"Wowed" in Cincinnati

I was featured again on Hip Homeschool Moms this past Friday, sharing more about my experience at the Great Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati. I hope the post - which you can read here - motivates every homeschool mom to attend "a convention of some sort every few years."

CCS Through the Eyes of Daniel

Of all the material I've been reading about the common core standards (CCS) over the last couple of months, the most inspiring piece - hands down - was written by Matt Gerwitz, a veteran homeschool dad, curriculum publisher, freelance writer, and speaker. Any Christian homeschooler who (with good reason) has concerns about the impact the CCS will have on homeschooling freedom must read his post - CCS Through the Eyes of Daniel - on a regular basis.

Celebration Contemplation: Mother's Day

The Lord led me to write a piece called "The Heart of the Matter" for a mid-May 2013 edition of the Celebrate Kids email newsletter, but my little article has gone well beyond newsletter readers. Specifically, I was asked if it could be shared on both Kathy Koch's and Jill Savage's blogs, each of which has a large readership. And then – because I was told it could be such a help to so many moms – I chose to use it as my May Hope for the Home post and for my Mothering Moments column in the Summer 2013 edition of my church's women's ministry newsletter.

And it really does sum up how I feel about being a mom.

If you're interested in what I had to say, check out the archive of the piece here.

Observations from Cincinnati

In my latest Celebrate Kids article, I shared a little about my experience at the Great Homeschool Convention in April. You can read the archive of that piece here.

Good-Bye, Sweet "Cow-Boy"

On May 2, just before 11:00 PM, our sweet cat, Clawde, passed away. Of course, it wasn't really a surprise, as he was nearly 17 years old - in his mid-80s if he were human - and he'd wrestled with some health issues since last June. Though we're confident he was not in pain, we'd also noticed that he'd taken "a turn" about a week ago so we'd known then that it wouldn't be long. But it was still very hard to say good-bye.

We picked Clawdie up as a six-month old kitten from a farm about 25 miles from here. We had three cats at the time, but we wanted another. So, when we saw an ad in the paper, that was that. We called him "Cow-Boy" for a while because he'd been living in a cow barn, so he smelled like musty hay for his first few weeks with us. His actual name - Clawde Allouez - was our attempt to be clever, making a feline-themed reference to a local historical figure.

He was funny because he never really meowed. Instead, he made what we called a "crackie noise" when he wanted to say hi or needed attention. He was also our diplomat, getting along with every single cat sibling he had - no less than 11, counting the three who lived here when he arrived. In fact, he seemed to take it on himself to make the new ones - especially the little kittens - feel welcome. And, when his "older sister" Maddie became frail about six and a half years ago, he latched onto her in a special way - so much so that he was visibly depressed when she died.

We're glad we could keep him home until the end; it was hard to see him fade away, but at least he was here in familiar surroundings. I think that brought him peace. In fact, in his last hour, though he was nearly comatose, he seemed to be trying to purr for Jeff and me as we sat with him.

When Maddie was dying, I asked our then-youth pastor what I should say if the girls asked if she'd be in Heaven. Bradley said the wisest answer he'd ever heard to that question came from one of his seminary professors, who'd said, "We don't really know clearly from Scripture; animals don't have souls, of course. But they are part of the Lord's creation and He loves them. We do know there will be no tears or sadness in Heaven. So our pets will be there if we'll need them to be happy. Or, if they're not there, it's because we won't need them then. Either way, it'll be okay when we get there."

That makes good sense to us, and we're holding onto that idea again now as we mourn for Clawdie. If it turns out he won't be in Heaven when we get there, I know we'll be okay with that then. But, in the meantime, we're comforted by the thought that he may be romping around with all his "siblings" who've gone before him, perhaps even greeting Jesus with his "crackie noise" meow.

How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum: A Quick Primer

In my work for The Educational Freedom Coalition (TEFC), I've been asked many times how a new homeschooling parent might go about choosing curriculum. Of course, the question is both important - homeschooling is much easier when one finds a "good fit" in terms of method and materials - and understandable, because the curriculum possibilities seem endless. Indeed, in my research for TEFC, I've sent queries to well over 400 curriculum providers and have examined the websites of dozens more. I had no idea so many options existed! And if I'm overwhelmed as an experienced homeschooler doing a research project, I can imagine how absolutely untenable the task looks when one is a fledgling homeschool parent trying to find "the perfect curriculum" for one's child.

