Mimi Rothschild, Home School Advocate - The Homeschooling News Café

by Mimi Rothschild

Look for the Flowers

We are so beset these days by storing the children engaging in vandalism, so deluged by reports of children guilty of law violations, so overcome with the evidence of their acts of cruelty and violence that we are forced to the conclusion that the extension range of juvenile depredations today were unheard of in previous generations. Communities all over the country have justifiably become aroused to the extent that noble efforts are being exerted on many fronts. In an attempt to stem the rising tide of juvenile delinquency. One member of the homeschooling co-op closed a timely and sobering question recently when she said, I have been thinking about in the about how I go about cultivating my flower bed. Leads to spring up among the flowers, but I don’t vote all my gardening hours to getting rid of the leads. I know the flowers are still there in the flower bed, in fact, regardless of how many feet I pull, I am still not going to have any clues. When blooming season calms unless I devote some attention to the flowers to. The growth of the leads must be curbed, but the flowers must be cultivated, marriage, and watered. Have we become so consumed with the task of eradicating the leads in a game the lives of our children that we have overlooked the fact there are some flowers growing day or two, and that these flowers need our attention? I wish that we could hear more about the art of cultivating the flowers.

When we observe children carefully, wiki node is abundant evidence of the fact that there is the noble intention, a high impulse, the sympathetic inclination, the human response in them. It is hard sometimes for us to describe these traits we see in our children, because we have not considered them often and seriously enough to have developed a vocabulary suitable for depicting this admirable behavior. But, oh, what a adjectives had at our disposal for describing the little tirade across the street.

Many parents and teachers are so accustomed to looking for the objectional behavior in children, even accepting it with understanding and patience when it expresses itself, that they overlook the child’s concern for an effort to help the crippled dog on the sidewalk, little Janey’s concern for the lonely old lady who lives alone in the next block and Taylor is pleased with his family provide shoes for his schoolmates who has no shoes to wear to school. Perhaps parents sometimes ignore these humanitarian tendencies in their children because they have been led to believe that the child ought to feel his love for himself and not because the type of behavior exhibits. Of course, the child was loved and excepted only by behavior or only when his behavior is acceptable does have a problem: but so does the child, whose expression of kindness and tenderness is brushed aside or ignored by grown-ups.

The British psychologist, see. W. Valentine, in the normal child and his abnormalities, related some of the experiences which children meet in having their noble impulses washed by unthinking adults. He tells the story of a child of 16 months who always wept when he was told about Tommy Greene. Putting a kitty cat in the well. He reported that Robert Southey the public was so distraught with grief at the end and the death of Billy Pringles paid that he begged his mother not to go on with the reading of the story. When we observe children closely we see a spontaneous and sympathetic response to the needs of others helping a friend in trouble, comforting the plane included several laws, wanting to relieve the suffering of an injured animal. These expressions of the child’s nobler in this are as worthy of careful and sensitive handling, as are his outbursts of anger and hate.

Encourage the child and his desire to be helpful, approve of and share his feelings of love and concern for the unfortunate. Communicate to him. The fact that these attitudes are really important ones, and that they constitute the basis for meaningful living. These are responses that adults can make in helping the flowers. He never flower beds to grow, even while remembering that there is also work to be done in curbing the lead.

em>Mimi Rothschild is the Founder and CEO of Learning By Grace, Inc., the nation’s largest provider of online K-12 Christian homeschooling programs and homeschool Christian curriculum. For more information about how online homeschooling is revolutionizing homeschooling, please go to www.LearningByGrace.org today.

Permission is granted for the duplication of this article if it is reproduced in its entirety including this sentence.

by Mimi Rothschild

One of the most important traits of an employee is his ability to get along with others. This is what at least one employment interviewer looks for first in a potential employee. He states that the most frequent reason for discharging of workers is that they become troublemakers because they have never learned how to get along with fellow employees or their supervisors.

As we increasingly live and work in closer proximity with more and more people in our Hively specialized society, it becomes increasingly important that our children develop qualities of personality which enabled them to sustain happy and harmonious relationships with others. This is a significant aspect of maturity. In fact, it can truthfully be said that the degree of maturity, which one has achieved is measured in proportion to the extent to which he is progressed from the utter selfishness and self-centeredness of childhood toward the responsibilities of social living.

