Wow. As an adult you should realize that mocking others (and especially children) is both rude and cruel. I am not certain what you found so problematic about the video. (I actually found your post FAR more offensive than the video. . . . You actually prompted me into a first post! :shock It (and the support offered) may not be your cup of tea, but your reaction to it may be excessive (“poor, weird homeschool kids”? “odd needy parents”? “possibly abusive”? “scary”? ). Perhaps you should watch this video again with an open mind (and if you are a Christian, a Christian mind). In the future you might consider expressing yourself without belittling others.
donnamx...I'm watching the video now. Elisabeth is coming from the perspective of living in a country that has more restrictive laws for homeschoolers. She is facing some very intrusive laws that will limit her right to educate her children. She sees a veiled attempt at more control, not a nice government initiative to help. If we lived there, we might more easily see the same.
Elisabeth, I didn't find the children that odd either, but maybe that's because I was pretty much a dorky kid myself -- however, I went to public school. I do understand how it smacks of government intrusion though. I can see how the entire thing is born out of the idea that homeschoolers need government help, because parents are unqualified to meet the needs of their children and need to be monitored closely. I think the better approach in the comments section would be to highlight the veiled message and leave the children's perceived coolness or hipness level out of it.
I was saying this seems to be an intentional casting of children least likely to solicit public sympathy.
Wrong. My post did not say that. My post related to the rude comments you made about the INDIVIDUALS (in your first post, before your edit) in the video. It had nothing to do with the politics of homeschooling in the UK. Don’t condemn your morals? All I did was call you out on making fun of people (especially children). Apparently, you must have agreed with me or you wouldn’t have amended your post. For what it is worth, I think you did the right thing by editing.
maybe I got the wrong video. Nothing on there made it seem like this was mandatory. Did I miss something or is this not a voluntary program? it sounds alot like a homeschool co-op. Maybe I'm just naive,but it didn't sound the least bit condescending and I certainly didn't get the impression that these families were being singled out as lacking somehow.
No, it isn't mandantory yet, though the government is trying to make forced home visits and supervision nonoptional. I'm glad you didn't feel like they were singled out. It makes me feel better that other people don't see it as much as I do, because maybe the general public won't take it as offensively as a large number of home educators did yesterday upon watching. I've removed the post with the link because I don't really want it going far, and I feel better after talking with everyone about it. Thanks!