The kids watched an old episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy a few weeks ago. The show talked about how air is a fluid and used a hover-craft as one of the many examples. Joe was intrigued with the thought of making a personal hovercraft, powered by a leaf blower. He's been nagging me to build one ever since.
We've been a little busy trying to complete projects on the new (to us) home we bought in September, so making a hover-craft was not high on my priority list. After putting Joe off for a short time, I realized that this was a great educational experience and should be encouraged. So I gave permission for the project. Joe spent some time researching the project on the internet and then made a materials list. We had some wood in the garage that Joe decided to use instead of purchasing a larger piece.
Joe (with minimal help from Mike) spent a few hours cutting out the circular base and air hole, stapling heavy plastic to hold the air, and using duct tape to anchor the plastic around the air hole. They finished the project two nights ago. Joe tried to use the hover-craft that evening and discovered that he needed the larger piece of wood to lift his weight. The hover-craft filled with air, but couldn't get him off the ground.
Yesterday morning, the kids decided to try the hover-craft with some of their smaller siblings. Allie was able to get off the ground and move slowly around the driveway. Everyone was excited by the discovery and plan to purchase wood this weekend to make a few more hover-craft for the larger children. There is even talk about having hover-craft races as part of our New Year's Eve activities. Hmmmm, children racing down the dark street on hover-crafts, drunk drivers behind the wheels of cars, icy streets. Not my idea of a fun New Year's Eve. Fortunately, I don't need to make the decision for another month!
Showing posts with label homeschool supervision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool supervision. Show all posts
Friday, November 6, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Supervision for Home Schools
Our local public school system contacted a home school mom (not me) to assist with a large number of failing students were being removed from the public school classroom and calling themselves homeschoolers. The public school system wanted the homeschool mom to show the parents how to homeschool using public school materials. Some of the students were failing due to truancy, but their actual school work was done with passing grades. Another group of these students were being kicked out of public school and have no other alternative, except to homeschool.
The homeschool mom contacted a non-profit human services type of organization and set up on-line courses (from the public school) for the students to take as "homeschoolers". The homeschool mom plans on having oversight of these students, because they don't want to homeschool, but are homeschooling by default. She is helping one parent of a former-public school student to take over a supervisory position on a day to day basis, but the homeschool mom will continue to monitor progress. She feels that these parents should be watched to make sure that the students are making adequate progress.
This whole concept scares me! These parents want a public school education for their children. They want oversight and input from someone in authority. The public school should work with these parents to help them use the public school on-line resources as public school students. These are NOT homeschool students. Don't call them homeschoolers!
Homeschool parents do not need oversight from anyone. The parent has taken on the responsibility to make sure that their students are well educated. The public school, other homeschool parents, nor anyone else should determine what adequate progress is for a non-public school student. Homeschoolers in our state have their own school and do not accept public school money. By combining the materials (on-line courses, computer access, etc.) the public school and other governmental officials could easily decide that homeschoolers should have oversight by a professional. I can imagine the thought process, "This new group of "homeschool" students have oversight, why shouldn't all homeschool students?" Who will determine which homeschool parents are capable of making good choices for their students education?
Our state has lost a large number of students to homeschools, charter schools, and other alternatives. The population of the state is declining. Many, many public schools have closed in the last 10 years. More will be closing this fall. Fewer students mean less tax money and fewer jobs for teachers. This is a sensative issue for people from the public school front and for homeschool parents as well. As homeschool parents it is important in this political climate that we retain our autonomy as homeschoolers. When homeschool parents appear to support parental supervision, they are opening the door for legal problems for all homeschools in our state.
The homeschool mom contacted a non-profit human services type of organization and set up on-line courses (from the public school) for the students to take as "homeschoolers". The homeschool mom plans on having oversight of these students, because they don't want to homeschool, but are homeschooling by default. She is helping one parent of a former-public school student to take over a supervisory position on a day to day basis, but the homeschool mom will continue to monitor progress. She feels that these parents should be watched to make sure that the students are making adequate progress.
This whole concept scares me! These parents want a public school education for their children. They want oversight and input from someone in authority. The public school should work with these parents to help them use the public school on-line resources as public school students. These are NOT homeschool students. Don't call them homeschoolers!
Homeschool parents do not need oversight from anyone. The parent has taken on the responsibility to make sure that their students are well educated. The public school, other homeschool parents, nor anyone else should determine what adequate progress is for a non-public school student. Homeschoolers in our state have their own school and do not accept public school money. By combining the materials (on-line courses, computer access, etc.) the public school and other governmental officials could easily decide that homeschoolers should have oversight by a professional. I can imagine the thought process, "This new group of "homeschool" students have oversight, why shouldn't all homeschool students?" Who will determine which homeschool parents are capable of making good choices for their students education?
Our state has lost a large number of students to homeschools, charter schools, and other alternatives. The population of the state is declining. Many, many public schools have closed in the last 10 years. More will be closing this fall. Fewer students mean less tax money and fewer jobs for teachers. This is a sensative issue for people from the public school front and for homeschool parents as well. As homeschool parents it is important in this political climate that we retain our autonomy as homeschoolers. When homeschool parents appear to support parental supervision, they are opening the door for legal problems for all homeschools in our state.
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