HS Comments on the Fly

Jeanette Symons and her homeschooled son died in a plane crash Friday. She was piloting the plane. Her daughter was not on the plane. Jeanette was the CEO of Industrious Kid and founder of Imbee, a free social network for kids.

A positive article from what looks like North Dakota was published yesterday. An excerpt for your reading pleasure:

Kenan, 8, takes a break from the piano to whoosh down the second-floor stairs on a cardboard-and-comforter sled.

Ah … doesn’t that bring back fond memories of stairs sledding in your own home?

The Lucas family is slated to appear on Extreme Home Makeover sometime in February or March. They are a military family, with the father deployed in Iraq with the Virginia National Guard. They brought him home for the event.

An interesting tidbit is that the local homeschooling co-op nominated the family for the show.

Read more.

J.K. Rowling, a Time magazine runner-up for Person of the Year 2007, reveals that wizards are usually homeschooled before entering Hogwarts.

6. Where do wizard children go to school before Hogwarts?
Most are homeschooled, because they aren’t really able to control their powers so it would be too dangerous to let them out and about.

So, does she think that all homeschoolers keep their children from being “out and about” or only those who are teaching wizard children? Wouldn’t you think that the parents would figure out a way to get their little wizard children out and about rather than keeping them at home all the time? Isn’t it only muggles who keep their charges under the stairs the way Harry Potter was?

Of course, it doesn’t really matter what she thinks in the grand scheme of things. It’s patently obvious that homeschoolers — wizards or not — are “out and about” at various times throughout the week. And homeschooling is a lot less confining than a boarding school.

Format: Title - One compelling sentence quoted from article.

The Ron Paul Conundrum - The whole point is that everyone gets to let their own indvidual [sic] freak flag fly no matter what they believe.

Major Talent - “The last time I didn’t pay attention to my wife,” he said, “I got struck by lightning.

To Be or Not to Be in the Classroom? - On her first day of writing, Hannah’s goal was to complete 100 words — not bad for any aspiring novelist, let alone one who’s only 6.

The Legend of Will Smith - “Every problem Jada and I have ever had, we found the answer in a book.”

Bowman Academy Returns Trophy, Teacher Resigns - While SCISA does allow substitutions at matches, Davis’ son is home schooled and not eligible to play, Watt said.

Teen Steps Up to the Plate as Thanksgiving Volunteer - As project coordinator, the home-schooled [13 yo] eighth-grader solicited and collected food donations and organized volunteers during the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

Booklover’s Reading Passion Benefits Festival - The Armstrong children excel in several areas, and Caron Armstrong said that Catie, 11, and Josie, 8, decided that they wanted to do math one evening at 10 p.m.

Children’s Book Outrages Parents - Two couples claimed it violated their civil rights, but a federal judge dismissed the case, saying the couples have the right to send their children to private schools or home-school them, according to The Boston Globe.

Now on You Tube (lower article) - … the Allens will be traveling to Baltimore in January with the Violin Virtuosi for performances at the Peabody Conservatory and downtown Baltimore.

When Melanie Krumrey’s son Cooper developed migraines and stomach aches, she never knew it would lead to her becoming an author of a book for children. But her book was published just two months ago in September 2007.

Cooper endured many tests on the road to diagnosis, including blood tests, an MRI, and an endoscopy. When they finally discovered that he had Celiac disease (sometimes called gluten intolerance), they had to change Cooper’s diet and remove wheat, barely, and rye, which made it impossible for Cooper to eat his favorite food … bagels. Hence, the title of the book, Bagels, Buddy & Me.

From the article:

People with the disease can’t eat anything with wheat, barley and rye. Oats can be off limits, too, since they can processed with wheat. Soy sauce also has wheat in it.

How does a mother feed a family with such dietary restrictions? “You can learn to can adapt almost anything. There is rice flour, potato starch, soy flour … there are lots of options. … I can get pizza, shells, cake mix,” she said.

“We have muffins every Monday morning,” she said, pointing to the plate of gluten-free muffins on the counter. Krumrey said the field “is exploding. There has been quite a difference in three years and in the number of products.”

