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Post by chbernat on Jun 3, 2010 11:11:57 GMT -5
Shadowspring~
I couldn't have said it better.
Are you familiar with princessjo? This too, also happened to her. You can find her link on my blogsite.
Also, I have known of others personally whom are not on cyberspace (due to extreme parental control) who are involved in disturbing incestuous relationships with their fathers. They need prayer, and they need rescuing. That's why I am writing a book-because that's a form of media that most in The Movement say is acceptable.
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Post by km on Jun 3, 2010 11:13:39 GMT -5
KM~ Please don't say, without having children of your own, that a child with special needs could not be accomodated in a humane way in a public school setting. Of course, its your opinion, but I hope that you will reconsider. I am not saying no child ever could. I am saying that I happen to know many adult people on the spectrum who were not. I think it probably depends on the child, the teacher, and the school district. My own mother taught at a public school in one of the top school districts in the United States in which the principal had to be removed because she continued to rehire a Special Ed teacher whom she knew was beating non-verbal autistic children. I am hopeful that things are better now, but I do continue to read horror stories/testimonies at places like Asperger Square 8. My comment was by no means meant as a genearlization though, and I hope you didn't interpret it in that way. Now I *am* really going away for a while... Fast moving conversations suck me in like this... Sorry. ETA: But before I go, I will clarify that I'm a huge public school supporter. My mom is a long time public school educator, as are many of my extended family members. I think these relatives are heroes. But as someone who was badly bullied in school for being different (and because of some specific abuses I know involving kids with disabilities), I'm just saying I'll never say never...
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Post by chbernat on Jun 3, 2010 11:18:05 GMT -5
Let's see if I can suck you back in one more time! That's horrendous!! You know, we live in a broken world. And for every success story, in public school, private school or homeschooling, there are two or three terrible experiences. That's just a sad fact. But as rosiegirl mentioned, she's totally right. There are way too many loopholes for homeschoolers to get around and abuse/neglect their children. That's all we are saying, we need more oversight to protect our society's most vulnerable citizens. (on all accounts-in all settings, not just homeschooling.) Checking out now~ my boys are calling my name.
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Post by km on Jun 3, 2010 11:20:23 GMT -5
Let's see if I can suck you back in one more time! That's horrendous!! You know, we live in a broken world. And for every success story, in public school, private school or homeschooling, there are two or three terrible experiences. That's just a sad fact. But as rosiegirl mentioned, she's totally right. There are way too many loopholes for homeschoolers to get around and abuse/neglect their children. That's all we are saying, we need more oversight to protect our society's most vulnerable citizens. (on all accounts-in all settings, not just homeschooling.) Checking out now~ my boys are calling my name. I agree. So, why can't we just enforce better oversight to prevent this? Also checking out 'cause I need to get some stuff done today!
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Post by humbletigger on Jun 3, 2010 12:24:47 GMT -5
Yes, I drop by her blog every week. It's horrible what happened to her. On a completely different note, I have always wanted to ask if she's seen Son of Rambo? It's an Australian movie about a boy from an extremely religious home who goes to public school. It's very sweet, although bitter sweet is probably a more accurate description.
