Monthly Archives: August 2005

Posted on August 31, 2005 by Gary

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PSA: TeenPact

Tim Echols, President of TeenPact asked us to make this announcement. TeenPact’s mission is to train young people to be leaders who will impact the nation and the world.

TeenPact is bringing both its Fall 2-day class and Spring 4-day class to Sacramento, California for the first-ever TeenPact class. Echols has appeared on Focus on the Family’s Weekend Show, American Family Radio, and Tony Perkins’ Washington Weekly discussing TeenPact and how the program inspires and motivates homeschooling teens to get involved with government and politics. Read more…

Posted on August 31, 2005 by Gary

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16-year-old Homeschooled musician

Off to a promising start.

MACKVILLE – If you were to put Deanna Marie Tomlinson’s young life to music, it might go something like this:

Set your goals up in the sky,

reach high in all you do;

There are no limitations;

persevere and you’ll get through.

Those lyrics have an autographical ring to them because Deanna wrote them. They are words that the 16-year-old Mercer County girl has lived by since she was 5 years of age. Read more…

Posted on August 31, 2005 by Gary

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Co-ops give an added dimension to homeschool

Positive message but this will seem obvious to most homeschoolers. You can’t homeschool alone. You need the support of others.

LONGMONT � When the new kid in the neighborhood asked the Matthews boys where they went to school, they replied: �Downstairs.�

Josh, 10, and Zach, 8, have always been homeschooled, a style of education sometimes misconstrued as socially inept or curriculum-intense. Read more…

Posted on August 29, 2005 by Gary

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School boards could learn from home-schoolers’ successes

We’re hearing these statistics a lot these days. Homeschoolers seem to be doing better on standardised test. It’s important to note that not all homeschoolers take standardized tests, but the neumebr that do take them makes this significant.

As Arizona’s public school officials clamor for state regulation of parents who educate their children at home, the latest ACT college entrance exam scores again show that home-schoolers are doing just fine without bureaucrats sticking their noses in.

The 8,075 home-school graduates who took the ACT this year achieved an average score of 22.5, which is significantly above the national average, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association. Read more…

Posted on August 29, 2005 by Gary

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Home-schoolers get a sporting chance

Sometimes homeschoolers rely on participation in public school sports. In this case that was inpossible so they formed their own sports club.

Leonard resident and high school senior Laura Winningham has enjoyed being home-schooled, but she would have opted for public schools had she not found a way to play competitive sports.

Home-schooled students in Michigan are not permitted to participate in public high school athletic programs, but, fortunately, Winningham and dozens of other sports enthusiasts in her position have another option. Read more…

Posted on August 28, 2005 by Gary

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Alabama Bill would allow homeschoolers to play public school sports

Alabama may join the string of states legislating the right to play.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Austin Brown has been playing youth football in Glencoe in northeast Alabama for four years. He is now 12 years old and in the last year of eligibility to play in the youth league.

Most of his teammates will get a chance to play some more football next year on a local middle school team, but that option is not open to Austin, who does not attend an organized school. Austin and his brother, Mason, 8, have always been taught at home by their parents, Gina and Vann Brown. Read more…

Posted on August 28, 2005 by Gary

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Warning: Homeschooling may lead to beekeeping

This homeschool mom liked teaching about bees so much she got into beekeeping.

WINSTED — Winsted residents were abuzz about bees on Saturday at the Beardsley and Memorial Library. Beekeeper Kim Michalewicz, Granby, shared her techniques for starting a beehive for fun or income.

‘It�s a sticky business,’ Michalewicz said. Managing between 50,000 and 60,000 bees could be profitable, Michalewicz said, but newcomers to the field should take the time to learn about bees and their habits to save time and money.” Read more…

Posted on August 27, 2005 by Gary

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Religious reasons

Many homeschool stories either try to make the point that homeschooling is usally for religious reasons or usually not. Why do you homeschool?

While most Blue Water Area students are busy finding their lockers, hundreds will be heading back to school without leaving their homes.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 1.1 million students, or 2% of the school-age population, were being home schooled in 2003. Their ranks increased by 29% since the last study in 1999. If those statistics are true in St. Clair County, it means more than 600 children are learning their reading, writing and arithmetic from their parents. Read more…

Posted on August 27, 2005 by Gary

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About 17,000 homeschool in Minnesota

A fairly positive piece. I like the quote at the end describing homeschooling as a “pro-family alternative.”

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. – Science experiments in the kitchen and one-on-one attention from their parents are just a few things Jake and Joe Strandmo can look forward to when they start home schooling next month.

Jake will take a field trip to Washington, D.C., with his dad for a government class. Joe will train the family’s Rottweiller puppy as part of his animal behavior course. Both brothers will focus on topics that interest them. Read more…

Posted on August 27, 2005 by Gary

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When School is at Home

A very matter-of-fact and positive story on homeschooling. (Thanks to reader CS.)

Millions of American children do not attend formal schools. Their parents are educating them at home. Why is home schooling growing in popularity?

What kind of family makes this choice?

Many kinds. As recently as 20 years ago, most people dismissed home-schoolers as oddballs, and there were only 50,000 home-schooled kids in the entire country. �It was mainly reserved for religious zealots or the seed-and-sprout eaters,� said Diane Flynn Keith, a home-schooling mom from California. But home schooling has been pushing into the mainstream. As many as 2 million children are now being taught at home, and every year, thousands more parents yank their children out of public schools to educate them at home.” Read more…

Posted on August 24, 2005 by Gary

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Home-school education grows

This is a local story about the growth of homeschooling in a Palm Beach County District. A lot of basic info.

