Nerd Family is hosting this week’s carnival. There are some great posts to read. Pour a cuppa and enjoy.

Alaska has the most hands-off homeschool statutes in the United States. A child between the ages of 7 and 16 must attend a local school unless he/she is being taught at home by a parent or guardian (Alaska Statute 14.30.01). That’s it. No reporting, no paperwork, no sweat. Yet, the majority of homeschooling families choose […]

The New York Times highlighted a typical problem in the education establishment. Here’s some of the pertinent stuff:

A student needed a required course to graduate, did not pass the course and, thus, did not graduate.
She came back for a 5th year took the same course and failed again.
For the spring semester she enrolled in the […]

Part of the challenge of teaching older kids at home is staying digitally literate. At our house we joke about Planet 8-Track (where I was born and raised) and Planet iPod, a culural illustration from Earl Creps’ book Off-Road Disciplines. My kids are from Planet iPod. I try to keep up with what happens on […]

Our oldest son, now in college, was fascinated by computers in elementary school. This was way before broadband internet and the online collaboration of web2.0. Our challenge was to expose him to more than games and eye candy and we learned that there is a lot to learn. We signed him up for a […]

As homeschoolers we are really ‘innovators’ and ‘early adopters.’ I am convinced that the trend in mainstream education must move toward individualized education a la homeschooling. Each child is gifted and the goal of a parent or teacher is to equip a child to make the most of his or her gifts.
This video talk […]

When our kids moved out of the laid-back elementary grades and into junior and senior high I had to expand my resources. Reading lots of books and taking nature walks and kitchen counter activities were no longer adequate academically.
In secondary grades, documentation and accountability become much more important and I needed more structure to ensure […]

Check out the posts of this week’s Carnival of Principled Government at Consent of the Governed.

Change the way we teach kids; don’t just throw more money at schools. That’s what David Reaume wrote in today’s Anchorage Daily News. What a breath of fresh air from a columnist I rarely agree with. He discusses the potential impact of a recent court decision, Moore vs. State of Alaska.
A few years back […]

Besides homeschooling we have other avocations. Ten years ago we bought some lake front property in Willow, Alaska about 70 miles from Anchorage. It’s been a huge project. The goal was a cabin, a place to get away, to hang out with family and friends. We would build it ourselves. Whew, it’s been a huge […]