Uncle Sam Will Use Schoolchildren to Pressure Parents on 2010 Census

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Barb

If you doubt John Taylor Gatto‘s assertion that public schools are all about indoctrination, not education, here’s something for you to consider.

The U.S. Census Bureau has announced a plan to educate schoolchildren on the benefits of the U.S. Census, and why they should nag their parents to answer the census takers who will be arriving at their front door next year:

Between January and March, the Census Bureau will help plan a week of Census education in schools. During Census Week, teachers will devote 15 minutes every day for five days to the topic by discussing such things as civic participation, confidentiality or geography. Beginning in mid-March, more than 120 million Census questionnaires will be delivered to residential addresses.

The Census Bureau is partnering with Sesame Street to extend the 2010 Census message to preschoolers and adult caregivers. Under consideration: Using Sesame Street characters on Census materials and having characters participate in school events and public service announcements.

Aside from the fact that the school day is supposed to be spent teaching kids how to read, write and do math, I have to wonder why the government is coming after kids with this Census Public Relations campaign. I understand that some students have non-English speaking parents and can explain the census to their parents. But they are the minority of students, and really should not be expected to do the government’s job.

But there’s something a bit more disturbing here. Consider what it says in the U.S. Constitution:

Representation and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers … . The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

— Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States

The Census Bureau quotes this part of the U.S. Constitution right on its site. Note the use of the word “enumeration.” According to Dictionary.com, “enumeration” means “to determine the number of; count.”

Now take a look at a sample of the census. Note that “How many people are living in this home?” is only the first question. Then the government wants to know the following about every person in the household:

First and last name

Sex

Age

Date of Birth

Hispanic or not?

Race

Whether each person sometimes lives somewhere else

How they are related to each other

That’s one heck of a lot more than just enumerating. It’s actually pretty intrusive, and certainly not specified in the Constitution. But the government wants this information badly enough that it’s got a plan for pressuring schoolchildren to get their parents to answer all of these questions.

In other words, they’re indoctrinating and using kids for their own purposes.

Yet another reason I’m glad to be a homeschooling parent. How about you?

Cardamom Publishers is Back at Work

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Barb

Cardamom Publishers has reopened today after being closed for a week while we moved our business to Janesville, WI. Our books are in stock and we’re now shipping orders again. If you ordered a book in the last week to ten days, it will go out today.

Our new address is:

Cardamom Publishers

PO Box 2146

Janesville, WI 53547

Thanks for your patience while we made this transition!

The Aftermath of Moving

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Barb

Buy at AllPosters.com

It’s good to be back online, even though I have no business doing so since I’m surrounded by boxes and chaos everywhere I look. But sometimes you just have to take a little break here and there to keep your sanity.

If you’ve ordered a book directly from us, bear with us. The printer isn’t hooked up yet (don’t know where it is but it has to be around here somewhere!) so we can’t print invoices and shipping tickets. We’ll get your order out soon, I promise.

Dd18 begins tech college on Monday, and soon after that I’ll start another year of homeschooling, but this time with only one child, our youngest, ds16. What a strange feeling! I’ve been homeschooling at least two children for so long that I can’t remember what it’s like having only one child to work with!

This year we’re homeschooling in a new place. We loved living in Door County, Wisconsin the past two years. While the area we just moved to is not nearly as scenic (not many places in the Midwest can compare to Door County!), it’s three hours closer to friends and family, including our adult children. So that’s a big plus 🙂

The house we just moved into was built in 1920. It has only ever had two owners. The first was a school teacher who never married. The second is our landlord, and she’s also a school teacher. I think having homeschoolers in this house will be a nice change of pace! It’s a very pretty house with high ceilings, original woodwork and lots of character.

We’ve never lived in a city before and never lived in a historic district, so this is a continuation of our adventure of living in new places, which began when we left suburbia two years ago for life in a vacation town between a bay and one of the Great Lakes. Once we get settled in, I think we’re going to like it here. But we’ll never get settled in if I don’t go back to unpacking boxes, so offline I go……

Fasten Your Seat Belts……

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Barb

Close-Up of Tops of School Buses in a Parking Lot, Brooklyn, New York

So here we are. The last weeks of summer already! The months sped past, and now there’s a chill in the air, it gets darker a little earlier in the evening, and there are other signs that fall is on the way.

