absence of more than a century. Because a portion of homeschooling families choose not to tell authorities what they're doing, no one knows exactly how many children are involved in it. In Australia, estimates range from between 0.2% and 2% of the school-age population. Analysis of available numbers suggests the true figure is around 0.5% - or about 10,000 to 20,000 kids. Click on Title Above to read article.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Homeschooling Growing In Popularity
04/02/06
Homeschooling growing in popularity
NORTH PORT -- When his seventh-grade daughter was being bullied by classmates, John McKay took her out of public schools.
" I (felt) that the guidance counselors favored the bullies more than the ones being bullied," McKay said. Instead, the North Porter opted for homeschooling.
Leslie Valeska said she first started homeschooling when she found her son, now 14, was not being challenged enough in public schools.
"He was bored and the classes were not intense enough for him," she said. "Now I've been homeschooling him for four years, along with my three other children."
One of the surprises she found was how much her children support each other. "They all get excited when one of them gets a difficult concept or does something spectacular."
Families may choose homeschooling for many reasons.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Homeschooled Students Continue to Win
Wooly bugger: Lalor fly ties to first place
http://knox.villagesoup.com/sports/story.cfm?storyID=69727
Homeschool student wins top honors at math and science contest
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/NEWS01/603260311/1002
6th grader wins regional spelling bee
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/264469_spellingbee27.html
http://knox.villagesoup.com/sports/story.cfm?storyID=69727
Homeschool student wins top honors at math and science contest
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/NEWS01/603260311/1002
6th grader wins regional spelling bee
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/264469_spellingbee27.html
Home is where the learning is
Home is where the learning is
By Anne Matthews
TIMES CORRESPONDENT
Tricia Field's weekday mornings begin like many other mothers with young children in Pleasanton. After breakfast, she helps her preschooler and first grader get ready for school with her toddler in tow. Four days a week, she drops her 4-year-old daughter Carly off at morning preschool then heads back home.
It's at home where the real work begins as 6-year-old Tori begins her school day. With her mother's guidance and the blessing of the Pleasanton Unified School District, Tori is learning all that a first grader in a traditional school would learn, plus a little more.
By Anne Matthews
TIMES CORRESPONDENT
Tricia Field's weekday mornings begin like many other mothers with young children in Pleasanton. After breakfast, she helps her preschooler and first grader get ready for school with her toddler in tow. Four days a week, she drops her 4-year-old daughter Carly off at morning preschool then heads back home.
It's at home where the real work begins as 6-year-old Tori begins her school day. With her mother's guidance and the blessing of the Pleasanton Unified School District, Tori is learning all that a first grader in a traditional school would learn, plus a little more.
Homegrown scholars
DailyPrincetonian.com
By Sophia Ahern Dwosh
Princetonian Senior Writer
Photo by Michael Zhang
(Expand Photo)
Homegrown scholars: Brian Brown '07. who was homeschooled as a child, shows a photograph of his family. Brown is one of about eight students at the University who were "Home Educated." Between one million to two million students nationwide are currently educated at home.
Before arriving at the University, Steve Apple '08 had not gone to school for a single day in his entire life.
A friend took Apple to his second grade classroom as part of a show-and-tell demonstration. "He stood me up there and said, 'Hey, this is my friend Steve. He's homeschooled. Talk to them, Steve!'" Apple recalled in an interview.
More than a decade later, though his peers no longer look at him as an outsider, Apple is still part of a small minority of students whose educational background has involved home-based schooling.
By Sophia Ahern Dwosh
Princetonian Senior Writer
Photo by Michael Zhang
(Expand Photo)
Homegrown scholars: Brian Brown '07. who was homeschooled as a child, shows a photograph of his family. Brown is one of about eight students at the University who were "Home Educated." Between one million to two million students nationwide are currently educated at home.
Before arriving at the University, Steve Apple '08 had not gone to school for a single day in his entire life.
A friend took Apple to his second grade classroom as part of a show-and-tell demonstration. "He stood me up there and said, 'Hey, this is my friend Steve. He's homeschooled. Talk to them, Steve!'" Apple recalled in an interview.
