When talking about busy moms with Greta this evening, Sarah Palin added, “Homeschooling moms, too. They’re teaching their kids, in addition to doing it all.”
“Liberal Democrat Mark Warner calls the NRA, people of faith, pro-lifers and home schoolers a threat to America.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpicD6UIq8A
“It’s made up of the Christian coalition.”
“It’s made up of the right-to-lifers.”
“It’s made up of the NRA.”
“It’s made up of the homeschoolers.”
I could write post after post of personal stuff, but I hesitate to do that these days. I owe three people detailed emails (sorry), and I must get around to posting a ton of pictures. I will write what comes to mind right now.
~ Tonight at Tae Kwon Do, I overheard a mother discussing bullies at her child’s school. She said, “School isn’t for feeling terrified, school is for learning.”
~ We TRIED to drive past, but we just had to get fish ‘n’ chips after Tae Kwon Do tonight. We had Chinese food the other day with chicken balls that tasted exactly the same. I still have to do the dishes that are in the sink.
~ Tonight, I found out that tomorrow is parent/teacher day. I was surprised the other mothers didn’t ask me why I didn’t know that. (The Tae Kwon Do mothers have yet to find out we homeschool.) I will have a good long talk with myself tomorrow while the children are doing their schoolwork.
~ It was such a warm afternoon that C7 and L4 played outside in the water sprinkler. We also walked to the river where they and B10 “fished” with long reeds/seaweed.
~ N14 mowed the lawn until he ran out of gas today, and B10 washed the van as high as he could reach. He couldn’t get the windshield.
~ I got a new red leather jacket in Montreal the other day. Ooooh. 
~ Derek finished all his exams for the course he has been taking. He is much smarter now.
~ I am almost caught up in laundry, and most things are put away.
~ L4 got very little schoolin’ this week. He loves to play by himself or with his imaginary friends or with his sister.
~ I went yesterday to get much needed new make-up. The sales lady told me I needed a moisturizer to prevent more wrinkles. 
She gave me a “hypo-allergenic” sample to put on my face. I told her I don’t use them because they always give me a rash, but she insisted, and I became a guinea pig yet again. A few hours later, my face was red, blotchy, swollen, and itchy. Fortunately, every time this happens, the reaction is a little less.
~ I had a hard time choosing mascara, so the sales lady pointed to the brand she was wearing. I looked at her eyes, and said “Sure, that would be great” which was sort of a lie, but I couldn’t tell her I didn’t like it, so I went out the door with her mascara. It isn’t too bad, I guess.
~ While shopping yesterday (in the middle of the day), I had an interesting conversation about homeschooling. I like to shock and awe. 
~ I bought C7 two lovely dresses in NY, and I can’t believe I left the store with one in the wrong size. Argh!
~ Most importantly, I bought a new pair of Sarah Palin RED SHOES!!!!! Go Sarah!!!
Today was the first day back to school for our local public school children. I just wanted to mention how thankful I am for the freedom to homeschool my children.
We enjoyed watching the movie Nim’s Island last night.
http://www.nimsisland.com/
It was pretty good. It could be that I liked it because it was positive about homeschooling, but the kids enjoyed it, too. They are watching it again right now before we return it. I also loved how it encouraged reading and imagining for children.
“One day we found it… Our home… This is my island. Not a bad place to grow up, huh. See, I don’t have to go to school. I’m homeschooled. Or technically, I’m island-schooled…”
“Anything else I need to learn about the world, I just open one of the books my dad brought for me. With a little imagination, I can go anywhere.”
Aww…. Freedom.
Unless the topic turns to school, I rarely bring up the fact that we homeschool. Last night, while the three youngest and I were waiting for our take-out pizza to be ready, a mother and her three little ones were waiting next to us. She started the conversation, and then when I said I homeschool, I could see her eyes examine each of my children, and the conversation died.
I looked at my kids. They looked normal. They stayed with me in the restaurant entry, they weren’t loud, and they didn’t cause a commotion. I am curious as to what was going on in her mind.
On the other hand, on several occasions, a similar conversation has resulted in the person’s choosing to homeschool or to send their children to the Christian school.
When I am around a group of public school mothers, I hate their jokes about how they “couldn’t homeschool”. They often act rude and ignorant. It does make me feel left out, and of course, misunderstood. I do feel bad for the mothers who confess to me that they wish they could homeschool, but… their husband doesn’t want to, or they have to work, etc.
I don’t like it when public-schooled children only invite their “class” to their birthday parties.
