CHNzine March 09


		Issue No. 13 March 2009 Welcome to the CHN online magazine!

Are you a CHN member? Help support homeschooling! CHN is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that needs your support Please join CHN today! CHNzine Features Mind The Gap Charter Schools, Special Needs Children and Child Protective Services Expo 2009 CHN Board of Trustees Election Spring Homeschooling Thoughts Field Trip to Nasa's Deep Space Network Goldstone Complex LaBrea Tar Pits Page Museum Charley, Elena and Nicole at La Brea Tar Pits This is a great museum! Charley and Elena enjoy La Brea Tar Pits "A Visit with Great Presidents" Forest Lawn Memorial Park A Liberty Bell hat Sharing time with the Great Presidents Presidents Rosevelt, Garfield & Lincoln "In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years." ~Jacques Barzun Riley's Farm Colonial field trip Captured the flag! Colonial games Flying rings Eating homemade fresh carmel apples Candle dipping Watching the apple cider press Learning to work a hand loom Writing with quill & ink Churning butter Feedback please! Let us know what you think of the CHNzine! Contact the Editor CHN Board of Trustees Loren Mavromati—President Karin Miller—Vice President Becky Maxwell—Treasurer Karen Taylor Ruth Pell Dinah Williams Contact CHN Field Trip to Nasa's Deep Space Network Goldstone Complex They are looking at a small scale replica of the Mars rover with it's solar panels. The taller T shaped mast supports a 3D camera. Behind that is the parabolic dish used to transmit pictures and the results of it's automated experiments back to earth. The probe on the front of it holds a drill and other tools used to get samples of soil and rocks for testing. The group is looking in through the observation window for the Deep Space Network control room. The specialists in the room are controlling where the 70 meter satellite dish is pointing and monitoring the communications. The satellite dish communicates with the Mars Rovers, the Mars Orbiter and the Cassini and Voyager satellites out in space. There are three stations like this around the world. The other two are in Spain and Australia. Radio signals coming back to earth will always be received by one of the three satellite dishes. I believe that this station has the most powerful transmitter in the world. The group lined up after watching a presentation. There are 3D posters in the room so some of the kids have the 3D glasses. You can see a model of the space shuttle with it's payload doors open. The big hovering thing. That is ultra powerful and ultra sensitive transmitter and receiver satellite dish used to communicate with the satellites. It measures 70 meters (230 feet) across and is 30 stories high.	CHNzine from California Homeschool Network Mind The Gap: Watching For “Holes” in Your Child’s Education By Diane Flynn Keith A few years ago my family took an educational vacation to England. One thing my sons found particularly amusing in London was the sign “Mind The Gap.” It is somewhat synonymous with “Watch Your Step” in the U.S. You see it most often in subway stations when you must step from the train onto the station platform. You have to step across a gap or a space. Loudspeakers inside the trains and the station warn, “Mind The Gap.” The slogan has inspired those who see and hear it. T-shirts are imprinted with “Mind the Gap” – and it’s not just the tourists who wear them. There was a movie made called “Mind The Gap” in 2004. I’ve never seen it, but the Internet Movie Data Base describes it this way, “Five seemingly unrelated people decide to take huge risks in their personal lives in an effort to find happiness.” Hey! That description could apply to just about any group of homeschoolers I know. Yet, happiness is elusive, and taking risks by rejecting conventional schooling can make one fearful. How many times have you heard homeschool parents, who have recently decided to step off the linear school train, anxiously say with a straight face, “I want to make sure there aren’t any gaps in my child’s education?” Fear of gaps causes them to slavishly and unhappily adhere to a school model, scope-and-sequence curriculum that satisfies “state standards.” They think it will ensure their children won’t have any “holes” in their education. They may have begun to get off the school train, but they are trapped in suspension over the gap, too fearful to land firmly at the homeschool station where educational freedom awaits. Can following a curriculum guarantee there won’t be gaps in a child’s schooling? No! And if you think so, you’re delusional! No one has a complete education. No one ever has, and no one ever will. You can’t learn everything there is to know. And I certainly don’t mean to imply that any “curriculum” is even worth knowing. As Albert Einstein said, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” I’ve noticed that the parents who are fixated on