Homeschool

Obedience Yields Safety

Wayne — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:11:44 -0400

If parents raised their own children, per Biblical commands, instead of entrusting them to schools and churches, people like this wouldn't be a problem.

That churches are structured like institutions, rather than remaining Biblically organized, certainly makes it easier for both parents and molesters to get what they want. Parents are all too willing to surrender their duty, to train their own children, to those whom they worship (pastors, teachers). Churches attract molesters and deviants, because they're desperate for volunteers, and children and youth ministries are shunned by most. It's a formula for phenomenal success...at the expense of the children! If you want to protect your children from abuse, do not entrust their keeping to schools and churches.

Youth groups are probably among the most dangerous places for kids today. Besides youth group leaders who are molesters, they are breeding grounds for worldly pitfalls. Only a couple notches better than schools, youth groups still tend to segregate by age (unlike the real world), typically have too few adult leaders proportionate to the number of kids, and practice crowd control more than spiritual training. In my experience, youth groups practice coed lock-ins (sleepovers) without gender segregation, teach kids how to put condoms on bananas, teach them that sex is for those in love rather than marriage, and worse. Kids in youth groups tend to feed off one another, exaggerating any tendencies toward worldliness. Real holiness (being set apart for God) is all but unknown in most youth groups. These are dangerous places to entrust your children—if you value their eternal fate.

Obey the Lord by raising your own children, and a host of dangers can be avoided. Refrain from implicitly trusting churches simply because they claim to be Godly, but audit and question everything. Better yet, do your own job as parents, and molesters and damnation won't be problems for your kids.

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Public School is a Sin

Wayne — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:13:02 -0400

I've said it countless times, but here it is again.

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Education

Wayne — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:37:18 -0400

http://voxday.blogspot.com/2009/06/turnabout-...

[T]he government has absolutely no business being involve [sic] in education for a variety of Constitutional, practical, and freedom-related reasons.

...and Biblical.

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10 Big Reasons Not to Send Christian Kids to Public Schools

Katrina — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:46:42 -0400

http://www.crosswalk.com/homeschool/11603305/

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Homeschoolers are nice

Charla — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:33:32 -0400

That may sound like a statement a 6-yr. old would make, but I have to make it today.

Still fumbling my way thru this first year of homeschooling, I continue to be amazed at the behavior of the kids we are around when we attend homeschool events. Whether it be the homeschool conference, fine arts classes, events at museums, or even just fun outings, it seems to me that children who are homeschooled are well-behaved, articulate, have fine manners, and are respectful of others. (Maybe that's redundant.)

We went to Six Flags today for their homeschool day. My husband and I had no complaints about the crowd, which for us is pretty amazing. We didn't hear one foul word. Even the teens were respectful and friendly to me, a parent.

Our family had a blast today! It was even better being surrounded by homeschooling families.

*I pray I never have to put our kids back in gov't school.

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Prevent School Violence

Wayne — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:16:52 -0400

If you want to prevent school violence, simply prevent schools.

It should be obvious to all, were people not so stupid, that school is the least efficient and least effective means of education. Almost anything is better than school. Certainly, one-on-one instruction is vastly superior (again, this is obvious to anyone who isn't a complete moron). Given that State standards for education are so low*, most people are more than capable of teaching their children, one-on-one, anything at the high school level or lower. And given the superiority of such instruction, the odds go up that the next generation will be smarter than the last, unlike the proven trend of school-based education.

*If a grade of "C" is considered average, and an IQ of 100 is average, then I would think it's reasonable to conclude a "D", which is still above a failing grade, would encompass IQs somewhere between -1σ and -2&sigma. This suggests 70-90% of all people are capable of grasping high school material. If they can grasp it, they can pass it on, say, to their children.

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Questions about standardized testing

Charla — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:03:15 -0500

Guess I could find answers by looking for hours but thought I might ask you first (since you're the experts ). (I have looked at www.ghea.org for info.)