Because they always exist in relation to other individuals personality problems which interfere with the establishing of harmonious human relationships cannot be corrected in isolation from other people. The fact is fact may be illustrated by comparing the individual and society to the keyboard of a piano. The value of a single key lies not in the fact that it is 156, of all blood notes, but in its infinite relation to other nodes.

The primary group is the family: therefore, satisfactory personal relationship ships here will prepare the child for harmonious relations elsewhere. It is necessary, however, the growing child to further develop social skills through contacts outside the home, particularly with those of his own age group. When a member of his peer group shouts at the child I don’t like your attitude. The child begins to understand that he is going to be accepted by his playmate. He’d better ease up on being such a brat. Personality is modified to such first-hand experiences in social interaction. In these direct relationships, aggressive and hostile tribes that are integral part of the child’s personality, must be changed: he learns how to control them because of the necessities imposed by the group. And because of the conditions under which he is accepted by others in it.

Mimi Rothschild is the Founder and CEO of Learning By Grace, Inc., the nation’s largest provider of online K-12 Christian homeschooling programs and homeschool Christian curriculum. For more information about how online homeschooling is revolutionizing homeschooling, please go to www.LearningByGrace.org today.

Permission is granted for the duplication of this article if it is reproduced in its entirety including this sentence.

Laughter is the best medicine. It increases our endorphins and relieves anxiety. Here is a great set of videos from Christian comedian Tim Hawkins.

Tim Hawkins - Cletus Take the Reel

My Arms Are Broken by Tim Hawkins

Laughing is a good thing. We laugh a lot at the offices of Learning By Grace, Inc. Laughing is medicinal. Laughing gives you less wrinkles. Laughing reduces cortisol, the number one biochemical in our bodies responsible for stress. Here are videos Mimi Rothschild has selected for your laughing therapy program.

Tim Hawkins - A Homeschool Family

Tim Hawkins - Prairie Home Sausage

Kids’ Rock by Tim Hawkins

Homeschool Humor
Homeschool parent survival tips for people who want to spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week with their own kids and survive. Hilarious stories from homeschoolers.

Government “Homeschool” Programs Will Change Homeschooling

This video is a homeschool mom expressing her opinion about how she belives government homeschooling will negatively impact homeschooling as a movement. I believe that she makes some excellent points that need to be strongly considered. She points out that the “freebies” are enticing and oftentimes we forget there nothing is actually free. When we take the free handouts from the government cyber schools, we are paying a higher cost than we realize. She points out that users of the K12 curriculum who recieve computers from the state are not allowed to use that computer for any religious reasons. For many Christian homeschoolers, this is the “start of a downward spiral in terms of loss of parental control.”

What do you think of government homeschooling programs?

By: Michael C. Broome

Home schooling is not only a right of each and every American, it is also a joy with blessings that many home schoolers wouldn’t trade for anything. Not just the children, but the mothers and fathers that give so much of their time to ensure their children have the best life can offer.

Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Andrea Scully, a homeschooling mom from Arkansas. Andrea shared with me the joys that she, her husband (Adam) and her four children experience. And what started out thirteen and a half years ago, for them as an idea, soon developed into a six month trial before their oldest was scheduled to attend school.  At the end of this trial period, a mutual trust was formed thus paving the road to home schooling all their children. Where did that road end? So far, it isn’t close to ending; but the oldest is a first year student at a college of pharmacy. She just turned 18. The second oldest is a freshman in college. The youngest two are still being home schooled.

Andrea is a disciple of Jesus in her everyday life, and a home schooling Mom with an English degree. Their children were taught to not only acknowledge the presence of Jesus in their everyday lives, but to think of Him as their best friend, their inspiration and foundation.

Being someone that is expecting twins in just a few months, I had to ask, “How did you combat ‘burn-out’ and stay focused on your duel role as a mother and a teacher?”

“Jesus,” she said. Genuine. Confident. And knowing His presence in her life, her husband’s life and the lives of their four children. Jesus is not an entity they fear or hide from or eliminate from their daily educational activities, rather they embrace His role in their lives as their pillar of strength.

Andrea told me that whenever adversity turned its ugly face her direction, she always found the presence of Jesus offering an answer. Like the time she was searching in vain for a more “user friendly” grammar curriculum.  She took her kids to a dentist appointment and found a young girl diligently doing her grammar work on the floor. Andrea asked the young girl’s mother what grammar she was using, and the woman was more than willing to share what curriculum she used. The two younger Scully’s are still using this grammar to this day. 