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Post by Vyckie D. Garrison on Jun 3, 2010 12:38:28 GMT -5
Wow. After posting Chandra's story this morning, I got busy working on replacing the sump pump in my basement which died (since I truthfully am not making a boatload of money here, I'm trying to get away with not having to pay a plumber) ~ got the old pump disconnected and took it to Menards to buy a replacement ~ came home to sat down for a sec to check in on the forums, and ... wow. Just a couple quick responses, cuz I really do need to get my work done this afternoon and this evening I'll be taking my computer back to the repair guy since it's still not working for me: Mags ~ if you've been reading NLQ for a while now, I'm sure you've seen Journey's post: nolongerquivering.com/2009/05/10/dear-happy-full-quiver-er/ ~ I have no doubt that the majority of Quiverfull women are happy ~ I spent about 15 years as a "happy full quiverer" myself. And that is not to imply that you are insincere or that your family is not actually doing as well as you are telling us ~ just to say that your successful living of the QF life does not negate the fact that many, many of us have suffered (and inflicted) serious abuse because the system is inherently fertile ground for sick and twisted relationships to flourish. As for your pitying me and your anger ~ well, mags ~ I'd write a long defense except that I don't have one. Sometimes I feel sorry for me too ~ and, yes ~ I also get pissed at me for drinking the Kool-Aid like I did. Wish I had a pleasant story to tell rather than all the depressing, triggering, accusatory, downright ugly stuff of No Longer Quivering. Oh but ~ I used to have such a beautiful, positive, happy story: nolongerquivering.com/2009/04/08/its-about-a-vision/ ~ I told it to myself and others over and over until reality forced its way into my head and the story began to ring hallow ~ and my lovely Angel thought she'd rather be dead ... Chandra ~ I agree with other commenters here that your response to mags was over the top and not really helpful. I also agree that, while to a QFer's mind, it is hard to imagine that all homeschoolers are not Quiverfull or religiously motivated ~ the truth is, the Vision Forum brand of homeschooling really is a minority approach. KM, Humbletigger, Nikita ~ thanks for your level-headed, "presumption of goodwill" participation in this discussion. K ~ back to work for me. I managed to disconnect the old pump myself and took it into Menards all in one piece ~ the helpful Menards guy sent me home with a shiny new pump and a bunch of pieces of pipe and connectors which I have to assemble and then glue together. Ugh. Even though this sump pump ordeal has had me in an "axe to grind," who-needs-men? mood ~ I have decided to be reasonable about it and let John help me with the pipe gluing part. Guess I'm only stubborn up to a point ~ LOL
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maicde
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by maicde on Jun 3, 2010 13:20:08 GMT -5
Chandra, fantastic article!!! I'm glad that you made it through all of that and still have your wits about you. One thing that you mentioned, about how your mom was foot loose and fancy free in her earlier years (sex, drugs, and rock and roll (sarcasm)) and all of that was "awesome" for "her" until SHE found Jesus and then everyone had to pay the penance for her supposed transgressions. This is one thing I absolutely can't stand about the whole "born-again" Evangalical movement. Once they "find Jesus", they all of a sudden are better than everyone else and they also assume all kinds of nasty things about you, even though they know nothing about you. As you can tell, I'm not too fond of this group. Mags - seriously, I know women like you. I've always been happy that you keep yourself and your brainwashed kids out of our schools; there are enough problems there already without more controversy every time someone takes a f*rt. It's always about some "liberal, feminist, homosexual, fill in the blank, agenda." Listen, there's barely enough time to cover academic subject matter much less interject personal beliefs into the education. Yeah, I know that you and your ilk operate on fear, misinformation, and sometimes downright lies, and that's fine with me. Fortunately, what goes around comes around and in the end, things usually balance out. By the way, what's with the "colleges are clamoring for our home-schooled kids?" Where does this "data" come from? From the "Pull it out of your a*s file"?? I know that there are very accomplished home-schooled students, just as there are accomplished public school and private school kids. It's a darn shame how your ilk just blatantly states something without any back-up whatsoever. Like I said though, I'm used to it because it's par for the course. What does Chandra have to do with Vyckie? Are they related? Not a biggie, but I don't know why Vyckie Garrison is being attacked by Mags...as if Vyckie had written the article. Chandra, good job for surviving the brainwashing and mental prison you went through. I grew up SDA and saw plenty of kids ending up in mental hospitals by the time they were teens (this was in the 70's) because of the kind of environment you describe. Mine was not as bad, but there are some elements that are similiar. My saving grace was public school. Thank God that I got to be away from the whack jobs at home for at least 7 hours a day. Also, thank you for the job that I got when I turned 14 years old; also got me away from the nut house. A few people in my house were actually mentally ill, so I'm not talking strictly about religion. However, fundamentalist religion and mental illness do not make a good combination. Chandra, take care.
