Homeschooling Conference at Guadalupe Shrine 26 August

Please let your homeschool group know about the 3rd Annual Midwest Homeschool Family Kickoff with the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe founded by His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke! www.guadalupshrine.org We hope you can make it!

Wisconsin Catholic Homeschool Conference in Milwaukee April 15th

Friday, April 15, 2016
12:00pm to 6:00pm

Clarion Hotel & Conference Center
5311 South Howell Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53207

This year our conference is moving to the Clarion Hotel. Using the Waukesha County Expo for the past two years had been very helpful getting us on our feet, but we felt it was time to upgrade to more refined and comfortable setting. Holding the conference in the International Ballroom at the Clarion Hotel will hopefully make the conference even more enjoyable, and moving closer to the city should make the conference even more convenient for many attendees.

Admission is completely FREE, and there is no need to preregister! Donations are greatly appreciated. (If you would like to make a donation, you can do so now using a credit card. At the conference, we will only be able to accept cash or check.) Parking is plentiful and free.

Details

Scott Walker Drafts a Home-Schooled Army

When Scott Walker talks about education—whether he’s in the parking lot of Office Products Co. in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, or on stage at Disney World in front of deep-pocketed, business-friendly donors—he mentions home schooling.

Perhaps more than any other 2016er, Walker is consistent and vocal in acknowledging that home schooling is a valid form of education—and this support could pay huge political dividends in the Republican primary.

He mentioned it in his 2015 budget address, in his 2014 State of the State speech, in his 2015 inaugural address, and all over the campaign trail, as well as at Governor Rick Scott’s invite-only event in Disney last week for business power brokers.

This is by design.

In an exclusive Q&A with The Daily Beast, Walker expressed deep affection and support for parents who teach their kids at home.

continue at The Daily Beast

Dad29: Priest Slams Home-Schoolers in MKE Catholic Herald; "helicopter moms and dads"

Fr. John Yockey

A southeastern Wisconsin pastor takes a couple of licks at homeschoolers, revealing his ignorance of home-schooled kids, their parents, and the nature of Satan (!!)

I’m not at all enthused about home schooling: too limited a degree of socialization, not enough involvement with a variety of peers, teachers and situations to learn to negotiate securely outside the family circle.

Keeping even small children hermetically sealed from the evils of the real world is terribly imprudent. Often hell breaks loose once teenagers are off to college with no parental controls, no helicopter moms or dads hovering over them.

Oh. Really?

Those home-school kids often reside in "neighborhoods," Father, where there are OTHER children with whom they bike, play pickup basketball, go sledding, or wander into the store to purchase candy. Those home-school kids often participate in Boy/Girl Scouts, non-school-related athletics, (it's called Land O' Lakes) and as a consequence meet and deal with adults who are not their own parents. Often they have jobs in retail; that's not exactly "hermetic." And in actually Catholic families, where there are several children, "negotiating" within the family circle is quite an exercise.

But maybe you didn't know any of that, Father.

continue at Dad29 

Some great comments on the MKE Catholic Herald.

It sounds like Fr. John Yockey has a history of being a bit of a hot head.

When other priests were unavailable to anoint the sick, hospitals and nursing homes in the area always knew that [Fr.] Verhasselt would come, no matter what time, Clark said.

Parishioners tell of a time when a member of a neighboring parish was dying. The family called the parish priest, Fr. John Yockey, who could not -- or would not -- come to anoint the man. Verhasselt was called and went to the dying man's bedside. The family asked Verhasselt to say the funeral Mass.

Yockey wrote a letter chastising -- and personally attacking -- Verhasselt. Yockey wrote that Verhasselt was obliged to contact him before going out on the call. Verhasselt allowed the letter to be read at a parish council meeting and he asked for advice on how to respond. The council advised that the letter was not worthy of response.

Yockey declined to comment for this story.

Yikes!

Father Mazzuchelli Field Trip

Saint Augustine’s in New Diggings is a restored pioneer church in a former lead mining boom town. It was built by Father Samuel Mazzuchelli. This was the first stop on today’s field trip for the Immaculate Heart Homeschoolers, a local Madison, WI-area group. It was my pleasure to get to go with them.

continue at Laetificat 

Part two of our interview with Dr. Duke Pesta

Recently, Common Core expert Dr. Duke Pesta sat down to answer some questions with us. If you missed part one, click here to catch up. Given the stakes, you can't afford to not know what the federal government has in store for our children's classrooms.

