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Jörgen Andersson wrote: What scares me most is that we will have a whole generation of home schoolers soon.
Don't be too sure! Quite a few involuntary homeschoolers are in the process of realizing that it is not half as romantic as the envisaged.
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Jörgen Andersson wrote: What scares me most is that we will have a whole generation of home schoolers soon.
On balance, I see this as very hopeful. It has drawbacks, but state-run schools have become peddlers of all sorts of nonsense.
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Greg Utas wrote: but state-run schools have become peddlers of all sorts of nonsense
Agreed.
Who needs garbage like Physics and Maths, when mummies and daddies can teach children how to shout at each other?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Greg Utas wrote: state-run schools have become peddlers of all sorts of nonsense.
That is exactly my problem with private schools - mostly run by religious fanatics whose most important reason for doing it their way is to censor information that they think should the kids should be "protected against". Mostly, it has to do with all sorts of science. Second, it is about socalled "morals" - e.g. that there are actually people out there who question their religious beliefs.
My impression of home schoolers is that a fair share of them are even more religious fanatics than the churches who run private schools. They can be more exterme - no kid from other families will be running home reporting on what the teacher had said or done.
Some private schools are not explicitly religuous, but tout e.g. alternate pedagogical methods. When parents use that as an argument for homeschooling, it is often a blatant cover-up for religious brainwashing.
I had a daughter going to a Steiner (Waldorf) school, presumably non-religious, for three years. When all their reading execizes were based on biblical myths, the songs generally had a religious content, and the scene plays they performed for the parents both before Christmas and summer vacation were biblical, then it certainly isn't quite as non-religious as they try to pretend. Furthermore, when I told my daughter about how far from the real Bible stories their reading and myths were, and we dug up the black book for a comparison, she was honestly shocked.
There are certainly aspects of public schools that I strongly question. Yet, if I had kids in school age today, I would find it a lot easier to track the education the were receiving, to supplement that. I did that when my daughter switched from Steiner to public school. E.g. I went through her "Religions" book, which had hardly a single non-leading question/problem/exercise, and made for each chapter a series of "Alternate questions and exercise" that her classmates could access on the internet. Some of my questions were biased the other way, but setting the two up against each other surely made the kids consider bias in problem statements much more seriously.
I also had to help her with the math: The book was thick of "modern pedagogical principles" that made me fully realize why so many kids are scared of math! At one occasion I had difficulties understanding what the h they meant by the exercise (I have a M.Sc. degree, and this math book was for 8th grade). When I finally found out, and explained it to my daughter, she exclaimed: Is is that simple?? But why didn't they say it that way, then?
I would never leave my children's education 100% to public schools, schools with alternate pedagogical methods or religious schools, without following it up closely. With Steiner schools, that is next to impossible. With public schools, it is. And they are more in my line of thought (although the reason why we tried out Steiner was that some of their principles and methods certainly sound attractive, and in my style).
Taking the full teaching responsibility myself? No way! I think that it is of fundamental importance that kids receive inputs from a large number of sources, and learn to sort them out. I cannot teach them my values by hiding other impulses, but by teaching them the way I do my sorting and evaluation. My kids shall not be copies of me; they should make their own judgements. A student who is always true to his teacher is a poor student. I believe in giving kids as rich set of impulses as possible. I very rarely see homeschooling contributing to that.
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!tl;r
You should blog these (well written!  ) experiences somewhere, for "the rest of us" who don't wish our children to be brought up as religious (whether Christian, ISIS, or whatever) fundamentalists.
(Of course, it's too late for me, because my kids are all grown up and have qualifications that are in no way related to anything I studied, but they're just as insane as their father.) (Whoever that may be; I refuse to accept any responsibility in this matter.)
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Education by internet conspiracy theorists ... and I thought the level of education in QA was bad now ... 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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It'll be a long time coming as the Haves will get it way before us Havenots will!
I'm hiding from exercise...I'm in the fitness protection program.
JaxCoder.com
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I have a similar proposal for anti-vaxxers. Since the school system is required to allow them to enroll their kids even if they are not vaccinated I propose that all of these kids go to the same school. One or two cases of measles, whooping cough and polio in the school would solve the problem.
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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Ouch.
It's the parents who need to be made to suffer, not the kids.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Take away their herd immunity and 90% of those parents would vaccinate their kids within days.
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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DRHuff wrote: Take away their herd immunity and 90% of those parents would vaccinate their kids within days.
Take away their herd mentality, and they might evolve into sensible human beings.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I doubt it. 
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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DRHuff wrote: I doubt it.
Hope springs eternal.
... But if there's scum, it always floats on top.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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The Last Kingdom by great author Bernard Cornwell is only $1.99 today.