“Andrea, one of the main complaints home schooling parents deal with is the question of socialization. Was this a struggle for any of your children?” I asked.

“That’s funny. I hear that one all of the time too,” she said. “Honestly, my children are comfortable around anyone. They do what kids do when they are around other children and aren’t afraid of talking to adults. I’m not sure if that is just them or the home schooling, but socialization has never really been a concern for any of them.”

We talked more about this issue and eventually the word “confidence” materialized. We talked about how home schoolers tend to have confidence without the swagger. Confidence without the ego. Confidence to be approached or approach another, without the fear that is generally associated with immaturity. My philosophical side emerged and tried to claim that public schools can categorically force a bully system based on age, size and grouping by grading that forces children to learn where they belong and squeeze themselves into that space, either with comfort and ease or with force and shame.

Andrea wasn’t willing to comment on the wrongs with public schools, but rather what worked for her and her children. We did agree though - society questions home schooling socialization. Home schooling parents don’t. And the kids tend to laugh at not fitting in, since as home schoolers they are taught to fit into the entire world, not merely the class of children their same age.

“Andrea, are you familiar with what is going on in California and home schooling?” I felt compelled to ask.

“I am, but only from what I’ve been able to follow on the internet,” she said.

I briefly explained some information about it, and Andrea responded by telling me a quote her Grandmother constantly repeats, “I don’t know what the world’s coming to.”

We again agreed.  People don’t send their kids to church anymore; it’s no wonder why there is so much evil creeping its way into their lives. Without Jesus, we are robbing the world of hope. Christianity nurtures our youth with hope. Hope for today, tomorrow and for the entire foundation that is. Without Jesus, we are without hope. And without hope, we are without the foundation to build a sound platform.

Hanging up with Andrea, I thanked her and let her know that her story is one worthy of more than merely a blog posting. It is bigger than the papers, and stronger than one person’s account of home schooling. She politely interrupted me and told me that I wasn’t only capturing her story about home schooling, because without her husband and his support, their lives just wouldn’t be the same. I was also crowning her children’s vast accomplishments.

Truthfully, Jesus and Christianity would certainly remain a constant, but their road to enlightenment would have had a lot of different turns and speed bumps. The children might not be in the same places today, but all of them would have traveled together, with Christ as their guide. For some, perhaps this is a road less traveled. For the Scully family, it has been the best route from point A to point B, earth to God’s kingdom.

 By: Mimi Rothschild

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Mark said as he used a feather and ink to scribble down a phrase on the back of a napkin.

“What, isn’t school and education the same?” Mark’s friend, Ignorance, asked.

Mark shook his head as he looked into the mirror at his age and turned back to Ignorance, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

Ignorance was confused, so he asked Mark, “God created man, and man created schools, right? So why would He create…”

Mark quickly interrupted him and said, “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.”

Mark continued with, “Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge.”

“I’m not following,” Ignorance answered.

Mark said nothing.

“I said that I’m not following, Mark,” Ignorance repeated.

Again, Mark remain silent.

“What are you waiting for? Find the words, Mark!” Ignorance was going intolerant. “Find the…”

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” Mark was smiling at the face of Ignorance as he continued feathering his pen around the napkin on his desk.

“Mark, please, tell me what you are talking about, or, at very least, read me what you are writing. I can’t read it from here,” Ignorance uttered in a dejected voice.

Mark instructed Ignorance to read the words and value the experience of reading. Mark said, “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”

“Wow, Mark, who wrote that? I mean, you are an exceptional author and deserve…”

Mark quickly interrupted him and said, “It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them.”

He continued, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

Ignorance told Mark that sometimes he’s not sure about people. He gets confused. He knows some people want to hear one thing, but then get mad when they hear it.

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” Mark instructed Ignorance.

“Sounds like a lot of trouble,” Ignorance answered.

“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” Mark said with a chuckle.

“What?” Ignorance lacked the knowledge of Mark’s imposed wisdom.

“When in doubt, tell the truth.” Mark eyed Ignorance until Ignorance understood.

“That’s a classic truth, Mark. I think your words and wisdom could be immortalized for years to come.” Ignorance almost sounded profound in his statement.

