Author Topic: Homeschooling  (Read 2730 times)

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Offline LadyVirginia

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Homeschooling
« on: February 27, 2012, 08:25:59 PM »
There are a bunch of these types of "posters" circulating right now.  I liked this one.

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Online Pandora

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2012, 08:56:01 PM »
I LIKE it!

And, new category "Educators".   ::whoohoo::
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

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Offline Libertas

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2012, 10:07:31 PM »
Parents teach their kids better than strangers will ever be able to!

 ::thumbsup::
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline LadyVirginia

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2012, 11:08:07 AM »
I LIKE it!

And, new category "Educators".   ::whoohoo::

I'm thinking it's a category that will get a workout
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

CatholicCrusader

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2012, 11:14:12 AM »
I saw a commercial on TV a while back and I have only seen it once so I can't remember the details. There is an online homseschooling thing, which saves a lot on buying books and materials. It also adjusts the educational requirements depending what state you live in. It looked really really slick. I mean, if you can go to college online, why not high school and jr. high school.

Online Pandora

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2012, 12:54:58 PM »
I saw a commercial on TV a while back and I have only seen it once so I can't remember the details. There is an online homseschooling thing, which saves a lot on buying books and materials. It also adjusts the educational requirements depending what state you live in. It looked really really slick. I mean, if you can go to college online, why not high school and jr. high school.

Why not?  Because then you remove the influence of the State on the kiddies, that's why not.  Not to mention the end of the adult jobs program once known as 'schooling the children', the BOEs in every town and county, and the strings the Feds pull their way via "education" grants and "feeding" programs.

Eh, don't mind me; I'm feeling particularly prickly today.
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

CatholicCrusader

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2012, 01:10:21 PM »
I saw a commercial on TV a while back and I have only seen it once so I can't remember the details. There is an online homseschooling thing, which saves a lot on buying books and materials. It also adjusts the educational requirements depending what state you live in. It looked really really slick. I mean, if you can go to college online, why not high school and jr. high school.

Why not?  Because then you remove the influence of the State on the kiddies, that's why not.  Not to mention the end of the adult jobs program once known as 'schooling the children', the BOEs in every town and county, and the strings the Feds pull their way via "education" grants and "feeding" programs.

Eh, don't mind me; I'm feeling particularly prickly today.

I wonder why I only saw the commercial once.  ???

Offline LadyVirginia

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2012, 01:16:32 PM »
There are schools districts "offering" virtual classes to homeschoolers in their areas.  I don't have the details offhand but I do remember it caused quite a discussion among the homeschooling families.  Some parents signed up but there many others who wouldn't go near it with a ten foot pole.
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Offline Weisshaupt

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2012, 01:42:05 PM »
There are schools districts "offering" virtual classes to homeschoolers in their areas.  I don't have the details offhand but I do remember it caused quite a discussion among the homeschooling families.  Some parents signed up but there many others who wouldn't go near it with a ten foot pole.

MichelleO and are I are sending out kids to a virtual charter school 

They use the K12 curriculum which is core knowledge based.  The Dems and the Unions want it shut down of course. The school recently got dinged because they let children of different grades sit in the same room while taking Colorado's standardized tests. Like that makes it easier to cheat or something?  Every grade  has a different test, but they were eager to find any rule borken as an excuse to put the school on probation.

The lawmakers are also making a big deal about the "drop out" rate - the cirriculum is harder than a normal pulbic school, and because of this, kids who couldn't make it in a public and who try COVA, fail out, or don't move ahead as rapidly.  .  COVA is also willing to put a 6th grader into 2nd grade reading if the kid is at 2nd grade level, but then he shows little to "no improvment" on the 6th grade standardized test, even though he may be reading at the 4th grade level by the end of the year. O f course if the students stay with Cova for 2 years or more the success rates get a lot higher, drops out don't occur etc.  But the Dems of course concentrate on the 1st year metrics, because they could care less about the kids, and even less that every single kid in our school is there because a parent decided they would be there. A lot of the kids are special ed too, so they are actually saving School districts money by not requiring them to provide special services and attention.

The school is still "public", so you don't have a bible class or anything, but I have yet to run across anything in the books, reading materials, history lessoons etc that would make my blood boil. If they kill the school, you can  sill purchase the cirriclum directly from K12 ( before we enrolled we actually got the History course and tried it on my son - hell of a lot better than 3 liberal icon  historical figures a year that he was getting in the public school) 



   

CatholicCrusader

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #9 on: February 28, 2012, 01:43:00 PM »
There are schools districts "offering" virtual classes to homeschoolers in their areas.  I don't have the details offhand but I do remember it caused quite a discussion among the homeschooling families.  Some parents signed up but there many others who wouldn't go near it with a ten foot pole.
I am pretty sure what I saw was not from a school district.

Offline Glock32

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2012, 01:59:13 PM »

They use the K12 curriculum which is core knowledge based.  The Dems and the Unions want it shut down of course. The school recently got dinged because they let children of different grades sit in the same room while taking Colorado's standardized tests. Like that makes it easier to cheat or something?  Every grade  has a different test, but they were eager to find any rule borken as an excuse to put the school on probation.

