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1. #5433
   On July 29th, 2004 at 4:29 pm, Spoons said:

   This was a big problem for me in college. I skipped a lot of classes because of fear of violence — especially for those 8 o’clock classes. I definitely felt that if I had to get up after 4 hours of sleep to listen to some lefty T.A. drone on about the merits of the Soviet system, I might kill somebody.

   Violence affects us all.

2. #5434
   On July 29th, 2004 at 4:43 pm, Brass said:

   I’m wondering if this is valid. I’m guessing this increase could be attributed to the kids thinking this is an excuse that their parents are likely to buy. Kids aren’t dumb, and the “I feel sick” excuse only works so many times, so they say that they are afraid of violence because everyone knows that our public schools are violent places. Viola! A day home from school.

3. #5435
   On July 29th, 2004 at 4:47 pm, Digger said:

   Brass, meet me behind the school on the blacktop at 3pm.

4. #5436
   On July 29th, 2004 at 4:50 pm, kerry lover said:

   Just another example of how the right makes claims they can’t possibly support: 83,457 reasons to home school? You probably couldn’t come up with 50!

5. #5437
   On July 29th, 2004 at 4:51 pm, CrazyFool said:

   Of course violence has declined… all the victims are staying at home and the bullies dont want to beat up each other….

   Homeschooling sounds like to might be a good idea after all.

   One thing my wife was considering was sending out son to the Philippines with her family for schooling so as to avoid the crap from both the teachers [and NEA] and other students in U.S. Public schools – as well as get an actual education. But we have 5-6 years before we need to make that decision.

   Digger, Can I sell tickets?

6. #5438
   On July 29th, 2004 at 4:51 pm, Phelps said:

   My brother dropped out of high school, and this was the proximate cause. I wish my parents would have home schooled him. I have another data-point to throw to my future wife when I tell her that there is absolutely no way I am sending my kids to a public school.

7. #5439
   On July 29th, 2004 at 4:59 pm, Mike Holt said:

   I’m from New Orleans and no one down here sends their children to public school unless they can’t afford private school. So there is a third option for all you free market people out there. Pay for your children education.

8. #5440
   On July 29th, 2004 at 5:02 pm, chip said:

   Brass

   I hear what you are saying, but if I would have used that line on my parents, my mom would have been down at the school ready to kick some ass. My dad too, but mom, damn she was tough.

   Chip

9. #5441
   On July 29th, 2004 at 5:05 pm, Brass said:

   Sorry Digger, I can’t make it, I’m staying home today. To much violence don’tcha know.

10. #5442
    On July 29th, 2004 at 5:10 pm, Brass said:

    Chip,

    Mine too. However we are constanly hearing about the apathy of the parents when it comes to public school. Do you think these self-same parents who can’t be bothered to check homework or show up for parent-teacher meetings are gonna show up because of bullying accusations? Or are they just gonna let Johnny stay home?

11. #5443
    On July 29th, 2004 at 5:23 pm, Ryan said:

    So, Michelle, in between spending hours researching and contributing to your blog, writing your column, writing books, and appearing on Fox News and other shows, when are you going to have time to homeschool? Are you really going to dedicate 5, 6, or 7 hours each day educating your children and taking them on field trips and providing social interaction for them? How much time do you even spend with them now?

12. #5444
    On July 29th, 2004 at 5:27 pm, americankitty said:

    I was a reject for most of my middle school years, and managed to miss a good many days because I was too scared to attend class. Although, I wish now that I’d just beaten the crap out of all those people instead of being scared of them. At least then I would have had great school attendance!

13. #5445
    On July 29th, 2004 at 5:32 pm, Kevin said:

    Hey Kerry lover, 50 reasons to homeschool? That’s easy. Let’s stroll through your average public school once a week for a year.

    But I’ll roll this one past you real slow to see if you can hit it. How about 10 really good reasons to send your kids to public school?

14. #5446
    On July 29th, 2004 at 5:50 pm, Sarah Brabazon-Biggar said:

    Mike Holt wrote:
    “So there is a third option for all you free market people out there. Pay for your children education.”

    We already do. It’s called tax.

    Charter schools would be a better solution. They work great here in AZ.

15. #5447
    On July 29th, 2004 at 5:53 pm, chip said:

    Brass

    You are absolutely correct. That is what makes you and I defferent and our parents different. My parents did give a rats ass about everything. I often think of it like this

    Bad parenting begets misguided children -> misguided children usually marry same -> misguided couple become bad parents -> bad parenting begets misguided children -> and the process contineus

16. #5449
    On July 29th, 2004 at 5:54 pm, Trapped Inside the Beltway said:

    But if you homeschool your children, they miss seeing the assistant junior high principal grab guys by the back of their shirts and haul them off to the office for detention. Oh wait, they probably wouldn’t see that these days anyway.

