The Experts’ Exchange is live!

January 15, 2010

We’ve got a sub-board up at the Well-Trained Mind Forums. Please, those of you with experience and knowledge to share, visit the forum and take part.

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Tips for bookstore owners

January 13, 2010

Thanks to all of you for the lively discussion below. I found at least two of the ideas both thought-provoking and possible: we’re working on establishing a new message board at the Well-Trained Mind Forums, where parents with expertise in a particular area can post their availability for small local get-togethers (I’ll let you [...]

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Follow-up: because we need alternatives

December 31, 2009

Okay, all you parents and teachers who agreed with me and posted comments on my reflections about the shortcomings of big home school conferences: where do we go from here?
A clearing house for speakers who aren’t “big name” exhorters but who have valuable expertise in specific areas?
Volunteers to run such a thing?
A message [...]

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Follow-up: standardized tests

December 31, 2009

Here’s an addition to my earlier reflections on standardized exams: this piece from the New York Times about the GRE.
After two false starts, the Graduate Record Exam, the graduate school entrance test, will be revamped and slightly lengthened in 2011 and graded on a new scale of 130 to 170.
The Educational Testing Service, which administers [...]

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Merry Christmas; see you after

December 18, 2009

I’m signing off until after Christmas. Will see you the week of the New Year with a new post.
Enjoy the break!

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Because we need alternatives

December 9, 2009

If you’ve ever been to a home education convention, be sure to read this article (by Sherry Stacy) from Home Education Magazine.
Have you ever gone to a homeschool convention and wished that you could have picked the workshops that were offered? A simple way to have that decision-making power is to organize your own homeschool [...]

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Musings on lab sciences: what are they?

December 4, 2009

In my post about K12 science, I made passing reference to the difficulties of doing high school science at home. The difficulty lies partly in the nature of science as a collaborative field, partly in the technical trouble of doing lab-science at home, without the specialized equipment and supplies that a classroom can provide.
I’ve [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving!

November 27, 2009

No reflections on education this week, except for a quote from my mother: certified teacher, elementary school principal, and veteran home educator.
“Everyone wants to quit in November and February. Take a week off.”
If you’re home schooling this week, knock it off and eat some pie.

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Reflections on education: standardized tests

November 21, 2009

A piece in today’s New York Times caught my eye this morning: “Tips for the Admissions Test…to Kindergarten.” An excerpt:
Test preparation has long been a big business catering to students taking SATs and admissions exams for law, medical and other graduate schools. But the new clientele is quite a bit younger: 3- and 4-year-olds [...]

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And now on Kindle

November 18, 2009

No, this isn’t a reflection on what e-books are going to do to publishing; it’s just a notification that my blogs (both The History of the (Whole) World and this one) are now available on Kindle.
Of course, if you read them on the web they’re free.
But I’ve had a number of requests for Kindle [...]

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