We have a small deck off of our kitchen where I hang our bird feeders. This allows us to draw them in close enough to actually see them when they come to eat. Visitors to our house in late spring and summer are often startled at the appearance of this fellow: The Baltimore Oriole. Because of their extremely bright colors, these are some of the … Continue reading The Orioles Are Coming
I have written before about my skepticism over the need for everyone to get a college education (here and here) as well as my extreme opposition to student loans and our current system of funding higher education (here, here and here). Today, via Joanne Jacobs, we find out that Charles Miller who led the Commission on the Future of Higher Education is now arguing that the earnings benefit for having a college degree is probably much less than has been previously stated.
Rather than being 1 million over a career, the number according to Charles Miller is more like $280K. Given that a private college education now routinely runs about $100K over 4 years with room and board and adding in the cost of interest on student loans, as well as the missed opportunity costs of having money which could otherwise be used to invest in a 401K or other investment vehicle going towards paying off student loans, this number really calls into question whether it makes sense to insist on a college diploma as a requirement for most decent jobs.
I have long thought that the credential inflation we have seen over the last couple of decades (requiring ever higher credentials for professional positions) is the result the failure of our high schools to adequately prepare students to enter into the workforce. Continue reading “Is college worth it?”
I have become convinced over the last couple of years that we are facing a crisis of bad parenting in this country. By which I don’t necessarily mean the usual complaints of overly indulgent parents or abusive parents, although these can certainly be a problem. What I find particularly problematic is a lack of knowledge about normal human development and appropriate interaction with children. It’s … Continue reading This is fantastic!
As anyone familiar with this blog knows, I homeschool my kids. I’m really not a fanatic about homeschooling, in general. It’s something we do for many, many reasons, but I wouldn’t presume to tell other people what they should do. I’m perfectly willing to accept the idea that public schools are the best choice for many families. However, like many homeschoolers, I sometimes find myself … Continue reading There are things I don’t understand
This is our 5th year homeschooling. I’ve been doing it long enough that I’m now considered “experienced”. New homeschoolers will often eagerly ask my advice when I first meet them. Of course, many of them don’t seem to like what I have to say. 🙂 We use a rather unstructured, almost unschooling approach which I think freaks some people out. But whether you are more structured or more free-form in your approach, I have learned a few things during the last five years which I think are probably helpful for most homeschoolers to keep in mind. So here’s my list of some of the things I’ve learned so far:
1. You have more time than you think. Continue reading “Things I have learned about homeschooling”
Many moons back, we had our oldest son, and for one year, our younger son enrolled in Montessori schools. When I began homeschooling, the first books I bought were the Teaching Montessori at Home books by Elizabeth Hainstock and Lee Davis. (There is one for preschool and another for grade school. I think I lent my preschool one to someone, but I have no idea who. If I lent it to you, could you let me know? Thanks 🙂 )
Anyhow, as I went through the preschool edition, I was struck by some of the activities. In particular, the ones involving pouring activities hit me as very odd. Continue reading “Spilled Kool-aid and Montessori Education”
The Las Vegas Review Journal recently ran an article about a survey of parents in Nevada and their attitudes towards the state’s public education system. This is crazy: Just 11 percent of Nevada residents who responded to a recent survey on educational issues said they would send their children to public school if they had the freedom to choose any available option . . . … Continue reading Unpopular Public Schools in Nevada
A while back at Why Homeschool, Henry Cate mentioned that your satisfaction with curriculum seems to have an inverse relationship to how much you paid for it. What you shell out big bucks for rarely works, but what you get for free is usually just what you needed. I completely agree! My oldest son Noah is moving into high school level work, and truth to … Continue reading Free is good!
Here’s a cool website for those seeking to identify unknown bugs: http://whatsthatbug.com/ FYI, there is a picture of wheelbugs mating which prompts a comment about “bug pornography” by the site authors. Nothing major, but I thought I’d give a heads-up in case that sort of thing bugs you. (Get it – bugs you! Harhar.) Continue reading Bugs galore!
The Chicago Tribune had a list of useful links for students and teachers which I thought I’d pass on to you. I copied these addresses and desciptions from the story and have tried to correct incomplete addresses, but if you come across something which doesn’t work, leave a message and I’ll try to fix it: ACADEMIC ALL STARS http://www.ipl.org — Tough to say enough good … Continue reading Link-o-palooza!
The Upside Down World 