Research Facts on Homeschooling

Brian Ray and the National Home Education Reseach Institute (NHERI) has spent decades studying homeschooling.  For those looking for research and statistics, this is a treasure trove.

Looking for a good book for a young one?

Do you look at the thousands of books in the library and wonder if they are 'safe' for your younger or more sensitive reader?  There are hundreds of books reviewed here for profanity and anti-Christian content among other things.  What a great resource for those of us who can't keep up with eager readers!

Yes, this is basically the book version of the wonderful movie review sites http://www.screenit.com/ (subscribers only) or http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

The Great Backyard Bird Count starts tomorrow!

The 2011 GBBC will take place Friday, February 18, through Monday, February 21.  Are you signed up to be a citizen scientist? 
"The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds."

Home School Registration Bill Hearing

World Maths Day is March 1st!

'World Maths Days' is an online mental arithmetic game. The official day is 1 March 2011, but the site is open to registration and practise games now. To quote them, "World Maths Day has been created for all students aged 4 to 18 years. This year, due to popular demand, there is also an adult's age category, ages 19 to 119. Only students in the 4 to 18 age categories are eligible for prizes. Adults just get to
join in the fun!".

http://www.worldmathsday.com/

Rest in Peace Brian Jacques

For those of us who love proper children's adventure stories, Brain Jacques' Redwall series has been wonderful.  Mr. Jacques came to the U.S. several times on book signing tours to meet his adoring fans fom across the pond, and I even have a wonderful photo of my son with his arm draped around his shoulder.  My library's Young Adult Advisory Board even once held a Redwall Picnic based on his recipes! 

Mr. Jacques, I know many parents have told you this already, but one last time from me, thank you.  The world you created and the books you wrote are wonderful and we thank you for sharing it with us. 

What would happen if you microwaved a ?????

The answer to many of these questions may just be here!  My favorite is the christmas lights. 

Don't try this in your mom's microwave or you may end up replacing it! 

Join in a Guinness World Record effort in Simultaneous Reading!

Please pass this on to your homeschool group. Thanks!


People of all ages are invited to help set a Guinness World Record in Simultaneous Reading on Friday, February 11, 2011 as part of the national kickoff of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. The 150th anniversary observance of the Civil War will begin that day, exactly 150 years after Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois on his Inaugural journey to Washington D.C. as President-elect. Lincoln made an impromptu speech that day from the Great Western Depot before departing Springfield for the last time.

The speech, known as Lincoln's Farewell Address, will be re-enacted at that same depot at 11:00 a.m. Central Standard Time on February 11, 2011. Thousands of people all over the world will join the re-anactor in simultaneously reading that speech. The current record of 223,363 people simultaneously reading something was set in December 2006 and is expected to be broken with this reading. All who would like to take part in the reading are invited to go to one of the registered places listed below or you can organize your own site according to the guidelines on this website: http://extras.sj-r.com/lincolndepot/ The website also has more detailed info along with the Farewell Address. Reliving our nation’s history and possibly being part of a Guinness World Record are excellent educational opportunities and hopefully many of our students will be able to take advantage of this.

Be Alert, but Please Remain Calm

A bill was introduced in the Illinois Senate asking for a manatory registration of all private school students. If this were actually passed into law, this would mean that a student attending a local brick and mortar Catholic or Jewish or Christian or Montessori or Waldorf or Sudbury..... school, as well as a homeschooled student, who did not submit the form would be found to not be in compliance (possibly even truant, although no punishment is mentioned that I have seen). No private school is going to want this.

In addition - consider:
How is IL going to pay for staff to file and organze the millions of pieces of paper this would generate?
How is IL going to pay for people to follow through on pieces of paper not sent?

I am very opposed to this.  Yet, I am asking for calm and that folks NOT contact their state Congressional Reps yet - contrary to much of the list chatter going on.  Right now this proposal hasn't even been handed over to the Education Committee. It is way too soon folks.

There are a lot of steps in between something being proposed and something actually being voted on by all the Reps. The vast majority of these proposals are never even seen by our Reps because they are withdrawn or don't make it out of committee. Many of those still don't make it to a vote on the floor because the sponsor doesn't have the votes.

We need to work to NOT be overly reactionary. It makes us seem like a bunch of ill-informed people. If we are smart enough to homeschool we certainly are smart enough to undersand the Illinois Constitution and how our government works.

On the other hand, it is WONDERFUL knowing that if this ever did make it to a third reading in committee we could raise an alarm and get such quick action! 

A link to the proposed changes:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=84&GA=97&DocTypeId=SB&DocNum=136&GAID=11&LegID=54913&SpecSess=&Session=

Cell Division in a Frog Embryo video

After beginning this concept with several classes and realizing that the old VHS version of this I have is impossible to show to one of my classes because the facility doesn't have a VHS player (not that I can blame them for not having antiques around!), I went on a hunt and finally found it! 

I am hoping that promoting this time lapsed video a bit helps a few more students better understand that every one of us started out as one single cell - and that the single cell simply made millions of copies of itself, and those cells were 'assigned' a wide variety of jobs to form the adult being.   

Spread the miracle of embryology!