I've just spent the past couple of hours continuing my plumbing education - in an unschooling sort of way, of course. Since both of our toilets decided to quit working at the same time, I didn't have much choice. The neighbors like us just fine, but loaning the use of one's toilet on a regular basis would probably strain even the best of neighborly relationships. Had my dear husband been home, he'd have called a plumber, but how much fun is that?
So, one Home Depot trip for toilet guts, a few hours of slopping around in the tanks while trying to decipher cryptic directions, and about $20 later, we're back in business. I tried my best to spark a plumbing interest in my kids, but alas, it appears that both take after their father when it comes to fixing toilets.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Monday, May 10, 2004
Wikipedia on unschooling
I just had occasion to take a look at what Wikipedia has to say about unschooling. Interesting, but it doesn't seem quite there yet. What would you change?
Wiki technology is really intriguing to me. I think it holds lots of potential for collaborative development of resources for homeschooling.
Wiki technology is really intriguing to me. I think it holds lots of potential for collaborative development of resources for homeschooling.
If you repeat it often enough...
Recently, HSLDA has been claiming that 80% of homeschoolers are evangelical Christians, as they do in this article in Insight Magazine. What a load of bunk. Ian Slatter of HSLDA says,
"It's difficult to get exact numbers, but about 80 percent are evangelical Christians and 20 percent are nonreligious."
So, Ian, say we accept for the moment that 20% of homeschoolers are non-religious. What about all the NON-evangelical Christians, and the Muslims, Buddhists, Baha'is, Jews, Unitarians, Pagans, Hindus, etc. that homeschool. You seem to have forgotten about them when you fabricated your statistics.
"It's difficult to get exact numbers, but about 80 percent are evangelical Christians and 20 percent are nonreligious."
So, Ian, say we accept for the moment that 20% of homeschoolers are non-religious. What about all the NON-evangelical Christians, and the Muslims, Buddhists, Baha'is, Jews, Unitarians, Pagans, Hindus, etc. that homeschool. You seem to have forgotten about them when you fabricated your statistics.
Just experimenting
I am LOVING the new blogger! It may take me a while to update my old style template to include the new features I want to use though. So far I've added comments to my posts and put a link list of recent posts in the sidebar - both features I've been wanting.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Really nice article
This one is an overwhelmingly positive piece about homeschoolers in California, with some nice quotes from homeschooled kids, grown-ups, and grown up homeschoolers. It even has a bit of an unschooling bent. Kudos to all those who participated - great job!
This one is an overwhelmingly positive piece about homeschoolers in California, with some nice quotes from homeschooled kids, grown-ups, and grown up homeschoolers. It even has a bit of an unschooling bent. Kudos to all those who participated - great job!
Friday, April 23, 2004
Trying to stay calm
I've spent a substantial part of the day today helping my kids learn lines for a play they're performing in. This isn't just a "made for kids" kind of play. It's Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians." Now, my kids and most of the other cast members have an astonishing ability to memorize quickly, but the director is really pushing the limits of reasonability. They're only three days away from their dress rehearsal, and he hasn't provided them with the last TWENTY pages of cut script yet, nor has he completed blocking the play. This kind of thing drives me up the wall.
Yes, I know, it will soon be done and gone. The kids will probably remember the good performances better than anything else and look back on the experience fondly. They usually do, even when things end up less than perfect. I'm the one who's disappointed. It's great that the kids are taken seriously enough to give them real parts and an interesting play to work with. But for them to put so much time and effort into something only to have the person in charge leave them hanging - well, there's just hardly any excuse good enough to justify that.
I've spent a substantial part of the day today helping my kids learn lines for a play they're performing in. This isn't just a "made for kids" kind of play. It's Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians." Now, my kids and most of the other cast members have an astonishing ability to memorize quickly, but the director is really pushing the limits of reasonability. They're only three days away from their dress rehearsal, and he hasn't provided them with the last TWENTY pages of cut script yet, nor has he completed blocking the play. This kind of thing drives me up the wall.
Yes, I know, it will soon be done and gone. The kids will probably remember the good performances better than anything else and look back on the experience fondly. They usually do, even when things end up less than perfect. I'm the one who's disappointed. It's great that the kids are taken seriously enough to give them real parts and an interesting play to work with. But for them to put so much time and effort into something only to have the person in charge leave them hanging - well, there's just hardly any excuse good enough to justify that.
NHEN
I know I already have it in my list of links, but today I was getting together information to answer some homeschooling questions emailed to me, and looking through the NHEN website, I was reminded of all the incredible work homeschoolers across the country have done to put it together. There's really a lot of valuable information collected on it.
For those of you who don't already know, the National Home Education Network is an inclusive national organization that has a great homeschooling website. NHEN will never tell you what to think or how to vote. It helps keep homeschoolers well networked and informed, and helps reporters and legislators understand how diverse the homeschooling community really is.
I know I already have it in my list of links, but today I was getting together information to answer some homeschooling questions emailed to me, and looking through the NHEN website, I was reminded of all the incredible work homeschoolers across the country have done to put it together. There's really a lot of valuable information collected on it.
For those of you who don't already know, the National Home Education Network is an inclusive national organization that has a great homeschooling website. NHEN will never tell you what to think or how to vote. It helps keep homeschoolers well networked and informed, and helps reporters and legislators understand how diverse the homeschooling community really is.
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