The Elysian Fields

Just in case anyone wants to play along, here's the work for the first month:

• August
• READING:
• The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas
• Mozart by Marcia Davenport
• 23-29 The Man in the Iron Mask (d. 1703)
• Movie vs. Book
• Fact vs. Fiction
• Lessons Learned
• Current Events: 1625-1724
• Music
• Technology
• Art
• Cooking
• Americas
• Europe
• France
• Spain
• Hapsburg Empire
• Tsardom of Russia
• Russian Empire
• Ottoman Empire
• 30-5 The Mission (1750s)
• Fact vs. Fiction
• Lessons Learned
• Current Events: 1725-1755
• Music
• Technology
• Art
• Cooking
• Americas
• Europe
• France
• Spain
• Hapsburg Empire
• Russian Empire
• Ottoman Empire

Yeah.

Supposedly that's what today is.

Apparently, some kids are trying to spread the word and organize a rebellion against (at least) Lehighton Area School District.

How do I know?

The Superintendent sent home a letter to parents telling them the school district would be working with the police department and that our children would not be put in jeopardy.

Except.

They sent the letter home.

With the children.

So now all the kids know.

Way to get the word out!

Just got off the phone with the state contact for Project 720 and received some clarifications:

1) Some exclusions are based on the definitions of "school entity" within the scope of the various legislation. If cyber charter schools are not defined as a school entity for a particular piece of legislation, then it does not apply to them.

Some of the legislation I looked at the other night does include charter schools and cyber charter schools as school entities. Apparently, this is not the case with Project 720.

2) Dual Enrollment is a statutory program; it is not the same as Project 720.

3) Project 720 is a collection of high school initiatives. It is an administration initiative.

4) Brick & mortar charter school students are not explicitly included in the definition of "school entity" that is impacting us here, however, because they can take advantage of the public school busing of the district of residence of the student, they apparently can still get into the dual enrollment situation.

So.

In summary, a lot more information, and a lot for me to look up and research. It seems to me the job to do would be to find these places where cyber charter schools are not considered school entities and get that changed.

There is some feeling that perhaps this decision came not so much from a sudden change in the PDE for ordering them to stop, but rather from the attorneys of the cyber school advising them to stop.

There was no clear cut answer on why cyber schools were excluded - just information that, in fact, they are technically excluded.

All schools in PA with the sole exception of the 7 (ETA: 11?) cyber charter schools are, as of a decision made in December 2007 and as of an effective date of February 4, 2008, no longer able to access the program 720 grant funds to reimburse them for dual-enrollment in high school and college. Brick & mortar public schools, private schools, charter schools, and homeschool students are eligible for these funds.

The PDE has explicitly excluded cyber schools from this list.

The PDE are the ones who need to explain why they did this - lawyers and so forth prevent the school from explaining any of this rationale, as it's not theirs.

The PDE does not have any information regarding this decision on their website.

Although we have been asked to hold off until a March meeting of school staff with PDE staff to see if the limited program they're offering can be made available, I don't think I'll be waiting.

I'm not sure they can explain this successfully any other way than: "We don't like cyber schools, and we'll screw their students out of benefits other children state wide have access to." Really. There's no reason to treat these kids any differently than any one else - the only difference between them and any other charter school is they can draw students statewide, where brick & mortar schools work within a single district - or perhaps limited number of districts?

I will, however, give them the opportunity to explain themselves, and I will also be asking various media type folks to look into this in more detail and find out why the state is doing this, and why they aren't talking about it publicly.


Project 720 Program Guidelines 2007/2008 - no mention of cyber schools

June 2005 - Gov. Rendell touts Project 720

Project 720 website

In an effort to comply with federal mandates and ensure Every Child Is Dumb As A Post, the state of Pennsylvania has threatened to revoke the charter/licensing/whateverthehellitisthatallowsthemtonotteach for Justin's school if they continue the CHAMPS (college ed concurrent with high school ed) program.

Wouldn't want to educate our kids, now would we?

Justin will be able to continue out this semester because it's paid for, but that's it for further education.

Maybe if we weren't paying so much for the education he's not getting, we could afford to send him there on our own, but the annual school taxes are already more than a month's salary.

I don't think I'd mind the high price if there was actually an education attached to it.

Why yes, I do have a surplus of Ss, why do yous asks?

Anyway.

The Contour is on fire. And not in a good way. Nothing as spectacular as what happened to sidhefire's truck, but Something is Melting, if not going down in flames. It's intermittent - was so bad I had to drive with windows down; then fine for a week; bad enough to make Justin and I gag on the long ride up our driveway last night; and gone today.

