I didn't forget; I just didn't have time to memorial it here yesterday.  But, yesterday was the anniversary of The Forgotten War or The Unknown War or Korean Conflict, in which millions lost their lives, including 36,516 American soldiers, marines, airman, and sailors.

Thank you for your sacrifice and valiant fight against Communism.

I have been struck lately by the overwhelming human effort that is required by litigation.  This month alone, Kathy and I have written over 340 pages of legal pleadings and declarations.  We have compiled over 4,000 pages of discovery.  Yet, despite the three years of pain our pursurers have brought upon our family with their lawyers and false claims, it cannot compare with the human struggle witnessed during those three long years of war between June 25, 1950 and July 27, 1953.

South Korea:
58,127 Dead
175,743 Wounded
80,000 MIA or POW

United States:
36,516 Dead
92,134 Wounded
8,176 MIA
7,245 POW

United Kingdom:
1,109 Dead
2,674 Wounded
1,060 MIA or POW

Turkey:
721 Dead
2,111 Wounded
168 MIA
216 POW

Canada:
516 Dead
1,042 Wounded

Australia:
339 Dead
1,200 Wounded

France:
300 KIA or MIA

Philippines:
112 KIA

South Africa:
28 KIA and 8 MIA

North Korean and Chinese:
1,577,000 Dead or Wounded

Civilians: 
Unknown number dead or wounded, perhaps millions.

Perspective helps, as Jesus says:

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

From Considering Homeschooling.

What's a 16-year-old public school girl supposed to do to find love?  That's right, get a 24-year-old homeless guy to impregnate you.  Well, everyone is doing it!

Evidently, everyone is doing it at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts.  Sixteen girls have confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and succeeded.

The local liberals want to distribute contraceptives at the high school without parental consent, to stem the tide of the four fold increase in teen pregnancy.  This is a ridiculous reaction, of course, considering the nature of the increase.

One teen parent put it succinctly, "they're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally."

Does anyone really think this type of nonsense would occur if these girls had been loved enough by their parents?  Seen the gospel of Jesus Christ lived out in the lives of the adults around them?  Protected from the absurdities of popular culture driven peer group influences by being homeschooled?

Here is the article from Time:

As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies—more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year. Some adults dismissed the statistic as a blip. Others blamed hit movies like Juno and Knocked Up for glamorizing young unwed mothers. But principal Joseph Sullivan knows at least part of the reason there's been such a spike in teen pregnancies in this Massachusetts fishing town. School officials started looking into the matter as early as October after an unusual number of girls began filing into the school clinic to find out if they were pregnant. By May, several students had returned multiple times to get pregnancy tests, and on hearing the results, "some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Sullivan says. All it took was a few simple questions before nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Then the story got worse. "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," the principal says, shaking his head.

The question of what to do next has divided this fiercely Catholic enclave. Even with national data showing a 3% rise in teen pregnancies in 2006—the first increase in 15 years—Gloucester isn't sure it wants to provide easier access to birth control. In any case, many residents worry that the problem goes much deeper. The past decade has been difficult for this mostly white, mostly blue-collar city (pop. 30,000). In Gloucester, perched on scenic Cape Ann, the economy has always depended on a strong fishing industry. But in recent years, such jobs have all but disappeared overseas, and with them much of the community's wherewithal. "Families are broken," says school superintendent Christopher Farmer. "Many of our young people are growing up directionless."

The girls who made the pregnancy pact—some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers—declined to be interviewed. So did their parents. But Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8, thinks she knows why these girls wanted to get pregnant. Ireland, 18, gave birth her freshman year and says some of her now pregnant schoolmates regularly approached her in the hall, remarking how lucky she was to have a baby. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."

The high school has done perhaps too good a job of embracing young mothers. Sex-ed classes end freshman year at Gloucester, where teen parents are encouraged to take their children to a free on-site day-care center. Strollers mingle seamlessly in school hallways among cheerleaders and junior ROTC. "We're proud to help the mothers stay in school," says Sue Todd, CEO of Pathways for Children, which runs the day-care center.

But by May, after nurse practitioner Kim Daly had administered some 150 pregnancy tests at Gloucester High's student clinic, she and the clinic's medical director, Dr. Brian Orr, a local pediatrician, began to advocate prescribing contraceptives regardless of parental consent, a practice at about 15 public high schools in Massachusetts. Currently Gloucester teens must travel about 20 miles (30 km) to reach the nearest women's health clinic; younger girls have to get a ride or take the train and walk. But the notion of a school handing out birth control pills has met with hostility. Says Mayor Carolyn Kirk: "Dr. Orr and Ms. Daly have no right to decide this for our children." The pair resigned in protest on May 30.

Gloucester's elected school committee plans to vote later this summer on whether to provide contraceptives. But that won't do much to solve the issue of teens wanting to get pregnant. Says rising junior Kacia Lowe, who is a classmate of the pactmakers': "No one's offered them a better option." And better options may be a tall order in a city so uncertain of its future.

From Considering Homeschooling.

On this day 64 years ago, 156,000 allied American, British, and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France.  In the subsequent days and weeks their numbers would swell to nearly a million, supported by 6,900 ships and landing craft, 12,000 aircraft, 148,000 vehicles, 10,000 tons of bombs, and 570,000 tons of supplies.

