Ed Mouse Icon

I'm having some trouble uploading my little avatar onto a forum so I'm going to put here here and see if I can upload him across the web.

This particular Ed Mouse is only 8KB! He's a GIF.

Maryland Homeschooling

While the national debate about education is about coming up with a single national curriculum rather than fifty state versions, the debate that is not happening is about homeschool rules. Each state has its own rules and regulations about homeschooling. I think it's fascinating that these questions are too hot for any politician to handle. It's also interesting how dramatically different the Maryland homeschool rules are from say Alabama homeschooling rules.

If I've understood correctly, in Maryland, the families are required to meet with the board of education twice during the school year for a review of the program. As I've heard, while this seems scary, they actually send out very positive supportive well-informed people who seem to have a constructive relationship with the families.

In contrast, in Alabama, homeschooling is basically not allowed under that name unless the parent is a certified teacher. Families must join these bogus "cover schools" which are basically private schools organized to provide an umbrella or cover for homeschoolers.

For homeschooling in Florida, there are cover schools but many homeschoolers take the option of notifying their school board that they intend to homeschool and then fulfill the annual requirement of getting their child reviewed by a certified teacher or other formal annual review.

Geography Games

Geography forms the basis for understanding our political and physical realities. Want to understand the challenge of global warming, start with understanding the basics of our world...of geography.

How about playing some great geography games.

A great deal of geography education can be effectively taught through geography games and map games. These geography learning games help form the basis for understanding our country, our states, our world. Play on!

Learning Games for Kids

I'm going to run a series highlighting some of the most interesting learning games on the web. Today:

Dental Games - They provide great dental info through fun learning games. And I quote:

Come play and learn how many baby teeth we have and how the saliva gets into our mouth. Also, dental hygiene!

Would your kids like these games? Their best is called Molar Madness.