The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a Children’s Bill Of Rights, with all of the sections in the bill. You can take a look at Children’s Bill of Rights.

Let’s look at the rights and attendant responsibilities. First we’ll show the right, then in italics and in red, the child’s responsibility. I’ll follow each of these with my comments. I’ll keep the comment on each of these short.

_____

Right to Privacy

Every human being has the right to a reasonable amount of privacy, including children. Parents and others should knock and wait to be invited in before entering a child’s room, once the child is old enough to understand this.

A child should have the right to have his personal possessions considered private, within reasons. (Destructive or harmful objects such as weapons or drugs are not “private” for anyone in a family — everyone would need to know they are in the house.)

Every child has the right to have talks with whomever they need to, and to consider those talks to be private. No child should have to tell another about talks he’s had (written or spoken) with others. (This, again, is within reason. Dangerous “talks” with strangers on the Internet and elsewhere are not a part of this right. Parents have the responsibility and right to keep their children safe.)

You have the responsibility to have a safe room, to never bring anything dangerous into it or your house such as a weapon, drugs, or living things that your family does not know about.

You have the responsibility to care for your possessions, unless you do not want them anymore. You have the responsibility to know that if you break your things, your parents (or other people) do not have to replace them.

You have the responsibility to choose to talk to people who really do care about you, and not just “to anyone”. You have the responsibility to not “just complain” about things, but instead to try to make them better. You have the responsibility to see to it that your parents know whatever they need to know to safely take care of you, your house, and your family and neighborhood.

It is important that a child is aware that his privacy is being respected. It provides him a sense of self-value. But it is also important that he realize he is a part of a family, sharing a home with others. This fact implies responsibilities. That is the story of civilization – people living in close quarters and sharing the joys and burdens of society. Living with others requires boundaries and rules. They include good self-policing of what one brings into a house where others live. This care should extend beyond living things like animals, weapons and drugs. It should include friends who are ill and contagious. The child is as responsible for the welfare of his family as are the parents in this regard, and should learn this lesson by a fairly young age.

A child must understand that very little is “owed” to him. The child’s possessions should always be his, they are not communal or “family” possessions. But if he doesn’t care for them and they deteriorate or break – that’s his problem, by the same rule. His possessions are his. If others choose to replace them of their own accord, that’s great. No one, however, is obligated to do so. This is an important life lesson for a child to learn.

Today, with the Internet and schools and such, a child is capable of talking to (in one form or another) many people. Some will be known to the child and his parents, but many others will effectively be strangers. The lesson of Little Red Riding Hood perhaps means more today than ever. “Don’t talk to strangers”. In the Internet age, that is a very important lesson to learn.

What’s more, privacy… Read Entire Article…

Children’s Bill Of Rights – Right to Privacy – Children’s Responsibilities

The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a Children’s Bill Of Rights, with all of the sections in the bill. You can take a look at Children’s Bill of Rights.

_____

Right to be Involved in Decisions Involving the Child

Every child has the right to have explained to him, in a manner easily understood by the child, any pending decision that is being thought about and that would change or limit in any way the life of that child. The child also has the right to have his own ideas and opinions about such decisions, and to express them. The child has the right to be consulted regarding any decision that will change his life.

This world is run and ruled by adults. As things currently stand, a child has very little control over how he uses his time, where he is or where he is going. He has almost no control over the actions of adults, including his parents.

So a child is physically moved places each day without generally being asked if that’s what he wants. He is told to do certain things at certain times and without his agreement or, usually, even a consultation with him.

And if his parents decide to get a divorce,… Read Entire Article…

Children’s Bill Of Rights – Right to be Involved in Decisions Involving the Child

The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a Children’s Bill Of Rights, with all of the sections in the bill. You can take a look at Children’s Bill of Rights.

Let’s look at the rights and attendant responsibilities. First we’ll show the right, then in italics and in red, the child’s responsibility. I’ll follow each of these with my comments. I’ll keep the comment on each of these short.

_____

Right to be Involved in Decisions Involving the Child

Every child has the right to have explained to him, in a manner easily understood by the child, any pending decision that is being thought about and that would change the life of that child. The child also has the right to have his own ideas and opinions about such decisions, and to express them. The child has the right to be consulted regarding any decision that will change his life.

You have the responsibility to listen and to work to understand when decisions being made are explained to you. You have the responsibility to express your opinions and ideas, but in a calm and respectful way. You have the responsibility to remember that your parents (or the adults you are dealing with) are “in charge” in such cases.

Children are not property. They are feeling, thinking human beings. They deserve an explanation that they can understand when their world is changed in some way by those who have the power to do so. At such times, it is the child’s responsibility to attempt to remain calm enough and sane enough to really listen. A true discussion should occur, with both sides calmly expressed. The adult should explain why things are being done as they are and what the compensation to the family will be that will benefit the child as well. The child must understand that adults (parents) have the right to live their life.

