Sue VanHattum

Richmond, CA

Very Liberal is the end of the spectrum for political orientation? How about progressive, and green? How about including anarchists?

I am pagan. I try to live simply, but I live in a city, work full-time, and am a single parent. So, yes, I'm still using a car, and I buy prepared foods. But I buy as much as I can organic and local, and I'm supporting a marvelous new venture, Three Stone Hearth, where I get prepared foods from local, sustainably-produced ingredients, in mason jars, which get reused.

I teach math, and am trying to make change in that arena...

http://mathmamawrites.blogspot.com

Sue signed the petition | 13 days ago

Apple: Protect Workers Making iPhones in Chinese Factories
Sue signed the petition | 7 months ago

Tell California Lawmakers: It Should Be Harder to Privatize Our Public Libraries
Sue signed the petition | 8 months ago

Stop a New Oil Pipeline Across the Midwest - Deadline June 6
Sue signed the petition | almost 2 years ago

Urge Discovery Communications to Drop Sarah Palin's New Show
Sue signed the petition | about 2 years ago

Demand that David Letterman Apologize for Transphobic Joke
Sue signed the petition | over 2 years ago

Put a stop to the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel!
Sue commented on the article | almost 3 years ago

Does Obama Have Enough Political Capital to Nominate a Lesbian for the Supreme Court?

(You're welcome.) ;>
Sue commented on the article | almost 3 years ago

Does Obama Have Enough Political Capital to Nominate a Lesbian for the Supreme Court?

I get a weekly summary of change.org in my email, and saw this:
> There's never been a gay or lesbian person named to the Court

Someone needs to tell the person who writes those summaries that there probably were a few gay folks, but they just weren't out.
Sue commented on the article | almost 3 years ago

How Save Home-Schooled Children from the Worst Homes?

Clay, here's what threw me, you said: "I was glad to see Andrew initiate the action". Also, I do think it's reasonable not to accept petitions you know aren't progressive change, although I see your point on that.

If I had a partner, or a friend who'd stay home with my son, I'd have homeschooled. We would have unschooled. It's possible for an unschooled child to be way behind on reading or math and then to catch up just fine. I mentioned reading in my first comment. There's an article about how quickly Sudbury students learned math called And 'Rithmetic, by Daniel Greenberg linked at my blog mathmamawrites.blogspot.com.

Also, I'd hate to use government approved texts for history. Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen, has some good information about what history texts get wrong. There's another book that explains why school history books get it so wrong. I don't remember the title (and had no luck with google). Clay, do you know the book I'm talking about? I remember that it talks about them being written by committee.

The wrong information isn't even the worst part. It's how boring they are. I thought I hated history when I got out of high school. Then, when I got to college, I took a women's studies course from a history prof. I was in awe. I love history.

School wrecks so much, it makes no sense to use schooly ideas to control those who leave. I want to be a part of making schools better, because there are plenty of people who would never, could never, homeschool. And because schools at their best (see The Power of Their Ideas, by Deborah Meier) can be laboratories for practicing democracy.
Sue commented on the article | almost 3 years ago

How Save Home-Schooled Children from the Worst Homes?

Hmm, I know lots of unschoolers. I think they are fabulous parents. Homeschoolers talk a lot about how scary it is when a kid doesn't start to read at the usual time. (They might not be telling many outsiders about their fears.) But the kids who start reading really late often catch up to grade level and then surpass it, within months. (Sorry, no hard data, but LOTS of anecdotes.)

You can't say that about a schooled child child who couldn't read at the 'normal' time. They develop so much baggage about being 'slow', it's really hard to feel good about themselves in relation to reading. That makes it very hard to catch up.

I think Andrew's proposal is a terrible idea. Do private schools get that twice a year testing requirement? What about Sudbury (that's the article that got me over here today), do those kids have to use curriculum and get tested?

My son is at a 'free school'. I wanted to protect him - from bullying, anti-gay playground talk, consumerist culture, teachers who diagnose black boys as ADHD way too often, academics pushed too early, and standardized testing. I'm quite progressive, but I have some sympathy for Christian parents who want to protect their kids. It's something we have in common.

I'm on a home-schoolers' email list called living math forum, where I've learned more about teaching math than I ever have anywhere else, from moms who have no certification and no qualifications other than their love and dedication. And that's after teaching for 20 years.

Change.org is supposed to be about making changes for the better. Interfering in people's families is not helpful. If you're worried about child abuse, there's a government agency called protective services. I object to using change.org as a platform for such a regressive idea. Can people propose anything and get it displayed as an 'action' here?