Hey, all you arrogant, socially-phobic homeschooling moms out there!

Jesse Scaccia from Teacher, Revised has written a blog post entitled, The Case Against Homeschooling. The article was poorly written, considering the web site says Mr. Scaccia has the following qualifications:

"He holds dual degrees in English and education from the University of Connecticut, a master’s in education from Connecticut, and a master’s in journalism from New York University."

Impressive.

So, why is such an educated adult man stooping to the level of teenage chatroom "smack" talk? Well, I'm not positive, but I think it's a ruse. He spends several paragraphs listing all of the commonly-heard "negatives" about homeschooling, yet at the end of his post he invites homeschoolers to consider writing for the site because all of a sudden he notices they have no homeschoolers giving their opinions.

This just all appears to be a little too "set up" for me.

First of all, why would a web site that promotes "perpetual revision" of everything about school from lesson plans to classroom management strategies to teaching philosophies - everything, right down to the seating charts - try to discredit a relatively small group of individuals who teach differently from the regular schools as well as each other? I can't think of a logical reason someone with his educational backgroud would write something like this.

Secondly, in my opinion he wrote this nonsense, got a rise out of several homeschoolers by insulting them, and then proceeded to invite them to write for the web site. Very strange.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, Mr. Scaccia seems to be a homeschooler of sorts himself, with the web site stating:

"Jesse Scaccia has taught high school-aged students in Brooklyn, San Diego, and Cape Town, South Africa, where he currenty teaches at a home for young men."

He did get a rise out of many homeschoolers. Some left comments on the web site. Others posted rebuttals on their blogs , including Spunkyhomeschool and Notes from a Homeschooling Mom - which were not only inspiring, but also entertaining to read.

I started reading the comments on the Teacher, Revised web site, but didn't get through them all. I don't exactly enjoy reading comments like Mr. Scaccia wrote, but by the same token I don't enjoy reading some of the comments from homeschoolers.

In the comments sections I have seen at the end of this and other articles, it would seem that homeschoolers as a whole feel the need to justify what they do by citing their high test scores - to prove their competence as educators, or stating their kids are at least five grade levels above their peers - again to prove their own competence, or to show how much better their kids do than those public school kids, or that their kids are involved in seventeen activities - that socialization thing again, or their kids excel in sports and have thousands of trophies - to prove they're well-rounded and not just boring, overachieving bookworms.

Why?

Like Tammy Drennan of Education Conversation has said:

"When we do step into independence, it should be with confidence – so much confidence that we not only don’t care if the state approves, we would reject any offer of its approval as an insult. It is the state that should be seeking our approval and not the other way around."

So be confident. Ignore comments like this. When you do comment, don't try to show our detractors how competent - or even superior - we are. Ask them what they're doing about the problems in their schools. Better yet, ask them about the goals for their students - after all, that's something we should have in common - trying to give our students the best education for them.

Google Books - Like going to the library!

On Google Books web site not only can you find snippets and previews of all types of books, brand new and older, you can find full views of books as well that are considered public domain. This includes textbooks from the 1800's and early 1900's. I have found that the language from the earliest books may be a little difficult to understand, but they have perfectly wonderful readers and nature study books, history, biographies as well as books encompassing other subjects, all for free to download into a pdf file.

You can view these books right from your computer, or print them out - I recommend just reading them on the computer, or at least just printing out select pages for the student.

Some of my favorites are several books by Emma Serl, the author of Primary Language Lessons and Intermediate Language Lessons. The math books are great, too. (Although, it was called "arithmetic" back in the old days.)

There are also novels by authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Dickens.

I think it's interesting just to go and look at the old textbooks, like math textbooks, and see how advanced they were. I have found that more difficult concepts are introduced at an earlier age in the older books compared to today's textbooks. What do you think?

Nintendo Wii and Ipod Giveaway

Christian Personal Finance is celebrating it second birthday and is giving away a Nintendo Wii and Ipod. You register by mentioning their giveaway on your web site and leaving the URL in the comments on this post.

Hurry and enter by June 4!

Math Teachers at Play Blog Carnival

The new MTAP blog carnival is up at Let's Play Math! This edition features articles about math journaling, kids and money, unusual ways of practicing math facts - and more!

Cool Chicks Coffee Company

I found an online business run by two homeschooled girls, ages 11 and 7 - Cool Chicks Coffee Company. They really don't have much information about themselves on their web site (understandably so, I guess) but they do have coffee and tea for sale and a nice uncluttered web site. There's nothing that says what brand the coffee and tea are, unless they have their own brand as well - which wouldn't surprise me!

Go here and take a look!