Friday, January 16, 2009
Why Do I Homeschool?
Because of people like Carolyn Hileman, "You Had Better Get Your Shovel The Master Will Be Coming Back Soon". My family left the public school system so we wouldn't have to deal with people like her.
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I can certainly say that she done needs a few grammer lessons. I thought for a moment I was reading one of those overlong comments at the end of an AOL story where people say all sorts of stupid and illeducated things. (One of my blog friends says that the people who leave those comments are just doing that while they wait for their crack to cook.) But no.
ReplyDeleteI'm not getting where all her anger is coming from and where death and shovels fit into the mix. I'm really not.
I didn't get it either. It was a very irrational rant.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I know a lot of public school parents that are just as irrational. Don't get me wrong the majority of public school parents are sane rational adults, but those few that aren't ............are way to many. And they seem to get the most attention as they complain the loudest when something doesn't suit them.
Well, I've been a public school parent for 11 years straight now. I probably will remain so for at least another five years until my autistic son G graduates from high school.
ReplyDeleteI can't say that I was always wanting to homeschool. I can't say that I was always aware of some of the freedom issues, etc. I was more the it's great for you but I don't have that patience kind of person... until the scale tipped for me personally so that it takes wayyyy less patience to keep Elf home than send him and keep fighting for his rights to a FAPE. And I've discovered I love homeschooling. :]
I sure, sure hope not to come across too many parents like this.
I guess if I knew her personally, I'd have to start out by saying she's right that some of these parents are abandoning public schools. YES, you get less negotiating power when that happens.
So what are you doing about it? As long as people have choices they're going to do this thing called "making choices." Vilifying hs parents doesn't really make me want to pop the other four kids into public schools tomorrow.
I'm personally opting my older children out of certain health topics I find immoral and out of projects like "write a prayer to the sun-god Ra" or "construct an altar for the Day of the dead" or whatever. Often the teachers don't fully realize that they're overstepping the bounds on these assignments and/or the other Christian parents aren't involved and don't realize this stuff is even going on. And even then, I'm sure some stuff has slipped by without my knowing it.
How involved are moms like this to even protect the rights they DO have? Because I'll tell ya, it actually does take a lot of effort to do that.
Less effort to write an angry essay than to construct a friendly letter to a teacher because yet AGAIN your child has been assigned something that violates the First Commandment.
OK, soapbox rant done. :]
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ReplyDeleteJust a note on abandonment - My mother never abandoned public school. She kept my siblings and I in it all the way through and every step of the way was a fight, mostly for my brothers. She even ran for the school board.
ReplyDeleteWhat difference did she make?
None.
Because the school system is designed to absorb or deflect that kind of work and struggle without any lasting change to itself.
So who are the people who are TRULY challenging the system and forging the way for real and lasting change? Those of us who abandon it. Those of us who send our kids to private schools or homeschool and show everyone else that there are other effective models of education and childhood.
Who are the ones who truly give up the hope of changing education and public schools? Those who recognize all it's failings and yet can't divorce themselves from the sentimental attachment to it long enough to recognize where and how real change is happening.
It won't be people like the author of the linked article who change public education. It will be those like us.