That Is Not Secular

There’s a lot of confusion or misinformation in the secular homeschooling community regarding what makes a curriculum or resource secular.  I find this both troubling and frustrating.  To me, and perhaps I’m just oversimplifying things, it’s a very easy distinction to make.  If any materials include religious content for any purpose other than academic discussion as they affect or impact a subject, then those materials/curriculum are NOT secular.  Period.

Let’s look at a few examples.  There is a math curriculum that uses religious content for their skip counting songs.  Guess what?  That means that curriculum is not secular.  It doesn’t matter if you use it and aren’t bothered by the inclusion of the religious material (because you skip it, or whatever).  The inclusion of religious content negates the ‘secular’ label and potential purchasers should know what they are getting.

 

There is a history curriculum that uses Story of the World as one of their spines.  That curriculum is not secular.  Story of the World treats Christian mythology as historic fact – through the language they use.  Another curriculum incorporates Elemental Science into their literature based curriculum, thereby negating a secular label.  Neutral science isn’t science any more than Intelligent Design or Creationism is science.  

This isn’t to say you can’t use what you want and call yourself a secular homeschooler.  If you don’t mind the religious slant/content and/or are willing to modify or enhance the curriculum to use that’s your business.  However, the secular homeschooling community deserves to know, clearly and distinctly, what curriculum/resource does and doesn’t use religious content and real science. 

When someone points out that a resource isn’t secular that should mean one thing and one thing only – there is either religious content included outside the realm of academic application and/or it is void of real science (evolution is not taught, generally speaking).   It doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with being a religious person, it’s not an attack against religion.  It isn’t PERSONAL.  It’s academic.  The religious homeschoolers have more than enough resources that are created specifically for them.  We, as secular homeschoolers, need to STOP accepting curricula that includes religious content when labeled as secular.  Let secular be secular and use whatever the hell you want, but don’t tell me something is secular because you don’t have a problem with the religion in it. 

 

Let’s use the one clear definition as secular homeschoolers and let’s be strong in our stance. 

Secular curriculum/materials have NO religious content other than that which is used for academic study and it teaches scientific principles as accepted by the scientific community at large.

That’s it.  Period. 

 

Use what you want, but don’t call it secular unless it really is.

~Mari B.

Welcome to High School, Freshman!

Welcome Back, Kotter!

Welcome back,
Your dreams were your ticket out.
Welcome back,
To that same old place that you laughed about. 

So I’m heading back to high school!  Ooh!  Ooh! Ooh!  Mr. Kotter, Mr. Kotter?  HELP!

This will be our 8^th year homeschooling and our first year homeschooling high school. I have no idea who set the clock to fast forward, but it was only a couple of years ago we were just starting our homeschooling journey and Punky was an adorable 2^nd grader; but alas Punky is a Freshman and she chose to remain homeschooled rather than her original plan of returning to public school. So, I’m back to that same old place that I laughed about...the dreaded high school years. Of course, I went to public school so this is going to be different – a lot different. Yet, I’m still the teacher and now I have to teach a high school student.  *Gasp*

Homeschool Kids are Weird

So, a funny thing happened at lunch last week.  An acquaintance made the comment to me, "Homeschool kids are weird," followed quickly by....."Oh, not YOUR daughter, she's perfectly normal....but you know, ok...well you know, usually, homeschool kids are weird."  I literally said nothing in return but merely stared at her until she changed the subject.  Since then I've given this a lot of thought.  She's right.  Homeschooled kids are weird.

Yep, I'm saying it.....homeschool kids are weird - in hundreds of different ways.  They are weird for hundreds of different reasons, but being homeschooled isn't one of them.  It's a casual fallacy to put forth the argument that homeschooling causes children to be weird.  In order for an effect to be correctly linked to a cause certain "rules" have to be followed. 

1. Generally, if C occurs, then E will occur, and
2. Generally, if C does not occur, then E will not occur ether.

What has happened, in my opinion, that results in homeschooling being thought to make kids weird is known as a Post Hoc casual fallacy - Because one thing follows another, it is held to cause the other.