But that brings me to my first point: Simply put, there is no "perfect curriculum." And that's okay; we don't need perfection. In fact, one of the best things we can do as homeschoolers - for ourselves and our kids - is to give up the myth of perfection all together...with curriculum and everything else. Perfectionism kills joy and peace, and it simply doesn't belong in our homes.

Of course, we do need to pursue excellence. And, in terms of curriculum, that goal translates into finding a very good fit between our children's needs and the materials we choose to use. But how on earth do we begin the process of sorting through nearly 500 (or more) possibilities? I wrote a more detailed piece on this topic last year, but even that might seem overwhelming to some, so I wanted to break it down to just a few steps that would enable any new homeschooler to get started:

• Don't start by asking for ideas from homeschooling friends. As odd as that sounds - after all, networking among homeschoolers is really important - it's not the place to begin when choosing curriculum. Why? Well, simply put, what works beautifully for one family - given their overall situation - may be totally inappropriate for another. For example, I know a woman who followed several friends' advice to use a very solid, Christ-centered, textbook-style curriculum. The program is a good fit for the friends' kids, but it turns out to have been completely inappropriate for the woman's children. As a result, this family's first year of homeschooling has been much more difficult than it should have been. The woman's friends meant well, of course, but they couldn't really know what would meet the needs of her children.

• Do begin with prayer. Take time before you launch into your research to start praying for wisdom and discernment - and continue praying as you go. Also, be sure to ask your spouse to pray for you regularly even if he's given you authority to make the ultimate curriculum decisions. God cares deeply about our homeschooling; I know He will guide you via His Spirit if you give Him that permission.

• Analyze your family from a homeschooling perspective, discovering your children's preferred learning styles, your preferred teaching style, and other important factors that warrant consideration. The best resource I know for tackling this task is Cathy Duffy's 101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. Ms. Duffy takes you through descriptions, checklists, and charts that will ultimately show you the general types of curriculum that will work for you. And, of course, knowing what will work enables you to confidently (without guilt!) eliminate from consideration a wide variety of otherwise fine material that simply wouldn't be a good fit for you and your kids. I wish I'd known about the book when I started homeschooling; if I had, I'd have saved myself tons of time, energy, and money.

• Go to TEFC to discover where the good options you get from the Duffy book stand on the "common core standards" (CCS). Ms. Duffy doesn't address the CCS in her book - in fact, she's opted to downplay the importance of considering it at all - and I understand (from a very nice, face-to-face conversation she and I had) why she feels as she does. However, I believe that knowing a curriculum's stance on CCS alignment is a crucial next step. And, though the choice is yours to make, I personally recommend considering only resources that are Independent of the CCS - or, perhaps, those that are Correlated (according to TEFC's definition of that term) - in order to insure true freedom of thought and practice (i.e., no entanglement with the extremely disturbing CCS mandates that have been foisted upon public schools in this country) as you educate your children at home.

• After paring things down via Ms. Duffy's book and TEFC's information, you'll probably have a rather short list of viable options. So from there you can visit the companies' websites to study online samples and enlist the help of your homeschooling friends. Specifically, ask if others have hard copy samples of the materials you're considering so you can see the books themselves. Or, if possible, attend a homeschool convention and study your remaining options there.

• If you've been praying through the process, I'm confident you'll have a good sense of peace at this point. Of course, you may not be 100% sure - as homeschooling moms, we are our own worst critics - but "almost sure" is really all you need. If you feel too much doubt, ask your husband if he'd be willing to share his preference among your two or three strongest possibilities. And, if he indicates an inclination toward one, trust that God is using your husband to help you and go with that. On the other hand, if he leaves it up to you, simply go with your gut. Remember: You've covered the whole process in prayer and you've done your homework so any of the remaining options will be a very good fit and you can trust that you're choosing well.

I realize that this process will still take a bit of time - but it really will bear beautiful fruit. You won't be choosing on a whim or trying to copy your best friend. You won't be picking based on a colorful website or slick advertising campaign. Instead, your choice will be grounded in meaningful research and faith, so you'll be able to move forward into your first term as a homeschooler with confidence that you've begun well.


