Homeschooling Illinois - Legislation and Learning (HILL)

Been tied up lately

2006-03-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

My father was very sick and passed away last week. I'm hoping to have more time to blog real soon.

My youngest has also been having problems with recurrent ear infections and persistent Bells Palsy. That too has been taking up a great deal of my time. He has an MRI next week under general anasthesia and then will probably have tubes placed in his right ear sometime in the next couple of months.

The Cost of Universal Access to Quality Preschool in Illinois: A Report to Gov. George H. Ryan's Task Force on Universal Access to Preschool

2006-02-14T21:12:00.000-08:00

After very minimal research I found out that the State of Illinois has already looked into universal preschool. The title will take you to the report where you can read the report completed in 2003. It was highly enlightening. I didn't believe the current Governor's price tag for Preschool for All. This report has confirmed my suspicions. Under the plan looked at the Universal Preschool would be phased in over 10 years, serving 10% more of the target population each year. If the program was implemented over the ten year period at completion, in the year 2012, the price tag was estimated to be 440.8 million dollars. So, if the Governor's program is serving "all" as suggested, then how could they do it for 135 million over 3 years? I'll let people read the report and come to their own conclusions.

"Preschool For All"

2006-02-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

It's time for me to dial up the state legislators, again. I have never called my legislators as often as I have during Gov. Rod Blagojevich's term as governor. I might add, that of all the politicians offices I have called over the last 15 years, whoever answers his calls has been consistently uninterested in what I have to say.

Governor Blagojevich has decided that the taxpayers of Illinois should foot the 135 million dollar bill for the first three years to offer preschool for all 3 and 4 year olds. It would make Illinois the first state to do so.

I have numerous objections to this program. Illinois cannot afford it and we already pay for preschool for "at risk" preschoolers. Preschoolers with delays or who are low income are eligible for preschool. If government schools can't get the job done in 13 years, then how in the world is two more years going to help? The logistical issues surrounding this are huge. Many of these preschoolers will need transportation which is expensive and these are small children to be put on buses. Then there is the issue of where the preschools will be located. There will be a need for new structures or a remodeling of old structures. Someone will have to hire and train the new teaching staff. The list just goes on and on. I'm thinking 135 million isn't going to pay for all of this. The plan is for a minimum of 2.5 hrs which means that parents have to figure out what to do with the kids the rest of the day and gets us back to the transportation issue. On the surface, this may sound like a great idea. To really make it work, it would take a lot more money and a lot more practical approach to serve the needs of working families. Illinois just doesn't have the money to pay for this.
Here is a link to a Chicago Sun Times Article: Gov to propose preschool for all kids 3-4 yrs. old

A bit of a controversy

2006-02-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

There is a bit of controversy going on over at the ILHS Announce List on Yahoo groups. It's over one of the hot button topics in Illinois Homeschooling and I think on more of a national level too. This involves K12 Inc.

Apparently Chicago is thinking about using the K12 virtual program. See this article from the Chicago Sun Times titled, "Virtual Academy idea may become reality."

Here's where I differ from many of the vocal opponents of this plan. I think all parents have a say in how to educate their children. I, a homeschool mom of four, do not have the right to tell you how to obtain the best education for your child. I believe in parental educational choice. I am increasingly frustrated with some homeschoolers who are "against" programs that allow children to complete their public school education from home. They are schooling at home, but they are not enrolled in a private homeschool. I've heard all the arguments about people aren't bright enough to know the difference between homeschooling and public school at home. I think some of that is just ridiculous. I know there are a few who don't get it. I do not think that gives others the right to try and cut off a parent's choice to choose public school at home.

In my career as a nurse, I saw many children with cancer, sickle cell, burns etc who had to stay at home to do their public school at home. A program like K12 inc would have made a huge difference. Instead, the families had to struggle with teaching plans that weren't meant for anyone other than the person who wrote them. This on top of a child struggling with a serious, sometimes deadly illness was just too much stress. Then caretakers had to deal with scheduling for a teacher to come for a minimal visit where not much was accomplished in addition to ferrying the child back and forth to clinics, hospitals, and labs and working around home health care providers.

The dropout rate at some of the high schools is astounding. Dropouts are no longer the traditional dropout. They are kids who are afraid to be in school and their parents cannot afford to place them in a private school and are not homeschooling them. There were two shootings recently across the street from the high school I graduated from. I thought that school was dangerous when I was there.

