Worst Arguments against Homeschooling article...

I woke up this morning and saw this on my facebook....  

So ...... I wasn't going to read - it was 6am - I was worried about finding the kittens my cat had during the night, but ..... thought...... nope, I'm curious.....  

I love  this article. (<--- link)

I homeschool AND I send my kids to public school.  We are a split family.  I also homeschool the two that are IN public school.  I homeschool Nathan when he's missing a lot of school and I homeschool Kaedyn because he hates being left out when we do homeschooling stuff.  So a lot of the experiments, art, and of course the field trips include ALL the kids.

I have been through the whole bullying thing even through a school shooting IN MY CHILD'S SCHOOL ...  I have been through good teachers and bad teachers.  There are teachers who are absolutely amazing, and some that just down right sucked.

One of the things this guy said in his email was that "it's parent's fault that the teachers fail" ..... um, scuze me?  How about it's the ... governments fault?  Whom ever it is that sets the guild-lines for what every child has to learn in a year.  Because four hours of "homework" is NOT ACCEPTABLE.  Kids learn at different rates, and to expect every child to be a robot and learn at the exact same rate is ridiculous.  Then there are parents like me.  I have four kids.  Four kids in public school added 2 to 4 hours of homework for each one - yeah... that's setting a parent up for failure.  Sitting down at a table and helping each child at the same time for that time period, who has time to cook, clean, bath their children -let alone give them time to play and be a kid.  It's an evening of frustration, arguments, threats, bribes, and that's after the calm talking, trying to explain, etc and so forth resulting in a note on the homework, "I sat here for hours trying to get this done with him/her and I don't even understand it."  Yep, that's a failure on the parents.  All the parents fault.   Another point is - yes, like I already said - I am the parent of four.  Two of which have medical issues which involves going to countless doctors appointments.  I have to have a certain calender just to keep all the appointments straight.  My weeks are pretty much non-stop.  Sometimes - things don't get done because I don't have time.  Sometimes I have to do things on MY schedule - what works best for our family.  I  may not get home one night until 7pm because we had appointments two hours away -and yet, I'm suppose to keep my child up and do two to four hours of homework?  When my child is crabby and unwilling to work because they are tired?  

So yes, lets blame the parents.  The world is a colony of Stepford Wives, we all do what we are told when we are told.  At least, we should.  (for those who don't understand sarcasm, that was sarcastic.)

I don't have an issue with public schools - per say.  Like I said, I have two kids who are in the "system" ..  I like Nathan's school.  I love Kaedyn's teachers.

But I would pull them out to homeschool in a second if things change.

I am satisfied with their education right now.

I was - however - NOT satisfied with Cal or Noah's education both in Wisconsin and here in Washington.

Calahan - went through YEARS of bullying and it was a vicious circle that continued over and over despite my "working with the school" ..  the bullying happened all through grade school.  It would happen, they would be told, something would happen, it would start right back up.... Cal would stop telling me because nothing was happening... when I threatened to call the cops one day because Cal was followed home by another kid who kept telling him he had a screwdriver in his backpack he was going to stab him with and kill him, they begged me not to.  Dad went and spoke to the parents.  That didn't help.  It all kept continuing.  He gets in middle school and they put him in a different "group" of kids so he's not around those kids that bullied him, but what happens?  Those kids talked to other kids and it ends up being the kids in his group start bullying him.  My absolute last straw was when a kid pushed him up against a wall, put his hand around his throat, and yanked off the necklace he was wearing.  ... I called the school and told them that he would not be returning the following week.  I had been calling the counselor for a month prior - several times, no call back, but after that call - you better believe that counselor called me back immediately and tried to talk me into keeping him in school, then started trying to make me feel like a failure for deciding to pull him out.  There was also the phone call I got from one of his teachers when Calahan got up and walked out of class one day because some kids were teasing him and he wanted to punch them, so instead of punching them, he removed himself from the situation like I told him to.  I was proud of him.  They punished him.

