When Diane Hopkins and her husband started their Homeschool Supply company Latter Day Family Resources many years ago, I was on the mailing list and received her catalog in the mail. Then when everything moved onto the web I joined the discussion group that she attached to the web site during the years I was home schooling my older children.
Since we have made the decision to Homeschool Benjamin this upcoming school year, I thought I would join her newly minted chat room and enjoy the fellowship of other homeschooling mothers. I was surprised and happy to find some old, old friends still participating on the board.
Diane started a thread on “Books you have read this summer” and as a confirmed bookworm and news junkie, I knew this was the place for me to hang out when wanting to interact on the internet. So I chimed in on the chat.
Great thread starter Diane, and frankly, this thread is why I signed up for the forum today. I have been hungry for a friendly forum where I could spend time chatting about books.
Most of my ipad reading time is spent following current events, I am currently interested in the whole Common Core debate happening on blogs and in the news.
Plus I am carefully following the IRS Tea Party Story, simply because as a Tea Party activist I was involved in organizing events in Colorado.
My book reading usually revolves around Politics as well. This summer I read Deconstructing Obama by Jack Cashill on Kindle, and Breakthrough by James O Keefe. Both are well worth the time, and zero in on current frauds around the political scene.
I have slowly been re reading the Anne of Green gables series to prepare for an audition for Marilla in our community theatre production of the show this fall.
I read Defying Gravity, the biography of Stephen Schwartz, which oddly enough I felt to be a spiritual book. As the author described the creative process he went through with the creation of each Musical – he wrote Godspell, Pippin, Pocahontas, Children of Eden, Prince of Egypt, Wicked, etc etc…amd why he wrote the music the way he did, I was blown away by how intentional he was with the outcome for each show and each song…
Austenland by Shannon Hale was pure fun and I cannot wait to see the movie.
I re read Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxas, which is the biography of William Wilberforce, a personal hero and truly inspirational political activist.
I read The Constant Gardener after watching the movie on Netflix. John LeCarres thriller that revolves around Big Pharma frauds in African Drug Studies. Both the movie and the book were excellent. I really related to the character of Tessi Qualye.
Glenn Becks Agenda 21 was a favorite too, and my oldest daughter and middle son have been reading many of Becks books this summer, so the political chats around our home have been stimulating.
My second daughter is reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time, so we have had some fun interactions with her as she has discovered the book. We all watched Ayn Rand and the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged on Netflix together and that was one of the truly most satisfying nights of my life as a mother. When I started Homeschooling back in 1994, the goal was to raise a family of intellectuals and readers. It has been truly rewarding to observe my children inhaling books for the sheer love of it, and then enjoying the conversations about freedom.
I re read Saints by Orson Scott Card, who is a personal favorite author. I have read everything he has ever written, including the short stories, several times, and also re read Enders Game revving up for the movie coming out this fall. Have not decided yet if I will plow through the whole series again, I have to be in a certain mood to read all of those Bean Books.
Ben and I have been reading Sign of the Beaver together and the other day he checked the movie out of the library and we watched it together…really awesome movie and book.
I spend about eight hours a day reading, so if this summer list looks over the top it is simply because I have been ill off and on for the past seven years and spend most of my time in bed….reading.
I would love to chat with anyone who has read any of these books and really appreciate the thoughtful responses to this thread as it will give me some new places to explore.
Thankyou!
Jenny
John 10:10I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly…
Jesus Christ
I look forward to many years of fun connection on this excellent web site. Check it out if you are interested in learning more about Home School or if you would like to chat with some wonderful parents about all sorts of great topics.
This first video is an excellent overview of the whole Common Core Agenda.
Today this clip made the rounds on Twitter. It is a short video taken at a Missouri Common Core Community Meeting on May 2nd 2013.
The video is unique because it shows the Delphi Technique in action. It also depicts the response from the crowd, which was negative. Those who attended were obviously frustrated because the questions they had were not being addressed.
America was built on the principle of open and honest debate. Roberts Rules ruled all townhall meetings for centuries. In the past few decades various tactics have been developed to create the impression that input from the community is being achieved while in truth those who take the time and energy to attend and be involved in the community are being shut out of the process. This has been especially true in Education Circles for many years.
The cool thing is that the Delphi Technique can be diffused with just a little bit of effort. Here is a quick primer:
The Delphi Technique was originally conceived as a way to obtain the opinion of experts without necessarily bringing them together face to face. In recent times, however, it has taken on an all new meaning and purpose. InEducating for the New World Order by B. Eakman, the reader finds reference upon reference for the need to preserve the illusion that there is “…lay, or community, participation (in the decision-making process), while lay citizens were, in fact, being squeezed out.” The Delphi Technique is the method being used to squeeze citizens out of the process, effecting a left-wing take over of the schools.
A specialized use of this technique was developed for teachers, the “Alinsky Method” (ibid, p.123). The setting or group is, however, immaterial; the point is that people in groups tend to share a certain knowledge base and display certain identifiable characteristics (known as group dynamics). This allows for a special application of a basic technique.
The change agent or facilitator goes through the motions of acting as an organizer, getting each person in the target group to elicit expression of their concerns about a program, project, or policy in question. The facilitator listens attentively, forms “task forces,” “urges everyone to make lists,” and so on. While s/he is doing this, the facilitator learns something about each member of the target group. S/He identifies the “leaders,” the “loud mouths,” as well as those who frequently turn sides during the argument — the “weak or noncommittal”.