minding the gap in their child’s education are usually relatively new to homeschooling. Those that have been around a while seem reconciled to the fact that there are gaps in everyone’s education. Compare your own education to anyone else’s and you’ll see that it’s true. Did you know that if you went to school in one state and your spouse went to school in another state, you didn’t have the same history lessons? One of you has a “gap” in their education. It’s true! I was conducting a workshop on homeschool resources and mentioned that fourth graders in California public schools study California history. Students learn about the California missions and, for some reason, build sugar-cube facsimiles. One mom interrupted and said, “I’m from Pennsylvania, and we studied Pennsylvania history and built sugar-cube steel mills.” A dad spoke up, “I’m from Alaska and we built sugar-cube igloos.” Someone else said, “We didn’t study missions either, we studied Egypt and made sugar-cube pyramids.” As you can see, it isn’t studying history that matters, it’s building something with sugar cubes that seems to be of universal importance across national curriculum standards for fourth graders. If you keep thinking along these lines, you can see that the gaps in education from one person to the next are a social engineer’s nightmare. If the majority of the population isn’t indoctrinated with the same agenda and curriculum, it is difficult to predict and manage their behavior. Let’s imagine, for a moment, that a presidential proclamation decreed that every student must build a mission out of sugar-cubes in the 4th grade. Now let’s suppose those fourth-graders are all grown up. If you were to hand those adults a box of sugar cubes and ask them what they could do with it, what do you suppose would be their first answer? Duh, build a mission? Would any of them first suggest adding a few drops of methyl salicylate to the cube and then hammering it in a darkened room to demonstrate triboluminescence? Heck, would any of them suggest using a sugar cube to sweeten their coffee or tea? The point of standardized curriculum is to standardize people. They are much easier to manage and control if they think and act alike. So, why are you minding the gap? What is it EXACTLY that you are afraid your child will miss? Reading? Writing? Arithmetic? Building missions with sugar cubes? Face your fear. Give it a name. Make a list. Then really look at that list and determine what is most important in order to give your child the educational foundation that will allow him or her to become an autonomous, self-directed learner. If that is your goal, following a curriculum and agenda created by the state is counter-intuitive. Homeschoolers have embraced the idea that school is not the only place where one can learn socialization skills. Perhaps more should question whether following schoolish curriculum is the only way to get a “complete” education. As you disembark the linear school train, don’t spend all of your time minding the gap. You may miss the wonderful sights, sounds, and learning opportunities that abound in the liberated and abundant landscape of your homeschool destination. © Copyright 2007, Diane Flynn Keith, All Rights Reserved CHN is thrilled and honored to announce Diane Flynn Keith at the 2009 CHN EXPO! Diane has delivered homeschool 101 presentations several times a year for over 16 years. This year will be the LAST year for her tried-and-true Homeschool 101 seminar and Diane has selected the CHN Expo for her final presentation of this terrific series. Diane Flynn Keith publishes the rave-reviewed Homefires Ezine . If you're ready to save time and money, ease your anxiety, and learn how to have fun homeschooling, get your FREE subscription now at http://www.Homefires.com Diane also publishes the popular ClickSchooling e-newsletter with free daily, web-based curriculum ideas. Subscribe by visiting http://www.ClickSchooling.com Charter Schools, Special Needs Children and Child Protective Services By Melissa Zawrotny We were recently made aware of an increase in calls to Child Protective Services (“CPS”) by charter school administrators reporting homeschooling “special needs” children. CPS was told a particular child is not “making enough progress”, in a case involving a CHN member. A top level administrator of a charter school in Placer County, without ever having met the special needs child in question, felt compelled to report the family to Child Protective Services based solely on test scores. Fortunately, CPS eventually decided that the case held no merit. California Homeschool Network’s Legal Team was informed after the fact. In a different instance, another homeschooling family with a special needs child, inquired at a charter school, also in Northern California, and was told words to the following effect: Parents who have homeschooled previously through filing the Private School