Why do I believe that?  Well let's look again at what is required to link a cause to an effect.  If homeschooling (C) occurs, then a child will be weird (E occurs) **and** if homeschooling (C) does not occur then a child will not be weird (E will not occur).  So what this means, at least as I understand it, is that generally if homeschooling occurs, children will be weird.  Well homeschooled kids are weird so there's that.  Now, if homeschooling doesn't occur then children will not be weird.  Wait, hold up....so if children aren't homeschooled they aren't weird?  Well - and here's where saying homeschooling causes kids to be weird derails - children who aren't homeschooled are in fact .....weird.  Just spend a day at your child's daycare, public/private school for proof that kids are weird.

Ah, ha!  That's it!  There's the answer.  Kids are weird.  Period.  All kids, every kid, in some way, can be labeled 'weird'.  This meets the 'rule' that if "C" occurs (you're a kid) then "E" will occur (you're weird) and if you aren't a kid (never born) then you aren't weird.  We can't say that once you aren't a kid you are no longer weird because truth be told ALL people are weird.  I'm weird, you're weird, she's weird, he's weird, your mom was weird, your dad was too and let's not get started on how weird your siblings are!

Life & Experience Based Learning

 It's been a coon's age (living in the south has its effects) since I blogged.  Truthfully I'm not sure how long a coon's age is, I'll have to google that, but I know it's been months.   The time since we started 7th grade when I posted our new school year beginning and now A LOT has happened in our lives.  A LOT.  First, I was eating, sleeping, breathing, and quite honestly, shitting all things conference related.  THAT was it.  Well, that and still trying to homeschool and keep the IH facebook page and support group going.  I can't say for certain, and I don't want to check, in case I'm right, but I *think* my husband mumbled something about divorcing me if my schedule stayed the way it was for much longer.  I always said that on September 10th I would be doing NOTHING, as a well-deserved rest from all things N.A.S.H. and the conference.  What I didn't know was that 'rest' I needed required more than one day and did in fact last for longer than a week and then before I knew it, it was birthdays, Halloween, and the most major flare-up of my fibromyalgia I have ever experienced.

In the midst of all that, my father fell off a ladder - he's 83 - and had a concussion.  Then, my husband had eye surgery and then knee surgery.  Then my father fell again and shattered his femur and he's still a patient at the rehab center.  My best friend's (of 29 years) mother had a major stroke at the same time and is still in rehab and is not doing as well as we hoped.  Meanwhile my flare-up continued and continued.......most days we homeschooled from my bed and we only covered the 'necessary'.

So, that catches you up on what has been going on in our lives for the last three months and what kept me from blogging.  I'm feeling somewhat better and I actually have something to talk about that *may* be of interest, so here I am again.  With all that life continues to throw at us, often times Punky finishes her daily assignments - grammar lesson, vocabulary lesson, and math lesson - and is left asking what she should do next.  In an effort to give her the direction and suggestions she needs, yet still allow her choices in how she spends her time, I had been pondering a new method for our homeschooling experience.  As it was, so much of our days were filled with *real* life, real experiences, that it felt like any learning she was doing was coming from those real life experiences. 

School Year 2014/2015 is Here!

It's that time of year where the world sends kids to school; every post you read seems to say, "Thank God, the bus picked them up today."  Unless you're a homeschooler, that is! 

Despite any challenges that present in our homeschooling journey, both Punky and I remain convinced we are on the right path.  We both enjoy watching the school bus drive by without Punky on it.  Ok, we both enjoy the *idea* of the bus driving by with her on it since neither of us are awake when the bus actually goes by!  The pluses always outweigh the minuses for us in homeschooling!  Creating our own schedule, doing things in our own time, following the day as it unfolds rather than forcing it along remain top pluses on our 'Benefits of Homeschooling' list! 