Melanie even figured out a way to make gluten free bagels for Cooper.

As homeschoolers, they visited the library often. While there, they searched for a children’s book that would easily explain what it’s like to live with Celiac disease. They couldn’t find one. Eventually, after a few years, Melanie Krumrey wrote her own. A book like this is necessary as gluten intolerance becomes more and more prevalent. It seems that 1% of the population is gluten intolerant, but I hear plenty of folks don’t even realize they have it.

Anyway, come to find out, along with Cooper, Melanie and her two other children also have Celiac disease. Sources claim that it’s genetic, but that doesn’t explain why their dog Buddy is also gluten intolerant.

Sometimes it’s spelled Coeliac disease, which I found at at Wikipedia, where I also found out that the Roman Catholic Church used to restrict men with Celiac disease from becoming priests because they couldn’t take the bread portion of the “bread and wine” and substituting a non-wheat wafer wasn’t an option.

Source: Amherst Bulletin and H/T to blog reader Izzy.

More Info: Melanie’s book web site and Celiac Disease Foundation and Celiac.com

I heard a while back that the Edwards were going to be homeschooling this year. It was on the news and I got the impression that it was partially because Elizabeth had a lot of doctors appointments, etc., along with the campaigning. But I could be wrong.

So anyway, Christine Escobar interviewed Elizabeth Edwards about homeschooling at the Edwards’ house and it doesn’t sound like homeschooling to me. But maybe I’m splitting hairs.

The Edwards kids are being taught at home by a certified teacher in a special classroom with the public school curriculum materials from their assigned teachers at the public school that the two children are enrolled in. So it is technically schooling that is happening in the home instead of the classroom at the public school. It’s homeschooling because it happens at home, right? But it probably wouldn’t be considered homeschooling if you looked at the homeschooling law. The Edwards’ type of homeschooling is actually public schooling that happens at home. I wish there was a better way to describe it because it seems like any education that happens at home is called homeschooling and it confuses the issue.

Elizabeth says:

Frankly, I think because [the children] are getting a much more intense experience, they’re actually sort of going through the material more quickly than the class itself is.

Are we seasoned homeschooling mothers and fathers surprised by this?

Elizabeth says:

I am going to put my children back into public schools. We’re believers in public schools.

So the Edwards believe in public schools. Yeah, me, too. I believe in public schools. I’ve seen ‘em and touched ‘em, too. Public schools are real. (Okay, so I don’t like it when people use the word believe in that way. Seems like a silly way to say, “We support public schools.”)

When Elizabeth was asked about John Edwards’ plan for access to Universal Preschool at age four, all I could think of was Sparta, which I learned about at public school, strangely enough — at least Sparta let the children stay home with their family until at least six or seven.

Elizabeth Edwards was asked if homeschooling was a good thing for our country. Her answer was:

[Blah, blah, blah….] Some homeschooling experiences being truly spectacular and some that are considerably less so.

I think she pretty much said very little when she answered the question — as in lack of substance. Or maybe she said that homeschooling is good for our country only when it’s truly spectacular. If that’s the case, then we’re in trouble. Maybe your homeschool is truly spectacular, but there is nothing truly spectacular about our homeschool. And frankly, I don’t remember anything that was truly spectacular about the public schools I attended. And if everything in education was truly spectacular, then that would end up making it all just average. (Like the “awesome” discussion on Chuck.)

So, while Dave over at Political Machine thinks that Elizabeth Edwards is an ally of homeschoolers and that the NEA doesn’t like what she’s doing, I don’t get that at all out of this interview. Not at all. The Edwards children are being taught this whole year by a certified teacher, and they’re going back to the classroom next year. I don’t see any support for homeschooling by her. None. And that’s okay by me.

I usually stick all this type of info over on my Baloney page. However, this is just so amazing that I had to post it here for you, my regular lone reader.

The Blog Readability Test lets readers know the level of education required to read this online journal. So I guess a lot of 3rd graders are in luck! Result!

