Divisive Issues & Homeschool Forums

Sixathome took offense when an inclusive homeschool group locked Lioness' problems with DHS on their forum, Sixathome outlined her complaint in her post Responsibility and a Home School Forum.

I want to offer these thoughts. A Homeschool Groups first responsibility is to the Group. Topics that become divisive can destroy a group. This was such a topic and Natalie acted responsibly when she locked the topic. This in no way prevents members from visiting Lioness' blog to offer support and sympathy, or sharing Lioness' story on their own blog.

Secondly as horrific as what Lioness' family is going through, it isn't really a homeschooling issue. Lioness herself said that she was reported for neglect. That is what DHS is investigating. Lioness would be facing the same nightmare even if her children attended public school.  

Thirdly this is a legal issue and is beyond the scope of PEAK's capabilities to help. Having our members sitting around wringing their hands helps no one. Natalie and others  pointed Lioness to resources that could help her. It is up to Lioness to make use of them.

Should Mississippi homeschoolers be worried? I think not. This issue is very complex and has little to do with homeschooling.

When Hell Came to Our Home

This is so scary. Please go by Lioness' blog and read her post When Hell Came to Our Home Mega Post and if there is any way you can help.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Celebrating Autumn CoH.

1 Ohio school, 4 bullied teens dead at own hand

1 Ohio school, 4 bullied teens dead at own hand - Nation Wire - SunHerald.com

Barbara Coloroso, a national anti-bullying expert, says the school is allowing a "culture of mean" to thrive, and school officials should be held responsible for the suicides - along with the bullies.

Tom Stein ask What do we do with home-schoolers?

I question why Tom Stein thinks we need a nanny state in order to educate our children. Does he also think the state should regulate what we feed our families. I mean obesity is a real problem especially in the South. It leads to all sorts of medical consequences that impact society but do we really want the government telling us what to eat? The government with all it's public school regulations hasn't done a bang up job of educating the children entrusted to their care, so why would anyone think it would be a good idea for them to regulate homeschoolers

And why is Tom Stein suddenly concerned about homeschoolers, because public schools have increased their graduation rates.

The subject of the week is home-schooling. More and more people in Richmond are doing this -- or claiming to do this. One result? Our graduation rate is improving, for when a student leaves the district for home-schooling, the departure does not count against the rate. Does this explain the whole increase? Maybe not. But it sure helps.

Plenty of Textbooks for Secular Homeschoolers

It was with dismay I read Homeschool Textbooks aren’t Designed for Secular Families, did Keith bother looking for secular textbooks or did he just read that poorly written AP article and decide that he wouldn't be able to find any secular textbooks so why bother?  

I don’t have a problem with what public schools teach, just how they teach it.  But, it’s frustrating that I can find quality instruction in every subject except science.

As a secular homeschooler I had no trouble finding secular textbooks.

Amsco School Publications, they do sell directly to homeschoolers.
We used
High School
The Living Environment Biology by Rick Hallman review here
Marine Science by Thomas F. Greene review here

Pearson
Conceptual Physical Science -Hewitt

For Elementary and Junior High I used
Prentice Hall

If you do not wish to buy directly from the publisher these textbooks can also be found at The HomeSchool SuperCenter , Amazon.com and various other bookstores.

And Keith preputates the same old HSLDA lie

Most people who homeschool do it for religious reasons.  And most of those people want their kids to have a Christian based curriculum.

This simply isn't TRUE! The Tapestry of Homeschool Survey Report paints a far different picture of homeschoolers.

• 90% of the respondents were married, 4% were single, a little over 3% were in domestic partnerships.
• 80% were homeschooling for non-religious reasons.

The Tapestry of Homeschooling Survey Report was conducted by Learning is for Everyone.

Book Review & CoH

The Male Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D. ~ A very interesting read that explains why boys and men behave the way they do. There is actually a hormone that promotes monogamy.

I have an entry in this weeks CoH. Look under Miscellaneous and you'll find it at the very end of the CoH, if you drop by Home Grown Mommy. The author welcomed her fifth child into the family through a peaceful and perfect home birth September 27th and still made the time to host this weeks carnival.

