Today we bring you Schooling In America 2023, a summary of recent educational trends, good background information to have, for parents, teachers and administrators who are navigating immediate, best-choices for each child in their care. Read what interests you. Be curious about others' perspectives. Clarify for yourself what's important to you. Remember the adage, "An open mind (parachute) helps you land on your feet!"

Dolls as a vehicle to learn American history? Yes! We offer a fun glimpse into American history through an essay on The Enduring American Doll. This article demonstrates how our culture evolves as we continue our growth as a nation devoted to freedom of choice & speech and opportunities for all. The dolls and books are expensive, so check with the library for books! Enjoy this fine research and good writing.

If I were still teaching, I would incorporate the history of American Dolls into the curriculum, perhaps in 3^rd or 4^th grade. Not to leave out boys, I would also include a history of American Boys, also via dolls, with interests of a particular period -- although they would have to be imaginary, as there does not appear to be an equivalent boy version of American Dolls.

I would encourage children to create their own characters and their stories, incorporating existing historical & cultural biases and obstacles into a favorite period.  Apparently the Mattel Toy Company, which now owns the production of American Dolls, has shown interest in creating historical boy dolls, but so far nothing like the extensive books and dolls featuring girls.

Before you scroll down to the fun, family events, please enjoy Barry Brownstein's upbeat essay on the miracles of human cooperation, which we need more of today!

How was the first day of school!? Parmalee

Meilan Solly, in The Smithsonian has researched and written The Enduring American Doll, an entertaining essay on the history of the American Doll series. Why, one could make a case for learning American history through the entire book series. If you enjoy the Smithsonian's essay, then also read "Meet Valerie Tripp, the Writer Behind the Famous “American Girl” Doll Stories."

Growing up, Sydney Rose Paulsen often viewed the world through a specific lens: namely, American Girl dolls and books. “I read [the stories] dozens of times,” the 23-year-old recalls. “They were my context for how people who didn’t have my background or grew up in my time lived. … They were so much my point of reference for everything.”

Now a doll photographer with an Instagram following of almost 60,000 [at the time this was written in 2021], Paulsen has fond memories of a childhood spent immersed in the world created by the American Girl company. Since 1986, the Middleton, Wisconsin–based enterprise has been producing dolls for young girls that are about as far from Barbies and Bratz as one can get. Each of American Girl’s 8- to 11-year-old characters represents a different historical period; brought to life through richly researched novels and accessories, the dolls become cherished parts of their young owners’ lives. One other aspect that set the American Girls dolls apart: their price. In the early ’90s, a collection of a doll, her books and accessories could run in the hundreds of dollars, making the American Girl experience financially inaccessible to many.

As a girl home-schooled by her mother, Paulsen learned about the United States’ past through American Girl’s diverse slate of fictional figures, from pioneer girl Kirsten Larson to Virginia colonist Felicity Merriman to Addy Walker, who escapes enslavement at the height of the Civil War. “I slowly started to become very interested in historical fashion because I wanted to dress like my dolls so badly,” says Paulsen.

Researching the time periods in which the dolls’ stories were set, she soon gained a new appreciation of the interconnected nature of American history: Kit Kittredge, an aspiring reporter living through the Great Depression, wore simpler dresses because her family couldn’t afford new clothes, while polio survivor Maryellen Larkin, who came of age in the decade after World War II, had enough money to splurge on poodle skirts and other ’50s fashions. Continue > > >

"Parents just don’t care that much about test scores. That’s one of the key takeaways from the 11th annual “Schooling in America” survey, published by EdChoice. Out of 14 reasons why parents choose their child’s current school, including public, private, charter, and homeschool, test scores ranked near the bottom of parents’ priorities. Read more > > >

“If we can’t take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen to one of the best musicians on Earth play some of the best music ever written; if the surge of modern life so overpowers us that we are deaf and blind to something like that—then what else are we missing?”