It’s one of the more laughable attacks upon homeschoolers ever concocted.
And it came courtesy of a handmaiden of the mainstream media, a feminist legal theorist affiliated with the Georgetown University Law Center.
Robin L. West, in an essay titled, “The Harms of Homeschooling” (scroll down for the article), and published by the University of Maryland’s Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly, argues for greater government oversight of home schooling and takes a shot at fundamentalist Christian families who are short on mammon but big on procreation.
Here’s the quote:
The husbands and wives in these families feel themselves to be under a religious compulsion to have large families, a homebound and submissive wife and mother who is responsible for the schooling of the children, and only one breadwinner. These families are not living in romantic, rural, self-sufficient farmhouses; they are in trailer parks, 1,000 square foot homes, houses owned by relatives, and some, on tarps in fields or parking lots.
West provides no evidence of these exotic tarp-dwellers, which would have brought out the national media, anyway, if they actually existed. But I’m happy to supply an example of parking-lot homeschoolers.
That would be the MacDonald Family Singers (mom, dad, grandpa, eight kids) who spend part of the year crisscrossing the country in a coach bus while performing gospel songs at churches and nursing homes. They’ve been known to park their vehicle, overnight, in a big-box store parking lot and sleep in the bus’s beds.
The fun-loving MacDonald children, who play the trombone, trumpet, piano, banjo, flute, guitar, tuba, mandolin, fiddle, and saxophone are required to bring schoolbooks on their road trips and participate in family devotions often led – gasp – by Mr. MacDonald. When not traveling, they live in a large home in western Massachusetts.
Adventuresome homeschoolers, who have gone on similar road trips or even traveled in a big rig or a sailboat, on a shoestring budget, would likely be enemy combatants in West’s world.
Even if her silly scenario was normative, what does West have against double-wide trailer dwellers or anyone who has lived with benevolent relatives in cramped quarters, anyway? And what’s wrong with a man daring to assume spiritual responsibility for his household and a wife not only honoring him in that role, but viewing pregnancy as a blessing, not a curse? Isn’t that far more preferable to being on welfare, living in subsidized housing with only one parent and several half brothers and sisters, and having gangbangers as your neighbors, all while attending an unsafe government school run by dues-paying teacher union members who rail against global warming?
And if government oversight could deter criminal activity and keep the educational standards of these homeschooling rubes high, which is part of West’s argument against the right to homeschool, why are there so many poorly educated miscreants in the heavily-regulated, lavishly funded public schools?
In 2005 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, middle school and high school students were the victims of nearly 700,00 violent crimes, including rape and robbery. Meanwhile, The Detroit News recently reported that the Motor City’s public school test scores “were the lowest in its 40-year history.”
Railing against the harsh conditions that millions of urban schoolchildren endure daily thanks to the wonders of godless socialism, isn’t going to make the cut as an article for the Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly. But such are the fruits of a brand-name, institutionalized liberal education.
But wait; there’s more.
Their lack of job skills passed from one generation to the next, depresses the community’s overall economic health and their state’s tax base.
Mystery solved! All along I thought it was high property taxes and lack of decent-paying private-sector jobs that depress a community’s economic health. It turns out to be backwater homeschoolers with a conservative religious bent.
How then to explain Tim Tebow, the wildly popular University of Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, thrived in such an atmosphere.
Tim, age 22, grew up on a farm outside of Jacksonville, Florida and was homeschooled by Christian missionaries. Mom made him memorize Scripture; Dad made him do chores. All of the family (Tim has four siblings.) regularly took trips to the Philippines to minister at the orphanage that Tim’s father founded.
When Tebow gets drafted by the NFL this year, he stands to make millions and render mucho taxes unto Caesar, turning him into a one-man stimulus package.
American parents sometimes choose to make informed educational choices based on the Biblical belief that it is their responsibility, not the State’s, to train, educate, and protect their children. Even the Supreme Court agrees. (See Wisconsin v. Yoder)
Until those in media and academia figure out that what often drives these choices is love, not laws, attacks on the 20th century’s greatest education reform movement will continue.
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327 Comments
Bravo! The State-controlled Education monopoly is enraged by all who dare live and learn outside it's thuggishly political, often violent domain.
THE TRUTH SHALL SET US FREE
"Their lack of job skills passed from one generation to the next"
I don't know, those words are so typical of the elitist mindset I'm hardly blown away. It's a shame that Ms. West hasn't had the opportunity to meet my roommate, another home-schooled hero like Tebow who is a pilot in the Air Force and comes from a large family, all of whom do 'normal' productive jobs (including another sibling in our nation's service). It's a shame she hasn't heard the story of another friend of mine who grew up home-schooled on a farm in rural Ohio and worked so hard he got into one of our nation's service academies, and he was the first member of his family to even go to college, let alone a prestigious institution like a service academy. I guess home-schooling just doesn't offer any hope for these 'disadvantaged' kids, who she probably thinks are brainwashed so they don't understand that they are missing out on the 'wonderful' opportunities of public schooling.
Shoot, I went to public schools and I know damn well I learned more from my parents pushing me to learn outside of school by reading and exploring subjects on my own.
I have been moving people cross-country for 30 years, so, that means that I have met thousands of families in their homes. The majority of those that home-schooled their children are mostly white-collar, well-to do whose children tend to be more respectful and intelligent. This is hard for the parents, but, they willingly take on the extra work to insure that their children have the skills and knowledge to make it in this world. It is these children that are going to be the driving force of this country(along w/private schoolers). I am an non-religious individual that would rather pay to send my daughter to a Christian school than a public hell-hole school.
I wasn’t homeschooled, but I would just like to say one thing: “The husbands and wives in these families feel themselves to be under a religious compulsion to have large families, a homebound and submissive wife and mother who is responsible for the schooling of the children, and only one breadwinner.” This statement has been used for years to characterize members of my religion (LDS), though it puts a negative spin on what we strongly believe is a positive thing. The majority of our members live by this rule if they can afford to do so, and the majority of our members are also well-educated and comfortably middle class.
Denigrating those who live by this idea, whether homeschooled or not, is ridiculous – and for the record, I have known several homeschooled children who are exceptionally bright. One young lady, when placed into a public first grade class, was so far ahead of the other students, she was placed into a study group of advanced third graders. And yes, her parents lived exactly as stated above.
A feminazi legal theorist is an expert on education? Well, I guess since she's "affiliated" with Georgetown Law that qualifies her. She sounds just like Chairman Maobama and half of Congress…… a law school grad who has never done an honest days work in her life. As for the idea that Christian bible-belters are the majority in home schooling their children, I have known Jews, Atheists, Buddhists and Hindus that home school. All of which were in tax brackets higher than Ms. West. If I had children they would most definitely be home schooled. The level of socialist indoctrination in the public/government schools is so astounding, I'm quite surprised that more people aren't doing it.
My homeschooled children were part of a dance team that ministered in Mexico, Europe and throughout the U.S. They've been to more places before the age of 20 than I have in my life thus far. They practiced 3 times a week, went to college, and held down part-time jobs and did their traveling in the summer. My daugher graduated college at age 20 w/ 2 majors. My kids also obtained many scholarships and grants because of their high grade point averages. My sons are completing college and highschool and holding down part-time jobs while continuing to participate in many other activities at our church. I'm so glad my husband and I have had the choice to educate our children the way we felt was BEST.
The anti-intellectuals on the left fear home schooling because in order for their brainwashing to take hold they need to have the children for a 10 year period. Home schooling would cheat them of that opportunity. Liberals are not interested in educating the kids, as a matter of fact they've been dumbing down the public school system for over 3 decades. No longer do the children read the classics but instead read sexually deviant material from degenerates like Hussein's school czar, Kevin Jennings, who should be publicly flogged and thrown into a prison population where they can teach this pedophile a few things about fisting, but I digress.
The sky-is-falling regressives have had only a modicum of success in getting school kids to believe that the sun is going to commit a fiery jihad against them if they don't get their parents to write a check to Algore Inc. This creates a dilemma for NEA minions who desire to create legions of scientifically illiterate loyal liberals that think their breath is a pollutant, so what to do?…………………
""The racial madness that has left-wing America in its thrall finds its apogee in the Berkeley, California public schools. Berkeley High School is now poised to eliminate science laboratory classes because "science labs were largely classes for white students.""
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/berkeleys_...
Harry Reid and the Berkley school board probably think people with a "negro dialect" are incapable of learning science. When I was in high school [90's] everyone took science class. I guess liberals have "progressed" so far that they just tell the minority students to not even bother showing up, it's not for "those" type of people, isn't that right you leftwing champions of minorities?
When this glittering jewel of colossal ignorance (thanks Rush!!) can help public schools figure out how to educate kids, I'll talke her advice on homeschooling.
Home schooling does not fit with the liberal socialist agenda.
"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."
Vladimir Lenin
"Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed."
Josef Stalin
"The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother's care, shall be in state institutions at state expense."
Karl Marx
"We must create out of the younger generation a generation of Communists. We must turn children, who can be shaped like wax, into real, good Communists…. We must remove the children from the crude influence of their families. We must take them over and, to speak frankly, nationalize them. From the first days of their lives they will be under the healthy influence of Communist children's nurseries and schools. There they will grow up to be real Communists."
Communist Party Education Workers Congress – 1918
She's gov't edjumacated and dumb as a rock.
Typical elitist drivel from an academic who couldn't tie their own shoes without a government grant.
It's the common folk who keep this country going while Ivory Tower academics slam it at every turn.
Revolutions are never kind to intellectuals and the coming one will be no exception. Pointy heads will roll.
Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the largest in the nation, has approx a 50% drop-out rate. Liberals in academia have failed at every level. The kids that leave LAUSD and go onto college need remedial courses in every subject.
Being a Marylander I am far from surprised with her statements, In Maryland they lowered the passing grade to 60 percent , They even bragged the next year about more students passing ( Hell Forest Gump would get an A in these schools ).. Baltimore has a 60 percent drop at rate and city schools have 1 if not 2 police officers assigned to each school due to the high crime rate.. A few years ago a teacher was attack by a student in the class room and they blamed the teacher becaused she asked the student to get out of her space, the student was in her face threatening her after the teacher asked her to leave a radio turned down.. The school board turned on the teacher and said she wasn't trained properly in defussing these type of situations..
Heres the secret she's not talking about, the schools are paid per student per day they attend, so it boils down to " Get those large family's in school as we need the money"..
Excellent article and excellent posts above. Yep, they just want to get at our kids because 'the elites know best'. Expect more home schools and private (underground?) schools to crop up as obamachine unleashes Kevin Jennings and company.
Exactly!
I home-schooled our daughters for most of their education. They did attend High School so they would be able to attend college with out problems (which I admit my husband and I regret). When they entered college, their Professors loved their work ethic, which was superior to most students. The Prof's also were surprised at their exposure to the classics in literature, music and fine arts. Though we found the indoctrination of our girls still set them back in their journey's, they have all come back to their conservatives roots.
I think that West's statement, "The husbands and wives in these families feel themselves to be under a religious compulsion to have large families, a homebound and submissive wife and mother who is responsible for the schooling of the children, and only one breadwinner. These families are not living in romantic, rural, self-sufficient farmhouses; they are in trailer parks, 1,000 square foot homes, houses owned by relatives, and some, on tarps in fields or parking lots", shows she has no understanding of what it means to be a family, with the joys of teaching ones own children the riches this world has to offer. I also find her elitism offensive to think that living in in a trailer park is somehow a bad thing. This woman is haughty and I suspect has never understood the desire to nurture ones child the best way you can, even on a budget.
Excellent! You could not have made a better argument!
What I love most about all of Breitbart's sites is…….the total absense of leftist Trolls. I don't know why they don't post comments, but am so happy they don't as they ruin the comment section of any sites they post on.
Praise the Lord and honey see to the kids.
I went and read the PDF, expecting it not to be as bad as Mr. Lyman made it out to be. Boy was I wrong. It was worse. Check out this section on the "political harm" done by homeschooling:
Fourth, there are political harms. Fundamentalist
Protestant adults who were homeschooled over the last
thirty years are not politically disengaged, far from it.
They vote in far higher percentages than the rest of the
population. They mobilize readily. The “army” in
which adult homeschooled citizens are soldiers has
enormous clout: homeschoolers were called “Bush’s
Army” in 2000 and 2004 for good reason. Their capacity
for political action is palpable and admirable,
although doubly constrained: it is triggered by a call
for action by church leaders, and in substance, it is limited
to political action the aim of which is to undermine,
limit, or destroy state functions that interfere
with family and parental rights. Nevertheless, and by
their own accountings, these citizen-soldiers in the
“homeschooling movement” and the various political
campaigns in which they are enlisted have no clout in
the army in which they serve. They are as effective as
they are, and as successful as they are, because they
engage in politics in the same way that soldiers participate
in combat. They don’t question authority, and
they can’t go AWOL. With little education, few if any
job skills, and scant resources, their power either to
influence the lines of authority within their own
sphere, or to leave that sphere, is virtually nil.
Wow, just wow. Really. This is an impressive fantasy. She really thinks that there are armies of powerless, poorly educated homeschool-bots out there. And their influence is clearly harmful (unlike the influence of, say, the armies of powerless, poorly-educated rock-the-voters), because they support conservative causes — but not because they understand them (duh, if they understood the issues, they'd be liberals, right?), no, because they are the hapless tools of their nefarious "church leaders."
Exactly who is wearing the tin-foil hat here?
One of the aids in my son's classroom walked by me on campus today wearing a Pink for Peace T-shirt.
A stink against Pink will be made tomorrow and I don't think the principal is going to be happy.
The phenomenon of home schooling is a HUGE threat to the left which explains their disdain for it. The easiest form of mind control starts in schools. Once kids are in the public school system it's very hard to un-do what they've been taught; there is no God; the state is their creator; there are no values other than what you determine for yourself, etc. And of course, as home school kids outperform many in public schools, then their fears get compounded. Not only are HS kids independent, but they're better educated, as well.
How could the left NOT be threatened by this?
The only "harm" of homeschooling is to the Left. The Left can't easily indoctrinate homeschooled children into the warped utopia of Liberalism. SInce they can't brainwash the homeschooled kids, they are out to attack the homeschoolers by using the typical Leftist attacks.
Actually, Geoff, we get our share of trolls, but we know how to make them disappear quickly – sharp replies and lots of laughter.
The citizens who are educated outside of the 'system' will be the citizens who will rescue this country. They will be the ones to ask questions without fear. They will demand their rights, and disregard obtuse legalese, used to deny those rights, as the founders intended. When you are raised to fend for yourself, and think for yourself, your home is your castle and your liberty is your lifeline.
BIg Bear, if I had been drinking, you would owe me a keyboard! I am going to use that one!
I have a friend, male, who homeschooled four of his five children until about two years ago; the oldest two are both in college with full rides, the youngest is a 17 year old freshman.
Very Catholic, great family that really loves one another, and supports one another…..quick, someone tell Janet N that there are new additions for the watch list!
"Their lack of job skills passed from one generation to the next"
I only home schooled 3 (two engineers and a junior in college studying opera) but I guess with a measly Master's Degree and my husband's PhD we probably weren't qualified. But I invite you to look at this family, not satisfied with their own 5, they adopted 3 from Haiti.
http://www.lukehamsandwich.com/
Obviously they are oblivious to the "Harms of Homeschooling."
Big_Bear,
I’m afraid that the revolution has already begun, and that the empty homes you mention will be the ones formerly occupied by certain enemies of the State, Republicans, Christians, “teabaggers”, old folks, the infirm, and any others whose lives are not deemed compatible with the new Utopia.
Unless you mean, after all of that takes place, the next revolution, fifty or so years from now. Yeah, then. Good news.
My 17 year old thanks me… monthly… saying, "thank you for not sending me to high school." The grinding is gross, the teachers are arrogant fools, the students are vacant, clueless. Oh… yes… she is graduating this May… with a state school bachelors…. accepted in a top ten engineering school's doctoral program. Neither of us are impressed…. ha ha ha ha ha. We sell what you buy and we live on your money without your approval… how sad you are.
Read John Taylor Gatto, especially "The Underground History of American Education."
This book really tied it all together for me.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index….
"They don’t question authority, and
they can’t go AWOL. With little education, few if any
job skills, and scant resources, their power either to
influence the lines of authority within their own
sphere, or to leave that sphere, is virtually nil."
Ok. So she is referring here to Obama voters who believe that Obama is going to pay all their bills and life is going to be perfect, right? Talk about projection. . .
I get so sick of people attacking families that home school by portraying them as religious zealots. I have no problem with religion personally but I am not religious and maybe the real reason some of us want to home school is simply the fact that we can do a better job than the leftist indoctrination centers we call schools.
