The Stand -

The last couple weeks the local public school has had 5 bomb threats. Four of them were at the high school and one was at the middle school. Two students were found to be the culprits and were sentenced to 45 days in juvenile detention. These type of violent threats mixed with the school shootings, the poor education standards, and increased standardized testing is causing many parents to consider homeschooling. In my local community, my wife and I are known as the homeschool family and known for having resources. My wife and I both have degrees in education. We were also...

By Michael Esch Vote5 1

Donald Trump announced on June 16th that he will be running for President of the United States. Trump is a billionaire who runs Trump Organization and was the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. He is well known for his role in the reality show, "The Apprentice", where he coined his catchphrase, "You're Fired!" A story that is not well known is how Donald Trump tried to use the government to take the home of Vera Coking. In 1961, Vera and her husband bought a small inner city home in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Fast forward 32 years, Vera has is a grandmother...

By Michael Esch Vote26 5

All the time we hear older generations saying that millennials need to grow up. Some have said that they do not care about college readiness they just want "out of my basement readiness". That the younger generation needs to take personal responsibility for their lives. We hear that the younger people have no work ethic and that they feel entitled to everything. For the most part, this is true, but it has resulted from a parental generation reinforcing socialist ideas at home. Socialism is the idea that everyone is responsible for everyone else. No one in the community should have...

By Michael Esch Vote62 15

When starting a campaign, there are 4 essential questions a team must answer. What do we say about ourselves? What do we say about our opponent? What do they say about us? What does our opponent say about themselves? Something is incredibly wrong when all of those answers are the same. That means that your opponent believes what you are saying about yourself is hurting you. Currently, we are seeing this trend with presidential nominee Rand Paul's supporters. People for and against Rand Paul are claiming he is a lone wolf, and it is simply not true. Many Paul supporters...

By Michael Esch Vote6 6

How many of you have had this experience? It is 8 pm and time for your toddler to go to sleep. You have fed him, bathed him, and pampered him. Then you announce that it is time to go to bed. All of a sudden the gates of hell are unleashed. Crying, screaming, throwing toys, begging you not to send him to the awful place called bed to be tortured by sleep. As you finally get him in bed, turn off the lights and close the door he either get out of bed or scream for what sounds like an eternity. Maybe...

By Michael Esch Vote11 11

Recently, Congressman Thomas Massie came to speak at the University of Cincinnati. He was the keynote speaker for the Young American for Liberty's Ohio State conference. Massie gave an eye opening speech on how the House of Representatives works. One of his most revealing stories centered around his 500-yard run that he frequently makes from his office to the House floor. For those that are not aware, Congress passes a lot of bills! In the 112th Congress, there were 561 bills that passed in one year. If we do some basic math, Congress is in session for 132 days and...

By Michael Esch Vote39 17

In the state of Ohio, we have made great strides against Common Core testing, also known as PARCC. For those that do not know, PARCC stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. It is an online assessment that students k-12 take twice a year. One round takes 3-weeks. Each student has to go through 2-rounds each school year. Schools have been told that they will not receive the results to these assessments until 2016. That is a total of 6-weeks of testing just for PARCC! 6-weeks with teachers not even being allowed to use the results to modify...

By Michael Esch Vote18 3

As many of you know on April 7th, Rand Paul made his announcement that he was running for president. There has been a media frenzy. They have questioned him about sanctions on Iran, abortions, Hillary Clinton, and the difference between him and Ted Cruz. Everyone seems to be missing a huge factor that played into his announcement, except Jon Stewart. But even Stewart missed the point when he complained about how long it was before Paul announced. Rand Paul made it clear that one of his most important platforms is that he will stand with minorities. Republicans for a long...

By Michael Esch Vote24 11

Common Core has been a train-wreck from the beginning, but now it has become appalling! For the past three weeks, Ohio students have been taking the standardized PARCC assessments of Common Core. Thankfully, parents have been given the opportunity to opt their children out, but stories are now surfacing these children are being punished for doing so. Crystal Shultz's child who attends Clear Fork Valley schools, is not welcome in the school until the testing is over. Every day the students miss for opting out will be considered unexcused absences. In Logan Elementary Schools, the students who opted out, were given...

By Michael Esch Vote26 14

Right now, we are in the heat of a battle over Common Core testing. In Ohio, our students just started their 3-weeks of PARCC assessments. In districts, all over the state, parents are opting their students out of these tests. It has caused so much of a stir that the Ohio House of Representatives voted on Bill HB7 and it unanimously passed the house. This bill removes any punishment for parents opting their students out of the Common Core Tests. Clearly, the outcry from parents, teachers, and student has been heard by the political class. Now that the few and...

By Michael Esch Vote14 7

Common Core testing begins in February of this year. These series of tests are called PARCC and they are all on the computer. Currently, no teacher, parent, or student has had a say in PARCC or Common Core. These standards and tests have been bureaucratically passed down from Washington to the Governor Kasich's office directly to your local public schools. On January 29, Representative Jim Buchy proposed bill HB7, which prohibits negative consequences for students who opt out. It also provides the option for students to opt to take the tests at a later date or never take these tests at...

