I agree that home schooling works and produces comparable or better students than public schools.

Home schoolers that I know have prepared better educated kids with less social pressure and better reasoning skills than comparable public school educated peers. None of them are hermits or socially isolated unless geographic reasons create that situation.

Many students today are in public school because it is where they go for free meals and day care. Many teachers are marginally qualified and are in their positions because the union has established tenure, and spend their time trying to indoctrinate students with their particular version of the truth. Logic and critical thinking are not taught, nor encouraged.

TR

I disagree that home schooling doesn't work due to a lack of socialization. I home schooled my oldest child for kindergarten and first grade, and my middle boy for kindergarten. Both of them read well above grade level, and can do all of the basic mathematical skills as well as some they will not get to learn until middle school. All three of my children are very active outside of school with sports, martial arts, scouts, or just playing with the neighborhood kids.

My oldest is probably the most well behaved and rational child in his age group. The two oldest are in Public School for the time being until I can arrange to get them into a decent secular private school... or until I get fed-up and quit my job and have time to be a full-time teacher again.

Socialization is not the sole domain of the education system.

Home School
 

Nail on the head Bravo 1-3. I always here about the lack of social activity if you home school. If the only social activity your kids are getting is in School something is wrong, especially public School. There are many programs out there. 4-H, Sports....etc. I understand some people have no choice because of their financial or personal situation. I had to deal with public School until I retired and could make some more money. Couldn't home School because the Wife worked. The last year my oldest was in public School (Hoke County N.C in the third grade) She had 32 kids in her class. It was kaos of Biblical proportions. All they did was prep for that end of year test so the School could look good and get funding.

Flipping unbelievable. From what I understand students have 5 count 'em 5 opportunities to take/pass this test. It's unfair according to the judge.

This ruling serves NO ONE.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...LMSFA&refer=us

California Students Win Ruling Over High School Exam (Update1)
May 12 (Bloomberg) -- More than 47,000 California high school seniors will be able to graduate next month after a state judge blocked a law requiring students to pass an exit exam.

Judge Robert Freedman in Oakland today ruled the California High School Exit Examination, required for the first time this year, is unfair because some teachers aren't certified in the subjects tested, according to Arturo Gonzalez, a lawyer for the students.

Freedman's decision upholds an injunction blocking the state department of education from denying a diploma to any high school seniors who passed all required courses. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said lawyers for the schools have asked the court to stay the injunction as they prepare an appeal to Freedman's decision.

The ruling is ``bad news for employers who want meaning restored to our high school diplomas,'' O'Connell said in a conference call with reporters. ``We do no favors to unprepared students by handing them a diploma without the skills needed to back them up.''

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he supports O'Connell's decision to appeal the ruling, adding in a statement that the exit exam is the ``best resource'' for ensuring students are learning the ``skills they need to begin successful lives.''

Gonzalez cautioned students that they need to pass their classes in order to graduate. Freedman's decision gives ``47,000 students an opportunity to walk the stage with their classmates and to receive their high school diplomas,'' he said in a statement.

The case is Valenzuela v. O'Connell, Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding No. 4468, Alameda County Superior Court, Oakland.

All kids homeschooled in this house. It must work, they're getting so smart they think I'm a dumbass.

I should ask my wife to read this post, she is a educator. Long time back she did testing for placement in a community college. She commented to me at how well home schooled kids did as a group.

They have a resouce network here in Oregon that helps home schoolers to have a effective class room. My kids are in the local schools. we are fortuante and have a very good school district. One of the schools was a old rural school. Small class sizes and excellent teachers. The kids are now in the Big City of Dallas.............. Oregon that is.

I think it is important for parents to be envolved in their children education, Obviously home schoolers are doing that, but why aren't more of the public school's children parents doing it? That, IMHO, is a big problem in our public schools.

teenagers?

Yes.
Monkey stomping is still available. :D

Let go of my Legos!
 

Well, here is yet another fine example of our "educators" at work. I heard this while getting ready for work this morning on a talk radio show here.

This is really an unbelievable read. :rolleyes:

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/arc.../lego212.shtml (article is very long...)

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...mJhNWE=&w=MA==

Banning Legos
And building a world where “all structures will be standard sizes.”

By John J. Miller

Perhaps you’ve heard about the schools that have banned tag. Or dodgeball. Or stories about pigs.

If so, you won’t be surprised to hear that the Hilltop Children’s Center in Seattle has banned Legos.

A pair of teachers at the center, which provides afterschool activities for elementary-school kids, recently described their policy in a Rethinking Schools cover story called “Why We Banned Legos.” (See the magazine’s cover here.)

It has something to do with “social justice learning.”

My vision of social justice for children of elementary-school age is as follows: If you’re tagged, you’re it; if the ball hits you, you’re out; and pig stories are fun, especially when told over microwaveable hot dogs.

But I try to keep an open mind, so I read the article on why Hilltop banned Legos.

As most aficionados know, Legos are made by a Danish company. The company name comes from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means play well. “Lego became a national treasure and one of the strongest brands in the toy industry,” wrote The Economist last year. “Its colorful bricks are sold in over 130 countries: everyone on earth has, on average, 52 of them.”