    Another reason for home schooling (not sure of the number kerry lover… tangent: btw, did you know that john kerry served in vietnam?)…”educators” who dismiss classes early so they can go to the state capital and lobby for more money. Apparently, they can’t rattle their tin cups on their own time. My apologies if this reason is already on the list. I’m relatively new to Michelle’s blog.

17. #5450
    On July 29th, 2004 at 6:08 pm, Kent said:

    The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    “I used to get the crap beaten out of me and I never skipped a day of public school.

    Kids today are weak.”

    My goodness! Where were the teachers? What about the administration? Cops? Anybody at all on the public dime? Why didn’t somebody stop it?

    Or…

    Did you walk to school through five miles of snow uphill both ways as well?

18. #5451
    On July 29th, 2004 at 6:09 pm, syrus said:

    Michelle forgot to quote this part of the article:

    “At the same time, CDC statistics indicate an overall drop in school violence over the past decade. “

19. #5452
    On July 29th, 2004 at 6:13 pm, Kent said:

    Syrus,

    She might not have deemed that an important quote. Especially since the part she did quote contained this.

    “even though violence in schools actually declined”

20. #5453
    On July 29th, 2004 at 6:18 pm, GWB said:

    ryan,
    Actually, you spend a lot less time home-schooling (assuming no special needs) than your average kid spends in a public school in a day. We had to work to come up with 180 days of schooling in a year, and our child is scoring 99th percentile and 4-5 grades up on the standardized tests every year. Oh yeah, and our soon to be 4th-grader only sees about 5 hours of school on the LONG days.
    Of course, here in Virginia, homeschooling is easy, with all the support groups/ co-ops/ stores for teachers/ etc.

21. #5454
    On July 29th, 2004 at 6:25 pm, CrazyFool said:

    Sarah,
    I would *love* to have charter schools (or school Vouchers). Unfortunately the NEA here is Washington State is going full bore to defeat — using money extorted from the teachers to do it. (That is what I call being forced to donate in order to ply your trade — extortion.)

    I do have the option of private school — but then I will be paying twice – once so the NEA can brainwash children and again so my child can get an education that means something.

22. #5455
    On July 29th, 2004 at 6:26 pm, BC said:

    The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    “I used to get the crap beaten out of me”

    Now THAT!! I can believe

23. #5456
    On July 29th, 2004 at 6:30 pm, americankitty said:

    Liberal Avenger,

    I may have been weak, but at least I’m not liberal!

24. #5457
    On July 29th, 2004 at 6:40 pm, slimedog said:

    Could we send the Liberal Avenger back to school? He doesn’t seem to have had enough beatings lately…

    kerry lover: (do you really love small black Irish dairy cattle?)– chill out with Watley’s observations on hype at http://watleyreview.com/2004/071304-1.html

    MM: what ARE your thoughts on schooling the kids? Public school, private school, homeschool them yourself, hire a tutor?

25. #5459
    On July 29th, 2004 at 7:21 pm, Ben said:

    Nicht zie flames please Don’t forget Godwin’s law…

    I think it’s GREAT that you support homeschooling Michelle, and yes, I do think you could do it, and it’s certainly worth a shot for the rewards. I’ve known people in homeschooling get into college and get straight A’s, and a number of the teachers respect homeschoolers for their tenacity and hunger for knowledge.

    One positive I’ve found is that homeschooled kids are not dead tired of school by the time they hit college. Besides, the more kids you have, the better– the older ones teach the younger ones. Where is your spirit of adventure guys?

    (A little OT: I personally don’t care for Berkeley’s approach)

26. #5461
    On July 29th, 2004 at 7:41 pm, JEF said:

    LA, well there is this little thing called the NEA which despises home schooling as it takes money away from public schools. (They recieve money per student). The NEA has quite a bit of pull with both the Dems and the Repubs. I call your attention to the voucher issue. Remember the story about the philanthropist that offered $400M (I think) in Michigan for vouchers so that poor kids could go to private school. The school system turned it down flat. Teachers unions are powerful and could care less whether kids are in failing schools or not. The main issue is that all public school teachers must belong to the union and all union members must pay dues!

27. #5462
    On July 29th, 2004 at 7:41 pm, CrazyFool said:

    No LA, My negitive view of public school is from experience of seeing my family members go through them as well as my own experience….

    Much of the negtive views the media has about homeschooling and charter schools is, however, driven by the NEA (Thats the teachers union folks…). The media always runs to the NEA (which is a UNION and not concerned with the quality of education) whenever any ‘Educational’ issue comes up. And of course the NEA hates the idea of non-union-controlled schools.

