Catholic Dads » Mike in CT

Kids and Scripture

Mike in CT — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:18:45 +0000

I have a question for the other Dads here. Practically, how do you incorporate Scripture in your family life? The reason I ask: We’ve always prayed together as a family, but my kids are now old enough that we should start reading Scripture together as a family (my wife and I read individually on our own) and I’m trying to figure out a way that works for us.

How do you guys do it? Bedtime? Before or after meals? Did you start with Old Testament stories or the Gospels? The Bible itself or with the Catechism/study guide?

Thanks for your feedback!

Things I never thought I’d say before I became a dad…

Mike in CT — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:11:13 +0000

If throwing your toys is unacceptable and spitting is unacceptable, why would you think that spitting your toys is acceptable?

Homeschoolers take notice

Mike in CT — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:38:00 +0000

A friend sent this to me. I’m not sure what organization Ian Slatter is with, but I thought this was an interesting read.

Response to the Washington Post

Homeschoolers Say No to Mandatory State Testing

Ian Slatter
Director of Media Relations

August 25, 2009

“Homeschooling is the sleeping giant of the American education system,” is the opening line of a recent article by Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews.

He’s right.

He’s also right when he says, “All surveys of home-schooled students so far indicate they have higher achievement rates on average than regular students,” and when he dismisses the claim that homeschoolers might not be properly socialized by saying, “Homeschoolers go outside often and get just as big a dose of pain and joy and ignorance and wisdom as regular school kids.”

Where Mathews goes wrong is his support for a recommendation by Robert Kunzman, an associate professor at the Indiana University School of Education whose new book Write These Laws On Your Children: Inside the World of Conservative Christian Homeschooling, calls for all homeschoolers to be subjected to regular, compulsory, standardized state testing.

To be fair to Mathews, it seems that his desire is to defuse what he sees as a gathering movement within the public school establishment to regulate homeschoolers.

He reports that his contacts are becoming nervous about the fact that homeschoolers are nearing 4% of the school-aged population and growing at 9% per year.

“Some public school educators I know are uneasy about this. They don’t know home-schooling families well. They worry those kids are being ill-served by well-meaning but inexperienced parents. There is potential for more battles over regulating home-schooling.”

In effect, Mathews gives homeschoolers a gentle and timely reminder that we must be ever vigilant to defend our right to homeschool.

As Mathews correctly notes, HSLDA has been at the forefront of reducing regulations on homeschoolers, but he fails to mention why so many state legislatures have agreed with our view.

The crucial missing detail from Mathew’s article is that the homeschool academic surveys he alludes to show that the level of state regulation has no impact on the results of homeschooled students. Consider the most recent study of homeschool students’ test scores conducted by the National Home Education Research Institute, and commissioned by HSLDA. Homeschoolers in low regulation states scored on average in the 87th percentile and those from high regulation states (which require some form of testing) also scored in the 87th percentile.

The question HSLDA regularly puts before state legislatures is, “If government regulation does not improve the results of homeschoolers, why is it necessary?” The obvious conclusion based on the research is that government regulation of homeschoolers is a waste of taxpayers’ money and parents’ time.

Regrettably, many homeschoolers have known for some time that the success of the movement might provoke greater scrutiny. And the success of homeschooling cannot be denied. We continue to grow in numbers, and homeschooled children continue to significantly out-perform public school students—by 37 percentile points in the latest homeschool academic achievement study. This academic success is achieved at a fraction of the cost (average public school student—$10,000 per child per year—average homeschooler—$500 per child per year). No wonder we’ve drawn the attention of the education establishment.

Public school officials are accountable to taxpayers, and taxpayers may begin to ask, especially in an economy that’s struggling, questions like, “Why are my property taxes so high when homeschoolers are getting much better results for a fraction of the cost?”

The response brewing within the education establishment appears to be to try to make homeschoolers more like public school students by subjecting them to state-mandated testing. It’s not a strategy that will work.