Photo Credit: jimmiehomeschoolmom

Three Thousand Year Old Wisdom

My task for the latest edition of our Celebrate Kids email newsletter was to write about the importance of parental involvement in education. Of course, there is so much I could say on that topic - but I had just 500 words, and I needed to remember my audience: a collection of classroom teachers, homeschool educators, and other parents representing a broad spectrum of political and religious beliefs.

But God led me to the root of the call to parental involvement, Deuteronomy 6.6-9, which actually applies to people of any faith or none. It simply extols a life principle that every parent who truly wants to be a good parent must embrace.

You can read the archive of my piece here.

Radio Spots

This past Tuesday I was privileged to have the opportunity to speak about the common core standards (CCS) for part of two segments on The Jerry Bader Show, a local conservative radio program with a large audience. I was amazed at the time Jerry gave me. I had emailed him the night before after a friend told me he'd be addressing the CCS, but I was not a scheduled guest; truly, I was just a caller like any other, responding to the topic of the day, but he gave me well over 10 minutes - an "eternity" for a "regular jane" caller - and he essentially gave me an open mic as well. I'm in two segments because he had me hang on over a break; you can listen here and then here.

And then, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I was the featured guest on a March 19 blog-talk radio program - Women Patriots on Conservative Nation Radio - speaking about the CCS and homeschooling for almost an hour. If you'd like to grab a cup of coffee and listen to that broadcast, click here and fast-forward to 28:30 in the program, where the hosts introduce me.

What a privilege to reach thousands of good folks with information about the CCS and its dangers. I'm so thankful for both opportunities and look forward to what else God might have for me.


Photo Credit: Fernando Candeias

Recent Celebrate Kids Articles

I've written two pieces for the Celebrate Kids email newsletter in the last few weeks, both addressing the topic of multiple intelligences in different but related ways. You can read archives of the articles here:

A Multiple Intelligences Pitfall

How Can We Do Otherwise?

"Read" Your Child

For the Spring 2013 edition of the women's ministry newsletter at my church, I wrote what I believe to be a very important piece - born from my own experiences an insecure new mom several years ago - for young mothers. You can read an archive of the article here.

Common Core: What's the Big Deal?

As I've spoken by phone with a number of homeschool curriculum providers over the last several days, I've often been asked about the root of my opposition to the CCS. Especially by those who've chosen to align, but even by many who are remaining independent, I've been asked to delineate what I believe to be the problems with the initiative.

Of course, I don't come at my views in a vacuum. I've based my opinion on a good deal of study over the past few months, including but not limited to the sources I've shared here. And, essentially, it all boils down to three main problems:

The Problem of Principle
On principle, the CCS is completely unconstitutional. Specifically, it is essentially a federal mandate for education despite the fact that the Constitution clearly delineates (in the 10th Amendment) that education is a matter of states' rights. Now, CCS proponents claim the states - 45 of them and the District of Columbia - "voluntarily" chose to concurrently adopt the same education standards, but anyone with half a brain knows that can't be true. Honestly, could even five states ever agree on something simple - let alone 45 legitimately concur on something as significant as an overarching education policy? Of course not. But when money came into play - very simply put, the federal government blackmailed the states by threatening to withhold billions of dollars on which the states had come to rely - the fat lady enjoyed a good round-robin sing-along all over the country.

And, thus, whether or not a person feels that national education standards would be a good thing, the fact that the adoption of the CCS violated the nation's Constitution should be enough to make every American stand up and shout, "Stop!" We are a nation still ruled by law, after all, and that should mean something.

Now, if we think national standards should be pursued, we'd have to go about it in the right way - which would mean working to amend the Constitution to allow federal education mandates in the first place and then moving forward from there. But unless that happens, the whole idea of national standards should be a non-starter.

The Problem of Probity
Of course, then there's the whole notion of whether or not national standards would be good. CCS advocates claim they're essential - so all children (at least all children educated in the public schools) could learn the same things at the same ages in the same ways. Thus, kids in our mobile society would supposedly not miss anything if they moved from one school district or state to another.

