Homeschooling
gregladen | April 30, 2009Head First Physics: A learner's companion to mechanics and practical physics I have been watching these Heads Up guides for some time now, mainly in the context of computer software and development. I have not tried any of these guides in IT because, so far, I've felt that while they may be excellent learning resources, they were not ideal reference books, and that is usually what I am looking for. I may be a bit unusual in this regard, but I'm pretty happy reading a reference book from beginning to end, then using later ... as a reference book. In fact, I'd say my ideal combination of…
gregladen | January 12, 2009Homeschool Showcase (Formerly The Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers) #15 is up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. I've got an item listed in the carnival, which is typical (I often send potentially useful science content material to the homeschooling carnivals.)
While you're studying Earth science, you may want to check out Nature's Evolutionary Gems posted by Greg Laden at Greg Laden's Blog. It's up to you whether you use it to teach evolution as fact or as a teachable moment as you discuss God's creation. I know how we'll be using it. ;-)
Wink wink indeed!
gregladen | January 4, 2009The following announcement is from Nature.
About a year ago, an Editorial in these pages urged scientists and their institutions to 'spread the word' and highlight reasons why scientists can treat evolution by natural selection as, in effect, an established fact (see Nature 451, 108; 2008).
This week we are following our own prescription. Readers will find at http://www.nature.com/evolutiongems a freely accessible resource for biologists and others who wish to explain to students, friends or loved ones just what is the evidence for evolution by natural selection. Entitled '15 evolutionary…
gregladen | December 14, 2008Three videos:
Thanks to Stacy for the tip on the first of the three. The next two were sort of obvious after that...
gregladen | September 14, 2008That depends ... on what X and Y are!
And if that does not come naturally to you, perhaps you should read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pre-Algebra by Amy Szczepanski and Andrew Kositsky.
The CIG to PA is built just like the other books in the Idiot's series, using familiar conventions to keep the flow of the book smooth while providing additional ancillary information, and in the case of this text, practice problems (answers provided in the back). This book reminds me of a tired old reference I've got on my shelf called Technical Mathematics. Sometimes you just need a place to look up…
gregladen | September 12, 2008Life Science Teachers: Take special note!
This is not yet an error in the mainstream press, but there is an error afoot, currently represented in the widely read slashdot, which I imagine will propagate. The purpose of this post is to alert you to this problem and prepare you for the occasion when you run into a wackaloon creationist waving their arms around and screaming "Carbon dating does not work! It's been proven." This story also has a Global Warming Denialism component.
What I'm going to do here is give you the basic facts, then the misinterpreted text.
We start with the basic…
gregladen | August 13, 2008This just in:
A federal judge has ruled the University of California can deny course credit to Christian high school graduates who have been taught with textbooks that reject evolution and declare the Bible infallible, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles ruled Friday that the school's review committees did not discriminate against Christians because of religious viewpoints when it denied credit to those taught with certain religious textbooks, but instead made a legitimate claim that the texts failed to teach critical thinking and omitted…
gregladen | August 11, 2008You will recall a review I wrote some time ago of a book called "Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments" by Robert Bruce Thompson, and published by O'Reilly. I liked the book a lot and strongly recommended it for homeschoolers and hobbyists who were serious about chemistry.
Now, we have a news report of someone who appears to be a chemistry hobbyist (no, not cooking meth or making bombs) in Marlboro Massachusetts, who has had his lab dismantled and confiscated by local authorities.
This event is summarized and criticized by RB Thomson, author of the afore mentioned book.…
gregladen | June 22, 2008It has been said that home schooling is a bit suspicious because it is possible for people to keep their kids home to abuse them. This is probably very very rare, but yes, it is possible and there are examples of it. however, home schoolers often (at least the most vocal amongst them) insist this is impossible and that it is merely a ploy to ... ah, do to something, I'm not quite sure what.
As these arguments waft and weft across the intertubes, there is a very common kind of pseudo-logic that we hear. This is what is looks like:
"Home schooling is not bad because public schools are bad…
gregladen | June 3, 2008Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science) is a new book by Robert Thompson. The premise is simple. The coolest thing in the world is a home chemistry set like this one from Gilbert, which combined both chemistry and microscopy:
Chemistry Set Combine the sciences of Chemistry and Microscopy in one big laboratory set! Microscope has a magnification of 60 power, plus unique Polaroid device that shows the brilliant colors of specimens under the lens. Set includes "Fun With Gilbert Chemistry", "Gilbert Microscope", "Glass Blowing" manuals and dissecting…
gregladen | May 23, 2008Should (or would?) home schooling families pay a small fee for public library access?