Some Common Core proponents argue that Common Core isn’t a curriculum. It’s merely a set of basic standards that ensure students develop essential skills and a sufficient knowledge base. How would you response?

Yeah, that’s one of the great lies, one of the great deceptions of Common Core. They say it’s not a curriculum.

Technically, in the most technical sense of the term, that’s true. The standards are just guidelines. The problem is the national tests completely cover those standards. They currucularize them. The textbooks that are available for Common Core completely and utterly are 100 percent curriculum-driven by those standards. So it is a distinction without a difference. You can call them standards however you want, but they have completely become pedagogy and curriculum in the schools that use them, which is to say most public schools right now.

It seems as though Common Core accelerates the focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). Does this focus come at the expense of the humanities? And if so, what are the dangers?

It’s ironic. You keep hearing that these standards are more rigorous and that their focus is higher level, but that doesn’t really seem to be true. In English, for instance, they remove 50 percent of the literature content, the classical poetic, fictional accounts, the great Western and American classics. Those books that give kids a sense of our heritage, who we are, our cultural history and require increasing skill in terms of reading comprehension. And 50% of those texts are now replaced with informational texts, most of which are tendentious and political in nature and do nothing to stimulate growth in reading comprehension skills.

The other big problem with it is that every single study we have pretty much shows that kids learn to write after they learn to read very complicated texts. What Common Core does in the English courses is it de-emphasizes reading and elevates writing. So they end up doing more writing than reading, and that’s not a good way to teach kids how to write in a complicated way.

Does Common Core impact public schools only? Or should families with children in private schools be concerned as well? How about homeschooling families?

Private and homeschool [families] should be very worried about Common Core. Before the SAT and ACT went over to Common Core—which they’re in the process of doing—private school and home school kids did very, very well compared to public school kids on all the standardized tests. Those tests were basic knowledge tests. But now the ACT and SAT are moving over to Common Core, which means those kids who have had Common Core learning methods are going to do better on these tests than kids who haven’t been exposed to Common Core methodology, even though the non-Common Core kids may be much more advanced and much smarter ultimately in terms of what they know. And that’s probably going to be the case. The fact is that now the standardized tests are all tailored to Common Core.

This is the beginning of the way the federal government will say “Well look at how private and home school families are failing our kids. For the last 20 years, they’ve had higher scores, but ever since we incorporated this wonderful Common Core curriculum, home school and private schools have gone down by comparison. That’s going to be an excuse and a provocation to try to remove or limit home school or private schools in the future.

Finally, how can parents stand against Common Core?

Parents need to unite. As things stand right now, they are still for the moment the single most important voice in their kids’ education. The federal government is trying to change that. The federal government is trying to make the state responsible for your kids’ education in ways it’s never been before. So if parents are concerned about what and how their kids learn, this is a hill they need to take a stand on because Common Core will effectively succeed in separating parents from their kids when it comes to what and how your kids are taught.

An Interview with Common Core expert, Dr. Duke Pesta

Common Core continues to be a controversial subject in Wisconsin and throughout the nation so I wanted to get a better sense of what it is and why it's a threat to Catholic families. Fortunately, Dr. Duke Pesta, expert on Common Core and the academic director of Freedom Project Education, was kind enough to take some time out of his schedule to talk with us.

The debate over Common Core is heating up in both public and private schools. For those who aren’t familiar, could you tell us what, exactly, is Common Core?

Common Core is a set of curriculum guidelines, standards for curriculum. Right now we have English and math standards that have been implemented in the schools, and they were put together by a small cadre of activists and lobbyists. These standards were written largely behind closed doors with very little educator input and funded to the tune of $150 million by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The reason 45 states in the union adopted Common Core standards without ever have seen them is because of the Race to the Top program…which gave states a waiver from No Child Left Behind—previous bad education legislation. And it offered hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to the states provided that they took Common Core, that once the Common Core was released—it hadn’t even been written yet—[Common Core standards] would be adopted by the states. So that’s how 45 states came to be under the onus of Common Core without having voted on it or seen what the standards were.

Why should parents be concerned, and what are some of the big problems with Common Core?

Parents should be concerned because first and foremost it’s a radical encroachment on parents’ rights, local school board rights, teacher rights. It’s a huge encroachment in that…more than ever before, these standards run technically through the federal government.

All the testing…that Common Core will do, is all nationalized. All of the textbooks have gone Common Core, which means that even though standards are standards, they actually are a curriculum as well. All these standards have been put together into all these textbooks—that are the only Common Core textbooks you can buy. The standards themselves…have been curricularized. The tests themselves require conformity to a certain pedagogy and a certain approach to be able to pass those tests or to even take them. That’s a huge problem for parents.