Book Review ~ Lost Christianities by Bart D. Ehrman

Lost Christianities

by Bart D. Ehrman

I feel I have learned a lot from this book. You hear the term heresy and heretic thrown around frequently, but do you actually know what it means? heresy literally means choice and a heretic is someone who willfully chooses not to believe the right things, as defined by those with the power to decide what is right and wrong. Orthodox means those who hold the right beliefs.

For years Eusebius' history of the early Christian Church went unquestioned. Then discoveries of additional ancient books, uncovered by trained archaeologist looking for them and by Bedouins who came across them by chance prompted a re-evaluation of his work. The old saw about the victor writing history proved true. Of course at this point many people who can't stand for their long cherished beliefs to be challenged start screaming that they are forgeries, what they are less willing to admit is that some of the books that made it into the Bible were also forgeries.

Docetism - denied the reality of Christ's suffering and death. There were two camps of docetics. One camp held that Jesus was never flesh, therefore could not feel pain. The other camp believed that Jesus (who was human) was possessed by Christ (who was the son of God), and that Christ left Jesus on the cross.

Evidence suggest that forged passages were inserted into Corinthians, diminishing the role of women in the early Christian church. The lost scriptures of Paul gave women freedom to decide what to do with their own bodies. Paul's main convert Thecla committed herself to his gospel of abstinence and followed him around preaching the gospel.

Some early Christian churches even believed that Thomas was Jesus' identical twin brother.

• Jesus
• Who were the Disciples of Jesus?
• From Jesus to Christ
• The Gospel of Thomas

Another valid point Ehrman makes is that mistakes were often made by the scribes copying the original text. Then the text with the mistakes was copied and the scribes copying it made their own mistakes, and so on and so forth. If you have ever played the game telephone you know exactly what he is talking about. So new discoveries have allowed scholars to compare text and identify some of the changes that were made to our scriptures.

Ebionites-believed you had to keep the Jewish laws to be saved. They did not belief in the Virgin birth and were vegetarians.

Marcionites- were named after a second century evangelist/theologian, Marcion. They rejected the Jewish God, scriptures and customs. They believed the God of the Jews made the world, then the God of Jesus came into it when Jesus himself appeared, to save people from the vengeful God of the Jews.

Gnois is the Greek word for knowledge. Gnostics are the ones who know, some Gnostics believed the human body should be denied all pleasure. John Calvin anyone?

Montanist believed a Christian should not remarry after the death of a spouse and they were very fond of martyr's. Hmmmmmmmmm jihad anyone???

Origen believed that God created Christ and that Christ was equal with God by the transference of God's being; ultimately Christ is subordinate to God

Serious concerns about the historical accuracy of the Bible began to appear during the Enlightenment. Discrepancies between the Gospels were studied. The Christian community in Rome was large and affluent allowing them to exert influence over other Christian communities; thus Roman Christianity became the dominant form of Christianity and all other Christians were labeled heretics.

In the modern world most non-fundamentalist Christian Churches agree that Genesis contains mythical and legendary accounts. Gnostic Christians evidently took a similar approach to their own myths. The proto-orthodox Christians insisted on a literal interpretation of the text while applying figurative interpretations when it suited their own purposes. Proto-orthodox Christians lied about other Christian sects in order to advance their beliefs.

Marcion claimed that the writings of Paul and the gospel of Luke had been altered by Jewish sympathizers. As we do not have the "originals" of any of the books that came to be included in the New Testament or indeed of any Christian book from antiquity we can not truly say what the original scriptures had to say. What we have are copies of copies hundreds of years removed from the originals.

Therefore we can not know that the text was not changed significantly before the New Testament came to be reproduced in large quantities. Most surviving copies were made during the Middle Ages, many of them thousand of years after Paul and his companions had died. Bible scholars know that no two copies agree in all their wording. There can be only one reason for this, the scribes that copied the text changed them. There are more differences among the manuscripts that we have then there are words in the New Testament.

Scriptures referring to Joseph as Jesus' Father were altered. For example in the oldest surviving witnesses to Luke's Gospel Luke 3:22 should read "You are my son, today I have begotten you". Lending support to those who believed Jesus was the biological son of Joseph and Mary adopted by God.