Yet, we are entering our 6th year of homeschooling and Punky's 7th grade academic year.  We both agreed that each year of Middle School would bring an increased work load and more structured learning.  Last year Punky was required to keep a notebook, divided by subjects, and she was given a weekly schedule of assignments to complete along with deadlines.  This was met with mixed emotions.  On one hand, she liked having the outline and deadlines and on the other hand she hated having deadlines.  Ah, good grasshopper you are learning the ways of the world.

3 Tips for a Hot, Inappropriate Homeschooling Marriage

Let's be honest.  

Our kids are with us ALL the tme.  

That's an upside, in my opinion, to homeschooling.  

Alas, it can cause a 'downside'.  

How do you have a hot marriage if the kids are always in the picture?

Never fear, the answers are here!

The Art of Inappropriate Homeschooling

By

The Inappropriate Homeschooler

Inappropriate homeschooling is the easiest of all homeschooling methods.   There's really only a few items on the check list of homeschooling inappropriately.

  

1.  Be Authentic. 

 There's only one way to be happy:  Be your authentic self.  That bit of wisdom is not only true for living but for homeschooling as well.  If it isn't 'for you' don't try to make it 'for you'.  Don't worry about trying to teach kids fractions while cooking if you hate to cook.  Don't worry about trying to teach your kids all about plants by planting your own garden if you hate gardening.  Don't worry about following a curriculum if you *hate* following curriculums.  Follow a curriculum if you *love* following a curriculum.  Read all sorts of blog posts and pinterest boards for fabulous ideas on homeschooling if it works for you.  If doing that makes you feel sick to your stomach, don't read them - except this one of course.  The bottom line here is be true to yourself and allow your children to be true to themselves.  Find what works for you and your kids - no matter what it looks like to anyone else - and DO THAT.  If you are pulling your hair out, constantly 'sweating' over homeschooling, or continually feeling like you are failing then you are not being your authentic self and that doesn't work.  Trust me.

2.  Be Honest

The first step to being authentic is be honest.  Be honest with yourself, about yourself and about your kids.  This is hard-core, look yourself in the mirror honesty.  Do you work well with schedules?  Do your kids?  Do you do better with curricula?  Do your kids?  How do you best accomplish goals?  Are the goals you set ones that matter to you?  (Most of us don't accomplish goals that don't either matter to us or pay some dividend so we have to do what works for us).  If you already know that planning that BIG science project and buying all the supplies is as far as you'll get with it - be honest about that and skip it.  There *are* other ways to achieve objectives.  If you want or need your child to learn a foreign language, you don't have to learn it first you just have to find a resource for your child that works for him to learn it.  The same is true for science projects, gardening, and cooking (with fractions).  The more honest you are about who you are and what works for you the easy it is to look at your kids and be honest about what works for them and then find the authentic path that is your family's homeschooling.

N.A.S.H Moves Secular Homeschooling Forward

The Inappropriate Homeschooler

supports and endorses:

 The National Alliance of Secular Homeschoolers

Today, The National Alliance of Secular Homeschoolers announced the support of 

Secular Homeschool.com 

From their website/blog:

  ______________________________________________________________________

We are proud to reveal the new N.A.S.H. website:

www.nationalallianceofsecularhomeschoolers.com

N.A.S.H. wishes to thank its Volunteer Staff for their hard work and dedication!

Coming Soon! 

More exciting announcements from N.A.S.H. and Secular Homeschool.com.

As the secular homeschooling movement moves forward in the 21st century, be a part of the journey!

_________________________________________________________________________

The Inappropriate Homeschooler is thrilled to be a part of the journey!!

~Mari B.

The Inappropriate Homeschooler's Top Tips for a Better (More Inappropriate) Homeschooling Experience

 