28. #5463
    On July 29th, 2004 at 7:54 pm, AB said:

    You posted a thing the other day about favorite burger. You obviously haven’t tried Five Guys Burgers & Fries in Alexandria, VA. There is no better burger in the world!

29. #5464
    On July 29th, 2004 at 7:57 pm, perfectsense said:

    Kerry Lover,

    83,456 reasons to home school is an easy number to support. Start with the millions of kids, particularly minority kids, whom public schools have utterly failed. Then think of the billions of dollars spend on millions of failures. Together, this is nearly as many medals as John Kerry awarded himself.

30. #5465
    On July 29th, 2004 at 7:58 pm, Sarah Brabazon-Biggar said:

    CrazyFool, hey! I was born and raised in Seattle. My family just left for Arizona last year. Leaving Seattle Schools behind was one of the great joys of moving. I don’t know where you live, but they’ve got a public school-backed homeschool program in Ballard. I went through them my last year of HS and got a Seattle Schools diploma, which was helpful.

    I recommend moving to Phoenix, though. The weather, the cost of living, the charter schools, the proximity to SoCal—it’s lovely.

    Ben, spot on. I was homeschooled all my life. None of this A-Becka kitchen table stuff, though. My parents just let me do what I liked best: read all day. It turned out well. I gave myself a good education, and today I’m doing well in college.

    Public schools pile busy-work on kids. It burns them out fast.

31. #5466
    On July 30th, 2004 at 11:07 am, Jack Grover said:

    I personally think the schools have been going to Hell in a handbasket ever since they took prayer out. Then they lets the negores in. That’s reason enough to home school.

32. #5467
    On July 30th, 2004 at 11:24 am, aw68 said:

    I’m sorry, but I disagree about home schooling. I have a family member who home schooled her daughter, she was NOT qualified in my opinion to teach anything. Nothing came of this and now the daughter is basically a dropout.

    I don’t know very many people who are disciplined enough, or have the qualifications to teach children..sorry but unless you have a degree in teaching, home schooling is a mistake for most people.

33. #5468
    On July 30th, 2004 at 12:15 pm, Beth D said:

    Certainly, you shouldn’t teach your kids if you’re completely unqualified (say, a highschool dropout yourself, or illiterate, or completely unwilling to set deadlines or see to it that the kids actually do the work) – and you may need to send the kids to a local community college for things like science classes – but you don’t actually need a degree in teaching. I’m sure you know more people who would be capable of teaching their own kids than you think … the most important thing is a real desire for your kids to learn, and after that, the dedication to stick to teaching them, spend time on it, research books and teaching methods and – if necessary – brush up on things yourself. Most people who care enough, are driven enough, and aren’t just spoiling their kids rotten can do it – I’ll admit there are exceptions, like kids who just really, really need competition to be motivated, but I think most parents are “smart” enough for the job.

34. #5469
    On July 30th, 2004 at 12:51 pm, Lester said:

    Personally it’s a toss up. I’m in San Diego and there are some parts of the county / city that public schools serve quite well and some parts that obviously don’t. All of us in the family have gone through public school with the exception of my younger sister who did a year or two of charter work.

    I think most of the apparent downfall in public schooling is mainly with the kids / parents. I think this has to do with the paradigm among teens nowadays. The teachers can only do so much (which could make a case for home school); they can’t really force a kid to listen although tht’s something that could be of use. Kids these days don’t have enough passion for school, even though some public schools have their group of academic reputables. The rest of the kids unfortunately aren’t brought up in a culture of wanting to have a great education, really earning that education.

35. #5470
    On July 30th, 2004 at 5:44 pm, corrie said:

    “But aren’t you concerned about socialization?”

    “Oh, yes, of course. That’s a main reason why we teach our children at home!”

    Here are a baker’s dozen more reasons, just quickly off the top of my head:

    1. You know what your children are learning.

    2. You and your child can explore areas of individual or mutual interest in detail

    3. Your child progresses at his or her own rate

    4. A bright child isn’t bored by excessive review of material they have already mastered

    5. A slower child (which may be a bright child struggling with a particular subject) isn’t frustrated by a too-fast pace that forces them to fall behind

    6. You’re not bound to textbooks selected by a state committee

    7. Your child learns about the real world of socialized adults by interacting with adults in the real world

    8. No teasing about not having the latest hat, jacket, or shoes

    9. Eat lunch when you’re hungry

    10. Get a drink of water when you’re thirsty

    11. Pee when you need to, without missing any class

    12. No cafeteria food

    13. More time with your kids – you DO like them, don’t you?