Also you have issues with data mining in conjunction with the federal government and with Obamacare in particular. The schools become gathering houses for all sorts of information on your kids, radical and often times sensitive information.

Parents should be concerned also because [with] the continuing federalization of the standards, you’re going to have very little opportunity to make any changes in your local school—a bad lesson, a bad book, bad subject matter. Right now you can go to the school, complain and opt out. Once this all runs through the federal government, you’re not going to be able to do that anymore.

Given these problems, why is Comon Core being pushed so hard? If not the students, who stands to gain from its implementation?

Common Core is being pushed so hard because—as with everything else in the federal government right now—the government is in a very expansive mood in terms of growth. Big government all across the country. If you think about how much control the federal government has over your body now because it runs health care, think about how much control the federal gov’t is going to have over your families and over your kids once they ultimately control education from the top down. So that’s the end game.

And in terms of who benefits from it, well, there’s all sorts of crony capitalists—people like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The big donors to common core are going to reap windfall profits. The textbook companies, many who are aligned behind Common Core. All these textbook companies are making millions and millions of dollars providing these textbooks. The testing consortia are going to be responsible for writing these tests. Big money for these groups. Crony capitalism and special interests: that’s who [are] going to profit immediately.

Tomorrow we'll be back with part two of our interview with Dr. Duke Pesta--including a chilling explanation of what Common Core means for Catholic schools and homeschooling families.

A Just War Theory of Homeschooling

an oldie but a goodie

Given the increasing popularity of homeschooling among faithful Catholics, it is vital that those who practice it — or are thinking about trying it for their children — have a fully Catholic understanding of the family and the nature and meaning of education. Without it, their good intentions can go astray, following the exaggerated individualism of the culture instead of the mind of the Church.

Some enthusiasts claim that homeschooling is the Catholic approach to a child’s education, but neither history nor the teaching of the Church supports this exclusivity. Though homeschooling is an important and virtuous pursuit, some families are drawn to it through a mistaken ideology — a shadow image of Catholic culture, Catholic education, and the family itself.

Catholic and Western tradition have always held that education is communal. Since man is a political or social animal — as Aristotle, Cicero, and St. Thomas Aquinas tell us — we must never neglect the communal dimension of education. Nothing short of complete family engagement — father, mother, and child — in the learning process will secure a proper education. Families may come to grave peril if fathers remain disengaged from their children’s education, or if other families are not sought out and some degree of inter-family education is attempted.

Of course, by this I do not mean something so simple as the "socialization" of students, which critics of homeschooling often throw at us — the old argument that if John and Mary do not have an opportunity to eat bologna sandwiches on the playground with 300 students and talk about Hannah Montana, they will grow up to be social deviants. The "value of socialization" is usually a code for the regimented ethic of pop culture, which has no virtue and is of no importance.

I mean something much more radical and (perhaps initially) more difficult for homeschoolers to accept: that education is for the perfection of the child, and the child is perfected for a life in society.

continue at Crisis

MadCatHerald: A look at homeschooling families in the Diocese of Madison

Almost 7,500 students attend Catholic schools in the Diocese of Madison. That leads to a rough estimate of almost 100 students per school.

When you compare that number to the more than 300 students in more than 85 families who participate in the Holy Family Homeschoolers (HFH) program in the diocese, one can see it is a viable and growing option for families.

Why homeschool?

According to HFH families, the two biggest reasons they chose to homeschool are faith and academics. Teaching children at home gives parents a chance to teach the faith in a manner which is not watered down and is in keeping with the Magisterium.

HFH families also say homeschoolers, on average, score significantly higher on SAT tests than students in public schools and in religiously affiliated private schools. Colleges also recruit home schoolers at a high rate over any other group of incoming freshmen.

Homeschooling offers flexibility. Students may follow the standard school year, or be educated year-round, taking breaks for vacations or liturgical seasons. Homeschoolers can also take family time when a new baby arrives or a grandparent is ill, all while teaching the children the value of family. Time missed can be made up during the summer months or at other times.

