For you homeschoolers, Tina Hollenbeck has done excellent work in compiling a list of curriculum providers which are remaining independent from the Common Core State Standards. The purpose of the list is for parents’ information, not to pass any judgment upon one curriculum or another, and it is posted on the Educational Freedom Coalition website. See the list.

Those posting the list at this website are not making judgments…..but I will. I recommend avoiding curricula which aligns with the Common Core State Standards; however, I also recommend evaluating any curricula carefully since they may be deficient for some other reason(s).

On May 14, 2013, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the current administration’s decision denying asylum to the Romeike family, a homeschool family who fled from Germany to retain their parents’ right to homeschool their children.

“If our Administration is willing to explore a policy of leniency for millions of immigrants, it is simply inexplicable why they cannot find room for one homeschooling family from Germany,” says Michael Farris of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, which plans to appeal the decision.

Read the article.

Pull quotes:

“Consider the recent history of high stakes testing in the state of Washington. We spent more than a decade and a billion dollars on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) only to find that the test was deeply flawed…..”

“The truth is that as long as we try to force every kid through a one size fits all system we will never see improvement. No other country in the world is running an education system on the pretense that all students are the same and as long as we pursue that folly we will continue to waste precious resources and fall further behind our competitors.”

Read the commentary by Bob Dean

In September of 2011, as the Common Core State Standards were being completed, Senator Marco Rubio wrote a letter asking Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to justify his program, since there were at least three laws stating that such a program was illegal. Read Senator Rubio’s letter. In the letter he cites three laws that […]

The Department of Education’s Race to the Top initiative, along with it’s components, including the Common Core State Standards, are questionable on so many levels. They are the Executive Branch’s attempt to do the Congress’s job and make education law. Furthermore, education isn’t even a federal enumerated power.

Race to the Top funding was placed in the 2009 Stimulus Bill.

We are glad that some lawmakers are now taking notice and taking action. Senator Grassley has written a letter and has invited his fellow senators to sign on. Read the letter.

We urge all the Senators to sign on to restore sovereignty to the states, and to restore respect for the separation of powers.

The President has called for universal preschool claiming it will solve many of society’s ills. However, the Heritage Foundation has analyzed the Federal Department of Health and Human Service’s own study. The Congressionally mandated study of the Federal Head Start Program has found the program woefully wanting. The Heritage foundation concludes:

“…….HHS has released definitive evidence that the federal government’s 48-year experiment with Head Start has failed children and left taxpayers a tab of more than $180 billion. In the interest of children and taxpayers, it’s time for this nearly half-century experiment to come to an end. …..”

Read the commentary by the Heritage Foundation.

One of the functions of education is to pass the history, culture, and values from one generation to the next. In this regard, the Common Core State Standards’ chopping off many of the classic samples of traditional literature will effectively insure that the next generation will NOT know America’s classic literature, nor the values it embodied.

Read the analysis by Sandra Stotsky.

Universal preschool is one of the components of President Obama’s Race-to-the-Top initiative. Of course the plan is to first start with low-income youngsters, but as with so many other programs, this will eventually extend to every preschooler.  The Homeschool Legal Defense Association is a long-time supporter of parents rights, and the Chairman, Michael Farris, explains why this is a bad move. Read the article.

Since currently, most preschools are either private enterprises or church-affiliated, this means these independent preschools will be drawn under government preschool mandates and lose their independence.

A dad in Florida was furious at what he found in his son’s backpack.

Read the article: “Dad furious after finding this crayon-written paper in Florida 4th grader’s backpack: “I am willing to give up some of my Constitutional rights…..to be safer”

These incidents happen frequently and have been going on for years. I know, because a similar incident happened in our family years ago. Only now, in these days of instant media, are we able to learn what is happening. Be alert! And maybe you’d like to consider homeschooling–we did, and it was terrific.

“Very few U.S. citizens want to see their government even slightly imitate that of China, which keeps dossiers on all citizens’ performance and attitudes. These records influence work, political, and school opportunities. Because “everything they do will be recorded for the rest of their life …” read more

And in another article: “Over the past 18 months, a massive $100 million public-school database spearheaded by the $36.4 billion-strong Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been in the making that freely shares student information with private companies…” “…..Yet the company which will manage this information says in its company documentation, “cannot guarantee the security of the information stored … or that the information will not be intercepted when it is being transmitted…..” read more…