Suddenly, the amiable facilitator becomes “devil’s advocate.” S/He dons his professional agitator hat. Using the “divide and conquer” technique, s/he manipulates one group opinion against the other. This is accomplished by manipulating those who are out of step to appear “ridiculous, unknowledgeable, inarticulate, or dogmatic.” S/He wants certain members of the group to become angry, thereby forcing tensions to accelerate. The facilitator is well trained in psychological manipulation. S/He is able to predict the reactions of each group member. Individuals in opposition to the policy or program will be shut out of the group.
The method works. It is very effective with parents, teachers, school children, and any community group. The “targets” rarely, if ever, know that they are being manipulated. Or, if they suspect this is happening, do not know how to end the process.
The desired result is for group polarization, and for the facilitator to become accepted as a member of the group and group process. S/He will then throw the desired idea on the table and ask for opinions during discussion. Very soon his/her associates from the divided group begin to adopt the idea as if it were their own, and pressure the entire group to accept the proposition.
This technique is a very unethical method of achieving consensus on a controversial topic in group settings. It requires well-trained professionals who deliberately escalate tension among group members, pitting one faction against the other, so as to make one viewpoint appear ridiculous so the other becomes “sensible” whether such is warranted or not.
The Delphi Technique is based on the Hegelian Principle of achieving Oneness of Mind through a three step process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. In thesis and antithesis, all present their opinion or views on a given subject, establishing views and opposing views. In synthesis, opposites are brought together to form the new thesis. All participants are then to accept ownership of the new thesis and support it, changing their own views to align with the new thesis. Through a continual process of evolution, Oneness of Mind will supposedly occur.
The theory of the Delphi and the reality of the Delphi are, obviously, quite different — the reality being that Oneness of Mind does not occur but only the illusion of Oneness of Mind with those who refuse to be Delphi’d being alienated from participating in the process.
While proponents of education reform feel they are quite justified in this, the effect of this unethical manipulation of people is to create polarized camps. In an effort to maintain the process, advocates have marketed a plethora of publications (such as What’s Left After the Right, No Right Turn and If You Don’t, They Will) intended to label, castigate, and alienate anyone who does not go along with them. As a result, parents come to understand that their role in education reform is merely perfunctory; that the outcome is preset, that they are not but the rah-rah team so when opposition does arise, advocates of education reform can say, “we had community input.”
To make sure that the situation is controlled, only those parents who agree with the process are allowed on the restructuring teams. New participants are carefully screened to ensure that education reform goes forward unquestioned.
If measurable opposition persists, advocates are told, get the local ministers on board. Take steps to neutralize, by whatever means necessary, the opposition. In some places, opponents have been harassed, both at home and on the job, personal property has been damaged and vandalized, people have lost their jobs. Anyone who does not go along with the restructuring of our society is susceptible to the totalitarian tactics of those promoting education reform – whether it be parents, teachers, principals, superintendents or board members. The need exists for advocates to maintain an iron grip on the process. They cannot, for instance, withstand open public debate of the issues. Therefore, they do not partake in public forums. They cannot withstand the criticism, so they close every avenue for parents to address the issues. They are rapidly creating, through their divisive tactics, a volatile situation. America is being torn apart.
Parents, citizens, teachers, principals, superintendents who are opposed to the new purpose being given our American education system need tools to withstand the process being used to bring it in — against the Delphi Technique and consensus which, through their basis in the Hegelian Principle, have Marxist connections and purposes.
First, no opportunity must be left untaken to expose this unethical, divisive process. Second, when this process is used, it can be disrupted. To do so, however, one must be able to recognize when the Delphi Technique is being used, and how to disrupt it.
With thanks to Sandy Vanderberg, Peg Luksik and others.
Ground rules for disrupting the consensus process (Delphi Technique) — when facilitators want to steer a group in a specific direction.
1) Always Be Charming. Smile, be pleasant, be courteous, moderate your voice so as not to come across as belligerent or aggressive.
2) Stay Focused. If at all possible, write your question down to help you stay focused. Facilitators, when asked questions they don’t want to answer, often digress from the issue raised and try to work the conversation around to where they can make the individual asking the question look foolish, feel foolish, appear belligerent or aggressive. The goal is to put the one asking the question on the defensive. Do not fall for this tactic. Always be charming, thus deflecting any insinuation, innuendo, etc, that may be thrown at you in their attempt to put you on the defensive, but bring them back to the question you asked. If they rephrase your question into an accusatory statement (a favorite tactic) simply state, “that is not what I stated, what I asked was… (repeat your question).” Stay focused on your question.
3) Be Persistent. If putting you on the defensive doesn’t work, facilitators often resort to long drawn out dissertations on some off-the-wall and usually unrelated, or vaguely related, subject that drags on for several minutes – during which time the crowd or group usually loses focus on the question asked (which is the intent). Let them finish with their dissertation/expose, then nicely, with focus and persistence, state, “but you didn’t answer my question. My question was… (repeat your question).”
Remember…
always be charming,
stay focused, and
be persistent.
Never, under any circumstance, become angry. Anger directed at the facilitator will immediately make the facilitator “the victim.” This defeats the purpose which is to make you the victim. The goal of the facilitator is to make those they are facilitating like them, alienating anyone who might pose a threat to the realization of their agenda. [People with fixed belief systems, who know what they believe and stand on what they believe, are obvious threats.] If the participant becomes the victim, the facilitator loses face and favor with the crowd. This is why crowds are broken up into groups of seven or eight, why objections are written on cards, not voiced aloud where they are open to public discussion and public debate. It’s called crowd control. It is always good to have someone else, or two or three others who know the Delphi Technique dispersed through the crowd; who, when the facilitator digresses from the question, will stand up and say nicely, “but you didn’t answer that lady’s/gentleman’s question.” The facilitator, even if suspecting you are together, certainly will not want to alienate the crowd by making that accusation. Sometimes it only takes one occurrence of this type for the crowd to figure out what’s going on, sometimes it takes more than one.
