Posted on 03/02/2006 11:45:53 AM PST by LouAvul
Elizabeth and Teddy Dean are learning about the Italian scientist Galileo, so they troop into the kitchen, where their mother Lisa starts by reviewing some facts about the Renaissance.
Elizabeth, 11, and Teddy, 8, have never gone to school.
Their teachers are primarily their parents, which puts them into what is believed to be the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. education system -- the homeschool movement.
For their science lesson, Teddy and Elizabeth are joined by three other homeschooled children and their mother, who live down the street in their suburb midway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Before the lesson starts, all five kids change into Renaissance costumes -- long dresses and bonnets for the girls, tunics and swords for the boys.
"We definitely have a lot more fun than kids who go to school," Elizabeth said.
.................
But there is no disagreement about the explosive growth of the movement -- 29 percent from 1999 to 2003 according to the NCES study, or 7 to 15 percent a year according to HSLDA.
This growth has spawned an estimated $750 million a year market supplying parents with teaching aids and lesson plans to fit every religious and political philosophy. Homeschooled children regularly show up in the finals of national spelling competitions, generating publicity for the movement.
Parents cite many reasons for deciding to opt out of formal education and teach their children at home. In the NCES study, 31 percent said they were concerned about drugs, safety or negative peer pressure in schools; 30 percent wanted to provide religious or moral instruction while 16 percent said they were dissatisfied with academic standards in their local schools.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Great homepage!
As you say, you live and learn and move on from there. Far too many people refuse to learn.
Thank your daughter for her service.
Homeschool ping!
A couple years ago, Jay Leno was doing his show from the Chicago area. He interviewed several people from LA and asked if Chicago had a lake near it. It was pretty sad, some thought it was on an ocean, some thought no lake, 0% shown didn't know Lake Michigan. Then, he asked people in Chicago where LA was. Of those he interviewed, 100% knew. I'm sure it was skewed, but still...
Google homeschooling and the name of your city or state.
Go to the HSLDA website and get a summary of your state's requirements.
You can design your own curriculum or use a packaged school-in-a-box type curriculum offered by many many (almost too many) educational vendors serving the homeschool community.
My own philosophy is to keep it simple. There are really (at the elementary level) only two subjects: Math and Language Arts. To get your kids to read Social Studies and Science, leave the books laying around the house and then tell the kids it's time to do the dishes.... :o)
We don't homeschool yet because the elementary school they attend is pretty decent at this time. We do supplement their schoolwork with "home extra credit" of our own: Reading, writing, math. I am teaching my kids, six and eight, to operate a metal lathe and milling machine. We also make rockets from scratch, including the solid rocket motors.
Homeschooling BUMP.
Homeschooling--striking fear in the hearts of the federal bureaucrats who will be unable to indoctinate the young heads full of mush in the government schools. May this movement continue to grow exponentially.
Great plan.
I know I didn't have any trouble getting into college or grad school, nor have my younger siblings - two are working on their bachelor's degrees, one is at community college, the little boys are still at home.
I'm looking forward to homeschooling my own kids in a couple years when I have them.
Thought you might be interested in this thread.
Initially, that would be horrifying. However, so many more intelligent, religious, conservative women would enter the teaching schools and become accredited teachers, the socialist low scoring SAT idiots who populate the profession now won't know what hit them.
You sound like a nice and very bright young lady! My best to you!
If, as this article states, 7 to 15 percent of kids every year are starting to be homeschooled. It's only a matter of time, if this trend continues, that people will start to say, hey, wait a minute and rally towards the dismantling of the NEA and other organizations. The teacher's unions are scared right now. And as this gets bigger and bigger, the clout of the public will be huge. See this post as an example. We have to keep libs out of power.....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1588706/posts?page=40#40
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1162267/posts
"We're Going to Take Things Away From You on Behalf of the Common Good": Her Thighness
I will, and thanks for checking. I'm kind of proud of the pics, if you get a chance, take a peek at the links.
I don't worry because (a) it can't be worse than leftist public school curriculum already, and (b) they won't be teaching OUR kids, only their own.
Actually if the leftists started teaching their kids at home I wonder how many would remain leftists? First they would have to actually spend time with their children. Second they would actually have to teach and answer questions about their beliefs. I think we would find a number of them having "lights go on" moments as they realize they can't back up their ideas. But I could just be thinking positive.
My brother, he's 52 now, made rockets as a kid. One time, he smoked the house, some chemicals that didn't work. My mom came running out of the shower naked. eeewwww!
especially considering those kids will probably not get a single useful tidbit of knowledge. But I guarantee they'll know how to march and protest, and learn to fill out a public assistance form - Lord knows they'll need that skill !!!
Thanks:)
That would be a positive way to look at it.
My kids are in public school, but when they reach middle school, we are going to pull them. Right now they attend a Spanish Immersion school, where they may only speak Spanish, except for a few hours of English instruction daily. They learned how to read, first in Spanish, and their homework comes home in Spanish.
We decided on that school as it has a wonderful reputation and good teachers. It is almost like a private school, though it is public, one just has to be chosen in the lottery. We were fortunate to be chosen. It is a bit harder to push an agenda in Spanish. LOL.
We know so many people who homeschool, and their children are so bright and polite; it is very refreshing. I give all the kudos in the world to families who chose this option!
My girls are not yet school aged but I've given home-schooling quite a bit of thought. However, the only people I know that do it (friends with a couple in college but we've since grown very far apart) are now very liberal whacks! They've left their Baptist/Catholic upbringings to become Unitarians, volunteer for subversive "charities", and are openly hostile to anyone who may have a mainstream or right-minded orientation. I'd love to ask them why in the world they are home-schooling because they can get all that in the public school system but I just don't want to talk to them any more... For socialization, they took one of their boys to karate class but he couldn't (wouldn't?) follow any of the instructions, face the right way, etc, etc. These people aren't exactly what I'm hoping for. However, I find these FR discussions very encouraging.
They worked, not as intended.
We smoked the house also, and spent some time in the emergency ward. We handn't healed from that one when we tried to make a liquid fuel ramjet. That was the biggest bunsen burner in town.
We had fun, learned a lot, and were pretty capable of making most anything by the time we were in high school.
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