Noah I pulled out to homeschool him when I did Calahan in Wisconsin BECAUSE I was homeschooling Cal and Noah got sick so easily from school it was crazy.

When we moved to Washington I gave the kids the choice to homeschool here or try the public school.  They both wanted to try the public school, so they did.

Calahan started getting teased, not even bullied, but the second he felt threatened, he shut down.  He wasn't feeling safe at school - and it was discovered he has PTSD from the bullying.   He also has anxiety.  So I felt the need to get him out of the school experience where he was currently learning nothing because of the PTSD an anxiety factors from the bullying.  He was learning NOTHING.

Noah .... once we got here.... was okay.  But I had begged the schools here to hold him back.  Not to keep pushing him forward into grades where he was not understanding the curriculum.  However, they always told me NO .... it was "more important to keep him with his peers."  Which I did NOT agree with.  Yes, it can be damaging to be held back - however, it can be damaging to also be pushed forward too.  How?

Noah got pulled out from class for special one on one or small group education.  In 4th grade, he had a folder in his desk in his classroom that had work that was at his level...  he would take it out when discussions were going on that he didn't understand.  Group work, the other classmates would write on his papers (after asking him the answers) and do most the work.  They would carry him.

Noah started to come home saying "I'm dumb" ... "I'm stupid" ... "I don't understand what the other kids understand" .... he was being damaged, deep down ... wondering WHY he couldn't do the same work the other kids were.

I had to stop that thinking in it's TRACKS.  No matter what I said, it wasn't helping.

On top of that, he was missing a lot of school due to being sick all the time.  He would catch everything.

This year, Nathan got sick - ALL THE TIME.   He missed more school than he's been in it.  So next year, it maybe that we might have to homeschool him too.

We haven't made that choice yet though.

Teaching State History

Teaching State History: An Outline With Projects

Rusty and Sandy Sieber, PAHistoryBooks.com

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the Fall 2011 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the trade magazine for homeschool families. Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and download the free apps at www.TOSApps.com to read the magazine on your Kindle Fire or Apple or Android devices.

German spies infiltrated the Pennsylvania Railroad during World War II. A Pinkerton detective went undercover as a coal miner to investigate the Molly Maguires in the coal regions of Pennsylvania. Frank Piasecki, who invented the dual-rotor helicopter, first built a helicopter in his garage in Philadelphia and tested it by flying around the surrounding countryside. These are just some of the interesting facts my family uncovered as we explored Pennsylvania state history.

Following are some of the ideas and activities that have emerged out of those years. Although originally designed to teach Pennsylvania history, this plan can be used to study the history of any of the fifty states.
Most children in fourth through eighth grade will be able to read and complete the activities independently. Special needs children and younger children will need more help, including some adjustments to the activities. Older children can use the outline and question prompts to write a research paper or devise their own projects.

Gather together any books about your state that you may already have. Next, go to your public library and see what is available. What you don’t find anywhere else can usually be found on the Internet. A list of some sites that we found helpful is offered in the sidebar.

Introduction
Activity: Make a “learning web” to show what you, the student, already know about your state. (See sidebar.) Save your web so you can add to it when you have completed this state history study.

Origin of the State

1. Thirteen Colonies
Activity: Find a map of the original thirteen colonies of the United States by looking in a U.S. history book or online. Was your state one of them? If so, draw a map of the original thirteen colonies and label your state.

2. Other
Activity: If your state wasn’t one of the original thirteen colonies, how and when did it become a state? Learn about your state by reading a book about it, or read about it online. Write a newspaper article announcing your state’s entry into the Union. Include the date and circumstances.

Symbols

1. State symbols
Activity: Each state legislature has chosen a certain bird, mammal, tree, flower, etc. to represent its state. These can be found online at www.netstate.com. Make a set of flashcards with the general category on one side and specific object on the other. Use the flashcards to learn the state symbols.

2. Coat of Arms
Activity: Find a picture of your state’s coat of arms, draw it, and make a list of the objects included on it. Try to find out the meanings of those objects and why they’re included.

