edited out grumpy response to say If the original poster was really very interested in the responses here they should have come back before now and posted a response to all of the info they've been given on here.
well Im gonna look at it as a good thread for someone else who was wondering really about homeschooling , not ness. the starter but maybe one who slipped in and checked it out and thought Oh cool!
What's the difference between saying ..'like 'normal' students' or saying 'like public school kids'? I believe the poster meant 'normal' as in the 'norm'. Remember in Germany homeschooling is not the 'norm', going to school is. I didn't see anything mean spirited in the post.
I'm agreeing with T-mom. And I wish he would come back to get answers. But I would still like to know something about him first!
edited to say The original posters don't appear to be all that interested or they would've been back before now to read the responses and reply back.
But Sherry, we will say that tongue-in-cheek, and since we know one another, we don't think anything of it. When I put quotes around like that I'm saying SUPPOSEDLY NORMAL, or SO-CALLED NORMAL or something like that. I assume the person posting meant the same thing. But since we really know nothing about the poster, it's hard to say. I really doubt he meant any disrespect.
hey, my kids are normal... aren't they? actually when I was inhighschool I would wear a pin that said "WHy be Normal?" there is no such thing as normal anyway. At any given day, hour, moment in time it will change. I just recently learned this you know, from my child who went OUT to school last year Lol. In today's world, we are the norm! Home schooling ROCKS! haha , Okay I am in a fun mood today folks so look out!
S I G H..... If indeed this is a teenager posting- and I think it is- a teenager might not put the thought into choosing just the right terminology to express themselves. They're used to being informal on the internet, and how often might they interact online with a bunch of moms? I did take notice the poster didn't say anything derogatory or mean about h.s.ing or the families/kids that do. I saw that as encouraging. One of these German posters has a website that I looked at, and there's a bunch of pictures of teenagers. Some look like they were taken in a classroom. Maybe we're part of a cool social studies assignment!
Yeah, like finding out what happens if you inadvertantly imply that a certain group of people are not "normal". LOL
Normal?!? Why does everyone want to be normal? The "normal" Teens I know all have pearcings in weird places, Tattoos, and smoke and/or Drink, Party and skip classes! I don't want Sami to be Normal... I want her to stand out as someone with Values and a love of learning, someone who cares about her own future! I didn't even want to be normal when I was a teen myself. I had a poster in my locker: "Normal is Boring, Boring is Normal" I'll reconsider my position when the "norm" of kids changes for the better. -Syele The Abnormal
Explanations... The girls behind "HansWurst's" post are indeed a group of German students (I am their teacher). We had been talking about homeschooling in class, and since it is practically nonexistent over here and I do not know anybody with first-hand experience of this who they could have interviewed, I encouraged them to post any questions they might have on the Internet. I realize now that I should have given them more help with this, and I apologize on their behalf for their unfortunate choice of words! I am sure however that they did not intend to be rude. Everyone who replied to them, thank you very much for your time – your answers will give us a lot of food for thought and discussion!
1. Some Homeschooled students have exams and others do not. It depends on the area they live if it is required or not. Most will have to take the GED or the ACT or SAT when they are ready to enter college. 2. Every State is different, but there is no special license. Some states require a High School Diploma or a Bachelor's degree. There is no special training for being alowed to Homeschool. Most parents (As well as many research studies) feel that since we are perfectly capable of teaching our kids to walk, talk and do any other things before school age we can also teach them after school age. Some states even now expect kids to know how to read before entering school. Many teachers from here have told me that the majority of their education classes involved how to handle a classroom of many students, and history/philosophy of education rather than things like "How to Teach Phonics". Much of this teacher training would not be needed for a Homeschool family since they will not be teaching a large class of children from different backgrounds. 3. Parents are allowed to choose the curriculum their children use. most states require that basic subjects be taught but are not specific in how they are taught.
I guess we gave them additional food for thought there.. Around here we tend to run into alot of negativity.. people are quick to say we are weird or abnormal or that our kids are missing out on important things, reguardless of how careful we are to teach them well. Often such people are even in our own families. When such negativity is so common it becomes hard to distinguish someone who just dosn't know and someone who is attacking us. This is why I didn't answer at all in the beginning. On the up side, the number of Homeschoolers is growing very fast, so the negativity seems to be getting less and less as the years pass. I heard Homeschooling is illeagal in Germany. Is this correct?
You guys have fun with these kinds of posts, don't you? LOL... Mr. Hans is probably quoting all of you for some critical article on wacky homeschoolers in the U.S. Not one thing we say is going to be repeated accurately if the hearer is biased already. Why give anyone ammunition?
Birgit1, thank you for explaining! We didn't mean any disrespect to your students. It just helps us to know exactly who and why. So what is your students' take on homeschooling? Do they find it intriging, or consider us all a little "strange"?
It would be funny to see what "Mr.HansWurst" , the buffoonish character in theatres in Germany would come up with to say about us. My guess is, he's not too interested. I think this is all being taken way too seriously. "Why give anyone ammunition ? " Ammunition ? For what, an imaginary character, HansWurst, writing an imaginary article ? I refuse to live in fear that there is some "homeschool enemy boogey man(Mr.HansWurst)" out there looking for harmful ammunition to throw at us. Settle down, the sky is not falling. Everything really is O.K. As a homeschooler we really do not have to be so afraid of people that if they seem to be saying something inappropriate that we need to cater to them. It's "NORMAL" to speak up if something seems off in some way. Cowering to an imaginary homeschool boogey man is not really productive at all. Why are some of us so afraid of what nonhomeschoolers think of us that we dare not say something that could be in the least offensive to them ? Now, that IS silly. Hey, they should be concerned what "we" think of them. Are we not people too ?!!! LOL Warning, I am in a silly mood so beware of REALLY getting me going on all of this sillyness. Especially the idea that we should be watching out for imaginary "ammunition". Hey, LoveMyMan, you weren't implying that "we" are "wacky homeschoolers", were you, when you said " Mr Hans is probably quoting all of you for some critical article on wacky homeschoolers......" I didn't think so.
