Archive for September, 2006
Power for the sake of what?
MySA.com: Metro | State: AUSTIN — Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Monday refused to expand the State Board of Education’s authority over textbook content beyond what the Legislature authorized in a 1995 law.Social conservatives on the board had asked him to overrule a 10-year-old opinion interpreting that law. In his new ruling, Abbott did [...]
Keeping Textbooks Safe from Students
I know that text book quality is often lacking but I don’t think this is the solution: El Paso Times – Principal reassigned over textbook problems: El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Lorenzo García removed the principal of Bassett Middle School on Tuesday — just days after it was learned that students at the Northeast [...]
Geography Lessons
I’m teaching geography for our small co-op of families that meets on Wednesdays. I’ve never taught geography. Never had it as a formal class. Never had to memorize the states and capitols in school. However, I do think I have a pretty good sense of geography in general. In college, most of my history classes [...]
Learning Science
Linda over at Life Without School has a wonderful post on science. Life Without School: One of my pet peeves in science when I was a kid was how the regular science class was taught. Most science curriculum focused (and still does) on drilling concepts. Most kids could simply recite lab results and ‘facts’ from [...]
Ann Richards 1933-2006
“I did not want my tombstone to read, ‘She kept a really clean house.’ I think I’d like them to remember me by saying, ‘She opened government to everyone;” And she did. MySA.com: Metro | State: Her most notable achievement was opening the doors of government to people other than Anglos and men. About 44 [...]
What’s in a name?
Tammy at “Just Enough, and Nothing More” has an incredibly reasonable post on the definition of homeschooling. While there are a variety of definitions, she concludes that: The Definition of Homeschooling « Just Enough, and Nothing More: The one place that the term “homeschooling” does not belong is in federal laws. She further points out [...]
Can the states do this for AYP?
I saw this and couldn’t help thinking about Spellings’ “99.9% pure” statement regarding NCLB. US military death count for Baghdad excluded bombs, mortar and rocket attacks – Africa & Middle East – International Herald Tribune: BAGHDAD, Iraq The U.S. military did not count people killed by bombs, mortars, rockets or other mass attacks — including [...]
Whose side is he on?
Star Community Newspapers: Outdoor education in the form of a week long camp is no longer a part of the curriculum for fifth graders in the Lewisville school district.The board voted Wednesday night to discontinue fifth grade overnight camp and to look at other options for outdoor education utilizing the LISD Outdoor Learning Academy or [...]
Appropriate homeschool envirionments
Home becomes school with a few tricks: As Rosanne Dillon reaches the second-story landing of her new home near Missouri City, she announces in an ambiguous tone, “Here’s the home-school room.”Built-in shelves are filled with books and puzzles for her 4-year-old daughter Madison. Another area now has side-by-side built-in computer desks — one for mom [...]
Walk the talk
Today my son’s Junior Little League team scrimmaged the other Junior team in our league. This is fall ball, relaxed, focus on developing the players. They bat the line up and no player (except for catcher) may play in the same position for more than two innings. This is the chance for the kids who [...]