I do not have video of the homeschoolers day at the State House. I was not feeling well, so I did not make it down there. I read that there were over 300 homeschooling parents and children in attendence. Go homeschoolers!
I was away for the weekend and decided to stay offline. I appreciate that there were no inappropriate comments while I was gone. You guys are great.
I am still slogging through my e-mail, but I will get back to the discussion in the Tea Party myths post as soon as I get a few minutes. [...]
Continue reading about Blog Update/ Homeschoolers at the State House
The Burlington School District designated the two city schools in the high-poverty area of the city to be magnet schools, intended to draw students from other parts of the city from a higher socio-economic class.
I think magnet schools can be a good thing, though I am disappointed that they chose to have a “sustainability” academy, [...]
Continue reading about Burlington’s Magnet Schools Discriminate to Make Things Fair
The other day, I blogged about a proposal to cut the Home Study Office in Vermont and shift the oversight of homeschoolers to the local school districts.
The latest word from Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca is that the change would require the approval of the legislature (since the proceedure for homeschooling is dictated by a very [...]
The State of Vermont is looking to cut positions in the state government to save money. That’s great. In fact, it should be done yearly. Every agency should be required to find positions that could be cut, in order to keep the government lean.
That’s what we do. Well, we don’t cut positions in our family, [...]
Continue reading about Sometimes Local Control Is a Bad Thing
This was posted on the Front Porch Forum (emphasis mine):
BURLINGTON SCHOOLS SEEKING PEER MODELS FOR PRESCHOOL
By Jeanne Collins, Superintendent of Schools – Burlington School District, Colchester Ave
Wed, 12 November 2008
The Burlington School District Essential early Education Preschool is looking for 3 & 4 year olds with good play, communication and behavior skills.
Slots Available: 3 [...]
Continue reading about How’s That Public Pre-School Thing Going?
I want to take a break from the election and the economy and focus on something else for a post.
In today’s Burlington Free Press, the results for the state science tests were published and Vermont students did not do well.
Bear in mind that these are the tests that were designed by Vermont teachers to correspond [...]
The Purpose Driven Debate
Okay, so it wasn’t technically a debate, but this was America’s first real look at the two major party presidential candidates, side-by-side.
I admit that I haven’t seen it. I watched a few clips pertinent to what I am going to talk about here, but I have not had a chance to [...]
Continue reading about Thoughts On the Presidential Forum and More
Another day, another uninformed anti-homeschool rant. *yawn*
I usually ignore them; I have more important things to do with my time than try to reason with a bunch of ignorant bigots with impenetrable prejudices.
This time, though, I would like to get a few things off my chest. (Mostly, this comes from the comments on the [...]
Continue reading about Aren’t We Due for a Homeschooling Post?
Yesterday, the Burlington Free Press had a follow-up story about the NECAP results.
Here is the line that tells you everything you need to know about Vermont’s schools.
Just how much the NECAP math scores mean is under debate. Teachers and principals are asking: Was the test too difficult, or not?
Okay now, as an educator myself, if [...]
Continue reading about More on the NECAPs and Math Education
