Home-Schooling Essay -- Education Teaching Learning Essays

Home-Schooling At least once in a child’s lifetime they wish that they were home-schooled instead of attending a public school. Imagine how nice it would be to have school right in your own home. It was stated that in the year 2001, over two million children were home- schooled in the United States (#1 Home Schooling Information and Software, 2003). This number continues to increase each year. Some believe home-schooling gives a child more attention and ensures a more intimate and personal environment which may in turn lead to a better education. Others, however, believe those who are home schooled will have trouble with social interactions. Home- schooling has both many benefits and drawbacks which will be addressed in this paper. There are many positive aspects of such educational facilitation. Statistics have shown that home-schooled children achieve high standards of academic success and excel socially, according to research from the Home-school Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). As seen through many cases, home-schoolers are better adjusted in society and are more likely to be engaged in their communities. They may not be in a â€Å"school room† situation, where they are among other children of the same age for the entire length of a school day, but they are comfortable working and socializing with people of all ages. Home-schoolers are often heavily involved with scouts, church groups, music lessons, sports teams, and volunteer work. These activities show their socialization skills with their communities, much of which is not done by children in public school systems. Many argue that home-schooling in general makes children more mature and better prepared for the â€Å"real world.† Pub lic schools are said to provide... ...com/Home-Schooling-Statistics.html Home School Association of California. (2001). Why Homeschool? Received November 22, 2003, from http://www.hsc.org/why.html Home School Legal Defense Association. (2003). Home-Schoolers are Socially Adjusted, Study Shows. Retrieved November 21, 2003, from http://www.hslda.org/docs/link.asp?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efamily%2Eorg%2Fcforum%2Ffnif%2Fnews%2Fa0028919%2Ecfm Minority Homeschoolers of Texas. (2001). Cost of Home Schooling. Received November 21, 2003, from http://www.mhot.org/cost.html Nantus, Sheryl. (2002a). Home Schooling, is it for you? Received November 21, 2003, from http://utut.essortment.com/homeschooling_oik.htm Nantus, Sheryl. (2002b). Information on the Pros/Cons of Practical at Home Schooling Programs. Received November 21, 2003, from http://papa.essortment.com/ homeschoolingi_rfih.htm

American Bureaucracy and Its Budgetary Decisions

A Budget is a management tool that is an expression of planned expenditures and revenues. â€Å"Budgets serve many important functions in government. In one sense, budgets are contracts annually agreed on by the executive and legislative branches that allow executive agencies and departments to raise and spend public funds in specified ways for the coming fiscal year, as stated by Stillman in â€Å"The American Bureaucracy† He also says that budgets impose a mutual set of legal obligations between the elected and appointed officers of public organizations with regard to taxation and expenditure policies, therefore, is a legal contract that provides a vehicle for fiscal controls over subordinate units of government by the politically elected representatives of the people. Budgetary decisions are made, according to Rubin in her book The Politics of Public Budgeting, by envisioning governments as â€Å"not merely technical managerial documents† but rather â€Å"they are also intrinsically and irreducibly political. † Her ideas are similar to that of general budget concepts over balancing expenditures and revenues, but differ in fundamental ways according to Stillman. The open environments within which budgets are developed, the variety of actors involved, the constraints imposed as well as the emphasis on public accountability, give budgets special and distinctive features in the public sector. † The differences between microbudgeting and macrobudgeting are just what their prefaces imply. â€Å"On the one hand there are a number budget actors, who have all individual motivations, who strategize to get what they want from the budget. The focus on the actors and their strategies is called microbudgeting. They do not bargain with one another over the budget. They are assigned budget roles by the budget process, the issues they examine are often framed by the budget process, and the timing and coordination of their decisions are often regulated by the budget process, according to Rubin. She goes on to say that actors are not free to come to budget agreements alone. They are bound by the environmental constraints. There are decisions that they are not permitted to make because they are either against the law, the courts disagree, or previous decision makers have bound their hands. Budgetary decision making has to account not just for budgetary actors but also for budget process and the environment. This more top-down and systematic perspective on budgeting is called macrobudgeting. † Budget strategies are affected by environment, budget process, and individual strategies, all of which influence the outcomes. The level of certainty of funding influences strategies as well. â€Å"Attention will focus on what is available now, and going after whatever it is, whether it is what you want or not, because what you really want may never show up and hence is not worth waiting for. â€Å"The effect of different strategies on the outcomes is hard to gauge. It seems obvious, however, that strategies that ignore the process or the environment are doomed to failure. Budget actors have to figure out where the flexibility is before they can influence how that flexibility will be used. Strategies that try to bypass superiors or fool legislators generally do not work; strategies that involve careful documentation of need and appear to save money are generally more successful. † There are four phases of a budget cycle; environment, process, individual strategies, and outcomes. In this causal model, or schema, the environment, budget process, and individuals† strategies all affect the outcomes. â€Å"The environment influences budgetary outcomes directly and indirectly, through process and individual strategies. The environment influences outcomes directly, without going through either budget process or individual strategies, when it imposes emergencies that reorder priorities. † The environment influences the budget process in several ways, including the level of resources available, the format of the budget, and the degree of centralization of decision making. â€Å"Environment in the sense of the results of prior decisions may also influence process. † â€Å"Changes in process take place in response to individuals, committees, and branches of government jockeying for power; in response to changes in the environment from rich to lean, or vice versa; in response to changes in the power of interest groups; and in response to scandals or excesses of various kinds. â€Å"

How Does Stainless Steel Neutralize Smells

One household tip for removing odors from fish, onions or garlic is to rub your hands across the blade of a stainless steel knife. You can even buy stainless steel soaps—hunks of stainless steel that are about the same shape and size as a bar of normal soap. Test this kitchen wisdom yourself, using your nose to take data. Better yet, get someone else to smell your fingers since your own nose will have odor molecules inside it already from exposure to the food. If you have been working with onions, garlic or fish long enough for their perfume to be absorbed into your skin, the best you can do is to diminish the scent with the steel. Other types of odors are not affected by contact with stainless steel. How It Works The sulfur from the onion, garlic or fish is attracted to—and binds with—one or more of the metals in  stainless steel. Formation of such compounds is what makes stainless steel stainless. Onions and garlic contain amino acid sulfoxides, which form sulfenic acids, which then form a volatile gas—propanethial  S-oxide—that forms  sulfuric acid  upon exposure to water. These compounds are responsible for  burning your eyes  while cutting onions, and also for their characteristic scent. The  sulfur compounds bind  to the steel—efficiently removing the odor from your fingers. So, next time you find your fingers and hands smelling from fish, onions or garlic, dont reach for the scented spray; grab a stainless steel knife. Take care, though, to wipe your hands on the flat side, and your limbs will be scentless in no time.