Mark turned to Ignorance and looked as though he was going to laugh, cry, or find some sort of light at the end of a tunnel. “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

“Huh, what?” Ignorance said as he remained fixed in his steadfast position. “Tell me this, then sir. What school of thought led you to all of these turns-of-phrases?”

Mark pointed to his home where he was schooled and above the front door it read, “Twain’s Manor.”

 By: Karlie Margaret Houser

Reading this article reminds me of why we chose to start The Grace Academy…to break from the norm, to share our faith and values with our children, and recognizing that not everything has to be the way society claims it to be.

I trust you’ll enjoy this read as much as I have, and are equally as eager to watch the film release in Spring. These bright young minds will truly capture the future of cinema!

Homeschoolers Launch Alternative to Film School and Hollywood

Contact: George Escobar, 540-751-0518

MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 26 /Christian Newswire/ — Advent Film Group (AFG), a new film company founded by homeschoolers recently completed “pickup” filming of their first movie, “Come What May” in Purcellville, Virginia. The movie has garnered wide attention because it features Patrick Henry College (PHC), a national powerhouse in debate and moot court competition. The movie centers on two PHC students who battle to overturn Roe v. Wade at the National Moot Court Championship. They are coached by Dr. Michael Farris, the real-life founder and Chancellor of PHC and a high-profile homeschooling advocate. This is the first of five movies planned by Advent.

With a cast/crew of 40 homeschooled students led by film professionals, AFG’s movies are similar to “Facing The Giants” in scale, budget, and aspirations. AFG’s national network of supporters, now several hundred homeschooling families strong (and growing); will help promote the film’s release in late Spring 2008.

Homeschooled students and their parents, interested in rebuilding culture for Christ in cinema, have sought out AFG as an alternative to film school. “This fulfills part of AFG’s mission,” says Ex-Discovery executive and AFI producing fellow George Escobar, a homeschooling dad. “We are training students who will one-day direct big-budget films with moral integrity and fidelity to a biblical worldview.”

Unlike film schools where students pay large tuitions to make short or student films, AFG productions are feature-length from the start, giving the completed film immediate market value. AFG actually pays college students a small stipend even as they are trained, earn professional credits, and receive profit-participation points.

Escobar explains, “We’re doing this because film schools aren’t working sufficiently for Christian filmmakers.” Escobar claims, “The status-quo is clearly broken, otherwise big-budget faith-based or Christian-authored movies like ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘Narnia’ would be directed by Christian directors, unless you finance the film yourself as Mel Gibson had to do for ‘Passion of the Christ.’”

AFG is also building a movie distribution system from within the homeschooling, pro-life/pro-family communities. Rather than sharing film revenues strictly with traditional distributors, AFG seeks to channel movie revenue into Christian and family-based organizations. Escobar remarks: “Homeschoolers have already successfully turned the public education monopoly upside down; we will now do the same in cinema production and distribution.”

About AFG

Advent Film Group was founded by Christian filmmakers to champion the mission and vision of Patrick Henry College and other like-minded organizations to shape our culture through media. See the movie trailer at http://www.adventfilmgroup.com/.

By Mimi Rothschild

Check out the book list below, it’s specifically geared towards students with disabilities.  I only included part of the list, you can click the links to find more great books!  Let me know what you think and what you discovered.  I’d love to hear some of your recommendations!

This list has been sorted by the books’ readability levels. To find what you want, click on a readability grouping below:

AC = Adult Read to Children. For Pre-K to Grade 3, ranging from 10 to 30 pages, with illustrations; typically designed for parents to read to their children.

JE = Juvenile Easy Reader. For children who are beginning to read on their own, such as those in Grades 1-2; ranging from 30 to 80 pages; illustrations are included to break up the text.

JF = Juvenile Fiction. Children’s fiction or chapter books; for children in Grades 2-6; ranging from 60 to 200 pages, the books are generally divided into chapters, contain fewer illustrations, and have more complicated plots or concepts than either AC or JE books.

YA = Young Adult. For young adults in Grades 5-12; more complicated plots and topics of general interest to the young adult population.

A = Adult. Contains language and/or content that may be unsuitable for young adults.