If you have an organized group, meet before the meeting to strategize. Everyone should know their part. Meet after the meeting to analyze what went right, what went wrong and why, and what needs to happen the next time around. Never meet during the meeting. One of the favorite tactics of the facilitator, if the meeting is not going the way he/she wants, if he/she is meeting measurable resistance, is to call a recess. During the recess, the facilitator and his/her “spotters” (people who wander the room during the course of the meeting, watching the crowd) watch the crowd to see who congregates where, especially those who have offered measurable resistance. If the “resistors” congregate in one place, a “spotter” will usually gravitate to that group to “join in the conversation” and will report back to the facilitator. When the meeting resumes, the facilitator will steer clear of those who are “resistors.” Do not congregate. Hang loose and work the crowd. Move to where the facilitator or “spotters” are, listen to what they have to say, but do not gravitate to where another member of your team is.
This strategy also works in a face to face, one on one, meeting with anyone who has been trained in how to use the Delphi Technique.
With thanks to Sandy Vanderberg, Peg Luksik and others
Roberts Rules of Order were designed to be the way that our Republic was supposed to function at every level from local up to the Federal Level. So if you as a Taxpayer attend a Common Core informational meeting and the setup of the room is round tables and note cards with little follow through and even less accountability from those moderating the event, just know that you have been Alinsky’d with the Delphi Technique and DEMAND that the room be reconfigured according to Roberts rules with open microphones for the audience and open and honest debate COVERED BY THE PRESS. If the press does not bother to show up and report, create your own citizen reports and post them on the internet.
This is the way for our Republic to be restored from the ground up.
If you are a parent to an elementary student in public school, chances are you have heard one of these terms to describe Current Math Curriculums:
New Math
Reform Math
New “New” Math
Dumb Math
World Class Math
Common Core Math
Fuzzy Headed bizzy work so bored I want to die Math
What you really need to know about Math is that all serious Mathematicians agree, the original SAXON Math curriculum, especially the second edition, has no equal, and is the best in the marketplace.
So I am going to begin this essay with a really sad story.
Once upon a time a brilliant mathematician named John Saxon decided to make it his life’s work to create an incremental curriculum from Arithmetic to Calculus and everything in between.
He published his books and educators and parents quickly flocked to his textbooks and everyone agreed they were the best and most effectively superior Math Texts ever written.
John had to deal with some Homeschooling Parents who took issue with certain words in his books: Click HERE to read Mary Prides overview of early controversies.
“Aim . . . fire . . . ready! What’s going on here? Why are some home schoolers sniping at the best math program ever made available to home schoolers? Why do some homeschool magazines refuse to accept ads from its publisher, or even mention the program’s name?
I’m talking about the famous Saxon Math program, developed by former Air Force officer and high-school math instructor John Saxon. In spite of test after test showing that the use of Saxon Math increases algebra enrollment by up to 400 percent, and that Saxon Math students radically outperform students using other math programs, Mr. Saxon has been fighting an uphill battle to get his program used in the public schools. Opposed by leftist groups such as NOW, on the grounds that his books fail to promote feminism, political correctness, and the New World Order, Saxon was delighted to find out about the homeschooling movement. Surely home schoolers would appreciate his books for what they are — excellent and witty math teaching devices!
Then came the pie in the face. A few home schoolers took it upon themselves to start circulating letters condemning the Saxon texts as “New Age” and urging others to boycott them.”
Most educators of good will understood that his texts were treasures.
“Over the years I often heard the name John Saxon but knew for sure only that his books were popular among homeschoolers. I was under the impression that he wrote his books for them. Not true. He wrote his books for every kid stuck in a classroom.
I’ve just finished “John Saxon’s Story: a genius of common sense in math education,” an excellent biography by Nakonia Hayes. It is a smart, judicious book with 340 pages. It is not a potboiler, not really a page-turner. But it tells the life story of a totally remarkable man. I think it’s correct to say that John Saxon is the greatest American educator of the last hundred years. He is unique in our history. If you want to understand the wreck that is American public education, read this book. If you are a teacher or parent hoping to defeat the treachery in the school system, read this book…
…If you told me the NCTM is a Communist front, I would think, now everything makes sense. However, if you insist that NCTM is composed of patriotic Americans, I would have to insist in return that they must live in Cloud Cuckoo Land. About math education, they are right as often as a stopped clock. John Saxon is right the rest of the time.
Please note that all the bad ideas in Reform Math are now being rebranded as Common Core Curriculum. John Saxon died in 1996. We need him more than ever.
As noted, Nakonia (“Niki”) Hayes is a careful and scholarly narrator. So far she has been a teacher, counselor, school principal, journalist, and now author. She understands the genius of John Saxon’s methods. I came away thinking that Hayes would be an excellent Secretary of Education.”
Here are a few SAXSONISMS:
Results, not methodology, should be the basis of curriculum decisions.
Creativity springs unsolicited from a well prepared mind.
Fundamental knowledge is the basis of creativity.
Creativity can be discouraged or encouraged, but creativity cannot be taught.
Problem solving is a process of concept recognition and concept application.
Problem solving is merely the application of previously learned concepts.
The “art” of problem solving cannot be taught.
The use of productive thought patterns can be taught,
but the act of “critical thinking” cannot be taught.
Mathematics is an individual sport and is not a team sport.