The Allen County Public Library has changed the number of holds available to patrons to five per card. ... The library is a support system to our at-home curriculum. ... The usage of the library hold system to find and retrieve books needed for such curriculums has been a truly valuable resource.
I understand the need to curtail mounting expenses, but the move from an unlimited number of holds to five per card is too drastic. I believe home educators would even pay an annual educator card for the ACPL to…
gregladen | May 5, 2008... This is one of several interesting questions being asked by Bitch writer Maya Schenwar in: Learning Curve ... Radical "unschooling" moms are changing the stay-at-home landscape.
From the article:
Not long ago, homeschooling was thought of as the domain of hippie earth mothers letting their kids "do their own thing" or creationist Christians shielding their kids from monkey science and premarital sex. ...
These days ... parents are homeschooling for secular reasons as well as faith-based ones: quality of education, freedom to travel, their kids' special needs, or simply a frustration…
gregladen | May 2, 2008Boo!
...
That scurrying sound you hear is the pitter-patter of libertarian homeschoolers running to their battle stations. These are the people who make home schooling ... which isn't such a bad idea in some cases ... a bad idea. All the time.
This is a community of people who claim to represent a sizable proportion of home schoolers. If that is true, perhaps home schooling should be shut down as an unregulated, unsupervised practice right now. Or maybe I'm just over reacting. I'm just a bit concerned over the inability to converse normally or reason clearly, the reactionary nature of…
gregladen | April 29, 2008Home schooling is probably a really good idea for a lot of people, but only for a certain (unknown) percentage of people who actually do it. And, among those who do manage to home school, I would guess that the effectiveness of home schooling varies from pretty good to dismal because homeschoolers are doing it for the wrong reasons, in some cases for just plain bad reasons, and/or they really don't know what they are doing.
I have yet to meet a teacher who would claim that they are generally happy with what shows up at their classroom door from Home Schooling Land ... even though most…
gregladen | April 10, 2008... if you live in Baltimore ...
Details and a poll for you to take:
An art teacher at Baltimore's Reginald F. Lewis High School says she was beaten by a student in her classroom in an attack that was recorded on a cell phone camera.
Jolita Berry says the attack happened Friday. The chief of the Baltimore City school police said Tuesday he had not been notified of the attack and planned to begin an investigation.
The video of a classroom fight showed up on MySpace.com. Berry says the person being beaten is her.
She says the attack began when she told a female student to sit down and behave…
gregladen | April 10, 2008John Stossel is the woo-loving moronic co-host of the formerly not too bad but these days totally sucky tv "news" show 20-20.
It turns out Stossel is a libertarian home schooling supporter and reality denialist
Now, I should tell you that I am not against home schooling in principle. But I have come to believe that most home schooling setups involve either scary right wing fundamentalism or yahoo-istic libertarian political masterbation at the expense of the kids. But who cares what I think. What does John Stossel think?
The cat is finally out of the bag. A California appellate court,…
gregladen | April 10, 2008Yes, and it probably should. The bill requires that the home schooled students receive instruction from qualified individuals, and that the students be registered with the state. Both are reasonable requirements for any educational program, home schooling or otherwise.
But this is considered unacceptable by many homeschooling proponents (but not all). I found an interesting commentary from Michigan that demonstrates what I think is a widespread viewpoint among home schoolers. (Home schoolers by the way often insist that they are a diverse group, but I have seen very little dissent from…
gregladen | April 2, 2008I came across this chilling misanthropic missive in support of home schooling.
The greatest pitfalls of public education are the humanistic philosophies taught at the expense of biblical truth, ungodly teachers and classmates seeking to influence our children, and the absence of spiritual or moral considerations within the educational process. However, those problems aren't isolated to the public-school setting (as evidenced by just a few minutes of television-watching).
Within most of our neighborhoods--and even in some Christian schools--there are influences that tear at our desired…
gregladen | March 27, 2008
A California appellate court agreed Wednesday to rehear arguments in a controversial case that called into question the legality of home schooling, court documents show.
A statewide uproar began when a panel with the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled in last month that there is no constitutional right to home school children.
The ruling arose following an investigation into abuse inside a Los Angeles family that home schooled its children.
The court agreed to rehear the case based on a request from the father in the family at the center of the case. The father, identified only as Philip L…
gregladen | March 26, 2008Anne Coulter sends me emails now and then (she doesn't know who I am ... don't tell her) so I get the inside anorexia, I mean, the inside skinny on some of the moves the hard right wing are making now and then. Astonishingly, very little of this is ever of any interest. But the latest tidbit is somewhat interesting. The righties are creaming in their jeans about the republication (which actually happened last year) of Sebastian Adams' "time line of history."
This document from the 1870s is historically interesting because it is one of the early "time lines" and it does reflect what some…