Black History Month on PBS: INDEPENDENT LENS "Negroes With Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power"
Tuesday, February 7, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) Credited with inspiring the Black Power movement, Robert Williams led his North Carolina hometown to defend itself against the Ku Klux Klan and challenge repressive Jim Crow laws. "Negroes With Guns" follows Williams' journey from southern community leader to exile in Cuba and China, a journey that brought the issue of armed self-defense to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.

Black History Month on PBS: African American Lives

Hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois professor of the Humanities and chair of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES, an unprecedented four-part PBS series, takes Alex Haley's Roots saga to a whole new level through moving stories of personal discovery. Using genealogy, oral history, family stories and DNA analysis to trace lineage through American history and back to Africa, the series provides a life-changing journey for a diverse group of highly accomplished African Americans: Dr. Ben Carson, Whoopi Goldberg, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dr. Mae Jemison, Quincy Jones, Dr. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Chris Tucker and Oprah Winfrey.

Episodes 1 and 2 air Wednesday, February 1, 2006 and Episodes 3 and 4 on February 8, 2006. For episode descriptions, geneology guides and broadcast dates, visit PBS.

Join & Save Big with the Homeschool Buyers Co-Op
The Homeschool Buyers Co-op is a California-based nonprofit cooperative dedicated to helping homeschoolers save money on their purchases of curricula, educational media, software, computers, science kits, educational games and toys, supplies, and more. The more members the Co-op has, the greater its purchasing power, and the better the discounts it can negotiate. So tell your homeschooling friends, community, and organizations. Spread the word. And join! It's free, and can help homeschooling nationwide.

You know about Harriet Tubman, Carter G. Woodson and W.E.B. DuBois, but have you heard of Allison Davis, Ernest E. Just and Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.?

Stamp collecting can be an exciting way to learn history! Learn more about the Black Heritage Stamp Issues and African-American Themed Stamps at the Ebony Society of Philatelic Events and Reflections.

This year, $1.5 million in scholarship funding will be made available to college-bound students who are the first generation in their families to attend college. Mercedes-Benz USA and our dealers nationwide are proud to offer scholarships to students across the country who demonstrate excellence in academic achievement, community service and school activities.

This year, we will add to our core program by offering additional scholarships for students pursuing performing arts careers. These new scholarships, totaling an additional$500,000, will be called the DRIVE YOUR FUTURE Performance Awards and are being offered through our partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). Additionally, through the sales of Special Edition GL-Class vehicles, Mercedes-Benz will donate $1 million to EIF's National Arts and Music Education Initiative.

If you are a graduating senior currently attending high school in the United States and will be the first generation in your family to go to college, we hope you will take advantage of this opportunity. Scholarship awards in the amount of $10,000 ($2,500/year over 4 years) will be granted to students nationwide as well as to students from specific youth organizations. Mercedes-Benz is a brand built on aspiration and excellence. It is our desire to match our resources with your potential, and, in the process, lay the groundwork for strong, dynamic and thoughtful leadership in the next generation. Please take a moment to review the e-application materials and apply on-line . The application submission deadline is Feb. 10, 2006.

Home schooling Draws More Blacks: Parents frustrated by Maryland schools find appeal in ability to incorporate culture, religion with academics

Baltimore Sun reporter, Rona Marech interviews Prince George County homeschoolers to find out more about the growing trend of homeschooling in the African-American community:

Black home-schooling families say they are seeing their numbers increase noticeably in Baltimore, Washington and surrounding suburbs, areas with large black populations and, in some cases, notoriously underperforming schools.

"The face of home schooling has really changed over the years. It's not just Christian fundamentalists and Hollywood kids. Anyone can do it," said Misty Muhammad, a mother of three from Baltimore County who recently started a home-schooling support group with five other black families. "People realize they have options and they can do a better job."

Read the full article here.

Blokus

FROM THE PUBLISHER
Grades K and up. Europe's 2003 game of the year! Develops logic and spatial perception while kids learn to be tactical. Players take turns placing pieces on their board, each starting from their corner. Each new piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners! The goal is to get rid of all your pieces. The game ends when all players are blocked from laying down any more of their pieces. Includes one gameboard with 400 squares, 84 game pieces in 4 bright translucent colors, and an instruction guide.

Homeschool Scholarship Fund at Goddard College

We are pleased to announce that students in the Undergraduate Program for Homeschoolers may now apply for scholarships to help offset the cost of tuition. Families whose gross annual income is $60,000 or less are eligible to receive a $300 scholarship for each course their student is taking in the program. (The nornal tuition fee is $981 per course.)