It'll be nice to have something for a distraction to read over the weekend.
I really like historical fiction that is done so well by a great author.
Has anyone read it? No spoilers please. 
The Last Kingdom (Saxon Tales Book 1)[^]
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 Cromwell is a wonderful author ! I think if you enjoy Cromwell, you might enjoy the remarkable Hilary Mantel (twice winner of the Man Booker prize for fiction) [^].
She has just released the final novel of her trilogy on Thomas Cromwell. There is a dimension in her use of language ... sentences sparkling with nuances of underlying sound lurking in great rhythmic seas of images ... that, imho, reaches the heights attained by Dickens. Her gift for dialogue is astounding.
Her first Booker Prize was for "Wolf Hall," which was made into a supremely satisfying BBC mini-series with the great actors Mark Rylance (Cromwell), Damien Lewis (Henry VIII), Claire Foy (Anne Boleyn), heading an all-star cast
cheers, Bill
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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Very cool, to learn about a new author. I checked her site out and the books look interesting.
I will read some and see what I think.
Always like recommendations from other smart readers. Thanks.
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raddevus wrote: No spoilers please.
Does mentioning that the protagonists are all dead count as a spoiler?
(Except the ones that were turned into vampires, of course)
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: Does mentioning that the protagonists are all dead count as a spoiler?
For a ghost story, possibly. For an Agatha Christie and ilk of that genre, where who-dunnit is a major plot driver, yes.
For "Uhtred, son of Uhtred," who knows.
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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BillWoodruff wrote: For "Uhtred, son of Uhtred," who knows.
Good Lord!
I remember reading about this (very admirable) chap, longer ago than I'll admit, and it turns out that they've made a TV show about him!
That's a nice revelation, cheers!
[Back on topic]
I think it's a reasonably safe bet that pretty much all the protagonists of most historical novels have shuffled off this mortal coil, by now.
It would probably only count as a spoiler if their departure from this realm of sorrows happened within the covers of the book.
[edit] I didn't realise that the book in question was about him, too -- I just searched on his name, because it sounded familiar, and up popped imdb. [/edit]
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: [edit] I didn't realise that the book in question was about him, too -- I just searched on his name, because it sounded familiar, and up popped imdb. [/edit]
This was not a spoiler for me, since I always assume your posts are written without thinking 
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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BillWoodruff wrote: written without thinking
Written without having read or researched the book, you mean.
As I said, and as is perfectly clearly stated in my post, I looked up the name you mentioned, not the book (I have a backlog of books to read that would take longer than two lifetimes to get through, so I'm not much interested in adding to it), and found the TV series.
What I would propound, given how precise I am with words, even when writing posts to message boards, is that it is probably best not to read what I write without thinking.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: Does mentioning that the protagonists are all dead count as a spoiler?
Wait!!! What!?!
How can I finish it now, knowing that?
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raddevus wrote: No spoilers please.
I never understood this - you see it both with books and movies. What if someone before a symphony concert revealed the closing chords of the symphony were? Or someone rejected to listen to a rock opera: I have heard it; I know how it ends!
All the books I love, and all the movies I love, I know how they end. I still love them, and would like to read/watch them again.
I have read books and seen movies making me shrug: Fair enough, but that's that movie. Seen is seen.
For that kind of books/movies I also think: ... and maybe it really was a waste of time anyway.
One great Norwegian author, Jens Bjørneboe, once told that when he starts a new novel, he first decides on the very last word of it. Everything he writes should lead up to this final word. That is a fascinating idea: Creating the final spoiler first, as a target, as a guide. You can read a book and watch a movie the same way. Knowing the final word, and enjoying to see how everything leads up to that final word.
Bjørneboe never completed his autobiography. After his death, when the manuscript was found, they also found the last word, Butterfly. Everything he wrote for his autobography should lead up to this word, butterfly. That can set you thinking. The final spoiler - 'butterfly'.
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Member 7989122 wrote: The final spoiler - 'butterfly'.
That was just for effect!
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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Member 7989122 wrote: One great Norwegian author, Jens Bjørneboe, once told that when he starts a new novel, he first decides on the very last word of it. Everything he writes should lead up to this final word. That is a fascinating idea: Creating the final spoiler first, as a target, as a guide. You can read a book and watch a movie the same way. Knowing the final word, and enjoying to see how everything leads up to that final word.
Bjørneboe never completed his autobiography. After his death, when the manuscript was found, they also found the last word, Butterfly. Everything he wrote for his autobography should lead up to this word, butterfly. That can set you thinking. The final spoiler - 'butterfly'.
A great story: literary legend ? Source ?
When you share information that deprives someone of suspense, that can be very irritating, depending on context and motivation.
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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