1. Let go of trying to control everything. 

As parents, we already feel the urge, the need, to control our children's lives.  We want to keep them safe.  We want to keep them healthy.  We want to make sure they have a *great* childhood, a solid foundation, and that they grow up to have a wonderful life!  That urge, that need, can become more than an urge or need though, especially in a homeschooling parent.  We really feel 100% of the responsibility of raising and educating our children because we are.  There is no brightly lit building where we send our children to for 7 hours a day to 'receive' their education.  The decision to homeschool often includes sacrifice.  The sacrifice may be a financial one, an emotional one, or both. It is human nature that when we sacrifice we do so with the hopes that there will be a great return on our investment.  Nothing is more important to a parent than their child/ren.  Despite the fact that we are with our children 24/7, give or take, because we homeschool, does not mean that we can, or should, control everything.  We sweat over every choice we make from the method we are using to school them to the materials we are using to school them.  We worry over their academic and social environment.  We feel completely, totally, utterly responsible for these human beings we are raising, guiding, teaching.  But as adults we have probably already learned in our own lives, in our own daily walk, that the only thing that we can truly control in life is our own attitude and reactions. We have learned, or are in the process of learning that once we accept that, we can be comfortable right where we are, at peace and happy.  The same is true in homeschooling.

Secular Homeschoolers Uniting!

 The National Alliance of Secular Homeschoolers

The first three years of our homeschooling journey were spent with me vacillating between feeling uncomfortable and antagonistic.  I tried to fit in for Punky’s sake.  I wanted her to have friends and activities and the only available avenue was to join the Christian groups where I was uncomfortable.  The longer I tried the more antagonistic I became.  Remember, I am the inappropriate homeschooler so it wasn’t just my personal beliefs that I was trying to squelch, but who *I* was, as a human being.  The situation reached critical mass in the Spring of  2012 after being asked to step down as a teacher at the local co-op because I had been ‘exposed’ as teaching my daughter it was okay that people were gay and having adjusted the wording to the statement of faith I had been required to sign.  With this final ‘nail’ in the coffin, we were now out of options for both a social and educational homeschooling community.

Why Should I Have to Pretend?

Secular Homeschooling in the Secular Community

There has been a bit of a hullabaloo in my neck of the woods the last week or so.  In the midst of the hullabaloo was the issue of being secular.  Sadly, the issue was inside a homeschool group that carries 'secular' in its title.  One would think that a secular group, that displays the word in its title, would have a clearly defined working use of the word secular.  However, no matter how well defined, it is apparent that the word means something different to each secular homeschooler and unless the word is defined to the ninth degree, there is room for interpretation.  Who knows, maybe even when it is defined to the ninth degree there would be room for interpretation.

Bill Nye Insults Homeschooling?

I had the chance to actually be in the moment when a homeschooler asked Bill Nye on his facebook page if he would ever consider creating a science curriculum for homeschoolers.  This was on a thread where Bill Nye asked his fans to submit questions he would answer:

"Bill Nye (the Science Guy) here, sitting by ready to take your questions (your good questions)..."

THE question:  "The homeschool community is severely lacking in real science curricula. Will you give thought to creating a science curriculum for the ever-growing number of secular homeschoolers?"

His response was less than stellar, in my opinion:

Homeschooling, Like Motherhood, Is Not a Sprint

As I mentioned, I get questions here and there from readers of my blog, fans of the IH facebook page, or posted in the IH support group.  Every now and then I get a question from someone that I think is a concern that is worth answering as a blog post on the chance that it may help others.  The topic for inappropriate discussion today is multi-faceted.  How can we know as homeschoolers that we are doing enough to teach our kids?  How can we know that they are learning what they need to learn?  How much worry is too much worry about whether it is going 'right'?

How To Homeschool Your Little Ones

I receive questions or inquiries for advice.  Yeah, I know....it surprises me too.  Who am I to give advice?  I am just another homeschool mom schlepping her way through the journey one step at a time.  Nonetheless, I get questions.  There's one I get a lot.  I'm going to address it here.  "How should I homeschool my 2, 3, 4, 5 year old?"  They are looking for curriculum I recommend, structure to implement, etc.  So, here's my advice.

My Inappropriate Opinion on "Lazy Homeschoolers"

I've gone over it and over it in my mind - how can *I* write this blog post and be coherent, calm, and rational.  I've finally decided I can not.  Oh, I am still writing, but I am not worried about calm and rational.  I am not even concerning myself with terms like 'fair', 'non-judgmental', and 'tolerant.  Screw it.  I have had more than my fair share of 'judgmental and unfair' thrown my way lately and I'm just going to give in to an old-fashioned rant.

