Mrs Mungo - I don't have the pleasure of being as widely traveled as I would like, but I've certainly lived and worked in numerous melting pots for various cultures. I'm not suggesting so much that the fix for public schools is a solid injection of religion, as much as that we as a society have lost our way and part of the reason has been due to the insistence of creating religious free, culture free, value free, and controversy free environments within our schools and public settings. By agreeing to get along, too often we're just agreeing to put off the argument to a later date and not agree on anything. Historically, I think what made America successful was a combination of western values/common law, willingness to argue and tolerate about beliefs and important matters outside of the material sphere, an open mind to science/all forms of discovery and hard work, a strong uniformly religious and educated population, and a society that was very welcome to families, entrepreneurs, and those who wanted to be self-reliant. I worry that we've almost done a 180 from that point..... and I see this reversal most magnified in our public schools. That said, I'll teach my kids evolution in detail at home...but I'll also tell them that it might not be complete and is just one theory and doesn't necessarily conflict with other beliefs. I'll also ask them to think about the societal impact of a culture that believes in evolution but not religion.

From a different perspective, I'm proud of Texas for re-opening the question of how public schools should handle teaching material that is controversial. For too long, I think, American society has believed that public schools are a neutral place...that hasn't worked out, and I think we're finding out that it hasn't been true. Public schools have been forcing a lowest common denominator for knowledge/values and teaching a vapid culture onto kids under the guise of neutrality. So much so that the very premise about whether the American citizenry is still educated enough to properly run a first world democratic republic is a fair question. Our politicians, businesses, and government reflect the decay of us as a people. How to fix it? I don't know....perhaps not with changing the science curriculum of schools, but at least Texas realizes there is a problem here that won't be solved if we just hire more teachers, create more textbooks with more of the same useless knowledge, and send more $ to be wasted in a broken system.

None of my kids are in high school yet, but they are in Kolbe partly because of the eventual high standards for the high school curriculum. That said, Kolbe is extremely flexible in K-8 by allowing parents to substantially modify the curriculum and to take courses 1yr lower or above grade level as needed. My oldest son is 5th grade and behind in language arts, and I'm hoping to have him caught up to grade level or beyond by high school. I'd highly recommend talking to your Kolbe advisor to see what is recommended... As for vocabulary, all the Kolbe courses are intense about this...even at 5th grade, my son has to confirm he understands ~50 words/week...for perhaps 25 words, he has to look them up in the dictionary and keep a journal. We make a point of having at least one vocabulary flash card session each week to reinforce words he should have learned before. This is a program that builds up vocabulary over the years, and is the biggest difference my kids notice between public and home schooling.

Looks interesting, might be a good fit for younger singapore math learners..but I'm not convinced yet that it adds much for grade 4 or above and there is no content yet for anything above grade 5. Perhaps older kids are supposed to graduate to aops or khan academy...

Thanks for posting this.

Some specialties are in demand, but in general - there is no job security in computer science unless you found your own company, have moved up to management, or are constantly retraining yourself for the newest skills and working 60-70hr weeks. There are a few factors in play here, countries that have targeted IT and technology as the means to increase the standard of living of their citizens (US company can hire a phd in computer science from India for $500/month (at least that was the case a few years ago))...Furthermore, computers are just a skill that really reached proficiency only in younger generations...gen x is the first that has seen computers most of their life, executives in older generations running companies are happy to outsource fields they don't have an intuitive feel for, and lastly the united states seems to have had a policy of encouraging globalization...our companies are prodded somewhat to take the cheapest labor from around the world, as long as we keep science, lawyers, and business executives here at home..This seems like a policy that will only cause grief down the line, since technology has been the primary growth industry for the last 20+ years and will likely be for the next 20 years...still, I don't see a national revival that values technologists and inventors as highly as scientists and lawyers anytime soon. So, yes, we currently have a great deal of graduates in STEM fields who have trouble getting a good value for their education and I've talked to many of them that are encouraging their kids to avoid STEM fields...why work twice as hard when you can go into a different field and get the same compensation for less work and have more job security.