Today, homeschoolers can be found in all walks of life and all political persuasions. We are a diverse movement with a variety of opinions. There’s one issue, however, that unites almost all homeschoolers—opposition to mandated state tests.

The reason is simple—once the state chooses the test, you have to “teach to the test”, and consequently your curriculum will have been chosen for you by the government. This is an intolerable intrusion and one that would radically alter homeschooling.

Freedom and flexibility are the hallmarks of homeschooling. Once they are removed and the state is allowed to regulate the curriculum through testing, then homeschooling will be changed beyond all recognition.

One of the main reasons homeschooling is so successful is because parents are able to design an education program for the individual child. Homeschooling parents can allow their children to advance rapidly in areas where they are strong and spend more time on areas where a child may be weak. Trying to advance at a state-mandated even pace through all subjects just isn’t feasible for homeschoolers.

There’s also the nagging question of what the state will do if a child fails one of its tests. Does that mean the child would be forced into public school?

The state has a legitimate interest in the upbringing and education of children by parents only when the state has evidence that the children are being harmed. It has no right to impose its education views on parents who choose to educate their children outside the state system.

HSLDA hopes that state legislatures will continue on their path of lifting restrictions on homeschooling and that the homeschool movement will continue to grow and thrive without state interference. But Jay Mathews has done the homeschool community a service by reminding us that people within the public education establishment are thinking about ways to regulate our education choices.

Every homeschooler should be ready and willing to actively oppose any attempt to impose a state mandated testing regime.

We have been warned.

Update on my prayer request

Mike in CT — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:29:00 +0000

Hi guys,

Last week I asked you to pray for some friends of mine who were experiencing complications during pregnancy. We found out this morning that they lost the baby. Of course, they are devastated, so please offer up another prayer for their family.

God bless.

Prayer Request

Mike in CT — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:01:00 +0000

Hey Everyone,
Please pray for a family I know? They’re 11 weeks pregnant and the baby just went through its first ultrasound. The prognosis is not good, and the family is asking for prayers, as their first born was diagnosed with the same thing and was miraculously healed, details follow. Here’s an email excerpt, I changed names for privacy:

The prognosis is bad, as it was for Jerry. It’s called cystic hygroma which basically means that the the lymphatic system isn’t working right so fluid is collecting inside the baby, if it doesn’t resolve the baby’s heart will fail. We don’t know yet if the fact that Jerry had this and it resolved (through a lot of prayer) changes the outlook, it is such a rare, rare thing to happen that it is hard for us to imagine that they aren’t related but the yale doctors (we will have an appointment probably this week or next up at Yale) maybe can tell us that. The causes of this are either genetic (various disorders) or just something went wrong in development. As best we can tell Jerry’s wasn’t genetic (unless extreme stuborness is a genetic disorder). There isn’t very much known about this because something like 90% of people that find out they have this abort (which obviously we would never even consider), except that most babies die. We would just be very thankful to all of you if you could include us in your prayers.
Everyone is doing okay here, Jerry is really concerned but we are trying to help him through this, there aren’t alot of answers, not really a whole lot the doctors can tell us either (especially since I won’t do invasive testing). I am assuming they will put us on the same regimen as with Jerry which is ultrasounds every two weeks to check on the baby until I can feel movement and then just once a month to see if anything is getting better, and then an echocardiogram to check the baby’s heart at 25 weeks (this one is at Yale as well) since heart problems can be associated with the genetic disorders we are talking about (Turner’s syndrome if it is a girl, Newnann’s syndrome if it is a boy, or trisomy 18, which is fatal, and occassionally Downs syndrome).

Homeschooling diplomacy

Mike in CT — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:04:00 +0000

I write this post both to ask the question and also in the hopes that in writing it, I’ll be more sure of my own grasp on the big picture.

To get to it, for those of you who are homeschooling your kids, how do you discuss it with family and friends? And the corollary to that is, how do you explain it to your kids?

