Hello, Again!

This is KFell country....NH!

My Son - 9 year old Piano Prodigy!

You know they laughed at me online when I referred to him as a "prodigy" in the past...

But he's certainly narrowed the gap because him and actual prodigies, don't ya think?

If you are lazy, just watch from the 4 minute mark on.

NOTE - he's only been playing the piano for 2.5 years!

2012 Retrospective

Last week I finished Frank McCourt's second book - 'Tis: A Memoir - and it marked the 41st book I read this year.

That's by far the most books I've read in a year.

This year I also, finally, got off the ground with my local teaching and tutoring business, - and that, more than anything else, is what's basically destroyed my blogging career. Sorry.

There's definitely some decent side money in this and, importantly, it's something I can do during nights and weekends when my wife is around to watch the kids. Though I can actually take them with me when I need to. I sit them down outside with their own books and workbooks and they do in fact, without any issue, keep quiet outside my classroom or at the library for hours on end while I teach.

Yes, my clients are mostly all very smart Asians (who else would do math late into Friday and Saturday nights?), but no, none of them are even come close to my kids in terms of math competence.

Speaking of my kids, they are growing like weeds. My son turned 8 and my daughter - my little girl! - is already 6.5 years old. Before you know it they will be out of my house and that is quite the chilling prospect. My first wife will probably boot me out as well...

The big educational developments this year were chess and piano. Both kids started piano lessons about 9 months ago. As for chess, my son has really ramped up his game. He plays in tournaments quite often and meets with a terrific instructor once per week.

Definitely check out my post - First Chess Championship.

Christine enjoys chess as well but I don't push her as hard with math and chess, being a sexist with antiquated notions about gender expectations.

She's more into her art, dance, and now singing a little.

Another big, recent development is that we found, right under our noses, a very large Catholic homeschooling network here on Long Island. Why is this big? Well, because there just aren't that many people (out of the 15 million earthlings in the area!) who keep their children out of the *system*. And of the ones that do, they can be a very diverse set in the sense that they might homeschool for reasons totally different from the ones we do it for. Thus it can be hard to connect with families you actually have stuff in common with.

But this Catholic group is terrific. Everyone seems to be *more homogeneous*. And there are tons of kids (for my kids to hang with). It's hard to describe in words, in this short space, and to readers who have never been so far *outside the system* how critically important this *find* has been for my wife and I. But in some ways this might ultimately turn out to be THE pivotal event of 2012.

The good stuff in life is indeed out there....so don't EVER, EVER stop looking.

I did have to deal with that hurricane (Sandy) back this fall. Yeah, I shorted it and it blew up in my face. Whatever. These weathermen are right about one in 20 times! And actually, it was the snowstorm a week later that knocked down all my trees.

But since I spent weeks cleaning up my backyard and chainsawing several large trees....my physical fitness has benefited greatly.

I weigh 173 pounds now which is about 7-8 pounds more than I weighed for the past 20 years. (I had a very tight 5 lb range around 165). For whatever reason, I've added some bulk, pure muscle I suspect. And it has to be from the bench-pressing I'm doing now. Benching really, really hurts my back - or at least it used to. Perhaps my technique has improved a little? Or perhaps my back has gotten stronger???

I've also been ramping up my use of the speed bag (2,000 daily hits) and the heavy bag (kicks only). The kicking, 200 side kicks with each foot, everyday, rips my obliques more than ANYTHING else I've ever attempted. So it's something you fatties out there might want to give a whirl.

Golf?

Well I managed to hit more golf balls at the range this year than I ever have. Actual rounds are still rare. I maybe played 27 rounds this year (down from 32 or so in 2011) but I have never been more excited about my golf swing AND my short game than I am now. I did change to an interlocking grip in September, which is not exactly a little tinker!....so we'll see how that works out once I get comfortable.

Next year?

Am I taking the fam to Florida for an extended stay this winter, again? I don't know. I'll decide in a few weeks.

My wife will be changing jobs, sort of.

I do have an ebook that's just about ready for Kindle publication. It will be on SAT math, sort of.

I expect to be sitting, reading books, at a whole bunch of chess tournaments in 2013. I had never experienced stress levels like I felt this fall, waiting helplessly while my son was playing matches in the next room. But I do think I'm over it, somewhat. The more he competes, the more I'll learn to relax. It's only a friggin' game after all!

What else is going to happen???

Well the stock market will most certainly crash. And America will continue to *dichotomize* politically. The Democrats really do HATE the Republicans. Hate doesn't run the other way. The Republicans just think the Dems are lazy and stupid. And this entire divide goes back to *school* and the jock/nerd divide. I'm totally serious.

