Linda's Homeschool WebLog
Friday, October 17, 2003
This is the book I'm using for Aaron's math right now:
Master Math Skill Book Grade 6
I like it a lot. He's not sold on it but we've reached a good balance. We take one page at a time and work through the problems on the pen board. I make sure he knows the subject matter - the math procedures... then I make a note on the page that he's demonstrated his proficiency by doing some of the problems on the pen board. There's lots of pages with word problems. I have him work through all of those, not just some, because I want him to see how math applies to everyday life, and how important it is to know the basics.
So far I haven't come across anything he can't do. In fact, he's surprising me - he is better at math than I expected... so this is going well for us.
Reading continues to be slow but when there's progress, I'm satisfied that our efforts are bearing fruit.
Master Math Skill Book Grade 6
I like it a lot. He's not sold on it but we've reached a good balance. We take one page at a time and work through the problems on the pen board. I make sure he knows the subject matter - the math procedures... then I make a note on the page that he's demonstrated his proficiency by doing some of the problems on the pen board. There's lots of pages with word problems. I have him work through all of those, not just some, because I want him to see how math applies to everyday life, and how important it is to know the basics.
So far I haven't come across anything he can't do. In fact, he's surprising me - he is better at math than I expected... so this is going well for us.
Reading continues to be slow but when there's progress, I'm satisfied that our efforts are bearing fruit.
I decided to let my 14-year-old daughter unschool this year. She's learned all the basics. I told her I wanted her to come up with her own education plan - that I believe she's mature enough to decide for herself what she wants to study.
For the first month she didn't do much. This was deschooling in action. (She attended public school last year at her own insistence, and quit after 2 days this year.) Rather than do what I suggested (keep a journal) she got on a teen website and started an online weblog, and entered into message board discussions.
Now she's decided she wants more structure. She wants assignments but I wanted her to decide what interests her. I've read her all the laws about required subjects for secondary students in our state. Based on that she's made some great choices about what to do this year.
For math we're using a 1957 8th grade math textbook for now, and will at some point switch to using the "Key to" series, probably starting with the four fractions workbooks. She's done the measurement books in the past, before her year in public school.
She's decided to study both Spanish and French. We're starting with Spanish because I happen to have a beginner level text book here, and because I'm pretty good at that language myself. I've noted there's lessons on tape for French at our public library, but we probably won't get into that until next year at the earliest. Her assignment today is to write down a conversation in Spanish in her notebook, and to start a vocabulary list.
For social studies she wants to study current events. I assigned her chapter nine in Reviving Ophelia (about teen-girl weight obsessions) and asked her to write an essay giving her opinions on the topic.
Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
I also gave her an article about tea in the current issue of Prevention Magazine
I hope this satisfies her desire for structure. I believe she also wants the ongoing attention and challenge of completing assignments.
For the first month she didn't do much. This was deschooling in action. (She attended public school last year at her own insistence, and quit after 2 days this year.) Rather than do what I suggested (keep a journal) she got on a teen website and started an online weblog, and entered into message board discussions.
Now she's decided she wants more structure. She wants assignments but I wanted her to decide what interests her. I've read her all the laws about required subjects for secondary students in our state. Based on that she's made some great choices about what to do this year.
For math we're using a 1957 8th grade math textbook for now, and will at some point switch to using the "Key to" series, probably starting with the four fractions workbooks. She's done the measurement books in the past, before her year in public school.
She's decided to study both Spanish and French. We're starting with Spanish because I happen to have a beginner level text book here, and because I'm pretty good at that language myself. I've noted there's lessons on tape for French at our public library, but we probably won't get into that until next year at the earliest. Her assignment today is to write down a conversation in Spanish in her notebook, and to start a vocabulary list.
For social studies she wants to study current events. I assigned her chapter nine in Reviving Ophelia (about teen-girl weight obsessions) and asked her to write an essay giving her opinions on the topic.
Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
I also gave her an article about tea in the current issue of Prevention Magazine
I hope this satisfies her desire for structure. I believe she also wants the ongoing attention and challenge of completing assignments.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Here's an anonymous homeschool mom's response to cBS News:
***
Dear CBS News,
Thank you for your expose' on homeschooling! I had no idea that it was so dangerous to raise my own child!
Had I known that my care and time would ultimately prove lethal I never would have had children in the first place. I now see that children should be taken away from their homes as soon as possible to prevent abuse and that they should be institutionalized in a safe and wholesome government welfare program. (Perhaps before they even come home from the hospital!) Perhaps we could expand our jail systems to safely house children to prevent possible harm from their own families.
