The Bitter Homeschooler’s Wish List

Deborah Markus of Secular Homeschooling Magazine must have been reading my mind when she wrote The Bitter Homeschooler’s Wish List. I wish she would put it on a t-shirt! To read the full article, visit http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/001/bitter_homeschooler.html.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• 2 Learn what the words “socialize” and “socialization” mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you’re talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we’ve got a decent grasp of both concepts.

• 7 We don’t look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they’re in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we’re doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.

• 13 Stop assuming that because the word “home” is right there in “homeschool,” we never leave the house. We’re the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it’s crowded and icky.

Subscribe to Secular Homeschool Magazine

Homeschooling in California

California homeschoolers are homeschooling as usual. Ann Zeise of A to Z Home’s Cool cautions homeschoolers not to panic. She has posted resources for those who want to follow what’s going on with California homeschooling and read the original decision.

Debbie Schwarzer, HSC Legal Team Co-chair, posted information on what to do and what not to do on the list sponsored by HSC, the large California Homeschool Association, HomeSchool California (HSC). You can read the article here.

Chinese New Year

Make a fire-breathing dragon mask
Games, poems, paper lanterns and more
Lots of crafts & activities for learning about China & Chinese New Year
Wreath
Crayola has lots of projects
Chinese Zodiac game
See and read explanations of Chinese New Year with video clip of the New Year parade and celebration, a Fortune Cookie Factory and more
China, Chinese New Year’s, and The Giant Panda Bear Themes
Lots more info on 2008 - The Year of the Rat

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

The prototype for all science fiction, H. G. Wells’s fantastic novel will not let you out of its grip as it narrates the invasion of Earth by ruthless Martians. In 1938, a radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds—done in the style of a news broadcast—panicked the listening public.
http://www.bartleby.com/1002/
War of the Worlds lesson plans from Discovery/School.
H. G. Wells at Web English teacher has a short list of lesson plan links for War of the Worlds (and Time Machine).
Course Materials for the Study of Science Fiction and specifically for War of the Worlds.
Study Guide for H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds
Radio’s War of the Worlds Broadcast (1938)
The Script from The War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938.
Web edition of The War of the Worlds.
War of the Worlds: The Theater Movies
War of the Worlds, The (1953) - clips, quotes, reviews, links from IMDb.
How Orson Welles Drew the Nation into a Shared Illusion - an essay.
The Mercury Theatre on the Air

My Favorite Martian

Free downloadable (pdf) poster of Earth/Mars Comparison. I tried to fill out the form to have a poster sent to us, but kept getting error messages. However - you can still download it yourself for free.
Check out the latest on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Also see the sidebar for kids and educators pages.
Mars scientists are asking students from around the world to help them understand the red planet. Send in a rock you collected from your region of the world, and they’ll use a special tool like the one on the rover to tell you what it’s made of. Then you can compare their rocks to the ones found on Mars.
Exploring Mars, created by a group of scientists from Jet Propulsion Lab and University of California at Los Angeles, is a great place to start for reports (try Mars at a Glance) or browsing for the fun of it. The Mars Science section is outstanding, and the Mars History section is fascinating. “The Babylonians called Mars Nergal - the great hero, the king of conflicts.” Lots of photos and illustrations, and a good navigation system make this site work for all ages.
Do a search on Google for Mars Spirit Rover
Play an online Mars Scrambler puzzle
Do a Planet Word Search
Become a Martian Weather Reporter with activities from this site.
Listen to sounds on Mars
Enchanted Learning: Mars had info for littles as well as a Mars Book: A Printable Book for Fluent Readers. To print them out in full-size you must have a paid membership which I think is a great deal. It does show the thumbnails.
Build Your Own Mars Pathfinder Spacecraft Model.
http://www.challenger.org/teachers/lessons/voyagemars.cfm has lessons to help you to prepare your kids for their exciting mission to space.
Learning Page has a hundred worksheets for under grade 4. They require a free registration. View their Space Fact Files for Mars. The fact sheets cut outs and murals are clearly adaptable for any classroom.

Space Cadet

See what the astronauts saw on July 20, 1969
Try Google Moon http://moon.google.com/
Google Copernicus Center is hiring http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html
But first check out Life in the Googlunaplex http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job6.html

NEA & B-75

B-75. Home Schooling
The National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience. When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking and passing of assessments to ensure adequate academic progress. Home schooling should be limited to the children of the immediate family, with all expenses being borne by the parents/guardians. Instruction should be by persons who are licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by the state department of education should be used.
The Association also believes that home-schooled students should not participate in any extracurricular activities in the public schools.
The Association further believes that local public school systems should have the authority to determine grade placement and/or credits earned toward graduation for students entering or re-entering the public school setting from a home school setting. (1988, 2006)

Ok - I do not agree with the NEA’s resolution. I do not believe that Union has my child’s best interests at heart. I also believe my child should be allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities in the public schools since I Pay Taxes to those public schools. I think that taking and passing assessments are overrated - look at how many people graduate public school yet still cannot read nor write. Guess what? All our homeschool expenses Are paid by me. Again, I also pay public school tax.

Other reading: NEA’s mission statement

A well written petition: Homeschoolers against NEA philosophy

Professionals

Titled: Home Schools Run By Well-Meaning Amateurs
Subtitled: Schools With Good Teachers Are Best-Suited to Shape Young Minds
By Dave Arnold (Dave Arnold, a member of the Illinois Education Association, is head custodian at Brownstown Elementary School in Southern Illinois.)
Quote from Mr Arnold’s article: There’s nothing like having the right person with the right experience, skills and tools to accomplish a specific task. Certain jobs are best left to the pros, such as, formal education. … So, why would some parents assume they know enough about every academic subject to home-school their children? You would think that they might leave this — the shaping of their children’s minds, careers, and futures — to trained professionals…”

Everyone has their own opinion - he to his and me to mine. Here’s my thoughts after reading his article. Why would a janitor assume he knows enough about homeschooling by glancing at a few websites, with an obviously closed mind, write about trained professionals shaping my child’s mind, career & future? Parents shape their child’s mind, career & future - not teachers. Teachers instruct children. Some teachers might have an impact on children which might lead them to certain areas whether knowingly or unknowingly. (Obviously I’m not speaking of higher education.) Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictonary defines teacher as “one that teaches; especially : one whose occupation is to instruct.” It also defines custodian as “one that guards and protects or maintains; especially : one entrusted with guarding and keeping property or records or with custody or guardianship of prisoners or inmates.” So maybe there is a connection: Institutionalized schooling and inmates (also known as public school children).

I Googled head custodian and the first link says : “Head Custodian. Duties. 1. Dust, sweep, mop, and buff floors as necessary. 2. Using appropriate protection against contact with body fluids, clean vomit and …” (which comes from a website’s Job Description of Head Custodian cape.k12.mo.us

I AM the right person to choose my child’s form of education. I choose to homeschool my child. I am also not a head custodian but I can also dust, sweep, mop and clean vomit too.

Mandalas

Get Centered

Increase concentration, find balance & relaxation with Mandalas
Download the Mariposa Peace Mandala
107 Mandalas to download and color
Mandalas for little kids
Animal Mandalas
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Happy 50th Anniversary, Sputnik!

Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age
(Queue the theme from 2001 A Space Odyssey)
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world’s first artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. Read more from NASA…