But now matter what, incumbents, old people, and institutions will continue to run this country aground at the expense of young people and liberty.

Taxes are getting out-of-control. At what point does the whole thing fall apart???

Whenever that it....we are most definitely one year closer.

And all y'all are one year older now....and will be dead soon, very, very soon.

So do get your affairs in order.

Book Rec - The Talent Code

I just read The Talent Code (a mere 2 days)....and, well, it's not that bad.

If anything, it's got me hitting golf balls at the range M O R E S L O W L Y.

And it's also, from my perspective, yet another *homeschooling book in drag* - even if most of the people reading it (and the author!) don't realize it.

It's in the same mold as Outliers and Talent Is Overrated. So if you appreciated those...

Here are the links to those:

Book Rec - Talent Is Overrated

Outliers - A Must Read

Daniel Coyle also has a blog. Today's post has a neat little soccer video on it too (if you're into soccer anyway).

Hitler - Smiling At His Modern-Day American Counterparts

Story:

State lawmakers in Albany voted this week to make kindergarten mandatory for all 5-year-olds in New York City, lowering the required age for schooling by one year.


Proponents of the measure, which awaits the governor's approval, praised the move as a triumph for thousands of 5-year-olds who are from poor and minority families or have disabilities. Many of these children, they say, are often turned away each year by school officials on grounds of a lack of space and the lack of any requirement that they attend school.


"I think it is a real gain," Norm Fruchter, the senior policy analyst at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, a nonprofit educational research and policy group, said of the vote. "There is a ton of research about what early-childhood programs do for children, and I think there is a whole bunch of parents of children who, for a variety of reasons, don't register them when they should and then they lose out for a whole year."


Mr. Fruchter said children who miss kindergarten may never recover.


"You're entering behind a lot of the kids in terms of your skills and overall development," he said. "And it is particularly with things like familiarity with the alphabet and with letters and numbers and school routines."


In her State of the City address in February, the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, trumpeted the idea of lowering the compulsory age of schooling to 5, from 6, as one of her prime educational initiatives.


If this becomes law, Ms. Quinn said, "the system could turn no child away."


"It stops the abuse of cherry-picking some 5-year-olds over other 5-year-olds," she said.


Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg backs the proposal. In a memo in support, his administration said that ensuring kindergarten for all 5-year-olds would "result in more students getting a strong start in their education."


There are 78,600 students enrolled in kindergarten in the city, a number that has steadily increased in recent years. But Ms. Quinn said that nearly 3,000 children enter first grade each year without having first gone to kindergarten, a figure her office said was based on an analysis of the city's Department of Education enrollment data for recent years.


The Democrat-led State Assembly passed the measure on June 4, and the Republican-led State Senate followed with a 59-to-1 vote on Thursday.


The bill now goes to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. He has 10 days, not counting Sundays, to sign or veto the bill before it automatically becomes law.

All that *reasoning* is complete bull$hit. The fact is....it's the young children who spend too much time AMONG OTHER CHILDREN in schools and in daycare are the ones who MAY NEVER RECOVER.

Why did the average 6 year old in 1950 have a 4,000 word vocabulary and yet today's average 6 year old only has a 1,000 word one???

Note how the reasoning is drenched in sympathy for the *poor*, i.e. class warfare. And note how even Republicans voted for this expansion of government.

Pre-school will be mandatory next. And the school year would be longer already if these government clowns weren't so fiscally irresponsible and beholden to the demands of lazy, unionized teachers.

"Give me the youth, and Germany will rule the World" - Adolf Hitler

Utterly Timeless, But Checking In...

We were in NYC today for a homeschool performance show...

On the way back we passed through the famed chess-hub of Washington Square Park.

Of course I was going to have my son play against a *chess hustler*!

Sorry I missed the first several moves:

The gentleman was very nice and offered sage pointers throughout the game. Heck I should probably pay him $20 an hour to teach my son!

On the way out he was surprised to hear my son was only 7....and showered John with compliments, saying he hadn't seen too many kids his age at that skill level.

See also:

Fathers Promoting Their Pawns

Best Self-Reinvention Ever?

Camtasia....It's Pretty Cool!

I just opened the box and rather easily made this, my first video - unshaven and completely unversed in Camtasia's plethora of tools and options.

So I'd expect that with a little practice I'll be able to produce some really crisp and snazzy videos with this so-called screencast software.

Of course most of y'all would need a *little practice* to be be able to multiply like me!

BTW, speaking of math...