I want my child to have the ability to think for themselves and explore everything. As a homeschooler I guarantee he can have a more hands on education in which his creativity will no be stifled.
Texas is the place for home schooling. That's one of the reasons I am moving back.
My brother-in-law's wife homeschools each of their three boys for one year at a time, then the child goes back to Catholic school and she brings the next one home for a year. Two of them are starting soccer players at high school and one is applying for the Naval Academy next year. He is an airline pilot and flew fighters in the first Gulf war. She is a member of a family that has a 33,000 acre ranch. No trailers, though.
Yes I see the grammar error. HAhahaha
I wish there were some way to make MORE visible your comment (besides voting for it)
A socialist state can only be successful if everyone is dependent on, and entirely trusting of 'the state.'
Homeschooling most certainly destroys any inroads the state might have in indoctrinating the next generation of atheist/agnostic communists.
I wish one of these education experts would investigate the American penal system, and find out what percentage of inmates were home-schooled, how many attended private schools, and how many had public school educations.
Let's watch these home schooled kids run rings around the children subjected to the public schools indoctrination. Johnny thinks 2 plus 2 is 5 but he feels good about himself. I detest these liberal elitists who look down their noses at the rest of society. THEY are the parasites looking to keep the host alive through tax dollars.
And since they can't dispute our test scores….
My Mama use to say, "Some people go to college as a fool and return as an educated fool"…she must have met some of these elite leftists fools.
I only wish I had the budget that public schools get PER student. We would be taking some dandy cross-country and trans-world field trips.
Terrorists? Meh. Homeschoolers? Yikes!
Oh yes, the old and tired "submissive" wife thing. Feminists are -always- saying that. So if I want to stay home and raise kids I'm somehow "submissive". Yet another example of feminists saving their worst vitriol for other women.
This is pretty funny. I would probably be dragged to see that show by my wife.
She grew up in a similar Home Schooled environment, then a one room school by a little old lady from Northern Canada who taught them in Japan.. Same for her two younger sisters, and older brother. They were missionary kids, "stranded on the remote Northern Shores of Japan" in Kashawazaki prefecture. Their parents lowly Bible College graduates.
So how did it turn out do you think ? Well 40 years later, she's one of the two top teachers on the Back side of Berkeley CA … Classical Piano, studied with 3 concert pianists including the principal pianist for the Chicago Symphony; her baby sister ? Full ride PhD program at Notre Dame, her other sister only an MS while her Husband did an Econ PhD at Cal Berkeley … her lowly brother ? PhD linguistics University of Chicago, youngest tenured Professor in the History of Univ. of Minnesota and has been tenured and at Harvard for the last 20 years … specialty … Japanese.
It worked out for them I guess. They had a rich life, all were around the world several times as a family. But they didn't play much team basketball or water polo. Big deal. Her Father eventually finished his PhD in adult Ed at Oxford England and Indiana University so he went just a little farther than Prarie Bible Institue I guess. He helped found Tokyo Christian College where he was on Faculty for about 45 years.
Egad — tho — the wife tried to Homeschool our kids when we were stranded for 6 years in a corporate move in that Sh_thole Stockton USD in CA. How'd that work out ? Well when we got to the #1 school district in CA and put them in … they were two years ahead. Litterally bored out of their skulls the first year. But they did get to play team Baseball, Football, and womens LaCrosse … and did OK. UCSB, UC Berkeley, and two Graduate cum laude in pre med and Economics from Wheaton College (IL)
The Abeka Curriculum was pretty excellent.
Family seems to be a thing Americans have a bit of trouble with. (And it appears you are an exception, bravo!) I say this from the perspective of one who wasn't born here. I came to America when I was in my teens. In general it seems Americans don't have any sort of normal family life. In college I was the -only- American citizen with parents not divorced and who had regular contact with extended family. There's also a sort of strange push to shove kids out when they're 18 for some insane reason. I've never been able to figure out why. (I probably won't.) I do know that I needed my parents most when I was 18. I know I wouldn't have made it if they'd kicked me out.
Oh and since I'm on a rant…. Why exactly is it considered wonky for guys to live with their parents as well? That is one of the most annoying American cultural traits. (I have cousins in the "old country" who are single and married that live at home and nobody thinks a thing about it!) If I find out a guy is living with his parents I think he's a smart one and they tend to be more mature. Guys that "make their own way" I've found tend to be more juvenile and in general quite boorish. Which… actually about describes 90% of American guys my age that I've met. Juvenile and boorish. (Sorry guys, it's the truth!)
A huge USC fan and anything but a Gator fan.
Tim Tebow is such a warrior. After football watch out for this guy.
Robin West and rest of these intellectual elites will go to any lengths to put the brakes on this movement. It's not that they care about children, they don't. They care that the child or children in question, are not getting the Leftist indoctrination from the local public Madrassa, in order to keep the flow of "societal suicide bombers" coming at us non stop.
It's completely effective. My daughter has two Conservative parents, yet she has been an avowed socialist since middle school and upon graduation from U of Madrassa, got a job with a local democrat Congresswoman…
I hope home schooling examples, like Tim Tebow, continue to be highlighted in the NewMedia, becaue there isn't a snowballs chance in hell, the LSM will ever bring it up, except to critize it.
Is there a test required of Home Schooling Parents? Are they required to demonstrate their proficiency in teaching the 3 R's?
More importantly, if we allow non-union 'teachers' to play a role in the education system; are their any guarantees that liberal principles, political correctness and diversity will be appropriately included in the curriculum?
Time really look closely at this home schooling issue.
One of my lady friends is a typical homeschooler: Divorced mom, Christian, has primary custody of her kids… except for the fact that she's an MIT engineering graduate with an IQ that could instantly vaporize water.
I'm trying to get to know her better. LOL!
I home school my children. I do this because I love my children. I am not an oppressed wife. I am my children’s father. The people I have met who do home school are not suppressed housewives nor do they have 50 million children. In fact most of them have only two to three. Ironically, I live in my 38 foot RV in an upscale RV resort. This is partly by choice and partly because I cannot sell my house that just a few years ago would have fetched 3/4 of a million dollars. It makes it easier to move when your unsuppressed wife is poised for her 3rd promotion in 3 years. A growing number of parents are home schooling their children for varying reasons. One common thread we share is the enjoyment of teaching our children one on one. Not everyone can home school, send their kids to private or move where there are better public schools. Thus are forced to send their kids to deplorable government run schools. Then when they have a chance they have to deprogram them from the indoctrination they received. I am raising two little independent thinkers which I guess in the eyes of elitists or the statists make me the antichrist…but I know better.
I don't know what it's like where you live but the HSers always win the spelling bees. They make good responsible adults and that production line in the public is almost dead. Remember that life is the journey, death is the destination. Let everyone live their own lives.
Excuse me, who the He!! is Robin West and why would anyone care what she thinks? I mean besides trashing a significant contributing cultural base of the nation, just what makes her God? Please lady, go inspect your navel. Consider that you weren't aborted, and gee aren't you glad about that? How does it feel to be judged and found worthless? Work at it and maybe you'll get a clue. These people you have such a disgust of, manage to lead happy and full lives, freely chosen and they do it without your input or your blessing. Most don't know WHO you are. But try and interfere with their rights to live a quality life, they'll finally know you for WHAT you are. A vapid, vicious, insecure, overbearing threat.
Does Queen Bee Arianna give you a test to join the drone squad.???..Come to think of it, you sound like the leader of the "liberal principle instruction team"….Diversity of thought (as long as it's lib), political correctness( cencorship), and admiration of leftist dictators (Hugo's our man!…) …You people are a mess….
When I was 16, I attended a job corps and although under a different Dept than Carter's Education (Labor, Vinnel corp) I still consider myself to have been under the wing and childhood raising of Big Wonderful Nanny government. I lived on an old Air Force base where we submissively (sp?) waxed and buffed floors at the command of our patriarch the residential advisors
at less than min wage ( 12 bucks every two weeks) The food was bad and I even had a bad case of food poisoning one time (where was the FDA!) the education consisted of getting a GED and if you could endure the transplanted urban jungle for a little longer then a meaningless trade certificate.
I felt unloved by Nanny then and I feel that big nanny Gov is still unloving to her childrens at job corps everywhere this day. Why is she so busy harping on the edumacations and living conditions of homeschool kids? Why isn't she totally focussed on my younger siblings? MOM!!! look at US!!! and quit harping over the homeschoolers WE NEEED YOU!!!!
"Their lack of job skills passed from one generation to the next"
That may explain the high unemployment rate and multi-generational welfare culture in so many inner cities; all those inner city youths are home schooled.
OH WAIT!! I'm a libertarian (thank you Bush for sending me running) and aint supposed to be pushing for state power and money.
The best thing about my Nannygov nest at the old air base was getting stoned out the gourd on weed and hanging off the third floor fire escapse.. I guess it was a good thing that she was such a busy body and never took the time to see
what was happening under her nose.
I'm sure it's only a matter of time until home schooling goes the way of trans fats.
"limited to political action the aim of which is to undermine, limit, or destroy state functions that interfere with family and parental right"
And don't you ever forget it. We are out to undermine you. Just don't go thinking you're some all-star standout. We aren't nearly as limited as you think. You better believe it girlie.
You remind me of one of the moms I knew when my niece and nephew were going to Christian high school. She homeschooled her four kids – they had an arrangement with the school for her kids to take accelerated math courses and play sports. Her kids were the brightest, most polite, and well rounded kids I've had the pleasure to be around.
Good for you.
My kids are in public school and I debate frequently with myself over it. I had home-schooled my daughter when she was younger but she was kind of lonely because the programs in our area didn't have any kids her age. I had taught in private school in our area and, unfortunately, learned that private schools are not necessarily better (I was one of two credentialed teachers at the whole school). So we opted for public school– warts and all– and my daughter has been happy there. But you bet I watch what's going on and I'd raise heck if I saw a Code Pink T-shirt in the classroom too. *Sigh* I won't be able to do that when they go to college though…
I think it is a mistake to characterize all home schoolers as "Christian", "rural", or anything other label. I have met several different families who have chosen that path for their children and they have been accepted to elite universities. MIT actually courts home schooled students during the application process.
The bottom line is the education system in our country is broken. It does not exist to educate but to provide jobs for new graduates from the Education Dept. at the local University.
And it produces idiots. Twelve years of public education did nothing for me – except for, possibly, teaching me how to write in cursive.
If I could go back in time I would have skipped school more often and left the public system sooner. My parents didn't really concern themselves much about my education and homeschool would have NEVER have happened in
my household though my Mom was a submissive "tried" to stay at home Mom (Dad was alway wanting her up his behind and wanted her at the place of business all the time) I would have hit the library much more and used bookstores. Would have worked under the table and stashed the cash. THEN at 16 I woulda gone to Job Corps but with a suitcase full of cartons of cigarettes and with the understanding that I'm here to self study and make money so to one day transcend comfortably into a community college with the GED. I still woulda got stoned but only when offered.
Boy howdy! They don't like to have to defend themselves for very long. They use their talking points that can't be defended and eventually they disappear and then come back like a bad stink. The most confusing thing to me is one guy Syntax_Game has pretty high reputation score and that threw me for a while cause he is such an anti-semite. Thefonz and Mikatollah are the two others I know, they too are anti-semite. My avatar is hard for them to resist!
My sister-in-law (a ICU RN) and her husband (he’s military) homeschooled their son because they didn’t want him going to the horrible D.C. public schools. They live in a nice house that is a far cry from a 1000sq ft trailer and she is the primary bread winner. I’m amazed that we, normal working stiffs, are not calling out these nut jobs on the left that see nothing wrong in publishing bold face lies.
Many of our founding fathers were home-schooled and/or self educated. Their independent thinking led to a revolution. The liberals do have a lot to fear. I am sure the King of England had the same ignorant opinion of these uncultured, backwards rebels in the 1770s. As oppressors of thought and free will, like Robin L. West continue to take over and divide/destroy this country, you will eventually have civil war.
Let’s look at some of her fallible arguments:
1) “First, children who are homeschooled with no state regulation are at greater risk for unreported and unnoticed physical abuse” Yes we need the “State” to come in and inspect us to ensure we are raising our children appropriately. Somehow I think the parent that takes the time and sacrifice to home school their children are much less likely to abuse their children. But hey, the “State” knows best….
2) “Second, there’s a public health risk” – Yes those of us who home school our children also do not believe in seeing the doctor and getting our children immunized. Now if the “State” takes over the healthcare system as many liberals propose, this might actually come true.
3) “Third, public and private schools provide for many children…a safe haven in which they are both regarded and respected independently and individually.”….Really? with all of the violent crimes, gangs, drug use, sexting and other sexual experimentation, etc, in our schools you really are trying to argue this? Wow….
4) “Fourth, there are political harms” and in here lies her true bias/hidden agenda. The “State” cannot influence or political indoctrination….wow that’s got to be one of the best arguments for home schooling yet.
5) “Child-raising that is relentlessly authoritarian risks instilling what developmental psychologists call “ethical servility”: a failure to mature morally beyond the recognition of duties of obedience.” Evidently this woman has no experience and did not take the time to study her subject matter before opining (typical of liberal elitists). Students spend much of the time in self study and choosing topics to report on. The parent isn’t standing there shouting out orders all day long.
6) “The educational harm is the most immediate, direct risk of unregulated homeschooling.” Her argument is that without “State” oversight there is no guarantee of the quality of the education. While I would argue the average homeschooler is well above those that are in the public school system, there are some that slip through the cracks. However, this is far better that the “State” guarantee of mediocrity and failure.
7) “Finally, the economic harms.” Here she specifically takes a swipe at the so called radically fundamentalist movement being lower income, where is the evidence that they have a lower income? Where is the evidence that this has anything to do with the quality of the education they receive? How do you know their children’s’ future income potential does not exceed that of their parents? Do poor people not have the same rights as those with more money? I guess we should keep them in the Govt provided projects and send them to failed “State” schools.
Now when I was in school and had to right argumentative papers, we used to have to use facts to back up our claims. I guess in her “State” dictated education system we no longer need be concerned with facts. They just get in the way.
I'm sure our family and our kids will make the watch list as well. They all have started their college education in 10th grade, completing their Associates' degrees by December after they graduated high school. One was a swimming coach several years while in college, and another won the county 4-H community service award (over 1500 hrs in a year).
It's amazing how well kids can do when they are raised and educated by their parents, and not by strangers. How well they can do when their main interactions are with adults, and not peers. Leaders among their peers in academics, sports, and in groups/clubs on college campus (one while in 11th grade I might add).
And, among those who choose to homeschool and make that sacrifice for a one income family, we know of several families who have done and are doing likewise.
It's amazing how smart they can be and how fast they mature (or at least seem a lot more mature than any their age) when they are free from all that wasted time preparing for the standardized testing, and actually are expected to learn material appropriate for their education.
Normal kids given individualized educational opportunities in which they flourish. What a novel idea.
From an academic who will home school the children she has once she and her husband are certain that their marital bliss will last past the routine doldrums of early academic life, which is rife with rejection and periodic unemployment, I offer the following:
1) The journal that this drivel is in I use as bedding for my pet rats. It's way low on the list of journals people should get fired up about.
2) You should be more worried that this was "peer reviewed". There are at least 2 others who agree with her. They're probably teaching other's children right now as well. It's not just one person, it's 3!
3) Not all academics are like this. Many of us homeschool as well, you just never hear about it. We homeschool mostly because we look at the education majors we teach and think "You cannot speak coherently. You self-disclose you came to college for an MRS degree and are going to leave with a master's in STD. I hate your outlook on life you half-witted, grade grubbing, special snowflake. Your 'ideas' (pulled straight from Wikipedia) aren't coming anywhere near my child".
I have had 5 miracles given to me by Almighty God! He thought it so important that he allowed me to show the medical community that a woman can have 5, count them 5, c-sections. He even allowed me to tell the doctor that tried to talk me into abortion of my 4th child that "God gave me this baby and no man will take it from me" and then to prove him wrong again I had yet another baby and another c-section. And then… I homeschooled them and we lived in a old trailer and I stayed home and baked cookies like a proper mother and wife. I have raised 4 men and one woman willing to do the same…All Americans…take that Ms. West! What a great day to be alive and an American!!!
"…a homebound and submissive wife and mother who is responsible for the schooling of the children…"
1) If a mother decides to take responsiblilty for her children's education, isn't that taking initiative?
2) Is there nothing more submissive than letting a public school district dumb down your kids?
