Posts

Getting Carried Away with AP?

 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

College is not the end goal of homeschooling

But it sure feels good when your kid gets accepted. We will be touring a college this weekend to help make "the choice".  I feel like homeschooling has officially worked.  My son has acceptance letters and scholarship offers so that means we did a great job homeschooling... right? Well, we did a good job academically, but getting into college does not mean we homeschooled well. Homeschooling is about a lot more than education.  In my son's case, I was hoping to raise a well

The thought of a tech free education leaves me scratching my head

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I spent most of the day hyperfocusing on the idea of a Waldorf education. I began when I woke up to a Today Show conversation about Silocon Valley parents using a school that shuns education , which is an oxymoron at best. It sounded insane, and interesting at the same time, so I looked into it, and into it, and into it and decided that it is a lot like unschooling, except not at all... as it is too rigid.  Yes, rigid unschooling would be the best way for me to describe it.  Then there is the fact that it is linked to an occult like religion (in it's founding) and there are a lot of disgruntled ex-Waldorf families. But that's beside the point.  I didn't have to research (though I did) to know what felt wrong at first glance.  The fact is that any movement, educational or otherwise that tries to eliminate an important segment of society (in this case technology) is just wrong.  Besides that, all the other stuff, like not reading or writing in the y...

Sex ed becoming Mandatory in NY classrooms

First things first.   With kids becoming less and less literate, why waste time on subjects parents should be teaching at home? Shouldn't they focus on reading and writing. Considering they are not teaching reading and writing well, how well are they going to teach sex ed. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE

Atlanta Parents, need to look at their child's education

This is so sad.   " The morning of Sept. 30, 2009 , half a dozen such students — Chantel Cox among them — showed up in Milton Mack’s classroom at Carver. None was assigned to Mack’s special education classes. All, Mack would later tell investigators assigned to an internal inquiry by the school district, said they had been pulled out of their 11th-grade homerooms while their peers took the high school writing test. “The students were upset and trying to walk out,” Mack told investigators. “They said they were told they weren’t juniors [but] they were told by somebody that they were juniors until that morning.” Shortly, according to Mack’s account, principal Rodney Ray arrived to try to calm the students. Ray didn’t say so, but Mack told investigators he assumed the principal had pulled out the students so they wouldn’t hurt the school’s overall test score." This article really makes me think about some thing that I have seen in my suburb of Atlanta.  I have...

Teaching ADHD... not disciplining it

Any books you find on teaching ADHD involve recognizing, drugging, and disciplining. How about teaching them? Please listen to this talk about teaching ADHD children in a way that enriches them, not punishes them.  This speaker suggests finding what they are interested in and teaching them through these interests.

Why aren't you in school?

My nephew just told me the following true story. He was in the supermarket with his grandparents during school hours.  A middle aged, abled body looking man approached him said (so that everyone around them could hear) "Son, why aren't you in school".  My nephew (homeschooled age 17, but looks 14) replied, "Why aren't you at work."  The man replied "I don't have a job."  My nephew replied "I don't have school."  The man said nothing and walked away. Granted, my nephew was a bit mean, but I blame it on public schools ;)... he has only been homeschooling 2 years.  I am sure the man felt badly about not working, but just as he didn't want to be called out because he didn't work, homeschoolers are tired of being called out because they aren't where other non-related people think they should be. On the other hand, too bad the guy didn't reply that he was self employed, because my nephew could have them said that...