In their Rethinking Schools article, teachers Ann Pelo and Kendra Pelojoaquin describe how the kids at Hilltop built “a massive series of Lego structures we named Legotown.” I sensed that something was rotten in the state of Legotown when I read this description of it: “a collection of homes, shops, public facilities, and community meeting places.”

My children have spent a large portion of their young lives playing with Legos. They have never, to my knowledge, constructed “community meeting places.” Instead, they make monster trucks, space ships, and war machines. These little creations are usually loaded with ion guns, nuclear missiles, bunker-busting bombs, force-field projectors, and death-ray cannons. Alien empires have risen and fallen in epic conflicts waged in the upstairs bedrooms of my home.

Perhaps kids in Seattle, under the careful watch of their latte-sipping guardians, are different. But I don’t think so.

At Hilltop, however, the teachers strive to make them different. “We recognized that children are political beings, actively shaping their social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity,” write Pelo and Pelojoaquin. “We agreed that we want to take part in shaping the children’s understandings from a perspective of social justice. So we decided to take the Legos out of the classroom.”


The root cause of Hilltop’s Lego problem was that, well, the kids were being kids: There were disputes over “cool pieces,” instances of bigger kids bossing around little ones, and so on.

An ordinary person might recognize this as child’s play. But the social theorists at Hilltop saw something else: “The children were building their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys — assumptions that mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society — a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive.”

Pelo and Pelojoaquin continue: “As we watched the children build, we became increasingly concerned.”

So they banned the Legos and began their program of re-education. “Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation,” they write.

Instead of practicing phonics or memorizing multiplication tables, the children played a special game: “In the game, the children could experience what they’d not been able to acknowledge in Legotown: When people are shut out of participation in the power structure, they are disenfranchised — and angry, discouraged, and hurt. ... The rules of the game — which mirrored the rules of our capitalist meritocracy — were a setup for winning and losing. ... Our analysis of the game, as teachers, guided our planning for the rest of the investigation into the issues of power, privilege, and authority that spanned the rest of the year.”

After “months of social justice exploration,” the teachers finally agreed it was time to return the Legos to the classroom. That’s because the children at last had bought into the concept that “collectivity is a good thing.” And in Hilltop’s new Lego regime, there would be three immutable laws:

All structures are public structures. Everyone can use all the Lego structures. But only the builder or people who have her or his permission are allowed to change a structure.

Lego people can be saved only by a “team” of kids, not by individuals.

All structures will be standard sizes.

You can almost feel the liberating spirit of that last rule. All structures will be standard sizes? At Hilltop Children’s Center, all imaginations will be a standard size as well: small.

Sounds like they need to watch the Hillary 1984 video again.

Big brother, socialism, equality, "social justice", they want it all, without paying for it.

Wait till utopia meets the real world, gets it collective ass beaten, and their Legos taken away.

That will be a heck of a lesson, won't it?

TR

Indeed...it will be a rude awakening, TR.

I see that these two instructor sheep are training the little sheep to be successful in the big flock when they grow up.

You're an educator? I'm out of my lane here, but... As an educator, you should know, when typing, there are two spaces after each period. There are none after your periods, making your statement look like one long string.

I know the real story about indoctrination in government schools. My niece came home from school, and told me that "it's not right that some people have nicer cars than others." Where'd she learn that? Why, government school, of course. I can continue, but my point is made.

I'm sorry, sir, but you trying to tell me that our government schools are not broken using a statement full of typing errors is like me shooting 22/40 on the range and then trying to tell TeamSergeant how to shoot.

Going back to my lane.

Edit: There are good government schools and government school teachers. I am speaking in general. :)

I have no issue with home-schoolers, in fact I have some very good friends who have chosen that course for their children. Their kids are fine, well adjusted and do not burst into flames if exposed to sunlight. My daughter attends a public school. I won’t say which one because I fear some ACLU idiot or so called national “educator” association would show up.
My daughter has had the pleasure of attending school in several locations as we have moved around. She has attended a total of 5 schools up to the current middle school. We have experienced the DoDDs schools and public schools in various states.
The school she currently attends has been a pleasure to work with. Note that my daughter does extremely well in class and tends to be an over-achiever (wonder where she got that from). The teachers are for the most part very attentive. Mind you two gym teachers were, shall we say, “relieved” last year for interaction with girls in the middle school. Only one of the teachers was a male.
My daughter brings to school the values and morals that she gets at home. If the opposite is in effect then your “chi” is out of alignment. She holds her own on discussions concerning military and government because we discuss those things at home. She brings her Christian values with her because that is what she gets at home. She is not persuaded by the teachers (to the point of having an argument with an evolutionist science teacher) to change her moral values. She takes the information and applies it as necessary to complete the course of instruction. She doesn’t have to sell out.
The school band does in fact have “Christmas” concerts. The music played is traditional Christian Christmas carols. The book report she is currently working on is on several volumes of the Left Behind series. Yes, this is in public school!
No child gets ahead does make things difficult for the teachers, but it does not make it impossible and does not suffice as an excuse. Parents should demand excellence from their children, as should teachers from their students. You get out of the system what you put in. If you equip your children with what they need to bring to the fight they will be victorious. If you throw up your hands and quit then you get what you get....

Hope my syntax is correct:confused: