;^)
-Kevin
Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
One effect seems to be that I am extrodinarily stubborn and very hard to convince of anything, but this may be genetic, as my father is the same way.
By the time I was 15, I was taking math classes at community college. You have no idea how many different opinions on issues can get aired in ten-minute coffee breaks from calculus - it seems to stimulate people's debating skills. I had met people who weren't the same religion or had different politcal views before, we knew a Mormon lady who sold us books, and I took a biology class with other homeschoolers who were homeschooling for academics, not religion, and who had very different view.
Anyway, then I discovered the internet and whatever illusions I had about harmony were gone.... the result is, I know exactly what I believe, and am willing to defend it. Oddly enough for some reason I don't usually shove my believes down peoples' throats. I have a good friend who was saved around Christmas, last year. She told me that I was the first Christian she had known who didn't either completely scare her away or make her wonder if they really believed. I'm not certain my homeschooling had anything to do with that - I think it was because of my science fiction addiction. Now there's something I've had to defend to certain... fellow homeschoolers who are a little too fanatical!
Oh, and good morning, all! I almost forgot. ;-)
Well, this one throws everything else I said out the window.. "By the time I was 15, I was taking math classes at community college" - Because that is what throws in those variables I was not sure were there... More later! - I really am late now!
We will face that situation in September when Elizabeth begins 7th grade. We have decided to use a video curriculum for her during grades 7-12. These are videos that have been made during actual classroom time. The teachers give their lectures, or present their material, and the children on the tape ask questions. My wife will serve to answer any questions Elizabeth may have and to grade her homework, tests, and quizzes.
I don't want my child exposed to all the "other" stuff that is being taught in the goobermint schools. If you want a good book on the subject check out John Stormer's None Dare Call It Education. It is a pretty easy read and the guy is practically giving the book away. He documents all sorts of shenanigans that are going on under the rubric of "public education." If we weren't homeschooling when I read that book, we would have been soon after I had finished.
I want my children to know how to read, how to write, how to perform mathematical calculations, how to think, and how to intelligently express their thoughts (unlike their old man). I don't want them learning how to put condoms on cucumbers, how "peaceful" Islam really is, how "normal" homosexuality is, and all the rest of that junk.
-Kevin
I imagine there are some like this...I have met very few even here in Poh-dunk Oklahoma. I have met several Mennonite families where they are almost as odd as Amish, but they were courteous and friendly. I am sure they do just fine in their self-imposed "isolated environments"
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?
First off, I am very careful about labeling anyone an extremist. In my left wing liberal brother-in-law's eyes, this slightly pudgy S. Baptist housewife is an extremist. If a person isn't breaking any laws, they ought to be able to do anything they want and raise their kids any way they want. For example:
A homeschooling Wiccan believes that their child doesn't need to know anything other than when to plant their completely organic garden by the phases of the moon. More power to them. A resourceful homeschooled wiccan could live on the income of organic veggies.
I mean to say this...it is highly unlikely that the children of most (even what you would consider extremist) homeschoolers are going to be beating a path to the welfare office. Homeschoolers, although perhaps considered rigid and "extreme" are usually quite resourceful and if they don't want to fit into society, nobody should try to make them.
I am considered rigid in some areas, and overly flexible in some areas, depending upon who I'm with at the time.
As far as high school goes, there are a ton of resources out there for homeschooling high-schoolers. And by that time, they seem to be totally prepared to go out and find those resources. There are courses at our local junior college that allow homeschoolers to attend. There are co-ops (Matthew is attending one this next fall, already...music) where professionals are hired by a group of homeschooling parents to teach a course in a particular subject...like chemistry and calculus.
I don't defend anything I do. I just generally either tell people outright (or find some other way to be discreet) to just go blow it out their shorts.
:-D
Hair, I'd like to respond to your questions about home-schooling from the perspective of someone who doesn't have kids yet, but plans to home-school if/when we do have kids... but I don't have time right now. :) Maybe later if you're still interested.
Have a good day all!
Anyway, I don't approve of those types either. But they're free to be that way, and it's probably better to have them alone than to have them around other people.... in all my life I've met only two homeschool familes who I felt would be better off in public school. Sadly, one of those were my cousins.
Jen, you are in college. Did your homeschooling background help or hinder you being admitted into school?
-Kevin
LOL!!! Exactly!! Ha haa! That's exactly right!
Spoken like a true almost-geezer!
Signed....Geezer
Oh, I forgot to mention my four years of co-op classes, where I studied all sorts of stuff with other homeschoolers. I learned Shakespeare, science, and logic; got spurned by the popular girls' clique; made friends with guys and got mocked for it; fell for my best friend... all the things you're supposed to get in school, but without most of the negative things. I guess I don't really fit Hair's ideas. Oh well!
It didn't really matter to me. What helped most were my SAT scores (very high, I got an 800 in verbal). I was already taking classes at the community college, and I got an Associate's Degree there last May. This year I transferred to a four year school. They didn't give me any problems about being homeschooled, certainly, but I wasn't actively recruited by anyone.
Tell you where it's helped me - in my classes. One of my teachers told me I was the only student in the class who could write well. She was pleasantly surprised when she found out I was homeschooled, not having met any of us before...
Can't I just teach Matthew to tell people to blow it out their shorts? I think it would hysterically funny to hear! (Shhh...I am feeling rebellious!)
;^)
-Kevin
Glad I'm not posting this in the Crusades!
Living by example is a powerful thing.
-Kevin
Or was it a "fanatical homeschooler" thing? Anyway, I'm not mad at you.
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