What Are The Best Ways To Defend Your Child Against Dumbing-Down??

FreeRepublic.com ^ | May 14, 2010 | Bruce Deitrick Price

[RJR_fan]

I was taught to read phonetically in first grade parochial school. Dumped into the public school system in fourth grade -- knew I was on alien turf -- and "dropped out" for the next six years. Kept a book open under the edge of my desk (especially science fiction) and coasted through on 10% effort. I survived school -- but still am crippled by the habits acquired in the process of doing so.

Teach kids to read, and read to them. It takes about 30 hours of tutoring to teach a ready child to read, using Samuel Blumenfeld's Alphaphonics. Or, six+ years to produce a semi-literate book hater using "look say."

John Dewey bemoaned the negative effect that a love of books had on "socialization." His disciple Richard Gray took the concern to heart, and created a tool to prevent that dread event, the basal reader, starring his namesake Dick, plus Jane, plus Spot ...

[NavyCanDo]

This video must be watched.....

Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI

My second grader’s school district has adopted the “Everyday Mathematics” program shown in this video. It is as bad as the lady is saying, even at the second grade level. My wife and I have a very difficult time helping him with the math homework, because quite frankly this crap is hard to understand. All those old algorithms you grew up with, are not taught. They are replaced by alternative ways of finding the answer, that may work fine for math geeks who are proficient already in the old ways – but tossing away the old tried and true way and replacing it is a mistake in monstrous proportions.

His school district use to be one of the best in the State, but it has moved way down the list. Many other districts are also now teaching this, and it’s because the state wide test is based on this math.

The results are starting to come in, and the kids are failing the state wide exam. So what do they do? Return to the older books that worked? Nope. They lower the bar on the math scores for a given time, having the math scores be a smaller percentage of the total grade.

I wish we could afford a private school, there are some good ones in our area, but its impossible. And as far as home schooling, one of us would have to quit our job, and that is a “no can do” . We do after-school him though with books recommended by fellow Freepers facing the same situation.

[lionheart 247365]

Our colleges and universities are corrupt as well as the public school system and the yutes of America will eventually have to deal with that , but by then if they are home schooled they will be equipped to know how to deal with them .

[codder too]

Sight and Say....Dewey to Gray to Seuss= a functionally illiterate citizenry.

CONTROL is the name of their game..

Sam Blumenfeld is a hero.

Phonics work.

[chris_bdba]

I’ve always thought that would be an excellent way to home school if some of the others needed to work find 5 or 6 other people who want to do the same thing and arrage a schedule weekly about who’s day it is to teach anbd rotate the kids home to home.

[GeronL]

bump

[chris_bdba]

Yes there are. We own two(one outrigth one mortgaged) and a piece of land to boot all on one income. :)

[Ted Grant]

Limit tv programming consumption.

[angcat]

Yes I agree. I have to work just to keep up with taxes, medical, insurance ect ect. I have a 15 year old in private school and a 6 year old in public. So far the public has been fine. I know some people that keep their children home and stick videos in and leave for work and call it homeschooling. What happened to having a degree to teach? Now the kids watch videos or sit in front of the computer and that is learning? Not for me.

[CodeToad]

I see your point: Black man trying to enslave people... kinda like his ancestors. (That fits, too. lol)

[WriteOn]

Homeschool

[Mad Dawgg]

"What Are The Best Ways To Defend Your Child Against Dumbing-Down??"

[Graybeard58]

If you have to work- can you pay another mother or dad to homeschool your kid? Is that legal?

Laws vary from state to state but my simplistic answer is, if you and the other adult keep your mouths shut about the arrangement, who cares?

[RaiderRose]

I don’t live in one of them. My husband’s job doesn’t work in small towns—it’s military-related, security stuff. Big city only.

And my children go to an excellent school. I have a dyslexic/dysgraphic son and one who had a severe speech delay. The schools have worked WONDERS on my boys.

If we lived somewhere extremely liberal, would reconsider. But we don’t.

[nonsporting]

And as far as home schooling, one of us would have to quit our job, and that is a “no can do”

We lowered our living standard to be able to have one employed adult while the other can conduct the bulk (notice I did not say all) of the instruction. It all depends what you consider important.

I've seen too many christian couples, who permitted their precious ones to be educated by the state, come to regret, albeit too late, that choice. (I also work with an engineer who wanted his wife to homeschool their children, but she refused. The kids have had serious issues--arrests, pregnancies, truancy, dropping out, and educational compromise with far reaching professional consequences.) Among the christian families the results have been mixed and in some cases dissasterous as well. But in all cases the character of the children has been compromised.

[GovernmentShrinker]

People seem to assume there are two roads: homeschooling (which isn’t practical for millions of parents)

The main reason it "isn't practical" is that many states only allow children to be homeschooled by their own parents (or a licensed teacher hired by the parents). As a few people on this thread noted, group homeschooling would be a great option for families that can't afford, or just don't want to have one parent completely leave the workforce. One parent could afford to stay home and teach, if she was getting paid a few thousand a year by parents of a few other children she taught along with her own. This would also allow for some grouping of kids by age, ability level, or special needs.

Of course, teachers' unions fight tooth and nail against proposals to allow non-parental, non-licensed teacher homeschooling, and other nanny-staters at the state level enact laws tightly regulating in-home child care in a way that would classify most group homeschoolers as in home child care businesses, and which would in many cases seriously interfere with running a homeschool the way you want to (including a good deal of remodelling of your house, visits by inspectors to make sure you don't have anything accessible to children that hasn't been government-certified as lead-free, fenced yard (even if you're on a remote dirt road), etc.

From time to time, I've perused the HSLDA website and been disturbed to note that this issue doesn't seem to be on their radar screen at all. I'm sure it would easily triple the number of US children who are homeschooled, if all states were pressured into allowing group/non-parental homeschooling with the same minimal restrictions that many already apply to parental homeschooling.

[GeronL]

The main reason it "isn't practical" is that many states only allow children to be homeschooled by their own parents

tutoring is illegal? Home piano courses?

[SuperLuminal]

You cannot....if they remain in a government school.

The first step is to resign your current role as a government-authorized breeder and take back the responsibility of being a parent.

[ExTxMarine]

I agree - they are indoctrination centers. But, if you talk to your kids, expose them to better, more accurate and complete information they have a tendency to listen and want to learn more - not just soak up the stupidity of the schools.

[ExTxMarine]

Yep, and yet in several states that do not allow group homeschooling don’t require all teachers to be “certified” teachers in public schools, but require private schools and group centers to meet those requirements. That REALLY PI$$E$ me off!