[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

My stepson graduated in 2007 from a highly-rated school district North of Fort Worth. He says a lot of teachers would just play a movie on DVD somewhat related to the class subject (i.e., Pearl Harbor during history class) and consider that the day's lesson.

That's what they do at my daughter's government school. Last week they watched "Shrek II" in chorus.

Yes, I am the only Freeper whose local school sucks.

We homeschooled our youngest for 8 years. She is mildly autistic. Unfortunately, three teacher SILs harangued my wife for years, insisting that our daughter needed special ed, that only the government schools could provide.

We went to several lengthy meetings over the course of the summer, where the specialists described her IEP (Individual Something-Extra-Special Plan).

In practice, the plan was to put my daughter in the dumb class, where they watch videos on a regular basis.

She's doing stuff she did two years ago at home.

I've lost hope of pulling her out. My wife and I have fought as much as our relationship can take. Now I can only pray.

Thankfully, my eldest daughter will "graduate" from homeschool this year, never having set foot in a schoolag.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I like the term Schulag, kinda a portmanteau word of German Schul and Stalag, that invokes the idea of a gulag.