Students do not detest work; they detest effort without purpose.
Beautiful explanations do not lead to understanding.
Saxon books will win every contest by an order of magnitude.
To finish this expose on what has happened to the Saxon Books I share the complete expose’ article by Linda Schrock Taylor (all of you who are new to Homeschool would do well to spend several hours reading all of Lindas Articles hosted HERE at Lew Rockwell.
Harcourt Achieve acquired Saxon Publishers in 2004. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Harcourt Achieve provides customer-driven educational materials that fundamentally and positively change the lives of young, adolescent, and adult learners and empower those who teach them. The company is also the publisher of the Rigby and Steck-Vaughn product lines.
I never thought I could ever be critical of Saxon Math, and frankly, had Saxon, Wang, et al, retained ownership of Saxon Publishers, I am confident that I would not have been presented with issues to which I take great exception; to terminology such as “provides customer-driven educational materials” that I find both foolish and frightening.
However, Saxon did make the regrettable decision to sell out to the Harcourt group, and now New-Saxon, its decisions, and its rewriting and restructuring of products, are fair game for close analysis and critical comments.
I am distressed to read that the order of the topics has been changed in the rewritten books already on the market, despite the red herring claim that the company values the incremental steps of the original Saxon books. I am frustrated to read that instead of instructing, the teacher will serve as “tutor and coach.” This sounds too much like New-Math to those of us who mourn the loss of America’s competitive edge in mathematics, and strongly disapprove of the crazy educational ideas coming out of universities and teacher training colleges — from the very people who should be more astute and analytical; from those who are being paid to know better.
I cannot help but feel sadness and great concern at the probable loss of the effective, efficient, incremental, building-block philosophies that John Saxon brought: to math instruction; to teachers and homeschooling parents wishing to teach lean, hard mathematical principles, concepts and applications while avoiding fuzzy, dumbed down fluff like leaf and stem problems; illogical sequencing of material; procedures that teachers, themselves, have difficulty internalizing, let alone teaching to others.
Progressive-minded teachers will feel fine about the very changes that we dread. If teachers are only required to wander the room as coaches, and encouraged to believe that uneducated children are capable of “constructing knowledge” then teachers will come off smelling like proverbial roses. When children fail to construct knowledge, as most certainly will occur, the blame will be put squarely on the innocent students and duped parents. Such teachers will absolve themselves of any guilt by recalling that they roamed the room as expected and so should not be found at fault just because few children bothered to ask questions.
I cannot help but think of John Hersey’s assertion in his book, The Child Buyer, that — everyone has a price.
I cannot help but feel relief that we were able to homeschool our son with Saxon’s original and very effective middle and high school level books: Saxon 76, Algebra ½, Algebra I, Algebra II, Advanced Math, and even Calculus, before the company was sold and the rewriting / restructuring began. I feel fortunate to have Saxon Physics on-hand, ready for use.
As they become available, I will order copies of each rewritten / reformatted textbook and compare them closely to the original Saxon books. I will write of any discrepancies, dumbed down instruction, and confused concepts that I find. As noted above, already the New-Saxon website uses New-Math terminology and reorganized materials are on the market within months of Harcourt acquiring Saxon. I cannot help but believe that the plans for such progressive changes were in place prior to the closure of the sale.
I really would like to ask New-Saxon why they are changing from the traditional hardback books to consumable workbooks, and why now? I also would like to ask them why they are changing the order of topic presentation in books that have proven to be so successful, and why now?
Quite recently, my son and I read — and we both believe it was on the Saxon website although the information is no longer prominently posted there, if posted at all — that seventy percent (70%) of homeschooling families use the Saxon math materials.
It was good to know that so many children are being taught real math, although I do feel that the percentage claimed is far too low. Innumerable families purchase used copies of the Saxon Math books on Ebay, or from other families, or from homeschooling groups. These purchases would be missed in a publisher’s count of “number of materials sold to homeschooling families,” so it must be nearly impossible to know exactly how many homeschooled children are using Saxon Math books, and whether they are using new or used copies.
Since there are millions of children who have been, or are being homeschooled, the number of Saxon math books sold would be several million. Of course…there would be several million more sold if the books were consumable and thus able to meet the needs of only one child, rather than meet the needs of all the children in one family; plus all the children of the family that later buys the used copies; plus the children of the family that buys the used-used copies…
Using the traditional Saxon math books, a family with, say five children, would only need to buy one (1) copy of each book for each level, K-through-Calculus. At the lower elementary levels the family would only need to buy the fairly inexpensive workbooks in order to teach the next child in line. The instructional materials would already be in the family’s possession, having been purchased for the first child. Once a child moved into the hardback books, further purchases would be totally unnecessary.
Thus, when a child finished Saxon 54, the Saxon 65 book would already be in the home and available for that child and each successive sibling. Through the years, five children would each use the single copy of each book. After all five children completed a level; the family could sell the used books on Ebay and recoup many of their original costs. Other families would find the books that they seek on Ebay, and save the cost of purchasing new books. What an efficient set-up for homeschooling families! What a loss of sales for New-Saxon — if the company were to continue publishing sturdy, long-lasting, multi-child-serving, hardback math books.
I would also like to ask New-Saxon if they are purposefully making changes that will put a heavy financial burden upon homeschooling families; if they are striving, on their own, or under someone else’s agenda, to discourage parents from choosing to homeschool; if they are thinking that, if parents decide to homeschool, despite all the roadblocks continually thrown up before them, at least their children will join the rest of America’s children in being subjected to dumbed-down new-new-math. I do not feel at all comfortable with any changes being made to the tried and true Saxon books, let alone those changes described, even briefly, at the website. I hope that John Saxon joins me in questioning his decision to sell his company to a publisher that would, by August of the year of the sale, have rewritten books on the market with topics reorganized and coaches replacing teachers.