Last night the topic at my Girl Scout meeting was mostly about the violence the kids see every day at school. They've seen violence their entire education. A substitute teacher "smacked" a girl at the local middle school. There was a fight at the local middle school where a fish tank was broken and five children not involved in the fight were injured. A fourth grader took a gun to a local elementary school and was showing it to kids. Just another week in central Illinois. One of the girls said she doesn't want to go to high school. Who can blame her? No one is looking out for our children.

I am not going to lash out against charter schools whether the work is completed at home or in a brick and mortar building. I am not going to be against K12 inc if they can do a good job with educating children who need an education. I am for parent choice in education. I will now step down from my soap box.

The Story of Science

2006-02-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

Last night, after our Girl Scout meeting at a local bookstore, I purchased the Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way for my seventh grader. I was poking around on the internet looking for teaching resources and found an errata page for the book. You can find it here(scroll down and there is a link to a word document). Now, if I can just find a way to incorporate all those errors into the book. The only idea I have is post-it notes.

I was unable to find any teaching materials for this book. If anyone knows of any please drop me an email or a comment.

Little Hands Making Little Gifts

2006-02-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

This is going to be for my son's speech therapist who is expecting a baby. I thought a gift would mean more if I found something that he could make. I did all the cutting and then he did the rest. My daughter made a matching one. The baby is very sick and I thought it would be nice for the mom to have two. That way she could leave one at the hospital and not worry if it disappeared.

And along came February...

2006-02-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

Where did January go? I've been working on the Chinese New Year stuff for the homeschoolalong and all of the sudden, it's time for the next topic. We are moving on to the Olympics for February.

Do I have a plan? Uh, no. I'm sure one will come together. That's the joy of owning a heck of a lot of books. You can slam together a unit study without ever leaving the house. I also joined Enchanted Learning.com. Sometimes, it's nice to just print stuff out.

So, if anyone knows about any good stuff for the Olympics, leave me a comment.

Not much blogging here...

2006-01-26T19:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week. Our third child had a birthday this week, followed by a Dr. visit and shots. I'm also getting ready for the knitting Olympics. We'll be on the road over the weekend to see family to celebrate the winter birthdays.

I've discovered the wonders of educational television coupled with the use of the dvr player. It's very easy to use. I was never one of those people that programmed a vcr. I already feel like I've gotten my money's worth for the extra 5$ for the family stations and the $8 for the dvr. I've been recording the Magic School Bus and now, I'm trying to record Zooboomafoo tonight. It's not one of my favorites, but the kids will zip through their school work tomorrow so that they can watch it.

I checked the HSLDA website

2006-01-23T09:56:00.000-08:00

The story titled, "Illinois Homeschool Family Dragged Into Court" remains unchanged. I think they should update the story and make it a little more reflective of the case. If the word through the grapevine in Illinois homeschooling circles is correct, then this story is inaccurate. I responded to Mr. Somerville's comment on my previous post about this, however, he has not left any more information. I really wish someone from HSLDA would be tell interested parties what is really going on.

I went shopping...

2006-01-19T15:12:00.000-08:00

at our local Barnes and Nobles and came home with these. It's a really fun way to work on fine motor skills. I love them all, but I'm particularly fond of the paper folding one. My little guy really looks forward to doing these. Of course there was the emergency trip to Target because I couldn't find any kid scissors. Never mind that we own more than 15 pair between Girl Scout activities and home school activities. I could write a book on disappearing school supplies.

Scissor skills

2006-01-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

Here's coloring...

2006-01-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

it works on color names, coloring skills and our worst subject, following mom's instructions.

A book on paper folding for wee little people!

2006-01-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

Peek-a-boo

2006-01-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

2006-01-19T15:05:00.000-08:00

How cool is that?

Ah - hah

2006-01-18T13:41:00.000-08:00

I received a google alert that led to the HSLDA website. The heading on the website was "Illinois Homeschool Family Dragged Into Court" and the article went on to describe the incident. The family was the Walters family from Joliet. I searched and could find no mention of the incident anywhere else. Without corroboration I was hesitant to blog about it. It was brought up on Illinois homeschool email groups/yahoo groups and no one really had any information other than what came from HSLDA.

Today I received an email from a yahoo group and someone reported meeting the mother. It was reported in that email that it was a complaint about homeschooling with a non-custodial mother to the school district. The person on the email reported that the incident was not over yet.

