Safety lesson plans any homeschooler will love
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Court Removes Girl From Homeschool
This article from Foxnews.com frightened me as it should every homeschooler. An academically promising ten year old girl has been ordered to public school by a New Hampshire court. Her divorced parents do not agree on the homeschooling issue and so her father took it to the court as he is concerned about her ''socialization''.
Socializing is what garners success isn't it? High ACT/SAT scores, academic prowess, long term goals that is what is discussed at the lunch room tables while dining on over processed, nutritionally sparse lunches right?
I have never been to New Hampshire but unless they produce different kinds of kids there the socialization will include bullying, cussing, sexual innuendo, introduction to drugs and alcohol, peer pressure and cliques.
Well, isn't that great that her father is looking out for her? I am sure the first time she is excluded for being different, not wearing the 'in' clothes or whatever other reasons kids exclude each other I am sure that she will be thrilled with her father's concern of her socialization. It isn't just boys that bully. There is a huge problem in public schools with girl bullying.
I can tell you that the first time I had a cigarette I got it from a fellow public school student. Same goes with beer and a few other things. You get the idea.
The news is all about headlines and rarely is there follow up but I would sure love to know the depth of this father's interest in his daughter's level of socialization once he gets his way and she is in public school.
If her grades start to fall maybe she can buy better ones like the kids in this article did. Hopefully she won't be one of the many unfortunate students involved in a teacher sex scandal. They are so commonplace that they don't all make headlines anymore but you can find many of them here.
Maybe the father thinks things like that don't happen in New Hampshire. Perhaps he should read this story about a cheating scandal in his state. Those kids socialized with each other and came up with a cheating plan.
Here is a pretty yellow graph of serious violent crimes in U.S. public schools. Don't let the cheery color fool you these are kids getting hurt and killed in school. Maybe the father should ask some of those victims how they feel about socialization.
Socializing is what garners success isn't it? High ACT/SAT scores, academic prowess, long term goals that is what is discussed at the lunch room tables while dining on over processed, nutritionally sparse lunches right?
I have never been to New Hampshire but unless they produce different kinds of kids there the socialization will include bullying, cussing, sexual innuendo, introduction to drugs and alcohol, peer pressure and cliques.
Well, isn't that great that her father is looking out for her? I am sure the first time she is excluded for being different, not wearing the 'in' clothes or whatever other reasons kids exclude each other I am sure that she will be thrilled with her father's concern of her socialization. It isn't just boys that bully. There is a huge problem in public schools with girl bullying.
I can tell you that the first time I had a cigarette I got it from a fellow public school student. Same goes with beer and a few other things. You get the idea.
The news is all about headlines and rarely is there follow up but I would sure love to know the depth of this father's interest in his daughter's level of socialization once he gets his way and she is in public school.
If her grades start to fall maybe she can buy better ones like the kids in this article did. Hopefully she won't be one of the many unfortunate students involved in a teacher sex scandal. They are so commonplace that they don't all make headlines anymore but you can find many of them here.
Maybe the father thinks things like that don't happen in New Hampshire. Perhaps he should read this story about a cheating scandal in his state. Those kids socialized with each other and came up with a cheating plan.
Here is a pretty yellow graph of serious violent crimes in U.S. public schools. Don't let the cheery color fool you these are kids getting hurt and killed in school. Maybe the father should ask some of those victims how they feel about socialization.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
There's No Place Like Home
We just got home from our family reunion in Wyoming. It was nice to see everyone but being gone for five days was tough on everyone. The drive home took nearly eight hours on that long, boring, state wide ribbon we call I-80. We were all exhausted and went to bed without unpacking.
The next morning I woke my daughter up for our homeschool field trip. She peeked out of one sleepy eye and told me she just got out of the car, she didn't want to get back in it. It wasn't easy(understatement) but I finally got her up, fed and into the car so we could head to Blair, NE to meet up with a couple of our homeschool friends which is about 30-40 minutes away.
As part of the Blair Library Summer Reading Program they had a storm chaser who gave a great talk about storm chasing, tornadoes, radar and safety tips. He 
had slide show for the kids with terrific pictures of different tornadoes. He told all about his storm chasing team and his chase truck named Dorothy. The kids loved it and I learned a few new things too. Afterwards Laramie reluctantly admitted that it was worth getting out of bed and driving for.
had slide show for the kids with terrific pictures of different tornadoes. He told all about his storm chasing team and his chase truck named Dorothy. The kids loved it and I learned a few new things too. Afterwards Laramie reluctantly admitted that it was worth getting out of bed and driving for.Monday, July 20, 2009
Dinner With A Side Of Science
Last night we went out to dinner with a friend and her two children. With kids in tow you are in better shape if you pick a kid friendly place. Red Robin is a good choice for us. Kind of noisy but they have kids meals, menus, crayons and my daughters favorite part is they give you a balloon when you leave.
Usually I am rather annoyed by balloons when they are bobbing around and the weird sound when they get near my ears freaks me out. Last night though my daughter was intrigued by her balloon and so we spent about an hour discovering what the balloon can and cannot hold and still stay aloft.
We kept a log and discovered that the balloon would carry one dime but not a nickle, penny or quarter. It would not carry Daddy's wedding ring or six paperclips but it would carry five paperclips. After we were done we weighed the string down with a glass on the table so we could see if it was still floating as high in the morning. It wasn't. Today it couldn't carry the things it did yesterday.
This sparked a whole new realm of questions from my daughter and necessitates another trip to the library so we can find the answer together. This is what is great about homeschooling. You never know when a learning opportunity is going to float by.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Hot Stuff!
Educational opportunities seem to be everywhere if you keep an eye out for them. Earlier this month I was trying to find some unrelated information on our city's website when the words ''Fire Safety Camp'' caught my eye. Then the word FREE jumped out at me. Educational and free? That is like winning the homeschool lottery!
Perhaps this is one of the perks of living in a smallish Midwestern town. My daughter definitely thought it was a perk and could not wait until July 9th. She was giddy with anticipation.
Finally camp day rolled around and I dropped her off from 8:00 to 12:00pm. Free, educational AND I get a break? I am loving it!
Our local fire department outdid themselves with this free camp. The kids all obviously enjoyed learning about fire safety, calling 911, touring the safety trailer, putting out pretend fires, seeing the fire trucks and being fed pizza. Wow. They fed them lunch too! To top it off each child got to take home a sticker, lollipop, certificate, t shirt and a tie string gym sack to put all their take home goodies in.
I always try to find unexpected learning experiences for my kids and this one was one of the best. We will certainly sign up for this next year!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
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