Soon to become this man...
Posted on 05/18/2008 3:05:27 PM PDT by wintertime
DOWNEY, Calif. - With the end of another school year approaching, college sophomore Moshe Kai Cavalin is cramming for final exams in classes such as advanced mathematics, foreign languages and music.
But Cavalin is only 10 years old. And at 4-foot-7, his shoes don't quite touch the floor as he puts down a schoolbook and swivels around in his chair to greet a visitor.
"I'm studying statistics," says the alternately precocious and shy Cavalin, his textbook lying open on the living room desk of his parents' apartment in this quiet suburb east of Los Angeles.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
( Really!)
Yeah, but by the time they're ready to go to college, they've been pretty well "inoculated against indoctrination". They're not NEARLY as malleable as are elementary and secondary school kids.
We do consider this, our family is laying the foundation for our children to learn to think critically. We provide the early guidance and they are ready to stand their ground when they get to college because they have been rooted in truth.
I hadn’t thought of that, but how unnatural to make kids sit tight at little desks 6 hours a day.
I think you’re right, but it makes me wonder when I hear of kids going on to places like [insert the name of your local liberal garbage university here] instead of going on to a place where they could continue developing their personal genius and their pursuit of academic excellence.
relax. Homeschooling is NOT illegal in CA. Someone needs to do their homework!
In other words, the world got along just fine for CENTURIES without teachers unions, taxpayer funded schools, government-mandated curriculums, etc.
Continue learning or get a job, while he's waiting around to enter Grad school.
Why hold a kid back, just because he's younger than the other students?
The problem (or not) is that when my four homeschooled children wake up each morning, they expect for me to give them “new material”. My 6 year old will say (if I give him assignments that look familiar), “Mommy, I did this yesterday!” so I have to give him NEW work every day. Yes, he’s smarter than the average bear, BUT if ANY child, public school educated or NOT, had a private tutor every day, teaching only them at their level, they could advance much quicker than when you have to wait on the majority of students in a classroom packed with 30 children before new information / skills are introduced.
It is THIS REASON why many homeschooled children are doing college level work so young. Their school days are not wasted by recess and lunch periods and school assemblies and lining up. My 6 year old in “1st grade” reads at about a 6th - 7th grade level — same reading level as my 10, 11 & 14 year olds — and it’s increasing every day because we do not watch TV, and he reads nothing but the Classics all day long not because I make him, but because he loves reading. This week alone my 6 year old read Ivanhoe, 20,000 leagues under the Sea, and King Arthur without any prompting. Am I pushing him? Don’t be ridiculous. I’m a single adoptive homeschooling mother of four. I don’t have time to push him — just to lay out the next thing he should be learning, and answer questions along the way as I teach him.
And my own children are allowed to be children, regardless of what subjects they can tackle. They play hide and seek and checkers and Monopoly and hopscotch and ride their bikes every day. They’re normal age-appropriate children. And yes, a requirement in my “classroom” is that you must know the President of the United States in order, and all the states & capitals & proper spelling, & all your math facts, before you go into 5th grade.
My 14 year old was “severely delayed special ed” all her life before she came to me at nearly 11 years old, completely illiterate. She could not read a single word, could not write her name very well, or tell you what 2+2 was. Three years later after homeschooling her, she is doing Algebra (loving it & mastering it), reading at a 6th grade level, and writes inspiring paragraphs about her life experiences.
It’s the focus we homeschool moms give our children that allows them to soar — not necessarily because their IQ’s are off the charts. Also — shut off your cable TV service, and your children will overnite get smarter. :-)
Amen to that and congratulations on doing such a super job for your children. I agree smaller is better. It’s hard on teachers when they are governed by the School Board and have to be PC all the time. Not only are the classes crowded but discipline in some hamper the efforts of the teachers towards the kids who want to learn. Keep up the good work. Hope one day not only will your kids know all the Presidents but...maybe one of them will ACTUALLY be the President. Although I would hate to wish that on anyone in todays world. :)
By the time homeschooled kids are ready to tackle college-level stuff, it is my impression that they've got a pretty good idea of where to go to get what fits their wishes--and most of them seem to land scholarships that allow them to do so--so I really don't think that the idea of them "blindly" getting sucked into "liberal-think" is very likely.
the article brings out that the parents are cognizant of this and making sure he has the opportunity to be a "10 year old" - but on the other side, not being allowed to pursue his talents at their level would be greater detriment as he would be bored stiff and that leads to another set of problems. He needs both sides...to his "peers" in age, but also his "peers" in intellect.
Sounds like he has wise parents who are handling this quite well on all levels...
And there, folks, is the whole ball of wax.
Public schools came in being to provide an education for the poor who could not afford or be afforded tutors, private schooling, etc..
Once big money got big enough to tip the balance, the privilege of attending public schools slipped into compulsion.
Home schooled children are often not only better socialized, but far more confident in their own abilities and worth as individuals.
The book schooling for home schoolers only takes 2-3 hours a day, leaving many hours for other activities, learning hobbies, having time and natural exercise in fresh air and sunshine, eating better food and - well, the list goes on.
Public education is shortchanging children to a criminal degree...
Coming from a family of teachers, we decided to homeschool our kids. We had to make financial sacrifices and spend a lot of time tutoring but it was well worth it. They’re good clean kids who went on to graduate from college with hontors and now have excellent jobs and ethics. It was tough at times....but it paid off.
hontors = honors (:>{
How magnanimous of you to donate such capable young hosts for the growing legions of government-educated leeches to feed upon as we progress onward in the establishment of our new American socialist utopia. More home-schooled wagon pullers and fewer wagon riders will help keep the socialist gravy train running maybe an extra 10 years or so until the inevitable economic collapse.
I share that opinion, and I'm a homeschool parent myself. One of our sons was off-the-charts in his studies at a very young age, too. But, I never considered placing him in a college course with adult students.
One of the main reasons we homeschool is to enable our children to retain their childhood innocence. The public schools have adopted a political agenda that robs children of their innocence, and the same agenda is pushed in college courses. Also, it is common for adult students to discuss controversial issues in class with their instructors/professors (as they should feel free to do). I wouldn't want my young child subjected to that.
Around here, homeschool parents typically start their children in college courses at age 13, 14, or 15. So, our plan is to have our eldest take CLEP tests and one college course next year at age 13. But, most likely, that college course will be a cybercourse so that he can work at home. It probably will be a mathematics course, which may be safer. Subjects like history and literature will have to wait because we don't want him in a class where controversial issues may be discussed yet.
All that said, other parents should be free to make different choices for their own children. But I'd like to see more college programs geared specifically toward the young children who are working at an advanced level.
I wouldn’t wish THAT on my worse enemy (wanting my child to be POTUS someday)! Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Though I am pro home schooling, this story may not be such an indicator of home school success as of public school failure. Most college grads to day could not pass a 1900 eighth grade graduation exam. Home schoolers are just teaching their children the information and concepts the American public schools won’t.
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