THRIVE - Education Solutions Strategies

Instead we want to develop strategies that break down the state monopoly on education and empower all people to choose where and how they want to be educated.

These education solutions have to take place alongside solutions in other sectors. They are all interconnected. For example:

• while there is still public education, we’ll need to decrease the military budget and get rid of interest on the Federal Reserve debt and redirect those funds to finance the transition away from state schooling. 
• Education taxes would also decrease and eventually be eliminated, which would free up funds for families to pay for their own schooling.

The basic strategy we’ve come up for the education sector involves:

Stage 1: Reform Existing Systems – Transition out of the state-school model and encourage alternative schools to emerge by loosening government regulations and allowing people to attend the schools they choose.

Stage 2: Limit Government Control – Make the transition to education without government intervention.

Stage 3: Set up Systems for Voluntary Cooperation – Keep the government out of education and allow people to choose the education they desire.

Stage 1: Reform
Redirect a Portion of the Military Budget into Education
A small portion of the military budget could be redirected into education. A recent poll showed that American taxpayers want more money to go toward education and less toward the military. These funds could go to (1) help state schools get the resources they need to make it through this transition period, (2) a new government scholarship program to finance education of the poor, and (3) develop new models of education and funding solutions for non compulsory education.

Set Up A Scholarship Fund For Those Who Need It
There will be fewer and fewer people who need assistance as taxes are lowered, but there will inevitably be some people in need of financial support as the state school system is overhauled. A state scholarship program could provide temporary relief in this first stage until the private sector is able to take on the responsibility. Funding could come from redirected military funds and elimination of interest on the Federal Reserve debt.

Setting up this state scholarship fund will not be easy. We can learn from existing, though imperfect, assistance programs such as school voucher systems to learn how government funds are set-up, how people receive the funding, and how to determine who qualifies.

Some existing programs to learn from include:

Milwaukee Parental Choice Program – This is the nation’s oldest voucher program for low-income families. Parents receive up to $6,500 to enroll their children in private school. The program has grown significantly from 337 students attending seven schools in 1990 to 18,550 students attending 122 schools in 2008. Studies show that these students have a higher graduation rate than those in public schools and that parents are satisfied with the program.

School Choice Info – There are a variety of school choice programs in Cleveland, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Milwaukee, Vermont, and Washington D.C. that are described on this site. It gives information on legislative history, fiscal impact, research, enrollment, demographics, and more.

Gradually Lower and Eventually Eliminate Education Taxes
Because our goal is to move away from state schooling, the taxes that currently go toward funding schools would no longer be necessary as more private schools emerge and the scholarship program grows. 90% of K-12 education funding comes from state and local sources, [1] so eliminating these taxes would require a variety of strategies.

Allow and Encourage Diverse Education Programs to Emerge
At this stage, the market would be open for alternative schools and programs to emerge and expand. Families who are unsatisfied with state schools could have their children receive any type of education they desire and stop paying taxes toward the current state schooling system.  Those who are unable to afford private schools could receive funding through a scholarship program.  Here are a few successful models that new schools could potentially learn from.

Peninsula School in Menlo Park, CA – A private, progressive school that offers a non-competitive, non-authoritarian learning environment.


Sudbury Valley School – An independent school ranging from pre-school to high school based out of Framingham, MA, that allows students to choose what they want to do every day. It is based on the belief that everyone has a natural curiosity to learn and that student’s will get the most out of their education by initiating their own activities and getting the support they need to do it.  They have a compelling structure in which each student and teacher has one vote to make decisions about rules, staff, facilities, etc.

Charter Schools
Charter schools are publicly funded schools that are privately run.  They are exempt from state rules and regulations, but must meet “accountability standards” that typically require the school to show increased student performance (usually based on state tests). While charter schools have received a good amount of criticism, they do provide some valuable insight. Part of their success is due to the fact that they are run like a business, not a government institution. This transfers to policies and systems that demand accountability. There often are more efficient use of resources, higher teacher salaries, higher teacher performance standards, and a benchmark system to evaluate the school’s overall performance. Some of these systems may help inform private schools as they begin to form.

The “Unschooling” Model
Another approach to education is to ditch the idea of schooling altogether and to support each child’s natural interest to learn. “Unschooling” is a growing subset of the homeschooling movement that is not based on any particular curriculum and does not follow any set structure. The underlying belief is that children are naturally curious and that they will learn as long as they are supported in pursuing their passions. It has been catching on in recent years, with some estimating that the unschooling population is growing by 10-15% every year.[2]

Advance Education to Include More Whole-Systems Thinking and Analysis of Current World Issues
We are living in momentous, challenging, and exciting times, yet very few classes focus on the current state of affairs. Students would benefit and become more engaged if their education reflected real world situations rather than abstract ideas and notions. You can get college credits through Gaia University and Wisdom University to study various subjects on the Thrive website and propose solutions to many of the problems we currently face.

Stage 2: Limit Government Control
Transition State Scholarship Program to a Private, Charitable Fund
With billions of dollars of taxpayer money returned to the people in Stage 2, more and more funds would be available for charitable contributions.  Caring for others would no longer be handled (inadequately) by the state, but the responsibility of citizens. Given the current state of the world, it’s clear that the state, while officially responsible, actually fails in its role.

State schools would no longer exist and people would be free to pursue the type of education they desire. The state scholarship program would be phased out and privately run scholarship programs would kick in.  For a breakdown of the numbers and how this could work, see Chris Cardiff’s  article, What About the Poor?.
 

Stage 3: Voluntary Cooperation
Get and Keep Government Out of the Educational Process
The key in this stage is to keep government out of schools. There are already 8 million children in the U.S. who learn free of state control, so educational independence has already begun. In this stage, the possibilities are endless….Have fun! Learn and teach what you want! There could be schools focused on solving global crises, sustainability programs, teaching co-ops, internship programs, whole-systems curriculum, crafts, trades, arts, sciences, technology, homeschooling, “unschooling”, etc.

The early colonies actually serve as a model for a functioning education system that honors individual choice. Women, immigrants, African Americans and Native Americans were not honored within this system, but applied today, we could create equal rights for everyone.

Not withstanding the genocide upon which the colonies were established, former Director of Education Policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Matthew J. Brouillette, says “Early America was arguably the freest civil society that has ever existed. This freedom extended to education, which meant that parents were responsible for, and had complete control of, their children's schooling. There were no accrediting agencies, no regulatory boards, and no teacher certification requirements. Parents could choose whatever kind of school or education they wanted for their children, and no one was forced to pay for education they did not use or approve of.” 

We can learn from this model. To read more about it, check out Brouillette’s article here.

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[1] National Education Association, Diversity Toolkit: Class and Income: http://www.nea.org/tools/18836.htm.
[2] Victoria Clayton. A New Chapter in Education: Unschooling. October 6, 2006. MSNBC article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15029646.

Day One: Mamalahoe

(Splintered Paddle)
Compassion

Respect alike (the rights of) the great and humble.

If you forget to have compassion for the weaknesses, faults, and failures of others, then you risk becoming shortsighted, unfair, emotionally cold, or dead inside.

Empathize with the suffering of others without getting entangled in their problems.

Compassion or self and others allows you to learn from experience and continue on your journey with you self-esteem safely at helm.

We Are Homeschooling!!!!

I did it!  I submitted a letter of intent to Waialua and Sunset Elementary today... we are homeschooling as of Monday September 10, 2012.  Thank you Heavenly Father, Divine Mother, Grandma Paulo, all saints, sages, gurus....I humbly bow to you....I love you.  Thank you.

How To Operate A Thriving Homeschool Co-op

You’ll need 3 things to start a learning co-op of any kind: students, volunteers, and a meeting place. When you’re trying to start up a homeschool co-op, send out an email on your homschool email list. If you don’t have an email list, search for one on yahoo groups for your area. Hold a meeting for everyone interested and share ideas so everyone is on the same page.

Once you have some interest, look into finding a meeting location. 

Decide how often and at what time your group will meet. I think once a week works best. Mornings are always better than afternoons. Some groups meet all day, but I don’t think that works well in a Catholic co-op, reason being that everyone always seems to have lots of little siblings that need naps. You just can’t keep toddlers out all day. Our co-op met from 9:30 to 11:30, and it worked really well.

