Christian Living

This isn’t just a topic for homeschoolers, but because many homeschoolers oppose mandatory standardized testing for their children, I’m putting it here.

Bro. Charlie says, “…Through the process of teaching standardized test prep courses, I have gone from believing that they are nearly arbitrary assessments to realizing that they are indeed the a phenomenal resource for assessing learning, second only to a personal interview with a tutor.”

CNSNews and other sources ar reporting that homeschoolers scored above the national average on the ACT.

Jay Mathews, Education Columnist for the Washington Post, recently wrote an article based loosely on the book Write These Laws On Your Children: Inside the World of Conservative Christian Homeschooling by Robert Kunzman. Mr. Kunzman is “an associate professor at the Indiana University School of Education and a former high school teacher, coach and administrator.

I could have put this thread in a couple of places, but since this is something I see frequently as a marketing tool to homeschoolers, I’m putting it here. I’ve seen descriptions and comments about education where it is implied or encouraged that one ‘fool’ their kids into learning. For instance, buying books and telling kids that these are your books, in order to tempt them into reading…stuff like that. I want to make learning fun and challenge my kids, but I don’t get the idea that it’s ok to ‘trick’ them in order to inspire them to learn.

I was reading this blog post at girltalk this morning, and realized that I go through these spells of not wanting to have anyone in my home for many of the reasons listed. It isn’t so much that I care about the house being in disarray- I joke around about my home decor theme being Rustic Library- but when life is hectic and the budget is tight, I crave peace and quiet, and my tightwad self just doesn’t want to splurge on extra food and desserts.

Greg Landry M.S. posted some general observations about home educated students from his years teaching in college.

Excerpt:

• Before prohibition, many of the saloons were owned by the various breweries. Think of the English model of pub ownership.
• In many jurisdictions, there was no minimum age for the purchase of alcohol.