What was I thinking? What has the human race been thinking? That we could raise our own children without the government watching our every move?
Please, can you do a follow up story on how I can sign my children over to the government so that they can be properly cared for?
All sarcasm intended,
Homeschooling Mother (aka a ticking time bomb, according to CBS News
***
Sorry I can't take credit for that bit of fine writing...
***
Dear CBS News,
Thank you for your expose' on homeschooling! I had no idea that it was so dangerous to raise my own child!
Had I known that my care and time would ultimately prove lethal I never would have had children in the first place. I now see that children should be taken away from their homes as soon as possible to prevent abuse and that they should be institutionalized in a safe and wholesome government welfare program. (Perhaps before they even come home from the hospital!) Perhaps we could expand our jail systems to safely house children to prevent possible harm from their own families.
What was I thinking? What has the human race been thinking? That we could raise our own children without the government watching our every move?
Please, can you do a follow up story on how I can sign my children over to the government so that they can be properly cared for?
All sarcasm intended,
Homeschooling Mother (aka a ticking time bomb, according to CBS News
***
Sorry I can't take credit for that bit of fine writing...
I wrote this to a homeschool mailing list today... this is yet another comment on the CBS News attack on homeschooling earlier this week:
Its bothering me that it seems some people apparently think the Warrens weren't homeschooling and/or deserved the attention of social service agents. I don't see any evidence of either, from what little I've learned from news reports.
My views are based in part on my approximately 15 years of study of CPS laws, cases and tactics. I own the Fight CPS website and have received thousands of emails about CPS cases, mostly from parents who feel they and their children were unfarily victimized by the agency. (My website is pretty much abandoned right now because I've moved on to other things but since it still receives 50-100 hits every day, I'm keeping it on the web for now.)
If the AZ situation, of which we know little, was so severe, why were the Warrens allowed to keep custody of their children? It wouldn't make sense that they would serve probation then leave the state with the kids if they were such terrible people.
Also if there was any evidence of real abuse the social workers in NC would have gotten a court order to interview or remove the children.
So that leaves us with a messy house in which lived some troubled teenagers. I happen to have teens the same ages as those boys: 13 and 14. One of mine has bipolar disorder and between that and puberty I've seen a lot of really bad behavior. One of the articles I read mentioned there were holes in the walls of their home. Well, there are sometimes holes in the walls of my home too. My children put them there, especially my daughter before she got her bipolar meds last spring. Does that make me a bad parent? I've never put a hole in a wall in all my life.
So here's what I think happened... the family was under a lot of stress because of harrassment by NC CPS workers and the pressures of daily life with teenagers. The 14 year old got out of hand one day. Maybe he was playing with the gun and accidently killed his sibling, then killed the other one and himself. Maybe he did it intentionally in a fit of rage - who knows? But there was no evidence of child abuse. The main known problems these parents had were a messy house and yard, and an out of control teenager. Common sense will tell anyone that when there's 2 boys close in age in a house there's likely to be a lot of arguments.
More articles about the Warren case. I would really like to read a statement by the parents but I can't find anything like that today. After what they've been through I can't blame them for not wanting anyone to know their private thoughts about their tragedy.
Parents Of Teenagers Found Shot Had Legal, Financial Problems In Arizona, NC
WRAL News
Does DSS target homeschoolers?
World Newspaper Publishing
The Warrens in Court (what the judge said when acquitting them)
WB22TV Cache
Example of a leap of logic in a blog that states, in part,
"... is it the fault of home schooling that two deranged religious fanatics abused and tormented their kids at home for years before one of the children took the only way out of the situation that he thought possible?"
I don't see the evidence that the Warrens (1) weren't homeschooling, or (2) abused their children for years. They are also accused by the neighbor of keeping the children isolated and even imprisoned with bars on the windows.
People say all kinds of nasty things about parents these days - that's why there's so many false CPS reports filed. What people see in a situation may have nothing to do with what's really happening. Did you know that about 82% of the calls to CPS are either immediately discarded, or later found to be unfounded? Even so, there's thousands of children removed from their homes every year, in cases where charges are later unfounded. That's why I take whatever the neighbor said with a grain of salt.
The kids were getting candy from the neighbor (according to one of the news reports linked above) and probably gave him a sob story so they could get more candy. Some kids do that. So he called CPS on the family and made their difficult life more hellacious than ever.
Well, that's my take on it. If you have evidence these children were severely abused please let me know, but in the meantime I'm using the assumption of innocence until proven guilty. These parents were never proven guilty of anything except a weapons charge. Remember the AZ charge was settled with a plea bargain (and good parents plea bargain often, to get the gestapo off their backs) and the children remained with the Warrens.