Basically, I love the topic order/choices, problems in the Activity, Intensive Practice, Sample Tests, and Word Problem Workbooks for grades 3-6, and how it makes my kids be creative in solving problems and understanding that there are a million ways to solve a problem but perhaps 1-2 methods are best for each situation....but I find that my kids just tend to skim the textbook and I'm finding the teachers manual unhelpful. Ideally, there would be khan academy videos for singapore math...and I'm aware there are at least a few of them, but nothing yet comprehensive? As a result, the only way I can get my kids excited about the lesson of the day is to get in front of the whiteboard and demonstrate my own interpretation of the topic and work through some imaginary problems, and then have them pretend to correct or double check my work..or create their own problems on the subject that I have to solve. How is everyone else handling the conceptual part of singapore math? How do you teach? Or do you just hand the kids the text and workbook? Yes, I've been reading the additional books that are supposed to instruct the parent about singapore math concepts and how it differs from traditional American math textbooks...it does help me in understanding what the workbook wants the child to understand, but doesn't really help with teaching topics.

My kids were born just after 9/11 -- they know it is important to me and others, but it hasn't really meant anything to them. Anyhow, I substituted the 2006 movie about flight 93 for 2hrs of academics today. The kids were hoping throughout that the passengers would find some way to save the plane...they were upset that there was no happy ending. However, that in itself was part of the lesson. Some-days, there is no way to win...you will lose, you've been surprised and won't have enough time to recover, the only question is how you handle it, how much grace and inspiration you can pass along, and what you can accomplish before the end. It's also important that my kids understand that 1) you can minimize how many and how fervent the enemies you have in life are, but you must alway be ready to face them and 2) Mankind when faced with horrible or hugely evil events can cower like sheep, even if that is safe - is it right? Is there a skill or mindset for being prepared for whatever happens in life and not hiding away from the worst that can happen?

In my house, home schooling is a full time 100% commitment job for one parent regardless of the amount of academic time or age. The kids may see only 2-6hrs of academic time during the day, but for the parent it is near 100% of the day figuring out how to optimize things so that the child gets the best balance of academics, sports, creative play, independent learning, and other critical life experiences. In truth, the difference between homeschooling and public school isn't time. It's responsibility. In the modern world, parents generally compete to find the best public schools they can send their kids to, volunteer for the schools, and then help the kids out afterwards...but the general focus is that the child's achievement is the schools responsibility, and secondarily the parents. As a result of limited resources at public schools, greed, and a huge amount of politics - kids are tracked for different futures, educational content is usually mediocre, and even the brightest kids are held back to what is economical for the school (in even the best cases). Home school is a totally different mindset - it is a belief is that every child can do wonders if given the right one-on-one tutoring, environment, and balance of activities. The parent is 100% responsible for the growth of the child. It's saying 'hell, no - anything less than the best future I can give my child is not acceptable'. The parent becomes responsible for for the child's mind, body, and character in a way that public school parents almost never are. He/she learns how to be a teacher, strong evaluator of curriculum options, learns how to look out for learning deficiencies or anything that can be holding the child back, and also becomes enormously familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of his/her child and how needs and capabilities changes as they mature. He/she may consult with many other experts, but isn't looking for someone else to be an authority or make the decision. Any mention of 2hrs a day or that public schools are anyway comparable completely misses the point. Home school is attitude, philosophy, and all the time you can give. Public schools are saying that your life is more important than your child's and hoping the public school eventually delivers an adult you'll be able to live with and eventually be proud of. The current day I have set for my boys who are 8 and 10 years old is 3-5hrs pure academics, 1-3hrs minimum additional learning or reading on their own, at least 1-2hrs of pure play, 1-2hrs of challenging sports, and then an average of 1-2hrs of socialization with peers or family time. The boys may feel like they've had an unstructured day, but it is anything but.

There are internet telescope sites that will allow you to virtually rent a larger telescope than you'd never normally be able to afford for an hour or two....it's convenient that they're all setup and all you need to provide are star coordinates.....you get ccd output and downaloadable files for further analysis. Some of these sites have monthly plans for those on a budget. I think there are a good number amateur astronomers using these scopes these for real research. This seems to be the only practical response for families in urban areas that want to do any true astronomy, short of making time every few weekends to drive a few hours to the desert or mountains for an overnight camp out.

