Meridian home educator featured in Fox News story

The Idaho Affiliate of the American Family Association

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Friday, September 5, 2008

Bryan Fischer, Executive Director

LOCAL HOME EDUCATOR FEATURED IN FOX NEWS STORY

The use of internet schools is a growing trend in K-12 education, and Fox News today published a story on this movement that features a good friend of ours, Briana LeClaire, a mother of three who lives in Meridian.

She and her husband Tom have their two school-aged children enrolled in the Idaho Virtual Academy (IDVA), which currently has more than 2,000 students.

Mrs. LeClaire has chosen the IDVA because she wants her children to receive an approach to the study of history that incorporates Greek mythology and the Bible.

Said LeClaire, “You can’t really resonate with paintings without knowing the stories from the Bible and the stories from Greek mythology. Until my brick-

and-mortar school starts offering history and a literary curriculum, I’ll stick with what’s working.”

The IDVA is a public virtual school, meaning the education it offers requires no additional tuition from parents beyond what they already pay in taxes. The school loans parents a complete computer system, including a printer, software and an Internet connection, provides all the textbooks and instructional materials that are needed, and enables students to work at their own pace, especially in grades K-8, and offers Advanced Placement courses for college credit and concurrent credit courses for high school students.

Nationwide, between 700,000 and 800,000 students are enrolled in online public schools, up from about 130,000 in 2001.

Socialization is taken care of through field trips, after-school programs and church functions. All socialization, of course, is not good, and one reason parents may choose the online option is precisely to protect their children from harmful socialization.

As the ancient Greek sage put it, “Bad company corrupts good character.”

The LeClaires' first grader plays with other children on the block, and attends a learning co-op once a week where “she has the opportunity to be with kids who share interests.” Their seventh-grader is in clubs that are of interest to her, such as the Junior NRA shooting club.

One education executive foresees that in the future students will attend brick-and-mortar schools perhaps three days a week for labs and music programs, and do the rest of their work online.

Online K-12 Schools Grow in Popularity - FOXBusiness.com

Idaho Virtual Academy

PALIN’S SOCIAL CONSERVATISM VERIFIED BY GAY PUBLICATION

Rasmussen Reports announced today that ten times as many voters think Big Media is out to hurt Gov. Palin as to help her. While 51% think Big Media reporters are trying to savage her, just 5% think they are trying to help. Thus Big Media, in its transparent attempt to boost the campaigns of secular fundamentalist candidates, may in fact be hurting their chosen candidates rather than helping them.

I received an email from a member of the IVA network whose wife is a political moderate and not that engaged in the political process but who is furious with Big Media for its relentless attacks on this woman and her teenage daughter. Even Democrats by a 28% to 4% margin believe Big Media is out to

hurt Palin.

The Washington Blade, a leading homosexual news source, confirmed Palin’s socially conservative credentials in a piece published this week.

Anxious to dispel the rumor that Palin is a supporter of special rights for homosexuals, the Blade reminds readers that in 2006, in response to an Eagle Forum Alaska questionnaire, Palin said she would not support an effort to expand hate crime laws, because “I believe all heinous crime is based on hate.”

She opposed the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling that spousal benefits should be given to same-sex couples, saying, “I believe spousal benefits are reserved for married citizens as defined in our constitution.”

She vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to homosexual couples, but did so with counsel from an attorney affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund who told her that the bill, as written, would likely result in the opposite outcome. Palin supported a bill that called for an advisory vote on whether the state should adopt a constitutional amendment overturning the court’s decision. The advisory received a majority of the vote, but the amendment failed to get through the legislature.

She expressed her support for the natural family at time of her veto, saying that she opposes gay marriage and same-sex partner benefits because “I believe that honoring the family structure is important.”

The second priority Mrs. Palin listed under family policy was “preserving the definition of ‘marriage’ as defined in our constitution.”

Further, she said, “[E]xplicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.”

Said the head of the Human Rights Campaign, a national advocacy group for special homosexual rights, “America may not know much about Sarah Palin, but based on what our community has seen of her, we know enough.”