Who the hell do some people think they are?  I read a blog post this week entitled:  "An Open Letter to Lazy Homeschooling Parents".  I read it not because I thought it would apply to me but because when I saw the title I thought surely this would be a fun, satirical read; a blog post that I myself could have written.  Boy, Oh Boy was I wrong!  This woman was serious and she was condescending and insulting.  I'm not linking her blog, I won't promote it that much, but if you are so inclined google the title and read it for yourself.  Feel free to comment on it even, as you are free to comment on my post here.

This woman feels there is a serious enough issue within the homeschooling community that she had a heavy heart and felt called to speak out.  I could give her the benefit of the doubt and say that her heart was in the right place, but I'm not in the mood.  I do not really care what her motivations or intentions were.  I am just going to speak my peace.  Get the hell out of other homeschooling families business.  Just get the hell out.  It does no good to 'call out lazy homeschooling parents' because if there are those that meet your description, trust me, they aren't searching the internet for articles or blog posts that are written about them.  The expression "stupid is as stupid does" comes to mind and so logically it follows that 'lazy is as lazy does' and lazy homeschoolers aren't surfing the internet for your wisdom on the matter. 

One concern listed was our need, as homeschoolers, to produce a superior

product than the public system produces.  Yes, our children apparently are products.  I do believe that is how the public education system sees them.  I will be damned if I will support the idea of the homeschooling community seeing them the same way.  If *you* see your children as a product that is *your* business but get the hell out of my homeschooling experience and home.  Punky is a human being and my goal is for her to grow up happy, healthy, and filled with personal, meaningful purpose.  That is my goal so that she will be an adult who pursues a life that is happy, healthy, and will with personal, meaningful purpose. 

Another point was the concern that our homeschooling rights could be taken from us or more heavily regulated if we don't produce a superior product.  Homeschooling is a right in all 50 States in the USA.  That right is not going to be revoked because the 'community' MIGHT produce a few children who, as that blogger suggested, "enter the workforce without a proper education".  Homeschooling does get blamed, at times, for all sorts of things.  Just recently it was blamed for the death of a child in Ohio.  Ohio proposed much stricter homeschooling regulations and within mere days the homeschooling community put that shit to rest.  Go Ohio Homeschoolers!  Woot!  Woot! (As an aside it was not just the religious homeschoolers who affected the change, but several secular homeschoolers including some from the Inappropriate Homeschoolers homeschooling group).  Homeschooling is not the reason children are abused or neglected, any form of abuse or neglect, anymore than children are the reason they are abused.  Children are abused and neglected because the primary caretakers in their lives are mentally screwed up.  Looking to homeschooling as the problem is absurd.  If public schooling was the answer to child abuse then there wouldn't be more than 3 million reports involving 6 million children in the USA each year, with approximately 4 deaths PER DAY.  Why do I say that?  Simple math.  The majority of students who are school age are public schooled.  That means that they enter the halls of a public institution five days a week for 36 weeks and yet.....child abuse is an ongoing and escalating problem.

Now let's turn to the recent statistics of college graduate.  A 2011 NY Times article reported 22.4 percent of college graduates cannot find jobs and another 22 percent are working jobs that don't require a college degree.  Oh, on top of that, the average graduate is roughly $25,000 in debt upon graduating.  That means that almost half of all college graduates are not benefiting by being a 'superior product'.  After all, college is *the* way to became a superior product, for the majority of mindsets, right?.  My point?  Getting into college and graduating is no longer a guarantee that one will have a successful, well-paying job.  Now, more than ever, students need to find a way to acquire the skills they need to pursue their career goals.  Yes, that may mean going to medical school, but it can also mean schooling in the real world by hacking their education.  So, producing 'superior product', as was described by the blogger attacking lazy homeschoolers, is not only insulting but an outdated definition of success.

