Successful Education (links) and a commentary

As a follow-up to my earlier link, Finland's Education Success, I thought I would post some other "finds".  These links were originally posted on The Well Trained Mind forums, a site dedicated to Classical Education.

How Do Successful Schools Treat Teachers?  From Huffpost Education

Your Child Left Behind from the Atlantic, an article that challenges our excuses for falling behind (our diverse culture and teaching non-English speaking immigrants, and that our culture simply cannot be compared fairly to Finland)

So....what does this mean for us homeschooling parents? 

I am conflicted by this question.  As a homeschool mom, I want my children to develop self-study skills, independence in their education, and I want them to own their education.  My oldest daughter is only ten; I never excelled at Algebra and Geometry, so I have this hope that she is able to own this subject as she matures.  Reality is, she'll probably have questions and lack understanding (just like she does now, which is pretty normal for most kids). 

However, the teacher is important.  How can we homeschool parents build our own skills as home educators?  How can we be better teachers?

• we can study and learn about the subjects we teach
• homeschool parents can mentor each other, offering support and help
• we can try different strategies in our teaching so that our children understand
• we can learn about good teaching techniques and implement these techniques where it makes sense in the homeschool (not all good teaching strategies in a school setting will work in a home setting)
• we can recognize the advantage we have as parents: we know our children, love them, and have a relationship with them.  This naturally adds to our "teaching skills" and we can use this knowledge and caring to be good teachers.