Now, setting aside for the sake of argument the fact that it would be patently impossible to so tightly regiment lesson plans in every classroom across the nation to insure such an outcome, let's consider the cost of that philosophy. Do we really want to try to force all children at a particular "grade level" to learn and master the exact same content at the exact same time in the exact same way as everyone else just because a standards document says they must? Really? How immoral! Children are not robots; learning is not supposed to look like an assembly line. And, frankly, anyone who thinks otherwise is either foolish or evil.

The Problem of Pedagogy
But let's say we could somehow justify treating our children as if they're part of a Borg-like collective. Would the CCS work then? Of course, that's a remarkably big "if" since the very notion of treating uniquely-created individual children like machines is so beyond the pale. But even if we could get past that, there is still the problem of these particular standards.

And, to put it bluntly, they are wrong in terms of both content and style. They don't delineate concrete measures of what children are supposed to know and be able to do at certain points in their lives; instead, they spout a lot of theoretical jargon that lacks real meaning "in the trenches" of a classroom. And, to make matters worse, they forbid teachers from using creativity in delivering the lesson content, instead requiring that they all use the same mandated materials in the same mandated way with every child, individual differences be damned.

Furthermore, where one could possibly pluck particular skills and abilities from the semantic mud of the verbiage, the directives are usually developmentally-inappropriate in one way or another. Sometimes, the expectations are ridiculously too high for a particular age and, at other times, they are laughably too low. In fact, it's almost as if the standards were not written by teachers and experts in child development but, instead, were cobbled together by bureaucrats and ideologues. Oh, wait; that's exactly what happened. In point of fact, very few teachers were involved in the development of the standards. Rather, those in charge had partisan, vested interests and were more determined to see their particular (collectivist, socialist) worldview perpetuated than in assuring a full, meaningful education for each child. The standards are long on indoctrination and short on meaningful educational content. And for that reason alone - even if Principle and Probity were non-issues - the CCS is bad news.

All that said, any parent of a child in public school should be up in arms - and I have no doubt most would be if they really knew what was going on. Of course, why they don't "get it" is a topic for another day. But for homeschoolers - as well as for those who've chosen to utilize private schools - all of this is even more of an issue.

We haven't taken any money from the federal government; in contrast, we pay for our children's educations out of our own pocket in addition to paying property taxes for public schools we do not utilize. Therefore, even if national standards were constitutional, they shouldn't apply to us. We pay; therefore, we get to make the rules for our own children.

Secondly, we not only know that each of our children is an unique individual, we celebrate that fact and customize learning to suit each one's needs. No child should be forced to endure a cookie-cutter education, but that applies double to homeschooled kids, whose parents have purposed to get them off the government-run conveyor belt. Thus, to suggest we should somehow put them back onto the hamster wheel by virtue of complying with formulaic nationalized standards is unthinkable.

Finally, homeschoolers have very specific ideas about what our children should be learning - both in terms of worldview and specific, measurable content. And, very often, those convictions run contrary to the notions expressed in the CCS. Thus, to even hint that we may have to comply with content and perspectives that run afoul of our own convictions for our own children - just because the government says so - is anathema. If children belong to anyone, they belong to their parents, not to the government - especially when those parents consciously take full responsibility for their children's education. Homeschoolers have standards; in fact, we develop appropriate individualized expectations for each of our children. We don't need the government mandating that for us.

I have yet to meet an informed homeschooler who supports the CCS - and with good reason, as is apparent from this short treatise. The foisting of the CCS on any of America's children is a big deal, and it should be combatted at every turn - most of all by homeschoolers because of the very nature of the type of upbringing we are working so hard to provide for our kids.


Photo Credit: Chiot's Run

A Common Core Primer: What Is It and Why Is It a Problem?

Like most parents, you may be wondering what this Common Core Standards (CCS) thing is all about. And, of course, that is part of the problem: very few people in this country are aware of the significant change that's been foisted upon the nation's public school districts. In fact, even most classroom teachers had no idea what the CCS was until they were directed not long ago to begin aligning their instruction to it. But that was most assuredly by design - because people cannot stand up against that which they do not realize is happening. And I do not believe it's a stretch at all to suggest that the creators and advocates of the CCS kept us in the dark on purpose.

Of course, it's bad enough that this has happened to the public schools - and we can and should pray and advocate that each state adopting the CCS for its public schools does whatever it takes to extricate itself from implementation. But you might be thinking, as I did not long ago, that the problem is rather irrelevant to homeschoolers - something to watch from afar as a concerned taxpayer, but something "out there" and "other."

