Mom Is Teaching

Independence Day is this Friday in the US. There will be fireworks, parades, games, and lots of fun. Oh, and did I mention the fireworks? That’s the boys favorite part. Seriously, every holiday should include exploding things in the sky.

Since you can make any day a learning experience, including days that involve explosions, I thought I would share a few resources for this Forth of July. Just a few sites that have games and ideas of things you can do with your kids.

• Start off your day with my Red, White and Blue Breakfast. Trust me, it’s yummy!
• The Teacher’s Corner has a collection of 4th of July Activities and Lesson Plans you can use.
• Kaboose has some fun games and quizzes for the 4th.
• Apples 4 the Teacher has a lot of great info from coloring pages to facts on the Revolutionary War.
• Homeschooling at About.com has a fun list of online games for the 4th.
• For younger kids Enchanted Learning has some great activities and craft ideas.

Lots of fun stuff that you can use to keep kids entertained all day, which might be helpful if you’re having family over for the 4th. Word search puzzles and watermelon eating contests are much better than fighting over who did or did not eat the last ice cream bar. Does anyone have any fun ideas up at their blog? Let me know and I’ll add you to the list!

Independence day, 4th of July, kids, fun

When I wrote yesterday’s post I sat there for the first hour debating on deleting it. I really expected to find a swarm of trolls leaving hate filled comments and flaming my post to the end og the web and back. Instead I found nothing but support and applause. Everyone got what I was trying to say. In fact the entire day went by without a single rude, hateful or trollish comment.

I’m welling up here!

I usually try to hold back the sarcasm online, mainly because it’s so hard to express across the web. If you were to come over to my house you’d experience a healthy dose of snark daily. But emotions and expressions don’t convert easily to pixels. So an extra big hug to everyone to got the intended idea. Today I brought the snark over to my personal blog in response to an article suggesting mandatory school by age 1 and longer school days and years to match. Come see if I can keep up the snark train two days in a row.

Every year, for an average of three months, millions of children here in America suffer abuse and brainwashing at the hands of their parents. This “summer vacation” is the open door that many parents need to begin their deranged cycle of abuse.

Of course there is no proof, but that is hardly needed. Look at the facts. For three months each year the schools close. Close! Millions of children are sent home to be with their parents. There, with no daily supervision by trained professionals all sorts of horrible things can happen. Of course there is no way to know what kinds of torture these children endure as abuse is rarely caught in the home. Without the aid of a professional teacher watching over these children five days a week there is just no way to know what happens.

These parents may be causing more harm than just abuse. Some attempt to teach their children things, read to them, help them prepare for the next school year. Can you imagine? Hordes of untrained, uncertified parents attempting to teach their children. It’s a frightening idea. Without professional teachers we have no idea what these parents are actually teaching their children. The brainwashing that surely occurs makes a person quake in terror.

I say that parents be required to have certifications before attempting to parent thier children unsupervised during the long summer vacation. They should also be required to report back to the professional teachers during the vacation months to make sure that they are parenting their children correctly. It may also be prudent to require psychological profiles created of these parents. We have to do every thing we can to protect and ensure our children’s futures during this vulnerable time. Even if that includes making summer vacation illegal.

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Does that sounds crazy? Now you know how we feel.

home schooling, education, parenting

I got linked to by Greg Laden, oh joy!

My post on the crazy teacher branding students has been picked up by him as yet another anti-home schooling rant. Apparently when I said

I know this really is not a home school verses public school issue. I just like reminding the people who leave comments that get deleted immediately that being crazy is a human trait, not just a home schooling one.

He some how translated it to mean

“Home schooling is not bad because public schools are bad. So there.”

I’m not sure exactly how he came to his understanding of what I said. I’m guessing anything at all that is not an attack on home schooling probably translates this way to him. Adding in that “So there” was a nice touch too, most likely a good indicator of his maturity level.

I do enjoy that he makes the assumption that this is actually a pro-public school case. Why? Because the teacher was fired, so obviously that means abuse cases are caught immediately in the schools and would not have been caught at home. Oh, except for this part of the story.

Eighth-graders who were taught by John Freshwater frequently had to be re-taught in high school what they were supposed to have learned in Freshwater’s class, according to outside investigators hired by the district.

For 11 years, other teachers in the school district and people in the community complained about Freshwater preaching his Christian beliefs in class and slamming scientific theories, a school administrator told investigators.

Well 11 years isn’t that bad I guess. I mean they eventually got him fired right. And surely 11 years is a lot sooner than if it had been at home which might have taken a whole 12 years. 13 if we count kindergarten. OK, I’ll give you 18 years if the parents started branding their kids at birth. And never mind the fact that if this were parents it would have only been their kids, yet in this case it was 20-30 students per class period he taught for each of those 11 years. But eventually he was caught and fired and that’s all that matters.