Dr. John Saxon was, for me, the last major holdout in our struggle to defeat the destructive forces of: progressivism; globalism; New-Math; whole language; balanced literacy; “customer-driven materials”; textbook publishers that build future sales upon the failure of their very own educational products to meet the expectations (of parents and taxpayers, at least) that instructional materials actually teach skills and knowledge integral to the process for developing scholars.
What will become of schools when all classrooms are coached by progressively trained, jargon speaking, educators? Instead of actually teaching children, will these people focus on smiling broadly, wandering about the rooms, echoing the publishers’ dialogue, and perfecting methods by which they can live, coach, and self-evaluate according to the following advice?
“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.” ~ W.C. Fields.
What will schools become? They will become empty buildings with boarded up windows. Many have already crossed over that line.
With the sale of the traditional Saxon methods for instruction, to the progressive New-Saxon with its game plan for coaches, the last hope for successful reform of America’s public schooling system absolutely died. There will never be an educational plan formulated and directed by the central government, or even the individual state governments, that will be successful. Mark my words. They speak of standards but count smoke rings.
Despite the rhetoric, the laws, the costs — effective instruction will still be done by dedicated, traditional teachers and parents, working in isolated groups — in an occasional public school; at kitchen tables across the nation; in traditional private and parochial schools. Only these few will truly focus on real scholarship; only these few will continue to struggle — against the numbing factors of the culture, the media, the textbooks, the directives of the State; against heart breaking odds — to open minds, teach skills, convey knowledge and thus nurture scholars.
True educators are coming to realize that they are incapable of slowing, let alone stopping, the waves of progressive poison moving with the currents and the trends through the halls of government schools, and through too many private and parochial schools, as well. Where we used to plan offensive actions, now we attempt to build defensive walls that can enclose and protect our isolated enclaves. Now we only hope that we can fill a gap and guard our small groups as the destructive forces pass across the land with their final solution to the problems inherit within, and created by, the State-run system of public schools. The irony is that like parasites, progressive educators are destroying the hosts upon which they feed and thrive. When the host dies, so do the parasites. Final solution?…the closure of all government schools.
Do not mourn the passing of the public education monopoly, for other than the children, there is little worth saving. Let us turn away from the State’s vision and gather those precious children to us. Let us, as citizens acting in the best interests of our children and our communities, establish, lead and teach in small neighborhood schools — schools of our design, our vision, our investment. Let us teach towards the revival of a literate, discerning citizenry; not towards the survival of the State. Let us teach every child to claim, then safeguard, their rights and their freedoms. Such vitally important instruction is best accomplished at familial and neighborhood levels. Let us build walls to keep the State away from our right to educate our own children, and let us do it now.
I can empathize with John Saxon for leaving the dying and distressing educational arena for even I have found the thought of escape quite enticing. However, with the sale of Saxon, our cause lost a leader who shared our visions and goals. Dr. John Saxon stood as a beacon of hope, as well as a provider of quality materials, to those of us fighting to save children from the cruel outcomes planned, and being enforced, by the Progressives. Our jobs will be much more difficult if we allow all traditional Saxon mathematics books to be replaced by consumable workbooks with disordered topics. Our hearts will be heavy without John Saxon to stand tall against the Progressives and lead our way.
In our last stand, however, there will be Ebay partnering with us to keep those fine, incremental, hardback Saxon math books circulating — from family to family; in the hands of millions of homeschooled children; through many years and many cycles. Our hopes for a return to the America of our Founding Fathers will rest upon the shoulders of children who have been, and will be, educated in scholarly homeschools and scholarly neighborhood schools. Support independent local schools. They will be America’s only chance for survival.
August 30, 2004
Linda Schrock Taylor [send her mail] is a free-lance writer and the owner of “The Learning Clinic,” where real reading, and real math, are taught effectively and efficiently.
In a post at Math Recap Blog titled Math Specialists Get Ready Now: Common Core Assessments Are Coming
BY RAYMOND JOHNSON | PUBLISHED MAY 6, 2013 I have had an interesting chat with one of the Pearson curriculum developers in the comment section tied to the post.
Jenny Hatch says:
May 7, 2013 at 4:20 pm
Common core proponents are yelling they are just offering standards to school boards and parents, not curriculum.
When the big progressive corporate powers that be bought out all of the Independent Math Curriculum Companies, they made certain to dumb them all down knowing that when curriculum committees went looking for a “world class” Math book, it really did not matter which one was chosen, because they all stunk.
Working for an Independent Math Curriculum Company, I can assure you that we have not all been bought out, nor have we been dumbed down. Have a look sometime… uh… suckas?
Your claim that “all serious Mathematicians agree, the original SAXON Math curriculum, especially the second edition, has no equal, and is the best in the marketplace” is far from accurate.
Reply
Jenny Hatch says:
May 7, 2013 at 9:53 pm
Hey Bowen,
Does your excellent, world class, bar none the best on the planet Math Curriculum have an accompanying “Remedial” program tied to it?
So that when the younguns’ use your materials approximately 33 1/2 % of the children need a Math Specialist and “Special” curriculum?
#HowTheGameIsPlayed
The thing is all of you specialists need to understand that a group of people are very much aware of the tactics beings used to dumb down American Children and we are not going to sit quietly down and just let this monstrosity percolate in the schools without trying to expose the frauds.
