Clipmarks | phatmommy's 'homeschooling' clips

Human Body on Discovery Channel

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:31:31 GMT

clipped by: phatmommy
clipper's remarks: Looking forward to checking this out with my son.

I am officially in love with the Discovery Channel's new series. Discovery Channel's- Human Body premiered tonight. It was the BEST teaching tool I have found for Science in ages. You will love it. My nine year old and I watched the premiere episode tonight and loved it. I can not say enough good things about this new series. It will be known as a must have for teaching the boys in my house.

Tags: homeschooling, science

Find Tons of Info in the EDU Underground

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:34:02 GMT

clipped by: phatmommy
clipper's remarks: Useful info, especially when applied to homeschooling.

Clip Source: lifehacker.com

Little appreciated outside the world of academia, there are literally thousands of .edu sites bursting with incredibly useful and interesting information and resources. Most of these sites won't pop up to the surface of the average search engine quest, and so they wait, neglected and underused...until now.

In addition to all these rich resources, you can mine the web for much, MUCH more simply by using this search string in Google: site:.edu "insert subject here". Just tweak that as needed and you'll be able to find a ton more than I could ever have time to write here.

Tags: education, web search, homeschooling

27 Skills Your Child Needs to Know That She's Not Getting in School

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:07:35 GMT

clipped by: phatmommy
clipper's remarks: Excellent article from Zen Habits!

Clip Source: zenhabits.net

When you got out of high school, did you know everything you needed in order to survive in life, let alone succeed?

That’s a part of life, you might say, learning these lessons. But it’s also possible to prepare your child a bit before they go out on their own, and if we can’t get the schools to teach these skills, then let’s do it ourselves.

What follows is a basic curriculum in life that a child should know before reaching adulthood. There will probably be other skills you can add to this list, but at least it’s a starting point.

Tags: children, education, homeschooling, learning, mommy, parenting, life skills

The Fallacy of Public Schooling

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 03:03:22 GMT

clipped by: phatmommy
clipper's remarks: Read this article!!

Clip Source: www.fee.org

When parents send a child to a tax-funded school, they sacrifice their autonomy to alien interests. The state has goals of its own that are distinct from those of parents. Parents are able to economize by availing themselves of a “free” school, but the bargain is Faustian. The child is subjected to indoctrination outside parental control. The price of tax-funded schooling is that parents give up their children to become instruments of the state.

Instead it is clear whose interests are being advanced. Fifty-four years ago the writer in Young America was moved to emphasize in italics that era’s apparently high tax rates. Since then the average tax burden has doubled. Yet, as one of my acquaintances has commented, “Americans today are in a stupor.” In other words, the tax-supported school system has triumphed. Americans are behaving exactly the way those who govern desire them to behave.

Tags: children, education, freedom, homeschooling, parenting, school

Our Public Schooling System is Antiquated

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 00:43:36 GMT

clipped by: phatmommy

Clip Source: www.steve-olson.com

But why do we need to keep this system? Our current government schooling system causes this problem. It’s designed so 20% rise to the top and the rest fall out to the factory floor. We have an antiquated system designed to supply labor to an industrial economy that doesn’t exist anymore.

Test taking is the most valuable skill you can posses in school

The most valuable skill you can possess is the ability to acquire useful knowledge and apply it to solve real problems. Once you own this skill, you have all the education you’ll ever need.

Tags: education, freedom, homeschooling, learning, school

Super explanation of homeschool socialization...

Fri, 11 May 2007 04:18:42 GMT

clipped by: phatmommy

Clip Source: www.roanoke.com

Yes, I do mean socialization. Far from being a drawback to home schooling, as the myth would have it, socialization is actually one of home schooling's greatest virtues.

Like their public school counterparts, home school students have plenty of opportunities to mingle with their peers. They belong to organizations like Boy Scouts and 4-H. They participate in sports. And many are involved in church youth activities and volunteer work.

But unlike public school students, who spend the greater part of each day almost exclusively in the company of people their own age, home school students, whose days are often spent in the company of people of various ages, are less likely to depend on their peers for validation of their choices and values.

Tags: homeschooling, children, socialization

Schools Smother the Learning Fire

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 12:18:54 GMT

clipped by: phatmommy

Clip Source: whyhomeschool.blogspot.com

People keep trying to tweak public education so it will be better. It isn’t working. I don’t think it will really improve as it is currently structured. After millions, or maybe billions, of man hours invested in trying to fix public schools, maybe it is time to think out of the box and acknowledge that we need something fundamentally different. Maybe it is vouchers, maybe it is charter schools, maybe something else. But public schools haven’t changed their basic nature in a long time. Every year hundreds of thousands of children graduate from high school who are functionally illiterate.

I don’t believe that public schools can nourish a love for learning. By the very nature of forcing children to learn with everyone else, each child’s fire is often being smothered.

Tags: education, homeschooling, school

Socialization?

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 04:58:52 GMT

clipped by: phatmommy
clipper's remarks: This is a great comment to a super post. When people ask homeschoolers about "socialization," they may not realize that school socialization is really indoctrination. Homeschoolers have no problem learning to be sociable (interacting with other people), but they often do not fit the "mold" of good little cogs of the state. This trait may make them seem like misfits. But the issue is not that they are socially inept, it's that they are individuals.

Clip Source: gottsegnet.blogspot.com

All that said, I see a quantum shift approaching in education.. with such easy access to information today, institutional schooling is quietly shifting from government-provided education, to government-sponsored day care with educational activities provided. But if you want to be the best of the best, you'll still need to resource yourself through tutors, family, and para-school activities. If you can't afford those privileges, you're stuck in the big warm safety-net of indoctrination.

Tags: education, freedom, school, homeschooling