It’s not often we go to Best Buy anymore, but while there last night I saw Ben Stein’s Expelled DVD in the special interest section - a whole week early!
This was in Grand Rapids, though, not sure if all of the Bet Buys have put them out this early. The official release date is 10/21/08.
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TrackbackI just saw an article in WND about a 1st grade class that was bussed to their lesbian teacher’s wedding to participate.
Absolutely amazing. For those of you with kids in the school system, try getting board approval for a field trip to a Catholic wedding, or Catholic Mass, or a 40 Days for Life vigil, and you’ll be condemned for “imposing morality and/or beliefs” on your people.
But stage a big ceremony at city call, pin “Vote no on 8″ buttons on the little tykes, and the school district will shell out for buses to take them to the event.
School administrators, parents, and teachers need to wake up and realize you can’t teach kids in a vacuum. Whoever teaches, will end up sharing their beliefs. When it’s politically correct enough, they’ll get backing from the school administration for it; but don’t go saying that the “religious nuts” are the only ones imposing beliefs on kids.
One more reason to homeschool.
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You’re Origen! I usually don’t do these self-test things, but this one was short, interesting, and rather accurate You do nothing by half-measures. If you’re going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you’re going to teach, you’re going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you’re a guy and you’re going to fight for purity … well, you’d better hide the kitchen shears. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers! |
Comments rss TrackbackThis is one of those situations as a parent that makes a judgment call hard to make.
We’ve recently had difficulty with our second son, age 6, who has taken up to 2 hours to not finish cleaning a room with only a dozen or so items on the floor.
Today, after his religion lessons, he gave us a reason why it takes so long:
“I’m praying when I do my chores.”
Comments rss TrackbackA native of the State, it has been odd to me that in a state where it is illegal to pump your own gas and server eggs sunny side up in restuarants, homeschooling was left pretty much alone.Once in a while, though, some legislator gets the idea that parents being too invovled in their kids schooling is a bad thing.
HSLDA is calling for action now to defeat Assembly Bill 3123 which, on its own, would turn New Jersey from one of the most Homeschool-friendly states to onw of the most restricted:
For decades, homeschooling in New Jersey has thrived, producing astonishingly good results at no taxpayer expense even while public schools serve up one expensive disappointment after another. There is no justification to cripple the most successful form of education in New Jersey with increased regulation. Studies show that children do no better in states with heavy regulatory burdens.
The organizations of the homeschool task force are united in opposing this bill, A. 3123, and are developing a unified response. No benefit, great or small, can possibly compensate for the loss of freedom. The task force opposes this bill in every detail. There is no compromise position. The bill must be defeated.
A. 3123 would do the following:
1. Require an annual notarized letter of intent to register every homeschooled child.
2. Require parents to list objectives in every mandatory subject.
3. Require evidence of immunization.
4. Require proof that the children have received all medical services the law requires.
5. Require a certification that adults in the home have not committed certain crimes.
6. Require 180 days of instruction.
7. Empower the Commissioner of Education to decide what subjects are mandatory.
8. Empower the Commissioner of Education to determine course content “guidelines” starting in kindergarten.
9. Require that parents keep the following records and submit them annually to the school district, and also as often as the superintendent requests, if he has “reason to believe” the student is not getting “an appropriate education”:
* list of reading materials
* writing samples
* worksheets
* workbooks
* creative materials
* standardized testing in grades 3, 5 and 8 (with parents being prohibited from administering the test)
* an annual evaluation by a person other than the parent, after an interview and review of materials. The evaluator must certify the student is receiving an “appropriate education.” The evaluator must be a: (a) licensed psychologist, or (b) certified school psychologist, or (c) New Jersey public or private school teacher, or (d) New Jersey public or private school administrator.10. Empower the superintendent to ask the school board to terminate homeschooling if he believes the records (above) show the homeschool program is “unsatisfactory in providing an adequate education.”
11. “Adequate education” is not defined, so the superintendent and school board have wide latitude to decide what they think it means.
This bill would also give homeschooled students access to public school sports. However, there is no government benefit that homeschoolers want so badly that they would sacrifice their freedoms to procure it.
A. 3123 would turn New Jersey into one of the worst homeschool states in the country. The bill is very similar to Pennsylvania’s homeschool law, which is generally recognized as the second worst in the nation, surpassed only by New York’s. A. 3123, however, includes features that make it even worse than Pennsylvania’s.
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