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Post by dorayp on Jun 3, 2010 14:24:08 GMT -5
I, for one, appreciate your honesty and willingness to share your story. As a mother who has left the QFmovement, the decision to continue homeschooling has plagued me. The last two years, I have been very indecisive and struggled with the groups that seek to isolate and limit my children. While we never totally bought into the movement you were involved in (one of the reasons we were asked to leave our church), we still question what we should be doing now. Just the other day, I put my girls on a waiting list for a Charter School. We had a family discussion about homeschooling, and what our goals are (college, play, freedom in our studies etc.) And, now we are in wait and see mode. Our youngest wants to continue at home. In her own words, "I like having most of the day to play." ;D Our oldest can't decide. Your story really encourages me in my quest to seek out alternative groups not tied with churches in my community. They are out there, and they are EXTREMELY supportive. It also makes me feel better about choosing to let my daughter have a say in her education. Thanks so much for sharing your story, and providing families healing.
Blessings! Dorinda
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Post by margybargy on Jun 3, 2010 15:08:59 GMT -5
Yes, Mags has some issues here. Clearly. But also clearly so does Chandra. That was not a reasonable response to Mags criticism IMHO. I don't have any axes to grind here, no skin in the home schooling game. I love to hear people's stories of their experiences in all of their variety. This is the only one I've read on this site that didn't strike a chord at all with me, it came off very manipulative and contrived. It may well be that it is true. I don't know her. But the presentation doesn't come off true. So that's a problem for me. Mags has other issues and I will not speak to those. I will say, though, that meeting criticism with 'it must've struck a chord then' is way too easy a response, it requires no self-examination at all, just points to the criticizer as obviously being the one with the problem. I think it's reasonable that Chandra reacted to Mags as she did. She's justifiably angry at how she was treated! Mags's post was pretty much all about Mags being offended. Too bad. Why not show some compassion for someone who was so deeply wounded as a child? There are other homeschooling moms who were able to respond in a constructive way. I think that says something very positive about their character. It demonstrates compassion and the ability to put someone else's acute suffering ahead of their own egos. They can probably afford to do that because they are confidant that they are doing a good job with their kids' education. Oh and the silly accusations about Vyckie being out to make money....no words. There are much easier ways to make money than to take on the QF/P movement. Fwiw, I think that there are very good reasons to homeschool. But I think there does need to be a reasonable level of oversight.
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Post by usotsuki on Jun 3, 2010 15:17:26 GMT -5
I would definitely think there might do well to be annual testing to make sure homeschooled children are up to the same level expected of comparable public school children, and if not, "there's gonna be some 'splainin' to do!"
that said, I think if the parents actually cared about education, that would NOT be difficult. but if you had people just doing it to keep their kids sheltered from reality they would probably not stack up.
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Post by rosiegirl on Jun 3, 2010 15:31:54 GMT -5
I would definitely think there might do well to be annual testing to make sure homeschooled children are up to the same level expected of comparable public school children, and if not, "there's gonna be some 'splainin' to do!" that said, I think if the parents actually cared about education, that would NOT be difficult. but if you had people just doing it to keep their kids sheltered from reality they would probably not stack up. The problem is that people find ways around it. My parents did. They argue religious freedom as a guise to do whatever they want. In SC, if you are a part of a homeschool organization, you dont have to do state testing. My mother decided that this group was not christian enough, and other organizations were too expensive(read: a proper education was too expensive to her, she was selfish), so what did she do? She withdrew me and my siblings from the group and hid it from the state. I have dyscalculia. That is, a learning disability in math, like dyslexia. My mother was a highschool drop out. I needed real, professional help. No, I was the problem - I was a rebellious daughter, and she was a saint. If I went to real school, I would end up pregnant and on drugs. So she kept me home, illegally, and schooled me in a way she saw fit. Which could include months without any curriculum, because she simply "didnt feel like it", but we had god's word, and that was better than knowing world history, or how to balance a checkbook. Proudly, she would tell others of how intelligent I was, how much better I was than their worldly children... and we werent even Quiverfull. We were a "normal" Pentecostal family. It was about control. Always were there rantings of honor your mother and father.. like it was owed to her. I fled at the age of 19, with them screaming and yelling of how I was disobedient, and how dare I betray them. Understand that my mother is disabled, and an amputee.. yet, she wouldnt ask my younger brother for help, or make him do anything. That was my job. But I was going to grow up and be married and have kids. Why should I need to know math, or anything else for that matter? Theres no highway between the bedroom and the kitchen, after all.