The families say there are also opportunities not available to traditionally schooled students, offering homeschoolers a depth and breadth of education unavailable elsewhere. Students have worked for senators at the Capitol, interned at Relevant Radio, attended religious rallies, established their own businesses, engaged in mission work, and taken college courses — all during school hours.

continue at MadCatHerald

Re-creating America: Cultural Sensitivity in Wisconsin Schools

WSJ: A (pro-life, homeschooled) Star Is Born

This weekend's Tea Party rally in Madison, Wis., drew familiar figures like Sarah Palin and Andrew Breitbart, but perhaps the most interesting speaker was a 14-year-old girl named Tricia Willoughby. Tricia wowed, among others, Rachael Larimore, who writes for Slate.com's ladies blog, XX Factor.

"What's impressive is her strong voice, her confidence, and, let's face it, her youth," Larimore writes. "The Tea Party is often seen as being made up entirely of cranky middle-aged people who don't like paying taxes. But here is a smart, engaging young woman speaking with the poise of someone older."

Showing considerably less poise is the bitter, pudgy middle-aged man featured in a YouTube video of the left-wing counterprotest. "Go home, you little brat!" he shouts at the 14-year-old, struggling to make himself heard over his comrades' boos and noisemakers. "Who the f--- are you to lecture me, you little brat?!"

Something else caught our attention about Tricia Willoughby. Larimore points out that "a quick Google search"--which turns up a post by blogger Stacy McCain--"reveals that her parents are pro-life activists in Madison and that Tricia is in a debate club. Cynics will point out that--gasp!--she is homeschooled, as if that ought to discredit her."

Continue at Wall Street Journal

Minnesota Homeschooling Conference - will we homeschool?

Last year we attended the Minnesota Catholic Homeschooling Conference in the Twin Cities and really enjoyed it.  We learned alot about homeschooling curriculum and different aspects of teaching children(like temperaments for example).  This year(May 28-29) the keynote speaker is Dr. Ray Guarendi who we saw in Holmen, WI a few years ago.  This year is shaping up to be a great conference.  I would recommend this conference even to non homeschoolers as it gives parents some great information on how children learn and how to help your children succeed in school.  Since parents are primary educators of their children, even if parents choose to outsource some or most of the education work, they still are solely responsible for their children's education. 

My wife and I have not had to decide yet, but we might homeschool our children once they are old enough.  We have been shopping around and weighing the pros/cons but still we are undecided.  Right now we have four options(in about the order we feel right now):

1. Local private Catholic school (Providence Academy) - Local private Catholic school with classical curriculum I might add.  Originally blessed by then Bp. Burke and modeled after Trinity Academy in Milwaukee, it has struggled to retain teachers after removing the outstanding headmaster Mr. Omar Gutierrez(who Bp. Burke brought in).  We are hoping the school succeeds but the academy is relatively new and its future is uncertain.  I think if we lived near Trinity Academy there would be no question and we'd be shopping for school uniforms.
2. Homeschool - we like the classical curriculum but neither of us have any background in Latin or Greek.  Possibly Seton also.  Both of us attended public schooling so we would be new to the homeschooling lifestyle. 
3. Diocesan Catholic School (Aquinas) - It has gotten better, but we're steering away.  The religious and priest that teach there are very solid but I do not know about the laity teaching there.  And another major downfall is the modern curriculum. The question I ask myself is if I can get essentially the same quality of education minus the religion class in a public school, why pay all that money. 
4. Public Schools (Central) - Not out of the question, La Crosse actually has some solid public schools as public schools go.  Honestly if I thought the local Catholic schooling was not up to snuff, I would have no problem sending my kids to public school and teaching religious and moral studies at home.  Unfortunately too many Catholics forget that last part and send their kids off to public schools assuming they can become good people(not to mention good Catholics) with no intervention.  Sorry, not gonna happen.

Another issue being pondered; my family has always been involved in sports and I want my children in sports.  Each state handles homeschooling and sports differently and I'm not sure how Wisconsin handles this.  I would be happy if we could homeschool and also participate in sports in the public schools.  One big downfall with Providence is they have no sports program and any state allowances for homeschooling would not apply.  Aquinas has a great sports program but the only way to play sports there is to attend school there also.  If anybody knows the Wisconsin homeschooling laws in regard to sports participation, I'd love to hear about it.

At any rate, we have a few years before making a decision.  Obviously we would to prefer to pick one for all kids for their entire schooling but it just might not happen that way.

I welcome comments on your experience or the experience of others you know!

Chant for Kids

You gotta check this out!

Gregorian Chant for Kids CD

Also a pdf  available with the music.  I have just become a huge fan of Catholic Heritage Curricula.  Our friends have began using CHC for home schooling materials.  What a gem!