*** Homeschool List ***

[TNKBELL]

Laceemouse...It is a wonderful feeling to know in your heart your doing the right thing for your family. God bless you and sounds like you are all set!!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Is it me or did this thread get moved from the CB or am I just seeing things?

I think I posted before--so here I am again.

Homeschooling DD5(on Saturday!!!). Kindergarten. I will probably start August 1st--or sooner if I get myself in gear to order the rest of her stuff.

We are doing Classical Curriculum and using suggsetions from Laura Berquists' book "designing your own classical curriculum". I switched out the math and using Math-U-See and switched out the phonics for Scaredy Cat Phonics.

Jennz--are reasons are many but include: freedom to travel, freedom to custom design our girls curriculum to their interests, religion, save money from private school to use instead on extra-curriculars, primary influence can be us instead of children of questionable rearing (clothing styles, language/manners, et cetera).

I can search my homeschool group e-mails--they sent out a funny list of outrageous--yet true statements people have said to homeschoolers. So if you need convincing--some of these might do so in a funny sort of way .

This was to someone in my group....

The principal of my daughter's former public grade school voiced her concern over my decision to withdraw her from their ineffectual program, "My main objection to you homeschooling your daughter is that she won't learn socialization." Then when I objected to the isolation of the Special Ed class they wanted to put her in, she replied, "Well, the main idea is to educate them. They don't have time to socialize at school."

The rest from a publication:

