Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
I think that screen name kind of offends me unless he has a good sense of humor...a quick glance didn't show me one...
So you dumped Legolas?
Today is the first day of VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL!! Yoohooooo! Both Matthew and Joshua get to go this year and I get to have 3 glorious hours to shop or go to the library or even just come home and visit with you guys! My folks even lent me their cell phone so I could be away from home or on the computer and not worry about the church trying to contact me!
Oh to be able to drink a cup of coffee without Joshua stealing it! LOL
That's a mighty broad brush you're swingin' there Ms. B. ;^)
-Kevin
Et tu? Corin?
-Kevin
Enjoying a cup of coffee myself this morning, getting emotionally ready to go out into the world. Have meetings today in far away places... Miles to go before I sleep.
I entertained 3 kids yesterday with pony rides on Bay... Wore me out!
And Krispy Kreme opens in the morning!! What a great week. And only 190 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 50 seconds till TTT!!!!
2JM: Nope!
I sense you are a very wise mother. ;^)
-Kevin
Must have something to do with the name. ;^)
-Kevin
Ok, here's a quick math problem for you. When will we have reached the official halfway point? That way we can mark our calendars and know that we are on the downhill portion of our wait.
-Kevin
Some of those on that thread remind me of the original fear I had of homeschooling, before meeting you and 2J. There are some that home school because their view on the world is so rigid and narrow that they try to create a perfectly protected and isolated environment for their children, and fear the slightest unscreened influence on their children will upset the delicate artificial dreamworld they have created.
It is those rigid extremists that I used to associate with homeschooling. How do those kids cope with the world when they find out that it contains a whole lot of stuff their parents never talked about? - By the time I graduated from (public) High School I knew that half the world disagreed or lived differentyl than my Dad... And maybe my Dad had enough confidence that he was right to let me hear it and make my own assessment of the world as it really is.... Full of opposing ideas. I heard from them, considered them, and decided that I still liked most of my Dad's ideas best.
In your experience, when you meet other homeschooled kids (from the extremist parents that are indeed homeschooling out there), are there many that are not prepared to live in the real world that often does not match their own views, or is this an imaginary problem I have created because I don't know? How many hit the real world and either freak out and run home, or go on the wildest sin-spree you ever did see?
Primarily asking Jen, because I can't ask 2J's kids because they are too young, but interested in 2J's feelings on the matter, and any others in the hole who homeschool, who have had more contact probably, with the extremists among them.
May I chime in? Good. ;^)
One of the main reasons we homeschool is because of our religious beliefs. I want to make sure that my kids get grounded in their faith before they are sent out to face the wolves.
I had a friend use this illustration: When you are growing a new tree you don't set it out, as a seedling, in the middle of a hurricane thinking that the hurricane is what the seedling needs in order to grow into a stronger tree. What that seedling needs is to be sheltered, nourished and cared for, then when it is strong enough to stand the winds you put it outdoors.
I view my children the same way. As young children, actually as young believers (they have all told Jesus that they believe He died for their sins and rose again and they have asked Him to be their Savior), they are not strong enough to face what the world tends to throw at believers, especially young ones. So it is my job to ensure that as well as knowing reading, writing and arithmetic, they know their faith as well.
I am not "shielding" them from the world. They get exposed to it everyday as they watch videos, as they visit my relatives (who are not Christians), even as they interact with their heathen friends (joke!) at church.
We are nurturing our children so that they will be strong enough to stand when they are finally out in the world on their own.
-Kevin
The younger the kids are the more I completely agree with you about nurturing and protecting them from the outside... I may even homeschool myself for the early grades... (if I ever get around to having kids!)
Help me then on this question. What about high-school aged kids? Isn't there a functional limit on how much breadth and depth one or two people (the parents) can offer? I know I had the same subjects over and over again from many different teachers, each one brought something new to the table, but after a quarter or semester from each, I have heard just about everything that individual had to offer.
As you know, if you are talking to someone about subjects like politics, ethics, or evolution/creation, the conversation is very different based on who you are talking to, and their point of view. Hearing and talking to opposing views can be just as important as talking to those that you agree with, both in teaching a person to be a critical thinker, but also in how to deal with opposition civally and wisely. Even if you include opposing ideas in your own cirriculum, it will be run through the filter of, "this is what they think, and we disagree. By being there you are limiting both the questions your kids will want to ask, and the kinds of conversations they could have in exploring ideas without fear of appearing to contradict or question their parent's view. In other words, I learned a lot from talking to people who had a completely different creed than my parents, and weighing it against what my parents said, deciding if it felt right or wrong based on that, without having the conversation filtered from the outset by having my parents present.
As the home-school teacher and parent, your presence, and their desire to please you, limits or at least changes the entire conversation. Do you even think that is a problem? - Perhaps not. I don't know.
Have a great day everybody!
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