3. Nickname
Activity: Find out the nickname of your state. Why does your state have its particular nickname? Make a banner with your state’s nickname on it.

4. Slogans
Activity: Most states also have a tourist slogan. Investigate how that slogan was chosen. Create your own slogan for your state and be able to explain why you chose it.

Native Americans

1. Tribes
Activity: Find the names of the tribes who lived in your state. Make a booklet about one of the tribes. Label and draw pictures to illustrate a page for each of these topics: food, dress, home, and language.

2. Locations
Activity: Find out specifically where each tribe lived. Draw a simple map of your state. Color the map and label the locations.

Early Settlers

1. European Immigrants
Activity: Find out what brought immigrants to your state. In a book about your state, check the index for names of specific nationalities. Make a chart with the nationalities and the reasons they left their homes to come to your state. An interesting site online is The New York Times Immigration Explorer. You can click on a nationality and move a slide to show its population in your state through the years.

2. Movement From Other States
Activity: Check to see if groups of people moved from another state to your state and find out why. Make another chart that illustrates this information.

3. Personal Family History
Activity: Draw a family tree and include the locations where your ancestors were born. Ask your grandparents and/or use one of the online genealogy sites.

Industry

1. Past Industries
Activity: Make a timeline to show which industries operated at different times in your state’s history. One way to divide the timeline is according to the beginning dates of wars. War usually changed a state’s industries, especially the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the Civil War (1861–1865), World War I (1914–1918), and World War II (1939–1945).

2. Specific Industry
Activity: Pick one of the early industries of your state. Learn more about it. Read a description of one of the processes involved in that industry. For example, the iron industry needed charcoal. If the production of iron was an early industry in your state, read about how the charcoal was produced. Another industry was lumbering. How did the logs reach the cities? Draw a cartoon-type illustration to show one of the processes involved in the industry that you chose.

3. Great Inventors
Activity: Find out if any great inventors lived in your state. Look in your reference books or do an online search for “great inventors from (your state’s name).” Draw a picture of some of their inventions, or take photos of modern tools that have been developed as a result of their inventions. Label each with the inventor’s name.

Major Events

1. Catastrophic Events
Activity: Read first-person accounts of catastrophic events in your state. Fill in a chart for each event to answer who, what, when, where, and how.

2. Other Events
Activity: Each state has a unique history. What unique events took place in your state? If possible, conduct an interview with someone who knows about it. First, make a list of questions to ask. Then, as you interview, take notes or video record. If you have no living resource person, read a firsthand written account from that period and make up a pretend interview with answers that use real facts.

Natural Resources

1. State or National Parks
Activity: Investigate how the state and national parks in your state came to be and how they got their names. Use a website that gives information about the parks. Look for the historical information section.  Design a game based on the information that you find. Write clues about each park and make a path with them on the game board. Prepare and keep nearby a master sheet that lists the answers. Invite a friend or family member to play. Use a die to move. Whoever can identify the park gets to move extra spaces. First one to the end wins!

2. Historic Waterways
Activity: Look for the major rivers in your state and discover which towns or cities are located near them. Look at the history of one of those towns and find out what part the waterway played in the settlement of the area. Many towns have websites that feature accessible historical documents.

Cities

1. Major Cities
Activity: Identify the largest cities by reviewing a population chart. Locate those cities on a map of your state.

2. In-Depth Study
Activity: Investigate a different city from the one you picked during the waterways lesson. Find out when it was founded and why. Research what its major industries used to be. What different groups of people settled in that city? What historical sites are there? Design a poster telling about the history of that city.

Government

1. Capital
Activity: Visit your state’s Capitol building in person or online.

2. Organization
Activity: Find out how your state government is organized politically. Write to one of your state representatives or senators and request information about your state government.

Historical Places and Tourist Sites

1. Tourism
Activity: Visit an online tourist site, or pick up pamphlets about your state’s main attractions in a Welcome Center. Make your own travel brochure, highlighting the most interesting places with hand-drawn pictures and short descriptions.