By Michael Esch Vote8 0

Like many of you I like to leave my house right at the last minute. This morning I left with 5 minutes to spare for coffee. As I got onto the highway I turned on my favorite radio station. They said that both major highways were at a standstill, because of some nasty wrecks. Who has time to plan for this sort of disaster? Waze does! Waze is the cutting edge GPS app that does so much more than GPS. The difference between good companies and great companies is the little bit extra you get. When I turned on Waze...

By Michael Esch Vote7 0

When a child enters a traditional classroom, he finds the seat that he has been assigned, and sits quietly. The teacher then lectures for majority of the class and, on occasion, has a worksheet to fill out. This type of teaching is called teacher-centered instruction. It is the way that they have been doing school for thousands of years with little to no changes. Think about this; when they were putting leeches on people to suck out diseases they were teaching this way. The medical field has radically changed over the last 1,000 years and yet educational methods have remained...

By Michael Esch Vote32 11

Taylor Swift says it right with, "Players gonna play, haters gonna hate, heart-breakers gonna break, fakers gonna fake." I would like to add one more thing: Statist gonna state. The President of the United States just gave the The State of the Union (SOTU) Address. This is an annual speech that is given every year by the President of the United States to a joint secession of congress. This means both the house, the senate, and an estimated 42.6 million Americans are going to listen to what the president has to say. This speech is inherently statist, meaning that the president...

By Michael Esch Vote13 0

For anyone that has researched our prison system in America it is clear that it needs to be reformed. For those that are not familiar with the issue here are some of the statistics that should alarm you on several different levels. America accounts for 5% of the world's population, but we house 25% of the world's prison population [1]. There are currently over 7 million people in the prison system in the United States. This number has grown exponentially over the last 40 years due to the drug war. In the US, 55% of individuals are imprisoned for drug-related convictions....

By Michael Esch Vote10 2

In case you have not been warned, 2015 is the year that the libertarians take over. I highly suggest that you become accustom to their language. Here I have summarized their 10 most popular words for your convenience. 1) Statist This is by and large a curse word among libertarians. Statism is the belief that we need a government to take care of problems. A libertarian believes that the free market can resolve almost all problems. Example: Johnny says, “I wish the city would fix these pot holes.” Mr. Libertarian mutters, “Statist.” 2) Keynesian A lot of libertarians are drawn...

By Michael Esch Vote28 10

All parents know what it is like to be in the grocery store when it is busy and our child walks past the toy of their dreams or they are just tired so we get the nightmare of a pitching of a fit. Some have tried telling them that they are going to bed early. Some try spanking their children (I would not suggest that). Finally, when nothing else has worked we all have said, "IF you are not good Santa is not going to bring you anything for Christmas". I will not lie I have used this with my children...

By Michael Esch Vote14 6

One could argue that between conservatives and liberals, conservatives are more freedom based, but it is not true. That is why they are more dangerous than liberals. They mask themselves as being the people who want freedom. The people who say, "Don't tread on me". Yet, they hide behind big government just as much as liberals. They believe in using government to enforce their own beliefs.

By Michael Esch Vote15 14

We do not like to be forced to do something, but we are willing to force others even when we know it doesn’t work. This vicious cycle begins with educations. As children we were forced to get up and go to school. We sat down for 8 hours listening to lectures then came home and worked on homework for another couple hours, sometimes putting in 10 hours at the age of 7. There is another way and allow me to show with legos.

By Michael Esch Vote13 6

When talking about ‘Education’ in the political world the spot light is currently on Common Core. Sometimes we talk about School Choice, but mainly we are on the topic of Common Core. Let’s be honest, it can all be rather boring! Talking about new standards and content in textbooks has been scientifically proven to be the most boring topic. Think about it, if textbooks are the most boring books ever created by man then arguing about what should be in the textbook has to be the most boring topic. What if there is no reform that will help our current...

By Michael Esch Vote20 6

The Stand

What Parents Need to Know About Homeschooling May 21, 2016

Donald Trump Uses Government to Take House From a Grandma Jun 17, 2015

6 Ways Parents Teach Their Children Socialist Values Jun 9, 2015

Rand Paul is a Leader, Not a Lone Wolf May 25, 2015

How Peaceful Parents Put Their Kids to Sleep Stress-Free May 22, 2015

Congressman Massie’s 500-Yard Run That is Driving Congress Crazy Apr 23, 2015

Opting Out of Common Core Testing – Round 2 Apr 21, 2015

What the Media Hasn’t Told You About Rand Paul’s Announcement Apr 9, 2015

Ohio Schools Punish Children Who Opt Out of Common Core Testing Mar 17, 2015

Repeal Common Core…Then What? Feb 18, 2015

Ohio Will Vote to Allow Students to Opt Out of Common Core Testing Jan 30, 2015

Police Want to Ban Mobile App Jan 27, 2015

How I Taught My 3-Year Old to Play Chess Jan 24, 2015

Statist Gonna State at the SOTU Jan 21, 2015

Rand Paul’s Step in the Right Direction on Prison Reform Jan 14, 2015

10 Words You Should Know Before 2015 Dec 30, 2014

Christian Parents Should NOT Use Santa to Get Good Deeds Dec 18, 2014

Conservatives Are More Dangerous to Freedom than Liberals Dec 15, 2014

Lego of My School: Freeing a Child’s Education Oct 20, 2014

The Rise of the Unschooled Oct 15, 2014