> The Dumbest Thing You've Ever Heard about Home Schooling
>
> The Dumbest Thing YOU Ever Heard, Part 1 By Mike Farris
> My recent column requesting "dumb statements" people had made
> regarding home schooling yielded a bumper crop of lols (laugh out
> loud) and a few rofls rolling on the floor laughing). I got a
> great number of wonderful entries -- far too many to publish.
> Today's column is the first of two. Here are half of the top
> entries, this week's winners, and my comments interspersed. Here
> come the comments.
>
> From Kara Becker:
> Our realtor learned we were home schooling. She commented about
> the lack of social development that would result, but tried to
still
> be positive by adding, "Even though they couldn't be realtors,
thank
> goodness that there are lot of jobs out there which don't require
> people skills."
> Mike: Thank you, Dale Carnegie (author of "How to Win Friends and
> Influence People").
>
> From the Austin family:
> A stranger said, "Don't you think your children are being deprived
of
> the thrill of buying school supplies at Wal-Mart when everyone else
> does?"
>
> From Angela Blackman:
> A friend who is a paralegal at a very busy law firm said, "How can
> you ever think you can keep up with having four kids at home?
> Don't they just run you off your feet? I'd be exhausted by the end
> of the day."
> Mike: It is a proven fact that assisting two lawyers is the
> equivalent of having six kids or else tending a dozen snakes --
> depending on the age of the lawyer.
>
> From Pamela Minerd:
> My father asked, "Will I have to bail you out of jail for this?"
>
> From MDT:
> My neighbor was picking my brain about getting the public school to
> challenge her first grader. She was concerned because my first
> grader was already reading while her son of the same age was just
> learning the sounds of letters. Nonetheless she challenged my
home
> schooling saying my son would still miss out. "It's important for
> him socially too. He needs to be offered drugs so he can turn
them
> down."
>
> From Marci Zinn:
> A family member said, "You are just doing this for yourself so you
> won't have to buy the kids any school clothes."
> Mike: Working 8+ hours a day for 12+ years just smacks of
selfishness
> if you ask me.
>
> From MDT:
> A friend asked, "Do you use books?"
>
> From Rose Mary Coffey:
> When my husband told his mother that we were going to home school,
> she replied, "What makes Rose Mary think she has the right to teach
> my grandchildren?"
> Mike: It's in the same clause of the Constitution which gives
> grandmas the right to feed cookies and candy to the grandkids an
> hour before being sent home for dinner.
>
> From the Karoutsos Family:
> My six year old son was very fidgety in the dentist's chair.
> Afterwards the dentist spoke to me and told me of his fidgetiness
> and said, "Your son did not sit still. It is possibly due to the
> fact that you home school him."
> Mike: I guess he thought that dentistry was so boring he would
branch
> out into child psychology.
>
> From Pam Hynes:
> I told an old friend from high school how my son was able to
progress
> in each subject at his own rate. She earnestly replied, "What if
he
> learns it all before he finishes high school?"
>
> From the Austin family:
> A female public school teacher said, "Your son will turn out to be
> much too feminine or gay because you home school him. Being with
> his mother so much is not good for boys."
> Mike: I guess that spending ages 5 through 12 with female public
> school teachers would be better.
>
> From Laurie Winkelmann:
> I took my daughter to a podiatrist who specialized in treating
> plantar warts. I asked how children contracted these warts. He
> told me that they often come from locker rooms or swimming pools.
> When I told him that since we home school it wouldn't be a locker
> room, but we do take a swimming class, he replied, "Yup, home
> schooling, that certainly explains it."
> Mike: Sounds like someone needs to breath a little fresh air between
> foot examinations.
>
> THIS WEEK'S WINNER
>
> From Dawn Howey:
> A Christian friend, "God didn't homeschool Jesus, He sent Him away
> to school."
> Mike: I think the friend needs to be sent away to Sunday School.
>
> The Dumbest Thing YOU Ever Heard, Part 2
>
> From Susan Shay:
> "Won't they miss out on learning a lot of important stuff? I mean,
> how will they ever learn to stand in line?" (Similar statements
> were made to Gita Schmitz and Kathi Kearney. All three get tapes.)
> Mike: Thank goodness for the rigorous standards of Goals 2000.
>
> From Tracy Pina:
> An acquaintance said, "Every kid has to get beat up a few times in
> public school or they won't be able to cope in the real world."
> Mike: Sticks and stones will break my bones or else I won't be well
> rounded.
>
> From Clarence and Barbara Hawkins:
> A home school family in our town took their school days off in the
> middle of the week to match the father's job schedule. Some nosey
> neighbors had the family investigated for home schooling on
Saturday!
> Mike: Reminds me of the social services case I had in Alabama where
a
> mother was hotlined for allowing her children to read books in the
> back of the van while she drove around town.
>
> From MDT:
> A friend said, "MY child is being a light in a dark place, but I
> guess SOME children are not able to do that."
> Mike: With that much condescension that lady probably fogs up her
> own glasses.
>
> From Michelle Nichols:
> A woman asked a home school friend of mine, "If you don't send your
> children to school, who is going to teach them their morals?"
> Mike: Yeah, like the moral necessity of beating up other kids on
the
> playground if we are to believe another comment we read.
>
> From Barb Palmer:
> Our girls' friends from the neighborhood ask, "If you are home
> schooled, who teaches you?"
>
> From the Austin family:
> A friend said, "Won't your children miss the experience of the goods
> and bads of dating people from other cultural and religious
> backgrounds?"
>
> From Char Brady:
> A mother from my daughter's former public school class said, "If you
> were more involved in your child's education, then you wouldn't
have
> to home school."
>
> From MDT:
> An acquaintance asked, "How can you possibly give them enough
> one-on-one time?"
> Mike (stolen from MDT): I guess the kids would get more one-on-one
> time in a classroom of 30.
>
> From "Ozchick":
> A friend asked me what we were going to do during a public school
> snow day. I replied that we were going ahead with school. The
friend
> replied, "That's silly. Why make your kids work since no one will
be
> around to grade their papers?" Not to be outdone, that same friend
> heard me describe how I was teaching my children baking from the
> Colonial period. A recent project was making a cake from
> scratch. She replied, "Where can I buy a box of scratch,
> I've never heard of it?"
>
> From Nancy Persaud
> (although this comment is not within the rules of the contest as
> Nancy recognized, it is too good to pass up): From a 5th grade
> geography textbook, "Maps are smaller than the areas they
represent."
>
> From Dana Estes:
> A friend said, "I could NEVER home school my children. I can't
> imagine spending that much time with them." She is a public
school
> teacher.
>
> AND THIS WEEK'S WINNER:
>
> From Cherie Oliver:
> My daughter was born three months early and had severe brain damage.
> We were told to put her in a home and forget about her. At the
age
> of three the state said that "special" children needed to be sent
to
> the public school system so that they could get the classes they
> needed. When I told them I was going to home school my daughter,
> the school worker came unglued. She said, "But the state can make
> her into a better, more dependent entity." My daughter is now a
> first grader who reads, writes, and does all the other first grader
> things. She is the most independent six year-old I know.
> Mike: Incredible. Truly incredible.

 

[ptrbryant]

Hi, TNKBELL!

We just finished our 4th year of homeschooling...DS9 will be starting 4th grade this August. I'd love to exchange ideas with other homeschool dis'ers!

Karla B.

 

[momofdbsdc]

Count us in!!! We've been homeschooling for almost 7 years. I would love to hear and share new ideas!!!

 

[Kewz1]

Lisa Loves Pooh --

That list was hysterical! Thanks for sharing! I'm going to make my children practice how to stand in line right now...

Kristen

 

[rcpae]

Just finished our 6th year homeschooling here in Ohio. I have three daughters ages; 8, 9, and 11. They have all been homeschooled since Kindergarten.