You need to “Simma Down”, taka a chill pill, and decide if you want to be a part of the problem or of the solution…
Jenny Hatch
Homeschooling Mom and General Rabble Rouser about #CommonCore
Reply
Bowen Kerins says:
May 8, 2013 at 8:20 pm
I don’t see myself as a specialist, I see myself as a former high school teacher who started writing books because I thought we could make something better than what existed. (That appears to be the same biography as Mr. Saxon.)
Today I spent the entire day working with math teachers in Lawrence, MA as they begin implementing a schoolwide curriculum at their high school for the first time in many years, and I am proud that they will be using our program, CME Project. We have previously shown success (in student achievement, efficacy, in standardized testing) in many other cities. CME Project is written by teachers with over 100 years of combined classroom experience, funded by the National Science Foundation, and field-tested for five years before publishing. Some of the work in CME Project was incorporated into the Common Core State Standards, particularly the Standards for Mathematical Practice intended to highlight eight deep goals of K-12 mathematics, such as persistent problem-solving, using precise language, and generalizing from repeated reasoning.
Our materials are built with a low-threshold, high-ceiling approach so that all … uhh, younguns’? … can learn and succeed. Our curriculum has very high standards, and students rise to meet those standards. Students learn math by working on math problems — good problems, connected to one another, with both short-term and long-term goals.
Our program comes with support for students who enter our curriculum below grade level, while continuing to ask those students to take on work at level. We have consistently found that students can and will take on challenging mathematical tasks if they are given the opportunity to work on them, gaining self-efficacy and perseverance through work.
None of this happens without high-quality teachers doing their work. I will always be grateful for the great work of these professionals. It’s an honor to work with teachers and students around the country, and a privilege to see our work succeeding in measurable ways.
However, it may instead be true that I am destroying America and am a complete fraud who needs to simmer down. I suggest you read through our curriculum, talk to teachers who use it, and get a sense of what we wrote and why we wrote it. The chance of this happening may be less than “approximately 33 1/2%” — seriously, why didn’t you just say “approximately one-third” — but I’m always glad to defend our work. Thanks for reading!
Reply
Jenny Hatch says:
May 9, 2013 at 12:00 pm
Bowen,
Thanks for explaining what you do.
I appreciate the overview mostly because Pearson has been fingered as the company with the most at stake in the Common Core rollout.
As a parent my biggest issue with the reading and math curriculums is the recidivism of the various companies.
And really, who can blame them with all that lovely money flowing in. Taxpayer money mostly.
My own research and frankly, national test scores, have proven year after year after year that nothing has changed, children are still being taught with materials DESIGNED to ensure that ONE THIRD of them will need remediation in math and reading.
With so many careers on the line and so much cash to be pumped into the glory hole of the cash cow that is American Education, WHO has the will to reform this glutonous system???
I think of the curriculum companies the same way I think of the Pharma companies who run Medicine.
When the business model DEPENDS on a high percentage of sickness and educational failure…well, I just do NOT believe Taxpayers should be funding this madness.
If we had a truly competitive private sector in education and medicine, with no taxpayer slush fund, everyone would be amazed to watch how quickly these sick systems of education and medicine reformed themselves.
But when every Johnnie and Susie has ten grand tucked away in their backpack every year to be doled out to whoever is smart enough to GO FOR THE GOLD, and when Johnnie and Susie have twenty grand per year if someone can just manage to get them labeled reading or math challenged…
Well, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist or even a Math specialist, (sorry, teacher) to crunch them numbers…
Happy Trails!
Jenny Hatch
From: Linda S. Taylor ;
To: Jenny Hatch ;
Subject: RE: question
Sent: Wed, Sep 11, 2013 5:54:39 PM
Hi Jenny,
Thank you for your mail and thank you for asking for my approval. And thank you for posting one of my article. I appreciate your confidence. It is fine that you posted it. Lew Rockwell does ask for an active link but that is probably there. I didn’t check.
But if you could post a small disclaimer….that when I wrote the article I was unaware of the death of John Saxon ,and that it was his _children_ who sold Saxon Math, not John…I would greatly appreciate it. I have always felt badly that this article reads like censure of Mr. Saxon, a man who is indeed my hero.
From: Nakonia Hayes ;
To: Jenny Hatch ;
Subject: Re: [The Natural Family BLOG] Contact
Sent: Sat, Sep 28, 2013 10:55:05 PM
I’ll send a book this week. No need to help with the postage; thanks for the offer, though. Yes, you can include my letter because I don’t think Linda meant any harm; she just had some bad information.
Niki
From: Jenny Hatch
To: Nakonia Hayes
Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2013 1:07 PM
Subject: Re: [The Natural Family BLOG] Contact
Nikki, I would love a copy of your book! Jenny Hatch
Would you be willing for me to include your letter in my post? I would like for my readers to see for themselves the controversy regarding the aquisition of Saxon by Harcourt. I believe an open and honest conversation will inform parents and educators that some curricular mischief has been going on, and that keeps the textbook companies more honest and it provides parents the option to homeschool and or keep vigilent as they watch the curriculum developers when they mess with things. If I can slide you a few dollars for postage just let me know. Thanks! Jenny
From: Nakonia (Niki) Hayes ; To: ; Subject: [The Natural Family BLOG] Contact Sent: Sat, Sep 28, 2013 5:29:40 PM
Name: Nakonia (Niki) Hayes
Email: nikihayes@att.net
Website: http://saxonmathwarrior.com
Comment: Jenny,
I’ve just read your wonderful words about Saxon Math. Thanks for including Bruce Price’s review of my biography of John Saxon’s Story, a genius of common sense in math education. I would be happy to send you a copy of the biography (free!) as I do with anyone who will use it to promote John as the “Superman” we didn’t have to wait for (still don’t) in math education. He even managed to survive and THRIVE against the social kryptonite of the establishment leaders because he really was a true warrior spirit in fighting for things he thought equalled a “good war,” especially regarding children.
