Public-school moms ask: What about education?

More than 10,000 people are gathering today at the Long Beach Convention Center for the Governor’s Conference on Women, which began more than two decades ago as a government initiative for women who are small-business owners and working professionals. The host is California First Lady Maria Shriver, shown below greeting chef Rachael Ray on Tuesday.

Sandra Tsing Loh, public school activist and performer, writes of the conference:

We are a growing group of Burning Moms (California public school moms whose fingers are literally singed with all the baking we’re doing to keep our kids in art, music, PE programs and more).  This year, we decided to celebrate the Conference on Women’s inspiring theme of self-empowerment by:

1) Not bumming out over the fact that California’s governor and first lady do not consider public education a women’s issue.  (Topics covered in the conference included finance, enterpreneurship, leading an authentic life, looking one’s best and reducing stress.) 

2) Not bumming out over the fact that tickets began at $125 for obstructed view (up to $3,000 per table), money that could do SO MUCH  for our struggling California public schools.

3) Being cheerfully proactive by holding our own festive pro-public-school rally on Pine Street by offering (mostly) home-baked muffins to incoming conferees, with a welcome flier.  We were forced to celebrate California public schools on Pine Street because the police kicked us off the conference hall outdoor landing where more of the conferees were.  The police told us the Governor’s Conference on Women had leased the Long Beach Convention Center, hence the actual Governor’s Conference on Women was a non-free-speech/public-protest zone.  Duly noted.

4) Our hope is for our public-school volunteer moms in the building to get a photo of Maria Shriver wearing a: "Hello!  Ask me why I’m a BURNING MOM" button, and also to get Gloria Steinem to accept a muffin.  Read on to see the flier we attached to the muffins.  (Admittedly, many of the women declined the muffins as seemed to be on diets -- but why?  They all looked so fabulous!)

Welcome to the Governor’s Conference on Women!

We’re not officially part of the conference -- we’re public school moms.

Currently California, the 9th largest global economy, is 48th out of 50 states in public school funding. 

So we hope next year public school will be considered a women’s issue.

Enjoy this muffin and back home, please donate generously to your local public school.  Families like us are building our kids’ arts programs, music programs, and PE programs one muffin at a time.

Have a great conference!

Warmly,
The Burning Moms

Comments

[IamAHomeschooler]

There are other options than public education

Why we chose homeschooling?
Because we wanted our children to have the best education available. We wanted to spend those precious hours with our children and watch them grow, instead of giving those special growing years to an employee of the state.

We chose homeschooling because WE KNEW our children better than any one else did, and we knew how our children would need to have things explained and presented to them for them to learn in the best way. We wanted our children to have the one-on-one experience that PS can not offer. We wanted to take our time and not rush life. We wanted to enjoy the best hours of the day together as a family, not at the end of the day when we are all dead tired from a long day of work and school.

We also decided to teach our children at home because they were OUR children. They were OUR responsibility! We chose homeschool because we could teach OUR kids what WE wanted them to learn. We had such FUN learning music, geography, history, ready, and religion. We chose homeschool because no one loves our children as much as we do.

Are we qualified to teach our children??? Of course we are! They are OUR children!!! We have been teaching them since the day they were born! Why would we be automatically not qualified to teach our children when they reach the magic age of 6???? We are their parents! Besides, we are both the product of the PS system. We can certainly teach our children to the degree that the PS system taught us!

We home schooled our six children for 22 years. We experienced just about every thing you can imagine. My advice for homeschool families is:

#1 KEEP doing homeschool. Even if you do nothing more than read to your child each day, it is the greatest thing you can do for your children. They will learn more than you can imagine if you do nothing more than just read to them for an hour each day (as a group).