Good Luck to all in your childrens education!

 

[Good Ol Gal]

add us to the list

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Count me in...I am homeschooling 2 sets of twins! Need all the support I can muster!

 

[jimmytammy]

We are going into our 4th year of Homeschooling DD12 and DS10. We love it! Count us in.

 

[clori]

I'm interested in learning more. I'm still in the need to learn stage. DD graduates preschool tonight. She is already reading fluently on a second grade level. knows how to add etc. She also has alopecia so I'm worried about her getting teased. She is scheduled to start public kindergarten in September. We have decided to try it and see how it goes but are not ruling out homeschooling. At mimimum we will supplement her education as needed/desired. Unfortunately I do worry about socialization since there isn't a big homeschool community where I live and I don't have a car but rely on public transportation while dh is at work.

 

[Kerlynne]

TNKBELL,
Have you heard anything back from the webmasters, whether we can get a Homeschoolers/Disney thread opened up?

Sending some pixie dust and educated thoughts out there, hoping this comes through!

Kerri

 

[TNKBELL]

I haven't heard back from the webmasters yet. Does anyone know how long that takes?

 

[TNKBELL]

Clori....I totally understand your concerns!! Here is a quote from Jessie Wise of "The Well-Trained Mind"....."According to the dictionary, "socialization is the process by which a human being, beginning in infancy, acquires the habits, beliefs, and accumulated knowledge of his society."In other words, you're being socialized when you learn habits, acquire beliefs, learn about the society around you, develop character traits, and become competent in the skills you need to function properly in society. Who teaches all of this? Agents of socialization include the family(both immediate and extended) the religious community,neighborhoods,tutors and mentors,the media(T.V., radio,films, books, magazines all tell the child what is expected of him, for better or worse), clubs(social or academic), the arts (both in observation and participation), travel, jobs, civic participation. And formal schooling in an institution. Taking the child out of school doesn't mean that you're going to remove him from the other "agents of socialization" that surround him. Furthermore, think about the type of socialiaztion that takes place in school. The child learns how to function in a specific environment, one where he's surrounded by thirty children his own age. This is a very specific type of socialization, one that may not prove particularly useful. When, during the course of his life, will he find himself in this kind of context? Not in work or family life or in his hobbies. The classroom places the child in a peer dominated situation that he'll probably not experience again. And this type of socialization may be damaging. Thirty years ago, Cornell Professor of Child Developement Urie Bronfenbrenner warned that the "socially-isolated, age-graded peer group" created a damaging dependency in which middle-school students relied on thier classsmates for approval, direction, and affection. He warned that if parents, other adults, and older children continued to be absent from the active daily life of younger children, we could expect, "alienation, indifference, antagonism, and violence on the part of the younger generation." Peer dependance is dangerous. When a child is desperate to fit in- to receive acceptance form those who surround him all day, every day-he may defy your rules, go against his own conscience, or even break the law. We live in an age in which people think a great deal about peers, talk about them constantly, and act as if a child's existence will be meaningless if he isn't accepted by his peer group. But the socialization that best prepares a child for the real world can't take place when a child is closed up in a classroom or always with his peer group. It happens when the child is living with people who vary widely in age, personality, background, and circumstance. The antidote for peer-centered socialization is to make the family the basic unit for socialization-the center of the child's experience. The family should be the place where real things happen, where there is a true interest in each other, acceptance, patience, and peace, as far as is possible." The above quote from her book continues and makes several more points about socialization. I find "The Well-Trained Mind" to be an excellent homeschool resource. I hope this helps you!!

 

[Anewman]

Hmmm...

Maybe if there are enough home schooling threads, the admins will create a forum for it.

hint hint.

 

[crl]

We'd love to know more. My DD is 2 and I'm looking into finding out what I can start with her. I just can't imagine sending her to public schools in a city.

I love the funny coments post! Thanks!

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

I would like to be on the list also. We haven't made the jump (yet), but I'm getting closer to the edge.

 

[meandtheguys2]

Hmmm...

Maybe if there are enough home schooling threads, the admins will create a forum for it.

hint hint.

Or better yet, remind the Powers That Be that they could immediately remove all of the gnarly HS arguments to the HS Board.

Homeschooler for 6 years now. Last little guy heading into first grade this year!

 

[crazymomof4]

Three years of homeschooling under my belt now............but always interested in sharing ideas!

 

[Lora]

Another homeschooler here!! We're just finishing our 5th year. We use Sonlight and frequent their forums. It looks like some of us are taking advantage of our flexibility and visiting WDW this fall.

 

[Kewz1]

All you Sonlight users that post on their forum -- do you have the same screen name?

I'm "Kewz1" here and there!

Kristen