George Bush's secret army (Why Democrats Hate, and Fear, Home Schooled Kids)

Economist ^ | March 17th 2004 | Economist

[gobucks]

"It's happening in the UK too..."

What a wonderful report and good news.

[blackdog]

You lead by example, not by shouting.

Homeschooled children do not vote, so I don't see your point on that front. The parents of homeschooled children are voters and many quite active in grassroots.

Just attend a local schoolboard meeting and suggest that the local bars have a homework help section in their establishments since that's where their parents are, in order to raise test scores. You'll see just where the "effort dooming" bunch resides.

Most families are disinterested in their children in my experiences. They want hands-off parenting, managed by the state. People are so quick to blame the public schools, but this is a case of the parents getting exactly what they asked for, and professional educrats being opportunists preying on unfit parents to feather their nests.

It's the parents, not the schools, and not the teachers.

[cyclotic]

Keep it up with the toy guns. I run a home school Cub Scout den. Our boys seem to magically find every toy gun, sword, cowboy hat, holster etc. in every house we go to.

We often use that as an opportunity to reinforce gun safety rather than gun fear.

The other day, I was teaching them knife safety. I had 14 different pocket knives in my pockets and most of the boys had brought some too. One scout had this huge Buck knife that I was openly envious of.

[gobucks]

Good private schools seem to have abandoned the SAT in favor of the ACT.

I didn't know the ACT was still be administered ... is there a big advantage to this as opposed to the SAT? I've got three teens, and the eldest is taking the SAT in a couple of weeks.

[paulsy]

"They give up a public education system that they are required to pay for anyway...."

exactly

[dd5339]

And yet another good home school article!

As to the requirement here in Texas, it's just another reason that I'm glad we packed up and moved here.

For what it's worth the Trivium method is looking like the choice for us. For people looking into home schooling I'd highly recommend, "A Well Trained Mind", (Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer). It lays out the Trivium method in a very concise, well thought out format.

Semper Fi

Semper Fi

[gobucks]

Oh goodness .... wouldn't it be a blessing beyond compare if all teachers shared your sentiments.

[TxBec]

My son loves to collect pocket knives. We have a friend whose Boy Scout son recently carried his knife to school and got "busted." They were going to put him in "alternative school" even though he has *NEVER* been in trouble before. Needless to say, his parents pulled him out and homeschool him.

[HungarianGypsy]

I remember during his last campaign President Bush talked about abolishing the Department of Education also. There was a bit of an outcry (or maybe just a whine or whimper) and nothing was said about it again.

[TxBec]

hey dd!!! How are you??

[TontoKowalski]

Hi Mom! I'm so glad to hear that your homeschool experience is working out! Has Dad had any regrets? Oh, I know that's personal, so only share if you want to.

What curriculum did you settle on? Or do you mix and match? We're an Abeka family, with a few other things thrown in.

Tonto's update: Jr. just got his Brown Belt, we're almost done with the multiplication tables, and he's fallen in love with the Boxcar Children series that I loved to read as a boy. Piano is going well, although he grumbles about practicing (I don't care if he practices, so long as he's paying for the lesson that week out of his birthday money... if I'm paying, then he practices). We're going as a family to our first homeschool conference later in the spring.

[blackdog]

My elementary school principal used to randomly stop you in the hall and ask to see your pocket knife. If you didn't have it you got a seat on the bench outside his office. We also had a junior high and high school rifle shooting team. It was common for kids to be walking to or from school with their gun in it's case or bag.

Odd that in the days everyone had a pocket knife and the schools had organized rifle teams, that nobody was ever hurt, cut, shot, or became a victim of anything?

[gobucks]

Thanks for the ping to that website ... it was great to see some Saddam capture pics I hadn't seen elsewhere.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

I printed out your reply to show my wife and mom.

The American pioneer spirit is alive and well OUT THERE IN THE HEARTLAND.

[paulsy]

"doing unfairly well... phrase betrays a really sick mind."

I think it's meant as kind of a compliment.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Thanks for the ping!

Excellent article!

"Home-schooling is a fairly recent phenomenon"

BUT- Please explain this statement to Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein, most of the Founding Fathers and Thomas Edison(I could go on and on and on).

By the most "conseravive"(not political) estimates, homeschooling is growing faithfully by 15% a year.

That is HUGE,and that fact shows the largest social phenomenon we have seen in this country in recent decades.

If homeschooling were a publicly traded company, everyone would want in.

The "genie is out of the bottle",and the NEA is going to have to deal with it. "We are here.. it's clear.. get used to it!"

'nuf said.

[blackdog]

I really do not know the pros or cons. My daughter took the pre-ACT and scored a 27. The national average is around 19. The Wisconsin average is 20. A perfect score is a 34. Since my daughter still has two years of high school left, her actual ACT test should come in around 29 to 30.

My daughter did say there was no vocabulary on her PACT. She was discouraged by this because a good vocabulary and grammar on the SAT is most of the verbal portion, assuring you a very high score.

[cyclotic]

Me and a buddy took our boys to a knife show last year as a cub outing. One of the vendors asked if they had pocket knives. Then, he gave them each a small knife. He said "every boy needs a pocket knife." Wise words.

[Carry_Okie]

Good private schools seem to have abandoned the SAT in favor of the ACT.

I noticed the beginnings of that trend when I was in school. It looks like the route we're going to take. Do the public universities take ACT results without the SATs?

[Tirian]

An even-handed approach in some aspects, but it is interesting how the writer characterizes a disengagement from public schools as an assault on them. ("But America's home-schoolers represent an assault on public education that teachers everywhere should pay attention to.") Perhaps the writer never studied logic in school. (Oh, wait a minute, that's part of the classical education that home schoolers use, never mind!) It is an "assault" only in the manner in which one highlights the glaring deficiencies in the other.

Another assumption the writer makes is that this is something that "should frighten teachers everywhere". Maybe it should frighten teachers' unions more interested in turf than in teaching. Our older children started public school in 9th and 11th grade, respectively, and were welcomed by their teachers. Because they were different. Because they were able to interact respectfully with the teachers, the other students, and the course content. (Our daughter was routinely mistaken as a student teacher by both students and by other student teachers.) "Send us more [of your children]" has been a common comment from their teachers, a sentiment that does not seem to arise from fear.