However, it's not that simple, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, there is evidence to suggest that the power brokers behind the CCS would like nothing more than to find ways to force private schools and homeschools to comply as well; they believe that all of education - not just that paid for by the government - should be "standardized" and are, frankly, hell-bent on getting their way. But - as if that weren't bad enough - we've discovered in the last week that several prominent providers of homeschool curriculum resources have chosen (for whatever reason) to align their materials with the CCS - even though, as private businesses catering to private education, they are under no federal mandate to do so. 

Of course, that development was the impetus behind the formation of The Educational Freedom Coalition. Namely, when we learned of a few companies that had consciously aligned their materials, we launched a campaign to discover what every provider of homeschool resources aims to do in regards to the CCS. Simply put, we want homeschool parents to know exactly what philosophical position about standardization they are getting when they spend their hard-earned money on homeschool materials - and you can click on the tabs at the top of this page to learn the stance of just about every provider out there. 

But along with that knowledge must come an understanding of what the CCS really is and why it is so dangerous - for every young person in this nation and for our future as a country. And so we share here a small collection of resources explaining and exposing the CCS. Of course, even this sampling might seem overwhelming, especially because a couple of the links actually contain multiple articles. But just click on a few to get started and then bookmark the page to come back for more when you have time.

Above all else, please don't allow yourself to simply dismiss this issue. It's too important to ignore. After all, as Edmund Burke famously said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." As you'll see with just a bit of reading, the CCS is an evil initiative on many levels. Thus, we simply cannot sit by and let it take hold without a fight.

But, of course, in order to fight, one must first know one's enemy:

• The Ambitions of Bill and Melinda Gates: Controlling Population and Public Education

• Common Core Articles

• Common Core - Education Without Representation: 8th Grade Teacher: You Don't Get Harmony When Everyone Sings the Same Note - VIDEO

• Common Core: Phasing Western Culture Out of Education

• Common Core Standards: A Bad Idea

• Common Core Standards: Why We Object to the K-3 Core Standards

• Common Core State Standards Initiative: Too Close to a National Curriculum

• Common Core State Standards and Homeschoolers

• Commonwealth Education Organization: Common Core Standards

• Exposing Common Core: Kids are Being Indoctrinated with Extreme Leftist Ideology

• If You Never Read Any of Our Other Articles, You MUST Read This: What Is Happening to Your Child's Education: The Dangers of Common Core

• Indoctrination and Data Mining in Common Core: Here's Why America's Schools May in More Trouble than You Think

• Joy Pullman: Data Mining Kids Crosses Line

• Michelle Malkin's Education Archive

• Obamacore: The Substitution of Propaganda for Great Literature in Our Schools

• Opposition ot Obama-Backed National Education Scheme Grows

• A Response to President Obama's New State Standards for Education

• Rotten to the Core: The Feds' Invasive Student Tracking Database

• Stop Common Core: Reclaiming Local Control in Education - VIDEO SERIES

• A Tough Critique of the Common Core on Early Childhood Education

• Truth in American Education: Common Core Standards

• Truth in American Education: Open Letter to Parents of Public School Children

• Why I Oppose the Common Core Standards

• Why National Standards Won't Fix American Education: Misalignment of Power and Incentives

Photo Credit: Upstream Politics

Introducing The Educational Freedom Coalition

It started with one email.

Somewhere during the week of March 4, I got an email from a homeschool curriculum company whose materials I'd used for several years. I had decided last November to stop using the products because they didn't seem to be a good fit for the girls anymore. But I didn't unsubscribe from the emails; I guess I never got around to it. And what a God-incidence that turned out to be.

The email proudly announced that the company had purposely aligned most of its books with the so-called Common Core Standards (CCS), the troublesome federally-mandated education "standards" that have recently been foisted upon public schools in 45 states and the District of Columbia. I'd been aware of and had been very concerned about the CCS, though I'd not really thought much about it in relation to homeschooling until then. But when this company came out touting the CCS as a good thing, I sat up and took notice.