• Title: Andy and His Yellow Frisbee
  Author: Mary Thompson
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 6510 Bells Mill Road, Bethesda, MD 20817; 1996
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-933149-83-2
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: Sarah is a new girl at school who is curious about why Andy spins his yellow frisbee every day by himself on the playground. When Sara tries to talk to Andy, Rosie, Andy’s older sister, watches and worries about how her brother may react. Rosie knows that Andy is in his own world most of the time, and that he has trouble finding the words to express himself.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: A Picture Book of Helen Keller
  Author: David A. Adler
  Publisher: Holiday House
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8234-0818-3
  Disability: Deaf-Blind
  Story Profile: Some salient details in the life of Helen Keller are described in this pictorial biography; her frustration and untamed behavior and the radical changes effected by Anne Sullivan Macy.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Armann and Gentle
  Author: Kristin Steinsdottir
  Publisher: Stuttering Foundation of America, PO Box 11749, Memphis, TN 38111-0749; 1997
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-933388-36-5
  Disability: Stuttering
  Story Profile: A six-year-old boy, Armann, stutters when he is frustrated.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: A Very Special Friend
  Author: Dorothy Hoffman Levi
  Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, Kendall Green, 800 Florida Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002-3695; 1989
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-9300323-55-6
  Disability: Deafness
  Story Profile: Frannie, a lonely little girl, discovers a new friend when a deaf girl her age moves in next door.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: A Very Special Sister
  Author: Dorothy Hoffman Levi
  Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, Kendall Green, 800 Florida Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002-3695; 1992
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-930323-96-3
  Disability: Deafness
  Story Profile: Mixed feelings are experienced by Laura, a young deaf girl, upon finding out her mother will soon give birth. Her initial excitement is replaced by worries that the new child, if able to hear, would be more lovable.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Be Good to Eddie Lee
  Author: Virginia FilIing
  Publisher: Philomel Books, Putnam & Grosset Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-399-21993-5
  Disability: Down Syndrome
  Story Profile: Eddie Lee, a young boy with Down syndrome, follows the neighborhood children into the woods to find frog eggs. They are resentful and try to make him stay home.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Big Brother Dustin
  Author: Alden R. Carter
  Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co., 6340 Oakton Street, Morton Grove, IL 60053-2723; 1997
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8075-0715-6
  Disability: Down Syndrome
  Story Profile: Dustin, a young boy with Down syndrome, learns that his parents are expecting a baby.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Cat’s Got Your Tongue?
  Author: Charles E. Schaefer, Ph.D.
  Publisher: Brunner/Mazel, Publishers, 19 Union Square, New York, NY 10003; 1992
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-945354-45-2 hard copy; ISBN-0-945354-46-0 paperback
  Disability: Communication Disorders, Mutism
  Story Profile: Anna, a kindergartner, is diagnosed as an electively mute child.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Eukee: The Jumpy Jumpy Elephant
  Author: Clifford L. Corman and Esther Trevino
  Publisher: Specialty Press; 1995
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-921629-8-1
  Disability: Attention Deficit Disorder
  Story Profile: Eukee is a smart little elephant who likes to chase butterflies,
  blow bubbles, and do cartwheels. He always feels jumpy inside, however, and can never finish the march at school. Unhappy that he doesn’t have any friends, he consents to a visit to the doctor where he learns he has ADD.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Clover’s Secret
  Author: Christine M. Winn and David Walsh, Ph.D.
  Publisher: Fairview Press, 2450 Riverside Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55454; 1996
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-925190-89-6
  Disability: Child Abuse
  Story Profile: Clove attempts to hide family violence. She feels much better when she confides in her teacher and the family receives help.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Danny and the Merry-Go-Round
  Author: Nan Holcomb
  Publisher: Jason and Nordic, Publishers, PO Box 441, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648; 1987
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-944727-00-X
  Disability: Cerebral Palsy
  Story Profile: Danny, who has cerebral palsy, visits the park with his mother and watches other children playing on a playground. He makes friends with a young girl after his mother explains cerebral palsy to her and points out that it is not contagious.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Happy Birthday Jason
  Author: C. Jean Cutbill and Diane Rawsthorn
  Publisher: IPI Publishing Ltd., 50 Prince Arthur Avenue, Suite 306, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 1B5 Canada; 1984
  ISBN #: 0-920702-37-6
  Disability: Reading Disability, Dyslexia
  Story Profile: A delightful story that will help children better understand their world by understanding Jason’s. His story reveals that children with learning disabilities are more similar to other children than they are different.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Having a Brother Like David
  Author: Cindy Dolby Nollette and Others
  Publisher: Minneapolis Children’s Medical Center, Early Childhood Center,
  2520 Minnehaha Ave., South, Minneapolis, MN 55404; 1985
  ISBN #: N/A
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: Marty’s brother, David, is autistic. Marty explains that David looks a lot like other children but has special needs.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Ian’s Walk: A Story About Autism
  Author: Laurie Lears
  Publisher: Albert Whitman and Company, 6340 Oakton St.,
  Morton Grove, IL 60053-2723; 1998
  ISBN #: 0-8075-3480-3
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: Tara feels frustrated while taking a walk with her autistic brother, Ian. After she becomes separated from him, she learns to appreciate the way Ian experiences the world.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title:Keith Edward’s Different Days
  Author: Karen Melberg Schwier
  Publisher: Impact Publishers
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-915166-74-7
  Disability: Down Syndrome; Physical Disabilities
  Story Profile: Keith meets a variety of people with differences, including Down syndrome and physical differences, and learns that being different is okay.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Knots on a Counting Rope
  Author: Bill Martin and John Archambault
  Publisher: Henry Holt
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8050-0571-4
  Disability: Blindness
