Parents Are Right; Math Experts Are Wrong
Phyllis Schlafly whacks the educrats on Math Curriculum, Test Scores, and the CULT of the Expert.
“It took parents 17 years to overturn the tragic 1989 curriculum mistake made by the so-called education experts who demanded that schools abandon traditional mathematics in favor of unproven approaches. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics finally reversed course on September 12 and admitted that elementary schools really should teach arithmetic, after all.”
Read the Whole Piece!
During the five years we home schooled I had plenty of people question my ability to teach my own. Especially Math.
I spent many, many hours researching education issues, and read dozens of books.
My all time favorites were:
1. Inside American Education by Thomas Sowell
2. Why Johnny Can’t Read by Rudolph Flesch (Which the Educrats banned and I wrote an article about titled Birthin’ and Readin’)
3. Nea: Trojan Horse in American Education by Sam Blumenfeld
After doing this research while my children were babies, we decided that we would never send our children to public school.
When I gave birth to my fourth, a new charter school opened up teaching the Core Knowledge Series of Curriculum. They used the Open Court Phonics curriculum, which is one of the best phonics programs on the market and the Saxon Math Curriculum
We enrolled our oldest daughter in this excellent program in 2nd grade, and for four years she thrived. Then we pulled all of the children out of school for a couple of years and did three intense years of home school.
I was highly influenced by the writings of Dr. Arthur Robinson during these years and patterned our home school after his. As a single father, he had limited time and many children to teach, and his essays found at his web site really helped me feel like I could do home school well and be effective by focusing on the basics.
When Benjamin was a newborn in 2003, I was really struggling with my life. We decided to open enroll the children into the Peak to Peak charter school for the 2003 school year. Our oldest daughters started in the fall of 2003, and the boys made it in by lottery in the fall of 2004.
This charter is the school for us! It has been such a blessing not to have to home school and to feel somwhat safe with the teachers, staff, and fellow students at this public school. I won’t say that I will ever feel completely comfortable with Public Education, but for our family, this is what is working for now.
Benjamin will start at Peak to Peak in two years, and for the next 24 months I plan to systematically teach him math facts and phonics. We actually started last week.
I pulled out my favorite Reading Curriculum written by Sam Blumenfeld, Alphaphonics and purchased Ben book one of the Saxon Series.

We will spend a few minutes each day working with these texts for the next couple years, and hopefully by the time he enters Kindergarten, he will be reading for pleasure, and ready to conquer the Core Knowledge Curriculum at the school.
If you are a parent serious about education and would like the best for your own child, please take a few hours to read John Taylor Gattos book Dumbing us Down. It will give you all the motivation you need to never send your kids to public school, or encourage you to pull them out to make sure they are taught to read properly and think logically before you send them back.
Because it will take some time to shift the focus away from fuzzy math and reading, I would encourage all mothers and father to teach their own to read and learn basic Math Facts! And then take the time to educate yourself and go fight in your community for schools and curriculums which will best serve your child.

Jenny Hatch