My short ebook is almost ready for publication/distribution.  I'll be sure to let everyone know when it's out.

Also, the KahnAcademy.org has gotten better. It's more than just a bunch of videos. The site now has more structure, exercises, and INTERACTIVITY.

Everyone should have their kid on it (counting through calculus) in addition to whatever they are doing in school.

Log into the website with your child's Google or Facebook acct....

Then click on *profile* and add me as their coach (if you want).

My Coach ID is "cyscholar(at)gmail(dot)com".

My Son, Playing Chess

Just now my son was white and doing okay with an aggressive opening....until his queen got fatally pinned in the 12th move.

He was losing on points 15 to 6 but still managed an amazing victory.

I was trying to help him, but after the 19th move he shushed me....AND declared that he was going to sacrifice his rook and win.

Click the forward arrow, repeatedly, to watch the game:



I was blown away, as was Black no doubt!

John is only 7.49 year old - which oftentimes can be very easy to forget.

(The aggressive, suicide-looking opening was a variation of Muzio's Gambit.)

Marveling At (More) Successful Nazis...

Nowadays it's trendy for Big Education fools to sing the praises of Finland's government school system.

I'd like y'all to check out this article - What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success.

Now there's a lot that's *not covered* in all these studies that exalt Finland's schools. For example, how many kids grow up in broken homes? What percentage of kids are *daycared* rather than spend their formative years around complete-sentence-wielding parents? Not to mention the ranking process itself.

But I don't want to talk about that right here, right now.

Watch this interpretation of the article....then the title of this blog post will make sense:



Yeah, that guy is indeed a blithering idiot.

Though do you see what I mean? How the example of *Finland* is just a launch pad for planners and their agitprop?

Ironically, that fat tool is a graduate of UPenn's Wharton undergraduate program (4 years ahead of me at Penn)...

And Wharton undergrad is the most competitive (intro courses graded on a curve, 50% get C's!), most capitalistic school in America!

The Neo-Barter Society

While there have been fits and starts over the past 2 years....unfortunately we really haven't been able to *do piano* with the kids like we have wanted.

BUT NOW, I've struck up a deal with a local teacher.

He will teach my kids piano....and I'm going to help his daughters with math!

The guy can play too - check him out. He's a former concert pianist.

Must Be Messing Up Our Kids!

Just this week...

Someone, a repeat (childless!) offender, insinuated that my wife and I weren't emphasizing *multilingualism* in our homeschooling.

Then, a couple days later, another in-chimer told me I should bring my kids to his neighborhood in Harlem so my kids could *experience diversity*.

AND just yesterday my father calls up, asks what we were doing on that *nice, warm day* and interjected before I could even answer, "I HOPE YOU ARE TAKING IT EASY ON THOSE KIDS....AND LETTING THEM GO OUTSIDE."

Of course my father specializes in *taking it easy* so he was simply projecting his priorities - as the others were.

And, not for anything, but there's hardly any *intellectual diversity* in Harlem or anywhere else in NYC.

E.g:

I am indeed always looking for new educational ideas and perspectives....but this week I couldn't help but be reminded of Will Durant's zinger:

"Wherever men do things, other men will arise who will explain to them how things should be done."

As always, y'all can see how *messed up* our kids are at their blogs (see the right-hand margin) and at HomeschoolDad.com.

Education Pictorial

Created by: College At Home

First of all....I believe there are 3 million kids homeschooled in America today. The media/government has been insisting on the *2 million* number for a while now.

The one thing that stands out to me on this info-graphic, and I've seen it before, is that educational performance remains the same no matter how much money is earned or spent by the parents.

There's also been research showing that the *education level* of homeschooling parents has nothing to do with outcomes either.

Networking?

I hate the word, *networking*, but that's essentially a big and growing part of what I'm doing these days.

For one thing, it's not easy to homeschool kids in New York in the sense that there really aren't that many kids whose parents are educated enough(!) to pull them out of school.

So I'm always driving all over the place, introducing myself to everyone, responding to online forum questions, picking brains, and striking up *education* conversations with just about everyone I meet....all in an effort to find other homeschoolers, convince people to *opt out* of institutionalized AND to promote myself as an educational resource.

I mean today I drove 25 minutes Northeast to a little art/math co-op; then I drove out to middle island for my kids' American History Club (watch John here). Tomorrow we are taking the 40 minute train ride into NYC (plus a subway downtown) for an *Art and Design* fair with the NYC homeschoolers. THEN on Wednesday, we are trekking 90 miles east to an observatory at night!

