I agree with you. I would rather let those who actively seek to learn nothing and disrupt the classroom leave so that those who do wish to seek learning can do so. But the people who make the laws continually confuse correlation with causation -- i.e. students who take classes past Algebra 2 are more likely to graduate from university, therefore we must make everyone take classes past Algebra 2 and then they will all graduate university! -- completely ignoring that of COURSE if you take the strongest math students they will be more likely, on average, to graduate from university.

There's a difference between "early" as in 6-7, and illiterate adolescents. There's the 12yo who is on about the 1st grade level according to the OP. There's also the 10yo who WANTS to learn math and simply hasn't been taught to read. Those are problems. Again, if they're being addressed, that's one thing. If they're not ... then yes, I do consider it neglect to not have a normal child reading reasonably well by the time they're a teenager.

Being illiterate makes it extremely difficult to seek knowledge. Again, I do not think this is a clear-cut case and respect someone's choice not to report. But for me, illiteracy in a child over ten is something I would report, if the parents were resistant to something like teaching reading. If, OTOH, they were willing to consider alternatives (such as nearly-independent phonics DVDs/self-teaching math books), and work on getting the kids readnig, no, I wouldn't.

Hah. Yes. If the other students are talking and all the student hears is blah blah blah blah blah, it's not going to work so well :P

Bolded mine: It doesn't seem that they're teaching them to read very much either, given that the OP added the 12yo is at about a 1st grade level and the 10yo is illiterate and frustrated by not being able to move on in math. This, for me, is where it crosses the line. If they were doing nothing other than reading, Bible, and math I wouldn't report. Yes, every radical unschooler you've HEARD of has their child learn to read. A friend of mine teaches at a public school and they recently had two completely illiterate middle-schoolers (one could write their name only, one could maybe read at 1st grade level) from different families placed in their school. I was talking to him and it's not at all the first time it's happened. You don't hear as much about homeschooling failures (which do exist) because a) nobody likes to trumpet failures and b) many who would otherwise have fit into the failure statistics get dumped into school.

It requires a teacher who really, really knows what he or she is doing so that they can recognize when a student is working towards a valid discovery and when a student has made an invalid assumption. Furthermore, it takes more time to think through and discover and there's only so much time in the day. Discovery math programs work better in suburban schools where the teacher likely knows math and the parents will rush the kids to Kumon if they need extra drill :P

Yes. This is why my SO thinks he is bad at math. You see, in English, Science, and History he just had to read the book and pass the exam, whereas in Mathematics he actually had to work some problems. This, of course, means that he is both stupid and bad at math. :nopity:

There are some math-loving el-ed majors, but too few. I do not jest when I say that I have heard prospective elementary teachers say "Why do I have to understand fractions? I am only going to teach kindergarten." Even a few of those can really ruin a child's attitude towards math. It's not that they're in the majority ... it's that once you've gone down the road to I HATE MATH the road back uphill is far longer.

Yes. I should've said "if possible" Chris, is this the ds at VCU? I looked at their website here: http://www.students.vcu.edu/dss/resources/for_students.html and it does list course substitutions. I will add that some universities will allow you to substitute english-language courses in the culture and history of another country if you have a qualified disability. Some won't. So he really needs to go to the department of disability services and ask.

Hmm, it's actually pretty hard usually to get an entirely different course substituted rather than accommodations made in one of the required courses. This goes double for self-diagnosis rather than formal diagnosis. If he does decide to seek this, I would a) have him advocate for himself and b) consult with the disability services on campus to see whether it is possible, and furthermore what types of testing he would need for a diagnosis.

Yes, there are only a few books in which anything at all continues -- Theatre shoes, for example, is post-ww2 at the same school, and the fossils are mentioned. They're also mentioned (iirc, briefly) in a painted garden. They're really not cheesy rip-offs -- they're all by the same author, and the "shoes" names were added later in most cases :P

Tibbie, you know them better than I do, but have you already suggested Elizabeth's phonics lessons? The fact that it's both based around the KJV and free should be a powerful draw. I think she said earlier in the thread she'd be willing to put them on DVD as well if they can use a DVD player but not internet. It'd also reduce the 10 yr old's need to have her math books read to her. ETA: Found the post: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3376922&postcount=180

Good point. No, you're correct. (If the problem was really (2y^5 - 5y^4 -2y^3 - 3y^2 - 6y - 23) divided by (y - 3), the answer was correct.)

I love them all. But some on the very top of my list were: Tennis Shoes Travelling Shoes Circus Shoes

Wolfram alpha differs with you. (scroll down to quotient and remainder, it will also show steps) http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%282y%5E5+-+5y%5E4+-+3y%5E2+-+6y+-+23%29+divided+by+%28y+-+3%29 They get 2y^4 + y^3 + 3y^2 + 6y + 12 remainder 13. Your error seems to be after the y^3 term. When you subtracted after finding y^3, you should've had (y^4 - 3y^2 - 6y - 23) - (y^4 - 3y^3), which is 3y^3 - 3y^2 - 6y - 23. The next term would then be 3y^2. It seems you accidentally ended up with y^3 leading. Perhaps you lost the 3 on the y^3? I can't give more details without seeing your working.

Let's put it this way: It has 1,043 reviews on amazon with a 2-star average :P It is seriously one of the most awful conclusions for a series I've ever, ever seen :(

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree: I am pretending this book never happened.

I don't fly any more, except internationally.

She said the older teens can. This is where the crux of the matter is for me. If they were teaching the children to read and having THEM read the Bible, as well as doing math, I would still not think it ideal but I wouldn't be inclined to interefere. But not teaching an able child to read, especially not by 10-11, is imo educational neglect.

As a matter of fact, I've seen several people say that other people's parenting decisions are not their business. But I wasn't even responding to that, but rather to the implicit idea that there shouldn't be laws about that in the first place. I absolutely think that "educational neglect" should be on the books as illegal. Personally I'd define it as being significantly far behind grade level (let's say 3+ grades) in reading/math/writing with a child 10 or older, with no plan for remediation and/or no action taken on said plan. Whether I would then report someone on those laws is a completely different matter.

There are always slippery slopes. Declaring that causing your child to die because you didn't seek medical care for appendicitis is criminal runs the risk of criminalizing a parent who treats a minor respiratory infection with home remedies. Declaring that beating your child to death is criminal runs the risk of criminalizing parents who give the child a single well-deserved swat on the rear. Declaring that starving your child is criminal runs the risk of criminalizing parents who are unable to feed their child by standard measures or simply don't believe that the USDA food pyramid is adequate. Because a slippery slope exists does not mean that we should do nothing under any circumstances. It means that we should at all times be vigilant to ensure that we remain near the top of the slope.

Santa left us notes every year. For some reason I didn't make the connection that they were in my father's handwriting and on his paper until far later :P

I actually liked the illustrated and retold classics version at that age for familiarity with the storyline.

Here's a source for the childhood of Paris: http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae2.html#91 (Btw, the story of this text is rather interesting.)

Yeah, no kidding. I mean god****, even at university you can go to your professor's office hours and ask for clarification. And they're expecting an elementary child to teach herself alone?