In today’s political discourse, conversations about saving our nation and its future are increasingly common. Key issues such as border security, increasing crime, economic stability, and rising inflation dominate headlines.
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For 19 years, I was a master of time. Down to the minute, I controlled time for others and used it to meet my and others’ ends, irrespective of the desires of those in front of me. In short, I was a public-school teacher, and controlling time was my talent. Although I and other adults often talked about helping students reach their potential and grow as learners, what we really did each day was control their time and force upon them ideas and subjects in which most of them had little to no interest.
What if there were a better way? A way to help each student learn the way he or she learns best, develop autonomy, explore passions, and take control of his or her own time? Thankfully, that way does exist in the form of alternative schools and learning programs that continue to increase in number each day.
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Recently, I asked my fifth graders if they enjoyed writing in cursive. Students at the all-boys Catholic school where I work start training in cursive penmanship in third grade, so my students had been practicing it for the better part of three years. I expected them to say that it is boring, that they do not like it, but they all said that they preferred cursive to printing. One boy explained that it allows him to develop his ideas more easily. Another one liked the way the strokes of the pencil obey the natural movement of his hand and shoulder. Most surprising of all: They all find writing in cursive fun.
Cursive penmanship is a dying art. History professor and former president of Harvard Drew Gilpin Faust wrote an essay in 2022 lamenting that Generation Z never learned cursive. She acknowledges that “the decline in cursive seems inevitable. Writing is, after all, a technology, and most technologies are sooner or later surpassed and replaced.”
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When she was a young girl, Sandra Day O’Connor began her education at home. Her early years of schooling on an Arizona ranch were sitting at the kitchen table with her mother, learning to read, and taking long nature walks.
I read this, and this scene of serenity, this future Supreme Court Justice, beginning her education at home, formed an image in my mind of what might be possible.
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As a veteran homeschooler, I am well aware of what a marathon this lifestyle can be. There’s no break when you live and work in the same place.
It’s time to take a deep breath and assess the situation. Burnout is a normal part of homeschooling. Everyone experiences it at one time or another, and it’s often associated with feelings of being distracted, overworked, and overwhelmed.
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A key report recently released by a federal government commission could result in a slew of new regulations being pushed onto youth sports, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics, which was established by Congress in 2020 to address concerns about the U.S. Olympic Commission, including the handling of sexual abuse cases, outlines several key policy changes that it believes the government should pursue, including expanding the reach of government in youth sports at the grassroots level, according to the report. The injection of federal oversight and government into an already functioning youth sports system could create undue regulations on leagues and possibly force diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in local areas, hurting young athletes while also forcing Americans to pay into a sports league that they may not be interested in, experts warned.
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Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill Wednesday evening that gives medical professionals who freeze embryos for fertility treatments immunity from criminal prosecution.
The bill was proposed by lawmakers in February after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created during the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) were “children” and multiple IVF clinics shut down as a result due to concerns about being prosecuted. Ivey announced that she had signed the bill in a statement released on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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Alabama’s largest hospital paused in vitro fertilization treatments to help women get pregnant following concerns about potential prosecution of patients and health care providers after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled this week that frozen embryos are children.
“We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through I.V.F., but we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for I.V.F. treatments,” the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system said Wednesday, according to The New York Times.
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I’ve heard it said, “I was a great parent before I had kids.” The same can be said of being a homeschooling parent.
Homeschooling circles are full of idealistic moms and dads who often have very high standards for themselves and their children. Certainly, having strong ideals can work as a guide and benchmark for navigating what can be a very challenging endeavor. However, these high standards can also backfire and leave even the best of us feeling like failures.
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A bill to require public and charter schools in the state to socially “transition” children who request using a different name than their birth name is making its way through the Colorado legislature.
The bill, introduced in January, would require public schools and charter schools to use a child’s “preferred name” and label the refusal of a school to do so “discrimination.” It would also create a task force within the Colorado Department of Education to “provide recommendations” to schools on how to implement “non legal name changes” for children.
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