Over 10,000 of these allied soldiers, sailors, and airman would lose their lives or be wounded.  But, their sacrifice doomed the Nazis stranglehold on Europe.  Their sacrifice gave millions a chance to live and to live free.

When I think of the individual men and their families, I weep for their sacrifice.  When I think of the nobleness of the cause that could move men on such a grand scale, I weep for the sacrifice of their generation. 

War is terrible.  I hope that my sons and daughters never see battle or wear its scars.  But I know that as long as sin abounds in this world, there will be war. 

So, as a homeschool father, I hope to teach my children two overriding principles concerning war.  The first is to know history.  To understand the history of war and warfare is to recognize inevitable approaching conflicts. 

It is no coincidence the Winston Churchill was the earliest and loudest siren against the rise of Nazism in Germany (for which he was ridiculed), he homeschooled himself in history and warfare from a very early age.  It is also no coincidence the Churchill was the best equipped to lead England as she stood alone against the German war machine.

The second principle I want my children to learn is to confront evil whenever and wherever they find it.  Tyrants grow from petty, selfish people.  Greed is something inherent to a child.  Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the ability and authority to overcome sin. 

We can go back to the "liberation" of Europe and see that the Soviets replaced the evil doctrines of Hitler with the evil doctrines of Marx and Lenin, and the people suffered for forty more years.  Only in the west did the Christian liberators bring liberty and self-determination to the people.

From Considering Homeschooling.

by Dr. Brian D. Ray

General Facts and Trends

Homeschooling may be the fastest-growing form of education in the United States (at 7% to 12% per year). Home-based education is also growing around the world in many nations.

There are about 2 million homeschool students in the United States. There were an estimated 1.9 to 2.4 million children (in grades K to 12) home educated during 2005-2006 in the United States.

Families engaged in home-based education are not dependent on public, tax-funded resources for their children's education. The finances associated with their homeschooling likely represent over $16 billion that taxpayers do not have to spend since these children are not in public schools.

Homeschooling is quickly growing in popularity among minorities. About 15% of homeschool families are non-white/non-Hispanic (i.e., not white/Anglo).

A demographically wide variety of people homeschool – these are atheists, Christians, and Mormons; conservatives, libertarians, and liberals; low-, middle-, and high-income families; black, Hispanic, and white; parents with Ph.D.s, GEDs, and no high-school diplomas.

Reasons for Home Educating

Most parents and youth decide to homeschool for more than one reason.

The most common reasons given for homeschooling are the following: teach a particular set of values, beliefs, and worldview, accomplish more academically than in schools, customize or individualize the curriculum and learning environment for each child, use pedagogical approaches other than those typical in institutional schools, enhance family relationships between children and parents and among siblings, provide guided and reasoned social interactions with youthful peers and adults, and provide a safer environment for children and youth, because of physical violence, drugs and alcohol, psychological abuse, and improper and unhealthy sexuality.

Academic Performance

The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.

Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents' level of formal education or their family's household income.

Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children's academic achievement.

Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement.

Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.

Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.

Social, Emotional, and Psychological Development
 
The home-educated are doing well, typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development. Research measures include peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem.

Homeschool students are regularly engaged in social and educational activities outside their homes and with people other than their nuclear-family members. They are commonly involved in activities such as field trips, scouting, 4-H, political drives, church ministry, sports teams, and community volunteer work.

Success in the "Real World" of Adulthood

The research base on adults who were home educated is growing; thus far it indicates that they:

participate in local community service more frequently than does the general population, vote and attend public meetings more frequently than the general population, and go to and succeed at college at an equal or higher rate than the general population.

General Interpretation of Research on Homeschool Success or Failure

It is possible that homeschooling causes the positive traits reported above. However, the research designs to date do not conclusively "prove" that homeschooling causes these things. At the same time, there is no evidence that homeschooling causes negative things compared to institutional schooling. Future research may better answer the question of causation.

Sources

The above findings are extensively documented in one or more of the following sources, all (except one) of which are available from NHERI:

A Homeschool Research Story, Brian. D. Ray, 2005, in Homeschooling in Full View: A Reader.

Home Educated and Now Adults: Their Community and Civic Involvement, Views About Homeschooling, and Other Traits, Brian D. Ray, 2004.

Home schooling: The Ameliorator of Negative Influences on Learning, Brian D. Ray, Peabody Journal of Education, 2000, v. 75 no. 1 & 2, pp. 71-106.

Homeschoolers on to College: What Research Shows Us, by Brian D. Ray, Journal of College Admission, 2004, No. 185, 5-11.

National Education Association. (2005). Rankings and estimates: A Report of School Statistics Update. Retrieved 7/10/06 online.

Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling, Brian D. Ray, 2005.

About the Author

Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. is an internationally known researcher, educator, speaker, and expert witness, and serves as president of the nonprofit National Home Education Research Institute. He has taught as a certified teacher in public and private schools and served as a professor at the graduate and undergraduate levels. His Ph.D. is in science education from Oregon State University. Dr. Ray has been studying the homeschool movement for about 22 years.

For more homeschool research and more in-depth interpretation of research, please contact: NHERI

Copyright 2006 by Brian D. Ray

From Considering Homeschooling.