A couple of things to ponder…
Thank you. Though for the purpose of transperancy I admit to being a one-income Christian family (only 4 kids) living in a 1200 sq ft home, we choose to homeschool because as a public school educator(licensed by the state with a degree in my field from a private college) I saw the struggle to provide quality education to all students in even good schools. Our kids love to read and ask me to read to them some more. Our 4 yr old runs around the house making jokes about Archimedes while my 9 yr old observes Aztec symbols in Lego sets and our 10 year old alternates between school work and piano. I won't even go in to the discussions about the basis for our freedom in America I've had with my 7 yr old. They're terribly anti-social(note sarcasm) with more friends and birthday parties (from all school options) to keep up with. Are these 4 kids any better or more wonderful than kids in a traditional setting? Hardly. Are their parents more wonderful or conscientious than parents of kids in a traditional setting? Definitely not. This is just how we choose to prepare our kids to be adults and citizens of a great nation.
Gee, I didn’t realize we had done everything wrong with our three kids. My husband and I homeschooled them for 20 years. I guess the damage is done. Let’s tally up the results, shall we: Our oldest child received a full scholarship to VMI and is now the training officer on one of the Navy’s newest destroyers. Our second child received a huge wad of scholarships to attend a private college and graduated with a vocal performance degree. She’s a teacher. Our youngest, who is enrolled in a private high school this year, carries a 3.93 GPA and is loved by all her teachers. All three kids are well mannered, involved in their local communities, patriotic, and — gosh — dare I say it — thankful to God.
As an African-American woman who is a trained teacher, I have seen the harm that the public schools system does to children of all races. Rather than teach subject matter, you are asked to go against a particular moral standard that many people have in general. Yes, I am one of those mothers who is homeschooling her 7 kids (which is a crime). My husband & myself are breadwinners. We live in a house w/out tarps. My oldest is 19 and is self-employed (with her own business) and will soon attend culinary school. She is well-rounded and a good human being which is what society desperately needs. My other children are respectful, kind and generous…..and very intelligent. My oldest son (11) is currently writing a book. Could public school give this type of inspiration? I say NO! So all you elitist can go pound sand. Stop your lies and propanganda…some of us will not buy the crap you all sell.
Homeschool4life
BEST post I've read on here!!! You might want to 'capitalize' on that T-shirt and put them on the market! They will sell like hot cakes!!!
Good news for the trailer park crowd, though. After the revolution, there will be plenty of empty homes formerly occupied by elitist intellectuals for you all to live in.
Yep, where do you have time, as a mother, to do all you need to do to keep the home running (with the kids at home doing what kids do best with a home), and keep your sanity, if you're browbeating and domineering your children.
That's the joy of homeschooling. The kids have their requirements. The mom helps as needed, once they are of age, and does what she needs to do otherwise. Both blossom.
Obviously Ms. West has not been introduced to the many home schooling families, who pack their days with school work, visits to the local Y for swim class, tai kwan do, ballet, art and hook up with other families for day trips to factories, federal buildings, science outings, only to end their day with choir practice and violin, piano or flute practice.
They teach economic responsibility by having home banks where children learn to pay bills, save for a rainy day, write checks and run a household economy. And in their spare time they play, pretend games and games outdoors like bike riding and hopscotch! They are not bemoaning the fact that they don't have the latest style mini skirt or see through t shirt or even the latest Hannah Montana cd. Unfortunately for Ms West, she has not had the joyful experience of being with children who are happy, secure, well educated and Homeschooled!
Will we ever get our schools back. The Department of education experiment has been a failure. It is nothing more than a state run propaganda machine designed to indoctrinate our children and weaken us as people. There is nothing more noble than to raise and educate your children, yes, with your own values and religious beliefs as opposed to those of the govt. Exactly what values do they have to pass on to our children anyway? The time has come for people to take responsibility for their children again. If we continue to allow their education to come from the govt, the internet, and marathon sessions of play station 3, then our future is lost.
'West argues for greater government oversight…'
Of COURSE she would! It's part of a Libs' DNA to argue for as much 'government oversight' as possible. In everything and everywhere! Her very existence depends on that being so!
Ah, but to libs, a service academy is NOT a prestigious institution – rather, it is a den of murderers indoctrinating some of our otherwise best and brightest into a new generation of murderers.
Question for you: why do we allow union goons posing as teachers to work in the Welfare Schools?
Maybe you were in the wrong part of the country? I grew up in middle America and most of my peers still had both parents as did I. The thing that I find the most shameful about this culture is the almost obsessive drive people have to move so far away from their family breaking extended families up. My parents, cousins, aunt, and sister all live within a 3-4 hour drive, and we all get together regularly. Some of my favorite memories of growing up were during the holidays when the everyone, from grandparents down, gathered at the table to play cards for hours at a time or played croquet outside for hours at a time. This idea that one's parents are to be avoided at all costs once you grow up is completely foreign to me.
Congrats! We also homeschooled. Our youngest is a freshman in college. My kids have also traveled the world with us while being schooled.
One point……all homeschoolers do NOT homeschool for religious reasons. Our kids studied all religions and met all kinds of people in our travels. We chose to homeschool because we wanted our kids to have the best education.
You forget which side has the guns. I'd like to see them try coming for me and mine. I won't go looking for them (unless things really go beyond the pale), but they better not come looking for me.
Stanford University is one of many top-tier institutions that specifically prefer homeschooled students.
Why should school curricula include anything to do with politics and plitical belief systems unless you are dealing with the subject of government or current events?
I was completely unaware that "liberal" or "conservative" had anything to do with being able to read, write, do arithmetic, understand science, and have a grasp of history.
In fact, if I found out that the schools were spending more time teaching my children political correctness, divdersity, and liberal principles than they were teaching the basic fundamentals of good education, including critical thinking skills, I'd be livid. Those three things you mention are not appropriate school subjects until one gets into higher education, and some would question their appropriateness even then.
"….Their lack of job skills passed from one generation to the next, depresses the community’s overall economic health and their state’s tax base….."
Right, public education doesn't properly prepare children. Erm, oh she was talking home schooled kids!?
Her "argument" against homeschooling is one of the strongest arguments -against- public education.
"sigh" Good grief there has been attacks on homeschoolers ever since it started to become popular in Christian (and I might add non Christian) families. I have three older brothers and we were all homeschooled. My oldest brother has a small disability so he was not able to do collage. My second brother became an RN nurse, and graduated top of his class. My third brother graduated from collage with a degree in mass communications advertising, and is now going into law school. I'm still in high school, but I recently had my PSAT and I made National Merits. All of my brothers work, and I work. Granted my mom has not worked ever since she became a mom, but God has always provided us with what we have need. Maybe their just jealous of how smart we are, and what good workers we generally turn out to be?
When was the last time you heard the Main Stream Media say such things about the Muslim faith. Apparently their women are liberated while having to walk seven paces behind their men wearing a burqa. At least Christian women have a choice. If they choose to leave the faith, they may be excommunicated, but they don't get stoned to death. I think that being able to stay home with your children if you so choose, is very honorable and rewarding.
Actually, West's moronic viewpoint is the best sales pitch for homeschooling, as it is obvious she wasn't because no homeschooled individual could be that stupid. What a feminist buffoon.
As a former teacher of 20 years, if you saw what cr@p passes for education in most of our nation's schools, you'd yank your kids out so fast, and home-school them too.
"Until those in media and academia figure out that what often drives these choices is love, not laws, attacks on the 20th century’s greatest education reform movement will continue."
Amen, Sister
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd4lZwshUpE
How come a home schooled girl became a spelling bee champion if they are nothing more than trailer park trash?
The quotes by West are hilarious and it is apparent that she has not really crossed paths with any of these families she claims to know so much about! As a wife that joyfully submits to her husband in a family that survives on one income and yes, lives in a tiny trailor of sorts, I just had to laugh. We are a full-time RV family, educating our children while traveling throughout the US in our motor home. I guess I'll have to think twice next time we consider pulling into a Walmart parking lot for the night, lest we be classified as the trailor trash she refers to. Very funny.
WOW! HOW WRONG CAN SHE BE? My husband is a nuclear engineer, we were pioneer homeschoolers. Both of our children hold Master of Law Degrees, the eldest is a Intellectual Property Attorney with a major USA Company. LOOK OUT Liberals. . . there is another generation being EDUCATED at HOME . . . our grandchildren are starting homeschool. To all you home schoolers KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! Remember that many of our founding fathers were Homeschooled!!
Lorben,
I'm not sure, but I think you can pick up "reputation points" on any sites that utilize INTENSEDEBATE.
So, trolls like Syntax_Game may be very popular on some, let's say, "unsavory" websites.
P.S. That's a very beautiful avatar you got there, Ma'am. Shalom !
You totally and completely rock, you know.
I invite you to also read this response to Ms. West's essay. It is from The Home School Legal Defense Association which fights tirelessly for homeschooling families and their rights as parents. In addition to the wonderful artice here, it offers more proof of the hard work and sacrifices that home schooling families make and how these sacrifices pay off in the long term. http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/201001050.asp
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world…. I am the proud mother of 6 home-schooled children. Two are four year college graduates from regionally accredited universities and the rest in college or college-prep. My family owns a national education franchise. We have seen first hand the horrors of the public school system in the inner city and suburbs. We are grateful everyday for the freedom to home-school and are actively supporting our married children in their plans to home-school our grandchildren. I hope families like ours cause the liberals to have nightmares!
The Washinton elites and pundits and insiders have nothing but contempt for the rest of us. Marie Antoinette could not have more casual disdain for us, the unwashed. As I eat my cake, load my musket, and sharpen my sword, I am preparing for the next battle – National broadband.
At a recent FCC meeting on the subject of national broadband in Memphis, TN, the FCC representative stated his premise as “national broadband is a right” and later suggested that it was “like a civil right”. When someone made a comment about the seeming socialist bent and the fact that their minds seem to already be made up, that someone was thanked for his comment and the “discussion” about our new “civil right” continued.
The Liberal Federal Government has already decided that you will have national broadband. This is the opening salvo to limit and restrict the free flow of information on the internet. Just like Obama Care, this is just a starting point. Moreover, this is a direct threat to sites such as this one. Instead of assaulting Talk Radio first with the Fairness Doctrine, they are assaulting Breitbart and all sites like this one. THE LIBERAL ARE COMING, THE LIBERALS ARE COMING. Patriots pick up your muskets and unite. THIS MUST BE STOPPED!
Personally raising the next generation is the best revenge.
The Founders were home schooled. The Amish have their own private school system. When's the last time you saw the Amish pan handling or in line at a soup kitchen. Yep commies, your system just does not work. 100+ years of communism proves this again and again.
Jason the Fed
I think this somes up the source of Ms. West fear/ disgust at Home Schooling. From noted PhD and President Woodrow Wilson
"We want one class of persons to have a liberal education and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class of necessity, to forgo the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks."
I guess the "larger class" masses are not following the script…
Great artticle and posts!
As a homeschooler when someone puts down my education choice for my 3 children I just simply ask them if they can show me a public school that:
has their students consistently testing in the 97% on their stadardized testing,
starts teaching Latin in the 2nd grade,
has advanced math and chemistry for 4 graders,
allows gifted second graders to reach the 6th grade reading level,
has discussions about literature, and grammar with a PhD in English (Grandpa is my backup English teacher),
and can do all this by 1 pm everyday?
They say "No", I say, "Well, that's some of what we do at our school. So when the Public school can reach MY standard of education, we can talk about this again."
We meet every stereotype in her description, except for "trailer trash" – that last epithet would apply to the kids who go to the local public school down the road from us. This the same public high school that allowed a kid with a 1st grade reading level comprehension to graduate. My oldest teenage daughter is working on college algebra, has read Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter, and Poe's poems in English, learning a computer scripting language, reading The Origin of the Species as a supplement to her biology class, and this week is reading the Crucible of War on the French-Indian Wars for American history this semester. She's written 300 pages for a novel she is working on in her spare time. Not bad for a Christian fundamentalist gun owner with a housewife and multiple children living in an old house in the country, huh?
Do these liberals who make these dumb statements ever get out and actually observe the people they talk about so condescendingly? Do they ever observe what goes on in their public schools? We did, and that is why we home school.
I may have been rude, but I sent the following to Professor West:
>Dear Professor West,
>I would believe, if you told me, that you had written this article as a parody. Unfortunately, I think you're serious. If that >is so, then you are–there's no way to get around it–a fool and a fascist. I can think of no gentler way to put it.
>The public schools in this country once did a good job of educating young people. Some still do, but with the rise of >constuctivism and 'progressive' education, their effectiveness has dwindled. In too many instances indoctrination has >taken the place of education, and those with their wits about them want out. Fortunately they have the option of >homeschooling, and I don't think that's about to change.
>Sincerely,
>Bob Harper
and received the following in reply:
>>I will be out of the office beginning Monday January 4, 2010 and returning on January 10, 2010.
Inasmuch as this was sent on January 12th, I think it likely my little missive was not the only one to greet her upon her return
Hey now, Forest Gump was actually pretty damn smart…despite is apparent "idiot savant" disorder.
Unfortunately, with the next census around the corner and all the talk about stiff penalties and/or possible jail time for incomplete/inaccurate responses, your underground statement may become the norm and not the exception…there will be a rough road ahead for all of us "freedom thinking" Patriots.
And don't forget facts…
Being a former teacher at a Christian high school, I have had the opportunity to teach and observe several who had been home schooled through their elementary and middle school years. All but one of those kids were fabulous students: several graduated valedictorian, and most competed in the Academic Decathlon. Most were from large families, so their home lives were highly organized and the earlier education provided by their parents was superb, with lots of interaction. I have personally seen only one kid who did not come out of home schooling well; she was an only child, and so had no social skills; upon coming to high school, she immediately fell in with a bad crowd (yes we had a few of these in a Christian school) who took advantage of her naivete.
Bottom line: home schooling can be great, or it can be poor, depending on the parents' follow-through and the enrichment opportunities they provide.
Then there's this concept. The libs require the public schools to handle their kids. Not one of these parents is capable of dealing with their own children. None of these parents can think for themselves, let alone deal with a child. I mean kids! They ask so many questions, and you have to feed them, which would require cooking. Much better to have the schools raise the kids and deal with all that hassle. Parents are far to busy with important things. Self-absorbed, narcissistic, socially unadjusted, neurotic, interfering, ignorant, condescending people. Of course they can't handle a kid. They can't stand it that we can and do. Often multiple kids.
Subjecting your beloved children to public schooling in many/most districts is tantamount to child abuse!
I am their nightmare.
I am a white, conservative, Eastern Orthodox Christian and my children are homeschooled. On top of that, six of my nine children are adopted, the last two are African-American, long before “Blind Side” came out.
My two oldest children attended the government schools. Once they brought in the ACLU to sign up 16yo’s to protest the chief of police for arresting too many drunk drivers and protest the school not letting gangs wear their colors.
Once they brought in Dick Gregory and forced all of them to listen to him rant about how America has done nothing for the world except cram guns down peoples’ throats and that prayer is nothing because God no longer exists.
We are now engrossed in Latin and Greek language, music lessons from piano to violin, and of course classics from Dostoyevsky to Mark Twain (oh, the horror!)
Calculus, Trig and even Philosophy are commonplace.
Goodbye and good riddance to the public schrewls.
The automobile is a wonderful invention but any invention can be used for ill. One of them was the end of courtship done in the parlors of parents. Another is that it allowed individuals to separate and relocate far from family.
As a first-born American to a Pinoy family, as a child I experienced joys of an extended family, family fiestas, the respect of elders. Now as a grown former homeschool teacher I relish my nuclear family, each of my former "students" strong in their convictions, firm in faith, and caring, funny yet mature in their social interactions.
Great article by Ms. Lyman. I have observed several of my friends home schooled children. Without exception, the childrens far excel their peers and have gone on to great college, music and artisan oriented careers.
It is clear that on average the state of public education is a net destroyer of the human spirit.
The establishment is threatened by homeschooling, where kids might get some chrisitian oriented education. The establishment led clearly by the Obama administration wants to destroy the christian centric foundations that our country was founded on.
Many of my kids friends were home schooled. The article is completely 180 degrees wrong.
Bottom line the educational establishment cannot get these kids to thing "correctly".
What kind of sick people run the Education departments in this country?
My wife and I home-schooled both our sons back when homeschooling was not even on the radar for the left and it was a most exciting and rewarding adventure for us all. Anyone that upsets the applecart of convention or group-think is reviled and suspect of all sorts of things. We would not change this experience for anything! The left must be exposed as they constantly try and re-write history and shove it down the throats of public/fed school children….Just imagine what a non-issue the hoax Global Warming would have been if real science and empirical research were available in public/fed schools instead of this made-up pseudo science they all have been sold…
The examples of home schooled I know are all educated by highly educated parents some with grad.degrees. All these children went to college, some with scholarships. They interacted with other home schooled on group trips to museums and other educational activities. They were encouraged to participate in sports through local community centers or YMCA/ YWCA. Music and Art activities encouraged with other home schooled or privately trained.