As I discussed this with a couple of friends and happened upon a few related blog posts over the next few days, I discovered that some other prominent homeschool curriculum companies had also apparently chosen to align with CCS. And that scared me. Homeschoolers - along with those who've enrolled their kids in independent private schools - are not mandated to follow the CCS in any way. And I've not spoken with one informed homeschooler who wants to do so. But if all or most of our curriculum providers were to align, we'd be forced by default to go along with it. 

Armed with that concern, I decided late in the evening on March 8 to start a Facebook group for homeschoolers interested in knowing more. In particular, I wanted to use it as a platform for researching which homeschool companies would align and which would not. So I started sending query letters to the companies whose materials I use, and a few of the ladies I'd invited to join the group made their own suggestions and started inviting their friends to join, too.

Well, one thing led to another and now - as of today - our "little" group has over 1,300 members only nine days after it was started, and I have sent query letters to over 250 providers of homeschool-related curriculum and resources. Not only that, we have an official name - The Educational Freedom Coalition (TEFC) - along with a logo and a website. And I'm going to be interviewed about this whole thing on a nationally-broadcast blog-talk radio show this coming Tuesday!

So to say that I've been swamped with this is beyond understatement; in fact, it has fairly consumed most of my waking hours for the last week, and I've been staying up much later than I should every night in order to keep the ball rolling. But, honestly, that's okay. I can clearly see that God's been sustaining me through the busy-ness. And, though I know I can't continue at this pace indefinitely, I rejoice in the fact that He's given me strength and endurance during this launch phase. 

So what is TEFC? To quote from the website:

The Educational Freedom Coalition (TEFC) exists for homeschool parents who seek to maintain educational freedom from the so-called "common core standards" (CCS) currently being implemented across the country. We also advocate for independence from any other initiatives that would seek to limit our homeschooling freedom. 

We provide information about the nature of and dangers inherent in the CCS and other ill-advised attempts to "standardize" our children. We also offer encouragement and inspiration for those who understand that each child is a unique individual worthy of something much better than a government-directed, cookie-cutter education.

And we house a fully-researched Educational Resource Database that identifies which homeschool-related companies and products have explicitly chosen to align with the CCS, which have some sort of coincidental connection, and which have pledged to remain independent.

Though we personally eschew the CCS, we don't seek to pass judgment on entities that have aligned in one way or another. Rather, our purpose for providing the lists is to offer factual full disclosure that will empower homeschool parents as they exercise their God-ordained responsibility to make educational decisions for their children.

If you visit the site - and I hope you will not only stop by but also bookmark it, subscribe to it, and share it with others - you'll see a few introductory posts and a further explanation of what I plan to do over time. And, most importantly, you'll have access to our lists. 

Of the 250-some entities I've contacted, about 180 have already replied - or, in a few cases, they've made unambiguous statements on their websites such that I feel comfortable classifying their positions in regards to the CCS even though they haven't yet responded to my letter. And I'm working hard to get answers from the remaining 70 because I feel strongly that we deserve to know what we're getting from the companies whose resources we pay for. My goal is to have data on every single homeschool-related company or product that other TEFC members and I can think of, and I plan to push until that happens.

As I explain on the TEFC website, this really is an important issue for homeschoolers - and for every adult who truly cares about kids no matter where they're educated. And so I hope that you - my readers here - will spread the word and share the site in your spheres of influence. There's a ton of other good information available about this situation on the internet - in fact, I link to a bunch of it - but I hope TEFC might be a good starting point for you as you begin to learn. And TEFC is unique in that it contains the most complete, thoroughly researched list of where curriculum companies stand in terms of alignment.

It's my sincere desire that I might serve the homeschool community I so dearly love through the information I'm gathering. So, if you have any questions after looking things over, just let me know. 

Becoming a Titus 2 Homeschooler

This past Friday, March 8, was a big day for me, as it marked my debut guest post for Hip Homeschool Moms, an online community with nearly 10,000 followers. Whew! I'll contribute several pieces this year and - by God's grace - more going forward.

I wrote this time on Becoming a Titus 2 Homeschooler, a role I strongly feel that each of us should willingly take on in due time. Curious? Click here!

How Much Better

For this past week's Celebrate Kids email newsletter, I addressed a topic - the terrible mistake of paralyzing children's multiple intelligence strengths - about which I am passionate. To see why this means so much to me, click here.