Homeschooling forum

[Anonymous]

I used to think homeschooling was for the total odd balls, but not anymore. The MCPS curriculum is completely watered down nonsense and the parents and kids at the down-county schools are awful, just awful. Home schooling is not looking so bad anymore.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to have a homeschooling or alternative schooling forum. I agree that these types
of discussions are not generally welcome on the available forums.

People are awful, cruel and stupid towards homeschoolers.
I would never want to post something about homeschooling on a mostly unmoderated forum.
You can try your anonymous forum somewhere else - that would be a great idea - but it would need to be moderated fully (as in every message read before its posted and inappropriate ones deleted) .
Someone start one...

This is a common reaction to anti-social behavior, yes.

The anti-homeschooling people are going to provoke me into creating a homeschooling forum.

As a homeschooler, I was going to respond positively to creating our own forum, but now I'm sitting here puzzling over which what mock insult I can pretend to lob at anti-social freaks like myself to win the sympathy vote from Jeff.

[Anonymous]

Here is an article with a list of homeschool support websites for the greater DC area

http://washington.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-resources-for-homeschool-families-in-washington-dc/

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to have a homeschooling or alternative schooling forum. I agree that these types
of discussions are not generally welcome on the available forums.

People are awful, cruel and stupid towards homeschoolers.
I would never want to post something about homeschooling on a mostly unmoderated forum.
You can try your anonymous forum somewhere else - that would be a great idea - but it would need to be moderated fully (as in every message read before its posted and inappropriate ones deleted) .
Someone start one...

This is a common reaction to anti-social behavior, yes.

The anti-homeschooling people are going to provoke me into creating a homeschooling forum.

[Anonymous]

I'd love a home schooling forum. When I was homeschooling, I would have posted a lot more about it if there had been a specific forum. Please reconsider!!!

[Anonymous]

I'm a live-in nanny who has homeschooled charges and tutored homeschooled children. I have tons and tons and tons of links to different supplements, as well as experience. Most parents starting to homeschool are overwhelmed by all the choices available and don't know where to start. Parents who have been homeschooling could discuss outings, coops, curricula, etc. Please Jeff!!! There's no room for this in the gen ed section, every thread would be filled with flames.

[Anonymous]

I think a homeschooling forum is a great idea. It's becoming more common and not just for "freaks" as a pp mentioned before.

[Anonymous]

I think it's a great idea! I would never post a homeschool question otherwise, because it'd just be a target for the crazies who get gratification from being anonymous bullies.

[Anonymous]

The "crazies" would still come to your homeschool forum. It's a difficult thing for many people to understand. My best friend from college homeschools and for the life of me I don't get it even though I have tried. So I would read your forum to try to understand better. I may even create a thread such as "What made you decide to homeschool" because I am really interested to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "crazies" would still come to your homeschool forum. It's a difficult thing for many people to understand. My best friend from college homeschools and for the life of me I don't get it even though I have tried. So I would read your forum to try to understand better. I may even create a thread such as "What made you decide to homeschool" because I am really interested to know.

I decided to homeschool because I used to be a public school teacher. In districts "good" and "bad".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "crazies" would still come to your homeschool forum. It's a difficult thing for many people to understand. My best friend from college homeschools and for the life of me I don't get it even though I have tried. So I would read your forum to try to understand better. I may even create a thread such as "What made you decide to homeschool" because I am really interested to know.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/136453.page
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/180974.page
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/188585.page

[Anonymous]

If a homeschool forum is created, would SAHM topics be included? People love to attack SAHM on this website and I've seen too many threads get derailed into a SAHM bashing thread. It happens on the parenting forums, the education/school forums and even in off topic!

[jsteele]

Everyone knows that SAHMs can't be bothered to stop watching their soaps and eating bonbons to take time to post on DCUM. A SAHM forum wouldn't have any posts.

Seriously though, I'm not seeing the SAHM/homeschooling connection. I don't really know where SAHM threads should go, but I don't think it is homeschooling. Probably the best bet is to put them in whatever forum fits the specific topic best and then use the "report" button liberally.

[Anonymous]

I am not a homeschooler, but I think that if you made an "Alternative Schooling" forum it would get a lot more traffic than you realize. My kids went to a tiny "hippy" preschool and then to a small alternative K-1st combined classroom and a lot of our interests overlap with many of my homeschooling friends, because families that opt out of the "normal" approach to schooling get a lot of the same flack and also have a lot of the same concerns, such as:

balancing the approach to learning we prefer with enough of the mainstream info that our kids can rejoin peers at a public some day if that makes sense

socialization when the majority of peers are dealing with mean girls and bullies and large group dynamics vs kids in either homeschool or very small class settings with a strong focus on family/community

Having to justify our choices to everyone we know

Discipline in the context of learning for those of us who have educational projects and goals outside of the classroom or whose homes ARE the classroom

[Anonymous]

The connection I see is that moms who choose to homeschool are most likely stay at home moms. And yes, I realize that most stay at home moms don't homeschool their children, but they still are both home for their children, and are often stereotyped and/or attacked for it. It was just a thought since you seem to be in favor of reducing the mean posts on your website, and I thought I'd mention it since there seems to be an interest in a homeschool forum.