I like real books, but the ones now are indeed overpriced and overweight. They are significantly heavier than when I was a kid, maybe because they use thicker paper to accommodate more color pictures?
They could also stand some editing. My son’s math book said that the square root of -25 was -5, for example.
The social studies books tend to have a section in each chapter that is fluff— some tie-in to current life to make it “relevant” that never appears on the test and the student does not want to read for fun. The book could weigh noticeably less if this were omitted.
It is not enough to simply advocate home schooling though it is a start
Currently most of the hard left tolerate home schooling because they’ve realized that it takes their most vocal critics out the classroom. It is a good bargain on their part because they get left alone with the other 98% or so kids that are not in private schools.
Even if you home school your kids, maybe because of it you should run for the local school board. But please, please don’t just mouth old platitudes.
Do a little research about what education is, how it developed and look at the actual research. There is plenty of research exposing why public schools do not work and how the progressives ignore the problem
You have to become educated about education.
Start with the book “Getting it Wrong from the Beginning” by Keirian Egan
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Wrong-Beginning-Progressivist-Inheritance/dp/030010510X
This is a thin book, you can read it in a couple of hours. Once you understand the problem you won’t have to yell or threaten to make the un-progressive afraid of you.
The book basically argues that progressive education does not work because it is based upon faulty assumptions, or the misinterpretation of valid assumptions. As such it cannot be reformed it must be completely rebooted. What makes it so damning to the educational establishment is that they cannot simply brush off the conclusions as the opinions of Ignorant-White-Christian-Fundimentalist seeking a return to the good days of prohibition and Jim Crow.
This is a book on education that every teacher, and every parent with a child in school should read.