Now I Don't Claim to be an A Student
I promise you, this is the last book-related blog post for a while. But when I looked down at the side of my bed, I noted there were no fewer than eleven books on homeschooling and American educational policy. Some of them are written to appeal to and enlighten the masses. The other nine are written in a typeface last seen on a book in a dollhouse and allude to even more books I'll have to buy, partially because of my new habit of highlighting and partially because no library in Los Angeles carries them because Los Angeles thinks books which bore you into an educated stupor are icky and scary. We like love-triangles and vampires.
Most of this new information I'm gathering won't actually enter the new book, but I must know the background to be able to speak coherently of the foreground. I guess. Or I just like buying books from Amazon that, on the popularity list, are 3,000,000th. But at least this pile of densely-printed accumulated wisdom has solved one problem for me:
For Halloween this year, I'll be going as a policy wonk.
Most of this new information I'm gathering won't actually enter the new book, but I must know the background to be able to speak coherently of the foreground. I guess. Or I just like buying books from Amazon that, on the popularity list, are 3,000,000th. But at least this pile of densely-printed accumulated wisdom has solved one problem for me:
For Halloween this year, I'll be going as a policy wonk.
posted by Unknown at 8:26 AM
9 Comments:
Okay, 'policy wonk' made me snort. For real. You'll be sure to terrify!
First, don't apologize for book-related blog posts. It's your blog. It's not like they are going to cancel the blog for low ratings or the VP of Blog Programming is going to send you snarky notes.
Second, all this background will come in handy when you do the book tour/TV rounds/lecture circuit. Be sure that they pay you.
Good luck!
I don't know if you have ever tried www.half.com to find those hard-to-come-by books but I buy so much from them that they keep sending me tshirts.
Also, my son is a college student and we actually rent his books from chegg.com, ecampus.com and a few others. I don't know if they rent homeschooling cirriculum but it's a thought. Sure has saved us a ton of money in the college book department and since next fall I will have two kids in college, I am ecstatic at the renting option.
I'd be happy to mail you the shelf of homeschool-related books that I bought over the years with the best of intentions, but was too busy actually homeschooling to read. You can give me the "Quinn's Notes" version. And then, since I'm almost done with this journey, I'm sure I shall look back and weep at all the things I will discover I did wrong. ;-)
After writing a 75 page law review article on homeschooling, I'm pretty sure I've read every single 7.5 font tome on the topic. After a year of research, let me suggest the following items for your new Halloween costume: 1) broken glasses, stepped on because they were covered by mountains of articles, 2) post-it notes stuck to your pants seat, and 3) an overwhelming urge to buy a denim jumper/holiday sweater.
I homeschooled, for ten years. Son was in public school through 2nd, graduated as a homeschooler. Daughter hsed through 4th, private school through most of 9th, now currently in a media arts emphasis charter school. I've moderated an online support group since '99, have had a HS Campfire Club, 4-H, enrichment programs, taught others in my home, burned my kids out on field trips. I've been structured, relaxed, and unschoolish. I own six different foreign language programs and changed math curricula more often than my underwear.
Ask away!
I hope it's not the last book-related blog post, as I do enjoy reading them. I was the outcast kid who always daydreamed of homeschool. I think it will be an interesting read, for sure. :) Very cool that you are doing such thorough research. Post pics as the policy wonk. ;-)
Or you could give out books instead of candy at Halloween. (Haven't you always had a secret desire to have your windows soaped?)
Have you ever tried the university libraries? You may not be able to check out the books, but you can read them and see if they're something you want to buy. I know I've always found the true institutional libraries to be fun - no really - finding all these old books, thinking "I wonder when somebody last picked up this book?" It's great fun to wander the stacks.
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