Progressive Alaska: Saradise Lost - Chapter Twenty-Eight -- The New Spin on Palin and LGBT Rights

MORE INDICATION OF FINANCIAL STRUGGLES AT IDAHO STATESMAN

In a further indication that the Idaho Statesman has not been immune to the collapse of newspapers all across the country, the paper, in another evident cost-cutting move, put its usual stand-alone “Life” section in its weekly “Scene” tabloid today. With plunging ad revenue, expect additional news of layoffs at Idaho’s major newspaper in the not-too-distant future.

IVA IN THE BLOGOSPHERE

NEA…UNAmerican at Desert Conservative

If you value the work of the IVA in defending our shared values, please consider a donation today. Information on how to donate, including online, may be found here. Together we can make Idaho the friendliest place in the world to raise a family! Thank you!

BONUS BYTES

Good news in the battle for religious liberty! A federal judge has ordered an Orange County high school to lift its ban on a Bible club, a ban which had prevented it from meeting on campus and being listed in the school’s yearbook and on its website. The judge correctly pointed out the school allows other non-curriculum-related clubs – such as the Red Cross club – to meet on campus, and rebuked the school district for its blatant anti-Christian discrimination, saying, “The district’s objections seem to be based, at least partially, on a paternalistic desire to control the views and outlets available to students during the day.” One Orange County school was so adamant about keeping the Bible off campus that they banned 29 other groups before common sense prevailed and the decision was reversed.(Anaheim high school must allow Bible club - Los Angeles Times)
Ohio’s new Edchoice Program, which gives vouchers to students in chronically distressed public schools to attend private schools, is working – and improving traditional public education at the same time. This is further confirmation of our long-held view that choice in education will actually be beneficial to conventional government schools by giving them the incentive to improve their education product to hang on to students. According to the first empirical study of the effects of the program, positive effects were detected in three grades in Ohio’s most stubbornly sub-par schools, and no negative effect was detected in any of the other seven grades studied. The Friedman Foundation suggests that over time, in three to four years the public schools they studied will have improved “by one standard deviation.” School choice may be bad for the teachers’ union but it is good for students and their parents, and for public education in general. (Paul Weyrich :: Townhall.com :: Some Empirically Proven Value in School Choice)
The latest unintended consequence of California’s judicially-imposed embrace of homosexual marriage: prison officials are trying to figure out what that means for gay inmates. “Institutional” homosexuality is a well-known feature in penal institutions. What is to stop homosexual inmates from marrying each other? Prison officials say they will only be able to marry non-inmates, but that restriction is one judicial decision away from being trashed. California last year become the first state to allow conjugal visits and overnight stays for the partners of homosexual inmates. The director of the non-profit Prison Law Office is all for same-sex marriages inside prison walls. “The law (note: by which he means not “the law” but activist judges) requires they treat people the same, so that’s a good principle to have in mind when they are drafting regulations.” Meanwhile, the HIV virus is spreading in New York at three times the national rate, with over half the infections occurring in men who have sex with men, despite the fact they comprise 2-3% of the population. (Calif. prisons prepare for gay weddings :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Lifestyles)
Chicago, with one of the strictest gun control ordinances in the nation, enacted ostensibly to make its citizens safer, is proving to be more dangerous than a war zone. An estimated 123 people were shot and killed in the Windy City over the summer (another 245 were shot and wounded), a total which is nearly twice – twice! – the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period. The Second Amendment, trampled by Chicago leaders in all their misguided wisdom, not only protects citizens from tyrannical government, it protects them from homicidal neighbors. And don’t forget – this is the “community” that Sen. Obama “organized” in developing his presidential resume. (cbs2chicago.com - Nearly 125 Shot Dead In Chicago Over Summer)
Solar panels are offered by environmentalists as one of the solutions to global warming. But new research indicates that it will take at least 100 years for householders to pay back their installation costs and is therefore one of the least cost-effective ways of combating climate change. Since such devices typically have a maximum lifetime of 30 years, homeowners are thus never likely to recoup their upfront costs. And you will be ecstatic to know that the EPA is now taking dead aim on your gas-powered lawnmower, insisting on a government-imposed 35% reduction in emissions from new lawn and garden equipment beginning in 2011. Big emission reductions will be imposed on speedboats and other recreational watercraft in 2010.(Solar Panels 'Take 100 Years to Pay Back Installation Costs'Solar Panels Take 100 Years to Break Even, Say Surveyors - redOrbit; Washington in Five Minutes; New HIV infections in city 3 times national rate)