One little change that I would like to see in my state would be that when we register, which is just filling out an online form that no one ever looks at, I'd like it to auto-send a letter and worksheet to home schooling parents. Something like a list of the main standards expected of public schoolers at each grade and a letter explaining that home schooling doesn't have to follow those standards, but it's a good idea to look at your child's abilities and set objectives for the year. Then, have a form where parents can write in what their objectives for the year are and how they will evaluate this. Filling this out would not be mandatory, and they wouldn't be turned in anywhere. It would just be there to show an example of standards and invite parents to think long-term. A few years ago I would have scoffed at this suggestion, but one of the big questions I see asked locally is "what should I teach? What are they supposed to know?"

I went to a consignment sale about a week before things started to hit, so we're good. I've noticed a lot of clothes giving/selling/trading on our local mom's Facebook group, so I guess that's what we'd do if I needed.

By default language, I mean the language that 2 strangers speak or attempt to speak when meeting at a neutral location.

I agree that schools don't have a cohesive plan for cultural indoctrination in America, but I think they still do indoctrinate. Some parts are intentional, if haphazard. It is unquestionably accepted that one should use the toilet before or after an event. Having a need in the middle is an embarrassing problem. Other things are taught, I think, accidentally. It is hard to get out of the mind set that the grade is the most important thing. Anyone who really stops to think knows it shouldn't be this way, but many parents who have thought and agreed that learning trumps grades still feel panicky when their children are in danger of a B in elementary school. As HappySmileyLady mentioned, many if not most kids learn that imaginative play is for the very young. School is probably not the only source of that, but it's an important one. Clearly, if we can't accept nation wide math standards, we're not remotely likely to accept nationwide cultural standards, and I don't know what body to possibly trust to set those standards. "Fraught" would be the understatement of a lifetime in regards to that. Still, thinking along those lines made me wonder, what are the beliefs we want our nation's children "to accept without question?" Not that there should be a stigma against questioning them, but a sort of "default position" we expect everyone to take. For example, "Racist beliefs aren't just factually wrong, they are morally indefensible" is one that most schools transmit pretty clearly and most people find that appropriate. "The default language if the US is standard English" is a pretty safe one, too, but it often gets paired with much less acceptable beliefs that I would not want transmitted.

First, I know indoctrination has a bad connotation, but I'm not meaning it in the always bad way here. One of the jobs of schools, as was mentioned in the terrible Harvard Magazine article, is cultural indoctrination. That article already has a thread devoted to it, but I have a three part question. 1. What aspects of American culture do you think American schools should impart to all students, as possible? 2. What aspects of American culture do you think schools are actually imparting? and 3. How does homeschooling for into this for you? (Specifying America is just to give this really broad topic some focus, but thoughts based on observations of other nations' schools are certainly welcome.) One example to illustrate my thinking: Different cultures around the world have different ideas about how to show respect. In America, we typically remove hats when entering a building and especially in formal settings. Many schools enforce this as a rule to teach children what is expected by society at large, though this is perhaps fading. In this particular example, a home schooled child who never heard this rule might suffer slight embarrassment in a first job type setting if they had to be told to remove a hat and then looked around and realized everyone else already knew, but it would likely be no big deal. Other aspects of culture could be more disconcerting, especially if the child had been raised in a family that differed significantly from the general culture.

My husband is a police officer. They get their temperature taken before going on shift, but they are either not allowed out strongly discouraged from wearing masks, plus none are provided. They've been being paid at overtime rates, basically, as hazardous duty pay, but I don't know if that will continue now that our governor seems to think it's basically all over.

We got a free sample about 6 months ago.

I found myself getting annoyed much more easily, and I looked back and realized it started when I cut out soda, so I added back one Dr Pepper a day. I think it's a combination of meeting a physical need by giving myself some extra calories (nursing a toddler a fair amount still, and it's draining) and an emotional need because I have a whole little ritual of sending the kids to play, then drinking a Dr Pepper while watching a show or reading something just for me. That half an hour is probably more important than the drink. Anyway, I sometimes still have to call redos for myself, and sweet isn't even the goal.