While many parents sent their kids back to school this month with a sigh of relief, work is just beginning for families who home-school their children.

About 270 kids who live in Boynton Beach and in areas west of the city were educated at home this past school year, according to the Palm Beach County School District. Read more…

Posted on August 21, 2005 by Gary

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Home versus school

A general story about homeschooling that centers around one family. It gives the impression that all homeschooling families are like them.
OTIS � As summer winds down, children everywhere excitedly discuss their new teachers, who their classmates will be, and whether the class work at their new grade levels will be too hard and their homework assignments too time-consuming.
But when the big yellow buses begin to roll again next week, they won’t stop at the home of the Andrus family. The family’s five school-age daughters are among a small but growing minority of students who will remain at home, children commonly referred to as ‘home-schoolers.’ Read more…

Posted on August 21, 2005 by Gary

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Home-schooling part of routine

Of course.

Arianna Westheimer, 7, sat on the couch with a pretend frown on her face.

That afternoon, the UPS man delivered the third and last box of home-schooling books ordered from Beka, a Christian distributor.

As her mother, Pansy, and sister, Samantha Russell, carefully inventoried the contents, Arianna said, ‘Well, at least the first part of school is easy because we review what we learned last year.’ Read more…

Posted on August 21, 2005 by Gary

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Cafe doubles as homeschool classroom

Family business and homeschooling are an increasingly common combination. Learning by doing.

The Sweet Sisters Cafe in Pleasant Hill is unquestionably a family business.

Just ask Robert Quenneville-Clairmont, 16, who assembles salads.

Or Sterling, 14, who waits tables and orders most of the supplies.

Or Riley, 10, who makes French toast for Sunday brunch.

Or Reid, 7, who buses tables.

Or Sacha, 3, who greets customers and wipes down any surfaces she can get her little hands on.

Or Siena, 15 months, who … well, spends a fair amount of time there.

Many small family-run businesses rely on help from a child or two, but Sweet Sisters takes this a step further. Cafe owner Deborah Lyse Quenneville- Clairmont is homeschooling her six children and conceived of the restaurant as a central part of their education. Read more…

Posted on August 20, 2005 by Gary

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Chris Klicka defends home-school rights

Pray for this amazing man. Even now with multiple sclerosis, Chris fights tirelessly for homeschoolers.

Most days of the week, he lives in a cramped home office. A weight-lifting bench stands at one end, a desk piled high with books and papers at another.

Multiple sclerosis has wracked Christopher J. Klicka’s body, forcing him to walk with two canes. He swims in a small, indoor pool outside his office to strengthen his withered legs.

He spent last Thursday morning trying to finish his fourth book – “a book of stories,” Mr. Klicka said, “stories of people who fought states to home-school and how God delivered them. Read more…

Posted on August 20, 2005 by Gary

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Home schoolers proving skeptics wrong

A very positive story and video. Plenty of statistics are cited, some I haven’t heard before.

KNOXVILLE (WATE) — Home schooling is a growing trend earning more respect. Its supporters say that’s because it is getting results.

Statistics from the Dept. of Education show that children who learn at home read better and do better in math. Read more…

Posted on August 19, 2005 by Gary

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Strengthening their foundation

Annual homeschooling connventions are in nearly every state. Here is a run-down of the California convention.

Chris Nagy Chow spends her year explaining her life away to the countless number of people who question her home-schooling lifestyle.

But starting today she will immerse herself in a crowd of 1,000 home-schoolers who live and think just like she does. The once-in-a-year chance to feel like she’s in the majority, she said, will be refreshing. Read more…

Posted on August 19, 2005 by Gary

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Home school woes? Data show none

As usual, opponents of homeschooling are speaking from assumptions and personal bias. This editorial writer points out problems with the argument.

Regarding the editorial �Student accountability� (Aug. 9): So The Journal Gazette editorial staff is concerned that Indiana home-schooled children might be growing up to be burdensome, irresponsible citizens. Are there any statistics to back up this concern? Has there been a check of those who are tax delinquent, in prison or on welfare and it was found that an alarming number were home-schooled for the majority of their school years? I thought not. Read more…

Posted on August 16, 2005 by Gary

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For home-schooled families, world becomes a classroom

A fairly positive glimpse into the homeschooling lifestyle.

Sixteen-year-old Maria Fraley stood at the kitchen island, making sure she had all the ingredients she needed.

Her mother, Michelle Fraley, watched nearby.

‘The first thing you should do is what? Put on your safety goggles,’ Mrs. Fraley told her daughter.

The kitchen often doubles as a science lab for Maria, who is in the 10th grade and is home-schooled. Read more…

Posted on August 16, 2005 by Gary

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Reading isn’t always good for kids

An excellent article and exactly what we have been saying in our book reviews. Be careful what you give your children to read.

Reading isn�t always good for our kids.

How�s that for an opening sentence to stir a little controversy among the educational elites?

We�ve been bombarded by so many messages about how reading expands the mind, excites the imagination and enhances the vocabulary (all of which are true) that many parents have forgotten that the benefit of reading for our children very much depends on what they�re reading. And, I�m afraid that many children spend hours reading what often turns out to be pure rot. Read more…