Of course, it also needs that $4000 fix-check-engine-light repair looked into. Yes, I should have taken it back when it first happened. Sadly, it's tough to spend a whole workday commuting back and forth every week - in addition to the required forty hours of typity-typing - and still manage to get a car to the garage. I'm debating bringing it to the dealer here - who will shuttle me over to the office - but it does need to go back to those guys on the off chance I don't have to fork over another few thousand I can't afford.

And an oil change.

~ ~ ~

Rachel is one of the smartest kids in her class - the teachers say this often enough. Yet, she couldn't place minor hamlets in tiny insignificant little countries. Geography is apparently not taught anymore. That's the beauty of Nickleby - they're not leaving one child behind, they're ensuring they all stick together, in the far recesses of the severely uneducated. I suppose it's not that important - I mean, really, London, Madrid, Rome, Moscow, Berlin, and other small villages don't figure much on a global scale, so why should Americans bother learning about them?

At least she knew Venice, Cairo, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. And, as of yesterday, she knows where Babylon was.

In other news, she will have no further math homework. They're stopping learning things so they can make sure the students are ready for the PSSA test. Wouldn't want any of them to fall behind, or, god forbid, test on their own merits of what they learned. Teach how to take tests, and you create a group of people who do multiple choice beautifully but Don't. Know. Anything.

All this - and her frustration with out-of-control students talking when they shouldn't and otherwise distracting her from schoolwork - seems to be leading to us pulling Rachel from fifth grade (at the middle school) and homeschooling her.

She is concerned she wouldn't be able to continue with the band, but she'd rather learn something. There's also a chance she'll be able to continue with the band even if she's not attending. That may not be so bad. This morning, while we waited for the bus (which has fifth grade girls seated with high school boys - what could ever go wrong?) at 6:30am this morning, she mentioned she didn't like quarter notes - the director wanted her to hold them out longer. Of course, a bigger problem, which she went on about, was that they had to play the William Tell Overture with eighth notes, instead of sixteenth notes as it was written. She takes it as a personal insult that they're not allowed to play faster, that they have to play a simplified arrangement of the tune. =)

~ ~ ~

One of the interesting bits with the return to homeschooling¹ will be coordinating activities with getting Justin to college on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Rachel will be able to do work during his class by bringing things along for the ride, but it might get sticky if that time overlaps with when she's supposed to be in band.

He starts his first class² this coming Tuesday. He'll be attending at the college. And, when he graduates high school in 2010, he'll have an associates in science.

In other news, Justin was able to learn an entire segment of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition - Il vecchio castello is packed closely enough that he can play the work as written without running out of octaves on his keyboard. With the other pieces, he can play the bass part or the treble part, but not both without transcribing.

~ ~ ~


¹: Rachel was homeschooled for three years, K-2. Justin was homeschooled during those years, for grades 5-7. After that, Justin began attending a cyberschool and Rachel wanted to try public schools. And, not entirely coincidentally, that very same September, Mr. B arrived on the scene.

²: Only one class this semester, two over the summer, and, I believe, three in the autumn, when his regular eleventh grade classes will kick in.

Signing Time! Vol. 1: My First Signs DVD

This is the first video in a series designed to teach little kids how to use American Sign Language. Not only was Brandon (about 27-30 months old when he first watched it) able to pick up all the signs, he still recalls many of them nearly six months after the fact. Rachel (9) and Justin (15) were also able to pick them up without getting overly annoyed that it was a video designed for toddlers. Even more amazing, I, who can rapidly sign the alphabet at the blistering pace of one letter every 20-40 seconds (and I can read the ASL alphabet almost four or five times slower than that!), can manage the signs presented here.

I really wish we had this earlier for Mr. B, or for the other kids. Children can pick up ASL well before they're able to express the same concepts verbally, and the early communication removes at least some of the stress and drama concerning the pre-speech set. All three of my kids could sign "please", "thank you", and "more" long before they could speak. Getting them to communicate earlier removes a lot of the frustration when they understand what you are saying but don't know how to express themselves.

Of course, if, like the creator of the video series, you have a child that is severely hearing impaired, than learning ASL becomes even more important. You never know when ASL will come in handy in other situations. I look forward to picking up other discs in this series for my children and for myself.

Global Learning Program in PA Spotlight

I'm pretty close to speechless.

PA Schools sued over creationism plan - previously noted here about the Dover, PA school committee's determination (brilliant, unequalled scientific minds that they are) that Darwin's theory of evolution has some "gaps" in it.

Err, hmmm... looks like the school committee's own education has a few gaps in it... hopefully, the ACLU helps them see the light... and maybe eventually they'll realise things. Like how you can still believe in things you have to take by faith and still accept what you can witness with your own eyes.