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Post by usotsuki on Jun 3, 2010 15:39:37 GMT -5
It is my opinion, and pardon the expression, that "religious freedom" as an excuse to shirk legal requirements is a bunch of bullsh@t, and should be laughed out of court every time it comes up.
One can be free to practice their religion inasfar as it doesn't break laws (and any Christian fundamentalists who think themselves to be above the law need to take a look at Romans 13 again).
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Post by rosiegirl on Jun 3, 2010 15:42:42 GMT -5
It is my opinion, and pardon the expression, that "religious freedom" as an excuse to shirk legal requirements is a bunch of bullsh@t, and should be laughed out of court every time it comes up. One can be free to practice their religion inasfar as it doesn't break laws (and any Christian fundamentalists who think themselves to be above the law need to take a look at Romans 13 again). You would think that, but most Christians think they're above the law if they think its unbiblical.
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Post by humbletigger on Jun 3, 2010 15:51:37 GMT -5
Go, Dorinda! That is wonderful to read.
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Post by humbletigger on Jun 3, 2010 15:58:03 GMT -5
That's actually a problem with all of society's laws. If people would obey the law in every area, we could all get along much easier. But your point is well taken by me. The only ATI families I knew were home schooling illegally in spite of their being a legal and proper way to home school. If I had known that, I would have turned them in. People who are home schooling legally in that state should have nothing to fear. It's not that hard, and if you can't keep up with those requirements, then you should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Those laws were passed to protect home schooling families who comply from being falsely accused of truancy. But if you ARE truant, then you should be caught and your children required to have access to an education! Grrr to scoff-laws! So who knew your family was home schooling illegally? And why do you think no one ratted them out? And what do you think would have happened if it had become known to the truancy office of your school district?
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Post by rosiegirl on Jun 3, 2010 16:06:11 GMT -5
That's actually a problem with all of society's laws. If people would obey the law in every area, we could all get along much easier. But your point is well taken by me. The only ATI families I knew were home schooling illegally in spite of their being a legal and proper way to home school. If I had known that, I would have turned them in. People who are home schooling legally in that state should have nothing to fear. It's not that hard, and if you can't keep up with those requirements, then you should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Those laws were passed to protect home schooling families who comply from being falsely accused of truancy. But if you ARE truant, then you should be caught and your children required to have access to an education! Grrr to scoff-laws! So who knew your family was home schooling illegally? And why do you think no one ratted them out? And what do you think would have happened if it had become known to the truancy office of your school district? Nobody knew; it was a jealously guarded secret. They knew they were breaking the law, but they thought it would all be okay. "Gods knowledge is better than mans." and all that. When I tried to get into college, I was told I had to have a GED. I struggled for THREE years trying to get it with my disability in math - always told it was my fault. Then I quit. And again, it was my fault. Not them for not teaching me - I had a spirit of rebellion, they had done all they could. Finally, my dad came out of it and helped me get a psychological evaluation for dyscalculia. Then he and my mother helped make me a transcript after I found out I dont legally need a GED to attend college - just a transcript. All the while, my mother was fearful of being found out. I thought I wouldnt be able to do it, because NC has a homeschool registration card for legal homeschoolers - luckily for me, SC does not require that, and I was able to get in. But I have to go to a community college, because I have no SAT's or ACT's.. because mom was afraid that everyone would see how far, academically, I was behind. And with my disability, I would have to knock the crap out of them to be accepted into the local university. So, I'm going through a CC and transferring to a University. Still, my mother blames it on me and now my dyscalculia, saying she did all she could, and that a real school would never have accommodated me, and I would have failed out and never gotten a diploma. She takes the fact that I got into college at all as a sign of her "success." No, that was MY hard work, my tears. MY years of feeling like I was stupid, like I could never comprehend. MY years of feeling like I wasnt smart enough to do anything... that god hated me, otherwise why would he have made me woman? She never had to do a thing.. but I got to clean up after her mess. Seems so unfair.
