Mormon Bloggers

Many parents find themselves being asked to attend an IEP meeting about their child and having no idea what to expect. First of all, what is an IEP meeting? IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan. The purpose of an IEP meeting is for the parents and the school to collectively come up with appropriate goals for the child to complete within the next year. The idea behind these goals is to help foster the best learning possible… for a child that may need extra help (for example, a child who has a learning disability would have an IEP meeting to set appropriate goals to give the child the best environment to succeed). While IEP meetings are designed to be useful and beneficial for all involved, it usually leaves parents very confused and full of questions. Most of the time, as a parent we don’t know what to expect going into an IEP meeting. Here are some suggestions to help prepare to attend your child’s IEP meeting. Know who will be in attendance: It helps to know... Read the rest of this entry »

Today is definitely a very productive and busy day. Cleaning up after Megan is always a constant chore. My wife uses the analogy of trying to shovel away snow in a blizzard – you are not going to get very far. While there is still much to do around the house, the fact of the [...]  Read More →

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 1.5 million homeschooled students in the United States in 2007. Dr. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) estimates there were more than 2 million homeschooled children in 2008. Many parents have decided to homeschool their children, and many others are at least considering it. It’s a major decision, so let’s look at the pros and cons. The Pros of Homeschooling Kids are taught based on their own learning styles. They can learn slowly or quickly depending on their abilities. Also, it may be a more productive format for gifted students and kids with special needs. It allows for a two-way dialogue as opposed to lectures in the classroom, which typically adhere to arbitrary scope and sequence. Parents have more control regarding what their kids learn. Decisions are based on parents’ concern for their kids. Learning schedules can revolve around the family‘s schedule, and this... Read the rest of this entry »

From May 19th through June 6th, 2010, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life conducted their U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, a nationwide poll of 3,412 Americans aged 18 and older to determine overall religious literacy, and they found that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were among the most religious-literate groups in the United States, alongside atheists/agnostics and Jews. Secular media stories from the Washington Post, The New American, and Fox News To determine religious literacy, Pew administered a 32-question survey to those being polled. Pew found that on average, Americans correctly answered 16 of the 32 questions on the survey. Atheists and agnostics averaged 20.9 correct answers; Jews and Mormons averaged 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively; Protestants as a whole averaged 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons performed better than other groups on the survey even after... Read the rest of this entry »

Below is a research paper I recently completed about the impacts on education of legalizing same-sex marriage.  If this topic interests you- enjoy! (my views about homosexuality and same-sex marriage, though relevant to the subject matter, aren’t related to the research below). QUESTION PRESENTED:  What are the strongest arguments in support of these two competing claims: 1) legalization of SSM/SSCU (same sex marriage/same sex civil union) negatively affects education, and 2) legalization of SSM/SSCU does not impact education?RULE:  There is little quantitative research data to support either claim.  However, as the sources below show, the arguments for each are sophisticated and supported enough to arise beyond the level of mere political rhetoric. CONCLUSION: Legalizing SSM/SSCU will probably impact education in some ways.  Those ways will likely include 1) increased censoring of speech by teachers, students, and counselors and 2) altering curriculum. ... Read the rest of this entry »

What would Nephi’s education been like? Well one thing for sure, traditional school’s in Nephi’s day were significantly different than they are today. Today the only thing religious that can be taught in school is the so-called constitutional “separation of church and state,” (which, interestingly, is never mentioned once in the constitution in any form). Nephi’s education would have been so immersed in the scriptures that it took precedence over math, science, art, and geography combined. He would have been taught reading, writing, and history intensely, mostly because it’ a vital part of scripture study and record keeping. The bible dictionary talks about the kind of education Jesus would have received in His time, and I think the basic education system would have been the same in Nephi’s time. “The divine law impressed upon parents the duty of teaching their children its precepts and principles, but little is known about the methods... Read the rest of this entry »

Relatives and friend celebrate Paul and Jake's graduation I was requested to post a few photographs of Paul and Jake’s graduation on Friday. The invitations were sent out and the relatives arrived with varying degrees of gifts. Paul and Jake’s grandpa gave them each a fifty dollar bill. Paul and Jake had present parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins, a grandparent, a niece, and a sister-in-law. If you can handle a full resolution (4700 x 3303) 10.8 MB photograph of the relatives click here. A meal was waiting for everyone with an Adelaide baked cake for dessert. It was a motherboard decorated with wafers but no chocolate chips. Click on the cake that Paul and Jake are holding and you will see that on one of the CPUs my brother Mike is wished happy birthday as well as congratulations to the graduates. Click to view the cake After the meal a goodly number attended the University of Utah College of Engineering Convocation at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Jill was... Read the rest of this entry »