The reason I am asking is because up till now, our boys didn’t even realize that we were doing something different. But they’re now at the age to make the distinction and have latched on to the idea that fascinates them most: riding the big yellow bus, like their cousins do, and going to a school building with other kids taught by a teacher that’s not Mom.

My wife and I have to deal delicately with this because we know why we’re homeschooling: it’s more efficient, better for the kids in terms of focus and attention, individual pace, family schedule, plus the ability for my wife and I to act as the filters for our children that we are called to be. But how do we explain this to a five year old without a.) giving him the impression that he’s missing out on something fantastic, b.) running the risk that he looks down his nose at other kids who do go to school or c.)getting the impression that schools and everything associated with them are to be avoided?

How did any of you handle this discussion?

also posted at Exultet

Prayer request

Mike in CT — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:49:00 +0000

Hello gentlemen, guys, codgers, curmudgeons and fellow Catholic Dads,

I would like to ask for your prayers. There is a strong likelihood that an opportunity may be coming up which could be very good for my family. There are down sides to it, however, and it would constitute a major change at any rate. Please say a prayer to St. Joseph for me to follow God’s will in this.

Many thanks!

Pro-life Youth Conference was a success

Mike in CT — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:06:00 +0000

Well, the Pro-life youth conference I spoke at this past weekend was a success. About 20 speakers presented their organizations, suggestions, tips, and visions for being pro-life in America, and in CT in particular. Among the groups represented were the CT Right to Life, Birthright, CareNet, Missionaries for Life (Truth Squad), Silent No More, diocesan Family Life Office, CT Catholic Conference, as well as videos from Priests for Life and one on Theology of the Body for Teens.

The girls of the Teens of Pro Life Club at the Academy of the Holy Family are to be commended for doing such an immense amount of work in such a short time. Any time an event like this is started from scratch, it is a daunting task. Of course there are improvements for next time, but I believe that it was an overall success.

I hear from Leticia that 500 people watched from the feed at AirMaria.com. If you were one of them, let me know your thoughts; I’ll be sure to pass them along.

Thank you for your prayers and God bless.

Pro-life Youth Conference this Saturday

Mike in CT — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:55:00 +0000

Alright, the Pro-Life Youth Conference that Sister Marie Andre roped me into is this Saturday! Barring any technical difficulties, you can actually watch it 3-8 pm streaming live at AirMaria. It’s going to have quite a number of speakers on various pro-life topics and should be worth your while.

If there are trolls chewing through the wires and you can’t catch all the great action, you can at least read the text of my talk about the dignity of the human person at Exultet.

God bless and please pray for a successful conference!

Pro-life Youth Conference

Mike in CT — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:40:00 +0000

So you know those sisters who are so sweet yet incredibly persistent and always seem to get you to volunteer for things you might not do?

Well Sister Marie Andre, SCMC, has asked me to do a talk at the Pro-Life Youth Conference on March 28, 2009 at the Academy of the Holy Family in Baltic, CT. This conference, co-sponsored by the AHF Pro-Life Club and the CT Right to Life, goes from 3-8 pm and will give teens an opportunity to discuss ways they can get involved in this most important witness.

Covering essential prayer, the Mona Lisa Project, post-abortion trauma, medical facts about abortion, crisis pregnancy centers, 40 Days for Life, Missionaries for Life, personal witness, pro-life web and TV media, political action, chaste single and married life, this conference is FREE to attend and will include dinner and entertainment.

As I said, it is FREE, but registration is necessary, so that enough food, etc., can be arranged.

If you are in the CT area and would like to attend, please contact Sister Marie Andre (prolifeSpanish@ahfbaltic.org, 860-822-9272, 860-822-8241) or Sister M. Gabriela (srmgabriela@yahoo.com).

If you cannot attend, please offer up your prayers for a good turnout and a successful conference for the sake of our youngest brothers and sisters.

cross posted from Exultet