Happy Belated New Year!

Yes, I know what day it is, it’s the 10th. But despite all my best efforts to avoid rampant illness over the holiday season, it crept up on me last week and knocked me down with five days of fever. Ugh.

Now I’m feeling better, ready to tackle another year. There are some good things coming this year, and I’m excited.  I will share those things when I can. In the meantime, let’s enjoy some good news. I’ll bet you can’t read this story of what happened shortly before Christmas when the staff of a Dallas middle school asked for men to volunteer to be dads for some boys who don’t have dads in their lives at a “Breakfast with Dads” event….and not cry.  God bless every single one of those men as well as all of those boys.

Homeschooled Young Woman Succeeds in the Music World

My husband and I love the Internet show “Live from Daryl’s House.” It features a variety of musical talent who take turns visiting musician Daryl Hall (of Hall and Oates) and jamming with him and his band.

One of the best episodes of the show so far features a young woman named Kandace Springs. I was curious about her, so I did a little research and learned that not only is she a big fan of Ella Fitzgerald (as I am), but also that she was homeschooled. Good for her!

Check out one of the songs she performed with Daryl Hall on his show:

More Jobs Not Requiring College

My kids are grown and my grandkids are little, so college isn’t really an issue in our family right now. But for homeschoolers, it looms large, so I like to share news of what’s going on in terms of whether or not teens can or should go to college. Lately I’m seeing more articles about companies no longer requiring new hires to have a college diploma, like this one and this one.

I see this as a good sign. I have nothing against going to college; in fact, my college experience was a great one. But I think that requiring every potential employee to have spent six figures (probably borrowed) to get that diploma is ridiculous, and I’m glad to see the landscape slowly changing.

Run, Don’t Walk, Away from Public Schools

I’ve been accused of being negative about public school. It’s true, I’m guilty. When I was an inmate, er student, in the public schools, I thought it was a big waste of time. When I became a parent, I chose to homeschool my kids instead of putting them on the big yellow bus with the neighbor kids.

Public school was bad enough back then, but look at it now. Teachers complain that the students don’t listen to them because they’re allowed to be on their phones in class. Public school grads arrive at college unable to read at grade level or write a coherent paragraph. Meanwhile, political correctness and political bias run rampant.

Just recently, a Boston public school allowed a tombstone with the name of President Donald Trump at a school-sponsored Halloween event. On the other coast, a California school sponsored a scarecrow contest where one of the scarecrows was clearly meant to represent President Trump. This would never have been allowed in the schools I went to, as flawed as they were.

Of course, these specific behaviors, while condoned by the schools, are the fault of parents. But the schools allowed their behavior instead of forbidding it. While the institution of public schooling itself is one giant mistake, some of the families involved in the public schools are also problematic. How else can you explain parents who send their children to their local public library’s Drag Queen Story Time?

Run, don’t walk, away from the public schools (read John Taylor Gatto’s books for encouragement). If you’re not up for homeschooling, find a good private school. Don’t sentence your child to years in a failing system.

 

Scaring Kids in the Name of PC

My younger kids enjoyed watching “The Magic School Bus” on PBS years ago. I didn’t mind because it was mostly educational. But today’s version apparently includes scaring kids by telling them that a monster will get them if they don’t live the green lifestyle. Propaganda is alive and well in children’s programming. What a shame!