This becomes particularly dicey when such actions as divorce are… Read Entire Article…

Children’s Bill of Rights – Right to be Involved in Decisions Involving the Child – Children’s Responsibilities

The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a Children’s Bill Of Rights, with all of the sections in the bill. You can take a look at Children’s Bill of Rights.

Let’s look at the rights and attendant responsibilities. First we’ll show the right, then in italics and in red, the child’s responsibility. I’ll follow each of these with my comments. I’ll keep the comment on each of these short.

_____

Right to Control Their Own Time and Space

Every child has the right to decide for himself where he will go or be. Every child has the right to determine how their time shall be used.

You have the responsibility to listen and try to understand when your parents or other adults explain why they want to move you somewhere, or when your time is to be used a certain way. You have the responsibility to understand that you are a part of a family or other group, and that sometimes they need your help.

Freedom of motion and to use time as one wishes is very critical, an absolute necessity in developing a sane child. That said, we all of us live with others and within the structure of a family of some sort, a group, a city, a nation, a world. Participation and a certain level of cooperation are required as the grease that keeps the “machine” of civilization working smoothly. This is where things like “manners” and law come into play.

Unless one longs for anarchy, there are times when he must “play along”. If… Read Entire Article…

Children’s Bill Of Rights – Right to Control Their Own Time and Space – Children’s Responsibilities

The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a Children’s Bill Of Rights, with all of the sections in the bill. You can take a look at Children’s Bill of Rights.

_____

Right to Control Their Own Time and Space

Children have the right to be consulted regarding the way they use their time, and where they are to go at any given time. They have a right to an opinion regarding these, and to state their opinion.

We save time. We waste time. We stitch just in time in order to save nine additional stitches that would have invariably followed had we not done so. We use time well, or poorly. Things “in our time” are not as good as during other times. Time marches on. The days dwindle down, September, November. Tomorrow is another day. One day at a time. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…

Time is very important to human beings.

We sense time each day. We feel it passing by, and sometimes we resent it. Sometimes we long to hold time still. Sometime we glory in mortality and the things that we accomplish in spite of mortality. But regardless of how each person experiences it, most people are very aware of time.

Time is seen largely as a commodity, one that we either own or have borrowed for a while. “I have just enough time too…” “I don’t have enough time…” “Just give me a second…” We barter and trade for more time to do the things we wish, and attempt to minimize the time spent on other activities.

To a child, time may seem to be very short. Days may be too short to do all of the things that he wants. Or conversely, days may seem endless and filled with educational or other unwanted drudgery, or even worse, boring inactivity.

That said, it is very likely that a child will enjoy his days and find them short if he is allowed to have some say in how they are used. And it is very likely that a child will find his days to be a slow misery when he is forced into activities he hates, that are required of him, and that he is never consulted about it. This includes activities like school, by the way.

Is time perceived any differently for an adult?… Read Entire Article…

Children’s Bill Of Rights – Right to Control Their Own Time and Space

The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a Children’s Bill Of Rights, with all of the sections in the bill. You can take a look at Children’s Bill of Rights.

Let’s look at the rights and attendant responsibilities. First we’ll show the right, then in italics and in red, the child’s responsibility. I’ll follow each of these with my comments. I’ll keep the comment on each of these short.

_____

Right to Determine Interests, Practices, Studies and Pursuits

Every child has the right to have constructive interests of his own. Every child has the right to expect family and friends to support those interests. Every child has the right to the time needed to develop and practice his own interests, and to have them be considered a part of his education.

You have the responsibility to look around, be interested, and to try many things. You have the responsibility to be honest about the things you are not interested in, so that your parents and others do not waste time helping you learn about them. You have the responsibility to take the things that do interest you seriously, have fun with them, but to also really make an effort to learn about them.

One doesn’t grow or learn much if one is unwilling to look at things. Experience is the best teacher. And experience is a deeply personal thing. Some people yearn for and reach for it, even as young children. Others shy away from experience. Being willing to look at and experience the world around us is actually… Read Entire Article…

&nbsp

Children’s Bill of Rights – Right to Determine Interests, Practices, Studies and Pursuits – Children’s Responsibilities

The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a Children’s Bill Of Rights, with all of the sections in the bill. You can take a look at Children’s Bill of Rights.

Let’s look at the rights and attendant responsibilities. First we’ll show the right, then in italics and in red, the child’s responsibility. I’ll follow each of these with my comments. I’ll keep the comment on each of these short.

