Want to Read About Home Schooling? Tell Us All About It.

I don't think we have been that narrow, but I get your point. Do you know whom I blame? You! Nobody is telling me that some subjects are not allowed. I am not censoring any topics. This column is driven entirely by readers. You are the quarterbacks, the point guards, the starting pitchers in this game. If you don't throw a topic at me, I can't use it. (Okay, occasionally I will devote a column to some pet peeve of my own, but that only happens three or four times a year.)

So the solution is simple. I would love to deal with issues in the home-schooling community. Please tell me about them. My addresses are at the bottom of this column.

Are you peeved because everyone assumes you are a fire-breathing right-winger? Are the regular public schools not giving you the support your tax dollars entitle you to? If you are a home-educating parent or student in the Washington metropolitan area, I want to hear from you.

Dear Extra Credit:

I am a retired Montgomery County public schools elementary teacher. I have friends who are still teaching in Montgomery elementary schools and friends, neighbors and family members with children there. It seems that all Montgomery students are being forced to function above grade level in math. No provision is being made for the average math student.

This goes against all that professional educators know about effective teaching strategies. Students should not be required to learn above-grade-level math objectives until they have mastered their current grade-level objectives. What difference does it really make if a person takes Algebra I in grade 8, 9 or maybe not at all?

Here are some of the consequences of this unprofessional, experimental practice. Average math students are frustrated and anxious. At a very young age they say, "I am not good in math." Parents are forced to waste precious time trying to teach above-grade-level concepts to a child who has not mastered current objectives. Some parents feel compelled to hire expensive tutors to push their children even though they are functioning at grade level.

Children do not need to be in a pressure-cooker environment so that Montgomery schools can look good on paper.

Betty J. Crisp