For singapore intensive math, it's either a full page or 3 word problems as the math assignment for the day.... what's neat is seeing how hard the kids work to solve them, even when they have no clue...and some days you get lucky- the child states he has no idea how to do the problems, but still manages to solve them all within 30 minutes. I also have no issue with my kids skipping those problems that are too hard for them.

I think most kids act up because a) they've encountered a problem they can't handle, b) they've learned that this is a way to manipulate or control their parents, c) they just have too much energy, or d) they're still developing self-control skills. I think you have to analyze which one of these factors are in play. If it's a problem they can't handle, odds are you'll only get rid of the behavior by discussing the matter with them and coming up with a solution that works for both of you. If it's manipulation, you'll need to be firm so that they learn that this doesn't work. If it's energy, than there needs to be a break for exercise added somewhere. For self control skills, I just gently encourage them to do the right thing next time.

For our family, I think the motivation was roughly: 60% Academic (children either had academics needs not being met or already knew the material the public school was teaching, we also wanted to give them as much of an advantage as we could) 20% Flexibility for specialization(older son is into competitive swimming) and parents being able to define the school year calendar. 15% Values (Not wanting to constantly fight all the bad values and habits the kids pick up in public school) 5% Religious (being able to add catholic religious studies more deeply into the curriculum and drop books/subjects that go against our beliefs)

K -- Well, thanks everyone for the feedback and honestly I had decided to start with an aggressive schedule and then whittle it down to what the kids could handle. My current plan is also to have three semesters of ~13-15 weeks with 2-3 week breaks or vacations in between. We're also hoping to do a bunch of stuff through disney vacation club during some of the breaks and let the kids help with choosing destinations as rewards for their good work throughout the year (still cheaper than private school and us parents need our own breaks from home schooling). As for details and going too broad versus going deep: - The intention was that the lowest priority course was the greek language and we'd drop that if we needed to - Not all subjects are performed each day, the only consistent subjects are math and language which get a combined 2-3hrs every weekday. Other items may only be touched 2-3 times/week. - The greek history is more of a deep dive focus within ancient history than a totally separate course, even memoria press only offers it as a semester course. This is the history course for Kolbe, and we added SOTW to it. - Kolbe also requests that geography be its own course, I've fleshed it out by adding some civics - We're just starting the botany science and if needed we'll spread it across two years and/or merge it with the other science course, I'm still becoming familiar with it. - Mostly my goal is to have the kids be very solid in language and math, and all other subjects are supposed to just encourage that. - The introductory writing course is very mild..we started with writing strands 3 and we're only doing one chapter/week. Kolbe originally recommended Classical Composition (fables) and I've pushed that off to a later year.

Thanks for all the replies! I feel better knowing that my original time estimates were not too far off. I'll just have to hope then that I didn't overload too far with the general 5th grade curriculum: First Form Latin (Online via memoria press) Greek Language, very light introduction (starting with Greek Alphabet Code Cracker) US and World Geography, Civics (Kolbe + Memoria Press books + man in the states books) Story of the World (Ancient Civilizations) Greek History - Introduction, Famous Men (Memoria Press + Kolbe Supplements) Singapore Math - 5th grade (txt, wb, intensive practice, sprints) + khan academy videos/practice as needed Life and Earth Science w/ Home Lab (Harcourt, Amscope Microscope w/ USB Camera) Botany (apologia) + Gardening Introduction to Philosophy and Logic (includes online sessions from http://www.greatbooksacademy.org) English Grammar (Primarily Voyages in English + Memoria Press workbooks) Introductory Writing and Composition (Mainly writing strands) Cursive and Penmanship (Mainly various cursive workbooks and writing letters) Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling (Kolbe Curriculum) Reading, Dictation, and Literature (4th-6th grade), (Kolbe Curriculum) Catholic Religious Studies (Kolbe Curriculum) Physical Education (Karate/Fencing/Competitive Swim Team/Wii Fit/Bowling) Lego Robotics (First Lego League) Art and Music (Primarily Saxophone)