Most of the books of the New Testament were written in the first century of the common era.

The first four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) were all written anonymously, by well educated Greek speaking, Christians during the second half of the first century. In the second century proto-orthodox Christians attributed these books to apostles. Today bible scholars believe that Luke was written by one of Paul's companions.

The attitude of tolerance (for others religions) was not shared by the proto-orthodox Christians.

Brief Review of God's Problem by Bart D. Ehrman
God's Problem by Bart D. Ehrman - intellectually challenging and an enjoyable read. Final message " We need to live life to its fullest and help others as well to enjoy the fruits of the land."

Warnings for Homeschoolers Does Not Apply to All Homeschoolers

Ken over at Bible, Math, Politics and More! is writing a group of post on Warnings for Homeschoolers he starts with Warnings for Homeschoolers: Introduction. A better title would have been WARNINGS FOR FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIAN HOMESCHOOLERS as this is the Homeschool Group he is addressing. When these Fundamentalist Christian Bloggers write post like this they give non-homeschoolers the impression that we are ALL LIKE THIS. Nothing could be further from the truth. The introduction isn't to bad actually as he does encourage parents to research homeschooling before embarking on it.

On the other hand Warnings for Homeschoolers: Making the Decision is dreadful.

Here is what I believe is the key question around which the decision to homeschool centers:

• What is, in the will of God, the best option for providing quality Christian education to my children?

"Quality," in line with a post I wrote several weeks ago, implies that the education is both thoroughly Christian (i.e., from a Christian, Bible-based worldview) and academically challenging.

Personally I think a lot more should factor into your decision.

• Can your family afford to homeschool.
• Do you enjoy learning and can you convey that enthusiasm to your children/students.
• Are you willing to research and teach new scientific evidence and new historical evidence that overturns your cherished beliefs.
• Do you embrace learning about new cultures and beliefs and exploring the world.

And how anyone can provide a decent education while insisting that everything be taught from a thoroughly Christian Bible-based worldview is beyond me.

• Only 8 of the 27 books of the New Testament were actually written by the authors to whom they're attributed. Others are likely forgeries.
  
• The gospels provide remarkably divergent portrayals of Jesus.
  
• The message of the Apostle Paul and the message of gospel writer Matthew are completely at odds over the question of whether a follower of Jesus also had to observe the Jewish law.
  
• The Nicene Creed and the Trinity were constructs of the later church and are not found in the pages of the Bible.
  
• Traditional doctrines such as the suffering Messiah, the divinity of Christ, and the notion of heaven and hell are not based on the teachings of the historical Jesus.
  
• The commonly told story of Jesus -- his birth, death, and resurrection is actually a composite of four vastly different gospel narratives.

  ~Professor Bart D. Ehrman

Basing the education of your children and your world view on a book that is riddled with inconsistencies and outright forgeries seems extremely foolish.

Many Homeschoolers use secular materials to educate their children, and are NOT interested in indoctrinating their children with a thoroughly Christian Bible-based worldview. Most homeschoolers make it a point to educate themselves on the newest scientific and historical findings. Ken does not speak for all homeschoolers and he should not pretend to do so.

Help Fight Cancer Support LIVESTRONG DAY

Vist WE LIVESTRONG TODAY Blog to view more bloggers who are participating in LIVESTRONG Day.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Visit this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling. I hate to admit it but we never had one room dedicated to schooling. We just worked it whatever room of the house best suited the lesson and wherever we were comfortable. This time of year the schoolroom was often outdoors so we could enjoy the fall weather.

Let's go Shopping

Where do your kids do their school work?

CSN Stores has unique coffee tables that would be perfect in your schoolroom. With over 200 online stores CSN Stores is sure to have something you are looking for. So what are you waiting for head on over to CSN Stores to indulge in some back to school shopping.

Useful Links for Homeschoolers

Bachelor of Science has collected some links that homeschoolers should find useful.

Less families homeschooling primarily for religious reasons

Somebody finally gets it Less families homeschooling primarily for religious reasons

It's Up

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up.

