W&L Professor's Memoir Offers Insight into Short-Term Homeschooling :: Washington and Lee University

W&L Professor's Memoir Offers Insight into Short-Term Homeschooling :: Washington and Lee University

"As a professor of English at Washington and Lee University, Brodie understood the benefits of sabbaticals and decided that Julia should be homeschooled for one year."

I have not read this book but already I'm having my doubts that Brodie's decision to 'homeschool for one year' was not based on any understanding of what homeschooling is or how children learn.

"But Brodie cautions in her book that, although homeschooling can help a child become more enthusiastic about learning, it can be hard work. "You have to devote an enormous amount of time and attention to the process because most children are not independent learners. They won't carry out a project without a lot of supervision. Julia needed me there as a cheer leader and a drill sergeant every day," she said"

Sounds like Brodie fell into the trap that most schooled parents fall into which is thinking she needed to school at home.

"But Brodie said she lightened up and learned to become more patient. "Happier times came with the arrival of spring," she said."

Happier times will also arrive with a continuation of homeschooling. Did Brodie send her child back into a horrid school system after allowing her daughter to deschool for a year? Anyone? Like I said I have not read this book and I doubt I will. I wouldn't be able to contain my frustration with this professor mom and all her educational baggage.

Ten Things to Take From The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands - Books - Blogcritics

Ten Things to Take From The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands - Books - Blogcritics

This is a great review for a book that I highly recommend to wives everywhere. A strong marriage is essential to a harmonious home (providing you are a two parent home). If you're a single parent home that's okay too, but be the best parent you can be. Homeschooling happens best in a home that is stable, loving and with parent(s) working in harmony. That's just my opinion.

Book Review: Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add by Charles J. Sykes

Homeschoolers Beat The Blob!
(Book Review)

Many of us as homeschoolers, may at one time or another, wonder if we've made the right decision to keep our children out of the confines of the public school. Many of us may wonder if our children will miss opportunities or experiences they might no otherwise have, were it not for the government funded curriculum and programs. If you are having these same doubts, here is a book that is sure to comfort you in your decision to keep your child from the horrendous goings-on in the public schools. The book is Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add by Charles J. Sykes.

Sykes lets us know, in no uncertain terms, that public schools, with their faddish Outcome Based Education (OBE) programs, are not exactly what he would call an education. (There are several other very good books on the market that explain OBE and its effects but none are as detailed as Dumbing Down Our Kids.)

Right Away Sykes says: "America's schools are in deep trouble, not because they lack men and women who care about children, but because they are dominated by an ideology that does not care much about learning. " He goes on to say: "When I first began writing about education in the mid-1980's, I focused on the problems of higher education, in part because I came from an academic family (my father was a professor), and in part because the crisis of the American university--its flight from teaching, the collapse of academic integrity, the rise of political correctness--carried a special urgency."

That sense of urgency is now being felt by parents of elementary and high school students. They are witnessing first hand the effects of outcome based education on their children who are graduating from schools and programs with a new-found sense of self-esteem but can't read, write or do simple calculations. (A trip to just about any checkout counter will verify these young adults lack basic academic skills.)

Sykes throws many facts and figures at us, such as surveys and test results, but his mini-chapters, titled: Scenes from the Front, put a human face on the difficulties many parents have experienced with school administrators and failed educational theories and experiments.

At the end of chapter five, under the title The Mission Statement, Sykes compares a mission statement from 1885 for eighth graders at Jersey City High School to one in 1994 for a small Midwestern district. On the test given to the Jersey City students for enrollment they were asked to: "I. Define Algebra, an algebraic expression, a polynomial. Make a literal trinomial. II. Write a homogeneous quadrinomial of the third degree...III. Find the sum and difference of 3x-4y + 7cd-4xy + 16, and 10ay-3x-8xy + 7cd-13..." and so on.

The Midwestern school district gave 'statements of belief' that included: "We believe everyone has individual needs; responsibility for education belongs to everybody; trust, care and respect are needed for social harmony; everyone has intrinsic worth; change is inevitable; joy and humor enhances the journey of life..." Where are the academics? When do these highly paid 'professionals' get around to teaching our children reading, writing and arithmetic? The answer is, according to Sykes and many others, they don't!

Sykes also tells us that: "Educationists like to point to high graduation rates as as sign of success, when they often mean that the standards have been lowered to the point where no one could possibly fail to meet them. Dropout rates also can be lowered by making school even less demanding than leisure time."

Are our homeschooled children missing anything by not attending public schools? Yes, they're missing affective teaching. They're missing the lowering of academic standards to the point of being illiterate.

Still having doubts about keeping your children out of public school? In chapter thirteen Sykes brings to the surface the sensitive and scary subject of school children being encouraged to tell all on their parents and families in the name of "protective behaviors" curricula, "drug awareness" and "abuse awareness" programs. Our public schools are using group therapy and encounter group techniques. These programs are being implemented by untrained, unskilled teachers who may actually be causing psychological harm to very young children.