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Post by Ex-Adriel on Jun 3, 2010 17:46:42 GMT -5
I think I'm going to have to stay largely out of this discussion as well.
I had a lot of problems in my life, and my mother-led family wasn't the best either, but I can honestly say that for all her other crazy, she did her best to educate me and instill a love of learning while she homeschooled me.
Did I get the best possible education? No way. But what I did get was a bone-deep belief that my mind is a valuable and important part of myself, and that I should use my God-given talent of intelligence as often and as well as I could. That is honestly more than I ever got from 99% of the other private, christian, and public school teachers I encountered.
I don't think that people should be able to keep their kids at home with no oversight - that way leads to abusive situations, and I'm of the opinion that if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't mind showing off what you're doing.
However, I think that going all the way to banning homeschool entirely is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Just because there are horrible christ-based cults, should christianity be outlawed? Just because people use plumbing hose to beat (scuse me, "train") their kids into submissive obedience, does that mean we need to have a federal registry of plumbing hoses, with a waiting period and fingerprints?
I know people are badly hurt by their pasts, and it's hard to think clearly when something is deeply personal and anguished.
But don't turn into the very thing you hate by trying to take away people's choices in life. Work for a way to make things safer, and still give people the option to choose what works best for them and their children. You can't legislate for every circumstance - it just doesn't work. There are always exceptions and abuses regardless of the system. We have to work to make the best basic system for everyone, and then work to FIND the abuses and stop them.
Homeschooling isn't abusive. Your parents were abusive, and used homeschool as a tool. I believe strongly that there is a difference.
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Post by nikita on Jun 3, 2010 18:39:46 GMT -5
I ...I don't think that people should be able to keep their kids at home with no oversight - that way leads to abusive situations, and I'm of the opinion that if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't mind showing off what you're doing. However, I think that going all the way to banning homeschool entirely is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Just because there are horrible christ-based cults, should christianity be outlawed? Just because people use plumbing hose to beat (scuse me, "train") their kids into submissive obedience, does that mean we need to have a federal registry of plumbing hoses, with a waiting period and fingerprints? I know people are badly hurt by their pasts, and it's hard to think clearly when something is deeply personal and anguished. But don't turn into the very thing you hate by trying to take away people's choices in life. Work for a way to make things safer, and still give people the option to choose what works best for them and their children. You can't legislate for every circumstance - it just doesn't work. There are always exceptions and abuses regardless of the system. We have to work to make the best basic system for everyone, and then work to FIND the abuses and stop them. Homeschooling isn't abusive. Your parents were abusive, and used homeschool as a tool. I believe strongly that there is a difference. This states my views perfectly. I'd try for eloquence of my own and all but I don't feel well today and why mess with a good thing well said?
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Post by arietty on Jun 3, 2010 19:04:45 GMT -5
Interesting thread.. I found myself agreeing with 98% of it. All these conflicting opinions and stories, it seemed like a family I knew came to mind for each one of them.
The families whose kids are educationally neglected, barely literate or numerate, incapable of writing a simple essay, years behind their peers in public schools. Some from 10 years ago whose now adult children swear they will NEVER homeschool their own children.
The family where physical, emotional and verbal abuse is standard fare from one parent and where the other parent's energy is taken up entirely in trying to avoid this. Education seems quite irrelevant to them.
The families who took their autism spectrum children out of the school system, after trying public and private schools and who found it a HUGE boon to their child to do so. A few years out, they eventually returned to school and did much better after a break from social stress and after catching up educationally.