Every one of these parents had to give up the second income but believed their responsibility did not end when the umbilical cord was cut.
I loved having my children with me and miss them dearly. Their young adulthood wasn't without the seductions this country has to offer. But my husband and I stayed available to help when they needed it in their time of rebellion and to gently point them to the direction they should go. We have always been a very close family and I thank God for that. I wish that times were simpler and it was acceptable for extended families to be apart of each others lives. I think that the nuclear family in America is being destroyed by cultural influences, our educational system and the acceptance of drugs as a norm.
It makes me grieve when I hear a parent say they cannot wait until their kids are out of the house and it seems to be the common mantra of most parents these days. The thing that runs through my mind when I hear this, I wonder how that makes the kid feel cause you know they hear it.
It is true as a culture we tend to think something is wrong with a guy who lives at home. For me it is only a problem when I see kids wasting their lives strung out on drugs living in mom's basement and I have seen plenty of that going on. Its funny because I always felt it was more acceptable if a young man has come from a foreign country. One of my friends in High School was from Lithuania and I never had a second thought about his living with his mom, in my mind I guess I thought it was 'old world' and it was respectful to her especially as a widow. There was no question in my mind he would ever abuse the situation.
America has lost its way in the destruction of the nuclear family. The article above is the perfect example of this attitude and that there is something wrong with a husband and wife who love God, want to have more than 1.3 children, make the choice to have less home to have more kids, and maybe want to home-school them. It all goes against what the elites idea of what they want for the common man/woman on the street. We are living in a civil war with those who want to define those values and it seems that the Progressives have the upper hand at this point. I pray to God the pendulum will swing and take us once again to embracing family values.
Sorry I went on and on, its late and I can get wordy. God bless you Mago! Keep your family values and pass them on.
Suppose the statist lady is on the mark with her stereotype of homeschoolers living in squaler (wha't's wrong with 900 sqft trailers it means less property taxes) why fault the parents and not the Federal Reserve and IRS, the two tools of our wealth redistribution system? Maybe if we got rid of our criminal fiat monetary system and returned to Constitutional money then homeschool families would be able to double even triple the size of their sardine cans. those living under tarps and dreams could afford a Motel 6.
That it has been the same ole thing since before the days of Jackson with the banking cartel expanding and contracting the money supply like a snake eating the weakest of mice.
Don't blame the homeschoolers blame those who didn't respect the words and concerns of Jackson and Jefferson blame the media for selling us criminal puppet stringed by banking cartel politicians.
The public schools have never done a good job in this country. The proof is in our past presidents. Wilson, Roosevelt , Kennedy, Johnson, Carter and OH bama ain't it really sunk low. If our public school systems had done well then about the time FDR was giving his day of infamy speech, the militia would have been surrounding DC to oust the socialist progressives. That didn't happen instead we fell for the WWII distraction.
If you think I'm all wrong well just remember I'm a former public skewl kid.
Best remark, IMO, is from Sara: “You should be more worried that this was ‘peer reviewed.’” What kind of a Christian-hater would let these assertions (some of them demonstrably false, such as those that discuss state standards) go to print?
Sometimes I feel like a German Jew on the eve of Kristallnacht.
My mother has 10 children, all of us homeschooled %100.
So that means that her work included:
-Lesson planning for 6-8 separate curriculum programs per year
-Organizing and scheduling the learning sessions and then grading the work.
-Managing the budget
-Making sure that the house is clean and runs smoothly (laundry is a job unto itself)
-Planning meals for 12 people
-Organizing transportation to basketball, soccer, drama clubs, 4H, baseball, and sometimes work(we would work odd jobs starting at 13 years old)
-And countless other things that do not fit in any category
All this while caring for the emotional and spiritual needs of 10 children/teens/young adults.
Before anybody besmirches my mother as "homebound and submissive", I will put her organizational skills, analytical skills, interpersonal skills and work ethic up against any female CEO in the world. And you would be foolish to bet on the CEO.
[...] Homeschoolers are WHAT? 2010 January 13 by kcduffy Breitbart has launched BigJournalism.com, after taking on BigHollywood and BigGovernment. I don’t get a lot of time to read there, but the post today about an article by an over-schooled, under-experienced elitist ignoramous really chaps my behind. I’m not going to link to the article itself, you can reach it from the post at BigJournalism called “Homeschoolers: Trailer-Park Denizens or Modern Heroes?“ [...]
I just want to concur with this opinion. My husband (not my partner or spouse) is a philosophy professor, and I am by profession a technology engineer. We home educated our older children, and are doing the same for our younger two. While we might use terms such as "distance learning" and "online group educational interaction" but it is still home education.
My husband teaches at several colleges and universities in our area, as he is a neo-Aristotelian and finds he actually makes more capitalistic lucre for taxation by having post-secondary schools as clients instead of direct employment by one university (Yes that means we pay our own health insurance). What Sara states is true not only about education majors and therefore troubling in itself, but also about a vast majority of young automatons with concentrations from Anthropology to Zoology. These little hothouse flowers, although of age, have their daddies and esp. their mommies send the mean, nasty philosophy professor emails complaining because he expects the alleged independent adults to spell properly and use good grammar and syntax on the papers he assigns! Several students a quarter send my husband protests that not only claim critical thinking, ethics and philosophy is "not really important" to a wide range of fields, but those such as engineers, computer techs, teachers, business people and physical therapists do not need to know anything about spelling or punctuation. The claim is therefore he should give them all a higher grade. My husband's best students are nursing, paralaw and law enforcement students. For whatever reason, they are down-to-earth and actually expect to learn, not grub.
Through contacts with other engineers and scientists, I know many parents in these professions change their schedules in order to accommodate their children's alternative educations. This includes parents working opposite shifts, telecommuting when possible, and applying for alternative funds to educate their children through think tanks, private funds for the gifted, forming co-ops, etc. It is more prevalent for people in these professions to say as little as possible about their educational choices for their children, as they don't want to lose scientific grants or jobs for not thinking correctly (see Ben Stein's "Expelled").
How did our older children do, BTW? They were both special needs, one severely. The one with severe handicaps reads at a post-secondary level and can perform algebra and geometry without difficulty. Despite severe handicaps this person is self-supporting. The other has a bachelor degree in general studies and earns a nice living. Home education does not produce perfect children, but it certainly produces those less likely to rely on the government for their daily bread. I was told by a public school teacher the one year our daughter went to public school that she was a "follower" without much academic talent and I should be prepared to send her to beauty school. This was a tenured teacher with years of classroom experience who taught 8 and 9 year olds. As for the son, educational experts wanted us to write him off and sign him up for disability at age 10.
From an oldie but goodie, RIGHT ON SARA!
Robin L. West, debunked.
Please, Ms. West, feel free to come to our home and experience homeschooling before casting all of us with such disparaging and broad strokes. Facts about our family: 1. We have eight children, only THREE by BIRTH. (We adopt severely abused children.) 2. Our oldest is attending seminary for Orthodox Christianity. 3. Our 2nd is on full scholarship for Aerospace Engineering/Classical Studies. 4. Our third, although only in our home 1 YEAR, is applying for colleges and has a hope that he never had before due to severe neglect and abuse. 5. Our youngest five are happy, healing and well. 7. Our zoned high school had 485 arrests for assault in one year. There are 3000 kids in the school and a police precient complete with probation office. 6. We live an extremely affluent neighborhood where the average home price is over $650k. 8. I am retired from a lucrative career with the intention of giving my children a better education with less trauma than is available in the public schools. 9. I am neither homebound nor submissive. My husband laughs at the very prospect. 10. Finally, you bet I would live under a tarp in a field or parking lot if that was what was necessary to provide my children with the best education I could give them.
We would NEVER, EVER look down our noses at those who make choices different from our own the way Ms. West has in her article. We will pray for you to feel less threatened by our differences! But then, you may prefer to not have people pray for you. Happily, we still have the freedom to pray as we choose and to educate our children as we wish.
For the record, the technical term for Ms. West’s argument is “full of crap.”
I think it comes from Thomas Aquinas.
And, for what it’s worth, we homeschooled our daughter for her final three years of high school. Among other things that gave her time to attend college classes, play in a blues band, and become the most popular writer in the state’s largest newspaper’s youth section.
From there she went on to graduate magna cum laude with special honors in philosophy from her undergraduate school and with less distinction (because of an active social life, I suspect) from a Tier I law school.
She’s now an Army officer, a paratrooper and a JAG (read Army lawyer).
My family boasts of two home schooled children…
The eldest does a marvelous job shifting the bell curve to the positive, (he wanted the last few years at a regular High School), participates in drama and academic arts, and is looking for a full ride from NM Tech so he can play with energetic materials, (explosives)…and he has the math and chemistry to do it…
The younger one is on a half-week in school, half-week home school, (they do that here), and has so many choices to go with. She invariably selects the more adult, more difficult things to challenge…
It hurts me to have my other, older kids hamstrung by all public educations…they are at least as clever and capable as the homeschoolers, but have to struggle against that roadblock…
Those of you reading this and evaluating this choice…if you can't completely commit to a homeschool program, please, please, please; get the materials, (look on eBay, you can usually snag them for much lower cost), and at least supplement their learning from the public schools with homeschooling right there at the kitchen table…
You will marvel at the amazing leap they will suddenly make in their education…
As an atheist i would just like to add that i strongly uphold the home-schoolers rights—i am a "Former Fundamentalist". but no one can deny the disaster that is public "education".
KUDOS to any and everyone who gets their children out from under their pernicious influence
[...] Lyman offers an excellent rebuttal at the website Big Journalism. This was written by Laura Wood. Posted on Wednesday, January 13, [...]
Robin L. West sounds like an idiot. I doubt that she received her education at home so I wonder what her excuse is?
Good stuff … make sure to look up the Code Pink stories over on Big Government this week … ties to Hamas etc.
Certainly, I would teach my children to proof read and spell check better than I did when posting my remarks!
Home school isn't for everyone and an opponent of it could find some horror stories that counter these wonderful stories. What it all about to me is freedom. The government does not have the right to decide our children's education. Formal education is overrated anyway. If you don't think so, look at the stupid things our highly educated president and congress are doing. High school drop-outs with some common sense would do better.
Oh. Wait. I get it. When kids are homeschooled, they sidestep the opportunity the left has to compel them to answer questions in the prescribed manner. And the left points fingers at us, so concerned about programmed minds and manipulated attitudes?
PS – sorry about the missed parenthetical marker up there.
HomeSchool Principal (i.e. Dad) here … six students in class … academic institution based in Calgary, AB
We drove across Canada/USA and back last Summer in our big van … no bus, sadly.
During trip my eldest son read Les Miserables, Pride & Prejudice (verdict 'yeugh'), Great Expectations, The Looming Tower, Animal Farm, Day in the Life of Ivan D. and others that I forget. He also started thinking/preparing for his science fair project featuring a river-based hydro generation system, following his award-winning nuclear energy project last year.
And you know what? He's an ordinary boy whom we think the world of.
Stick that in your radical, leftist, social science software model, Ms. Robin L. West.
To God be the Glory.
“A time is coming when people will go mad and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, “You are mad, you are not like us.”
– St Anthony the Great
Pretty much sums up the liberal elite…
I have to laugh at the ignorance and lack of research done by this "journalist"
I won't do his work for him, but will state that this CHRIST loving mother of three in Oklahoma, homeschooled her daughters for 18 years. One is living in Hawaii and is in upper management of a 5 star resort, another was a radio producer at the age of 20 for ABC in Manhattan and the third is finishing her degree is Psychology this year and plans to attend Nursing School at the age of 19. We homeschooled while traveling, running businesses and yes, even running for public office, twice!
I am a Massachusetts resident who was brought through the public education system. Being from a very poor family I was often subject to stereotyping, maltreatment and denied educational advances by teachers because I just so happened to live in the worst neighborhood in the community. It was an uphill struggle becuase every year I would find myself being placed into classes that I was too smart to be in and would become bored to the point of distraction.
It wasn't until high school that I had the opportunity to transfer into a neighboring school system where I flourished. I can still remember to this day the utterly surprised look on my teachers face when through casual conversation I told him where I lived. He in surpise stated "I know where you live and I would have never known. You are not they type of person I would expect to come from such a neighborhood." I could only reply that I understood but a persons economic status does not equate to their intelligence or potential.
I am a homeschooler and I have 5 kids, one income, and live in a double-wide. So self-disclosure over, I will say there is very good reason for liberals who favor government control to be frightened of homeschooling. If you want to get control of the thought-process of kids, what is the easiest way to do so? Pass one law, and millions of kids across this country are affected by that. Not even close to ideal would be private schools. This takes a lot more work because you have to go individually to each school and work to change policies. But individual families are nearly impossible to regulate. There really isn't any way to go door-to-door regulating and controlling what happens in every single family. Even home visits are enough, because a family can do what it wants once the government watchers leave. And that is what terrifies liberals!!!! HORRORS!
Update:
I received a quite thoughtful reply from Dean West, mainly having to do with the legalities of the situation. On a cursory reading, it does not appear that she is quite as hostile as the excerpt makes her appear, though she does argue for some regulation of homeschooling. I will try to digest it and add a further comment as time permits.
Why would you invite someone from the left to comment? You enjoy reading profanities and name calling posts? Just asking…
WOW!!!!!! Just WOW!!!!
Wow! I should have figured that one out….It didn't even enter my mind.
I would like to meet Ms. West and introduce her to my family. Let's see: there is my husband, who has a degree from a top-10 university but has given up his career to homeschool our children. There's my oldest son, who started college at 16 and has made the honor roll every quarter. There's my second son, who made hundreds of dollars last year taking broken laptops (some of which wouldn't even boot), repairing them, and selling them on eBay. (Lack of job skills, huh!). The two younger boys are bright, lively, and very curious. And then there's me: I'm a Ph.D. student. So much for shattering stereotypes, eh?
But I bet she would ignore all of that and call us patriarchal religious (yes, we are, thank you) idiots (ha!) compelled (not!) by their church to have large families.
My children are just that….MINE. If I want to teach them how to reed, right and do rithmatic my way, then it's none of your business or that of any politician. You look for guarantees to include something you feel is necessary to raise a complete and able child. My guarantee is that my children will not be sucking on the nipple of a nation for the next 40 years.
I was home-schooled for 11th and 12th grade here in upstate NY. I learned more in the 6 months it took me to complete those two grades, taught by my own mother, than I did in the first two years I attended high school in a suburb of Albany at a highly rated school.
Being home schooled did something else for me too: it got me off of the drugs I was doing (Pot, Acid, Mescaline) by virtue of the fact that I was getting said drug at the school. I was able to learn at my own pace which as you can tell was at least 4 times that of public school, but I was only "in school" during those 6 months for 3 hours a day. You can do the math.
I learned About the constitution in depth while being home schooled. I wish my former fellow students could say the same, the world would be a bit different if that were the case.
The school system made it extremely tough on us, Idiotic lesson requirements… one example was needing to take some sort of gym class. I eventually solved that by lifting weights once in a while. After all was said and done I went back to the school once, to take my SAT's. Beat 95% of the school on that one and was able to bring my score around to the teachers who thought I was better off suspended than in school. But then, then the school did something unforgivable to me. I'd applied to a few colleges, got accepted, and all I needed was a transcript sent out from my high school in a sealed envelope, I suppose so I wouldn't alter it. Went to the school multiple times trying to get them to do it and each time they put it together, put it in the outbox at the corner of the desk, and never mailed it. I missed out on going away for school–rather than attending the local community college–because of that worthless overpaid school, and I can only assume because they didn't like the fact that I was home schooled.
My wife and I have been home schooling our children since 1998. Our oldest graduated with honors from an accredited university and is now working as an accountant at a large firm. The next is in college and was accepted into an honor society and maintains a 3.7 GPA. The next just began college last semester and is doing very well. We have one more at home who tried public school, was one of the top students in all of her classes, but decided to come home because of the insane homework load that left her little time for family, friends, leisure or enhancing her talents. Our oldest scored a 24 on the ACT, the next a 21 and our third a 22. Admittedly, they could have scored higher, but they scored the same or higher than the national average of the others who took the same test, and well enough to be accepted into college. We live in a 3,300 sq ft house in an upper middle class neighborhood. All of our children are well-liked, respected, and have no problems "socializing" with anyone (except drug users, alcoholics, criminals, etc). I make close to six figures a year. So much for Ms Wests observations.
I Agree!!