2. Locations
Activity: Using a road map, circle the locations of the tourist sites that you chose.

Transportation

1. Land Travel
Activity: What were some of the early forms of transportation in your state? Using cereal box cardboard, make a 3-D model of one of them.

2. Water Travel
Activity: What kinds of boats were first used in your state? Look for an interesting story involving water travel. Make up a skit about it.

War Involvement

1. State’s Role
Activity: What battles were fought in your state? What part did your state play in each of the early wars? Look for names of organizations that ministered to victims. Make a timeline listing the information that you found, and include these wars: Revolutionary War (1775–1783), French and Indian War (1756–1763), Civil War (1861–1865), War of 1812 (1812–1815), and the Spanish-American War (1898).

2. Specific People
Activity: Make a list of commanding officers and heroes from your state. Include the hometowns of those war veterans. One place to look is www.homeofheroes.com.

Famous People

1. Presidents
Activity: Were any U.S. Presidents born in your state or did any of them live there at any time? Have their birthplaces or residences become historical sites? Visit them or learn about them online.

2. Industry
Activity: Were any famous industrialists from your state? What industries were they involved in? Some books written about your state will offer this information, or you can type in a search on the Internet for “famous industrialists from (your state’s name).” Create line drawings to represent the industries. Use your line drawings to illustrate the lists of men that you found who are famous for developing that industry. You can post your drawings above the lists, use the drawings to encircle the lists, or use the names of the industrialists as the lines in your designs.

3. Writers, Actors, Musicians, Artists, and Other Famous People
Activity: Make a chart with spaces to list five or six people’s names. Include these headings: name, birthplace, years lived in your state, other places lived, why they’re famous, good character qualities, and favorite facts. Again, some books can provide a list to choose from, or you can do a search on the Internet for “famous people from (your state’s name).”

Conclusion
Activity 1: Remember the web you drew at the beginning of this study? Now add all the things that you have learned.
Activity 2: Pick a person you have learned about during your study of state history and write a monologue for him. Find pictures of clothing from your subject’s time period. In a used clothing store, look for and buy items of clothing that are similar. Dress in these and present your monologue for your friends, relatives, or homeschool support group.

Helpful Websites
www.ancestry.com—genealogy
www.congress.org—state and national government officials
www.50states.com—state nicknames, biographies, admission to statehood
www.homeofheroes.com—military award citations
www.netstate.com—state symbols, seals, maps, flags, history, government, economy, people
The New York  Times Immigration Explorer
www.onegreatfamily.com—genealogy
www.statesymbolsusa.org—state symbols

How to Make a Learning Web
1. Use two pieces of butcher paper taped side by side to create a large area to write on.
2. Write your state’s name in the center
3. Draw webs coming from the center.
4.  Add a subtopic to the end of each web.
5. Continue to add webs to expound the information.

State Science
1. Trees
Activity: Find a book or a website about trees that can be found in your state. Use it to identify the local trees in your neighborhood or park. Learn about products that come from each tree and the history of the tree. Was it originally brought from another country or another state? Make a chart with these headings: common name, scientific name, average height, location in state, products, and history.
2. Flowers
Activity: Make colored drawings of flowers found in your state, or find a list of your state’s flowers and write down which ones you’ve seen. If possible, find out which are indigenous to your state.
3. Animals
Activity: First, make a list of animals common to your state. Then, do a more in-depth study of one of them and write a report about that animal. Include whether that animal always lived in your state or where it originally came from, if possible.

Rusty and Sandy Sieber live near Thompsontown, Pennsylvania, and have always homeschooled their four children. Suzanne and Tad have graduated. Matt will finish this year, but Ben will be their student for a few more years. Sandy holds a M.Ed. and works part-time as a substitute teacher. She has written workbooks for students to use when studying Pennsylvania history. Her website is www.pahistorybooks.com.  
Publication date: October 12, 2012

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