Free Republic

There are as many reasons to homeschool as there are reasons to distrust the public school system. According to The Hechinger Report, African-American families have started to embrace homeschooling and now make up 10 percent of the homeschooling population. Many teach their children at home to protect them from racism, and also, as one scholar says, schools’ lower standards for black students. More:

Middle school students in Monessen School District in Pennsylvania were given “Fifty Shades of Grey” puzzles to work on for an assignment. The puzzles included terms like spanking, bondage, submissive and leather cuffs. WKRG reported: Parents in a Pennsylvania school district are turning 50 shades of red over word search puzzles given to middle school students based on an erotic novel and movie. The students in Monessen were given puzzles based on “Fifty Shades of Grey” that contained terms including “spanking,” ”submissive,” ”leather cuffs” and “bondage.” Other words on the list were more explicit.

On February 9th, Florida’s Yulee High School brought the hammer down on a student who offended some of his fellow classmates. The student was reprimanded for his actions after reading the morning announcements over the school’s intercom. Why? Upon finishing the announcements, the student added, ‘God Bless America.’ Two atheist students took offense to the statement. A school spokesperson for the Nassau County School District said that the student had gone off script and was being reprimanded: “It wasn’t part of the scripted morning announcements,” district spokesperson Sharyl Wood said. “The principal took the appropriate steps in speaking with the student...

On February 5, 2015 the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released updates and new additions to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review and evidence-based programs list. The revised list of 37 programs now includes GET REAL a curriculum developed by abortion giant Planned Parenthood. Get Real is a sex education program for middle and high school students and was developed by Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. The Get Real middle school curriculum is a three-year program comprising a total of 27 lessons—9 lessons delivered in each of the 6th, 7th,...

<p>Lawmakers are considering bill that would make it easier to charge and prosecute teachers with distributing harmful material to minors.</p> <p>Proponents say that would give needed protection to students. Opponents say it could criminalize the teaching of biology or controversial works of literature and that communication is a better option.</p>

GUSTINE, Texas — A group of students at an elementary school in Texas were apparently asked to lower their pants for a poop inspection on Monday. School educators told two dozen students they were regularly finding feces on the gym floor. The students were then separated into groups of boys and girls and ordered to “pull down their pants” so administrators could “check if they could find anything.” Maria Medina, whose 11-year-old daughter was searched, said her daughter’s privacy was violated. She told WFAA the teachers involved should be fired.

EDMOND, Okla. – A local biology teacher’s multiple choice question about abortion is upsetting students’ parents. Edmond Santa Fe High School officials confirmed Tuesday several biology teachers at the school gave their students a “non graded exercise” – a discussion starter – on human genetic disorders. “You’ve found out that the child you (or your wife) carries has the gene for dwarfism. A new therapy exists that may repair this gene before the child is born. What do you do?” the first question on the exercise asks. A. Allow the child to be born with the gene, and we will...

A northern California high school where sex ed was taught by members of Planned Parenthood apparently had at least two instructors with interesting sidelines. Parents of children who attend Acalanes Union High School in Lafayette, Calif., along with local area groups, had been demanding for months the district tell them exactly who was teaching the sex education program. Some of the answers they received did not make them happy. At least two of the instructors had questionable day jobs, with one conducting sex toy workshops at a local porn shop. Another, who dubbed herself a “pleasure activist,” had attended pornography...

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Seven homeschoolers in Arkansas who were seized by the Garland County Sheriff’s Department this month remain in state custody after a court hearing on Thursday over the matter. Hal Stanley, a pastor, and his wife Michelle state that they are in shock after their children were removed from their Hot Springs home on Jan. 12 following an anonymous complaint. The situation began last month as a social worker with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) showed up at the Stanley’s door after receiving a complaint that the children were permitted to go outside in the...

Our kids are in second grade (homeschooled with me and my husband) and while they probably know more about the Civil War than most seven-year-olds, we haven't gotten into civil rights issues from the 1950's and 60's yet. However, our kids are old enough now to pick up on things from the radio and newspaper, so I think it's time to start to cover that. I'm looking for a relatively short documentary (or recordings of particular speeches, etc.) that presents Jim Crow, civil rights, MLK, etc. fairly factually and without a heapin' helping of white self-hate added in. (I also...

Ontario Catholic parents hoping their children attending a Catholic school will be spared an explicit sex-education curriculum that allegedly will teach their children about masturbation, to question their sexual identity as male or female, and about diverse family structures are out of luck. Education Minister Liz Sandals stated on TVO’s The Agenda yesterday that Catholic schools will not be able to opt out of the curriculum being forced upon Ontario’s schools by lesbian Premier, Kathleen Wynne. “There is one curriculum document, and it’s our expectation that all four systems [English and French Catholic, English and French public] will be using...