The alternate non-religious hippie families who IME don't seem to be providing a solid education but whose kids have traveled and done an incredible amount of cool stuff in this world for their young ages. I know some families who did that years ago and their kids are now musicians and artists.
I feel like I've known every kind of homeschool family at some point. I don't feel comfortable with generalizations. I do encourage people when they are considering homeschooling to do so if I think they have the resources, but I also give them a heavy handed dose of the negatives. I recently encouraged a mom whose child is on the autism spectrum and has taken him out of school, making sure to put her in touch with groups that can offer specific support for her circumstances. I've also encouraged moms to put their kids in school because their families are imploding and homeschooling is harming their children.. this kind of encouragement is hard work and it is mainly about relieving them of FEAR. Having homeschooled for years and now having kids in school I feel I can offer some encouragement there, no school is not the evil bastion of horribleness you were told it was.
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Post by arietty on Jun 3, 2010 19:21:44 GMT -5
My personal opinion as to what you need to successfully homeschool:
1. Don't have a huge amount of kids. I've never seen it work well academically in a big family. Ask yourself, are you one of those SUPER WOMEN (who do exist) with boundless energy, ideas, organization, enthusiastic and happy and dedicated? If you are one of those RARE women you might be able to do it with a huge family.
2. Do not have a dysfunctional or currently highly stressed family. Be honest with yourself. Do you have marriage problems? Do you or your spouse have a problem with anger? Is your family under a great deal of stress at this point? Financial, housing, marital, chronic health issues ALL imho make homeschooling inadvisable. Your kids need a break from family stress even if you can't get one, and school can provide that.
3. Do have financial stability, extra money would be useful. All those fabulous field trips and opportunities touted as being benefits of homeschooling cost money, as does the gas to get you there. For every family I knew who used homeschooling to camp, travel, play multiple instruments, visit museums I knew many more who never went anywhere or did anything because they could not afford it. I was a poor homeschooler (actually we weren't poor, my ex-husband just refused to spend money on such things) and when I put my kids in school I was really thrilled with all the cool things they got to do. They got to go to those museums, field trips, camps to places I would never have taken them (especially with a baby every other year). I valued and still value as a mom of many the great opportunities they have had at school to do stuff that was in the too hard basket for me.
4. RE-EVALUATE for high school. I know that teaching little kids to read, do math, mess around with science is actually very easy. Easy and fun and you may well be thrilled at how far ahead your kid is learning this stuff at home. But are you really going to teach them algebra, the history of the rise of fascism, how to write an essay (which you NEED for any further education), chemistry.. I've heard it a hundred times, "what does that stuff have to do with real life?" It's funny because this is what teenagers say in school ALL the time and yet we get homeschool parents saying the same thing in response to this stuff being hard. These parents sound like whiny naive teenagers to me. They act as though knowing these things some how inhibits you from experiencing Real Life. They act as though learning about physics, history, calculus will erode your character.. because if Godly character is the most important thing this stuff is somehow taking up space you could have more Godly character in. As though you cannot be educated AND engaged in real life. It's all just a big smoke screen for this stuff being too hard for parents to adequately teach their kids. You need this stuff to go to college. You need college to get 10 million different kinds of jobs. Why would you want to severely limit you child's opportunities in life?
Education is about providing your child with opportunities for adulthood. Is your homeschooling expanding on or limiting that? This question needs to be looked at once your children are of high school age.
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Post by hmschlmomof3 on Jun 3, 2010 20:24:51 GMT -5
This post also prompted me to finally delurk after four months of reading every post on here, and I have appreciated the diversity of opinions and chance to learn about the different experiences other moms have had. I am in my 17th year of homeschooling my three children, with my oldest just finishing her 3rd year of college with a 3.7 GPA. I am also a conservative Christian, a divorced single mom, and a family physician who supports her kids working 24 hours a week at a rural health clinic. So I don't really fit in any mold, I'm afraid. Chandra, I hate that you had to endure such a horrific chidhood, and can understand how you would want to prevent other little girls from going through the same abuse. Unfortunately, your caustic denunciation of homeschooling as abusive for the majority of children is offputting to the very women Vyckie is trying to reach and help on her blog. While it is also unfair and inaccurate to categorize homeshooling as abusive for most children, more importantly, statements like this diminish the validity of the rest of your post, and threaten to overshadow your message, which deserves to be heard. Best wishes to you.
