A group gathered in early_March to discuss the idea of children learning in a farm setting.  Christine (at loverocks(at-sign)mchsi.com for more info) reported that the first meeting was a great gathering of ideas and visions.  It was also productive.

We made plans to implement our final group vision in the form of a "practice" farm experience before the end of May.  Our vision consists of a two-day learning experience.  One day spent on a working farm doing meaningful chores that hopefully assist the farmer as well as give learning opportunties to the children.  The second day would be group academic focus activities that connect to the activities on the farm. Those in attendance had a focus on the needs of homeschooled children.  We are working to connect with a farm and work from there.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, March 21 at 7:00pm at 234 Center Ave.  Thank you to the Whited-Fords for opening their lovely home for both meetings.

The potential for a local Farm School will be discussed on March 8, 7:00pm, at 234 Center Ave Viroqua. Interested parents are encouraged to attend.

This initial meeting will explore options and gather ideas for organizing a farm school for school aged children. Christine Harrington explained that this idea has emerged from several people and the meeting will be a very preliminary bringing together of ideas, exchanging of visions.

 Driftless Folk School Update. The Driftless Folk School would like to announce that the registration is still open for the following classes: Mar 3: Owling; Mar 17: Egg Breads; Mar 24: Inkle Weaving; Mar 31: Blacksmithing. Multi-session courses: Beginning Fiddle: Feb 24 - Mar 10; Enameling: Feb 10 - Mar 4. Please call us for more information or to register.

1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship.  If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable.  If after two years they have not won the championship their footballs and equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.

President Bush's NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT grants military recruiters access to students' private information without parents even knowing about it. With this access, recruiters can make unsolicited calls and send direct-mail recruitment literature to a young person. Schools that do not comply with this section risk the loss of federal funding.

However, also written into Section 9528 of the Act is the requirement that schools must notify parents and students of their right to "opt-out". Schools are obligated by law to remove a student's name from lists given to recruiters if that is requested by a parent or student. This is not widely known or publicized by high schools and most parents and teachers have never heard of it. The burden is on you to take the initiative and make the request in writing. Your high school principal or guidance counselor should be able to explain the local procedure to you.

As Veterans for Peace, we feel a moral obligation to make sure all Wisconsin parents know that the government may be trying to contact and influence their children regarding military service. This is especially crucial in light of the recent GAO (Government Accounting Office) finding of a 50% jump in the number of recruiter violations within the past year.

His latest article  dealing with the privatization of data mining for the CIA, connections of these firms to the Bush administration, and many more depressing things is quite illuminating.  

One of his earlier articles, from last January, on the class dimension of public school testing is worth a look (here)

If you enjoy his work, we have his site's rss feed available through your "display preferences" (menu on right.)  If you check-off this site in your display preferences, a box will appear daily (right hand column) with the latest headlines.  If you have a favorite site you would like offered, email admins(at)kicktime.org and we can add it to the list of available feeds. This is an easy way to bring all the news to you instead of having to visit multiple sites, or subscribing to email updates. Of course we also offer rss of our site if you have an independent feed reader.