Once you have your basics covered, you’ll want to organize your co-op in a way that will keep it successful long term. Why do co-ops fail? The answer is sometimes disorganization, but an even more common cause of failure is burn-out. 

Ok, here are some tip for running a thriving homeschool co-op! 

Everyone involved needs to volunteer in some way. In a traditional co-op, no one is being paid for their time. Most of the work will fall on the shoulders of the organizers and teachers, but every parent involved should be expected to help in some way. A co-op really should be a team effort! Obviously you’ll need teachers, substitute teachers, and classroom assistants. Other parents can volunteer to help send out email reminders, plan special events like Christmas parties, run the nursery, go shopping for supplies, bring snacks, etc. Find jobs for everyone. This is important. If all the work is falling on the shoulders of the same people, the co-op will not be successful long term.

Appreciate your teachers! Besides everyone having a job and a job for everyone, be sure to show appreciation for your co-op teachers. It’s a lot of work! You can send emails telling them what a great job they’re doing, bring “teacher gifts” for Christmas, and collect money from all the parents for a small end-of-the-year gift. Nobody wants their work to go unnoticed.

Having a nursery is a necessity. Don’t even think about organizing a co-op for homeschoolers without a nursery. Seriously. It is not ok to ask the teachers to keep their littles with them, and it’s not ok to expect them to hire babysitters. The nursery should be parent led. You’ll need one organizer, and many volunteers. Small babies can stay with their mothers in the classroom in slings or strollers, but anyone who’s old enough to want to get down and be a disruption should be in the nursery or a preschool class. As long as we’re on the topic of little kids, having a baby or being pregnant is not an excuse to not volunteer with the co-op.  

Offer multiple grade levels. It’s quite convenient to show up at one time and have all the kids get what they need at once. Every co-op can’t offer all grades (in fact, I’ve been a part of 2 co-ops that were for preschoolers only), but offering multiple grades is a big plus. That being said, you should decide on a required age level for joining. For example, if you run a co-op that goes preschool through highschool, I would recommend having the preschool available for younger siblings only (meaning you can’t join with only preschoolers. You’ll just overflow and it won’t work long-term.)
Control class size. I would suggest a class size of no more than 8-10 children per “class”. If you have more than this, consider making more classes. You’ll have to wait and see who signs up before you can split the kids into classes. Of course you’ll be splitting by age, but another factor you might consider is splitting by abilities (such as splitting the readers and non-readers rather than going strictly by age alone.)
Collect dues. Don’t rely solely on parents bringing in supplies, etc. You should set a monthly fee per child or family to participate. Our pre-school co-op charged $15/month per family. Decide on something fair. You’ll need to cover supplies, snacks, location expenses, etc.
Collect an up-front joining fee. This is not the first month’s dues, this is a start up fee. It will help with buying supplies for the year, and will also help with commitment to the group. You don’t want parents flaking out on you.
Draw up some papers. Another way you can help with commitment to the group is to draw up some simple co-op papers. Decide on a sick policy, a dress code, and a basic attendance policy. Find out if the kids have allergies etc. Putting this stuff on paper among a group of friends might feel silly, but I promise if you don’t there will always be “that mom” who is showing up late saying “Sorry I’m late- my 2 year old was throwing up on the way out the door. I don’t know what got into her.” Sick policies are important.
Shut down for the holidays. Don’t try and schedule classes too close to Christmas, etc. It’s just too much. I would actually recommend shutting down for most of December and January. I have found that class gets cancelled so much during this time (due to sickness and travel) that it’s hardly worth trying to meet at all.
Co-op classes are not mommy socialization time. It’s not ok for the classroom assisatants to stand in the back of the room visiting during class. I find that very often, moms get involved with co-ops as a way to meet other homeshcoolers and socialize. It can be a great idea to have a meeting location after co-op is over (like a near by park) that everyone can bring a picnic lunch to. This will cut down on the need to chit-chat during class.
Give homeschoolers a good name! If you’re collecting dues, you should be able to make a donation to your venue at the end of the year as a “thank you”. This shows you appreciate their generosity with the building and makes it more likely that they’ll let you return next year. Be sure to always leave the place nicer than you found it. If there are other people in the building (like parish staff) while you meet, don’t let class changes be chaos! Give homeschoolers a good name. Teach them to walk in lines and be quiet in the hallways. We want to show the world that homeschoolers and well behaved and polite!
Start and end on time. It’s not ok to always start late and run over. This causes standing around at the beginning, and overloaded kids at the end. For our group, dismissal time was chaos. As a result, we made a rule that once you had your kid an their papers, you were expected to leave immediately. For those who still want to visit, they should arrange another time for socialization.
Remember that you can’t please everyone. Don’t kill yourself trying.