I had to write a post about this, having been raised miles and miles from even flyover country — It is NOT humiliating to be able to take care of one’s own life and child’s life, to prepare a meal to feed the people you love, to tuck them in at night knowing you’ll be back at it again in the morning because it is REAL life, not life lived in theory and postcards.
What more is there really to add? We are a homeschooling family living on one income. My wife is teaching our 3 boys and she is far from being uneducated….2 bachelor's and 1 master's degrees. She teaches piano to over 15 students weekly and gives time to volunteer work that our boys participate in. Our middle son finished his 1st grade curriculum by Christmas and we are now supplementing his education with further reading. Our youngest wouldn't have been allowed into Kindergarten by the public school because of age. He is reading on his own and will complete his studies this year. We believe in the ability to CHOOSE for one's self. We CHOOSE one income and CHOOSE limiting our lifestyle so we can CHOOSE the ability to prepare our children to be contributors to society…not sycophants being produced in mass numbers but the public indoctrination system.
That is a sound argument….
Gosh, I'm so surprised to know that my hundreds of acres is really a trailer park! But where are the trailers? And just try to get my wife to stay home, barefoot and pregnant: she's the vice president of a public college. My unemployable homeschooled kids are all grown: Air Force master sergeant, deputy sheriff, public school teacher. research chemist, and computer programmer. They will be so surprised to read about their poor skills. That homeschooling was such a waste of time. We never had all the fun stuff that city folks get to do: no drugs, no gangs, no unwed mothers. Oh, there were shootings…how can anyone live with out some venison in the freezer? Yep, that writer really nailed us down, bunch of illiterate redneck homeschoolers. Think of all the time we wasted at college graduations! 12 of the boring things, including the master's and the doctorate. Sily us. Gotta run, I think my immaginary trailer is double parked.
The Real …Real Estate Boom!..Wanna buy an RV now?
Of course. Only a bitter leftist could POSSIBLY look at a man and woman who care for each other, agree on certain roles in their marriage, fulfill those roles to the best of their ability, and love kids so much they choose to birth as many as they can, as a bad thing. This is true ignorance and blatant bigotry at its ugly best. I agree with you. Most of the homeschooled children I know are bright, mature, capable and well-adjusted, as well as respectful and curious. I'd be willing to bet a good bit of my savings that a study would find upwards of 90% of homeschool kids fit that description. Which is exactly why the left hates homeschool, because raising smart kids in your own home is not fair to the millions of other kids forced (by our governments refusal to even consider school-choice) to flounder in a truly atrocious public school system and end up with sub-par education.
Well said by all…
As a mother of two homeschooled children I feel the need to sound off. My boys, now in high school, have been homeschooled their entire lives. For the record, we live in a 7,000 square foot home, have two acres and a pool, I am gainfully employed and my husband (a degreed teacher) coordinates our children's education. My children have never visited a trailer park or lived in a tent, but they do take part in competitive sports, lead in community activities, and perform way above average on standardized tests. They can also carry on an intelligent conversation with adults, something which seemingly is a challenge for many public school educated adults. They also have the ability to recognize elitist blather and thinly veiled attempts to gain further control of our lives. If only more US kids were taught to recognize the assault on their liberty we might not be facing such a onslaught these days.
"Christ loving?" Well, there ya go. Can't allow your kid to be saturated in THAT kind of thinking, don't ya know. How are they ever going to learn about fisting in a home like that?
It's kind of ironic because the left is always chiding us peons to live less extravagantly to reduce our carbon footprints. I'd think 1000 sq. ft. family homes would be the ideal.
Of course, that wouldn't apply to important people like Ms. West.
Home schoolers are great, at least the many I have met. The children tend to be mature and helpful and social unlike the little weirdos in most of our public schools. It is a natural right of parents to educate, not big bro government. Also, not all of them are religious there are secular folks who have caught on to the public school money pit and its inability to inculcate virtue and any serious depth of learning. Big families are a blast and tend to be very creative because of their large size and they make do with less unlike the money guzzling gov funded crowd. What is said is one child families where the parents could have had more or adopted but chose more materialistic junk instead. These siblingless kids tend to absorb the idiosyncrasies of both parents in the worst ways or become selfish tyrants, too pampered. How many times have we had difficulties with someone and some proffers the excuse "He is an only child", "Oh" we reply, i.e that explains a lot.
I have to give my public school experience (went to 8 of them) credit for teaching me early on how life would be like in
progressive ameriKa. The first powerful lesson came in 1st grade when the teacher had left the room. I had felt the irresistible to stand on top of my desk ( maybe I was a photographer in the making and looking for the right shot) but I stood up and just as soon as I did, all the rest of the herd mooed in unision, "ooh you're in TROUBLE!!!" I continued standing up till the teacher came back, she yelled and made me sit down and I could tell the herd wasn't happy that nothing more had been done to me. ameriKa is full of spy on your neighbor types that love to run to authority and tattle. lesson #1 shoot, shovel and HUSH!!!
The Home School Legal Defense Organization (HSLDA) responds to Ms. West here:
http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/201001050.asp
Can anyone answer this for me? Why can a union extend beyond the boundary of its company to another state or industry when the counterpoint of the unions, management, cannot even meet and discuss their mutual business?
I believe that national unions never represent the employees or students at a particular school and apply standards that are set by extreme liberal groups that make up the unions upper echelon. As long as the public school system is unionized we will never have a good system. My daughter is a school teacher and she is quitting because of the bureaucracy and lack of concern for the welfare of the students. If you are old enough you can remember certain teachers in yur youth that made a difference in your life. Those kind of teachers are very rare now.
In the words of my 8 year old… "Yeah, what you said!"
I have never ever before seen such a well-deserved walloping delivered to a perfect idiot wielding her pen to attack a whole class of people she doesn't actually know but viscerally dislikes. How pathetic that she herself was not home-schooled. No wonder her thinking is so warped and distorted. And completely uninformed. Oh. Why am I surprised? Look at her pitiful creds. I am so blown away by the responses written here that I can hardly marshall my own words. These comments bespeak the heart of Americans everywhere, something and someone Ms West knows nothing about. Stupid woman. Does she think the heartland…..where she'd be a stranger…knows or cares that she exists? Nada. She is of that ilk that thinks if she says it, it must be so. Such ignorance should force her to wear a sign that says: "I am unbelievably dumb."
Speaking as someone who has been homeschooled, I am appalled at Ms. West generalization of people who were or are homeschooled. I feel personally many of the assumptions taken on by those who know very little little about the fundamental reason or goal for being home taught is widely misunderstood. For my family, my mom had a bad experience with my oldest sister when she was in kindergarden and thus this led her to decide she wanted to homeschool her, myself, my brother and younger sister. This argument has already been proven ignorant on her part because my parents only had four children and not the "eight" Ms. West highlights in her article just to make her point all the more dramatic. Believe me, I'm not a proponant of homeschooling with every family and not even for most people I know. It takes time, dedication and lot of independent learning at times on the part of the student. It is a personal choice made by the family and people shouldn't rush to judgement. After all, what harm is it doing to the others who aren't homeschooled? Whatever happen to families deciding how to raise their own children? Oh, I forgot, thats the governments job! Yeah right.
The article by Ms. West is mean-spirited and uninformed. My wife, who is a college educated stay-at-home mom, homeschools our 3 children. I am a board certified CPA who works for a large corporation. My eldest child frequently tests in the 90th percentile in several subjects. My second child, who has a slight learning disability, receives therapy that we pay for out of our own pockets (the public school system didn't consider him severe enough to cover such therapy). On top of that, the schools are really crappy in our area. Lots of violence, budget cuts, etc. All in all, I think homeschooling is the best fit for our family – since my wife wants to do it and we can afford for her not to work. In fact, Ms. West's characterization of us as illiterate, lower-class rednecks is ironic since if I made less money or was less successful, then my wife would have to work and therefore couldn't homeschool.
Home scools probably did not require their students to watch the televised speech from Barack Husein Obama (BHO)
good for them
I have a degree, worked for over 20 years then had my children. Let's just say being at home and homeEDUCATING my daughters is my retirement package.
I can only pray that Ms.West has the opportunity to view all the responses on this page and realize how silly and uninformed her argument shapes up to be. I can't even imagine that she interviewed ONE adult who had been homeschooled as a child or spent ANY time in even ONE homeschool home. I'd be curious to see how she would respond to these posts here today.
Isn't it strange how you never, ever find a creep like Robin L. West holding down anything like a real job. They are always in some sort of protected employment situation funded by your tax dollars. Now that the country is bankrupt, I think it's way past time that people like her finally have to find jobs consonant with their marketable skills like learning how to ask, "Do you want fries with that?".
I spent six years as a substitute teacher in a medium-sized city school district. There is fascinating phenomenon I would like to tell you about. When I go into a class room there are usually three groups of kids. One group is there specifically to give me a hard time. Another is just there because they have to be. These are the kids that sleep or listen to their Ipods. The last group would be the well brought up kids whose parents take part in their education. I hand out the work the teacher left and try to encourage the kids to do it. The well brought up ones will do the work and meekly walk over and hand their work to the "troublesome" kids for them to copy. It happens all the time. The "troublesome" kids probably wouldn't even speak to the scholars otherwise. I have talked to the "well brought up" kids many times and asked them why. They say they are "helping out fellow classmates." This is what's coming in this country, a bunch of people who can't think for themselves and are more than willing to be used.
I had to split this up. Sorry.
I had another interesting conversation in this regard. A Chem teacher asked me to administer a test to his class. I did, and I paid attention to and recorded the names of the people who cheated. The last two girls brought their tests up. One had cheated off the other. I told the cheater I was going to report her. She called me a "snitch". She hurled that word at me as if she were calling me a pediphile or child killer. She was about to go into the Air Force ROTC in a few months.
Last part, I promise.
The copyee and I began to talk. I told her I would stay with her after school and help her, I would give her my blood if she ever needed it, but there was no way in heck I would ever let her cheat off me. They couldn't even see where I was coming from; they both thought cheating was nothing. I asked the Air Force one: what about self respect, what about honor? She didn't seem to be desposed to listen, but the copyee was. She said I had a "different morality" from the other girl. Ha! I had morality; they didn't! I kept quiet. It was more important to get them thinking. Sorry to go on so much. If I had a kid, there would be no way that kid would go to public school.
Woa.
Hold your horses.
Not sure what you found so agitating about the suggestion that individuals who are not participating in the public system with – what, about 90% of the rest of students? – might be lost when they get out into the real world without being armed with the same tools as the others.
Actually, reading writing and basic arithmetic ARE liberal arts. Whats the big deal here?
Because in America workers/laborers have a Constitutional Right to organize.
Don't know who Bee is…..but wanting something better than being taught by possibly unqualified 'teachers' seems to be an issue that should cross party lines, no?
By spelling 'read' as 'reed', you have me wondering about your capabilities as a teacher.
Now, let's not make promises or guarantees we might not be able to keep.
If you were to visit Dr. Stan Monteith in his book, The Brotherhood of Darkness, he would bring you to the conclusion that the highest echelons of the world who control us in the states as much they did the old Soviets are Luciferians or Satanists. I choose to believe him. For a long time they have had a powerful grip on information. They've controlled our newspapers, mags, TV and most importantly for them, our educational system. They have people running around believing this young Earth is billions of years old and that we evolved from rocks. Time for the Devil worshippers to take a break and let up on the government monoply in education, to let free enterprise and the hidden hand take the helm. Books can be had cheap, community colleges are everywhere and they would be alot cheaper too if you took the government money away and all those billions freed up (education comes in second to Defense in spending) would make for more private schools and internet/mail order programs.
Question: Degree and intelligence aside. How does this divorcee support herself and her kids if she is homeschooling the kids and not working?
And where in the Constitution does it say that, my public-school educated
friend?
(Oooooh, this oughta be good….)
"are their any guarantees that liberal principles, political correctness and diversity will be appropriately included in the curriculum?"
Please tell me this is parody. No real person could actually write something like that and mean it, could they?
By the way, it's "there," not "their," welfare-school product.
There is no way to get out of the national debt. There wouldn't be in be any money in the economy and we still would not be able to cover the interest.
checkout http://www.devvy.com
Sarah Palin doesn't hold a candle to her.
We adopted our 2 beautiful children from Ethiopia and we homeschool our children. We brought them to America when they were 2 years old and 6 months old. The reason we home school is our school district was bound and determined to put our children in Special Needs classes because they were born in poverty in Ethiopia, never mind about what happened in America. We decided to homeschool and we couldn't be any happier doing it. Our now 5 year old son has a aptitude with Math, Science, loves to build things and can recite the Lord Prayer and the Nicene Creed. Our now 4 year old daughter can read at a 1st grade level and is learning the Lord's Prayer. We don't want our kids learning to sing songs about Obama or learning the in and outs of "fisting". We just want them to know the love of God, the difference between right and wrong and the knowledge needed to become happy, moral and productive people in society.
Well, time to enter into the fray. Liberal. Voted for the current President and thank God every day that the last idiot is out of office. And we homeschool. Why? Because our children are adopted from China and where we live (an hour outside of Minneapolis) the atmosphere in public schools towards anyone who is not pale, blond and looks like an extra in "The Sound Of Music" is very racist,
As a parent, our obligations are to give our kids the best, safest, healthiest environment to grow and thrive. I was totally against it and was dragged into it by my wife. Which again proves that she is the more intelligent half of the team. The girls are learning far more and far better then if they were in the local cauldron of moronic hayseeds.
We DO have a sense of humor about it though when we attend homeschooling conferences and other large venues for sharing of resources for h.s. families. Because while albeit a small small percentage of this group, there ARE some families that fall into the broad stereotype. One family we know has nine children and is building "an army for God". The children are also on something called The Haleluiah Diet which they learned about at bible study. Since they've been on the diet, one child has been hospitalized for anemia and another for rickets. I kid you not.
other family (of eight) tests their blood every 72 hours because at bible study they were told that elevated acid levels in the blood cause cancer. They also have their children on unpasteurized goats milk because one of the "health advisors" at the bible study (he works at an oil refinery in South St. Paul) told them too. They have to buy it on the black market and one child was NOT hospitalized but kept in their barn (they've since moved into a windowless shed to await the apocolypse) and treated with herbal balms. I looked up what Hallie had: it's indiginous to tribes people of the African plain
First off, to answer your original question, no. There is no test required of home school parents. Each state had different requirements that must be met in order to home school. For example, in VA, one must hold at least a high school diploma or GED to file a notice of intent.
To answer your second question, no. There are no gaurantees that the liberal principals that you state have to be covered. The parent may choose any curriculum they choose to teach their children. Most states require some kind of proof at the end of the school year that progress has been made. Again, this is different from state to state. The main point here from the side of most homeschooling parents, this is why we choose to keep our children at home. We fervently disagree with many liberal principals that are taught in the public schools. I don't want my children learning about sex in kindergarten or that Darwin's theory of evolution is the only scientific theory available.
Now, before you think that parents with just a high school diploma are failing this countries children I ask you to look at this INDEPENDENT study of homeschoolers.
http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/ray2009/default.a...
I pulled the following paragraph as a summary of the study.
Surveying 11,739 homeschooling students and their families from all 50 states through 15 independent testing services, Homeschool Progress Report 2009: Academic Achievement and Demographics is the most comprehensive study of homeschool academic achievement to date. The results support the large existing body of research on homeschool academic achievement and show homeschoolers, on average, scoring 37 percentile points above public school students on standardized achievement tests. The study also found that the achievement gaps common to public schools were practically insignificant in the homeschool community. Conducted by Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute
Lastly, Mr. Steel's original question did not seem to be asked to be rude. It seemed to be asked to find out some information that he did not understand. Let's cut him a break and answer it for him. His opinion of "Time really look closely at this home schooling issue." may be ignorant but getting mad is not going to change anyone's mind. Trust me when I say, I see red when people question my right to raise my children. However, Mr. Steel seems to be trying to look closely at him himself.
Now, Mr. Steel. Watch yourself. Jim was being SARCASTIC. You may not believe that we are capable of it. But we are. Look at that post again. Jim is a highly intelligent guy that you angered. Watch yourself.
Get those pesky homeschoolers back in the government cages! BACK! BACK! I SAY!
Sorry Government robot, we've already broke out! It's wonderful! Freedom at last from the yucky program that those government nobodies try to force on our children! We are homeschoolers. My children are all high achievers who are going to universities on full scholarships and making A's.
It's a good life. Families that learn together, grow together, and stay together!
By the way we sold the tarp, we now live in a 4,000 square foot home. We managed with God's help and no government aid. I kind of miss that old tarp in the Walmart parking lot. HA!HA!HA! That comment was such an over exaggeration that it made this whole "journalistic" piece quite laughable. She must be a public school graduate.