He is risen indeed! My kids are having fun calling this back and forth across the house this morning.

If you haven't already tried it, choosing a book that's interesting and just a little difficult for him, then buddy reading it, can be a bridge between "reading program" and "independent reading." By that I mean sit together at a relaxed time. Get out a book like Elephant and Piggie or Frog and Toad or whatever fits his level with just a but of stretch. Then you read a page, he reads a page, or you read a sentence, he reads a sentence, whatever works. There are books called "You read to me, I read to you" that even have color coded buddy reading short stories.

My kids have been looking forward to this day for months. They have great plans to prank me, but since the oldest ones are 6 and 7, I'm expecting lots of jumping out of hiding places. I should probably do something to them, but I don't know what.

It looks beautiful. You may be avoidng this, but I find it helpful when it is easy to tell the "bent" of homeschool sites so that I don't go deep in before I realize I have irreconcilable differences with their view of science or history. Maybe include an "about us" where you respectfully state your position, like, "on this site we assume an acceptance of generally held scientific positions and suggested resources are in line with this" or "on this site we assume a literal interpretation of Christian Scripture and suggested resources are in line with this."

Check to see if you can get those pages from the sample online on the Beast website. I haven't looked recently, but I think they have the whole first "lesson" up.

My six year old and I were just talking about this. I told him that it was going to take a long time for things to get normal. I used family birthdays to give him a topic idea, but my guess is it will be crazy at the end of April, still weird in June, getting towards calm in September, and probably normal in December. I was optimistic that everyone would start home and flatten the curve, but talking to a neighbor discouraged me. He was shocked that the nursing home had refused to let him in to see his mom. Until then, he'd just vaguely heard there was a virus going around but had no idea it's serious. Another friend and I were going to get together to hike this week, so I was telling her that I would prep the kids that they could talk but needed to honor social distancing. She hadn't even heard that term, which made me not want to meet up because if her kids didn't understand why mine were staying back and not giving hugs, there could be problems. Now, she's symptomatic, though her Dr didn't have tests and just told her to assume she has it. I hope she understands now and is quarantining, but in the days before she had been in several crowded places, and she and her husband both ran cashier's tills over the weekend. Still most people are staying home, and so there's room to hope.

We're planning on going hiking a couple time a week unless the trails get crowded. I think I'm fine with meeting up and hiking with others to talk as we walk. To me, that seems in line with the guidance I've read. However, I'm nervous. We already arranged to meet with one family, and I've reminded her that my husband is likely to come into contact with the virus and since she has parents living in her house (late 60s, I think, and poor health) I completely understand if she wants to back out. I thought she surely she would. When my daughter got lice this friend kept her kids away for three weeks after we got rid of them, so I was sure she'd play it safe with a killer virus. Nope, she is going to to meet and her dad is coming, too! She hadn't even heard the term "social distancing" so I'm wondering if she just hasn't paid any attention and thinks the whole thing is ridiculous. I'm not sure whether we should just cancel the hike and go a different day, or whether I should just remind the kids not to touch each other and wash up afterwards.

Our libraries are closing end of day today, but they are going to have librarians answering questions by phone with access to the computers, so anyone who has to renew our has forgotten a pin should call in for help. Maybe your libraries have the same? Our libraries are also suspending due dates, which I hope they don't have to do manually.

I'm hoping because there's really no other option for us.

My husband is a police officer, going into people's houses and coming into physical contact with people across the country, where Corona is, all the time. So, I figure we're going to get it and we just have to stay away from old people and those with health issues. I partly hope he gets it soon and we can know we have it and then be done with it. Having him home for a while, even for a sick time, would be kind of nice, as long as it doesn't turn terrible.

Cool that you're doing this. My kids and I have been a part of several vaccine studies over the years. Eventually, I bet, there will be a placebo added to the study so that they can sort out real vs imagined side effects, but I guess they aren't there yet with this study.

Can you make a decent video recording of a dress rehearsal so that if it does get cancelled, your actors, especially the seniors, can have that to show their friends and family and keep as a memento?