First year home schooling two boys (3rd and 5th grade), and it's mostly going well - I've been a little aggressive in deciding the minimum amount of material I want them to cover (latin, writing, history, geography, and extensive language in addition to their own interests in science and math). Six weeks in and we're not really behind, but we'll be lucky to get everything done within the full calendar year and the kids are starting to ask that I make more time in the day available for their own interests. The 5th grader was pulled out of public school late and has several educational gaps I'm trying to get him caught up on...I'm currently asking him for 5hrs/academics per day. He's OK for the first 3hrs/day, but rushes his work in the last two hours. The third grader is very self motivated and an independent learner -- I'm sure he thinks he can teach himself everything he needs. Maybe he is right, but I still want him to complete the formal education program I've designed and get him ahead in a few areas. I've scheduled 4hrs/day, but have been settling for 3.5hrs occasionally. For aggressive home schooling parents of other engineering minded students, how many hours/day do you find reasonable for formal academics during the K-8 years?

If you can afford it and have some engineering skills of your own, get a 3d printer like a makerbot and have your child work with software called tinkercad....whenever he has a good week, let me him design his toy which you will print out for him. Note that this is all much more complicated than it seems but it does teach some engineering skills and lets the child feel he is actually building something.

Day 1: Shutdown the existing public school system and let all the existing teachers go Day 2: Refund and cancel any significant existing taxes for the prior public schools Day 3: Increase the size and funding of public libraries at least 300%, with the requirement that the libraries must be able to fully stocked with any reasonable selection of textbooks that a parent may need to teach their children common subjects. Parents should be able to rent books for no more than a minor charge + possibly some kind of security deposit for expensive books. Day 4: Re-open some of the public schools, but without any fixed teaching positions. Teachers may interview with parents to act as private teachers. And, not just teachers, anyone could offer their educational services....the school would simply be responsible for performing background checks, providing a safe location for children to learn at, and being a neutral broker with respect to any private contracts the teachers and parents entered into. Maximum of 5 kids/teacher in grammer grades, 8 kids/teacher in middle school, and 12 kids/teacher in high school. Day 5: The state could require that all children take a minimal standardized test every 3 years, but the results would be anonymous to everyone but the parents, and the test would otherwise have no impact (essentially, just serve as a educational census). Day 6: The state would put in place a program to provide a minimal subsidy that could only be used for educational materials and teaching services for low income parents. Parents could be sued for fraud if they used these funds for anything but a true education for their kids. Day 7: Any limitations on churches providing free schooling for the financially disadvantaged would be abolished. Day 8: Prod popular culture to make it cool for parents to be more active in their childs education and get rid of the stigma for kids being smart, replace american idol with 'american student' or 'america's most successful parents'

The article has at least four major weaknesses: * It assumes that parents can make a difference in the school. Nothing I've seen suggests this is true. You can volunteer all you want, participate in school groups, attend school board meetings, etc...but if you live in states like California, good luck. The system is meant to destroy any change that doesn't work to the benefit of the teachers unions and the politicians the unions have arrangements with. The unions give significant campaign contributions to the politicians, the politicians in return isolate the teachers unions from any accountability for results. Then both sides participate in obfuscating how the system works and simply cater to whatever is the educational fad of the moment. As long as everyone claims they are working hard to do something, nothing actually has to get done. And if anyone tries to hold them accountable, they blame the parents or loudly advertise to the ignorant that all will be better if the taxpayers just funded the system at a higher level....despite the fact that the system is already bloated and wasteful with dollars as is. I was on a school site council for two years and tried to get some changes made...getting anything done meant proving to the district that parents wanted it, having the various teacher groups buy into it, ensuring the district didn't have to spend any money on it, getting teachers trained, making sure that it didn't conflict in the slightest with any other priority dictated from above, and then realizing that the school really only had the resources to pay attention to no more than 1 issues raised by parents each year, and even then only to extent that it shielded the entire system from being called out on other problems. The response was always a minor improvement at the very best, a fig leaf at worst. Sorry, no. I won't put up with this anymore. * Second, if one reads up more on the history of public schooling, it becomes obvious that it has been a failure from the beginning and was designed to be so. The entire purpose of mandatory attendance at public schools was not educational excellence. There is no reason to believe this will ever change, short of a revolution. * Thirdly, the article also assumes that we as a society can agree on what makes a good school in the first place. I'm confident that this is not the case. Parents have strongly different opinions on what values should be taught in school. Removing values from school is not a neutral choice, it just is a different choice. * Lastly, there are at least two major systems of belief with regard to human nature....one suggests that human nature can be significant altered for the better, the other says that the best we can do is to make everyone aware of the pitfalls of human nature, make people contemplate the costs of their choices, and then arrange societies to minimize the harm that any individual or group of individuals can do. These two systems of belief produce different visions about how effective a public school can be. The pessimistic view of human nature simply believes that no one will ever be as motivated or dedicated to teaching children as the parents. Therefore, the best education has the parent as the center (home school, or small locally run public schools w/ minimal state involvement). The optimistic system thinks that society can bypass the parent and do a better job, that in essence the child belongs more to the state than the parent (e.g. Germany which bans home schooling). You are not going to get agreement from these two groups as their philosophies are antithetical to each other..