After you have submitted your application to the program (which you should do soon, because the deadline is coming up in 3 weeks), you may then apply for one of these scholarships. We have developed a very simple and non-intrusive form for applying. It will be posted on our website by early next week, or contact the financial aid office at Goddard College by calling 802-454-8311, extension 324 or 303, or by email at JeneB@goddard.edu or TrainorS@goddard.edu . There are a limited number of scholarships and they will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

Harvard Financial Aid Initiative

Great news for homeschooling families! Parents with incomes less than $40,000 per year will no longer be expected to contribute to the cost of their child attending Harvard (previously parents in this income range had an average contribution of $2,300). Parents with incomes up to $60,000 will see their expected parent contributions reduced by an average of $1,250.

Harvard is also intensifying its efforts to recruit talented students from a wide range of backgrounds, regardless of financial circumstances and has established a summer program -- The Crimson Summer Academy -- for academically talented high school students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds in the greater Boston area. Read more about Harvard's financial aid initiatives.

Every year homeschoolers are admitted to selective colleges and universities across the country. Click here for more information on helping your homeschooler apply to a four-year college. Click here for a listing of schools known to have admitted homeschoolers.

The Undergraduate Program for Homeschoolers at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont offers young people, ages 14-19, who have learned independently outside of schools, an opportunity to begin earning college credit while continuing to learn in a self-directed style. Students design their own courses in collaboration with a faculty advisor, and may choose one or two 3-credit courses per semester.

Each semester begins with a weekend residency (Friday morning through Sunday afternoon). In 2006 residencies will be held March 3-5 and September 8-10. Students develop their semester study plans at the residency, and attend workshops on topics such as academic writing, library research, critical reflection, and areas of special interest. There will also be time for socializing and informal discussions with peers and faculty members. Students under the age of 18 will be required to be accompanied to the residency by a parent.

Following the residency, students engage in a 12-week semester. According to their study plans, which explicitly list each student’s particular learning goals, students send regular packets containing their particular work to their faculty advisor, who responds with detailed comments and suggestions.

The deadline for applying for enrollment in the Spring, 2006 semester is February 16, 2006. If you are ready to apply for the Undergraduate Program for Homeschoolers, click here: Apply on-line.

Oprah's National High School Essay Contest

"WHY IS ELIE WIESEL'S BOOK NIGHT RELEVANT TODAY?"

If you are a high school student who has read, is reading, or will be reading Night—enter Oprah's National High School Essay Contest!

Print Your Official Entry and Permission Form
This entry form contains your essay topic, guidelines for formatting your essay and the criteria it will be judged by. It must be completed and signed and included with your essay in order for you to be considered eligible for Oprah's National High School Essay Contest.

Entries must be postmarked by Monday, February 6, 2006 and received by February 9, 2006—so start planning your essay today!

Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Visit The King Center and hear an excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King's speech, "The Drum Major Instinct." Purchase a copy of the speech on audio cassette, and find out how you can help build Dr. King's "Beloved Community" by serving in your area.

Stupid in America: How We Cheat Our Kids

Tonight at 10:00pm EST check out ABC News' 20/20 for John Stossel's special report on education in America. Expect to see a brief mention of homeschooling success...

Gospel at Berklee

Welcome to Berklee College of Music, the premier institution in the world for the study of jazz and contemporary music. Berklee was founded on two revolutionary ideas: that musicianship could be taught through the music of today, and that our students need practical, professional skills for successful, sustainable music careers. Awarding $12 million in scholarships each year to students who demonstrate the potential to succeed in today's music industry, Berklee is dedicated to finding the most talented musicians in the world.

Whether your musical passion is jazz, rock, gospel, or hip-hop, Berklee can provide you with the skills you will need to succeed. The faculty for our twelve degree and diploma programs include many of the most respected names in today's music industry and music education fields. In addition, we also offer a wide selection of Summer Programs, ranging in length from one weekend to five weeks, and an online extension school where you can study with Berklee College's faculty—from anywhere in the world.

Edmund Scientific features hundreds of science-related items, toys & supplies for enthusiasts, hobbyists, teachers, homeschoolers and more! Check out their wide selection and great prices on hard-to-find science workshop supplies and materials for the lab, classroom, school workshop, university and home experimenter.