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valsa
New Member
Posts: 46
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Post by valsa on Jun 3, 2010 20:51:57 GMT -5
While I agree that home schooling definitely allows people who aren't qualified and/or who don't have their child's best interests at heart to “teach” them, I can't agree with outlawing home schooling completely. I just think it should be much, much more regulated than it is right now.
The reason I can't support outlawing home schooling completely is because I very much wish I could have been home schooled in high school. I nearly dropped out of my sophomore year because of severe bullying. I'm fairly bright and would have done very well with self-teaching at home (I'll be honest, I intellectually outpaced both my parents by the time I hit the 4th grade so they would have been unqualified to teach me, but I could have taught myself) Forcing me to go to school, where I was bullied and threatened pretty much daily, did nothing but drive me into a deep depression and killed a lot of my love for learning.
I think home school does have its place, but only in rare instances (cases of bullying, special needs children who aren’t being served well by public schools, etc) To use home schooling as means to religiously indoctrinate, isolate, and abuse children should be unacceptable.
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Post by kisekileia on Jun 3, 2010 20:55:50 GMT -5
Rosiegirl, you know what? Kids go through JUST as much shit and deal with probably just as much pain from missed diagnoses in the public school system as they do in homeschooling. Public schools screw kids over too, especially if the parents are resistant to pursuing an evaluation when a kid shows signs of problems. There needs to be more oversight of homeschooling, but parents also need to have the power to refuse psychoeducational evaluations for their children taken away from them, because even in the public school system they can screw up their kids that way.
I also second what KM has pointed out about autistic children, other children who are heavily bullied, and the public school system. The public system may be theoretically able to educate every child in a humane way, but sometimes they WILL not do so for certain children. Do you guys know what adult:child ratios are in public school schoolyards where I live during recess? 1:150. No daycare would be allowed to do that. In an environment with so little supervision, no autistic or Asperger's child is safe--remember, autistic children are very vulnerable to bullying due to their lack of social savvy--and a lot of other kids aren't safe either. Schools also often refuse to provide adequate enrichment or above-grade-level work for highly gifted kids.
I certainly understand that homeschooling has a great deal of potential for abuse. After all, I think parents have too much power to keep kids from getting appropriately educated in the public system--it's even worse with homeschooling. I think homeschooling requires FAR more oversight than it is normally given, but I also think it is necessary as an option for cases where public schools cannot or will not provide an appropriate education.
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Post by arietty on Jun 3, 2010 20:56:01 GMT -5
hmschlmomof3 I'd love to hear more about your homeschool life. Maybe we could have a homeschooling thread somewhere on this forum to discuss homeschooling as in "how to do it". I realize you probably have other online places to post about homeschooling so might not be interested. I know we have unschoolers and homeschoolers on NLQ, religious and non-religious. I'd love a (positive) thread to talk about it.
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Post by arietty on Jun 3, 2010 21:02:25 GMT -5
Kiskelia I agree with you. I happen to live in a place where I can send my kids to any school I like and it is normal for people to send their kids to schools other than their local one. The result of this has been some schools develop a specialization in certain areas, become known as the arts school or the science school. Other schools have actually closed down because they sucked so bad and their reputation just kept getting worse and worse that too many parents pulled their kids out. It allows some healthy competition because the schools know people WILL move their kids and they will lose government funding. So I have.. choice. LOTS of choice. And I know that in most places in America people have no choice and homeschooling is your ONLY choice if your local public school is a nightmare. I myself hated, absolutely hated school, was bullied incessantly. That experience (which defined my childhood) contributed greatly to my choice to homeschool. If I thought my kids were in that situation I would homeschool them again in a second.
There needs to be accountability, oversight and excellence in education in both the schools and homeschools.
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