Syele, I highly doubt that eveyone wants to be considered "normal" in the sense you have rhetorically asked. The teens you have mentioned as being "normal" certainly would not be considered "normal" in the eyes of myself or of the other homeschool Mom's I know. Do you really need to ask ?
yep I agree with Sherry , and I think this person just wants to get everyone all unwound and to see what kinda reaction they can get out of all of us.
Birgit1, thank you so much for explaining that to us! Most, if not all of the posters here are very passionate about our homeschooling! Each state varies with how much regulation is imposed, from nonexistent, like here in Texas, to very regulated in other states. Too, the days are long gone when homeschoolers were an isolated bunch. Back in the time when my mother homeschooled, she and I would hide and keep the curtains closed in the house until public school was over. NOT ANY MORE!!!!! However, with 4H (a program to teach kids leadership and community involvement), Music, foreign language study, dance, gymnastics, arts, crafts, ice skating, Bible study classes not to mention field trips to museums, historical places, other states, other countries or just to the local shopping center, we are saturated with learning outside the box or walls of public school. A lot of us here feel it is our obligation Biblically as parents to shoulder the responsibility of educating the academic, spiritual and emotional well being of the child. The world is our classroom! We welcome you and your students to this site! We are delighted to speak about homeschooling, and look forward to eagerly sharing with anyone our beliefs, faith and conviction about it... Again...Welcome!
Hey, LoveMyMan, you weren't saying in the above post that "we" are "wacky homeschooers", were you ? No ????? I didn't think so, because "we homeschoolers" on here are friends, and friends do not call each other "wacky".
Sherry, what is wrong with you? You're normally laid back, but lately I feel like you've been lashing out at everything. Not every person who comes to this site asking about h.s.ing means harm. In this case the teacher of that class even came here to explain. (Supposedly the teacher..) If you're comfortable in your own skin as a homeschooler, it seems to me this stuff would just blow over. If a post seems offensive we can always report it. That's what that little red and white symbol is on the top right of a post. Amanda will look into it and remove it if it calls for that. Overall, no one seems upset on this thread. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal..
I was partly teasing. Everyone seemed a bit uptight and I was trying to lighten the mood. I suppose I didn't succeed at it though. :|
Actually, Syele, you are a sweetie and thanks for letting me know you were teasing. Eveyone else already knew, I bet.
Syele, you are right, school is compulsory in Germany for children from the age of 6, which makes homeschooling illegal. I have the impression that many of you have religious reasons for homeschooling your children. This is not really an issue here since at state schools Religious Education is part of the curriculum, and parents can also send their children to private (Catholic or Protestant) schools, so maybe that's why compulsory schooling is not really contested here. Jackie, I believe my students have no preconceptions about homeschoolers since there are none here. Their very first reaction when we started on the topic was 'Oh, that wouldn't be for me', but what I am always trying to do in my lessons is offer them a chance to see how things are done in other countries and cultures, so that they don't take things for granted but learn to think for themselves. So after they had done some research into possible arguments for and against homeschooling, they found there were pros as well as cons that they agreed with, but they also had some questions left that they have posted on different forums. They will report back to the class about this and have a discussion, and I am curious to know myself what their opinion will be in the end. LoveMyMan and others, don't worry, we are not using your posts for any articles, sociological experiments or other! We will just be discussing them in class as I said, and we will also be talking about how to use an Internet forum and how to be considerate in your choice of words – but that's it!
Now I might raise some hair on this but what is "normal"? Who has set the guidelines for the word and concept of normal? I personally believe that we were made to be different and we were given free will for a reason. And just sometimes we get to have the chance to be "not so normal" and that is a wonderful thing. And it really comes down to do we want to be in a room or place where everyone is the "same"? Just my thoughts about the word normal... Now I do have a question for Brigit1. What age level do you teach? I find your last post interesting. More so the comment "Oh, that wouldn't be for me." My question is what if you throw in the question to your students what if your parents made the choice to homeschool you? Most home schooling families are extremely passionate about what they do. And I know for us the teachings never end. Homeschooling is what we live daily. From watching a plane in the sky and talking about gravity to watching an ant crawling on the ground and talking about insects body parts to doing seatwork out of a textbook. Homeschooling not only is a educational choice but it is a way of life.
Birgit1, did you ever check out those links I gave you? Yes, Germany doesn't hold to parental rights as far as homeschooling goes, but homeschooling is far from dead there. The people who do it are being persecuted for standing up to their beliefs. They are few and far between, but the DO exist. And yes, they are doing it because of their religious beliefs. In this country, homeschooling started out when people with strong religious convictions realized that 1) the government schools were terribly failing their children and 2) that they were losing thier children to the culture war because the schools taught values totally opposite from theirs. Most of us here STILL homeschool mostly due to religious convictions. But as it has grown more acceptable and others see how our kids generally surpass the government school kids, and as government schools are becoming more and more unsafe, people without strong religious convictions are pulling their children out, too. Which has caused the government schools to sit up and notice. Now they try to entice our families through on-line charter schools, which plays lipservice to homeschooling, in that it's done at home, but they still are in control of what's being taught. While that is fine for some (and I would never criticize anyone who has chosen this!), for me and others it isn't much different from going to a government school in the first place. WE make the decision as to content. I want to be free to chose science and history that reflect my world view, not the secular world view.
It's not "allowed" in Kenya either. They have started paying for all the schooling so that children can go free, and it's compulsory, at least that's what I gleaned from our interpretor. He didn't know of anyone who homeschooled, and thought it very interesting that I did. If we'd had time, he would've questioned me more on it. I'm glad we have the opportunity here to homeschool...to raise the children God gave us! Though as Jackie said, there are many who are not in it for any religious reasons now also. Whatever the reasons, more people are keeping their children home to school them, and the homeschooled children are turning out GREAT!
Most states here required schooling between certian ages (Generally 8-16) but Homeschooling counts as "Schooling" You probably have less Homeschoolers mainly because while many fgeel blessed to homeschool, they are not willing to break the law over it. Others will do it anyways but wouldn't talk about it. Being open that you are breaking a law is a good way to get in trouble. There are alot of people who Homeschool for religious reasons (Most of this board) but it's definately not just a religious thing. There are all sorts teaching their kids at home.
I guess my thought on this is that maybe when people use the word "normal" they are actually meaning "traditional". I really don't think anyone really means "normal" as in ps is "normal" and homeschooling is not "normal"....but more ps is a more "traditional" because it is what society has been used to for so many centuries. Does that make sense? Maybe I am way off, but that is how I take it.
Becky, I have already told you , Becky, not to post to me anymore because of the antaganistic posts you have already written to me. For you to continue to post to me now is just harrassment. Back off, Becky. Like I have already said, there is no reason for us to talk since your posts to me have been rude and unfriendly, so unlike the other people here and unlike the purpose of this entire site.
For some reason I'm your target. I have you bent out of shape but I have no idea why. I haven't insulted anyone or said anything out of line. I actually looked back through my recent posts to see what I could have said and I couldn't find one single incident. You're actually the one lashing out. That's a simple truth supported by your posts. That's fine. I'm okay with how you perceive me, even though you wouldn't know me if I knocked on your door tomorrow. If I upset you that bad put me on your 'Ignore List'. People misread me all the time, and that's something I can't control and won't worry about. We all post here, thinking one thing as we post; if someone reads it in a way that is different from what we meant, well, what can we do? Lately you have talked a lot about etiquette. It's not proper etiquette to hijack a thread to beat down someone like you have me these many times. Do all here a favor and handle your hatred toward me through pms to me. Not to others.. to me.