Sykes is very thorough in covering all sorts of territory in his book. He delves into learning disabilities, outcome based education, learning styles, the history of education, the reality of educational reform, and where all of this is headed if something isn't done soon to change this out-of-control "blob".

This reviewer very much enjoyed Sykes' sense of humor as he injects little quips about the bloated bureaucracy known as American public schools. As a parent, I found some of his information down right scary but Dumbing Down Our Kids isn't bleak. It's full of ammunition for the soul and for the tug-of-war going on for our childrens' futures. It has steadfastly increased my belief that our public schools are not fit for any man, woman, or child.

Dumbing Down Our Kids was first brought to my attention by the organization Vermont People For Integrity in Education (VT P.I.E.); a group of parents, educators, taxpayers and concerned individuals dedicated to restoring academic integrity to our failing public schools. Dumbing Down Our Kids is a battle cry for VT P.I.E.. They are trying to restore rigorous academic programs in our schools. Programs that have been replaced with touchy-feely 'my self-esteem may be intact but I'm as dumb as a stump' affective education.

This book may actually shock some readers but it will most certainly get their attention. I consider Dumbing Down Our Kids to be one of the top books on the subject of outcome based education and educational reform.

Dumbing Down Our Kids ISBN 0-312-13474-6

Book Review: The Homeschooling Book of Answers: The 88 Most Important Questions Answered by Homeschooling's Most Respected Voices by Linda Dobson

Linda Dobson Has Written The Definitive Book On Homeschooling
(Book Review)

This review is for the revised edition of The Homeschooling Book of Answers: The 88 Most Important Questions Answered by Homeschooling's Most Respected Voices by Linda Dobson. Linda has updated one of her most popular and best seller books that I, as a home education advocate, highly recommend especially to new homeschoolers. My first review of this book still stands: Linda Dobson Has Written The Definitive Book On Homeschooling!

Parents, journalists, legislators, in-laws and homeschoolers across America need look no further for the definitive book on homeschooling. It has finally been written and the author is Linda Dobson, a wise and leading voice in the American homeschooling movement. Within the covers of The Homeschooling Book of Answers (both original and revised editions) Ms. Dobson has brought you the experience and wisdom of 39 of the movers and shakers in this viable alternative opportunity to public schooling. These homeschooling parents and their children share their collective knowledge and lives in this informative book.

This book has lots of personality. This book is an accumulation of 500 years of homeschooling and child rearing experience. This book is a 'keeper', one to be referenced again and again. As a home education advocate The Homeschooling Book of Answers is now the only book I recommend to anyone wanting information on homeschooling. This book is so chocked full of information and resources that readers will be able to use it as a jumping off point in their quest for a top-notch education for their children.

The information in this book also has a redeeming value that will help to heal the wounded American family and give parents back their children that government run public schools are destroying. The Homeschooling Book of Answers will also show parents how the act of homeschooling/schooling at home can lead to a more promising way of educating children--free and independent learning, known to some as 'unschooling', a much healthier and happier way to raise children.

This is an excellent book to give to the in-laws to help them better understand what you are doing with your child's education. If you find a copy of this book or the original one at a book sale BUY IT! It will be the best investment you will ever make!

The Homeschooling Book of Answers ISBN 0-7615-1377-9

The following related books are also highly recommended: The Art of Education by Linda Dobson; Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto; Teach Your Own by John Holt; Dumbing Down Our Kids by Charles J. Sykes; Homeschooling by Samuel L. Blumenfeld; The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn; Outcome Based Education by Peg Luksik and Pamela Hoffecker.

Book Review: Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto

Dumbing Us Down Will Shake You Up!
(Book Review)

Here is a book that should be at the top of your reading list. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto. I strongly recommend you immediately drop everything, pick up a copy of this book and don't put it down again until you have read every last word in it!

John Taylor Gatto has written several publications on the subject of school. He should know, he taught for twenty-six years in the public school system and was chosen New York City's Teacher of the Year for three consecutive years and Teacher of the Year for New York State in 1990. In his biographical note Gatto says: "...slowly I began to realize that the bells and confinement, the crazy sequences, the age-segregation, the lack of privacy, the constant surveillance, and all the rest of the national curriculum of schooling were designed exactly as if someone had set out to prevent children from learning how to think and act, to coax them into addiction and dependent behavior."

Gatto has put his finger on one of the main reasons our public schools are failing us. He knows there is a gargantuan problem with the system, describes it and tells us what needs to be done about it. The only thing he doesn't tell us is there is a name for it. Other authors since Gatto, including Charles J. Sykes, Ron Sunseri and Robert Holland, have put a face on the 'monster'. It's called Outcome Based Education--America 2000--Goals 2000--and it's sucking the life out of our public schools and our children.

Dumbing Us Down is a large type 104 page book that is well worth the $9.95 investment. Gatto hits the nail on the head with this view of schooling. It's a powerful book. It will enlighten, inspire and excite. A good explanation for the violence that is slowly strangling our society.

Dumbing Us Down ISBN 0-86571-231-X