So that's just a clue as to why my blogging has been so tragically light these days. Florida was easier. Less commitments!

A Little Different Than Cafeteria Swapping

Yeah, she is indeed homeschooled! Article here.

Thanks to Heather for this one.

Chess - A Way Out And Up!

There's a documentary coming out on an amazing NYC government school. Here's a clip:

I'm telling y'all....this is a powerful game.

Shocking Violence In Socialist Schools

Okay, the *Shocking* characterization in my title is tongue in cheek.

Look, even if your kid isn't bullied themself....the odds are that they are actually bullying some other kids beneath them in the pecking order - even if on a psychological level.

Lord of the Flies isn't what happens when kids are taken out of school/society...

No, it's what kids do to each other everyday when sentenced to *forced association*.

I watched two older Asian geeks at chess class yesterday tease my sweet-as-pie son. I mean these kids were certainly outcast dorks in their local government school penitentiary; and I don't even think they were mean kids, relatively speaking, by any stretch. But they were 11 and 12 years old - my son is 7.30 - and they probably just don't get many opportunities otherwise to flick another kid away like a fingertip booger.

The older homeschooled kids never, EVER tease my son; I mean almost everyone loves him.

When you do something as profoundly against the grain as keeping your kids out of school...it's nice to be continually, if not constantly reminded - even if by chess dorks - that you made the right decision.

I was no angel in school myself.

I used to bully the football players, the minority gang leaders,...

The idea that making a *cause* out of the *bullying epidemic* is going to do anything, at all, is absolutely ridiculous.

They Already Have Marketable Skills....And May Be Set For Life

Ignore the pathetic clown, Letterman:



Don't neglect their studies, their school?

You see, Dave, they are homeschooled!

Check out their album - America's Music.

School Apologists = Neo-Nazis!

Here's a terrific read on the sordid, Nazi(!) history of the American government educational system.

Homeschooling - The BIGGEST Threat To Socialism

From that illiberal publication Slate!

Click the link and read the entire Moronic article.

My favorite part was this:

Nor can we allow homeschoolers to believe their choice impacts only their own offspring. Although the national school-reform debate is fixated on standardized testing and “teacher quality”—indeed, the uptick in secular homeschooling may be, in part, a backlash against this narrow education agenda—a growing body of research suggests “peer effects” have a large impact on student achievement. Low-income kids earn higher test scores when they attend school alongside middle-class kids, while the test scores of privileged children are impervious to the influence of less-privileged peers. So when college-educated parents pull their kids out of public schools, whether for private school or homeschooling, they make it harder for less-advantaged children to thrive.

Allow me to translate...

All y'all middle and upper class majorities need to leave your children in those horrible public schools....FOR THE GREATER GOOD! Sacrifice thy own for the sake of Hillary Clinton's *Village*!

What's funny, to me anyway, is how many *secular* homeschoolers will be shocked by this article. Of course most will ignore/dismiss it....but at least a bunch will become annoyed at the aspersion of being *anti-liberal*, *anti-progressive*, or whatever.

The fact remains that educating your own children is the ULTIMATE act of anti-socialism a family can make in 2012 America.

I could even go so far as to turn this around and say....that homeschooling your own kids and not supporting libertarians is a more pronounced demonstration of hypocrisy.

But that would be a little harsh.  I'm pro-anyone who teaches their own despite their false idols, ignorance, misconceptions, latent bigotries,...etc.  After all, some of my best friends (and relatives) are communists!

Another Tablet

Last year I broke down and bought an iPad for my wife (she needs it for her train ride to and from NYC)...

Today I ordered another - Sony Tablet S - BUT for purely educational reasons.

I've been amazed by the potency of make-your-own flashcard apps. And I sense that there are plenty of other economical educational apps out there worth looking at as well. Put it this way....you won't see me or my kids watching movies on this device like everyone else!

The iPad (WiFi only) runs around $500 and the other Android tablets sit at $400-$430. Now I loathe iMorons and would hate to have to buy another iPad because the Androids aren't relatively cheap enough to justify buying what are most likely inferior products...

But luckily today Sony Rewards (points on my credit card) had a sale on the Sony Tablet S. I'm getting it for the equivalent of only $340 (in terms of earned points). We'll see how it is.

The educational apps market is still in its infancy and most of what I see out there REALLY SUCKS.

But it will get better; I'll use them to help educating my kids; and hopefully I'll be able to help others navigate the new tablet landscape.

Though from an educational standpoint, parents are still far better off buying a PC for their kids FIRST. You can get a decent one from Dell for $600 - which is what we did 1.5 years ago.