My caution is about using Linda Shrock Taylor’s article because it has many errors. Linda and I communicated a lot in my early days of researching the biography. She is a marvelous lady and a good teacher, from all I could see. However, as you probably realize, the K-8 Saxon textbooks have not changed their content matter. Neither has the Calculus book.
That’s because Stephen Hake, Nancy Larson, and Frank Wang all have authors’ rights and the content could not be changed when Saxon was sold to Harcourt Brace. The books that John wrote were fair game, and changes have been made, particularly in the Alg. 2 book and by adding a geometry book, which John never would have permitted. (As a geometry and algebra teacher, I didn’t like that because I loved geometry as a stand-alone subject. When I wrote his biography, I leaned about his reasoning on the matter.)
Also, Linda’s article really caused heartache for John’s children, who struggled mightily against having to sell Saxon Publishing. His youngest daughter was furious about the mistakes in Linda’s writing.
I am dismayed that Saxon products (including grammar and writing now) are not promoted by the publisher. With Common Core, that will be even more the case because Stephen, Nancy, and Frank will NOT change the content of their books. If I could win a huge lottery, I would set them up in business!
If you want a copy of the biography, let me know. John was a fantastically interesting and colorful person.
When I was pregnant with my third child in 1993 I was happily teaching childbirth classes in my home, attending an occasional birth as Doula, breastfeeding Allison during my pregnancy, and very involved in my ward at church; serving as a visiting teacher and singing in the choir as well as running the weekly nursery for the toddlers in the ward two hours a week on Sundays.My husband was also serving as the Young Mens President and very busy with his career.
We were living the typical Mormon lifestyle of many families with young children.
I also found time to attend Park Days, Playdates, and Playgroups, hosted monthly La Leche League meetings in my little two bedroom Boulder Co. Apartment, and I was active in the Bradley Birth Educators Denver group.
I made time for cooking with whole foods, gardening with friends, tending various children in babysitting swaps, and I took care of a kindergartener in the mornings who attended afternoon school.
Whew! I get tired just typing that out.
I continued to read a variety of books on Educational Philosophy and Theory.
I also was conducting research on Psychiatry because I wanted to understand how that system of treatment had garnered so much power. Although I desired to continue breastfeeding my baby, I had been court ordered to eat psychiatric meds after her birth and so during that time I found myself reading all sorts of expose’s on the true history of Psychiatric Treatment. Peter Breggins books were the best!
When I read Cleon Skousens book The Naked Communist I began to get a much broader understanding of how Psychiatry functioned in American Society. I also read Prophets, Principles and National Survival by Jerreld Newquist during this time and that amazing book, which had been endorsed by President Ezra T. Benson in General Conference, was a Rock Solid foundation of knowledge to build my Homeschooling Dreams on.
It was also during this time that I picked up several books on Unschooling at the Boulder Public Library.
These books added more fuel to my desire to keep my children unsullied by institutions.
Yet, despite all of my reading, for some strange reason I found it nearly impossible to discipline myself to sit down at the kitchen table with Shelly every day and work with her on reading, writing, and math.
I have witnessed this phenomenon with other homeschooling Moms. We all enjoy reading, researching, talking, and theorizing the WHYS of Homeschooling, but the actual DOING seems to be much harder to do.
I am not sure if it is because we think we have to recreate the classroom at home (we don’t), or if we believe we have to spend six hours every day “teaching” (it only takes an hour or two to cover the fundamentals of reading, writing, and math with a reasonably intelligent elementary aged child), but I have observed that many parents get stuck and find it impossible to begin, even when they have hundreds of dollars of shiny new curriculum staring them in the face. Perhaps especially when they have hundreds of dollars of shiny new curriculum looking back at them all beady eyed and threatening.
As to why this is, well, just look at the history of education in North America. There is a reason why Laura Ingalls and Anne Shirley were hired by their local school boards to teach the three R’s at the one room schoolhouse.
A woman can only do so much work in a given day. And if she is pregnant, breastfeeding, and caring for infants during the night and chasing toddlers during the day, informing her that she ALSO has to spend 1,2,3, or 6 hours every day chained to her kitchen table teaching the children to read, write, and do math can feel like a death sentence.
Unschooling is a seduction because it tricks the mother into thinking that she can have her cake and eat it too.
Meaning, she can keep her children away from toxic institutions but she does not have to bother with the nuts and bolts of the daily work of teaching.
I remember reading an essay by Diane Hopkins years ago titled What happens when unschooling becomes unparenting?
Reading this essay was an “ouch” moment for me. I was happily engaged in my own daily work of breastfeeding, teaching childbirth, busy with church and community, and cooking, cleaning, laundry and dishes at home, but by adopting the label Unschooler, I had given myself an out with Shelly. I believed that I did not have to spend one on one time with her because she was getting everything she needed from our “Lifestyle.”
And this is what I mean by “Seduction”. It is easy for Mom to allow herself to believe that her child will be disciplined enough to take on the task of doing a daily math lesson, writing, and going from beginning reading to reading for pleasure without any sort of input from her.
