Not Another Homeschool Blog

My brain can't even process this: Former Miramonte teacher Mark Berndt, 61, who resigned last year amid a school board's firing proceedings, was charged last week with 23 felony counts of lewd acts with pupils, a sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday. He is accused of taking bondage photos of more than two dozen students in his classroom, including some with suspected semen-filled spoons at their mouths. In response, after years of ignoring complaints about this teacher, and a second teacher abusing the same kids, the entire school was emptied and restaffed. What is worse? ~That it happened? ~That it was ignored by the principal and others? ~That a knee-jerk decision was made to yank everyone from the principal to the janitors? ~That parents want their old teachers back? (~that this video is followed by the stupid titillating Valentine's Day commercial suggesting that women will give it up if you buy them flowers) What a big mess.  This is an ar...

 I remember being in elementary school... actually it was a catholic school.  In the  younger grades we took a bathroom break mid-morning and mid-afternoon.  If we had to go besides that, the teacher would ask, can you hold it until bathroom break?  If the answer was no, she sent you about your business. In older grades, teachers did not have a problem letting you go when you needed, except if you had to go every day or multiple times a day, you might need to have a conversation with the teacher, parent, and or principle to find out if you were OK or if you were trying to get out of class. So in recent news... "A Brooklyn elementary school teacher has come up with a controversial idea to get her children to hold it in." I know before we started homeschooling, you couldn't pay my kids to go to the public restroom.  It was just too nasty. This inability or refusal to go to the bathroom at school actually did cause, or at lease exacerbate existing heal...

The school-contracted illness in LeRoy NY may be coming to light. Dr. Siegel says it could be a chronic strep infection that causes the illness caused PANDAS, but it is being covered up.  Kids and parents are not being given the information on their illness.  This may actually be a public health risk but no one's talking. There is a serious problem when parents aren't allowed to get information about kids health issues. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE

I have read what the experts have to say , but am having a tough time swallowing it. After baffling doctors there is a diagnosis. A condition called Conversion Disorder. "This is subconscious, they're unaware of what they're doing," explained Dr. McVige Which makes Conversion Disorder very complicated to diagnose and treat. The disorder is caused solely by psychological factors, not a neurological or other medical condition. "What it is...is maybe stressors, things that are uncomfortable events in your life mount up inside and kind of manifest itself in a physical manner," continued McVige. 12 girls at one highschool all get the same illness and they are calling it hysterical?  I am not a medical expert, but it appears to be environmental to me.  Maybe it's even food-bourne? (note: changed video... other video stopped working) Several of them are now being homeschooled. I wonder if this can't be somehow related to a disorder ca...

 I will give the link here for you to read the article yourself in case I am mis-interpreting it. As I see it, Gwinnett County wants freedom from state education mandates.  Such a mandate dictates things like required instructional time and class size.  To avoid these mandates they must create and sign an agreement with the state called IE2 contracts.  So far, it sounds fair enough.  Meet reasonable benchmarks, set your own rules.  Cool.  The details of the agreement are the problem. Simply put, They set acheivement standards of African American Students lower than that of White and Asian students.  Also, standards for hispanic students are set just above that of students with disabilites, and ESOL students are even lower than that.   This is very telling.  Approximately 40% of white and Asian students are expected to meet benchmarks.  Meanwhile just 25% of blacks are expected to meet the same standards....

 I have lots of public school kids in my family to compare with my own and for a while there I was pretty nervous about the sheer number of AP Classes these kids were taking, that mine weren't.  It seemed to me that my kids might be behind the ball and unable to compete for a place in a good college. I can see now that the stress was unfounded because as homeschoolers there are ways to stand out

I just read and email from the Seattle Public Schools (it got passed around) regarding absences due to family trips.  It took me 5 minutes to find a word that did was family friendly enough to write on my blog.  The letter is in my opinion, WHACKTACULAR. Here is an excerpt: Just going to another city, country or out of state, if to visit family or friends and nothing else, would not be excused. Families sometimes arrange their vacations after school starts because airfare is usually cheaper. However, this does not meet criteria for an excused absence. Interestingly, enough, it is the wealthier and more families that take trips such as these. I doubt the kids are going to fall behind.  Why can't the the kids get a package of work to do while away?  and If the trip is to be considered educational, there has to be a plan in place for what the student will learn, what educational activities are to be accomplished, and how the student will re...

Happy Elf Mom pointed out an incident of special needs children being punished by putting cotton balls in their mouths.   That's just crazy. In South Atlanta, a child was beaten with a shoe... on her BARE bottom.  That's criminal. Let's get it together schools!. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor Brighthub Contributor

I am finding that in my area, several families are being hit up for money because their students needed to take extra classes to be able to graduate. I thought it was an isolated incident until I started asking the question "is your senior ready to graduate?". I keep hearing no. The good news, is that there are ways to make sure your child graduates on time. There are local online and private schools from which the public school MUST accept credit. If you find yourself in this position, check out http://highschool.unl.edu/ and http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/highschool.cfm If you can't get anywhere with the school's guidance counselors, then go to the board of education. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor Brighthub Contributor

Never mind the $200 bill most parents get at the start of the school year after buying T-shirts, paying activity fees, and a case of Kleenex on top of the usual school supplies.  I can't speak for other school districts, but here in Gwinnett County GA, the public schools seems to have an excellent money making vehicle... summer school.  They appear to barrel through the curriculum during the school year, and if the student can't keep up and fails the class, they have to go to summer school at $250 per course.  If the child fails 2 or 3 classes, they are out of luck.  Few parents can fork over that kind of dough for summer school with the 3 week notice they are given between the time the child fails the classes and summer school fees must be paid. Can't pay for summer school?  Maybe you can take the online class.  This can also be costly.  For many students these classes are the only thing keeping them from flunking out of school.  If you can't ...

It blows me away when a parent does not know that their child is failing in school. It blows me away when a parent somehow doesn't see report cards. It blows me away that schools don't require face to face meetings when a child fails a class or two or three. It blows me away that my local school charges parents for summer school classes... it almost seems like a racket.  Let the child fail with no intervention and then charge the parent an arm and a leg to take the class again. Is it just me bothered by these things. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor Brighthub Contributor