Custom Search
California officials operate some of the worst education bureaucracies in the nation. Yet some officials here are concerned not so much with the government-run schools, but with the possibility that a fraction of the state's students are being educated by their non-credentialed parents at home. This is the "let no flower bloom" approach to public policy, as government officials and public-sector unions react against small private successes in their midst, mainly, I suppose, because of the embarrassment it entails. If for a few bucks a year parents can teach kids who go on to excel in state tests, get accepted to Berkeley, and win spelling bees, then why can't the professional "educators" do as well with $11,000 or more per student each year taken from taxpayers? Read more...
Labels: California, homeschool
Twenty-five years ago, homeschooling was not a crime in Arizona, but there were hurdles: Parents had to take teacher competency tests and kids had to take state proficiency exams.
In the early 1980s, Mesa resident Shirley Gardner, a mother of 10, started a small network of homeschool parents which in 1983 lead to the first state convention of the Arizona Families for Home Education.
Now, 25 years later, the stereotype of homeschoolers - religious conservatives and spelling bee winners - remains, advocates said, but everything else has changed. Read more...
Welcome to the 134th Carnival of Homeschooling! I am honored to be hosting the carnival a second time, and I want to extend my hearfelt thanks to the dozens of bloggers who submitted these incredibly interesting, challenging, and diverse posts for your reading pleasure. So without further ado, let’s get on with the show!
Most people (and especially most homeschooling families) have at least a passing knowledge of the 12 labors that Hercules had to complete for Eurystheus. I would propose that, as homeschoolers, we face a no less daunting set of tasks. Read more...
WASHINGTON - Some important changes are coming for parents who want to home school their children in the District.
Parents will have to give the school system 15 days notice that they plan to do so. Read more...
OK, deep breath. Here we go.
I haven't written about homeschooling since April 13, 2003.
At that time I wrote that homeschooling is, to me, an odd educational choice. I don't understand why a parent would choose to separate a child from the rich and varied world that a public school offers, or shelter them from the very society that they will ultimately have to live and work in.
After writing that I received 350 e-mails from homeschoolers, 348 of which were royally peeved at me. I was harshly taken to task for my lack of intelligence, which most said was probably a result of my own public school education.Read more...
Labels: homeschool
In case you were wondering what happens to all those letters that kids mail every Christmas addressed to Santa: North Pole, Mrs. Claus as second in command sorts and helps Santa answer them. And now she's published, "Mrs. Claus Explains it All", using this bright and lively large hard-cover picture book to answer some of the most common questions they receive every year. Read more...
In this egg-citing new series Humpty Dumpty Jr. is a wise cracking trench coat sporting detective. He's the egg to call when you need help cause he always "cracks" the case. His office walls in New Yolk City are framed with notes of thanks and awards for his previously solved cases. We got the three little pigs thanking him for saving their bacon, and a Royal Proclamation from Dorothy granting him Emerald Knight of Oz status. Read more...
Rime to Read is a virtual reading program for beginner readings. It consists of 20 books that use "rime" (words that rhyme and look alike, such as sit, hit, lit). Only single syllable short vowels are introduced, along with 46 popular sight words. The books can be read on-line, or printed out, or both. It is a very convenient method for those who have young learners that are just starting on their reading pathways. Read more...
When I was making my way through my own pregnancies, I was never far from the essential “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” manual to guide me from stage to stage. So when I was presented with an opportunity to review this parody I thought it might be fun. Read more...
Molly, a Jewish girl, and her family have moved to America from Russia. Her mother says that the reason was to escape religious persecution and find freedom. First they lived in a tenement house in New York and Papa worked in a factory. Then they came to Winter Hill where Papa works in Mr. Brodsky's store and they live in the apartment above. However, the children in Molly's third-grade class make fun of her accent and clothes. Molly even thinks about going back to Russia. Read more...