General information about the Whole Child, Healthy Planet Curriculum Guides

With a learning styles-centered approach, and concentration in diversity and developmental stages, our elementary program focuses on engaging the whole child. The curriculum combines a student-centered approach (creative, flexible, holistic, and experiential, with a learning styles focus) with an emphasis on peace, justice, diversity, and sustainability.

The curriculum guides are centered on the four core principles of the Earth Charter:

(1) Respect and Care for the Community of Life
(2) Ecological Integrity
(3) Social and Economic Justice
(4) Democracy, Nonviolence, Peace and Diversity

Our K-8 curriculum guides cover all of the core academic subjects in a way that engages students through a sense of enchantment, awe, and wonder as well as through incorporation of art, music, nature, imagination, and story.


“Living Books”

While most standard curriculum is shaped by a textbook and a workbook, the Global Village Whole Child, Healthy Planet Curriculum guides are built around the inspiration found in many types of literature. Sometimes we do suggest a text or a workbook, but more often we look for books that will foster the same learning in a more creative, beautiful and fulfilling way. In many ways our choice of books resembles the idea of “living books” that early home educator Charlotte Mason proposes. Some of the qualities of living books are:

(1) Literature created by a person with an obvious special interest in his/her subject.
(2) A personal, human, emotional quality to what is presented.
(3) Books that are inspiring and attractive to the student’s spirit as well as intellect.
(4) Books that promote a sense of wonder and appreciation.

A few of the authors whose work is featured or recommended in our K8 curriculum include Craig and Marc Kielburger, Alice Walker, Howard Zinn, Sherman Alexie, Julia Butterfly Hill, Deborah Ellis, Barbara Lewis, Beatrix Potter, Roald Dahl, Rudyard Kipling, Scott O’Dell, Shel Silverstein, and Madeleine L’Engle.

A sampling of the books in our K8 curriculum includesKids’ Guide to Service Projects, Everyday Life in the Ancient World, Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak, and A Child’s Introduction to the Night Sky, as well as novels, nature journals, and much more.

1st Grade Curriculum

Language Arts - Early reading skills, poetry, stories.  

Math - Basic math skills taught in creative and engaging ways, math games, counting poems.  

Science - A story and activity-based introduction to biomes, ecosystems, botany (flowers, planting seeds), animals, and more.  

Social Studies/Diversity - Introductory geography, uniqueness of people and cultures, friendship, children around the world.  

Peace Studies -The word “peace” around the world.  

Art - Child as artist, pencils, watercolors, introduction to great works of art. 

5th Grade Curriculum

Social Studies - Emphasis on US history, with a focus on kids’ experiences during different periods such as the Civil Rights Movement, slavery, labor strikes, Native American contributions, and inspirational figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks. Also includes cultural geography, in which students learn about the lives of children around the world.  

Language Arts/Literature - Historical novels, beautifully illustrated books, poetry; writing skills, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling.  

Science/Eco-Integrity - Emphasis on environmental science (biomes, wildlife, environmental issues, climate change, ways kids can make a difference), also fun experiments such as creating invisible ink and making a fog chamber. 

Math - Comprehensive full year’s math curriculum, with an emphasis on mastery and problem solving; includes manipulatives. Online assessments make it easy for parents to choose the most appropriate level for their child. Also includes films, music, art, health, nature activities, service learning and character development.