We're doing 3rd grade work with our son and I know GA law states that I have to have him take a standardized test at the end of 3rd grade. So here are my questions:

1) Is there any test you prefer over the others?
2) Can I administer it myself as the parent or must I use another tester? (I have a 4-yr degree.)
3) Do I have to administer it by a particular date in the year or can I wait up until the last day of our homeschool year as given on our Letter of Intent? (We may not be ready by spring but probably will have most 3rd grade subjects completed later.)
4) What happens if, by some reason, he doesn't score well on the test? Are retests allowed?
5) If I use one test, should I stick to that test from now on for consistency? Sounds like a good idea.

Thanks in advance.

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Why I Homeschool

Katrina — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:14:10 -0500

"There is a big difference between sending fully trained disciples into enemy territory and sending recruits to our enemy's training camp. If we do the latter, we shouldn't be surprised when they come home wearing the enemy's uniform and charging the hill of our home waving an enemy flag."

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What's wrong with public education

Dave — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:05:08 -0500

This anecdote (which can be viewed here under the "Two things I can't comprehend" section) sums it up nicely:

How some of the relentlessly ebullient people who work at Jamba Juice successfully add up the hours on their timecards each week, given their apparent aversion to simple math. I like Jamba, but I don’t enjoy it when my wife asks me to get her a Matcha Green Tea Blast smoothie without the sherbet, because it brings up an inevitable conundrum: How do I honor her wishes at an establishment where such a request is baffling? Me: “Matcha Green Tea Blast, no sherbet.” Cheerful person at the register: “What would you like instead?” Me: “Nothing.” Person behind the counter: Blank stare. Me: “You know, just put more of everything else.” Person behind the counter: “Yeah, but what do you want instead of the sherbet?” It’s like the famous “These go to 11” scene from “This is Spinal Tap,” with me as Marty DiBergi and the person behind the counter as Nigel Tufnel. What I want to convey in that situation is this: Simply increase every other ingredient proportionately, so that I would have the smoothie that would be made in a world in which sherbet did not exist. What I think the person behind the counter would like to say, but can never seem even to attempt to enunciate, is: We have preset recipes that measure out each ingredient, and eliminating the sherbet while proportionately increasing the others requires math skills that are beyond our inclination and capabilities.

After going through this drill a dozen times – the same thing happens when my dad asks me to get him a smoothie without ice – I finally stopped trying. Now, when the person behind the counter asks what I want more of, I just say, “Frozen yogurt.” The strange thing is, I had already written this riff on Sunday morning before connecting at the Denver International Airport, where I paid a quick visit to the new Jamba on the upstairs level of the United terminal. I had a ton of writing still left to do and wanted to do some serious drinking, so I asked for the original size (24 ounce) Bright Eyed and Blueberry. Person behind the counter: “We don’t do that in 24 ounce. It only comes in 12 or 16.” I smiled knowingly; I’d been through this predicament before, and they’d always managed to ring it up at a higher price and give me the 24-ounce size. I said, “Can’t you just get me a 24-ounce smoothie and charge me more?” Person behind the counter: “We don’t have a recipe for that.” I thought about suggesting to her that she simply double each of the ingredients listed on the 12-ounce recipe, but I had a pretty tight connection, and it has been a long season. “I’ll take the 16-ouncer,” I said cheerfully.

It's not just a lack of math skills, though that's an issue. It's the total aversion towards any mental activity that isn't familiar and rote. I confess that I see this inclination in myself (I am a product of the system I am disparaging, after all), but nowadays it is rampant to an appalling degree.

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Homeschooling a "gifted" child

Charla — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:36:11 -0500

I'm trying to find some good information about giftedness and homeschooling a gifted child. It seems there's so much stuff out there that it's quite easy to get inundated, just like when researching regular homeschooling resources.

I need one, maybe two, good books to get me started. I am looking for a resource that defines what it means to be gifted (so I can prove to my husband that being gifted in a cognitive sense is so much different than just being gifted - talented - in a certain area), what personality traits, etc. go along with being gifted, and being a gifted adult. Then a resource of homeschooling a gifted child would be helpful. I've spent hours on the net and would really appreciate just a reference or two to get me started. www.hoagiesgifted.org has so many links I'm baffled.

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