Of course Laden’s opinions aren’t really worth the pixels they take up. His anti-home school rants have become famous in some circles as being pointless and trite. He has perfected the image of the lunatic fringe home schooling to abuse their kids and teaching them that 1+2=5. It’s a stereotype that he holds dearly in his mind and no amount of logic, common sense, or research will change that. As Doc has already pointed out, Greg talks about home schooling whenever his blogs starts to feel lonely.

I still stand by my original conclusion. That there are crazy people every where in the world. Especially if you are actively looking for them.

home schooling, Greg Laden, education

For everyone who claims that all home schooling families are crazy fundies who lock their kids in the basement and are secretly abusing them and using home school as a way to cover it up, I present you with exhibit A:

The school board of a small central Ohio community voted unanimously Friday to fire a teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs despite staff complaints and using a device to burn the image of a cross on students’ arms.

A science teacher burned crosses into his students arms in class. Oh but don’t worry, he’s been described as a great guy.

Freshwater’s friend Dave Daubenmire defended him.

“With the exception of the cross-burning episode. … I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district,” he told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published Friday.

Oh sure, there was that one little lapse where he BURNED CROSSES INTO THE STUDENTS ARMS IN THE CLASSROOM. But other than that, he’s a great teacher. Certified in science, has been teaching it for 21 years, and taught his students creationism. For who knows how many years before they finally fired him.

The photo of the burn on one student is interesting. At first it seemed like maybe just skin discoloration in a pattern that happens to be cross-like. However if you look closely you can see the skin all around this is much paler white than the rest of the arm. It does resemble the skin after a sunburn and peeling.

The investigation is still going on, but if it is correct the guy clearly has some issues. Freshwater claims he burned X’s into their arms, not crosses. As if that excuses the fact that he burned anything at all into their arms period. I know this really is not a home school verses public school issue. I just like reminding the people who leave comments that get deleted immediately that being crazy is a human trait, not just a home schooling one.

*Edit to add another news article on this case here. This one has more detail about exactly what he was teaching his students in the school.

Eighth-graders who were taught by John Freshwater frequently had to be re-taught in high school what they were supposed to have learned in Freshwater’s class, according to outside investigators hired by the district.

For 11 years, other teachers in the school district and people in the community complained about Freshwater preaching his Christian beliefs in class and slamming scientific theories, a school administrator told investigators.

education, teacher, religion, news

I’m not a fan of the public school system. I think anyone who has read my rants is perfectly aware that I’d like to tear the entire system down and start over again. However, I know that it would take a perfect world for something like that to happen. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world. So we have to make do with what we’ve got.

And one of the things we have is public schools, paid for by our taxes. I found a post recently in my Google alerts from a homeschooling mom who might just dislike public schools more than me. Or rather, dislikes the taxes spent to pay for them.  To her she feels that it is unfair for people not actively using the school system to have to pay for it with their taxes.

I absolutely disagree. Even though my children are not in public schools, and hopefully never will be, I still understand that public schools are benefiting me. When the kid at the cash register counts back my change it is his public school education benefiting me. When I read the newspaper I am benefiting from the writers’ public school educations. The person who made my fireplace, the person who fixes my car, the person who keeps my internet up and running. Chances are they all went to public school where they learned at least the basics of math, writing, and science. And without those basics to build on they would not be able to provide the many services I use today. I am more than happy to pay to make sure that the person I am engaging with at least partially knows what they are doing.

In a perfect world parents would be able to provide a more perfect education for their children, but that’s just not the world we live in. Many, many, many would go without any education at all. And that would hurt me in the long run.

education, taxes, schools

I know, I know. Lack of posting going on here. My only excuse is that we haven’t been feeling very homeschool-y lately. It’s summer, practically. Our days have been spent jumping in mud puddles, driving cars through the grass, and loving on that big moose of a dog the neighbor girls have. Of course in exchange they come cuddle with our kittens on the front porch. It’s a fair trade off.

I have been working on a list of things to do once the weather cools off. Nothing too rigid or planned. Mostly just making a list of the books I think we’re ready for, the ones I’m dying to read again but have been waiting for the kids to be old enough to get them.  I’ve also been looking over several version of the requirements for next year. Comparing what the state requires with what several various curriculum companies offer. Having a list makes me far less worried, especially when I can already see several things that could be marked off a few more that I know we’re almost grasping. I like to make sure we’re doing fine before jumping back into not really doing anything formal or closely resembling school.