  Story Profile: A boy is told a story by his grandfather of a boy born blind.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Lee: The Rabbit with Epilepsy
  Author: Deborah M. Moss
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 5615 Fisher’s Lane, Rockville, MD 20852; 1989
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-933149-32-8
  Disability: Epilepsy
  Story Profile: Lee is a young rabbit who experiences occasional
  blackouts and trances. After Dr. Bob, the wise owl, administers a series
  of neurological tests, Lee is told she has epilepsy.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Leo the Late Bloomer
  Author: Robert Kraus
  Publisher: Harper Collins, 1971
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-87807-042-7
  Disability: Developmental Delays
  Story Profile: Leo is a tiger cub who just can’t keep up with what the other animals are doing. He can’t read, write, or speak, and he is a sloppy eater; he’s a late bloomer.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Luke Has Asthma, Too
  Author: Alison Rogers
  Publisher: Waterfront Books, 98 Brookes Ave., Burlington, VT 05401; 1987
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-914525-06-9
  Disability: Asthma
  Story Profile: Luke has an older cousin who teaches him some aspects of asthma management and serves as a general role model.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: My Brother, Matthew
  Author: Mary Thompson
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 5615 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852; 1992
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-993149-47-6
  Disability: Mental Retardation
  Story Profile: David is a young boy who describes life with his younger
  brother who was born with a mental disability.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: My Mom Is Handicapped: A “Grownup” Children’s Book
  Author: Barbara Turner Brabham
  Publisher: Cornerstone Publishing, PO Box 2896, Virginia Beach, VA 23450; 1994
  ISBN #: ISBN-1-882185-22-6
  Disability: Physical Disabilities
  Story Profile: A six-year-old boy describes life with his mother, a teacher with physical disabilities.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Otto Learns About His Medicine: A Story About Medication for Hyperactive Children
  Author: Matthew Galvin
  Publisher: Magination Press/Brunner Mazel, 19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003; 1995
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-945354-04-5 hard copy; ISBN-0-945354-03-7
  Disability: Hyperactivity
  Story Profile: Otto, a fidgety young car that has trouble paying attention in school, visits a special mechanic who prescribes a medicine to control his hyperactive behavior.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Russ and the Apple Tree Surprise
  Author: Janet Elizabeth Rickert
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 5615 Fishers Lane,
  Rockville, MD 20852; 1992
  ISBN #: 1-890627-16-x
  Disability: Down Syndrome
  Story Profile: Russ, a five-year old boy with Down syndrome longs for a swing set. All his backyard has to offer is an apple tree. When his grandparents visit, Russ discovers the job of picking apples and making them into apple pie. He decides that his apple tree may be just as good as a swing set.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Russ and the Fire House
  Author: Janet Elizabeth Rickert
  Publisher: Woodbine House, 5615 Fishers Lane,
  Rockville, MD 20852; 1992
  ISBN #: 1-890627-17-8
  Disability: Down Syndrome
  Story Profile: Russ is a young boy with Down syndrome whose everyday life experiences - not his disability - are the subject of books in this series. Russ goes “on-duty” with his Uncle, a fireman. Their shift includes a full inspection of the fire equipment, including keeping it clean. He also encounters Spark, the firehouse dog. At the end of this exciting day, all the firemen thank Russ for his hard work and invite him back for another visit.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Russell Is Extra Special: A Book About Autism for Children
  Author: Charles A. Amenta III, M.D.
  Publisher: Brunner/Mazel, Publishers, 19 Union Square, New York, NY 10003; 1992
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-945354-43-6
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: This portrayal of an autistic boy and his family is designed to help children (ages 4 to 8 ) and their parents understand this serious developmental disorder.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Silent Observer
  Author: Christy MacKinnon
  Publisher: Gallaudet University Press, Kendall Green, 800 Florida Ave. NE,
  Washington, DC 20002-3695; 1993
  ISBN #: ISBN-1-56368-022-X
  Disability: Deafness
  Story Profile: Christy MacKinnon is a young girl born in 1889 on a farm on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada who became deaf after having whooping cough. She describes her life in adjusting to deafness, her relationships with family, and her problems trying to understand and be understood by hearing individuals.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Talking to Angels
  Author: Esther Watson
  Publisher: Harcourt Brace, 525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101-4495; 1996
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-15-201077-7
  Disability: Autism
  Story Profile: Christa is an autistic girl who is described in this picture book by her sibling. Her behavior is described and illustrated in mixed media, including her favorite sounds and textures, occasional staring and fixation on stimuli, and interactions with others.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: There’s a Little Bit of Me in Jamey
  Author: Diana M. Amadeo
  Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co., 6340 Oakton Street, Morton Grove, IL 60053-2723
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8075-7854-1
  Disability: Leukemia
  Story Profile: Brian struggles with the fact that his brother Jamey has leukemia and submits to a bone marrow test, which leads to a transplant.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: Thomas Alva Edison: Great Inventor
  Author: David A. Adler
  Publisher: Holiday House
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8234-0820-5
  Disability: Deafness
  Story Profile: Thomas Edison’s life and his many inventions, despite his deafness, that shape our lives today are explored in this book.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: What Do You Mean I Have a Learning Disability?
  Author: Kathleen M. Dwyer
  Publisher: Walker and Company, 720 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10019; 1991
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-8027-8102-0
  Disability: Learning Disabilities
  Story Profile: Ten-year-old Jimmy is having problems at school and believes he is stupid. After a parent-teacher conference, he is tested and found to have a learning disability.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: What It’s Like to Be Me
  Author: Helen Exley
  Publisher: Friendship Press, 1984
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-377-00144-9
  Disability: Various Disabilities
  Story Profile: Children from all over the world write about themselves and their disabilities. They tell us how they see themselves and how they want to be seen. All of the illustrations are created by the children.
  Reading Level: AC