A recent article at Newsweek.com discussed the falling of cursive handwriting into disuse among the schoolchildren today.  Many of the parents interviewed in the article seemed to applaud the end of cursive writing, arguing that it held their children back as a skill no longer needed nor necessary in the contemporary, computer-oriented world.  In the comments section were the rebuttals of a number of individuals whose reaction to the article must have been something like unto that of the Inquisition when faced with rank heresy.  There was outrage, contempt and a considerable amount of lamentation about the passing of the “art of handwriting” into historical obsolescence. On any other topic I might have been among their number.  Ironic as it is, being that I am writing this in a digital media to be published on an online format, but I am not an unabashed fan of the digital.  Call me anachronistic if you like, but I prefer the physical presence of a musty old book to a PDF... Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday, May 7th, at the University of Utah 141st commencement, 7,034 graduates from all 50 states and 76 countries will receive degrees. The same day we will be with Paul and Jake at the College of Engineering Convocation at the Jon M. Huntsman Center at 6:45 pm. With computer scientist parents and an older brother and sister with computer science degrees, perhaps it is not surprising that Paul and Jake chose a similar career path. But why a degree in Computer Engineering? According to U.S. News & World Report: If there’s an app for something, there’s a software engineer behind it. From video games to missile systems to, yes, your iPhone, almost every big idea in modern business is supported by software. The work of designing, building, maintaining, and integrating those increasingly complex systems continues to be one the fastest-growing corners of the job market. The job outlook is promising: Employment of computer software engineers is expected to swell by a whopping... Read the rest of this entry »

It seems strangely fitting to have Jaime Escalante brought back into our remembrance (even if it is in a tragic sense) in an hour in which we are heavily engaged in questions of the best way to assist the least fortunate among us, and how to best reform education.  Mr. Escalante was an uncompromising educator who had the highest expectations of his students, using his mathematics classes in East L.A. to open up the opportunities of higher education to an entire generation of students for whom little was expected. Mr. Escalante understood the principle of “teaching a man to fish” but he also understood that such a principle requires more than merely showing the starving man how to bait the hook and cast.  It requires dedication and time, to help strengthen those over whom one has stewardship until they can stand on their own.  High expectations are essential, but they must be matched by dedication, sacrifice and leadership from the front, all of which Mr. Escalante demonstrated... Read the rest of this entry »

The Texas state school board has decided in a party line vote to change their U.S. history curriculum in the coming academic year.  In and of itself, this is no great thing, school boards do this with a degree of regularity, as newer textbooks become available, or newer technologies allow for a different student experience.  Yet what makes this vote by the Texan authorities so noteworthy is the way in which the American history curriculum will be altered, the emphasis of the courses are to be fundamentally shifted toward a form of revisionist history popular on the right. This new history will focus heavily on the “conservative revolution” of the 1980’s-90’s, will offer Confederate General Stonewall Jackson as a paragon of leadership, and will give equal time to a statement by Confederate President Jefferson Davis when a speech by Abraham Lincoln is discussed.  Far more disturbing, in my own humble opinion, has been the decision to downgrade the influence of Thomas... Read the rest of this entry »

The readers of my blog are aware that America is a republic and not a pure democracy. We’ve educated ourselves to the matter. But the Alpine School District in Utah County, Utah apparently doesn’t know that and the school board must be swept out of office immediately. Read on… Mary Mostert, a constitutional author, sent Alpine School District’s board an email yesterday (among others) which she copied me (Oak Norton) on. For those of you that want a quick history lesson and a better understanding of the differences between a Republic and a Democracy, read this. It’s excellent. Leave comments on this post here:http://www.utahsrepublic.org/education/mary-mostert-educates-asd-board/ To: Alpine School District:American Fork, Utah Superintendent Henshaw, and Board Members: Because I am the author of books on the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, recently I was contacted by some residents of the Alpine School district who are concerned about the... Read the rest of this entry »