USB camera is a must :) My kids keep sending me emails with image attachments showing me what they've found.....Today I asked them to see if they could see an example of mitosis in the onion root slide. Sure, enough...I got 4 slightly blurry photos an hour later....I heard both of the boys saying today that they were going to post their slide photos on google+ and share with their friends.... They are also competing to produce the best photos of whatever the concept of the day is. The bigger problem now is getting all the minor supplies and showing them how to make more permanent slides and stains/etc. On the negative side, the covers for slides are normally made of thin glass and the boys press down on these when setting up.....about 20% of the time, we have broken glass fragments on the desk...something to be wary of.

Hits: - Kolbe Academy Curriculum as a baseline - Anything ancient history related, especially when we do a deep dive into the material - Life science with the 1200x magnification microscope hooked up to the digital microscope (kids are making their own slides and are emotionally invested in learning biology) Misses: - Classical Composition has been the biggest flop Jury still out on: - The general approach of just skimming over science areas from 3rd-5th grade, the kids really seem to appreciate going in depth - Latin (Trying both prima latina and new missal latin)

We've just gone through the same process and they key indeed is having the kids make their own slides and having a dedicated area for the microscope. Teach them to cover and put away the microscope properly. Add a usb camera that plugs into the eyepiece slot and connects to a laptop. They can make their own slideshow and send it to their friends. The biggest issue is getting the right set of lenses. Objectives that require oil are not really a great idea for younger kids. Amscope has a 60X non-oil objective which when combined with a 20x eyepiece gives 1200 magnification. That is the highest I can cheaply get them to. Unfortunately, a great many interesting things in biology will require higher magnifications and/or something more advanced that an optical microscope (electron is frequently used for 10,000 - 100,000 magnification).

Some apps on the fire try to monopolize the screen real estate and hide menu items....the fire is extremely permissive in what it allows apps to do....but once you learn the shortcuts specific to each app, it isn't really an issue. And, most apps are well behaved.

Wireless 3G/4G works perfectly fine on the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G, and the performance of wifi and quality of sound on the fire is amazing due to the attention during development and included hardware that Amazon invested into both features compared to nearly all other android tablets. The biggest drawbacks of the fire are the limited number of apps included in Amazon's web store, it's deviance from stock android, the lack of an SD card slot, the lock in to AT&T for 4G with minimal data plans, and that it heavily promotes buying of additional content. Otherwise, it's a rock solid tablet and neither the Nexus or ipad have much, if anything, over it. For video, reading, and audiobooks I'd consider it at least equal if not better than the most ipads. Pricing is competitive. If you regularly shop on Amazon, it also has a very good interface to allow one to do while on the go.

The viewable area is a rectangle with 8" x 4.75" dimensions. It's the perfect size for displaying HD video for a single child...2-3 children can watch video from it, but for multiple children, a real computer monitor or hd tv ensures everyone gets an equal view.