Education Publications

John Adams, the first President to inhabit the current White House (date: November 1, 1800), on his second evening in it’s damp, unfinished rooms wrote his wife, “Before I end my letter, I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.”

So, the story goes….

During the early years of John Adams’ reign over the nation, negotiated with France to uphold trades between the two nations. France had suspended commercial relations. Adams parlayed three commissioners to France, but the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand and the French Directory refused to negotiate without a substantial bribe. The requested bribe was against the ethics of Congress. Further negotiations ended and threats from the French loomed.

The Colonists gathered at a church for a meeting. The French threatened to burn the cities and overcome the new nation, bringing many ships from France with men intent on taking over power in the colonies. In the meeting, the American’s realized their small fleet of ships wasn’t large enough to protect them, and there was little they could do to protect themselves from the French, who had been a nation much longer and had ships and men to spare. They turned their thoughts Heavenward and prayed for protection from the Father above.

Their prayer lasted a long time, probably hours, according to accounts of the meeting in the small one room church, where these men managed the community, sent their children to school, and praised and worshiped the Lord on Sunday. The fervency of these prayers, sent up by way of the Intercessor, Jesus Christ, must have begged God for the protection of these people who had set about the development of a nation where they could be free to worship as they wished, where serving God would be not only allowable, but encouraged by those leaders who, themselves, sought the leadership and protection of an all knowing God.

Before the men stopped praying, the winds began to blow, buffeting the building with debris and the church bell began to clang. A great storm had come up from the seas.

Within about a week, there came word from the ships that had set sail from France that they’d returned to France, those that hadn’t found their demise in the storm that set upon them during the very hour of the prayers from that small church in a community where Colonists gathered to pray for the Lord’s protection over them.

With this as a standard among the men who founded this nation, “In God We Trust” has been proclaimed over the nation, on our money, and as a basic and essential standard of living. Congressmen must swear an oath, to affirm before God that they will tell the truth. One judge threw out testimony as having no confidence in the witness, because the witness declared he did not believe in the existence of god or the immorality of the soul. This particular judge remarked that he’d not been previously aware that any man did not believe in the existence of God, a believe that constituted the sanction of law, and that to his knowledge, no man had been permitted to testify without such belief. (The New York Spectator, August 1831.)

You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true.
–Richard Bach

Homeschooling as a single parent doesn’t always come easy, but it always come… every day… there’s some new educational point. On those days when I feel like I’m the only one learning anything, I look around to see what my boys are doing and what my girls have accomplished. My girls are amazing! My boys are the center of adventures.

When my oldest daughter walked the line for college graduation I sat in a field of happy adults getting a really bad sunburn for the experience of watching my daughter’s tassle move from left to right. There was so much more to the event than that… But, honestly, after spending twelve years home schooling her and knowing that she was the top of her class in every way that mattered, the day was anti-climatical. I knew what she could do with an education.

I’d watched her walk across the piano and tap dance out the Chopin favorites of her 18 months, I’d heard her express miraculous words of wisdom before her teeth were through her gums, and there was no doubt in my mind that she’d someday rule the world, just like she did our home. So, after all her adventures, the trials and pains of inspiration and life, watching her prepare for Christmas morning was simply amazing.

When she carried Elizabeth out of the bedroom on Christmas morning, I knew the circle was moving steadily forward, an unending loop of existence, education and experience. Educational toys ruled the day and Elizabeth stepped directly up to the plate. Talking puppy in hand, she touched his heart and smiled when he said, “We are wonderful.” Her words were clear and concise, “I’m wonderful too.”

As we drove around the neighborhood Christmas night looking at Christmas lights still displayed in almost every yard, my daugher pointed out a school she’d checked out for possible eventual education of her daughter. “I believe public schools can be good, and I haven’t decided for sure how I’ll educate Lizzie, but if I have to put her in a public school, this is one I’d consider. The kids here are amazing and I see a lot of kids come out of here following opportunities.” Her words were vibrating through my mind as I realized, she’s not convinced that public school is the way she wants to educate her children.