You scared me! I thought I'd forgotten when it was!

I agree that we should all, children and adults, spend time with things that make demands of us. Some works absolutely lend themselves to that more than others. A formulaic novel, whether intended for youth or adults, may be fun, but deeper attention makes the work less enjoyable rather than more. Other works become richer the more attention we give them. At different points in our lives, they may show us different things. I'm not convinced, though, that gaining slight knowledge of a great work gives any benefit over slight knowledge of a lesser work. It's fully possible to skim along reading a great work without engaging your mind. The first time I picked up To Kill a Mockingbird I quit after one or two pages. Scout was talking about her brother playing football, and I had no interest in a book about football. I'll admit, that was just the slightest of knowledge about that great work, but I'm glad I put it down because at age ten, I wasn't ready for it anyway. Humorously, that same classroom shelf was dominated by Baby Sitters Club books. I don't really remember if there was anything between those two extremes there, though the school library was well stocked with classics. My friends and I were the right age and maturity level to get a fair amount from those silly books, however. They weren't deep, but they portrayed relationship issues and and other problems along with how the girls solved them in a positive way. I read lots and lots at that time, more than those around me. Much of what I read was more demanding on me as a reader and thinker, but reading a book that my peers were also reading, then discussing it with them, helped me to engage with the ideas in the text more deeply. My ideas are still developing about this, but I'm coming to the idea that "Read great works to your kids" is just not good advice. It's not terrible advice either, but "talk with your kids about ideas, and help them develop skills to talk with others about these ideas" would be better advice. Reading great works together is an excellent way to come across those ideas, but we shouldn't be afraid to take lesser works, even slight ones, and talk about the things we find there.

I agree with you with what he probably meant, but I think I disagree with you both. I think minimal knowledge of great works can do harm, and I think deep knowledge of slight/junk works can be beneficial. Having just a passing knowledge of Jonathan Swift's "Modest Proposal" could lead to a lot of misunderstanding about cannibalism, for a humorous example that truly pops up from time to time. I don't think anyone would start eating babies because of it, but they might end up with odd ideas about politics of the time that would make it harder to understand politics today. On the other hand, my kids will spend large amounts of time pouring over their Star Wars Lego Minifigures encyclopedia, something so "slight" that I'm almost amazed it exists, then reading any random Start Wars easy reader from the library. They examine, catalogue, and debate. They discuss good and evil and compare story lines, making predictions and asking questions. They are ages 6 and 7. It would be great if they did all this with real literature, but I think there's a ton of value in what they are doing. It will prepare them for studying deep things deeply in a way that watching Macbeth, at their ages, just won't. I do tell them a little about Shakespeare and Cervantes and other great authors as they come up to help them understand references, or at least to gain the understanding that references are being made, but I don't devote much time to it. I see recommendations for classical schooling that have Shakespeare studied every year, though.

I read a quote from Dr Christopher Perrin, cofounder of Classical Academic Press, speaking to Classical educators/parents. He said "The slightest knowledge of great books is better than the greatest knowledge of slight books.” Would you say this position is consistent with Classical education as used in the current "classical schools" movement? Is it consistent with the larger tradition of Classical education in the US? (Is it even worth it to ask whether it has anything to do with the "traditional classical" methods dating back centuries?) On one hand, I view one of the draws of Classical education is the limiting of the field of study so that one can spend more time with fewer things and so know them well, and this doesn't seem consistent with that. On the other hand, some folks doing "classical" things with their kids seem to skim about a lot. I thought this was all about creating pegs, with the expectation that deeper study is to come later, but is part of the reasoning for it that slight knowledge of deep things is better than deep knowledge of "slight things"? I read this quote in an article about a conference, so I'm lacking context, I know. If you know more, please share, especially if I'm inadvertently misrepresenting Dr Perrin's position.

I did buy some extra peanut butter and some children's ibuprofen. It was funny because people were posting pictures of Sam's being completely wiped of stock, but when I was at Kroger, which is a very popular option in our town, they had plenty of everything. Maybe people planning to resell?