With it comes a new school year for the neighbors as well as for us. Soon you’ll watch the neighbor kids line up for the school bus while your kids are still in their pj’s, and maybe still in bed. Will you think, “We are so lucky to have this freedom.”? Or will you think, “Oh dear God, help me, I’m not sure I can do this after all!”

I don’t mean to put pressure on you, but I have to be honest: your attitude is going to be a major factor in the success of homeschooling in your family. How you look at this venture speaks volumes to your children.

Imagine you’re seated on a jetliner getting ready to take off across the ocean to Hawaii. You hear the captain calmly announce that the jet is ready to take off. As he makes his routine pre-flight announcements in a practiced, serious, authoritarian voice, you feel as though you’re in good hands.

Now, imagine instead that his announcements begin with him nervously stammering, his preflight speech sprinkled with um’s, er’s and ahem’s. How secure do you feel?

Nothing has changed; after all, you’re still on the ground. But the captain’s attitude can be cause for feeling secure or cause for alarm. How you feel is directly linked to his attitude.

It’s the same way with your kids. They see their friends going to school. Strangers ask them where they go to school. They hear about this school place and all they know is that they don’t go there. How you behave will make them either feel secure about not going to school, or make them worry that there’s cause for alarm.

Does your attitude need work? Are you scared or worried? Have others, parents or friends, made you feel insecure about homeschooling your kids? Better get your act together! You don’t want to doom this school year before it’s even begun.

Think about why you’re doing this. Think of all the things your kids have already learned while in your care: each screaming little newborn bundle of needs has become a walking, talking, bright happy child. You’ve already shown that you have what it takes to raise and teach each of your children. God has given you the responsibility of doing this, and He has equipped you for it.

So turn away from watching the big yellow bus pull up to the line of neighbor kids, face your own kids, and in a practiced, serious, authoritarian voice, say: “Everybody get dressed! We’ve got work to do!” And then set about making another year of learning and memories.

Won’t Be Long Now….

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Barb

The scent of sunblock no longer gives me a thrill. My pots of flowers look overgrown and a bit dehydrated. The weatherman’s announcement of another day in the high 80s makes me cranky instead of happy, as it did back in May. Yep, slowly but surely, summer is on its way out.

Now it’s the thought of the apple harvest, cooler nights and going back to sweaters that makes me smile. Oh, and new books, new glue sticks and crayons, support group meetings starting up again and a fresh start to the school year.

I couldn’t wait to put away our school stuff a few months ago, yet now I’m eagerly thinking about getting back to the challenges and joys of homeschooling every day.

I wasn’t always like this. Those first few years I homeschooled, I faced each fall wondering if I’d be able to pull it off for another year. Sure, I’d taught my kids to count, to read, to print letters. But that soon seemed like small potatoes. Up ahead loomed cursive writing, fractions, topic sentences, science projects, and someday, chemistry, foreign language……trigonometry!

I’d had some success in the early years, but how would I tackle the big stuff? I faced each fall with trepidation. I’d think, “We’ll try it for one more year, and then decide…..”

And the years passed, and the kids kept learning, sometimes in spite of me. Seemed like I learned along with them, though, and things came back to me that I hadn’t thought of in years. Fractions made sense this time. Geography was so interesting. And once they reached high school, I learned that you could sign them up for community college chemistry if you didn’t want to turn the house into a Chem lab. What a relief!

So, are you scared? Or are you excited? Or both? It doesn’t matter, really. What matters is that you want to homeschool, you enjoy seeing your kids’ eyes light up when they catch on to a difficult concept, you know where to go when you need help in helping them. The emotions come with the territory. Just keep thinking, “One more year, then we’ll decide whether to keep going.” And before you know it, you’ll find yourself facing every fall with excitement, not fear.

(Looking for some tips to get your year off to a great start? Check out my free e-course, “Top Ten Tools for Homeschooling Parents.”)