More than a decade later, though his peers no longer look at him as an outsider, Apple is still part of a small minority of students whose educational background has involved home-based schooling.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Homeschooling, sweet homeschooling
by Nathanel Blake (townhall.com)
Last week a New York Times article profiled the ordeal of academic applications: essays, interviews, application consultants, tuition of $10,000 a year or more, and the stress of separating families.
The article was about private preschools in New York City. The following is representative of the tribulations chronicled among well-heeled parents. "When Ms. Malloy, a federal prosecutor, applied for her twins, a boy and a girl, she asked her husband to write the application essay. "I was so nervous," she said, "and I'm someone who took the LSAT, who's written for the federal judiciary and in law review."
The family applied to four schools. "There's not a week that goes by that I don't regret that I didn't apply to three or four more," Ms. Malloy said. And so the hamster-wheel rat-race is now beginning at the ripe old age of two.
For me, reading this story increased my determination that if probability wins out and I marry and have children (I'm archaic enough to believe that to be the proper order), they will be homeschooled.
Read entire article by clicking on the title.
Last week a New York Times article profiled the ordeal of academic applications: essays, interviews, application consultants, tuition of $10,000 a year or more, and the stress of separating families.
The article was about private preschools in New York City. The following is representative of the tribulations chronicled among well-heeled parents. "When Ms. Malloy, a federal prosecutor, applied for her twins, a boy and a girl, she asked her husband to write the application essay. "I was so nervous," she said, "and I'm someone who took the LSAT, who's written for the federal judiciary and in law review."
The family applied to four schools. "There's not a week that goes by that I don't regret that I didn't apply to three or four more," Ms. Malloy said. And so the hamster-wheel rat-race is now beginning at the ripe old age of two.
For me, reading this story increased my determination that if probability wins out and I marry and have children (I'm archaic enough to believe that to be the proper order), they will be homeschooled.
Read entire article by clicking on the title.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
A Peculiar People - Crunchy Cons
by Chuck Colson
Townhall.com
March 7, 2006
If you encountered someone who made his own granola, bought his veggies at a food co-op, wore Birkenstock sandals, and wanted to save the environment, if you’re like me, you’d probably think, well, there goes a lefty, or a liberal, or maybe an aging hippie. But the author of a new book says someone like that is just as likely to be a conservative Republican. In his book, Crunchy Cons, journalist Rod Dreher writes about a group of people he calls “crunchy conservatives,” a group that includes, among others, “hip homeschooling mamas,” “Birkenstocked Burkeans,” “gun-loving organic” farmers, and “right-wing nature lovers.”
What Dreher, a Dallas Morning News columnist, means by “crunchy conservative” is someone who rejects the “consumerist and individualistic mainstream of American life.” This rejection distinguishes their worldview from that of mainstream liberalism or conservatism, which, in Dreher’s estimation, are both “essentially materialist ideologies.”
The result of this materialism is “a society dedicated to the multiplication of wants and the intensification of desire, not the improvement of character.” What sets Dreher’s “crunchy cons” apart is the extent to which they have recognized the corrosive effects of a culture that is both materialistic and pornographic, and they are prepared to do something about it.
Townhall.com
March 7, 2006
If you encountered someone who made his own granola, bought his veggies at a food co-op, wore Birkenstock sandals, and wanted to save the environment, if you’re like me, you’d probably think, well, there goes a lefty, or a liberal, or maybe an aging hippie. But the author of a new book says someone like that is just as likely to be a conservative Republican. In his book, Crunchy Cons, journalist Rod Dreher writes about a group of people he calls “crunchy conservatives,” a group that includes, among others, “hip homeschooling mamas,” “Birkenstocked Burkeans,” “gun-loving organic” farmers, and “right-wing nature lovers.”
What Dreher, a Dallas Morning News columnist, means by “crunchy conservative” is someone who rejects the “consumerist and individualistic mainstream of American life.” This rejection distinguishes their worldview from that of mainstream liberalism or conservatism, which, in Dreher’s estimation, are both “essentially materialist ideologies.”
The result of this materialism is “a society dedicated to the multiplication of wants and the intensification of desire, not the improvement of character.” What sets Dreher’s “crunchy cons” apart is the extent to which they have recognized the corrosive effects of a culture that is both materialistic and pornographic, and they are prepared to do something about it.
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