I’ve also been sent a few books from Kumon publishing that I plan to review later next week at my personal blog.  They sent me an email asking if I would be willing to try out their workbooks and offer some honest feedback. I’m not done really exploring them yet, but let’s just say that for the last two days my oldest has actually asked me to let him do some of the pages. If that’s not saying something I don’t know what is.

I hope everyone else is having a relaxing summer, if it’s summer where you live.

summer, fun, playing

Just a round up of a few links that you should be reading this week. It seems to be a busy week in the news for homeschoolers, especially with the top stories in my list.

• This is not a homeschooling issue A woman who was raised in an abusive home grows to become a mother who abuses her children as well. Big surprise, right? Don’t we already know that often abuse is a cycle? And yet, still, homeschooling is to be blamed for the death of the 4 year old boy. Doc points out who is really to blame here.
• Teen tied to tree overnight dies Two parents tied their teen son to a tree during 100*F temperatures and left him there. Twice. Between the heat, humidity, and smoke from a local wild fire the boy died. Gross negligence? Nope, according to some comments it was homeschooling
• Homeschool stereotypes and how we don’t fit into them… Is anyone up for a homeschool mixer? A few questions to let other homeschoolers know more about you and to get to know them as well.
• Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Apollos Academy. This week’s theme is the movies so grab some popcorn and a coke and enjoy the show.
• Evolution and Homeschooling Is there a Christian homeschooling curriculum that teaches evolution? Or at least does not teach Young Earth Creation as the only science? Surely they exist somewhere.
• Contemplating “Home School Opportunities Make Education Sound Act of 2008″ A Bill was recently introduced to give tax deductions to homeschooling families. Is the tax deduction worth possibly opening the door to increased legislating?

Yesterday morning I had to get up far too early in the morning, drag the kids out of bed, and somehow gets us all dressed and fed before 8 AM. It was not an easy task. Out to the car, dropped off at grandma’s, a quick kiss on the head, and I was off to fight it out among a pack of wild hyenas.

OK, so it wasn’t that dramatic. Almost. A local private school is in the process of moving to a new location and at 9 AM sharp yesterday morning they threw open their doors and let people have any of the books they didn’t want to take with them. There were numerous encyclopedia sets, stacks of text books from all subjects, work books, videos, flashcards, you name it.

Unfortunately because they were moving the free books were still packed tightly in several boxes and stuck in the corner of the smallest room they had. It might as well have been a pack of hyenas fighting over a fresh kill on the Savannah  the way we crowded around the boxes trying to get what we wanted. I arrived at 9:05 and there were already three moms walking out, each with two or three boxes in their hands. Competition was fierce.
Luckily being a school there were often several identical copies of each book. And surprisingly many were still in great condition. Though the school was a Christian one I still managed to find a few good secular books for us. I got a good ASL dictionary, a math book that covers everything from kindergarten to third grade, and a near perfect condition child’s book on how the government works. It’s a bit too old for mine yet, but it was just too good to pass up.

After the early morning battle the rest of the day was a breeze. Too bad that doesn’t happen more often.

books

I’m a PC gal myself, but I’m leaning a little more towards Mac after finding this great little tidbit. Visit the Apple website and get a little recognition for doing what you do.

Homeschooling has grown significantly over the past several years, with current estimates of up to 2.2 million homeschooled students. At Apple, we have focused on building technology solutions for education for over 25 years. And now, recognizing the growing demand of homeschoolers, we are making the full range of Apple’s educational products and solutions available to homeschools.

An extra treat: buy a Mac with an educator’s account and get a free iPod. Sweet! This deal is going on until September 15th so hurry and grab one now.

Side note, I was alerted to this from Gordon Vaughan on Twitter. See, another good reason to join in the fun. Come join me on Twitter.

Apple, Mac, iPod, home education

Sunniemom has a great post up about “homeschooling for the right reasons.” It’s a great look at an article about home education in Montana that waxes on about those kids falling through the cracks when their parents pull them out over little things.

Let me just say I doubt many parents are jumping head first into home schooling their kids over a minor rift with their school. What they see as minor might just be the straw that broke the camel’s back, or happened when home education was already being planned and the timing is there, or might be a bigger issue to the parents than the school feels it is. For instance from the article:

some do it because of their kid’s poor grades in public school or other reactionary reasons.

Maybe it’s just me but I don’t see poor grades as a “reactionary reason”. At least not in the tone implied in the article, that parents are matching in upset and ripping their kids out over a C in gym class. Poor grades, or a failure to educate, can be a very good reason to attempt to teach your kids at home. If they are not getting a solid education at school and you feel that you can reach them in better ways then do it. Trying to find the best education for your kids does not seem reactionary to me, that’s just good parenting.