We all have heard those stories of the child who picks up a book and begins reading at age three. And the 2nd grader who knows calculus. But my five children do not fit into any of those categories and after two years of what I would term my own “parental neglect” regarding her education, Paul found a book, Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons, and finally took on the daily task of working with her and teaching her how to read. He thought the unschooling philosophy was just a bunch of worthless hogwash and my strict marriage to it for a couple years was a real wedge in our relationship.
I have witnessed for years that those Mothers who “Live” on certain parenting forums are the ones screaming the loudest about Unschooling. These women seem to have countless hours every day to spend on the computer chatting with other stay at home Moms about this and that, but they never seem to spend any time working with their kiddos on any formal curriculum.
They will use identifying monikers online like Eclectic Mommy, or Fabulous Unschooling Dad…etc and brag about how great it all is, but when you dig just a bit below the surface of these facades, sometimes you will meet a neglected, lonely little soul who would probably love to spend some one on one time with a parent doing some bookwork, especially when they are at the beginning of Homeschool adventures.
I do not mean to completely dump on unschooling. I know that many families have achieved significant goals using this philosophy of learning and we all have different goals as families.
But my goals, our goals as a family, were to help our children prepare for a rigorous college experience. As a confirmed bookworm, I also had set the goal to have a family of readers.
It is sort of hard to love reading if you cannot do it in the first place. And I have observed that it takes about three years for my children to make it over the hump from reading being a chore to reading being for pleasure.
I get really sad when I talk to young moms who are enthusiastically talking up the virtues of Unschooling. They always seem to have one daughter who is about four years old. They have read all of the books, agreed with the theory and LOVE to talk Homeschool with anyone who will engage.
Then after a couple years some of these Moms are the very ones most likely to send the child to public school in frustration because the theory didn’t pan out. What they need to know is that just an hour or two of daily structure will keep the homeschooling flame burning bright enough that they will not give up in frustration when the various wolves in the form of busybody neighbors, extended family, and CPS Social Workers are nipping at their heels.
So today, I am minding my own beeswax comfortably blogging about soccer and social networking about other “safe” topics like islamic terrorism when out of the blue I feel this overwhelming impression from Heavenly Father that he wants me to do a “From the HOMESCHOOLING Trenches” series of essays on my Blog.
Initial response to the prompting…”No Way…No FREAKING Way”. Then I get this even stronger impression that someone, somewhere out in the hinterlands of the internet needs my words, insights, and thoughts to motivate them to take on this seemingly impossible task of teaching the kiddos themselves.
I really have not written much about our education adventures because school, like childbirth, is a minefield of neverending explosions of opinion, cat fights, blog wars, chat room temper tantrums, and mommy blogging mud wrestling the likes of which civil society has never witnessed.
I experienced this rage during my oldest daughters first pregnancy 25 years ago, and while the climate for homeschooling is a little more tolerant today, the emotion, ego, and defensiveness on all sides of the educational spectrum continues on…
I have about zero desire to take a cannoball leap back into the digital pool as some sort of a child rearing educational expert on all topics relating to Homeschooling. Yet, I have a near insatiable desire to listen when the Holy Spirit prompts, and hey, if the Master of the Universe believes I have something of value to offer to the Dialog around education, well, who I am to question HIM.
So this series will be tagged Uncommon Lore. I will be writing for those families who are feeling the tug to do something else with their children scholastically.
I titled it Uncommon Lore simply because I plan to just cut to the chase and write what I really think, rather than waste any time attempting to write the words that will make me “fit” into a certain homeschooling philosophy or educational theory.
I also want to publicly rebuke, mock, and heckle the Common Core curriculums that have quietly been implemented around the states the past few years and a riff on Common Core with Uncommon Lore felt like a good way to tag this category.
So tune in often to read my essays on Homeschooling and if you are “the one” who needed to read my thoughts on this topic…curse yo…no did not mean to type that. Its just that my life seems to be one big series of traumatic events tied to me opening my big fat mouth, and here we go AGAIN.
Anyway, food for thought…
My homeschooling friend Anette upon hearing that I was planning to send my children to the best public charter school in Colorado…
“Jenny, it would be better for you to lock yourself in your bedroom and let your children run wild for two years rather than send them to an institution”.
And from my friend Patricia who discovered that I was encouraging Jeffrey to drop out of that same charter to join the Marine Corps a few years back because he was sick of the Marxist indoctrination…
“Jenny, he will never be able to amount to ANYTHING if he does not get his diploma and go to college.”
So, these are two ends of the educational spectrum and I plan to share all sorts of thoughts on those ends and EVERYTHING in between.
When Diane Hopkins and her husband started their Homeschool Supply company Latter Day Family Resources many years ago, I was on the mailing list and received her catalog in the mail. Then when everything moved onto the web I joined the discussion group that she attached to the web site during the years I was home schooling my older children.
Roberts Rules of Order
were designed to be the way that our Republic was supposed to function at every level from local up to the Federal Level. So if you as a Taxpayer attend a Common Core informational meeting and the setup of the room is round tables and note cards with little follow through and even less accountability from those moderating the event, just know that you have been Alinsky’d with the Delphi Technique and DEMAND that the room be reconfigured according to Roberts rules with open microphones for the audience and open and honest debate COVERED BY THE PRESS. If the press does not bother to show up and report, create your own citizen reports and post them on the internet.
This is the way for our Republic to be restored from the ground up.
Once upon a time a brilliant mathematician named John Saxon decided to make it his life’s work to create an incremental curriculum from Arithmetic to Calculus and everything in between.
Download a PDF of this Essay 
I experienced this rage during my oldest daughters first pregnancy 25 years ago, and while the climate for homeschooling is a little more tolerant today, the emotion, ego, and defensiveness on all sides of the educational spectrum continues on…
