Home-SCHOOLING
"Tyler G. Nally" (tnally@csci.csc.com)
Wed, 27 Sep 1995 05:18:39 -0500
RMasoner spake thusly:
* Some of the anecdotal accounts I've heard seem to be that home-
* schooled kids are somehow "backwards," but my own observation
* shows this isn't always the case (again anecdotal).
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\ Soapbox Time for Bro. Tyler \ /
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Yup! As a *former* home-educator (for the last two years while my
oldest daughter was in 1st and 2nd grades and yougest daughter was
pre-schooled for one year) all we ever heard from people that had
never heard about home-schooling was negative comments. Such-and-such
had this happen to them and *they* home-school. And this-and-that
is what always happens when you home-school. Bunk!
In the state of Illinois, there's only two requirements for
home-schooling (as guided by the Illinois Board of Education):
1) all students must be given the opportunity to attend 176 days of school
(anotherwords keep attendence, you can still have sick days)
2) the same branches of education be taught in the private-non-public
school as taught in the same age and grade-level in the public
school system. And the curriculum is taught and printed in the
english language.
People don't understand how even one or two hours of schooling a day
is all a kid needs to get a *outstanding* education in comparison to
the public school system.
When we yanked our oldest from the PSS (public school system) after they
failed to educate her in a manner that would benefit her the most, we had
the awesome task of catching her up to her contemporaries that had a year
of "learning" (which included *learning to read*) while she was in PSS
Kindergarten. (Prior to that she had two years of a local private
Christ based pre-school) Any the PSS officials were happy to sit on their
rear-ends and get everyone else in the class caught up to Elisabeth while
they just didn't learn Elisabeth anything during that whole school year.
A complete and total waste. So we (me and Sis. Nally) had the task of
playing *catchup* for the next two years so she would be behind.
Turns out over the last two years, we (Elisabeth too!) did very admirably.
My sister (a local attourney) had a *dream* of some kind in mid- to late-
July of this year. This *dream* instructed her to pay for the schooling
of our kids at the local Christ based school (Judah Christian). We
definitely couldn't afford it. It would be nearly $4K per year and us'ns
just ain't got that kinda cash. So she has offered to pay the for the
kids education as long as we keep them in Judah.
When Elisabeth was tested (to see what grade she would enter - remember
she had 1st and 2nd grades at home) we found out that she reads at a
6th grade level (wow! wow! (probably better than me)), math of a 3.5
grader, spelling was reeeeaaaaallllyyy low (which they kinda expected
her (or anybody taking the test at the end of the summer) to get a low
grade anyway in spelling because there's no way you can study for such
a test when normally the spelling wordlist is given out at the beginning
of the week and you study all week long the words therein) and seems
to me they tested her for something else but I'm not able to recall what
it was at that time.
To make a potentially long story short, they let her in 3rd grade! What
an accomplishment for home-schooling her the last two years for one, two,
or three hours a school day.
Typically, private school is a full year ahead of PSS curricula. So, when
you think of the gap of knowledge we had to overcome, we feel real good
about it.
My folks couldn't hardly believe how we pulled it off. After all, every
body goes to the PSS. Tax dollars go there. Your kids should go there.
I said all of that to say this: I get real tired of hearing the people
that are unlearned about home-schooling putting it down. I was smack
dab in the middle of it. When I attended my first curriculum fair, it
was obvious that the content of home-school curricula could easily
*exceed* that of my own education being a product of the Champaign
Illinois District Unit 4 PSS that graduated with National Honor Society
Honors.
* Public schools encourage mediocrity and conformity. It is, by
* explicit design, an instrument of the state to indoctrinate
* children. Indoctrination is not inherently bad, but parents
* must make sure that the doctrine being taught is *good*.
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
( A Hundred Amen's! )
And especially with *Goals 2000* right around the corner, all parents
have got to be especially *watchful* that their kids aren't snared by
the PSS in a way that they aren't particularly keen to.
Goals 2000 is "Outcome Based Education". Where the educators decide
what everybody is to learn. How everybody works together as a team.
How everybody gets along. How more emphasis is placed on "group"
participation instead of "individual" excellence. Questions asked
might be with the intent to get students to *parrot* the teach with
the right answer prompting them to say and do as they are told instead
of doing what is correct.
Goals 2000 will have a problem with Christian Educators and Home-Schoolers
because they produce a much more free-thinking problem-solving student
then the PSS does. So, look out for off-shoots of Goals 2000 like PAT-2000
(Parents and Teachers 2000) where they automatically enlist parents that
meat certain requirements (which is an absolutely huge list) that will
most definitely cause all US parents to have their kids under the control
of the US government.
It sounds really "peachy" but this is what Goals-2000 states:
The National Education Goals
By the year 2000:
1. Every child will start school ready to learn.
2. The high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent.
3. American students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated
competency over challenging subject matter including english,
mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government,
economics, art, history, and geography; and every school in America
will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well, so they
may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and
productive employment in our nation's modern economy.
4. The nation's teaching force will have access to programs for the
continued improvement of their professional skills and the opportunity
to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to instruct and prepare
all American students for the next century.
5. U.S. students will be first in the world in science and mathematics
achievement.
6. Every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge
and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise
the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
7. Every school in the United States will be free of drugs, violence,
and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol and will offer
a disciplined environment conducive to learning.
8. Every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental
involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional,
and academic growth of children.
A pretty decent description of what Outcome Based Education is all about
is at http://www.fyi.net/~anita (a MUST read):
New assessments will measure politically correct attitudes, not
knowledge. World Class Standards will create the child of the future
remediated through universal health care coverage... paid for by
medicaid, with pure social engineering called 'mental health
wrap-around-services'. New curricula called anger management, conflict
resolution, decision making, coping, self-esteem, and stress classes
will begin to fill your child's day. Validated software to meet
government values boasts 'no risk of failure' for computers to direct
correct response in values clarification situations. Recycling minds,
diagnosing mental disorders for normal children, and electronic billing
on a metered basis for monitoring individual children becomes BIG
BUSINESS in America's heartland... the place we have always trusted...
our neighborhood school.
Up in Gibson City, IL where I live, there's already a NewAge curriculum
in place. Over in Mahomet, IL (just a few miles to the west of Champaign)
there's probably one of the most agressive "Progressive" school districts
in the area that has been practicing this kind of thing for quite some time.
I could go on and on.....but I choose not.
Disengage Soapbox No. 1............... "Soapbox Disengaged Captain!"
Bro. Tyler
. Tyler Nally
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