George Bush's secret army (Why Democrats Hate, and Fear, Home Schooled Kids)

Economist ^ | March 17th 2004 | Economist

[kittymyrib]

Cut up your credit cards, cook meals at home, entertain yourself and your children with family activities that require time instead of money and you will find you really don't have to have two incomes, one of which usually goes to the government in taxes anyway.

[blackdog]

Homeschooled kids have won the national spelling bee each time in the past six or so years. The defense talking points issued by the NEA include that it's unbalanced children winning it. They study six hours a day on spelling and vocabulary in preparation for it. Thus an unfair standard is presented to the public school kids, since they are so "balanced".

[Stew Padasso]

You'll find homeschool critics right here on FR.

[petitfour]

We took one of our children out of public schools last year when he was hitting a brick wall in his classroom. He was so frustrated. His teacher was so frustrated with him. She knew he was capable of doing the work because "his sisters are both gifted." (aint that some logic?) When my husband heard her say that in front of our son, he was so angry. We are homeschooling now. It has been a roller-coaster ride because he is so easily distracted. I could imagine what he was like in a room full of other easily distracted children. What a nightmare! Anywho, recently a FReeper recommended a book for those of us who have ADD children. It's called Right-brained Children in a Left-brained World. It is amazing how a different approach can change a child's entire attitude about learning. Homeschooling is ideal for children such as our son.

[gobucks]

My favorite winner, I'll never forget this, was a home schooled girl from NY:

1997 Rebecca Sealfon, Daily News, New York, New York euonym - a name well-suited to the person, place or thing named

The girl you refer to , i think, is:
1991 Joanne Lagatta, The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Wisconsin antipyretic - an agent that reduces fever


Ha!! Home Schoolers, an euonymic phrase if there ever was one, are antipyretically fighting the fire storm of public re-edukation kamps that the USA has suffered for the last almost 100 years!

[Tax-chick]

I'm surprised nobody else caught this:

And the number of black home-schoolers is growing rapidly. Yet the Praetorian Guard of the home-schooling movement are social conservatives.

Interesting how he contrasts blacks with "social conservatives," even though most polls of blacks show them to be just as conservative on social issues as those scary white Christians.

And I wonder why the media always mention Texas as the paragon of homeschooling freedom, when it's OKLAHOMA that has parental control over education written into the State constitution, for the express purpose of protecting the right to home school.

[netmilsmom]

>>Tonto's update: Jr. just got his Brown Belt, we're almost done with the multiplication tables, and he's fallen in love with the Boxcar Children series that I loved to read as a boy. Piano is going well, although he grumbles about practicing (I don't care if he practices, so long as he's paying for the lesson that week out of his birthday money... if I'm paying, then he practices). We're going as a family to our first homeschool conference later in the spring.<<

Wow!!!!!!

We are doing the "Comprenhensive Curriculm" and "Work at Home" workbooks this year, but next year we are going to "Switched On Schoolroom" from Alpha Omega. It's 300.00 but it's not consumable so we will be spending that for both girls per year. It starts in 3rd grade so we have to get the little one there before it becomes cost efficient.
I was told by one of the Homeschool groups to slow down because my older one will be ready for college at 10. LOL!

Dad gets Saturdays for fun or library time. I think he likes it, but he goes back and forth between pushing them or pushing them too hard! Mostly, I just do what I need to do and show him the results. It works out better that way.
Thank you for the help you gave. I just love this!

[twigs]

This was a number of years ago (over 10) and they did not have the support of their friends and families. I have lost touch with them, but I hope that things got better.

[blanknoone]

The thing that strikes me about this was the headline. This army isn't loyal to George Bush, it is dedicated to properly limited government. It will remain a force long after G.W.B. leaves the political stage.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Bump!

[netmilsmom]

I was told the same thing in MI. The homeschool groups corrected me.
I still keep all my daughter's work in a box. If there are any problems, I would be surprised.

[blackdog]

That's precisely what happenned to my daughter too. As part of her application process to test into private school after homeschooling, we met with the admissions person who instead asked my daughter alone out to have lunch.

They came back from lunch gabbing away about geometry, balancing equasions, chatting in spanish, seventeenth and eighteenth century artists, classical music, and so on.....

She has complete cirriculum access to every grade level class.

Public schools cannot bend and flex for anyone. Too busy being "fair" I guess?

[gobucks]

"Maybe it should frighten teachers' unions more interested in turf than in teaching."

I agree it was a relatively weak statment in an otherwise bold article. Your suggestion is better. Were you home schooled?

[gobucks]

I've already met some.

[netmilsmom]

Good to see you here!!

I wish the GS could be as good as the Boy Scouts. 4H is working out fine but I may have my hubby lead a girls "Boy Scout" troop for my own kiddies!

[netmilsmom]

My pleasure!

We are blessed with children, why not live it up??

[gobucks]

Hey. I, a Texas lover, native by choice, wished it were so by birth have one thing to say: I love OKLAHOMA! Wasn't Texas a big county in the south of Oklahoma before it broke away??

[netmilsmom]

Yesterday I read the transcripts of the Air Traffic Control tower in Cleveland as Flight 93 went by. I was in tears.

The transcripts from the Port Authority phones, when one of the wives calls in to say that she had gotten a call from her hubby in the stairwell of one of the towers, was horrible. She called a few times and the officer kept trying to assure her. It was heartwrenching.

[Old Sarge]

Once a week I take Johnny to the bathroom and shred his homework and steal his lunch money after beating him up. He's not missing a thing!

I LOVE IT!! Nothing like realistic training!

How can we improve on the experience, lessee... you could pass out condoms, give the kids laptops that are homepaged to "whitehouse.com", and in the Teacher's Lounge (your den), you could hang a portrait of William the Impeached, adorned with votive candles and fresh flowers every morning.

[mlmr]

You are right, homeschool children do not vote. But politicians everywhere should be respectful of a group of people who can turn a political campaign into a homeschool project. Local politicians in Maine found that out a few years ago. Nationally homeschoolers took down some difficult legislation that was going to cripple homeschooling by federal law. And they did it in a few days. Never underestimate the power of the family.