Meanwhile you have public school systems staffed with "professional educators" systematically changing answers on their students' tests so as to keep the numbers right. Again, who GAS about the students, it's about keeping the numbers favorable for the system itself.

This country spends more per capita on primary and secondary education than any country in the world, with the exception of Luxembourg and perhaps a small principality here and there. And what, pray tell, have we to show for all that money? A seismic shift in scientific brilliance? No. Just a completely unsustainable pension package for unionized sinecuristas.
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Offline Libertas

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2012, 02:06:04 PM »

They use the K12 curriculum which is core knowledge based.  The Dems and the Unions want it shut down of course. The school recently got dinged because they let children of different grades sit in the same room while taking Colorado's standardized tests. Like that makes it easier to cheat or something?  Every grade  has a different test, but they were eager to find any rule borken as an excuse to put the school on probation.

Meanwhile you have public school systems staffed with "professional educators" systematically changing answers on their students' tests so as to keep the numbers right. Again, who GAS about the students, it's about keeping the numbers favorable for the system itself.

This country spends more per capita on primary and secondary education than any country in the world, with the exception of Luxembourg and perhaps a small principality here and there. And what, pray tell, have we to show for all that money? A seismic shift in scientific brilliance? No. Just a completely unsustainable pension package for unionized sinecuristas.

And what are we told time and time again?  Yup, more taxpayer money!  We just haven't spent enough!  See how easy "the fix" is?

/

 ::gaah::

Kill the union monopoly or accept continued skyrocketing costs and nose-diving results!
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline LadyVirginia

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #12 on: February 28, 2012, 02:57:56 PM »


MichelleO and are I are sending out kids to a virtual charter school 

They use the K12 curriculum which is core knowledge based.  The Dems and the Unions want it shut down of course. The school recently got dinged because they let children of different grades sit in the same room while taking Colorado's standardized tests. Like that makes it easier to cheat or something?  Every grade  has a different test, but they were eager to find any rule borken as an excuse to put the school on probation.


Interesting.  Glad it works for you.  I know some parents who were concerned that any relationship with their school districts would put them on the "radar" so to speak and they wanted to avoid that.

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Offline Weisshaupt

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #13 on: February 28, 2012, 04:38:01 PM »
Interesting.  Glad it works for you.  I know some parents who were concerned that any relationship with their school districts would put them on the "radar" so to speak and they wanted to avoid that.

We started both Kids in a public school, so I guess it never occured to us we would ever be "off the radar" - however the COVA charter we are involved in is actually run out of a different county and a different school district, so as far as local district is concerned, we "moved"

Its seems to be a good blalance though- my taxpayer dollars (well someone's anyway - not sure how the money is shuffled)  are paying for the School, my kids have assigned teachers, they have to use web-conferencing tools to attend lecture with other COVA students on occasion, and the the cirriculum is laid out for us each day, taking a lot of the planning off of MichelleO- she is still the primary resource for going over the material and making sure the kids complete what they are supposed to do,  and there is a build in "support group" of other parents using the school, so you don't have that "lost in the wilderness" feel that you might have if you were homeschooling on your own.

The bad news is that you are still regulated by the state, you still have to take standaradized tests, and you still have to be vigilant against some lawmaker deciding your kid isn't getting a good enough indoctrination education because parents aren't smart enough to teach grade school.

Offline michelleo

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #14 on: February 28, 2012, 06:54:14 PM »
There are schools districts "offering" virtual classes to homeschoolers in their areas.  I don't have the details offhand but I do remember it caused quite a discussion among the homeschooling families.  Some parents signed up but there many others who wouldn't go near it with a ten foot pole.
I am pretty sure what I saw was not from a school district.

I've seen a few commercials for k12.com, the curriculum we use, although more and more online programs are popping up now.  k12 is a for-profit curriculum developer that was founded by William Bennett and John Holdren, who helped develop the "Core Knowledge Series" that many successful charter schools use. k12 courses are available for sale to homeschoolers et al.  COVA is a charter (virtual) school in Colorado that uses k12 curriculum.  You do not have to be enrolled in a virtual school to use the k12 curriculum.  The curriculum is heavy on classical literature and history, including religious history (and has rigorous math and science coursework as well).  Many of the readings in the primary grades are fables teaching lessons in character (stories influenced heavily by Bill Bennett's Book of Virtues).  The curriculum does not specifically include bible studies, however.

The only minor annoying thing I've run across while teaching the kids is an occasional emphasis on female historical figures. (I'm hypersensitive to political correctness BS.)  For instance, the other day the kids learned about Florence Bascom, the first female geologist, and how she "must have felt."  But at least it's not at the expense of other more notable historical figures, whom they also learn about.

Offline Libertas

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #15 on: February 29, 2012, 11:27:46 AM »
Here's another intrusive idea that can stay north of the border!

Homeschooling families will soon be forbidden from teaching that homosexual sex is sinful as part of their schooling program, according to the government of Alberta, Canada.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/homeschoolers-cant-be-taught-gay-sex-sinful/

 ::gaah::
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline John Florida

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Re: Homeschooling
« Reply #16 on: February 29, 2012, 08:55:01 PM »
  My grandson is coming this weekend and one of the discussions I plan on having is his education.
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