I went to school and church with a girl who got picked on in school to the point that her parents decided to homeschool all of their 4 children. Her father worked for the Secret Service for as long as I've known him- 20 years or so. His daughter now works for the Federal Government- I've been told she works for the Secret Service but, I can't confirm it. Poor, untrained people living in tents, indeed!
She wants to talk lack of job skills?
<– state educated English major
Does anyone need a writer? Perhaps an editor? Oh, newspapers are failing, are they? Great. If anyone needs me, I'll be back in school.
By the time they get to college they'll be ready for the hippie profs and their BS. It may take a year or so to find the College Republicans/Libertarians/Conservatives, but they'll find support. Check this out before they go: http://www.thefire.org/ You'll have a good idea of what to expect (like "free speech zones") and how to deal with it.
Congratulations, Kyle. Don't think much of your politics, but hey, it's America.( Every time my Medicare premium increases, I'll remember to thank you.) But your parenting skills are spot on. You are soundly contributing to the much needed improvement of the American product: her kids. I thank you for it. Oh, and (wink), congratulations on your superior choice in a wife!
I love reading the self-owning comments the Leftist anti-home school crowd put out on a regular basis.
I'm retired military and have home schooled my two children for the last 3 years. I've been an atheist my entire life, so my motivation for choosing home schooling for my children isn't religious. It was simply the fact I wish my children to be successful, that education is the key to that success, and because the public schools repeatedly proved themselves to be incompetent to provide even a marginal education, not to mention being a safety hazard with their utter lack of discipline.
Home schooling takes only a small amount of my time, yet my children are performing well above their peers in every subject their peers attend in school, not to mention subjects the local school system doesn't even offer, such as World History, Geography, and Spanish. While my son's friend are reading "Where the Red Fern Grows" this year, he's reading Tacitus, Voltaire, Gibbon, and Cervantes. He could easily pass the final exam or CLEP test in a half-dozen college freshmen courses. My eleven year old daughter is doing high school level Algebra and is a prodigy at playing the piano. Both are fluent in Spanish and my son is halfway through Wheelock's Latin.
As for "job skills", both are extraordinarily computer literate for their age and very skilled in the entire MS Office suite, thanks to a couple of online courses they've taken, and could probably do well if they took the test for MS Solution Developer. My daughter can type 50 WPM. My son isn't as handy on the keyboard (I tested him at 39 WPM), but he can drive, use a jigsaw, chainsaw, and grinder, and can kill a deer with a 30.06 from 300 yards ( a skill that might prove extremely useful when a few more years of deficit spending collapses the economy).
But, then again, I'm a dumbass redneck from Louisiana, "flyover country", so what do I know?
As a former government school teacher now home schooling my children, I'm tired of having to constantly justify my family's decisions to these small minded morons. Our three oldest children were already taking college classes by the time they were fifteen. I have no doubts that our three youngest will follow in their footsteps. All except our youngest play multiple musical instruments and speak at least one foreign language (not counting Latin)
Each of them has received opportunities and experiences they never would have gotten in a government school.
You had me until you said Luciferian.
They're teaching kids in school to sing songs about Obama? Please.
[...] Georgetown Law professor Robin West’s attack on home-schoolers as ignorant trailer trash in delightful form. Perhaps most disturbing about West’s hit piece is that it’s published in a scholarly [...]
She reminds me of it every chance she has:)
The most telling paragraph of this liberal hit piece is toward the end. West quotes Robert Reich "…to protect the children’s
interest in both acquiring the necessary skills for active, autonomous, and responsible citizenship in adulthood, and in being exposed to diverse and more liberal ways of life."
The underlying problem with homeschooling seems to be that it allows the parents to protect their children from the dangers of liberalism, and that is an unpardonable sin. If children are cut off from the main indoctrination facility of the statist left, then the leftward march toward socialism might be thwarted.
In all honesty, I only skimmed this screed. Most of the time when I read papers like this, I have a overwhelming urge to take a shower. This stuff is not only wrong, anti-intellectual, and bad for our country, it is evil. Pure evil in it's truest form. We cannot compromise with this stuff, we must fight it with argument and organize to ostracize it from our public sphere. Perhaps we should require all of our public leaders to be graduates of Hillsdale?
How about those children from large welfare families in government assisted housing receiving their education in the street, now there is a legitimate concern for these busybodies.
The current public school system is a remnant of the industrial age. The only other place with a similar social setting is a prison system. In the information age, the student can pick the best of breed teacher that connects with their way of thinking in whatever subject matter they want to study. The homeschoolers represent version 1.0 of the future of education. Of course the obsolete public school system will fight it tooth and nail, and just like the buggy whip manufacturers, they will lose out to technological progress. Just like newspapers and magazines the NEA will eventually be tossed into the dustbin of history. That is what they fear and that is why they hate homeschoolers.
Trailer park trash or modern heroes? How about a third option, you outside-of-the-box-thinking morons? Maybe they're smarter than all of those who think a perfect society can be created when the state creates, in it's mind, the submissive, lobotomized, designer citizens. In my world, submissive, lobotomized citizens have other names like Obama-voters, idiots, droolers, career welfare recipients, Demmunists, NAZIs, etc. All of the brightest kids I ever see seldom come from the Democrat (They've controlled funding to it for 60 years running) indoctrination system. The person at the head of the classroom dictates the politics of the future, these days, unfortunately.
Boy this one touched a nerve.
Owned one for three years and love it.
"Few, if any job skills"?
Ever hear of trades, you pointy-headed paper shuffler? Or do you think the plumbing and electricity in your house, and the engine of your car, run on magic?
I've learned skills that keep me out of your system and its SSN's, W-4s, 1040s and all of the other dreck that good little servants are supposed to abide by. Skills that allow me to charge intellectuals like you exorbitant fees, if I so desired. And you'd pay them, because you are helpless outside your box.
Was he a member of "aids with AIDS"?
This just shows how ill-educated this woman is! I'm 80 and scheduled for a Tea Party and I'm excited!! Deliver me from ignorant elites. They are really boring. (I told my kids there was no such word as bored and to find a book.)
Oh, my gosh. Can you say PREJUDICE????
The liberals require that we accept the "gay lifestyle" but not other "lifestyles"? Is it because they feel that people can't help being gay? Or that such people have a right to make personal choices about how they live? If so, then may I say that I was compelled to educate my children myself? I looked at my growing hoard of toddlers I had four kids – shocking, I know) and I just HAD to keep them home. But then again, if I'd had a choice, I'd have chosen to keep them home.
And I passed my pitiful stay-at-home skills along to my kids: all are artists of different sorts, four BAs, one MBA – and all are musicians. The two married kids own their own homes – one is now buying a medical practice. One kid is in South America, one has been to Russia and Finland; all have been to England and France. One to Wales and Japan. Three of them speak foreign languages – at least one. Two own their own businesses. You could do business with any one of them and find him or her bright, quick minded and honest as the day is long.
Their shortcomings: they aren't on the dole (a disappointment, I know, to progressives), they aren't helpless, they aren't in counseling, they aren't in favor of healthcare reform, they don't believe that somebody else should be responsible for their lives. Sorry.
I rounded out their education by allowing them to go to High School—but they cherry-picked their classes, choosing only those that were interesting and taught by teachers with high recommendations. They took AP classes. They had great fun. None of them graduated. Some of them simply started university a little early. They had friends – they are even to this day socially active—funny, interested, fond of their fellow men.
What strikes me as I read here is how sad and isolated liberals always sound.
And me? My personal life, which I have been so terribly deprived of all these years (unbeknownst to me), has—since my kids are all independent now and living their own lives— come rushing back with a vengeance. Not only am I doing everything I "could have" been doing, I'm doing it with more maturity, more wisdom, more experience – it's all better than it would have been if I'd jumped in as the young, self-centered, self-important intellectual I was in college. I am a real person now, not made of thin, harsh wood, no longer ignorant where true human connection is concerned – and powerful in my own sphere: in other words, I now have some real chance of doing good in the world.
Well it just goes to show you … 2 million rednecks, AND their kids, AND all their family, … Homeschooled Jesus People trailer trash in flyover country ?
The only thing the original "journal" article didn't throw in was dueling banjos, and shooting evil rednecks in the woods with Bows and arrows..
Sitting here on the backside of the Berkeley Hills, next to UC Berkeley, on of the two great "Public Ivy's" in the Nation the other being RedNeckian University of Virginia …
…it's looking pretty funny. Some of my wife's best classical are all homeschooled. The ones she frequently cuts … the public school students … and we live in the Best Public Grade School and Public High School District in the State of CA.
As far as the idiots and idealogues, pseudo intellectuals that think home schooling is for Bible Bangers with Hair buns who live in a 1930's subculture … The words of Heinlien come to mind … no not the stuff about specialization is for insects … No, responding to the idealogues – "Never try to teach a pig to sing, it wastes your time and it just annoys the pig"
Who says she's not working? I know several single parents who work and homeschool. Some work from home, some work outside the home. It's not easy, but it's important to them and they make it work.
Well it looks like Izzy Lyman knows of what she writes about
The Homeschooling Revolution.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2UZ46JECINGMU/ref=c...
Gotta agree with Aharris. I think these Socialist Utopians have their heads so far in the clouds they think we'll all just follow them merrily along.
What we need our guns for are not the dopey Utopians, but their handout crowd which is going to steal everything that isn't nailed down or protected when they find their government IOU's don't count for much.
What struck me the most was how revolted the writer was by the thought of anyone living in a "1000 square foot house". Once again, another liberal thinks they are expressing logic and compassion when they are really only illuminating how elitist, bigoted, and far-removed from the mainstream of real American culture they are. Watching the reports from Haiti today I can only imagine how many "large" families there are there at this moment who would give anything for the "low-brow" comfort of a 1000 sq.foot home.
Perfessers like Mizz West (for shame, Georgetown!) reinforce the truth that being liberal means never having to actually do your homework.
#1 always gets me (I say always because it's a common argument). We send people home with babies all the time from hospitals – never to see them again until they hit age 5 and start kindergarten. I've read in a few places that most abuse that leads to severe injury or death in children occurs under the age of 4. So unless Ms. West is going to suggest that we send social workers into everyone's home on a regular basis to check on the babies (which she'd probably support in a heartbeat, come to think of it), the argument that people keep their kids home so they can beat them is kind of ridiculous.
The homeschoolers I knew best were wiccans – an ex teacher and an ex-navy guy turned consultant – who wanted their kids to learn more than was available in their local school system.
It never fails. Homeschoolers are either painted as uneducated, religious loonies who keep their children locked up without any access to the outside world, or elites who have been given an unfair opportunity that parents of poor children cannot hope for.
The truth? Homeschoolers are such a diverse group who educate their children in so many different ways and for so many different reasons that we defy the neat little groupings that liberals like to put everyone into. And that just irritates the heck out of them.
FWIW, there's no statistical correlation between student success and teacher certification.
The Hive? Again….you lost me.
But, I do understand the need to ensure the next generation is well educated.
Well, actually, I went to a private school.
I think it's covered in the constitutional right to free association.
And, you probably should have used a semi-colon rather than a comma before your final thought in the sentence.
We can both play Ms. Crabapple as much as you like.
And, again, I went to private school.
It's great to know that you took the time to travel and spend that precious time w/ your kids. I have met others who homeschooled for other-than-religious reasons. In all the situations I am personally familiar with the homeschooled kids have higher confidence levels, greater flexibility, and have wonderful social skills.
My husband teaches highschool English and I taught Special Ed for a time. I have seen kids who would have qualified for special ed in the public schools do wonderfully in a homeschool setting. Some of these kids would have been socially destroyed in a public school setting.
No real person cares about the future of American children?
[...] Continue reading this story HERE [...]
Ummm….you aren't making a great case for home schooling by siting that some states only require a GED.
You've piqued my interest: What other scientific theories of evolution should be taught?
So, you are siting a study conducted by home study advocacy group, published on the website of the Home School Legal Defense Association as your reference for the superiority of homeschooling?
Let me ask you: What kind of stock do you put in a report saying that the stimulus package is creating thousands of jobs, when the report is published by the DNC or the Obama administration?
Probably not much.
I'm ignorant because I believe that some parents who have limited intellect, ability or education may not be fit to provide the educational needs their children will require to be functional members of society?
I should watch myself because some homeschooler is offended that I believe some parents are NOT qualified to be teachers?
Clearly, Mr. Angel, your understanding of sarcasm is that which should be questioned.
Frankly, I fail to understand how questioning an individuals ability to teach (when said individual may have no training, capacity or ability) children is an infringement on one's right to raise them?
Impressive. She can work AND teach her kids for 7 or so hours a day.
I did noticed that while you ask who says she's NOT working….no one says she IS working.
You answered that like a true Obamite.
I think I know what the real bee in Ms. West's bonnett is . . .she is angry that home schooled children are playing within a game that the left has set up–the progressive education system—and they are obliterating their public school counterparts. They are earning top achievements, picking off spelling championships, earning scholorships in large percentages, and becoming the next wave of truelly free people, in word, thought, and deed.
The only person the statist/progressive wants to destroy is the person who is educated and free. A free and educated mind leads to a populous that can never be made into slaves, and the progressives simply can't let that happen!
Oh OK….the DRONES (liberals) are worker bees that serve the Queen (Arianna at the HufPo) in a slavish, blind and obedient fashion, don't think for themselves and drink Kook-Aid the way I drink beer… Gotta go Pard, Nice talkin' to ya…
I'm a little concerned about your underatanding of "well educated"
My understanding of well educated is predicated on the belief that a basic education provides and individual with a minimum capacity to function productively in society. Maybe a difference in interpretation of an individual's productivity is what is causing your concern about my 'understanding' of well educated?
Take care, Pard.
How has this been studied? I mean, has it been tested in an apples-to-apples comparison in a classroom? Credentialing is a process that teaches methods for being effective in a classroom. It's more than just passing courses, it's geared toward preparing a teacher for the classroom. When I taught in private school a lot of the un-credentialed teachers had their emergency credentials but no practical experience and no training.
Now, if we're talking about a homeschool situation, that's totally different. That's generally not a 30+ kid classroom situation, but rather a small group of kids who are being taught by people who are really invested in their success. Totally different situation and if that's what the stats are based on, then I'd agree.
Thanks for the link. I'll be sure to check it out.
'upscale RV resort'
Isn't that like a double oxymoron or something?
.
ARM YOURSELVES WITH THE FACTS
Republicans yearly earn 65% more college degrees than liberals do, both men and women, and this has been true since 1955 when first tracked, and the gap has remained constant. Republicans also earn more, pay more taxes, are less likely to cheat on taxes, are more tolerant of others, and give more to charity.
In Fact, the education and earnings gap is so large that, if democrats could just keep even with Republicans, there would be no national debt and virtually no social problems and poverty.
Yes, it's true. It's not even counter intuitive — it's obvious. Why else do Democrats need more welfare, food stamps, and public housing, and be soft on crime? Our prisons aren't full of evangelicals and religious types.
Republicans and Democrats – Reality and Rhetoric. Joseph Fried. 2008.
[...] Big Journalism) Comments [...]
So…
Should I mention the family down the road here who idolizes the leftist view, and haven't taken one step off the public dole they weren't forced to…?
Never misses a chance to vote for someone else's money into their pocket…after all, the patron has to help his serfs…
They HAVE to do some homeschooling…the kid isn't allowed to be in school anymore…he's too antisocial and dangerous around children he can victimize…especially young girls…
My nephew was home schooled until college which he graduated from with honors and is now working for the US Government in Washington, DC. Now what say you to that, Ms. West?
The lack of what I call a normal family (extended family, parents still together, etc) was probably my biggest shock culturally. (That and having salads -before- a meal but that's another story…
) I still feel as though I'm the odd one out in regards to family. Most my age seem to have multiple "step" parents, siblings…. A friend of mine actually has 4 step dads! I can't even fathom how terrible that would be.
Regarding parents claiming they can't wait to get their kids out…. I've always thought the same thing! Must be terrible knowing your parents want you out as soon as possible. I'm sure the kids feel the love with those comments….
The guys living at home thing still puzzles me honestly. I can see it would be bad if the guy stays in a basement all day but in the old country they are all quite successful. In fact, so are the few that I know here. Thinking on it now, they are also all foreign born or first generation. I was actually talking about this very thing with one of them the other day. I'll paraphrase it (he's more eloquent than I am) but he said it's about destroyed his ability to date americans in general. No matter how much money he makes or how many degrees he has the stigma of living at home overpowers it. Lots of comments like "You need to break out." or "You need to learn to be on your own." Funny thing is, he's got 3 degrees, makes tons of money and is a lot more successful than the people that "broke away from home".
