Feb. 23, 2009 - Charter Schools

I've never been pro or con really.  I didn't really think I could speak on the subject...until we tried one.  I had heard the arguments against.  I had even had friends who'd had a fairly bad experience with their own.  Most of the arguments given to me had to do with issues of control.  Many charter schools are very controlling over what subjects you can teach and even when you can teach.  That would be very annoying and completely antithetical to homeschooling. 

In our local area there is a charter school that is not like that.  They promote themselves as a school of parent choice.  For the past few months we have actually been a part of the charter school and have found this to be true.  The only thing we are mandated to participate in is the annual testing.  The school has been of the opinion that the test scores are not very important and have not overly stressed these tests.  I had wondered when we began just how long their opinion of the testing would be able to stand.  No Child Left Behind has constricted the freedom of the public schools to such a point that most in our area have become "teach to the test" schools.

I do have some concerns over the ideas the charter school we are in is planning on implementing next year but that was not my first problem.  My problem has been the amount of money we are given per child.  It bothered me from the very first order I filled out.  I have not spent as much money total in five years of homeschooling as I spent this year.  I bought things I never would have thought to spend money on just because it (the money) was there.  This is a ludicrous reason to spend money.  I have many friends locally who are in this charter school and they don't seem to have a problem with the money.  All I keep thinking is...This is my family's money, this is another family's money.  Is this how I would normally spend my money?  Should I be taking money from another family to homeschool my children? 

The situation has come to a head with The Rainbow Chaser (note new name for The Professor) starting Kindergarten in the fall.  As I contemplated how much money I would have to spend on curriculum next year I began to get a nauseated feeling in my stomach.  What nonsense this is all beginning to seem to me.  We felt that perhaps if we "purchase" computers through the school for the two children who like to do school in this mode we could cut down a bit on the amount of money we would spend.  When I asked our teacher about this we were informed that a typical desktop would cost $800.  I was somewhat caught off-guard as we had just purchased a brand-new, very nice computer for less than $400.  This has only added to my dissatisfaction with the way the money is used in the charter school system.

Whether or not I will become virulently opposed to charter schools as some folks I've known remains to be seen, but for now I can certainly say, I don't really think it is for us.  I am working right now on some lists to present to The Dad to show how we definitely can homeschool without charter school money, or much of our own for that matter.  I have a couple of hang-ups...keeping The Artist in Saxon, which is really working for this one, and The Artist's desire to learn Japanese.  The other children will be solely using curriculum from Ambleside Online so we can get almost everything for free online or at the library.

If you have suggestions as to the Saxon and Japanese I'd love to hear them.  Thanks.

(See other entries about various homeschooling topics here.)

Feb. 18, 2009 - Reason to Homeschool: Quote of the Month

"A Christian parent had once, led by prospects of worldly advancement, placed his son beyond the reach of the public means of grace, and in the midst of manifold temptations. The son was shortly after on a visit to his father; and the parent prayed, in his family worship, that the boy might be preserved, amidst the various perils of his situation. The youth reflected, "Why does my father put me into the devil's mouth—and then pray to God that the devil may not be allowed to swallow me up?" Surely to have occasioned such a reflection from a child, must have been very painful to the parent?

The result of this line of conduct, half-Christian, and half-worldly, is to bring up a race of young people acquainted with the truths of religion, but without any effectual feeling of its power. They are thus in a worse situation than even the more ignorant—since the sound of the gospel can hardly reach the latter without some awakening of the conscience—whereas on the former everything that can be said falls as a mere repetition of what had been fully known for years, but never deeply or effectually felt. "

Found here.

Feb. 16, 2009 - A Quote for Sunday

But He who loved me with an everlasting love--drew me by His loving kindness, showed me the way of peace, and taught me that, while without Him I could do nothing--yet I could do all things through His strength!

~~Legh Richmond~~

Jan. 21, 2009 - Hard Choices

Morning Bell: Where Are the ‘Hard Choices’?

(from Heritage Foundation)

 Just like all his other speeches, President Barack Obama’s inaugural address delivered lofty rhetoric yesterday, but as is often common with Obama, the speech provided more heat than light when it came to tough issues. Seeking to set a tone of accountability, Obama said:

Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. … The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act. … The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.

 The “bold and swift” action Obama is referring to is the currently priced $825 billion economic stimulus package that the House introduced last week. Everybody expects that number will only go up after the Senate introduces their own bill, but let’s crunch the numbers on Obama’s plan as is. If Congress passes an $800 billion, two-year stimulus bill, the deficit in 2009 could stand at $1.31 trillion and could be $1.27 trillion for FY 2010. As a percent of GDP, the FY 2009 deficit will be 9.2% of GDP, and the FY 2010 will be 8.7% of GDP. Moving to the total obligations of the federal government, if the stimulus passes our national debt will be $13 trillion in FY 2009 (92% of GDP) and $14 trillion in FY 2010 (95% of GDP). Obama seems to believe that deficit spending will expand the economy. If that were true, then the current $1.2 trillion deficit — the largest in history — would already be rescuing the economy. It’s obviously not. So why would $800 billion more of the same suddenly end the recession? How is borrowing and spending money at faster rates a change from our past “collective failure”? It is not.

Worse, there simply is no evidence that massive government spending will work. What the evidence does show is that Japan’s massive infrastructure spending in the 1990s did nothing to help their economy and that studies on infrastructure spending in our country show it does next to nothing in terms of net job creation. And even if infrastructure spending could result in net job creation, it will come too late. The Congressional Budget Office recently released a study showing that only about $136 billion of the $355 billion that House leaders want to allocate to infrastructure and other so-called discretionary programs would be spent by 2010, long after the CBO and most economists predict the recession will have ended.

