Two positive studies of homeschooled adults

HOME-SCHOOLING: Socialization not a problem

This article cites a study in the U.S. (funded by HSLDA) and a longitudinal study in Canada.

An excerpt:

The results are a great encouragement to all home-schooling families and to parents thinking about home-schooling. Home-schoolers, typically identified as being high academic achievers, also can make the grade in society.

Both "Homeschooling Grows Up" and "Fifteen Years Later" amply demonstrate home-school graduates are active, involved, productive citizens. Home-school families are leading the way in Canadian and American education, and this new study clearly demonstrates home-school parents are on the right path.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/13/home-schooling-socialization-not-problem/

The father of a six year old changes his mind

Waterpark, Educational Development and A Wake-up Call


It was snowing just about everywhere this week. I know because I watched the weather channel a bit and I could see the snow pile up outside of our hotel. Yes, we had the the good fortune of being snowed in at Kalahari, "America's Largest Indoor Waterpark." We had planned the trip almost six months ago and my focus was to enjoy a week with my bride and best buddy playing in the water. I had no real intention of participating in the "Unschooling" conference that was the reason we got such a good deal on our vacation. I figured that I would interact with a few parents and watch the parade of what I what I assumed would be socially challenged people from afar, but my focus was on my family and fun in the water. Needless to say, the experience was much different than I expected.

I found a group of people who were passionate about their children, who put family first (far beyond their career) and made the time to help their children follow their interests in creative ways. They were not the mere spectators that many parents have become, as they completely outsource educational development to the school system and athletic development to volunteer coaches. I arrived this week halfway thinking this would be the tipping point that convinced Marianne and me to put our son back in school (he attended public school for kindergarten, but he has been spending his first grade year at home), and things did tip, but in the other direction.

Read the rest here: http://seanheritage.blogspot.com/2010/02/waterpark-educational-development-and.html

(and before you comfort yourself with the idea that he's some kind o' hippie, he's a Naval officer; just saying'...)

April 1-4, Ugena, Toledo

FIHOO Festival Internacional de Homeschoolers

First International Festival of Homeschoolers

http://fihoo.org/

Hola,

os invitamos a participar en el FIHOO:

http://fihoo.org/

Fechas: del 1 al 4 de abril de 2010

Lugar: "La Chopera", Ugena, Toledo.

Tarifas distintas según se vaya en cama de albergue, tienda de campaña o casa rural.

En la página web del Fihoo podéis pinchar en la sección de Festival y ver los distintos precios según edades y necesidades.

Si queréis participar con alguna actividad concreta en el festival indicadlo en info@epysteme.org y si los niños preparan alguna actuación o demostración para el show infantil del sábado también.

Para inscripciones: secretaria@epysteme.org

Saludos,

Azucena

Supportive Spouses, and The Mahogany Way

There's a new blog carnival (a collection of links to posts on the same topic) called "Parenting with Support". It appears on the blog http://themahoganyway.blogspot.com, owned by Darcel Harmon, who also has created a ning network, very nicely furnished already, although it's fairly new:

The Mahogany Way
A Place for Mothers of Color to discuss Natural Living

Though Darcel is an unschooler and her blog reflects that, and there are unschoolers on the ning, there will be other parenting philosophies there too.

There's a page of videos, with baby wrapping instructions and other great things:
http://themahoganyway.ning.com/video and that's accessible without joining the site.

Sleep, TV and obesity (probably not what you think)

Abi Fuller sent this:

I found this article from last week's Guardian Family section interesting regarding the tv-watching-equals-obesity myth. You may have seen it but if not here's a link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/23/children-sleep-obesity-nurtureshock

The descriptions in the article about the effect of lack of sleep on children also fit with the differences in energy / enthusiasm I
have observed recently between my son (5 1/2 - who goes to sleep when tired & gets up when he wakes up) and his peers who began school last August. They all seem so tired and their mums have tales of having to peel them out of bed in the morning.

Before any jump to what's in that article (an excerpt from Nurtureshock), I want to say that energy and enthusiasm also have to do with happy anticipation, and not just the number of hours slept. If there's something wonderful going to happen, people can wake up energetic and enthusiastic for it. I don't think there are enough hours in the year for a teenager who is beat down by school, and tired of school, to wake up with energy and enthusiasm for another schoolday.

The article is about lack of sleep contributing to obesity, rather than TV. It's interesting. It's supportive of what unschoolers do. It is NOT supportive of anything it suggests will help, really. The "fixes" mentioned in the article reminded me of a story I can't find now. I thought it was AEsop, but it might be someone else.

A farmer had a garden, and the birds kept getting in. He watched, to see how to keep them out. He noticed that when they entered the garden, they barely skimmed the top of the garden wall. So he added one more row of bricks to the wall to keep them out.

What will help is not starting school half an hour later, or an hour later, or trying to make teenagers go to bed an hour early. Making school really useful and exciting might work, but that's not going to happen.

What helps with all the things mentioned in the article is letting children and teens sleep until they wake up naturally.

Sandra


SandraDodd.com/sleep