_____

Right to Their Own Ideas and Beliefs

Every child has the right to their own beliefs and ideas, including the right to involve himself or not in any given religion. This is the child’s right, regardless of the beliefs of his family, or of others around him.

You have the responsibility to be honest about what you believe or do not believe. You have the responsibility to respect other people’s beliefs, even if you do not share them.

This one is largely about respect. We are asking that the child respect whatever it is that he believes or does not believe, and that he stands by it until something in life occurs to change his mind. This is a form of self-respect.

Belief is an entirely intimate and personal phenomenon. In learning to protect and respect his own beliefs, a child learns to develop and appreciate his own abilities and perceptions… Read Entire Article…

Children’s Bill of Rights – Right to Their Own Ideas and Beliefs – Children’s Responsibilities

The following is part of a series of articles on the rights and responsibilities of children and of families. On our site, we’ve published a Children’s Bill Of Rights, with all of the sections in the bill. You can take a look at Children’s Bill of Rights.

Let’s look at the rights and attendant responsibilities. First we’ll show the right, then in italics and in red, the child’s responsibility. I’ll follow each of these with my comments. I’ll keep the comment on each of these short.

_____

Right to Inherit A Better World

Every child has the right to expect the world that he will be a part of to be better than the world his parents were a part of when they were children. Children have the right to expect their parents to make the world better for the next generation. Every child has the right to know that there will be a future for him to grow into, and that he can be an active and important part of it.

You will have the responsibility to make the world better for your own children.

There’s a lot of talk in these articles directed at parents, enjoining them to… Read Entire Article…

Children’s Bill of Rights – Right to Inherit A Better World – Children’s Responsibilities

Friends, please watch the video found at the link below.

http://vimeo.com/52711779

I just completed reading James Tooley’s book, The Beautiful Tree.  It’s all about how the poor of India, China and Africa have started thousands of private schools to educate their own, giving up on governments that have miserably failed them and their children.  This video, sent to me by a wonderful composer and musician and friend, Geoff Levin, is a resounding example of such action, and is remarkable.  It’s only a preview, about three minutes long.  I think you’ll be very impressed. I have no “interest” in this film, I’m not sure who made it.  I just think it’s important and eye-opening, and fills one with hope for the future (as Tooley’s fine book does).

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!

Steven Horwich

A wonderful look at education really working!

Happy New Year, everyone!

May this be a stellar year for you and yours.

May the blessing that is homeschooling be discovered and enjoyed by many millions of new families and students.  May this blessing and right be held inviolate and secure by enlightened  governments and representatives.

May this year’s homeschooling be illuminated with triumph, adventure, and the faces of your children daily alight with inspiration and understanding.

May a loving, supportive, admiration-based approach to education “go viral”.

May the day of the test, the report card, and the student evaluation come to a whimpering end.  May the destructive critique-based form of education that currently demolishes the lives of tens of millions of children die a quiet death in some dark and forgotten corner.  May students suddenly and breathtakingly find themselves empowered to study at their own pace, in a manner best suited to each individual student.  May the grim lies that are “this student is behind”, “this student is remedial”, and “your child needs a state-approved and enforced drugging (read “Ritalin”)” go directly to the hell hungrily awaiting them.  And may the pressure of enforced and joyless education be transformed into the joy of education for every student, as the artificial and man-devised methods of creating that pressure give way to the joy of each child’s innate curiosity and desire to learn.

May each student discover one or more subjects that they love, and may they then find themselves gifted by those “in charge” with 100% support to follow up.  In this way, may every student discover studies they pursue on their own with a will, things they love to do, and perhaps even a private calling just made for them.

May you, as a parent, be allowed to fully witness the joy of discovery and learning in your child, and may you be wise enough to know it when you see it.

May your families grow closer and stronger, and your hopes for your children bask in the light of a bright and wonderful day.

(And yes, I even have a few New Year’s wish for public school teachers!)
May public school teachers have a sudden, inexplicable stroke of conscience and go on strike to end National Standards, along with all forms of labeling and standardized testing.  After all, teachers claim they HATE National Standards and the testing associated with them.  They claim that these prevent them from successfully teaching.  Well, teachers ARE the system, and they can change it.  So let them strike to end national standards, and let them stop using those standards and tests as the all-too-useful excuse and shield for public education’s systemic failure.

May public school teachers stop lying that they are striking “for the children”, as one such teacher claimed with tears in her eyes before a class of students in Chicago, while they actually strike for more teacher pay, teacher benefits, and teacher job security…and rarely so much as learn the names of their students.

May the truth win out, may it find it’s way onto the tongues and into the hearts of public school teachers and administrators, to the final advantage of our children, families, and civilization.

May this be the year we truly start to educate our children.

Happy 2013!