Then come the days when you know…

I’m making the right choice to educate my children!

Last night my youngest son asked if I had an ‘equivalency test’ he could take to tell if he was keeping up with his class in the public school system. I wondered about giving him a test, not because I think he can’t keep up, but because I’m aware that public schools teach for the test. Would giving him a test that other students are taught the answers for, when he’s been given tools instead of answers confuse and beat down his confidence?

Out of curiosity, I searched for an online version of the test and gave him the test this morning. It wasn’t as thorough as the public school test, but it does test specific abilities and skills as per grade level knowledge. He took the test. This particular test equates grade level with certain topics of education and what has been learned under those fields of study, including basic math, history, grammar, spelling and sciences. I noticed the questions were artistic and general in format and lacked a specific kind of logical order, but each question related to specific topic items.

He tested beyond his grade level in 11 areas and on grade level in reading/grammar. He writes, but not often, and he’s not my most avid reader, although he does like to read. As a disclaimer, the test he took stated no comparisons for other grade level assessment tests or equivalencies, so I don’t know what the comparisons were at this point (I’m still looking).

After taking that test, he asked if he could take the sample ACT test his sister has been studying. He got every single answer correct. (Can we tell he studied with his sister on HER test?)

His conclusion was simple, “Mom, I think if I can pass her ACT, and the other test indicates that I’m keeping up or surpassing my grade level, home school is working and I’ll be ready to go to college at the appropriate time. I’m not worried, I’m learning what I need to know.”

Other testing has shown him above or at grade level in his studies in prior years, and his sisters are both currently in college, one past four years, starting on a second round of studies for another degree. All of them were home schooled and have solid basic educational knowledge.

So, the question was, does home schooling work? Of course it does. It’s an option some families should take. It isn’t for everyone, nor should it be.

I’ve run into that “guilt trip” issue too. People don’t understand that home schooling doesn’t actually cost anyone anything (except the parents – until they started substidizing). When there are 37 kids in public schooling an there’s a thousand dollars available, that thousand is split between 37 kids. If there were 39 kids, it would be split between 39 kids. They don’t receive a set amount per kid, they receive a set amount divided between the number of kids in each school in a set district. 

The amount of money they receive is determined by the mill levies and funding agreements. The number of kids covered is sthe number registered on a specific date of the school year determines the amount per child.

When they figure how much it costs to educate a child in the system, they’re figuring how much each child receives. Once the amount per child is calculated, teachers and school systems are given their working budgets and told how much they can spend.

The system works well, and has for many years. I don’t dislike or disapprove our public school systems, I simply chose a different route of educating my own children. I actually have many teachers who are friends (they’re all glad I home school – they know how inquisitive and independent my kids are). I admire teachers, because they take on a job many of us would not particularly want or be good at. They teach children who are often rejected by family and friends. They teach groups of children with varying degrees of abilities and problems. And they teach children who would prefer to be anywhere but in class.

I’ll tell ya, you know it’s a really good teacher when she calls to talk to you about having to fail a student and cries because the poor child is failing, not because he doesn’t know or can’t do the work, but because this child should be taught in a different environment and she can’t tell the parents this child needs to be home schooled, because of job restrictions. Some teachers find ways around those restrictions, others feel they have to suffer through them, and don’t look, because they don’t know any differently.

There are also some really bad teachers in the system. But honestly, they eventually weed themselve out with burnout, abuse, and rediculous behavior. It would be faster if parents would stand up and be counted when their child is faced with an abusive instructor.

My point is, I don’t begrudge teachers one dime of their salary for teaching in public schools. I do however want to caution parents who don’t want undue restrictions and influence over their choices, that any time the government is funding an “operation” they will eventually assume control of that operation. If you want to make home school choices outside of government rules and regulations, don’t accept funding.