Well, I brand spankin' new to Homeschool Blogger. If it weren't for my totally Wonderful  Sis n' Law being a HomeSchooling mom herself & telling me about this site, I would have never, in a million years, ever considered homeschooling or ever found this site.  I look forward to talking to & getting to know a bunch of the nice Christian homeschooling parents here! Sharing our stories, successes, frustrations, what ever comes to mind or just life in general.

Well better get to my LONG topic/RANT....
"Time for a Change.. God Willing.... A good Change" 
We have decided to take our kids out of the Public School System... At first we were considering Christian School however our $ is usually tight to begin with & we don't want to over extend ourselves.. So we decided that Homeschooling is the way to go.
So in about 4 months & 1 week we will BE FREE!!! of the public school system!! .

There are many reasons why we are taking our kids out of public school. But I'll save ALL the various reasons  for another blog entry.
The thing that finally  made us say we had enough is the cirriculum that they are using! Especially the MATH cirriculum! 
It is sad to say that our "GOVERNMENT RAN, TAX PAYER SUPPORTED Schools of America"  are using cirriculum to "stupify" our kids, instead of making them the smart, productive,  self sufficient adults.... The Future Generation of America!!!

 WE ALL KNOW that Math (weather we love it or hate it) IS A Very Valuable skill we must learn, succeed at, remember & master all through school & carry on into our adult years.   Learning & Being good at math gives ALL OF US the knowledge & knowhow to balance our checkbooks, run a business, do payroll to pay employees, or..  as simple as...  pay our bills, feed our family, buy our home, put gas in our vehicles, get a good job, pay our taxes..........ect.   
Pretty much in some form or another most of us Use Math Everyday!   Calculating things right off the top of our heads without  giving it a 2nd thought.

Well  "Our story"  all started about 1 month ago. My 3rd grade daughter was having ALOT of trouble with her Math homework. She was so frustrated that she was crying... All because she couldn't figure it out. So I went  to help her & see what her homework was.  Well it was addition & subtraction for Example: 34+56 or 65-27... Simple enough, ...
(so I though),  Typically the "traditional math" most of us  learned you'd line up the #s : EXAMPLE:  56 under 34 & add them up... or 27 under 65 & subract. Of course Borrow & Carry when applicable..    
So I took a look at what she had to do & Well it was some weird way of problem solving the worksheet  called "Partial Product Method". It is very LONG, & extremely confusing, & very un-practical.. compared to the Traditional Math  most of us know. I honestly NEVER in my 28 years of living, (& even my husband said in his 32 years of living) NEVER saw math done like this!!!!  So after scratching my head, & getting all irritated, I finally told our daughter, " I am going to show you how to add & subtract the way it is suppose  to be done!!!!!" So I did show her the traditional way of doing these problems. She understood quite well & got the rest of her homework done correctly! Well she was happy about knowing how to solve the problems, Yet, she was still upset saying, " the teacher said we have to do it this way!" She really likes her teacher & she is a wonderful lady!  I understood her concern But I told her, "that if her teacher don't agree with the way you solved your problems.. tell her Mom said, that is how I am suppose to be doing math & Mom told me to do it that way... & If she wanted to talk to me,  to call me or send a note home."  Well I never did recieve a note or call.  Our daughter said that all her teacher told her was for homework this is ok for now... but for test it has to be done using the "partial product method"!!!     SIGH!!!!!!!!
So I assumed that our child was still getting taught the right way of math & that maybe this was some sort of challenge/game way of doing math... I HONESTLY DIDN'T know!!!????

Anyhow.. The VERY VERY VERY....weird part of this is story is...... About 3 weeks later my sis n law sent me this Video from YouTube called "Math Education: An Incovenient Truth." 
( I am going to try to post the video on my page.. But I am new to all this posting videos & pictures & stuff... Soooooo... if it does NOT work I URGE any of you who have friends/family with kids in the pubic school system to find & watch this & pass it on!!!! 

Also F.Y.I. ... I do NOT condone some of the bad stuff that YouTube has on there.. however there is some very cool stuff on there too....  Just gotta be careful what you click on thats all) 

Back to the story: So my husband & I  watched this & we about fell off our chairs!!!!!!! The math that our daughter was learning was the EXACTLY the same as one of the forms of math this lady  mentioned!!!!! (partial products method)
Also, this lady mentioned 2 different books for this "odd, useless Math"  One was "Turk Investigations" & the other was called "Everyday Math".... So I told our daughter to bring her math book home from school the next day.. She did bring it home &  what do ya know, her book is "Everyday Math"
If you watched the video you will recall that...
"The Authors of "Everyday Math" are the ones who feel it is a waste of valuable class time to teach our children pencil to paper math & to just solve problems with a calculator!!!!!!!! "
So in other words... Our Children are NOT worth taking the time to teach the basic skills nessessary to be successful at math?? 
  Thats is how I take it!!!
I don't mean to offend anyone & Sorry If I do......but in my personal opinion.... A calculator is not a teaching tool to make life "easier" for kids! They are nice to find errors  when you think you really messed up somewhere & can't find out where it was...  Like when balancing your checkbook & things just aren't adding up or even just to be safe!!  (overdraft charges are a killer!!!!) .. But to depend on a calculator is just rediculous! 

I know some people out there probably think I am "over reacting" which is their opinion.... However I KNOW that I have Very Intelligent Children & KNOW they can succeed in Math & all other subjects if led in the right direction. I refuse to see my children become "stupified" by the public school system & made dependent on a calculator! When not taught the basic skills to slove problems by using their brains.. they have no choice but to use a calculator!!! Which is sorta the whole idea/reasoning behind "Everyday Math" 

I'm sure most of you would agree that God gave us Brains & made us the most intellegent of his creation, Modeled after himself! Our minds have the power to learn almost anything that we want to...  This is JUST ONE of our reasons for choosing to Homeschool our kids. I hope you can view this video & pass it along. 

GOD BLESS !

Shan