Instead of it getting easier after eleven years of homeschooling, I find other people’s reaction to homeschooling to be more annoying than ever. They really don’t understand it. It seems that some of the few who have actually tried homeschooling, get burned out or quit because they have used a common, yet overwhelming, teacher-based approach.
I do wish people wouldn’t make homeschooling so complicated.
Schools (and unfortunately many homeschools) are set up so that the teacher “teaches” and the children “learn”. Children quickly become dependant on their teacher. Children only learn what they have to learn (at the most), and they think they can only understand things that are taught and explained to them.
I want my children to be able to figure things out for themselves. I want them to know MORE than me. I don’t want them to have to rely on the education and knowledge of a certain person - even if that person has a teaching degree.
In our homeschool, my main work is to organize and provide lots of quality literature and materials. My children’s main work is to read, work, and get educated. I continue to manage and monitor to a minor degree.
In my experience, the self-teaching method of homeschooling does not cause a parent to get burned out. Homeschooling in this way is not a big deal. People ask, “How do you do it?” And honestly, it is generally very easy. I don’t play teacher.
For the most part, the children work on their own, and only come to me with the subjects that I want to involve me (like calling out spelling, correcting math, and holding up Latin flashcards). Homeschooling that emphasizes self-teaching works well in homes with several children of various ages (including infants, preschoolers, and teens). Self-taught homeschoolers can continue learning every day, even if their mother is sick, pregnant, has a newborn, or has to work part-time.
Just because I find the homeschooling lifestyle to be freeing, does not mean that I don’t get annoyed on occasion. I get frustrated sometimes when the children: get too many math errors, make essays too short, get things wrong because they are in a hurry, write too messy, leave flashcards in pants pocket and the flashcards go through the wash, leave books all over the house, forget math-related concepts but she remembers EVERYTHING else, forget to do an assignment, etc. These things are mostly not homeschool specific, but can exist for a “homework” parent as well.
I guess the point of this post is to say that homeschooling isn’t (and doesn’t have to be) the big deal that people make of it. Homeschooling does not take a supermom. Nor superkids for that matter. And we are not freaks. We just live. And learn. In freedom.
Somebody recently told me how homeschooling has its “downs”, because he once knew a homeschooled teenage girl who was ignorant and not properly socialized. Just because I know a few public schooled drug-using promiscuous bullies doesn’t mean they are all like that (at least I don’t think so).
Schoolboys punished with detention for refusing to kneel in class and pray to Allah
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031784/Schoolboys-punished-detention-refusing-kneel-pray-Allah.html
Sex education ’should begin at four’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/health/newsid_7489000/7489128.stm
I had to look up the definition to see why folks are so concerned:
socialization
The process whereby a child learns to get along with and to behave similarly to other people in the group, largely through imitation as well as group pressure.
Homeschooling’s socialization snobs
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68777
“It’s largely due to the “socialization” children get in public schools that convinced us to homeschool.”
“Homeschooling allows us to be socialization snobs.”
“It’s been said that too many rats locked up together in too small a cage will soon start tearing into each other. Same with kids. Schools force children to associate with other children based strictly on age. They are locked into cages containing dozens of rats … er, kids with one powerless and overworked teacher who is expected to be psychologist, counselor, nanny, babysitter and, oh yeah, teacher all rolled into one.”
“If one child gets snarky with another, the other children encourage him until the snarkiness turns to meanness, which often leads to violence. This is the breeding ground for public school socialization.”
The Onion: Are Our Children Learning Enough About Whales?
http://www.youtube.com/v/POi4rvN_Yts&hl=en
“My momma was too busy workin’ to be cooin’ no whale songs to me.”
I think the biggest threat to homeschooling is when homeschooling gets confused with “religious” parenting practices, specifically beating children. That happened in the California case recently and seemingly in almost every case the HSLDA defends. It is also mentioned in this case in Sweden.
Christian movement’s home schooling ‘unacceptable’
http://www.thelocal.se/10982/20080408/
In Sweden, it does appear that the state expects to have complete control of religious indoctrination simply by having the children present in the government schools. This is a reminder to North American parents who send their children to public schools. The government knows that it only needs those few hours each school day to indoctrinate children into secular humanism.
If the authorities were really serious about the safety of children, then they wouldn’t focus on the homeschooling element, but rather the fact that the children are in the home at all. In cases where the children really are doing poorly as a result of homeschooling, I suspect that “homeschooling” is only a secondary issue to what is really going on, therefore, it is not the “right to homeschool” that should be threatened.
I find it disturbing to hear fundamentalists cry “persecution” because their “right” to beat their children is questioned.