Anyhow, this is another way of me saying the See-BS report was much ado about nothing. A tragedy occurred. There was no provable child abuse involved. See-BS managed to use a lot of rumor and innuendo to try to influence lawmakers to create restrictive legislation.
Its bothering me that it seems some people apparently think the Warrens weren't homeschooling and/or deserved the attention of social service agents. I don't see any evidence of either, from what little I've learned from news reports.
My views are based in part on my approximately 15 years of study of CPS laws, cases and tactics. I own the Fight CPS website and have received thousands of emails about CPS cases, mostly from parents who feel they and their children were unfarily victimized by the agency. (My website is pretty much abandoned right now because I've moved on to other things but since it still receives 50-100 hits every day, I'm keeping it on the web for now.)
If the AZ situation, of which we know little, was so severe, why were the Warrens allowed to keep custody of their children? It wouldn't make sense that they would serve probation then leave the state with the kids if they were such terrible people.
Also if there was any evidence of real abuse the social workers in NC would have gotten a court order to interview or remove the children.
So that leaves us with a messy house in which lived some troubled teenagers. I happen to have teens the same ages as those boys: 13 and 14. One of mine has bipolar disorder and between that and puberty I've seen a lot of really bad behavior. One of the articles I read mentioned there were holes in the walls of their home. Well, there are sometimes holes in the walls of my home too. My children put them there, especially my daughter before she got her bipolar meds last spring. Does that make me a bad parent? I've never put a hole in a wall in all my life.
So here's what I think happened... the family was under a lot of stress because of harrassment by NC CPS workers and the pressures of daily life with teenagers. The 14 year old got out of hand one day. Maybe he was playing with the gun and accidently killed his sibling, then killed the other one and himself. Maybe he did it intentionally in a fit of rage - who knows? But there was no evidence of child abuse. The main known problems these parents had were a messy house and yard, and an out of control teenager. Common sense will tell anyone that when there's 2 boys close in age in a house there's likely to be a lot of arguments.
More articles about the Warren case. I would really like to read a statement by the parents but I can't find anything like that today. After what they've been through I can't blame them for not wanting anyone to know their private thoughts about their tragedy.
Parents Of Teenagers Found Shot Had Legal, Financial Problems In Arizona, NC
WRAL News
Does DSS target homeschoolers?
World Newspaper Publishing
The Warrens in Court (what the judge said when acquitting them)
WB22TV Cache
Example of a leap of logic in a blog that states, in part,
"... is it the fault of home schooling that two deranged religious fanatics abused and tormented their kids at home for years before one of the children took the only way out of the situation that he thought possible?"
I don't see the evidence that the Warrens (1) weren't homeschooling, or (2) abused their children for years. They are also accused by the neighbor of keeping the children isolated and even imprisoned with bars on the windows.
People say all kinds of nasty things about parents these days - that's why there's so many false CPS reports filed. What people see in a situation may have nothing to do with what's really happening. Did you know that about 82% of the calls to CPS are either immediately discarded, or later found to be unfounded? Even so, there's thousands of children removed from their homes every year, in cases where charges are later unfounded. That's why I take whatever the neighbor said with a grain of salt.
The kids were getting candy from the neighbor (according to one of the news reports linked above) and probably gave him a sob story so they could get more candy. Some kids do that. So he called CPS on the family and made their difficult life more hellacious than ever.
Well, that's my take on it. If you have evidence these children were severely abused please let me know, but in the meantime I'm using the assumption of innocence until proven guilty. These parents were never proven guilty of anything except a weapons charge. Remember the AZ charge was settled with a plea bargain (and good parents plea bargain often, to get the gestapo off their backs) and the children remained with the Warrens.
Anyhow, this is another way of me saying the See-BS report was much ado about nothing. A tragedy occurred. There was no provable child abuse involved. See-BS managed to use a lot of rumor and innuendo to try to influence lawmakers to create restrictive legislation.
Good news! More African Americans are turning to homeschooling! I noticed that - in 1996 when I started homeschooling. I joined an ISP where there were several black homeschooling families. The more the merrier! Check out this article: Homegrown Lessons
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
A homeless San Jose mother has been refused the right to homeschool her child by a shelter she was in! Furthermore they've got CPS investigating her now. What an insult to the constitutional right of parents to decide what education is best for their children!
Controversy Surrounds Homeless Mom in SJ Shelter
Contact InnVision with your comments!
Controversy Surrounds Homeless Mom in SJ Shelter
Contact InnVision with your comments!