Affidavit are not good candidates for charter school because they are unwilling to do the assignments. Refusal to do assignments brings down the test scores which impacts government financing. Currently test scores are low and continuing to decline. Therefore charter schools discourage the enrollment of special needs children due to the perceived contribution to such a decline. This information is in direct opposition to information found in the California Education Codes that pertain to charter schools. CDE Section 47601 states (in summary) that Charter schools are “established to maintain schools that operate independently from the existing school district structure ... to … improve pupil learning … [and] increase learning opportunities for all pupils, with special emphasis on expanded learning experiences for pupils who are identified as academically low achieving”. As one of the four legal options that are considered homeschooling in California, charter schools are popular for the “benefits” that both students and parents receive. Incentives, such as funding for outside classes and other activities, curriculum, computers and other educational supplies, are be incredibly attractive to parents who make many sacrifices (including financial) in order to home educate. In return, the requirements of the charter must be followed to the letter. As we can infer from the examples above, the “freebies” described above may prove to be more costly in the long run to all California homeschoolers. We encourage parents to investigate charter schools thoroughly when choosing one as a homeschooling option. Some questions to consider: * Does the particular school have a specific focus (technology, magnet, arts, etc?) * What does the school do with children who are not able to score high enough? * How long has the school been in operation? * Has the charter been renewed? * Have there been changes in the administration since the school opened? If so, how many and why? The life of a charter is determined upon the funding from a governmental source and academic achievement. The administrators and instructors of the school will be held responsible for the success or failure of the school. The parents who choose home study are, without a doubt, instructors of the school and could be and will be held responsible in kind. When a charter is not renewed, students, teacher and parents alike can find themselves displaced and looking again, for educational alternatives. Last, but never least … always ask many questions...and Know the Code! Expo 2009 - Ruth Pell - Expo Registration Chair Have you registered for the CHN Expo? Every family who registers before April 30 will receive one of CHN's famous sturdy canvas tote bags. These are perfect for stuffing with library books, or vendor hall finds, or whatever you like to have handy. Check out our main Expo page for details or call Ruth at 800-327-5339 if you have any questions. While you're at it, don't forget to reserve your room at the Marriott! Rooms are filling up fast, and we only have a limited number at the super-low CHN rate of $88.00 per night - plus free parking! Check out our accommodations page for details. Choose one of these four ways to register: Register Online at the CHN Store Print and Mail the Registration Form (address at the bottom) Print and Fax the Registration Form (fax number at the bottom) Call 1-800-327-5339 Once you have your hotel reservations secured and your Expo registration is complete, then you can sit back and relax and wait until the fun begins! CHN Board of Trustees Election - Rhonda Hamilton, CHN Election Chair Official ballots have been sent out to all current CHN members. Ballots should be returned by March 30th with the election ending on April 1, 2009. Please contact Rhonda Hamilton before March 30th if you did not receive your ballot. Election results will be announced in May. Trustees-elect will begin their terms on July 1, 2009. The full text of the CHN bylaws relating to the electoral process is found here. Spring Homeschooling Thoughts Teri Ann Berg Olsen Springtime is a season of new beginnings, and of looking ahead to the future. Spring is the season of daydreams. It is when many graduates are making plans and deciding what they want to do in life. While contemplating this the other day, I recalled what I had thought about doing in my future. In fourth grade I made a list of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I noted at the top of the page, "There is more than one thing here because I can't make up my mind." * Scientist * Writer * Teacher * Wife * Mother * Storekeeper * Banker * Secretary * Reporter * Librarian My teacher wisely wrote at the bottom of the page, "Perhaps you could do more than one of these things." Now that I think about it, I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to do every one of these things! As a homeschool parent, I get to wear all