And who would have thunk it? Not me. I also checked and it seems that my online homeschooling journal garners a G rating.I checked on this Critic’s Rant web site that is running this little readability test — you know, just to see if it’s on the up and up — and the good news is that it is! After all, who could doubt the credibility of a web site that likes Chuck?

H/T Notes From A Homeschooling Mom

Homeschooling mom Mary Leggewie, who has been running HomeschoolChristian.com since 1998, is very ill. Here is the link to her bio and another link to the most recent update on her condition. I believe the “evacuation” comment is about the recent California fires.

UPDATE: It appears that for now updates on her condition are being posted on the Fellowship Board at her site.

UPDATE from Fellowship Board mentioned above: In the past 18 days Mary has been kept alive by machines and powerful drugs. She has been alert and, once told about the full scope of her situation, was able to make her own decision. She has made the decision to sign her own ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ order, and she will be going to be with the Lord in a short time. (from a post by Martha)

K12 Inc. has “acquired” Power-Glide. Well, that’s interesting. (source)

Do you remember back when Power-Glide first hit the homeschool market. What was it? Around 1995? Maybe it was before that, but I remember it around ‘95. In fact, we bought the French version.

Do you know what I learned with that purchase? Not French, sadly enough.

I learned: Don’t buy anything just because a reviewer in a catalog LOVES the program before she’s even used it.

I bet you can see all the warning signs, huh?

Warning sign #1: Reviewer in a catalog. Who’s the reviewer working for? So the reviewer is actually a salesperson, huh?

Warning sign #2: The product is new. Results so far = none.

Warning sign #3: The reviewer hasn’t used it beyond a couple of lessons. Again, results = none.

Anyway, I tried and tired to get Power-Glide to work for me — yeah, just me — but I never could. I worked on it alone after the kids had gone to bed, but I finally had to give up. I don’t think it included enough practice … at least not enough for me. I’m glad I tried it on me before trying it on the kids.

CBD sells Power-Glide, but I don’t recommend it.

Here’s the link to an article about a family who uses The Well-Trained Mind in their homeschool.

The article discusses how the Shatsky family homeschools, but then gives some information based on a 23-family survey completed by 27% of the homeschool families in Lake Oswego. The survey is part of the Lake Oswego School District’s new marketing plan.

Canadian think tank, The Fraser Institute, recently released a report on homeschooling and it’s making a little bit of news. (Article 1, Article 2).

A few of the findings (paraphrased by me):

• Homeschooled students do well even when parents’ educational levels are low.
• Homeschooled students are not isolated social misfits.
• Homeschooling costs less than classroom schooling.

Here’s quote from the actual news release :

Hepburn said evidence clearly demonstrates that home education may help reduce the negative effects of some background factors that many educators believe affects a child’s ability to learn, such as low family income, low parental educational attainment, parents not having formal training as teachers, race or ethnicity of the student, gender of the student, not having a computer in the home, and infrequent usage of public libraries.

“The research shows that the level of education of a child’s parents, gender of the child, and income of family has less to do with a child’s academic achievement than it does in public schools.”

I think this is fairly critical. It sounds like homeschooling sort of “levels the playing field” for those whose socio-economic standing isn’t considered ideal.

In public schools, a student’s income level seems to play a role in how well a student performs academically. Yet this study shows that income isn’t a factor in homeschooling. Why might that be? Do you think the public school teacher inadvertently gives the better dressed students higher grades? Or does she teach the better dressed students with more vigor? Maybe she just ignores the students in high-water pants a little bit, but still enough to make a difference in what the student learns.

While public school teachers are surely trying to be impartial, they are human and prone to forms of prejudice just like everyone else. Has there ever been a study done on public school teachers’ prejudices and the effect on student outcomes? One thing’s for sure, a homeschooling parent is not going to be prejudiced by the income level of their own students. That might explain why “… income of [homeschooling] family has less to do with a child’s academic achievement than it does in public schools.”

Maybe there’s some other explanation for this “leveling of the playing field” effect. Any ideas?