It was pointed out that spending the day at the park, doing arts and crafts, doing household chores, or spending time with friends is NOT homeschooling, in fact she called it 'cheating'.  I wonder at what age she has determined one needs to turn away from parks, arts, and social activities in order to be properly educated?  Oh sure, she means those that ONLY do that.  So at what age is it okay to do that ONLY and what age does it become wrong?  My answer would be, that's your fucking business not hers.

She says it is our business because there are high schools who are requiring their drop outs to register as homeschoolers in order to make 'themselves look better'.  I know that state laws vary, but  sixteen is the eligible age in most states to drop out and I'd say that if one wishes to leave high school and register as a homeschooler, so be it.  I'm not overtly concerned with a statistic that shows a child failing in public school for 16 years and then leaving to homeschool.  That doesn't make me want to 'tiger mom' my daughter's education any more than the uber-homeschoolers make me want to do it.  I know very strict, traditional homeschoolers and I know a few who believe in religious education first and foremost over anything else.  Neither works for my family.  I do not even agree with one of those options, but I am damned sure not going to say that if we do not force those families who educated and involve themselves differently than we do in our children's lives we have the right to call them out for it.  Beat your kid up, neglect your kid, starve your kid, sexual assault your kid.....there are laws in effect to handle that.  Educate your child in the manner you feels is best for your child, yeah, that is not going to raise any warning bells, be they homeschooled or public schooled.

She called 'lazy homeschoolers' cheaters.  She said they were not homeschoolers but merely truant.  Who decides what is lazy homeschooling?  When I was first thinking of creating a blog I gave serious thought to calling it 1) The Lazy Homeschooler or 2) The Unmotivated Homeschooler or 3) The Inappropriate Homeschooler.  We all know where I landed.  Inappropriate could include lazy and unmotivated as well as covering my ass for my sarcastic, obnoxious opinions, so I went with that.   I think this woman needs to butt the hell out of other folks homeschooling and I think folks like her are more of a problem for the 'face of homeschooling' than any 'lazy homeschooler' could ever be.  Why?  She's creating a problem where one doesn't really exist.  If there are those who are spending their days eating bon-bons and watching Doctor Who with their kids as their only activity what the hell do I care?  If their children grow up to be 'less' than successful - you know who she means - all those laborers who aren't college graduates who merely pick up our trash, deliver our packages, fix our cars, transport our goods and services, install our cable, build our homes, etc, then so be it.  I, for one, am glad there are those in the world who are working to pick up our trash, deliver our packages, fix our cars, clean up our public buildings, and so on.

Basically, I just want to tell this woman to shut the hell up, mind her own freakin' business, and worry about her own children (the ones she later admits she uses ipads and television as a distraction and babysitter for her kids).  Hey, I say that without ANY judgment, but I bet there is someone out there that would tell her how wrong that is to do to her kids.  We are all pots waiting to meet our kettles.  Seriously.  Everyone just stop telling everyone else how to do what they do.  As long as a person's choice isn't starting a war, ending a life, or denying someone their liberties......back the fuck off.  I blame insecurities for this shit.  It was the same way in the mom's groups when the children were littles.  And so it is in the homeschooling community, insecure women who are not nearly as confident with their choices as they'd like to be having to get all high and mighty telling others what choices to make and how to homeschool.  That's part of the reason homeschoolers do not feel as supported as they should be......other homeschoolers.  It's not only the naysayers of homeschooling, but those within the community themselves deciding that their choices must be the only right choices and so everyone must follow their example, that create discord.

Perhaps I am wrong, after all she has a Ph.D. and I merely a Master's.  So, clearly she is more successful than I.  I will say this in closing, if I wanted to follow the mainstream example for child-rearing and education today, my child would be in public school and she'd be wearing a tank top with pants that say 'Sweet' across her ass.  Ok?  So, back the hell out of my business and everyone else's business.  Put down your blog pen, go turn off the television, and spend some damn quality time with your kids.  That's not a judgment, merely a suggestion, because I do not really give a shit what you do.

~Mari B.

Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

Why the Homeschooling Community Needs to Get Over Itself

I am no fan of HSLDA, prior blog posts have made that clear.  If you wonder why, first I'll say:  I am a SECULAR homeschooler and HSLDA is a Christian group promoting Christian homeschooling to the degree that it seeks to have only Christian homeschooling recognized as 'legitimate' homeschooling.  Then I'll say, go through the archives and read what I've written before regarding HSLDA.

I'm not a fan of Christian homeschooling groups.  Again, read through the archives.  (Personal Note:  I have several Christian friends who have no problem with me not being a fan of the religion and I have no problem with them because they are the folks that are living their faith - which includes recognizing that my spiritual belief system is my business.)

Here's what I *am* a fan of - homeschooling.  I'm a HUGE fan.  I'm such a huge fan that I could be classified as being in the closet because I don't go on and on about how much I'm a fan.  I'm such a fan of homeschooling that I personally believe everyone CAN and SHOULD homeschool. 

I'm enough of a realist to recognize that not everyone's life is set up in such a way as to support homeschooling.   Women have to work or want to work.  Men have to work or want to work.  That's the reality and the 'stripped down to the core' reason why everyone doesn't homeschool.  Both parents have to work or choose to work.  Other reasons that some give like "I can't teach my children" or "I couldn't spend every moment with my children" are superficial reasons that are based in insecurity or fear.  But I'm digressing big time. 

So, here's the thing - because I am such a HUGE fan of homeschooling, I totally and fully support anyone who homeschools no matter how they homeschool or why they homeschool.  Whatever reason you have for keeping your kids at home, under your care and tutelage, is a legitimate reason.  Whatever method you choose to educate your children while they are at home with you is a legitimate method.

Guess what?  THAT is how we should ALL feel toward one another.  Support homeschooling no matter what and for the love of all that is holy, support every parent who chooses to homeschool no matter HOW they do it.  Otherwise it's a slippery slope folks.

Now what the hell is this all about?  I'll tell you.  A fellow homeschooler posted yesterday that their children are not 'allowed' to attend an open homeschooling event - a Halloween party - if they are virtually schooled, i.e. Connections Academy or K12.  Why is that, you wonder?  Why it is because the HSLDA and OCHEC have adopted a policy that virtual schooling isn't legitimate homeschooling and the group who was hosting the Halloween party is following their leadership and guidelines.  Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

Now this lack of solidarity annoys the ever loving shit out of me.  People wonder why I'm so 'anti-Christian homeschooling groups'.....it's because they are usually the ones who show a lack of solidarity in the homeschooling movement.  They discriminate.  To a certain extent, while I don't like it, it's understandable.  They do not want your science loving, evolution learning child to poison their Jesus loving, Creationism believing kid.  Fine.  That is one thing.  It is another thing entirely though to discriminate against an entire group of people based on how they homeschool.  It's asinine.  The HSLDA is very adept at using fear-mongering to control their members views on homeschooling.  Making statements against virtual schooling, including their supposed 'reasons' is just more fear-mongering.  You can read their statement here: http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/oh/201206110.asp

You can read OCHCE's statement here:  http://www.ochec.com/Categories.aspx?Id=The_Truth_About_Virtual_Online_Schools 

Now, is there ANY truth to what they say?  A bit.  Virtual schooling is not the exact same as traditional homeschooling.  In virtual schooling the curriculum is provided by the state and is funded with public dollars so there is to be a separation of Church and State.  Traditional homeschooling gives the power to the parents - or at least as much as the individual state allows - in deciding when, what, where, and how your children learn.  There is more freedom with traditional homeschooling than virtual schooling.  There just is.  However, having said that, let me say this -- your children are still at home with you as their daily mentor, guide, and parent.  They DO NOT face all the same situations that children who attend Brick and Mortar schools face.  If one wishes their child to be at home with them but does not want to buy curriculum or put together their own, or wants their child to earn a state issued diploma, virtual schooling is the ideal solution.  If one wants to avoid the social issues that come with attending a B&M school, yet wants their children to receive a public school curriculum education, virtual schooling is the ticket!