#2 (and this is a biggy) Children (people) learn best when they are in a frame of mind to learn what it is they are learning. To sit a child down and say "now you are going to learn math" is not the most productive way (that is how public school tries to do it). SO, HOW do you get a child in the frame of mind to learn math???? You let them do math when they are ready! WAIT - don't laugh! This is a critical point to understand. No one wants to be forced fed anything. This will make the child HATE the particular subject being taught. Instead, try letting the child study what they want to learn when they are ready for that subject. Maybe she is destined to be a great artist - not a math major. Please don't make her be left handed if she is really right handed (so to speak). Let her develop what she is really good at, and you will find that the other subjects will improve with her over time.

Also Try this: Tell your child that she can do any subject at any time she wants, but let her understand that she must DO all of the subjects before she can play. Let her decide which subject will be first, and which will be last. By doing this she adjusts her thinking into being ready for math. On some days she will take all day to just get a few things done (if any at all). On these days she can not play. Soon she will figure out that if she hurries and gets everything done by lunch time that she has the rest of the day to play and to do the things that she wants to do.

We did this program and had great success with it. We have one son that did not do any math all week, then one day he did 20 pages of math in the same day. That is all he did that day, but HE did it when he was ready. He learned and retained the things that he was ready to learn. We also have a daughter who is an incredible artist. Many days she just did art, but in the end she graduated from college with honors. She is now a accomplished art teacher with college credentials. She is also very sharp at math, but we are so glad that we did not turn her in to a math teacher. She is her own person with her own own talents and beauties.

There are so many great resources available now for home school families that were not available when we did homeschool. READ to your child. Help them to read to you. Reading and spending time with your child is the best thing that can happen for them in the educational experience. Also you can find great things online at homeschooling websites like www.LoveToLean.net and www.BlueberryGames.com (an educational game site for kids). Let them explore and have fun.

Keep doing it! And LOVE those kids! Pretty soon they will be all grown up and gone, like ours. Enjoy each moment with them. That is the beauty of homeschooling.

[Connie]

Hello Burning Mom,

Woman of Maria Shiver’s age range remember the seventies, it seems unbelievable that woman have advanced from earning $0.75 cents to $0.76 to $1.00 for a man.

Women in there mid-forties and fifties focus changes when there children enter the adult stages of life. These women would not be current on many of the issues facing educating a child today. Maria Shiver as first lady of your state and as a Kennedy would have interest in education and the Special Olympics.

The lectures provided information all women can use to be stronger in them selves. A mother having with higher self-esteem is a better role model, a better mom. Think about the women that you know who are indecisive, never have an option, change with the wind; their children do not know what to think. Many times the crowd leads them, a weak mom, and a poor example.

The person who wrote about homeschooling you had wonderful points and for the first time I am going to really consider that as an option for my child.

Thank you both

[Rebecca Constantino]

While I appreciate First Lady Maria Shriver sponsoring a conference for women and targeting women’s empowerment, I can’t help but be dismayed by the fact that she failed to see one of the main issues many California women confront daily: educating our children- specifically in public schools.

To be frank, if Ms. Shriver wants a hand in empowering me, she can have a hand in freeing me from never ending fundraising for our public schools. I would feel empowered if I did not have to bake endless cakes and cookies, sell gift wrap or attend a fun run to sponsor science or art instruction. Empowerment would mean I could spend some of my disposable income on my family and myself instead of books for the school library or paper for the class assignments. I and people like me (middle class) are fortunate that we have some opportunity to help our children’s schools. The working poor do not have this luxury.

Currently, California ranks 49th in public school spending. While I know that Ms. Shriver has no direct hand in the budget, her conference most certainly could focus on this great need in our state. Public education affects all of us- women, men, rich and poor. Real empowerment comes when we, as state, want and provide for all children what we want for our own- small class size, arts in our schools, a strong science program, enough supplies and a qualified and respected staff. In the current system, the rich can pay for this-the poor and middle class can’t.

As for the $125 entry fee to the conference, mine went to the 5th grade science project. Maybe next year, the women’s conference could either focus on this critical issue or at least have it serve as a fundraiser for public schools.