Obama’s deficit spending stimulus is the exact opposite of making “hard choices.”As Politico points out today, while “Obama frequently talks of the need to transcend partisanship … In fact, there are few examples of him making decisions during the campaign or the transition that offended his own party’s constituencies.” If Obama were really interested in ushering in an age of what works, he could suspend the Davis-Bacon “prevailing wage” rules for all infrastructure stimulus spending. A 2008 study by Suffolk University and the Beacon Hill Institute found that Department of Labor estimates for the “prevailing wage” in cities are about 22% above the actual wages paid in these cities and that taxpayers could save almost 10% in federal building costs if they were suspended. If Obama spends $400 billion on infrastructure, he could save taxpayers $40 billion. But the unions that Obama is beholden to would never allow this.

Our country is facing tough economic times, but they are no worse than Ronald Reagan faced in 1982. Reagan did make some unpopular choices, but those choices set the stage for 20 years of economic growth. We sincerely hope Obama chooses a similar path.

Jan. 21, 2009 - In light of yesterday's events...

I received this from Grace Gems  this morning.  Remember that we must pray for our new President.  The most important thing to us as Christians is not that we think he's going to turn our country more and more toward Socialism, tax us to death, and take away more of our freedoms, it's that he and his family are not saved (don't know how you can be saved and be for all the things the Bible is against).  This should bother us more than our political differences with the man.

We shall be sure to find something to annoy us!

(John MacDuff, "The Christian's Pathway" 1858)

"But godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6

The believer is frequently exhorted to cultivate contentment, and there are many considerations by which the duty may be enforced.

One thing is very evident--that there is no condition in the present world, which is free from trouble! Let us pitch our tent wherever we may--we shall be sure to find something to annoy us! And if there is no situation without some inconvenience--had we not better make up our minds to be satisfied with that condition in which we are now placed?

We are too much in the habit of judging by outward appearances. But things are often very different in reality--to what they appear to be.

If we judge according to appearance, we shall be led to regard the most prosperous--as the happiest individuals. But we are assured by universal experience--that to be great is one thing, and that to be truly happy is altogether another thing! Under the glittering robes of the proudest nobilities--there are hearts pierced with anguish, and wrung with grief! In splendid palaces--there are many broken hearts to be found. To sit upon thrones may seem to be something very fascinating; but, "uneasy lies the head--which wears a crown!" This is a truth which receives fresh confirmation, from every passing year.

Let us not then, regard those who occupy the high places of the earth, with feelings of envy. Instead of envying them --it befits us rather to pity them and pray for them!

Reader, learn to distinguish between things that differ; and be well assured that things as they appear outwardly, and as they really are--do often differ, and that very substantially! Such knowledge will tend, under God's blessing--to make you more contented with your present lot, notwithstanding its trials and privations.

It is not unusual--to be exposed to things which are grievous and hard to be borne. This is not some strange thing which is happening to us alone. Let us lay aside, therefore, all murmurings and complainings--and ever remember that God's arrangements are the wisest and the best!

Jan. 16, 2009 - More HS Encouragement

"Was it possible I had been hired not to enlarge children's power, but to diminish it?  That seemed crazy on the face of it, but slowly I began to realize that the bells and confinement, the crazy sequences, the age-segregation, the lack of privacy, the constant surveillance, and all the rest of the national curriculum of schooling were designed exactly as if someone had set out to prevent children from learning how to think and act, to coax them into addiction and dependent behavior."

John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

This really resonated after reading the story about the girl who was arrested in ID.  Is it only homeschoolers who get that the rule of no cow hoodies in the classroom is a ridiculous waste of rules?  But we must control the children.  If one child wants to be unique from the others, that might throw a wrench into the works.  Kids might all want to be individuals with their own ideas and preferences.

Jan. 15, 2009 - Name Change

OK, I've been contemplating a name change for The Professor.  I really want to change it to Rainbow Brite.  The kid doesn't exactly look like RB and the show was way after my time (I'm an old Baby Mama) so I have no idea if the personality is the same.  It's just that the name, when I heard it, seemed to fit.  So since I'm on the fence, I'm going to post a poll:

Jan. 15, 2009 - A Kinder, Gentler IRS

That's what we should expect under President Obama if yesterday's comments were any indication of how the new administration & it's potential Treasury Sec. view the "innocent" mistake of not paying appropriate taxes for a few years.

QUESTION: Sir, just a quick question, going back to Capitol Hill: Are you concerned that Timothy Geithner's taxes mishap will affect his chances of confirmation and, if he is confirmed, will affect his credibility?

OBAMA: No. Tim Geithner when I nominate him was right -- rightly lauded by people from both sides of the aisle, from the market, from labor as somebody who is uniquely qualified to deal with, as what Lindsey described properly as the biggest crisis that we've had since the Great Depression.

You know, look, is this an embarrassment for him? Yes. He said so himself. But it was an innocent mistake. It is a mistake that is commonly made for people who are working internationally or for international institutions. It has been corrected. He paid penalties.

And as I have said before, if my criteria, whether it was for Cabinet secretary or vice presidents or presidents or reporters was that you'd never made a mistake in your life, none of us would be employed. (Let's just forget the fact that if he had been an actual employee of the IRS, he'd be in the unemployment line right now.)

So my expectation is that Tim Geithner will be confirmed. And my expectation is, is that he is going to do an outstanding job on part -- on part of the -- on behalf of the American people.

Keep that on file when the IRS comes knocking at your door for $34 in back taxes from the last few years.  I mean, if they are willing to say $34K was an "honest mistake," what's $34?  Certainly not the criminal treatment normal people get for such circumstances.