• Title: You Can Call Me Willy. A Story for Children About AIDS
  Author: Joan C. Verniero
  Publisher: Brunner/Mazel Publishers, 19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003; 1995
  ISBN #: ISBN-0-945354-60-6
  Disability: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
  Story Profile: Willy is an eight-year-old girl with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Describing her life, she shares her hobbies, friends, family life, and aspects of her medical care and how it impacts her activities.
  Reading Level: AC

By Mimi Rothschild

Michael Smith, co-founder and president of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), wrote an interesting article in The Washington Times earlier this week about home schooling’s success in America. Smith is ecstatic, as we all should be, that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recognized home schooling as a viable educational option in his opinion of Morse v. Frederick.

Morse v. Frederick examined the constitutionality of public schools ability to regulate a student’s speech. The case was heavily discussed among the media. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, said Principal Deborah Morse did not violate Joseph Frederick’s rights to free speech when she took down his poster which advocated marijuana use.

In his opinion of Morse v. Frederick, Supreme Court Justice Thomas said, “If parents do not like the rules imposed by those schools, they can seek redress in school boards or legislatures; they can send their children to private schools or home school them; or they can simply move.”

The Supreme Court judge’s suggestion that parents can choose home schooling along with their right to choose private or parochial schools is a step in the right direction for the home schooling movement. Justice Thomas also put home schooling on the same level with both public and private schools which is rarely done by someone who isn’t a part of the home schooling community. Smith writes, “After 24 years, it is gratifying to read the words of a Supreme Court justice who rightfully placed home schooling on a level playing field with public and private schools. This kind of recognition is tremendously significant to the home school community.”

Read the rest of Michael Smith’s compelling article here.