Discriminating against children and their families because they don't chose the SAME method of delivery for their education as you do hurts the whole movement a hell of a lot more than the supposed hurt we could suffer by confusing our government representatives about what homeschooling is.  Here's something that homeschooling WAS but is no longer:  a strictly religious movement.  Sorry if that upsets some, but it's the truth.  More and more parents are choosing to have their children educated at home, via some method that works best for their family, for reasons that have nothing to do with religion or spiritual beliefs.

Here's how we should recognize homeschoolers as it pertains to allowing them to attending homeschooling events, functions, or field trips:  Are you home during the day as opposed to being locked in a B&M school?  Do you have the freedom and flexibility to attend events, functions, or field trips outside the home during 'normal school hours'?  If the answer is yes to those two questions - Congratulations YOU ARE HOMESCHOOLING!

Christian homeschooling groups can turn people away for not subscribing to their proclaimed religious beliefs, but to turn kids away because of the method they use to school in their home is the most asinine form of discrimination I've ever heard!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, secular homeschoolers need a national alliance to work for the betterment of ALL homeschoolers and I'm rededicating myself to making that alliance a reality.

In the meantime, the homeschooling community, as a whole, needs to get over itself and embrace itself - the totality of itself.  The more labels and limitations we place on each other inside the homeschooling community the more tacit permission we give to outsiders to label homeschooling and limit it.  No one should want that. 

~Mari B.

How Scout Finch Changed Our Lives

The Evolution of Punky

Punky has spent the last 7 weeks in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb County.  She has a father named Atticus and a brother Jem.  She's a tomboy with a keen mind and a bravado that only a 10 year old can have.  She's dealt with folks calling her all sorts of names and screaming at her about how her daddy defends niggers.  She's been attacked and watched her brother's arm get broken by the most bigoted, lying scum in all of Maycomb.  She's dealt with the death of one innocent black man and witnessed the death of another.  She's learned valuable life lessons about courage, empathy, and honesty as well as having the innocence torn away from her childhood by witnessing the horrors man commits against his fellow men.

Punky has brought the role of Scout, in 'To Kill a Mockingbird', to life in a way that has astonished me.  More importantly, the leap she's taken in her own growth and maturity matches her ability to breath life into Scout.  Punky's dedication to her craft and her commitment to the part, her cast mates, and the director rival - in my opinion - an adult who is a veteran of theatre.  Somewhere along this 7 week journey Punky became a young woman.  She's only 12 but she has demonstrated the maturity, responsibility, and ability of a much older girl.  Her composure and demeanor are remarkable for one so young.  She's dealt with a few personal issues along the way and there has been a marked difference in how she would have handled those issues 7 weeks ago to how she did handle them.

It may all just be a coincidence, but I personally believe it is not.  I believe that by allowing Punky to reach for her dream - auditioning for the role of Scout, pursue her true passion - acting, and giving her total ownership of the entire experience she grew up these last 7 weeks more than she would have, and in ways she might not have, if she had not had this experience.  The educational value of this experience is equal to a semester in a college theatre program.  The personal value of this experience is equal to nothing I can think of to make a comparison.  Her hard work and determination have paid off BIG for her.  

The confidence she's gained by working hard to deliver a deeply moving performance and  knowing for certain where her joy lies gives her a focus and understanding for her life that so few of us ever know, let alone learn at so young an age.  That is all so much more than any classroom could give her.

Punky has received numerous compliments and extensive praise from family, friends, and even strangers for her performance.  That is what they all see....

her talent, her abilities, her dedication, her commitment, her acting.  It's all wonderful!  It's what I see though that means so much more than all that.  I see the woman she is becoming and that woman, in my opinion, is Oscar worthy.  How does any of this relate to homeschooling you may wonder?  We owe a debt to homeschooling.  If it were not for homeschooling there would have been no Scout audition and without that all that has been realized and achieved in these last 7 weeks would not have been possible.

We made the choice to homeschool and Punky made the choice to go for her dream.  Life is all about choices, good or bad, right or wrong, our destinies will unfold according to our choices.

~Mari B.