Good afternoon and happy Monday! Today, we decided to jump in on your afternoon for a slight change of pace — or, to put it another way, following the unbeaten path. We found some articles from this past week to go with this theme: being public about accreditation; the efforts of Coursera to move into China; and homeschooling without God. We begin with the last:

In the past, many homeschooling mothers have found commonality among their counterparts along lines of religious faith, and its role in education. However, this is not true for everyone. The article mentioned below focuses on one such family that is atheist and had to look down less-trodden pathways for resources and curricula that kept the mother’s values in mind. She found it tough going. The result: an online forum for those seeking secular materials. This is an unsurprising development, since in general, the sheer number of homeschoolers has been on the rise, and families have been leaving traditional schooling for an increasing variety of reasons. Is this a viable route? What kinds of secular resources are available to others? Read more to find out!

Home schooling without God? Humanists find a way (Religious News Service) -Thanks to Angelyn for the link

U.S. Online Course Provider Tries to Enter China Market (New York Times)
This brief article highlights the troubles that Coursera has had with trying to spread its reach into Shanghai, China. Noting that censorship is China is quite strong, making deals with can often be difficult. But it seems that Coursera is committed to follow this newer path and expand its courses and business.

Validating a Virtual Startup School (ED Surge)
The Minerva Project, an online university with “ivy league” level ambitions for online higher education, has been uniquely public about the process to become an accredited institution. To further the Minerva Project along the process, Keck Graduate Institute has partnered up and begun to iron out the particulars of how these two institutions will work together.

Have a great week! In other news…

• Sebastian Thrun on the Future of Learning (MIT Tech. Review) -Thanks Angelyn
• Common Core Meets Aging Education Technology (Information Week) 
• Is Public Education on Its Death Bed? Should It Be? Seven Points of Argument, Leverage and Change. (Education Week)

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