Overheard...

The kids have been playing some imaginative scenario involving a variety of toys, including their fisher price castle, a rescue hero firetruck, and a planet heroes spaceship. While they were playing, I overheard this:

N's character (a polly pocket) said: How'd the battle go?
A's character (a rescue hero) said (in a deep voice): Oh, not well. I got fired. There were cameras, and they saw me not shooting the water cannons. That's the problem with battles - no rest time.

LOL - video surveillance on the battlefield. Roman Empire meets 21st century.

Also overheard (or rather, following from afar) - a ruling was recently made in Los Angeles county that has homeschoolers watching closely. The case involved allegations of child abuse against parents who were educating their children at home under an independent study program through a "charter school" (in paretheses because it's unclear whether this school was actually a public charter, or a private school). There a lot of unanswered questions for those of us who are just becoming aware of the story. One of the biggest questions is why wasn't this pursued as simply an abuse case? Why attack homeschooling? Unfortunately abuse takes place in all sorts of families, including families that send their kids to public school. Does the government suggest that, in the interest of avoiding child abuse, all children be removed from their parents' care shortly after birth so that the authorities can better monitor their well-being? No, that would be ridiculous, just as ridiculous as requiring all children to physically attend school in a full-time private or public school outside of the home in the interest of ensuring that none are being abused. For more on this story, including the court document filed in this case, visit the California Homeschool Network website.