Empty Nesting
I’m letting go, about to watch my beautiful baby bird fly. In less than a month she will be eighteen, which marks nearly nineteen years of … Continue reading Empty Nesting
Tag: education
Changing the Public School “Collective”
I took a trip down memory lane today, all the way back to 1994. As part of my studies to become an elementary teacher, I was required to observe classrooms and keep a journal of my findings. I’m intrigued to examine how I felt about teaching then, in the thick of preparation to enter the public school system, to how I feel now, in the thick of preparation to encourage parents to consider homeschooling. Many of my observations were about the underlying systems in place. I drew diagrams like this one of the seating arrangements. I made note of busywork … Continue reading Changing the Public School “Collective”
Flunking the Future?
Arugh! I wrote a post about education, but somehow it got lost in cyberspace. Because it is after 11pm, and because my eyes are getting fuzzy, I will have to make do with the quick and dirty version. Public Schools Flunk Out. Only 34% of ninth graders who took the new STAAR test passed English 1 Writing and Reading. Our students deserve better. Public schools ought to take a page from homeschoolers and try other curriculum, such as Institute for Excellence in Writing. My daughter began using IEW in the second semester of her 4th grade year. Here is my … Continue reading Flunking the Future?
From institutions of learning to daycare
Four hundred eighth graders in Dallas returned to school over their summer break this week to retake the math portion of the TAKS test. Apparently the state was concerned because too many of the students received a “commended” score. This is another example of a world where up is down and down is up. Too many students do well on a test, and the administration automatically assumes cheating was somehow involved. Only this time, they didn’t implicate the students in the cheating. Well, who else? Did the teachers stay behind and secretly change answers on the answer sheets? Most of … Continue reading From institutions of learning to daycare
Merry Winter, Everyone!
Classrooms in public schools all over the nation are hosting parties today in celebration of Christ’s birth. Uh, make that in celebration of Winter. First they changed the name of the parties from “Christmas Party” to “Holiday Party” because the school boards were afraid of getting slapped with lawsuits crying out that the (nonexistent) separation-of-church-and-state clause had been violated. Now it seems that even the word “Holiday” smacks of too much religion, and schools everywhere have once again capitulated to the lawsuit bringers and are calling it Winter Break. This is one of the main reasons my own child is … Continue reading Merry Winter, Everyone!
EverFaith 