Homeschoolers in the news

Consent Of The Governed: CT Homeschool Mother Takes Children To Hayes Trial

Help Fight Cancer Support LIVESTRONG DAY

Alasandra's Homeschool Blog is going YELLOW for LIVESTRONG Day. I hope you will join me in wearing YELLOW October 2nd, 2010.

Another bigoted view of homeschooling

Homeschool isn’t the same as school according to Jacqueline Espinoza @ Daily Sundial.

According to Jacqueline Espinoza.

In today’s society there are two major types of education, public schooling and homeschooling. I believe that public schools provide a student with better education than homeschooling ever could.

Actually there are a plethora of educational choices available today. There are private secular schools, private church schools, on-line schools,  public schools and homeschools.

Then Jacqueline Espinoza blathers on about the credentials public school teachers have and questions if homeschool parents have the knowledge to educate their children. Apparently she failed to do any research before writing her ignorant diatribe on homeschooling as she fails to acknowledge the numerous studies that have been done showing that homeschoolers tend to score above the national average on both the SAT and ACT, the primary tests used by colleges in evaluating college applicants.

Jacqueline Espinoza goes on to say

Homeschooled students only interact with their parents and/or siblings that they see on a day to day basis. This does not allow a child to learn and practice social behaviors and cope outside of the home with others their age.

Apparently Jacqueline Espinoza has no clue that homeschoolers belong to homeschool groups,  join recreational sports teams, boy/girl scouts, theater groups and other organizations where they interact with their peers on a regular basis. Nope according to Jacqueline Espinoza we just sit home all day & night never laying eyes on anyone outside our immediate family.

I am really tired of bigots like Jacqueline Espinoza who write opinionated claptrap about a subject they know nothing about. She claims she knows ONE homeschool girl who felt very overwhelmed by all the new experiences in college, and whom nobody liked because she was quiet.  Ms. Espinoza I have news for you there are plenty of public school students who feel overwhelmed by all the new experiences in college. There are also numerous public school students who are shy and quiet and socially awkward. The vast majority of Homeschoolers are successful in college and have no problems transitioning from homeschooling to college.

I wonder if she claims her kids attend private school too?

Patricia Baker said...

Sorry, but I find you to be a little self-righteous. I send my kids to public school and I homeschool.

I may choose to take advantage of the wonderful teachers and staff at my local (and, by the way, quite wonderful) public school. I may choose to allow the boys to experience the opportunities our public school offers.

But, make no mistake about it ... around here the responsibility for my children's education starts and ends at home. That makes me a homeschooler.

They continue to learn as much (or more) from me in our every day activities and in our excursions as they do at school. That makes me a homeschooler.

I take sole responsibility for their school successes and failures. That makes me a homeschooler.

I sometimes question the motives or methods of those of you who choose to un-school. I would never say you aren't a homeschooler.

I might wonder why you participate in co-op if you are "home"schooling your children. But I would never stoop so low as to question what you call yourself.

If you want those of us who choose to send our children down a different path to respect your choice, maybe you should start respecting ours.

My Response ................

Patricia Baker, I respect your choice to send your child to PUBLIC SCHOOL and applaud you for being an involved parent.But you are not a homeschooler. You have no say in what textbooks your child uses, you do not grade his/her school papers, come up with lesson plans, keep transcripts, and meet the legal requirements for homeschooling in your state.

Frankly I am perplexed by PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS who insist they are homeschoolers. Ms Baker, do you claim you send your child to private school too?

Wanting to be clear on what homeschooling is in order to safe guard our freedom to homeschool from government intervention is in no way disrespecting your decision to send your child to PUBLIC SCHOOL. Homeschooling is an educational choice, just like sending your child to private or public school.  You choose the public school option which is fine, but you are NOT A HOMESCHOOL PARENT or a PRIVATE SCHOOL PARENT.

Public School students shown X-rated photos in assembly

More than 400 seniors at Norwin High School, about 25 miles east of Pittsburgh, were watching a presentation Friday on the importance of donating blood. School officials say "a few pornographic pictures" on a personal flash drive of a Central Blood Bank representative appeared on the screen.

Pa. students shown X-rated photos in assembly - Weird News - SunHerald.com