The school board in Superior, Wisconsin voted last week to reject a complaint filed by an unidentified parent seeking the removal of a book that promotes homosexuality. The complaint was lodged against the book, “Emma and Meesha My Boy: A Two Mom Story”, which is being used in elementary school classrooms as early as 1st grade. The book, which is several years old and popular in the homosexual community, is designed to expand children’s understanding and definition of what constitutes a family. Well-known actress and homosexual activist Rosie O’Donell stated years ago, “I read it—I loved it—[my partner’s daughter] Chelsea...

Television personality Montel Williams attacked a women’s gun rights group today on Twitter for an op-ed that calls on Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to discuss methods for protecting children in schools against so-called “active shooter” scenarios. Williams’s attack apparently came without even him having read the op-ed he before commenting, and certainly not before he did any research on the matter. Heather Marchese of One Million Moms Against Gun Control posted the following comment on Twitter yesterday.

Redstate catches an unguarded moment with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper at a lunch earlier this week where he speaks extemporaneously and gives us a peek into what he believes the proper role of government to be. You might be surprised at just how little responsibility he feels you should take for yourself. Government should do what people individually canÂ’t do, or canÂ’t do well themselves. You know, educating our young people, [emphasis added] making sure our roads are designed and built properly, making sure our communities are safeÂ…that our economic system is robust, but at the same time fairÂ…that every...

PHOENIX (AP) — A Phoenix-area school district will not edit a high school honors biology textbook to remove content to comply with a state law on abortion-related instructional material. The Gilbert Unified School District board agreed during a meeting Tuesday to find an alternative solution that does not involve redacting the textbook, the Arizona Republic reported (http://bit.ly/1z4FP7y ). Superintendent Christina Kishimoto had asked the board to reverse its request, saying editing the copyrighted book could open the district to legal issues. At issue is a chapter in the textbook, "Campbell Biology: Concepts & Connections," that discusses abstinence, birth-control methods, tubal...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two North Kansas City parents are outraged after they say their blind son’s cane was taken away from him at school by a bus driver. Eight-year-old Dakota Nafzinger attends Gracemor Elementary School. Rachel Nafzinger said school staff took away her son’s cane as punishment for bad behavior on the bus and then gave him a swimming pool noodle to use as a substitute. The school wouldn’t go on camera, but North Kansas City School District Spokeswoman Michelle Cronk confirmed taking away Dakota’s cane, calling it school property that was given to him when he enrolled. They...

FULL TITLE: Three school teachers set to be fired after private chat room emails reveal shocking discussion about their 'moron' special needs students Three elementary teachers in a New Jersey school district have been caught having a shocking conversation about some of their special needs students, referring to them as 'morons' and 'short bus kids' - and are now set to be fired as a result. The teachers - Tyler Van Pelt, Maria Weber and Maryellen Lechelt - allegedly engaged in an inappropriate online discussion on October 23 while training in a new technology to be implemented in their school...

FULL TITLE: School 'bribes' kids with bikes and iPods to persuade them eat Michelle Obama's healthy lunches There's only one thing to do when the kids won't eat their vegetables: bribe them. At least that's what some Colorado schools are doing now that Michelle Obama's Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act has scared students away from their school lunch programs, according to KUSA. Jefferson County Public Schools now has a 'Hungry to Win' raffle program, EagNews reports. Each time a student buys a lunch, they are entered in the raffle for a chance to win prizes such as jump ropes,...

Angry parents of children at a California high school have slammed a sex education class — taught by employees of Planned Parenthood — that they claim encourages young teens to have sex. Parents of 13- and 14-year-olds at Acalanes High School in Lafayette are furious at the methods and materials being used to teach sex-ed without their prior knowledge or consent, FoxNews.com reported. The students are handed worksheets that include a checklist titled, "Sex Check! Are You Ready For Sex?" The document asks the young teens, both girls and boys, if they have water-based lubricants and condoms, and if they...

The Coerced Abortion Epidemic The Un-Choice: 64% involve coercion. Pressure can become violent.(2) 67% not counseled.(1) 65% suffer trauma.(1) Suicide 6-7 times higher.(3) Intense pressure to abort can come from husbands, parents, doctors, partners, counselors, or close friends and family. They may threaten or blackmail a woman into abortion. These are not idle threats. Coercion can escalate to violence. Women who resist abortion have been beaten, tortured and killed. One husband jumped on his wife’s stomach to force an abortion. A mother forced her daughter at gunpoint to go to the abortion clinic. A woman was forcibly injected by the...