In response to the CBS (See BS) broadcast, someone has a sense of humor: Homeschool Spin: The Dark Side.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Tonight CBS Evening News managed to distress homeschoolers across the nation with an outrageous accusation that homeschooling is killing kids! Based on a few shocking and highly unusual cases they've produced a report that has the blood of innocent, loving parents boiling throughout the United States. Read it for yourself (in case you haven't seen it yet: A Dark Side to Homeschooling.
In response I wrote the following posting for a mailing list I subscribe to:
###
CBS Attack on Homeschooling
Socialists want the state to control children and what they learn. Homeschoolers threaten the state control of children because we're a segment of society allowing children to learn in freedom without all the brainwashing that goes on in school. To have freedom-loving, free thinking children is a threat to the socialist/communist agenda. The fact that homeschooling is growing in popularity so quickly threatens them even more.
Remember the communist goals from the Cold War:
Items 40 and 41 are a direct attack on families and have been very successfully implemented since this list was first brought to the attention of the US congress in 1963.
Yes, we can write to CBS and clutter their email in-boxes... but the true fight for freedom will be in our work to stop unconstitutional, freedom-squelching legislation.
Suggestions: get to know your legislators. Write to them. Make sure they know you, respect you, and know you're a loving parent and homeschooler. If candidates hold pre-election town hall meetings in your area, attend and ask the candidates how they plan to support the needs and privacy of homeschool families.
Our Fourth Amendment privacy rights must be respected. Entry into your home is a 'search' and private questioning of your child is a 'seizure'... both forbidden without a warrant by our Bill of Rights.
I watched the news segment tonight. The tragedy with the three children is truly heartbreaking but remember the parents were AQUITTED of child abuse so whatever the news commentator was suggesting clearly wasn't substantiated with enough proof to satisfy a court. They are relying heavily on rumor and innuendo. I wonder if tomorrow they'll bring up the case of the Texas mother who drowned her children. They want to use a few isolated cases to get their socialist claws into all of us.
###
In response I wrote the following posting for a mailing list I subscribe to:
###
CBS Attack on Homeschooling
Socialists want the state to control children and what they learn. Homeschoolers threaten the state control of children because we're a segment of society allowing children to learn in freedom without all the brainwashing that goes on in school. To have freedom-loving, free thinking children is a threat to the socialist/communist agenda. The fact that homeschooling is growing in popularity so quickly threatens them even more.
Remember the communist goals from the Cold War:
Items 40 and 41 are a direct attack on families and have been very successfully implemented since this list was first brought to the attention of the US congress in 1963.
Yes, we can write to CBS and clutter their email in-boxes... but the true fight for freedom will be in our work to stop unconstitutional, freedom-squelching legislation.
Suggestions: get to know your legislators. Write to them. Make sure they know you, respect you, and know you're a loving parent and homeschooler. If candidates hold pre-election town hall meetings in your area, attend and ask the candidates how they plan to support the needs and privacy of homeschool families.
Our Fourth Amendment privacy rights must be respected. Entry into your home is a 'search' and private questioning of your child is a 'seizure'... both forbidden without a warrant by our Bill of Rights.
I watched the news segment tonight. The tragedy with the three children is truly heartbreaking but remember the parents were AQUITTED of child abuse so whatever the news commentator was suggesting clearly wasn't substantiated with enough proof to satisfy a court. They are relying heavily on rumor and innuendo. I wonder if tomorrow they'll bring up the case of the Texas mother who drowned her children. They want to use a few isolated cases to get their socialist claws into all of us.
###
Cimmie asked for some kind of software for typing lessons. I did a google-search and found this free site: Learn 2 Type. It has a free typing test. Fun! I'm glad she's inspired to teach herself to type.
Aaron's doing good at math and reading. I'm timing him as he reads a story, and then when he reads it again he races against his earlier record to read it faster. In his case, this is a very good idea! He's been known to take more than 11 minutes to read one simple page. It does my heart good to see him speeding through a reading now.
He prefers the math still. At this point he's working problems on the pen board every day, and when I'm sure he knows the material on each page of his math book I mark it done. Its good to get into a routine and make progress.
Aaron's doing good at math and reading. I'm timing him as he reads a story, and then when he reads it again he races against his earlier record to read it faster. In his case, this is a very good idea! He's been known to take more than 11 minutes to read one simple page. It does my heart good to see him speeding through a reading now.
He prefers the math still. At this point he's working problems on the pen board every day, and when I'm sure he knows the material on each page of his math book I mark it done. Its good to get into a routine and make progress.
