Category Archives: Problems of public education

Teaching Your Children Civics

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:11 — 17.2MB)

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As a run-up to our 350th Independence Day, I thought it would be good to revisit some of our episodes related to that.
Today: teaching your child civics.

This vital education is entirely missing from our government schools — intentionally so. Something else has been substituted: being a world citizen. Oh, that sounds great, but when you investigate, what has happened is an entire switch from Christian, American, community values. Even character training has been entirely erased. Instead of character, a training in tirggered feelings. Instead of moral and civic engagement, a weaponization of activism, whole based on feelings generated by someone else.

Critical thinking is not analytic and synthetic, but critical meaning Marxist deconstructionist. (If you question this, check out the little booklets that come yearly to every professor’s mailbox that supposedly encourage critical thinking and discover that the conclusions are all Marxist. Never could logic come out conventional or Christian — apparently — based on those booklets. By contrast, I think you know that there are many apologetic references that do use logic and come out with conventional morals.)

In short, for 2 or 3 generations, our government schools (and many private schools) have taught a substitute value system, contrary to the Christian view of the founders of The United States. In previous decades any apparent morals or civics may have not been taught. Then we had “values clarification” which many thought was only “morals deconstruction.” Then we had obvious Marxism/socialism/Climate Change, etc. Now we have a pitched battle for hetero-normativity in sexual behavior.

But maybe, just maybe, you want to be sure that your child understands American values, the need to both restrain oneself for the community, and the need to contribute toward that community. For no student is this more important than for “the learning disabled” because the system focuses so much on “accomodation” and falsely so called “remediation” that normally these students do not get the normal kind of student engagement that other students get. Further, any reading problems mean that these shtudents do not get “the between the lines” comprehension of classic civics texts — even if they were presented with such. Manners, getting along with others, and civics is exactly the kind of socialization that SHOULD go on in education. It just seldom does — unless the parent or rare school focuses in on it.

So, today, I give you the episode on teaching your children civics, found in our Manners series. You can get the Manners series in the SHOP tab of www.greatshalom.org

Learn How to Teach Handwriting — and to find solutions to most anything else

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:33 — 18.7MB)

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I will tell you how to teach handwriting in this episode. This conversation was kicked off by a Facebook discussion. As usual some mother was reaching out to ?? friends ?? about something she was concerned about. More than usual, she got a long list of really bad advice. So, will let you know.

Then, will discuss other options: Testing, finding people who know, getting mentoring. Not assuming the standards of government schools, not trying to figure out an argument where both sides do not know what they are talking about, and not just listening to anyone. And not shutting your ears based on mis-directed principles. (By the way, I have taught 2 series on how to tell what is true.)

If you want more resources on teaching literacy and numeracy, check the SHOP tab and look for “When The Road to Reading Gets Rocky.” Of course, you could just avoid that problem by starting right. Montessori Method, Montessori Handbook, Elizabeth Hainstock’s Montessori in the Home are good resources for that.

Think about the anti-commercial teaching. Think about the teaching that anything that is inexpensive or free must therefore be bad. Also think about the idea that anything that is uncomfortable to hear is somehow bad. Truth is often uncomfortable to hear — especially in a time and place where lies and deception are normal. We live in a society where officials calling for assassination of the sitting president is considered normal and at the same time a preacher quoting the Bible saying that perverted sex is a sin is considered a hate crime. And then we have silly young women who set up Facebook pages where entrants have to agree to “no hate speech” without any definition of what that might be in that group. Think about it.

If you want assessments, go to www.orgstrat.net. If you want a fulsome, one-size fits all, protocol for addressing learning problems from the mom level, look for a tab with a page. Notice that the next competitor, perhaps one step up, ten years ago cost $86,000.00. Yes, you read that right. You might find the interview with Brain Balance in Westlake Hills/Austin with Anna Bauereis. If you want a fulsome guide to think through what your child needs to learn, and how best to teach them, before you go shopping for curricula go get : Learn at Home for Great Shalom. After great success with my grandchildren who were terribly afflicted by SES, genes, and accident — I was ordered to write the book. I did it — for you.

The Window is Closing on College Applications for September

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:27 — 6.5MB)

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The Window is Closing on College Applications for September. Those really up on it started the application process in October of the senior year. For those who did not, it is time now. For those who did, it is time now to apply for scholarships. Most scholarships will want to see the parents’ tax return, and so today is the day to start (assuming your tax return was filed on time.)

Is college important? Certain credentials are important in the world of work. Others are not. Choose carefully. For those many students who just do not know their calling, I do have a Destiny Discovery seminar, intended for juniors in Christian high schools, but that could be administered to an individual. See www.info@orgstrat.net It is a whole lot cheap to pay for help in hearing reasonable vocational plan than sending a student to college only to have changes in majors, and thus wasted time and money. Good advising also helps. The journey thru the credentials can be made faster and more secure; and college “advisors” sometime don’t advise at all, and even in colleges where they might, they are not primarily focused on the same things that the student or parents would focus on: quick, frugal, and remunerative passage thru school

Isn’t college just silly? More of less and less? Just ideological indoctrination. No, not unless you want it to be. Every course have information about it, as does every professor. Choose the school for its philosophy and choose the course of study — and choose individual classes and sections that will help the most. In Texas every course must have a summarized syllabus within one click of the college homepage. Every accredited school will have a course catalog. What you get depends upon what you choose.

There are colleges that specialize in every flavor of Christianity (altho nearly every one is more liberal than the grandparent generation of the same denomination.) There are colleges that specialize in conservative political views. There are colleges that are free (usually to residents of the state and/or for some work.) Every college has some scholarships and work/study arrangement. There are libraries of scholarships at every school. Do your own research — or pay someone who already has.

Homeschoolers are probably thinking about curricular choices now, even if they don’t buy until the summer. People should definitely be checking out private schools now, if that is the route they want to go. www.powerlearningcenters. If you are a homeschool grandmother, sad that your teaching days are over — contact me, but first, take a look at www.teachachildchangeanation.org