Sunniemom’s post is definitely worth reading so go check it out. It’s good food for thought. What are “good reasons” to home school? What is a valid reason for your family might be a mundane one for others, and vice verses.

homeschooling, home school, education, parents

How many of you are planning on taking your kids to camps this summer? We have looked into a couple fun ideas for the oldest over the summer but with the cost of gas going up and up I don’t think we’re going to be able to afford the drive. I think my mom-project this summer should be to get more parents together into making some fun programs for the kids in this town. Programs that aren’t church camp and bible school, which seem to be the only things I ever see advertised. Great for some kids, but doesn’t leave a lot of options for us.

I read a cute post yesterday over at Natural Moms Talk Radio on her kids walking to a school for the first time for their summer camp. She is pretty lucky to have found a program that meets everything her kids needs. Mine wants to try gymnastics again, but the summer session is far more expensive than the session that runs during the school year. There is a great reading program that I know he would love, but it is in the next town over. As long as gas prices continue to climb I don’t see much driving going on.

We might try some of the groups we can start here at home and see if there are any other kids interested. Like Roots and Shoots, Spiral Scouts, or this list of summer boredom busters. Things we can do here instead of driving so far.

Anyone else have ideas for summer fun?

summer, summer vacation, fun, kids

I had planned to mention this last week but it slipped my mind. Beverly of the About Homeschooling Guide is starting the Summer Reading Club up again for 2008. The goal is to have your kids read at least 500 pages this summer. That may seem like a lot, but books can quickly add up to that much and more.

The reading club officially started on May 30th but you have until August 31st to get your list in. All you have to do is track the books your child reads over the summer and the number of pages for each book, then add them all up for your grand total. Send in the list plus $1 to cover postage and your children will receive a certificate, stickers, and a prize in the mail.

Don’t forget to visit the sign up page first to make sure that your kids are all signed up and ready to read. My oldest got pretty wide eyed at the thought of getting stickers for books. Stickers! I’m not sure that we will reach 500 pages since he is still reading very short books, but if we don’t make it I will probably buy him those dinosaur stickers he keeps drooling over at the store. He’s easy to please.

If you haven’t checked it out yet Kate has a list up of other reading programs for the summer that your kids can join in. If anyone knows of any other let me know and I’ll add them to the bottom of this post.

reading, books, reading program, home education

Sometimes it is just better not to watch the news. A lot of people know about the autistic boy who was voted out of his classroom, which just broke my heart. Then there was the little boy who had to endure his teacher calling him ignorant and pathetic in front of the entire class.

It is cases like those that really bug me when people say parents who choose to home school should just be trying harder to make the schools better. How exactly? Not only can we not change the teacher:student ratio, or the curriculum, or the hours, or the politics, or any other number of the negative things, we also cannot fire the bad teachers. And I’m not saying that to come down hard on teachers, they agree that getting rid of the bad apples is tough.

Teachers agree: Bad teachers with tenure too tough to fire

Think it’s hard for schools to get bad teachers out of the classroom? Turns out teachers agree.

More than half of teachers believe it’s too difficult to weed out ineffective teachers who have tenure, and nearly half say they personally know such a teacher, according to a survey released Tuesday evening by the Education Sector, a non-partisan think tank.

Tenure provides teachers with job security and generally is awarded a few years after educators enter the profession. It is supposed to ensure teachers can’t be fired at the whim of a principal or angry parent.

But it also can make it extremely difficult to dismiss a teacher who is doing a bad job, said Sabrina Silverstein, a Chicago pre-kindergarten teacher.

This has been bugging me a lot lately after a friend emailed me last week. She has sent her son to the local kindergarten, never once expecting to not use the public school system she had grown up in. Unfortunately the teacher he had was mean, nasty, and had no place being around little kids. After nearly a year of complaining to the principal, writing letters, showing up at the school, trying to meet with the teacher she gave up. In her own words:

Even if we did get a better teacher next year, and every year after, having to fight like this all year has jaded me. There may be good teachers, but they are trapped in a corrupt system.

Which is why next year she plans to file to home school her son. And says she is considering it until he leaves for college. Luckily she lives in Arizona where the laws are fairly lenient for her.

bad teachers, school, public school, home education

Are you one of those annoyingly perfect, over-achieving moms who makes the rest of us roll our eyes behind your back? Nows your chance to find out! Just click over to take The Overachieving Homeschooler’s Quiz!

I got a 23 on the quiz, which puts me in the bottom bracket of the results. I think it was the questions about getting dressed that really hurt me. I mean, come on, am I really supposed to get dressed?

Score 0 - 25 Not even close! Your fellow homeschoolers adore you. We all need to know that, at the end of the day, we could have done a lot worse.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go microwave some veggie burgers and fries and think about taking a shower and getting dressed while the boys have lunch. I’m such a slacker!