kinds of hats. I am of course a wife and mother. I am the teacher of my children. I am a scientist when conducting experiments in the kitchen or taking the kids on a nature walk. I feel like a storekeeper whenever I'm stocking up food in the pantry for my growing boys. Keeping track of our family's finances makes me think like a banker. I am the librarian of our homeschool library. I am currently the secretary of our homeschool group, and as editor of this newsletter I get to be both writer and reporter. In this age of increasing specialization, it is good to be a home educator. I am not bound to a monotonous career. I have a chance to be a kind of "Renaissance woman", instructing my children in all of the arts and sciences. Hopefully my enthusiasm about a wide variety of subjects will inspire in my children a well-rounded love of learning so they will grow up to be versatile adults, able to explore many different paths and accomplish everything they always wanted to do. Teri is a home educator and author of the book Learning for Life: Educational Words of Wisdom. Visit her website at www.knowledgehouse.info Field Trip to Nasa's Deep Space Network Goldstone Complex ~Darrell Harriman I wanted to tell you about our field trip to Nasa's Deep Space Network Goldstone Complex. Karla, at Goldstone DSN showed us around the complex. We watched a slide presentation showing several of Nasa's missions and a lot of facts about the planets and our galaxy. There was a video showing all the phases of a rocket launch and time-lapsed photography of the construction of the 70 meter antenna. Karla and the presentations were very informative. I think the kids knew the answers to all of her questions about our galaxy and the Mars rovers. We enjoyed the museum with lots of interesting displays of satellites, radio astronomy telescopes, and our galaxy. We continued on to visit the control center for the 70 meter antenna. Karla stressed the importance of getting a good education in science as she explained what the mission specialists were doing in the control room. We went from there into a tunnel that leads to the base of the antenna. We were able to hear and feel the sound echoing back and forth along the length of the tunnel as the door was closed. At the end of the tour we watched the massive antenna get rotated and tilted up to it's vertical standby position. Everybody learned a lot about what we are doing in space and how we communicate with satellites including the Voyager satellite that is over 10 Billion miles away. We owe a big thank you to Karla and the Goldstone DSN. There is a lot more information about the Goldstone Deep Space Network at: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/index.html I've attached a few pictures that we took on the tour. Darrell's fantastic pictures are just to the left of this article!	California Homeschool Network California Homeschool Network is a statewide grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the fundamental right of parents to educate their children. Homeschool Day at Disneyland! February 27th, 2009 was our 3rd Annual Homeschool Day at Disneyland! Mary Poppins leads the Parade of Homeschoolers! What a character! We got the treasure Mateys! Definition: Homeschool ('hOm-"skül) To teach school subjects to one's children at home. Homeschooler 1 : one that homeschools 2 : a child who is homeschooled The addition of the word "homeschool" to the 1998 edition of the Merriam-Webster dictionary shows that homeschooling has found wide acceptance, and that the one word spelling has become the officially recognized version. Disneyschooling Singing on the Mark Twain River Boat It's a Homeschool World! It's a World of Learning... A World of Sun... A World of Adventure... For Everyone... There's so much that we do... And it's time that you knew... The World's a Big School after all! There's not just one school, or one way to learn.... And our Smiles mean friendship with everyone.... Through the mountains we'll stride, And the oceans we'll ride.... The world's a big school after all! Breakfast at Disneyland All smiles Yeah Minnie Mouse! Please send us your stories! We love stories about homeschooling, anything written by kids, pictures of homeschooling adventures and other inspirational homeschooling ideas! Submit articles, photos, ideas and comments to the CHNzine team CHNzine credits: Karin Miller - editor Ruth Pell Photos: Jen DiMonte Gina Chapa Karin Miller Darrell Harriman Pia Williams Please send us your pictures of homeschool activities, and you may be featured in a CHN publication! Pictures Please! We need pictures of homeschoolers for our next issue! CHNzine archives February 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 February 2008 January 2008 November 2007 October 2007

Copyright (c) 2009	California Homeschool Network PO Box 1061 Mira Loma, CA 91752 1-800-327-5339 www.CaliforniaHomeschool.net	CHN Web Team