Even -I- sometimes get the "Why do you live at home???" questions. Oh gee, I don't know, because I actually LIKE my parents??
It really is a sad state of affairs for the american family. At least it seems there exceptions to the rule which is very nice to know.
Er… now I went on and on….
Are you in a large city Mago? My guess is you are, maybe I am generalizing but its harder on families. In the small communities in the US it is very different. The more rural a community the less we are affected by the cultural morays that are so prevalent today and it seems we have a stronger family connection. I have been married for 29 years and my parents for 53 years which isn't that uncommon in a rural community.
I can imagine it must be difficult to come to our country with it's loose morals and lack of family values and try to find a spouse in the midst of it. It is hard for American women with values also. I have two daughters that have found spouses and one that is still searching and beginning to think she will remain single. It is difficult to find a man that wants to have the family connections and morals in a relationship. For my girls it is important to have a husband that is of the Christian faith, which I believe is common for most cultural groups to marry of the their same religion.
I guess my point is, there are successful marriages in America. Statistically last year 3.5 of a 1,000 Americans ended their marriages. The one thing that is rarely reflected in these stats is those who divorce, generally divorce a second time. That is why it seems like divorce is rampant in our society, when one divorces they are prone to divorce again, thus it skews the numbers.
I would suggest a online dating service to any young person looking for a spouse, to filter out those who are not serious in finding a relationship. Think of it as a matchmaker which was quite common in the European and Middle Eastern cultures. I really believe these services can be of great help in finding a spouse, they filter out a lot of garbage for people looking for a serious relationship. I know that there are many of these services that are based on religious preferences, like Catholics, Jewish, and Protestant sites. There are also sites not based on religion if that is not of significance for a person. I know if I was a young person in this time, I would use one to help me find a mate. And I would think of it in the context of the little old Jewish matchmaker in the movie 'Fiddler on the Roof'. And it may be even more precise in matchinf because of the comparisons that can be drawn statistically. ;^) I am hoping it will work for my last single daughter.
"Joseph of Steel" hmm? Let's see…. Joe Stalin?
Either a parody or some fool who thinks he's clever.
Yesss! I love my homeschoolers!
That would be Arianna Huff-Puffinton Post over at the hive….
Large city? Well… how to answer that. Yes and no.
I'm technically living in a suburb but the mentality I'd say is closer to that of a larger city. That is, rush around and be constantly busy. That has subsided somewhat with the economy going bad but it's still present. I actually live in a rather conservative area (in California no less!) however there is a definite cultural disconnect with family.
I completely sympathize with your daughter on the availability of decent men. There aren't any! I could basically write a book on that but I'll spare you and everyone else.
Meeting people certainly is tough and bars are not a viable option. I occasionally try out churches in an attempt to meet anyone with a drop of morality. Honestly I'm not that religious but even I seem like a hard core Christian in comparison to some churches I've visited. (The last one I tried was interesting. The group in my age bracket got drunk at a party the night previously and showed up for the service hung over.) So yeah, not a lot of luck there either. Like your daughter I'm probably going to have to give those dating services a try at some point. Waiting to find a magical place to meet decent guys clearly isn't effective. 
Well, if you post thousands upon thousands of comments and most of them just have the default "+1" vote it will drag the score up a bit. I think some of them throw their comments on the Breitbart news articles and other places.
The Bible is optimistic. In this case, it's more like a fully-grown redwood tree trunk instead of a mere beam.
You want to know how "horrible" homeschooling is? Tak a look at Stanford University's perspective (from 2000): http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2000/...
I know a couple of people who received the census and just answered the basic questions said screw the rest, Nothing has happened to them. It is like anything else if enough refuse what can they do? Jail 50 million. The same needs to be done if Death Care passes. Just refuse to buy insurance. If 10 million do they can do nothing.
Are you seriously trying to equate "the fuure of American children" with "liberal principles, political correctness and diversity?" Indeed are you actually honest-to-God no-kiddin' asserting that "liberal principles, political correctness and diversity" are *good* things with which to inculcate innocent children?
"The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and petition the government for grievances" nowhere, by any stretch of the imagination, extends an absolute protection to the formation of labor cartels for the purposes of extortion.
I also find it rather astounding that you think teachers' unions provide some sort of guarantee of quality or qualification, when in fact a principle consequence of unionized teachers is job security for even the most abjectly incompetent.
Hence why I capitalized the word INDEPENDENT. Yes, the study was posted by a home school advocacy group. However, the study was completed independently. If I knew a report from the DNC was conducted by an independent group, yes, I would tend to beleive it.
So, you are saying that because a person simply has a GED, they are not capable of the hard work it takes to teach ones children? One does not need a college education to go back and relearn the material one needs to to be able to teach ones children. One needs the drive and willingness to sacrifice.
And sir, beleive it or not, the theory of Creation, is backed up by just as much science as evolution. Expand your horizons. You don't have to beleive in it, but, science does not only support evolution. It simple isn't taught any more.
I ask you, sir, have you questioned any of the abilities of teachers to teach? Have you taken a good look at how our schools are doing as a whole. I ask you also, did you even read the study I linked to, or simply dismiss it after you saw where the study was posted?
Whether you choose to beleive it or not, it is a FACT that homeschoolers, overall, do overwhelmingly better than their public school peers. If you don't like the study I posted do a google search on your own. All of the scientific studies show they same thing.
You will also notice that Ms. West's article was pure conjecture. Nothing in there was based on fact. If you take the time to read any of the other comments on this page you will also see examples of how well many other homeschooler have done. For everyone posted, how many more do you think have not been posted?
Just a random example from online homeschoolers I know–how about an informal Shakespeare club for kids 10-14? And never mind that it's hosted by a successful author of children's books…http://tinyurl.com/ybg3lao . Not so ignorant, if you ask me.
And what's this obsession with house size?
Well, I'm not Hucbald and I don't know Hucbald or specifically who he/she is talking about. I just thought it should be pointed out that your assumption that she wasn't working might be incorrect.
No need to be insulting.
"Leftist"? Joe McCarthy lives.
Amen to that comment! I was looking into the Maryland laws and they force you to submit to someone whether it be public school super int., private school or a church umbrella. If a super int. has a bent they can say you are not satisfying what 'they' personally believe is acceptable, put you on a thirty day probation to remedy the situation to their liking, and if you don't they can revoke your right to homeschool for a year. I was concerned about this power they have, because they could be critical about anything and it would be their word against yours. Homeschoolers show to test above average, to have great study ethics, and are sought after by colleges, because they are focused and sincere about their education…not there to just party. Millions of kids can live in a terrible condition at home and no one do anything about it, slack in school and no parent be held accountable for that, pass drugs to each other in homeroom, have sex on the premises in the bathrooms, rape other students in the parking lot, intimidate, beat each other and no one thing much of that. There are parents who take the pencils and books away from their kids and throw them away–kids who WANT to learn badly–and have to hide everything when they get home to get an education. This happens daily in the inner cities. Yet, the homeschoolers are viewed as hurting our society? Public school kids are suffering. They being given a tainted view of what the world is through their daily experience Monday through Friday. It is not real life, yet it is theirs. Homeschoolers are getting an opportunity to get a healthy well-rounded perspective of worldview. They are learning how to live life, not survive behind a desk. There are many influences killing our kids and their future: How about the movies being produced today?The TV influences and messages being given by role models in Hollywood? What about the violence in video games? Boys are spending at least 13 hours a week playing video games alone. Homeschoolers are far from a threat, but a a treasure to our society that can hope for our future.
Sorry. A LOT OF typos on my end. Gracious!
This passage in the article is astounding:
"Fourth, there are political harms. Fundamentalist Protestant adults who were homeschooled over the last thirty years are not politically disengaged, far from it. They vote in far higher percentages than the rest of the population. They mobilize readily. The “army” in which adult homeschooled citizens are soldiers has enormous clout: homeschoolers were called “Bush’s Army” in 2000 and 2004 for good reason. Their capacity for political action is palpable and admirable, although doubly constrained: it is triggered by a call for action by church leaders, and in substance, it is limited to political action the aim of which is to undermine, limit, or destroy state functions that interfere with family and parental rights. Nevertheless, and by their own accountings, these citizen-soldiers in the “homeschooling movement” and the various political campaigns in which they are enlisted have no clout in the army in which they serve. They are as effective as they are, and as successful as they are, because they engage in politics in the same way that soldiers participate in combat. They don’t question authority, and they can’t go AWOL. With little education, few if any job skills, and scant resources, their power either to influence the lines of authority within their own sphere, or to leave that sphere, is virtually nil."
To review:
In the fifth sentence, Ms. West writes "The “army” in, which adult homeschooled citizens are soldiers has enormous clout…". Two sentences later, they have no clout: "…these citizen-soldiers in the “homeschooling movement” and the various political campaigns in which they are enlisted have no clout in the army in which they serve." Nevertheless, she writes in the next sentence, they are effective and successful in political action (which, in the reality that we live in but Ms. West does not, would give this group enormous clout in whatever political movement they were part of). However, two sentences later, she again asserts that they are rather useless and have no power among their political allies.
How many degrees do I need to acquire before I can write a paragraph as brazenly self-contradictory as this one of Ms. West's?
Somewhere in heaven, a fat 13th-century Dominican weeps….
“Tarps in fields or parking lots” could conceivably refer to people living in Hawai’i, where even well-off people with laptops and business suits can end up homeless and live in tents because they can’t afford exorbitant rent. http://www.isreview.org/issues/53/homeless.shtml In that case, the term “exotic tarp-dwellers” is very accurate.
Wow!
I consider it my privilege to be a submissive wife who gave up a handsome six figure income to educate my 6 and 3 year old at home while attending to MOST of my husband's needs. This has made us a very close family that enjoys spending time together and sharing with our community what we consider to be our God Given assets – time, talents, and treasure. Did I mention that both my husband and I have doctoral degrees – and gasp! we learn a lot from those families that have been home educating for years while residing in 'trailer parks' and 'with relatives'.
Having consulted with 'govt. funded program beneficiaries' – this woman should know that generational dependencies are created by the social welfare programs that have failed to either build strong families or educate productive citizens. She should read 'Uncle Sam's plantation' by Star Parker. She is a survivor of 'liberal govt. funded programs' that ensure minorities and other poor families remain under the state's control.
THANK YOU HOME EDUCATORS – You make this nation great!
First off, a semicolon does NOT go there.
http://www.virtualsalt.com/semicoln.htm
Secondly,
Hi, I'm a 14 year old homeschooled girl who chose to be homeschooled. I went to a public school up until 5th grade, and went back last year. I am back homeschooled again because I didn't think they were teaching me enough at my old school.
Now back to your old question-
"More importantly, if we allow non-union 'teachers' to play a role in the education system; are their any guarantees that liberal principles, political correctness and diversity will be appropriately included in the curriculum?"
Uhh… Yeahh…
That is the exact reason why I am homeschooled/why my parents wanted to homeschool me. This way I am not indoctrinated into somebody else's idea of appropriate.
And besides, who gets to say what the right way is to teach this to kids?
Here are some more "backward" HS ers we know… http://heritagestrings.com/default.aspx
Yiru right Ontheright ( no pun intended ) I was thinking of his persona and I stand corrected..
Sir, at least requiring public school teacher to meet some sort of qualification ABOVE simply having a GED….and subjecting them to ongoing evaluation as part of their employment provides safeguards well above those provided by letting someone attempt to teach kids at home by themselves.
Read deeper into the constitution. Collective bargaining is a protection.
I grew up in Pittsburgh.
You may the one too clever for your own good.
Go back to public school.
Definition #2 in the reference you provided encompasses why a semi-colon would be appropriate in the previously submitted post.
Why would you reference something that SHOWS you are wrong?
No.
I am saying they have not been properly TRAINED to teach children.
Who said anything about hard work and sacrifice?
You can be the hardest worker in the world, and willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING. However, if you haven't been properly trained at the task at hand, then what good is the work and sacrifice?
Think about it logically, not emotionally.
The study was completed by the National Home Education Research Institute, which is FUNDED by supports of HOME SCHOOLING.
What's independent about that?
Seriously, you are no different than a typical Dem/Lib/Obamite in your willingness to believe whatever you are fed.
Join true conservative thinkers and take off your blinders.
i) the study was not independent. it was funded by home school supporters.
ii) there HAS to be some sort of qualification to teach….something better than the completion of a GED.
iii) i did a google search, and depending on who funded the studies…the outcomes were very different.
iv) i have taken a good look at our schools. we need more tax dollars to better equip the schools and better pay the teachers.
v) ms. west article displayed the same level of conjecture as the non-independent, partisan funded report you cited.
Insulting? You insulted by trying to prove me incorrect without knowing the details.
Now THAT is an insult.
How dare you.
See, this is where you went wrong. You taught them to be responsible, self-reliant adults. Spending time with your kids is over-rated; they'd rather be playing xbox and eating cheetos. Public schools provide a well-planned balance of ridicule, medicocrity, brainwashing and "diversity" (don't worry, we'll "teach" little Johnny to be gay so you don't have too!")
Seriously, congratulations on the hard work you put into your family; it seems to be paying off. I'm the bread-winner and my wife HS's our 5 kids (okay, not much "schooling going on with the 2 & 4 yr 0ld yet, but the 6, 9 & 11 yr olds are doing great!). I'm hoping that they'll make achievements similiar to your kids. Take care!
We home schooled our son for a little over one year.
Our son recently graduated from Stanford and is currently working on his Phd. He pitched and won a State Champ game for his HS and was recruited by over 60-D-1s for baseball and more for academics. He went into play 3-years of college ball and wrote for a year with the conservative newspaper on campus.
This article is amazing-as we home schooled our son for 7th grade and part of 6th grade-reason was it was not physically safe for our son to attend the local Jr. HS in Northern CA. Our son had been physically threatened and the public school administration stated they could not guarantee his safety. Reason for threats-Son was good student and liked school-messed up the curve.
So we home schooled him for the remainder of Jr HS. As it was apparent that it would not be safe in HS either-we decided to close our small business, sell our home and relocate to a rural community in the Midwest. In Nor Cal the fights were 5-7 a day at the Public HS and in our new location maybe 1-2 a year:)
What price peace of mind?
The left is loopy in their assumptions-
Myth #1-Mom worked and Dad did the schooling.
Myth #2-We did not reside in a trailer under a tarp and we are literate.
Myth #3- we weren't even heavily religious or even attended church.
Myth #4-We just did not want our son to be attacked physically at public school.
Myth #5-Our son is our only child.
Myth #6-Our son decided not to go to Harvard or Yale, or Dartmouth or ND or Columbia or Vanderbilt … etc…because he decided to go to Stanford and got his degree there.
I LOL went I read that guy's assumptions about home schooling parents. I cannot help but wonder if he graduated from the Sally Struther's school of Journalism.
EXCELLENT post…thank you for your thoughts. These types of comments blow me away. Of course, they shouldn't. It seems the moment I announce to a friend that I homeschool, they slyly begin looking for dandruff and head lice.
Well it just goes to show you …
2 million rednecks, ignorant voters at that, AND their kids, AND all their family, … Homeschooled Jesus People trailer trash in flyover country ?
The only thing the original "journal" article didn't throw in was dueling banjos, and Stockbrokers in canoes shooting evil rednecks in the woods with Bows and arrows..
Residing here on the backside of the Berkeley Hills, next to UC Berkeley, one of the two great "Public Ivy's" in the Nation the other being RedNeckian University of Virginia …
…it's looking pretty funny.
Some of my wife's best classical piano students are all homeschooled, people of Faith who have rejected the California Public Education model. The ones she frequently cuts … the public school students … and we live in the Best Public Grade School and Public High School District in the State of CA.
As far as the educated idiots, the idealogues, pseudo intellectuals that think home schooling is for Bible Bangers with Hair buns and coveralls who live in a 1930's subculture … The words of Heinlien come to mind … no not the stuff about specialization is for insects, homeschoolers would agree with him … No, Heinlein would probably agree in, responding to the idealogues who drone in "Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly" - "Never try to teach a pig to sing, it wastes your time and it just annoys the pig"
I appreciate the comments that you made. I would also like to point out that at our home school group a large majority seemed to be former teachers. I think that says a lot! I can't believe how many educated people continue to make uneducated judgements about home schooling.
Yes, they are. Where have you been?
