Anonymous wrote:Potomac school hands out awards and celebrates kids that "come out" at assemblies. The McLean School celebrates kids that come out and post their photos on the walls of the school. I can tell you from personal experience that it can be very confusing for a kid, especially one with ADHD or other SNs, and have too many messages assaulting their brain to also get this message as well and not know what to do with it.

I have had three "lifers" at Potomac. I have many friends who have worked at the school during our almost 20 years of involvement. My family celebrates any efforts the school makes to support ALL students and faculty, regardless of sexual orientation. I can tell you, however, that no "gay awards" have ever been handed out at an assembly. This post is ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:Like another poster, our IB doesn't do anything for anyone or anything based on what Congress has declared the month to be. That said, diversity is woven into the curriculum. Our lower school principal is gay, and it's accepted just as easily as the fact that the middle school principal is married with two kids. The only reason the middle school principal's wife shows up at things is because their children go to our school. I'm sure if our elementary school principle had a child in school his partner would be at school events. It really doesn't matter.

I'm the PP and horrified at the direction this thread has taken. Every parent has a voice in their child's education. Review the curriculum. Find out if you oppose something. Discuss it with the teacher and principle and bring recommendations. They may or may not take your recommendations, but will allow for your child to skip classes that are against your beliefs.
No one if forcing some gay agenda on elementary aged kids. Potomac school goes to 12th grade. I doubt a third grader is celebrated for coming out. A 7th grader, sure. But we are talking about elementary kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please name for me any school that supposedly "taught" kids about anal sex in elementary school. I remain skeptical until someone names a name.

Burgundy Farm uses at school and recommends parents use at home the book It's Perfectly Normal that covers pretty much every detail related to sexual development and practices. During sex education discussions, the teacher was very clear to parents that all questions raised by children will be addressed and children are allowed to submit questions anonymously. All of this is very nice and warm and accepting and parents are pleased that their children's questions will be answered in a supportive environment ... until they find out some of the specific questions "asked" in the anonymous question box. It takes just a few "wise boys" to mix things up for their own entertainment.

Interesting. (1) At what grade do they do this Q&A? (2) Do you have specific knowledge that the teachers discussed anal sex with students, or are you just speculating about the possibility of it happening? (3) If you know for a fact that it really happened, then how did the teachers respond to the questions? I'd like to assume they'd planned a fairly tame response, but maybe you'll tell us it was a graphic and detailed description.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL. So a group of 4th grade boys have a teacher-led discussion about anal sex and your child happens to be out for a "doctor's appointment" that afternoon. When he returns to school, don't you think that the other 4th grade boys are going to clue him in on what he missed?!!! And this is not a private v. public school discussion ... not much difference.

When we selected our child's school, he was barely 4 years old ... we compared schools across many criteria, but the content of sex education classes honestly never crossed our minds. I'm not so worked up about it that I would change schools ... but I do think this DCUM discussion is a good introduction to parents just starting to consider schools as to what might be in their future.

But often you don't know what your private is going to do or when. Our liberal SN private (so very few options for selection) did not tell us that the health lesson on abortion was coming up. I had covered all other issues involving sex, reproduction, STDs, periods, everything you can think of during "Girl's Camp" while on vacation between 4th and 5th grade - and did it the way I wanted to do - from a Christian point of view (go ahead, flame away!). Fortunately, she had not been given wrong information as I had at the same age. I covered everything, thought I had done a great job, and really thought at the time I could put off abortion for the time being. Wrong. It was presented the way the school wanted to present it without any warning and my daughter came home horrified.

Abortion is presented so "factually and neutrally in tone" that it sounds a bit like having a hang nail removed. I am pro choice yet I was still appalled at how clinically the topic was discussed ... not to mention I think the discussion could really wait until age 14 or so. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:Please name for me any school that supposedly "taught" kids about anal sex in elementary school. I remain skeptical until someone names a name.

Burgundy Farm uses at school and recommends parents use at home the book It's Perfectly Normal that covers pretty much every detail related to sexual development and practices. During sex education discussions, the teacher was very clear to parents that all questions raised by children will be addressed and children are allowed to submit questions anonymously. All of this is very nice and warm and accepting and parents are pleased that their children's questions will be answered in a supportive environment ... until they find out some of the specific questions "asked" in the anonymous question box. It takes just a few "wise boys" to mix things up for their own entertainment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only ones who want young kids exposed to homosexuality are the gays themselves. In many cultures in the course of human history, homosexual activity has been considered unnatural, abnormal, and sinful. There are many people in the US today who agree, and that will never change despite the pathetic attempts by the pro-gay crowd to gain acceptance.

I must be gay, then. All my life I've thought I was straight. Thank you, PP, for clearing up this error for me.

I do believe that some activists have a recruitment agenda.

Of course they have to recruit! I mean, it's not like people were born gay!