Black Parents Take Education Reins

Saturday's Atlanta Journal Constitution story on Black homeschoolers raised quite a ruckus on Rick Badie's "My Opinion" blog. Read the story and what others are saying.

Discover Planet Orange and Open Your Eyes to the World of Money

The New Year is a great time to teach your children about financial planning. Check out the fun, interactive resources available at Planet Orange.

Welcome to Planet Orange! At ING DIRECT, we think the key to a sound financial future is starting early. We know it's hard to get excited about financial planning, so we've developed this friendly web site with the help of Lightbulb Press to provide a simple and fun way for kids to learn about the importance of saving.

Throughout your stay on Planet Orange, you will be able to tackle topics that range from the value of money, to setting a budget, understanding credit, and building savings goals for the future. Using an interactive map along with the help of our tour guides, Amy and Cedric, you will soon be on your way to Moneyland, South Spending, the Republic of Savings, and Investor Islands.

Have fun and happy travels!

Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African American Students

FROM THE PUBLISHER
Young, Gifted, and Black is a unique joint effort by three leading African-American scholars to radically reframe the debates swirling around the achievement of African-American students in school.

In three separate but allied essays, Theresa Perry, Claude Steele, and Asa Hilliard place students' social identity as African-Americans at the very center of the discussion. They all argue that the unique social and cultural position Black students occupy, in a society which often devalues and stereotypes African American identity, fundamentally shapes students' experience of school and sets up unique obstacles. And they all argue that a proper understanding of the forces at work can lead to practical, powerful methods for promoting high achievement at all levels.

Theresa Perry argues that African-American students face dilemmas, founded in the experience of race and ethnicity in America, that make the task of achievement distinctive and difficult. (For instance: "How do I commit myself to achieve, to work hard over time in school, if I cannot predict when or under what circumstances this hard work will be acknowledged and recognized?") She uncovers a rich and powerful African- American philosophy of education, historically forged against such obstacles and capable of addressing them, by reading African-American narratives from Frederick Douglass to Maya Angelou. She carefully critiques the most popular theoretical explanations for group differences in achievement. And she lays out how educators today- in a post-civil rights era- can draw on theory and on the historical power of the African-American philosophy and tradition of education to reorganize the school experience ofAfrican-American students.

Claude Steele reports stunningly clear empirical psychological evidence that when Black students believe they are being judged as members of a stereotyped group rather than as individuals, they do worse on tests. He finds the mechanism, which he calls "stereotype threat," to be a quite general one, affecting women's performance in mathematics, for instance, where stereotypes about gender operate. He analyzes the subtle psychology of stereotype threat and reflects on the broad implications of his research for education, suggesting techniques- based again on evidence from controlled psychological experiments- that teachers and mentors and schools can use to counter stereotype threat's powerful effect.
Asa Hilliard's ends essay, against a variety of false theories and misguided views of African American achievement, and focuses on actual schools and programs and teachers around the country that allow African-American students achieve at high levels, describing what they are like and what makes them work.

Young, Gifted, and Black will change the way we think and talk about African American student achievement and will be necessary reading on this topic for years to come.

Science in Ancient Egypt

Children's Literature - Susan Hepler
Six chapters divide various Ancient Egyptian accomplishments into categories such as the Nile, building pyramids, early math, astronomy and time, medicine, and contributions to society. For example, the science used to measure floods, gauge time, move large limestone blocks up inclined planes, and mummify a body are explained. While the book would benefit from more drawings of how things work, the text explains enough to give middle elementary and older readers a basic understanding of, for instance, how the ancient Egyptians measured an odd-shaped field or what mathematics they substituted for place value. A glossary, index, and a modest selection of children's book nonfiction references also are included. Valuable as a resource for children as young as third grade, the book's primary audience seems to be slightly older children who have a deeper knowledge of mathematics (area, perimeter, place value) and the world in general.

The Scrambled States of America Game

Whoever said that learning about U.S. geography had to be boring! The Scrambled States of America. game provides a fun way to enrich basic knowledge of U.S. geography. Players learn the names, capitals, nicknames, shapes and positions of the states through a myriad of visual teasers, language riddles and geography challenges. After playing, you'll see that there's more to the 50 States than meets the eye!

All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African-American Spirituals

Alongside sheet music of 20 spirituals, beginning with "All Night, All Day," and concluding appropriately with "Great Big Stars," Bryan illustrates every pair of songs with a wordless spread that evokes stained glass, with the light of these songs' promise shining through. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.