West's characterization of homeschoolers was unfortunate and reveals her many biases. I wonder if she researched that description at all. But, take note: not everyone who homeschools is a right-winger, nor a fundamentalist, nor even necessarily religious. Many want to avoid their children being exposed to: sugary foods, mass-marketing TV culture (e.g. Disney movie characters on clothing and lunchboxes), bullying, to name some. I have met homeschooled children who are calm, polite, intelligent, creative and clearly growing up well. I know others who are relatively neglected, don't learn to read ("they'll learn when they are ready – never mind that they are teenagers by now"), can't discern between quality and lack of effort, can't do basic math or writing, even roam the streets aimlessly. Some rebel strongly when they discover the world that they were "protected" from. A parent's desire to control their child's path can go not far enough, or too far. I feel sorry for some homeschooled kids, and others I think are really lucky. Much depends on the personality of the child, the parents, and the state of the local schools. Our schools are excellent and I don't regret sending them there.
You are right on point here and hope I did not give the impression that I think all public schools are lacking.
Far from it.
Our son attended public school in elementary school and he had phenomenal teachers-dedicated wonderful men and women. HS was public, too, and absolutely fantastic-great academics, sports and extracurricular activities. And dedicated teachers in public HS–awesome people whom we have maintained contact with over the years.
I have seen exactly what you are talking about-in both home-schooled and public schooled children-lol-the good the bad and the ugly. Either way parenting is a pro active thing-as we knew a home schooled teenager that was unable to read, as mother took passive tact that she would read "when she was ready". crazy-huh?
Sir, I concede your point on the study I cited. I misread the article where it stated the 15 independent testing services. It was not an independent study. You were right.
The hard work and sacrifice comes, in part, in training oneself to teach. These are our children, sir. We are called to teach them everyday simply as parents. Logically speaking, is it such a stretch to beleive we can train ourselves to teach them reading, writing, and arithmetic?
If you are training yourself….and you haven't even completed school….how do you know you are doing it properly? Isn't some mechanism needed to determine if in fact you HAVE taught yourself to teach them properly?
I mean, you can't just read a law book and decide you are capable of practicing law, right?
You can't read Grey's Anatomy and begin seeing patients, right?
Heck, you can't read a driver's manual and legally operate a vehicle without passing a test, right?
Why should you be allowed to teach kids (regardless of whether they are yours)?
First off, I had to reply over more than one comment section. I tend to be lond winded. Please see below.
Why does there HAVE to be some sort of qualification to teach? I know people who homeschool. I have seen how incredibly smart these children are. I have seen how this intellect would be smothered in a classroom with 20-25 other children all forced to go the same speed. I have seen 18 month olds cite the alphabet and know the phonemic sound of each letter, 3 year olds read at a kindergarten level and 5 year olds read at a first grade level. I have seen kindergarten students speak in German, progress into algebra as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division were not enough of a challenge. All of this was accomplish by parents never trained to be a teacher.
Point v) Ms. West's article was pure conjecture. The link I posted had a paragraph citing information from a scientific study. Further there were links to further information on this study. This is not conjecture. It is based on some kind of study. (And as I stated above I concede to you that the study is partisan and non-independent. However, it is a study just the same. On the research I have done, I have chosen to believe it for reasons stated above.)
[...] isn’t much left for me to say in response to this shoddy and prejudiced piece of work. Big Journalism’s Izzy Lyman and the American Enterprise Institute’s Jay Richards already have effectively skewered it. [...]
"Fundamentalist Protestant adults who were homeschooled over the last thirty years are not politically disengaged… homeschoolers were called “Bush’s Army” in 2000 and 2004 for good reason. Their capacity for political action is palpable and admirable, although doubly constrained: it is triggered by a call for action by church leaders (Oh, like Jeremiah Wright?)…the aim of which is to undermine, limit, or destroy state functions that interfere with family and parental rights."
She speaks like this is a bad thing! How does she consider this any worse than Democrats who have to pay people or give people cigarettes to register them to vote? What business is it of hers how many children someone has – especially if they aren't on government assistance? There are single women with eight or nine or twelve kids, all in some sort of public-funded "program" (daycare, Head Start, public school) from the very beginning…why isn't she trying to…uh…"help" these people out?
We have three kids, live in a 1200 sq foot house, and my husband is now the sole income provider. So what? If I went to work, we could have nicer, newer things – and, at times, it would probably be a lot less stressful for me – but that's not where our priorities are – OUR CHOICE. I've met women all the time who say "I couldn't stay home with my kids" or "I just couldn't homeschool", and that is THEIR CHOICE… and isn't it great we have a choice?
Robin L. West is an ignoramus. She's just another elitest "progressive" who thinks she knows better how to run everyone's life. Since she knows so much, why doesn't she clean up the violence, illiteracy, low scores in math and science, and all of the other myriad ills in all of the public schools in the country first, then maybe she could entice homeschoolers back in? Let her clean up her own house before she comes "visiting" mine.
Point iv) Have acutally been in any of these school? I have. I have sat in the individual education meetings and first hand seen any number of kids fall through the cracks. Smart kids that are force to slow down and be on course with the rest of the class.
Also, we have been throwing more of our tax dollars at our school to better equip them and better pay the teachers for years. I would argue decades. It didn't work when we first started and they have only gotten worse. Why would we keep doing something that has continuously has not worked?
Also, I have to ask, given this argument who is the one that is just believing what one is fed?
Ok. Please forgive me. My arguments to your points are out of order as I am new to posting comments. Please bear with me.
Where am I. Going backwards.
Point iii) This I can't argue with you as I have no idea what you googled. I would argue, however, that if one reads the study it is usually fairly easy to determine what kind of scientific process was used. I have looked at studies and have found the ones that are the most scientifically done are the ones who show homeschoolers above their peers academically. They also tend to be funded by homeschool supporters. Not all partisan efforts are skewing the numbers just because they are partisan. If I read a liberal study that followed scientific rules, then I would believe it. it just happens to be my experience that many liberal studies tend to be very bias to the view they wish to show. This happens across the board on many issues, not just homeschooling.
Point ii) Why does there HAVE to be some sort of qualification? I offer you some anecdotal information.
-an 18 month old who could read the alphabet and give each letters phonemic sound.
-a 3 year old who could read at a kindergarten level.
-a five year old who reads at a first grade level.
-a 5 year old who speaks German.
- a five year old who has now started algebra as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division were not a challenge.
Homeschooling parents take the time and effort to qualify themselves to teach. One does not go into this endevor lightly. Every parent I have ever met who homeschool takes the time train themselves on what needs to be done and how to do it. Why should we have to prove that training to our failing schools or other government beaucracy?
point i) Please see above. I have conceded this point. I made a mistake and freely admit it. This does not make me a "Dem/Lib/Obamite".
Mr. Steel. I am very much enjoying our debate here. Please do not start name calling and assuming I am wearing blinders. I have first hand knowledge of both side of the spectrum. Do you? I would encourage you to meet some homeschoolers and get to know them. Most of them are the hardest working individuals you will ever come across. This shows in their education. And of course, just as in any other social debate we could possibly have there are some wacko's. I just think (and have seen) many more in the public schools.
Oh, and I apologize for calling you ignorant. I assumed from your statement of having to look closely at the homeschooling "issue" that you did not fully understand what the issues are. Hence my choice of the word ignorant.
I went to a chiropractor whose four kids were all in PS (now some have graduated), and he didn't believe in vaccinations. I know, no biggie – a lot of people don't vaccinate, which is perfectly fine. However, he took it a step further and doesn't believe in "doing drugs" – including Advil, Tylenol, Alka-Seltzer, or non-approved-by-him vitamins (he sells vitamins). He also doesn't believe in consuming milk or "polluted" meat (his family only eats deer meat which he shoots himself). Oh – and his wife had all four of their children at home, and he tried to convince me of the superiority of home births. He also has great disdain for doctors and pharmacists. The kooks are everywhere – no matter how they school their kids.
There are some checks and balances. Each state has different ones. For example, at the end of every school year, in some states, one is required to have the children tested by some agency (there are several independent agencies to choose from) and turn these results into the superintendent. One may also have a certified teacher examine the students work and then write a letter to the school system saying adequate progress has been made.
To answer your question. I should be able to teach my children exactly because they are mine. It is one of the freedoms we are given in our country. It has been granted to us by the Supreme Court on at least 2 separate occasions:
In 1925, the U.S. Supreme Court declared: “The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right and high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” Pierce v. Society of Sisters [268 U.S. 510 (1925)].
In 1972, in Wisconsin v. Yoder (406 U.S. 205), the Court described parental rights as fundamental, saying: “This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established as an enduring American tradition.
Would you argue that the public schools are doing it properly given there high rate of failure? All of the teachers in a public school have been trained as you wish and one could cite nearly any educational study to show that on average students in the US are not meeting any kind of sufficient standard. Do you honetly thing that 60% on any given test is adequate? That is now what is considered passing. It tends to get lower every few years. As a parent, if I have the ability to teach my own children and know that i can do far better than 60% passing, why wouldn't I do this?
"Typical elitist drivel from an academic who couldn't tie their own shoes without a government grant."
Love it! That's a keeper!
Americans have this idea that parental responsibility ends at 18. Get out, kid, and go find a life – it's MY time now. Not sure why they have kids in the first place. So, they kick them out – either sending them away to college or expecting them to find employment and just…wing it. American children aren't exactly the most mature, but whose fault is that? – the parents' fault, that's who. Some actually come back home, with children in tow, then ditch THEIR kids on their parents because parenting is work and not always a lot of fun. Apparently, people like Ms. West hold to archaic philosophies that women should be out working and any kids that accidentally happen (because we all know women shouldn't HAVE to be punished with a child, according to the Prez) should be stuck in a daycare (preferrably state-run) or state/federally funded and run school.
I went to a Christian school from grades 4-12. Although I didn't get in with the wrong crowd, I was very quiet. Some people are just that way. If the girl in your example had always gone to school, she probably would have still fallen in with the wrong crowd – after all, there is a whole crowd that got there without having been homeschooled, right? Her problem was not that she was homeschooled. Her problem was weakness of character – which is something shared by many kids in general.
Did that posting thing wrong again. See below first.
I would also argue that using medicine as examples of reading a book and then putting it into practice are poor examples. Obviously, one would not and should not be able to do that. However, as a parent, why should I not be able to buy a book (Let's use as an example "The well Tained Mind" by Jessie Wise Bauer) that lays out exactly what one could do on a daily basis and what books are exellent to choose from and then an exact schedule on which to use this curriculum to school ones children. Most parents have a modicum of common sense in order to teach there child when they are given resources such as this. There are also hundreds of how to homeschool books out there for a parent to choose from. This way a parent can taylor their child's education. How many public school can taylor an education for any child?
If a parent doesn't feel confident enough to teach a certain class, such as chemistry. There are tons of resources available, incuding hiring a private tutor to parent co-ops. The possibilities are endless.
"Heres the secret West is not talking about, the schools are paid per student per day they attend, so it boils down to " Get those large family's in school as we need the money""..
You're right, but why does West care about how much money schools get, anyway? D.C. spends something like 28K per year on each student and their schools are worse than my state, which spends around 8K. So…money has nothing to do with success. Have they thought it may be their…uh…methods?
I suggest she is as hostile as the excerpt makes her out to be. Read the whole article in the PDF. Read anything else she's written. You will find that she IS hostile to homeschoolers, and Protestant "fundamentalist" homeschoolers in particular. She has no rational evidence that anything she has written is true…it's simply an opinion piece meant to smear a segment of the population and get their Constitutional rights taken away.
She's a fool.
Really? I'm a stay_home_father independently educating our one child. We are not particularly religious and took our son out of public school because we disagreed with the socialist agenda that seems to underlie much of the public school curriculum.
Our son is also academically two grades higher than his peers.
Wow, maybe she should come hang out at our homeschool group. In our group, I have met a mom who is a lawyer, another who is an M.D., an Engineer, several who are writers (one of which has taught on the college level) and more than one Elementary or High School teacher, plus mom's who majored in accounting or business. In fact, the mom's who graduated from High School and have not attended at least some college are quite rare in our group.
The other shocker is that not all of them are regular church attenders. The Homeschool movement has moved from the fringes and into the mainstream. I suppose that is what terrifies them. How can children be taught what to think if they aren't sent to the proper education centers to be told what to think? The worst part of it is that I am teaching my children to actually think for themselves and to express their positions articulately.
I'm not really sure, but I do know she does much of her work over the weekend, because she said as much… and is unavailable during that time. In any event, she's quite smart, and very well educated, so she does manage to support herself and her kids while homeschooling them.
2. Use a semicolon to connect main clauses containing internal punctuation.
Yeahh, the sentence contains internal punctuation, but "welfare state product" is not a main clause (no verb). Like the examples show, a semicolon connects complete thoughts. I don't see what that has to do with the example above…
"Why would you reference something that SHOWS you are wrong?"
Why would you keep arguing when you clearly don't know what you're talking about?
I began homeschooling when it was first cycling back through our society in the 70's and 80's and was hindered on many fronts. Yet, it was legal and viable for those of us willing to stand for our convictions and move forward to protect our children's minds while they became great learners and highly functional in society.
My husband and I made many sacrifices for me to be a stay-at-home mother so that I could be the overseer of our children's well being and the keeper of our home. My husband was a man who came home to a normal family at night to do his part in the homeschooling process and to maintain a functional home life with normal activities.
Our three daughters all attended college after completing their homeschooling, with each attending on multiple scholarships. Our first daughter graduated second in her college class, summa cum laude. She is now a missionary wife and homeschooling mother of four. Our second graduated also summa cum laude. She went on to get a law degree while working parttime and graduated cum laude, multistating her boards on the first time. Our third finished with a high GPA despited being chronically ill through two of her four years of college. She later earned a nursing degree while working fulltime and passed her boards on the first time. They have well defined work ethics and are married to highly functioning men who know the value of family.
I would have to conclude that though there were many sacrifices in order to homeschool our children, they are so well off because of it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Their values are wonderful, their contribution to society is personal and immense, their world view is far advanced over the mainstream, and their love for the important things in life is well defined. Oh, that every child could be homeschooled by parents who long for their best and are willing to sacrifice for it and to ignore the slams inherent in the "green with envy" community whose mantra often is to destroy rather than to build.
[...] rude tone with homeschoolers, it’s enough to make you wonder who brought her up [Common Room, Izzy Lyman/Big Journalism, "The Harms of Homeschooling" (PDF)] Parents charged with child endangerment for homeschooling [...]
All of us who homeschool are probably already on the Homeland Security watchlist. Such is life in liberal Amerika. Being a graduate of the University of Maryland and having a homeschooled daughter who graduated from UMBC several years ago, I am often sent requests to support my alumni. I dutifully recycle all of these requests, because despite what the liberals think, us homeschoolers actually care about the environment. But it would be a cold day in H E double toothpicks before I send the Maryland university system any money. My five children are thinkers, they make decisions based upon facts, and they question what the mass media tells them. Thank God my wife and I were given the grace to homeschool our children.
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It's interesting to see the bias that assumes it's only the Left that fears homeschooling. In actual fact, any dictatorial government fears it, regardless of their basic political leanings.
"The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of the community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education, its own upbringing."
As you might guess from the text, this was Adolf Hitler, who banned homeschooling in Germany in the 1930s and I don't think anyone would consider him to be Liberal or Leftist. (This ban persists today, as demonstrated by the recent asylum case of the German family.)
Sadly the British government is trying to control homeschooling now, although I think they got a nasty shock at the level of opposition, a bit like poking a hornets' nest with too short a stick.
browser. Anyhow keep up the good work.
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Howdy- I was surfing the web and bumped into your blog! Over all, this journal is pretty good, I, myself, like the layout. If you get a second can you shoot me an email at bobbymc@live.com and let me know who designed it or where you found it? Much Appreciated.
Hey man great update. Did you watch or tivo last nights O’Rielly Factor? That’s some great blogging material lol. Bye
Anyone watching the C-SPAN right now w/ the U.S. House of Representatives talking about ABUSE in the public school system??? It is one of many reasons we pulled our daughter out of brick & mortar public school. When we started her there, it was "one of the best schools in the state" – ha! She is now doing virtual school from home & is THRIVING!! She is confident, happy, learning so much & yes, socialized. One child in our home right now…we have a total of 2. I wear all sorts of clothing & so does she. We are not religious. We are a 1 1/2 income family w/ a son in college. We live on a small farmette. How do we fit into the stereotype Ms. West is referring to? Ha! Not even close. Actually, around my area, I do not know one single homeschool or virtual school family who does. As a matter of fact, we witnessed many cases of parental abuse, neglect, uninvolved parenting in our former brick & mortar public school, right alongside bad teachers & administration. Ms. West, your image of a homeschooled child may exist somewhere; but I assure you, if it does, it is the exception, not the rule. Get out there, interview real homeschool/virtual school families & get your facts from the sources themselves.