Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:She is a nutso homeschooler why do you give a f***?
You are clearly so much more cultured and sophisticated than those dreadful homeschoolers, such as Thomas Edison and Theodore Roosevelt!
Psst. We are in the years 2000.
You know, you're right. But while many presidents, Supreme Court justices, artists, inventors, athletes, activists, military leaders and businessmen have homeschooled or self-taught BEFORE our current education system came to be, many have continued to do so. Their names might not be recognizable by historians yet, but that doesn't mean they are complete unknowns, either:
Erik Demaine (youngest professor hired by MIT)
Ben Bolger (professor at William and Mary)
Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia)
Christopher Paolini (author of Inheritance series)
Venus and Serena Williams (tennis)
Dakota Fanning (actress)
Jason Taylor (pro football)
Sandra Day O'Connor (first female Supreme Court justice)
Lila Rose (founder of Live Action)
That's a tiny sampling. Famoushomeschoolers.net has a more thorough list.
"Homeschooling" does not need to mean "school at home from kindergarten through 12th grade.". It can mean unschooling, tutoring, co-ops, taking time off, etc. It just means an alternative to institutional, lockstep school.
During my 15 (so far) years of homeschooling, I have both relaxed more and become more passionate. Yes, you'll see us out and about, living life. So what? Life is learning, the universe is our classroom, etc.
Hopefully, you'll never see my kids act like spoiled brats, and I would not pull a stunt like OP's friend. But I have no doubt I'll be judged negatively by the majority of DCUMers simply because we march to a different educational tune.
So be it. My oldest is taking college classes as a 10th grader because she self-taught to a 5 on her AP exam as a 9th grader. But to me, if I have a child who struggles, that's ok. If I do my job as a parent, my children will grow up loving life, loving learning, and on fire to do whatever they are called to do according to their unique gifts. All the things that are SO important in institutional schools are not even on their radar, and I cherish the freedom.
"The revolutionaries will be homeschooled."
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:She is a nutso homeschooler why do you give a f***?
You are clearly so much more cultured and sophisticated than those dreadful homeschoolers, such as Thomas Edison and Theodore Roosevelt!
Psst. We are in the years 2000.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just want to defend the homeschooling issue - I homeschool and we go until mid-June and start after Labor Day. Also, we see nothing wrong with doing all our schooling from 7-11am some days or 4-8pm other days. There's nothing wrong with what the OP's friend did in terms of taking her DD somewhere during traditional school hours.
Really? 4 hours of schooling a day? School lasts about 6 3/4 hours. Even if you factor in the 3/4 hours for lunch and recess, that's still 10 hours of less instruction per week.
Anonymous wrote:My reply to her email:
"I'm sorry you feel that way Suzy. Janie was welcome to play in our playroom. My girls value their privacy, therefore, we don't allow other people in their rooms without their permission. When we were leaving for the mall your daughter expressed disappointment in going, so I thought it was best that we reschedule for a day when we can both be child free. I had a great day with you and look forward to going out with you again."
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just want to defend the homeschooling issue - I homeschool and we go until mid-June and start after Labor Day. Also, we see nothing wrong with doing all our schooling from 7-11am some days or 4-8pm other days. There's nothing wrong with what the OP's friend did in terms of taking her DD somewhere during traditional school hours.
Really? 4 hours of schooling a day? School lasts about 6 3/4 hours. Even if you factor in the 3/4 hours for lunch and recess, that's still 10 hours of less instruction per week.
Anonymous wrote:I just want to defend the homeschooling issue - I homeschool and we go until mid-June and start after Labor Day. Also, we see nothing wrong with doing all our schooling from 7-11am some days or 4-8pm other days. There's nothing wrong with what the OP's friend did in terms of taking her DD somewhere during traditional school hours.
Anonymous wrote:
I'm also curious why she would ask when you would be "kid-free" when she wasn't going to be? And why can't she tell her kid "tough noogies, you stay home."
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:.
What do you disagree with? Because I agree with what you're saying. I think the friend's mom sounds kind of terrible. But I'm just picturing a kid sitting there while grownups drink coffee and talk, feeling bored, and I am remembering myself at that age and maybe I'd have said Hey can I go play in Carrie's room? Or whatever. I'm NOT disagreeing that the child and her mom both acted kind of poorly, but I do think maybe OP could have spared more kindness to a little girl who was bored and probably should be in school. (BTW, not anti-homeschool at all, I just think this girl sounded super bored, and if you're making the commitment to homeschool, you probably need to have some strategies in place to make sure the child has things to do - just like you would do on summer vacation).
So OP, not blaming you, just pointing out that maybe you could have done more for the little girl. You shouldn't have HAD to, but it isn't really her fault her mom's a dope!
Ah, I do see your point. It's not the child's fault as much as her mom's. True, but this isn't really OP's responsibility and I don't think she should feel guilty that mother and DD were hurt and upset that things didn't go off the way they wanted. I feel that the daughter shouldn't have been there to begin with.
Anonymous wrote:OP, I would let a child play in my kids' rooms. They only thing that would scare me is not being able to watch the child and they get into some trouble (choking or something). I might have explained it that way.