No, wait...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents no longer have a say on what their children are taught nor when that information is introduced. But it is okay, because schools have selected materials that are factual both in content and in tone. If your kindergartner somehow misses school the day of the LGBT celebration, then that child will be well on the way to being viewed as ignorant and intolerant by all the other liberal parents. Tolerance is great as long as we all agree what we are supposed to be tolerant about ... there is no tolerance whatsoever for more traditional views or preserving the innocence of childhood for a few more years. I am a freak for not wishing my child to be introduced to the idea of anal sex (regardless of the genders involved) at the tender age of 9.

I agree with this. Because of unchecked homophobic slurs during playground at my son's Catholic school I found myself explaining anal sex in third grade long before I had planned to even get to - uh - shall we call it "traditional" sex? Totally backwards.

OK, so you sent your child to a school where other children said nasty words on the playground, which means that you had to explain anal sex to your child before you were even ready to explain PIV sex, and that is the school's fault because -- well, why is it the school's fault?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only ones who want young kids exposed to homosexuality are the gays themselves. In many cultures in the course of human history, homosexual activity has been considered unnatural, abnormal, and sinful. There are many people in the US today who agree, and that will never change despite the pathetic attempts by the pro-gay crowd to gain acceptance.

I must be gay, then. All my life I've thought I was straight. Thank you, PP, for clearing up this error for me.

I do believe that some activists have a recruitment agenda.

Potomac school hands out awards and celebrates kids that "come out" at assemblies. The McLean School celebrates kids that come out and post their photos on the walls of the school. I can tell you from personal experience that it can be very confusing for a kid, especially one with ADHD or other SNs, and have too many messages assaulting their brain to also get this message as well and not know what to do with it.

Same goes for any elementary school that supposedly "hands out awards" for students coming out. I'm ready to call BS, but I'm willing to listen of you'll name a school doing that.

Please name for me any school that supposedly "taught" kids about anal sex in elementary school. I remain skeptical until someone names a name.

Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe there are still Neanderthals who think they can keep their kids from turning gay just by never telling them gay exists.

And what is with not wanting kids exposed to something that might "confuse" them? Do you feel the same way about verb tenses or algebra? Why exactly do you send your kids to school at all?

It's quite different. When your your child hasn't even been exposed to conventional thoughts on sex, isn't close to puberty and their school is "celebrating" gay coming out - and giving awards to those kids who "come out" - they do get confused. They want the award too! And some of those who "come out" and then wish they were back in or were never gay to begin with still get the taunts from the other kids. Really, the p.c. pendulum has swung out to the left too far on this one. I'm the first to support my gay friends, but let's let kids be kids for awhile longer and not let our p.c. beliefs mess up their childhoods. This issue needs to be dealt with in the home and by modeling by the parents. There is far too much academic subject matter that needs to be covered in order to get into a good college nowadays - why do we have to devote a week to this issue every year? It's already accepted everywhere else in the culture and you can't miss it on television. Why must schools think this is worth devoting a week to? If so, why not normative sex week?

Anonymous wrote:Parents no longer have a say on what their children are taught nor when that information is introduced. But it is okay, because schools have selected materials that are factual both in content and in tone. If your kindergartner somehow misses school the day of the LGBT celebration, then that child will be well on the way to being viewed as ignorant and intolerant by all the other liberal parents. Tolerance is great as long as we all agree what we are supposed to be tolerant about ... there is no tolerance whatsoever for more traditional views or preserving the innocence of childhood for a few more years. I am a freak for not wishing my child to be introduced to the idea of anal sex (regardless of the genders involved) at the tender age of 9.

I agree with this. Because of unchecked homophobic slurs during playground at my son's Catholic school I found myself explaining anal sex in third grade long before I had planned to even get to - uh - shall we call it "traditional" sex? Totally backwards.

Anonymous wrote:LOL. So a group of 4th grade boys have a teacher-led discussion about anal sex and your child happens to be out for a "doctor's appointment" that afternoon. When he returns to school, don't you think that the other 4th grade boys are going to clue him in on what he missed?!!! And this is not a private v. public school discussion ... not much difference.

When we selected our child's school, he was barely 4 years old ... we compared schools across many criteria, but the content of sex education classes honestly never crossed our minds. I'm not so worked up about it that I would change schools ... but I do think this DCUM discussion is a good introduction to parents just starting to consider schools as to what might be in their future.

But often you don't know what your private is going to do or when. Our liberal SN private (so very few options for selection) did not tell us that the health lesson on abortion was coming up. I had covered all other issues involving sex, reproduction, STDs, periods, everything you can think of during "Girl's Camp" while on vacation between 4th and 5th grade - and did it the way I wanted to do - from a Christian point of view (go ahead, flame away!). Fortunately, she had not been given wrong information as I had at the same age. I covered everything, thought I had done a great job, and really thought at the time I could put off abortion for the time being. Wrong. It was presented the way the school wanted to present it without any warning and my daughter came home horrified.

Anonymous wrote:Your happy little scenario is centered around a child asking a question ... [b]not the teacher settling the group down for circle time so that the number and gender of parents can be discussed because the calendar says it is Pride Month. Now then, back to sounding out words and skip counting and thinking about Halloween.[b]

Does this happen at your school?