If this story is true, than HSLDA left an awful lot out in their little ditty on their website and caused a great deal of angst in the Illinois homeschool community. Of course, I am rooting for the family involved and am sorry they are going through this and hope it is resolved.

If anyone can verify what is going on in Joliet, please let us know. I think many Illinois homeschoolers are anxious to hear what is going on.

The Young Scientists

2006-01-17T17:58:00.000-08:00

We're studying molecules this week and chemical reactions. So we got out the Test Tube Adventures kit and modified it to meet our needs.

Homeschoolalong Blogspot

2006-01-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

The blog is barely off the ground and the first topic is China/Chinese in honor of the Chinese New Year that is rapidly approaching.

A Homeschool Along???

2006-01-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

In my other blog world (knitting), we have this really fun thing we do called a knitalong. People sign up and we all work on something related to a theme. My favorite last year was the Who Wouldn't Love a Handknitted Gift knitalong. I have found the coolest blogs and learned the neatest things doing knitalongs. This year I've already joined two. I think it would be really neat to have a homeschool along and I'm looking for ideas. I especially like the knitalongs that have prizes, so we'll have to see about prizes. I've never won a prize, but a girl can dream.

Here are some ideas, A Chronicles of Narnia along. The kids could read the books and do some sort of project. Then pictures, written things etc could be submitted.

Simple Machines along where the kids could build or design contraptions and send something in.

Self-portrait along where the kids could do their portraits in all different mediums and send them in.

So, how about some ideas and some people who would like to participate? Does anyone still read this after my extended hiatus?

Catching Up

2006-01-10T14:24:00.000-08:00

Where does the time go? I was hoping to participate in the Carnival of Homeschooling and then we all got sick. We were sick after Christmas so I decided we'd take an extra week off to enjoy ourselves. Then we were really sick and decided that we wouldn't survive another vacation week. Yesterday we jumped back in.

It's that time of year when I evaluate what is working and what is not. For my seventh grader I'm thrilled with Steps to Good Grammar by J. Weston Walch Publisher. We've tried it all and this is the first thing that has truly worked for her. Sequential Spelling is also working for her. I'm using the Story of the World with both the 7th grader and the 2nd grader. That was money well spent. I've learned so much that I didn't know or didn't remember. I use Singapore Math and I love it. We just finished primary with the 7th grader and are moving on. I took it slow and used tons of supplements that Singapore puts out.

In the second grade material class, I'm still happy with Miquon math. I also use Singapore Primary Math with it. I love First Language Lessons and I've read that there is a second book coming out. I was resistant to the format of that book for a long time. I finally bought it because nothing else was working and it has worked fantastic for my second homeschooler. We use a workbook from Sam's for Reading, I think it's the Complete Book of Reading.

Goals for 2006:
1. Work on writing
2. Do more formalized science
3. Try to keep better records (I fall off the bandwagon every year)

I'm going to try and post goal updates each month to keep myself honest.

Still alive...

2006-01-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

barely. After the holiday rush of finishing all the presents, wrapping and shopping we all got sick... twice. First we had something with a fever in the days after Christmas and then we had the worst flu that I have dealt with in 10 years. Four of us were sick at the same time. This has led to a few observations.
1. It was really smart to buy a window fan with an exhaust setting. I was able to air out the house without freezing out the occupants.
2. Always have a flu pack in a box ready to go. My husband and I were too sick to drive and we had gone through all the clear liquids and light foods with the first wave of sick children.
3. The best friend in the world is the one who will be late to her mother's birthday party to pick you up sprite, graham crackers, pedialyte etc.

I hope your year has started out a bit more smoothly than ours.

Remember that big bucket of yarn?

2005-12-13T23:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I've knit 17 scarves now. 5 went to the fundraiser for Megan. I was pleased to hear that four sold and Megan's mom, Michelle, was thrilled to get to keep number five. Blogging will remain slim as I throw myself into full holiday tizzy. There is knitting to be finished, ornaments to be made, Girl Scout parties to be thrown, gifts to deliver and many more things I've forgotten. There's also that bit about educating the children. I probably should remember to feed them to. Happy Holidays!

Still Snowing

2005-12-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

Let it Snow!

2005-12-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

Birthday Treats!

2005-12-07T10:41:00.000-08:00