Home Schoolers Threaten Our Cultural Comfort

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='virginiancatholic' post='1870851' date='May 19 2009, 10:35 AM']Funny that, because most of the flack we got about being a larger-than-average family came from fellow parishoners too.

Homeschooling can be done for almost no financial investment with the very young grades...where there's a will there's a way. If any family is meant to homeschool, God will provide the means at the right time.[/quote]
Well, I realize that it can be done with no financial investment in itself, but if it means going below two incomes, then we'd be broke. For us to homeschool, I'd need to make significantly more so my wife could stay home (or vice versa).

[picchick]

The issue with socialization has been one of the most hottest talked about conversation with me and other people. "Did you get to talk to other kids?" "Did you ever get out of the house?" "How do you feel know after going through homeschooling? Do you feel like you can make it in the world?"

Sometimes it frustrates me when people ask me these questions. They usually ask me after I had a 10 minute conversation with them already where they know I went to college and that I am a nurse and I have a future plan to continue my education and so forth. I become frustrated because they themselves can judge whether or not I have been "well-socialized".

I have a unique perspective because I went to both public school and homeschool (if you can go to homeschool ) I also babysat many homeschooled families. I will definitely say that there is a right way to do it and a wrong way. But this is also the case for public schooling and private schooling. There is a right way and a wrong way to school. Furthermore, homeschooling is not for everyone. Just as pubilc school is not for everyone and private school is not for everyone.

Now for my experience. I went to public school from kindergarten to 5th grade. I was made fun of and I was the misfit. I was bullied and so forth. I had friends in school of course but the negative aspects made me shy, reluctant to participate in class, awkward and unable to respond and talk with my classmates. I was just afraid that everytime I opened my mouth to say something I would get made fun of. Teachers did little to correct what was going on. Furthermore, teachers would tell my parents that I needed to participate in class more. My parents told me this and the next few weeks I raised my hand more to answer questions. I did not get called on. In one of the classes I volunteered almost every week to go up to the board to do a puzzle. I was never picked until the last day of school. And at that point, I had to share the puzzle. My point? My socialization in the public school was more crippling than helpful.

As I entered 5th grade, my grades began slipping. I managed to get my first F and from there it just kept going. I just didn't care to try anymore I guess. I lacked the discipline to do the work. Sixth grade my parents withdrew us from the school and began searching for a private school to send us to. It was partially the very liberal attitude of the school (they taught us to use beesh and had us write it as if there was no negative connotation connected to it) and the fact that they wanted to have a more religion based education. They went to the private schools in the area and ended up deciding to homeschool.

The first few years of homeschooling was hard due to adjustments by both me and my family. However, the learning experiences went beyond school books. I excelled academically but I also became more disciplined, more self-sufficient and more self-motivated. I had the time to reflect on how I was treated in the past (bullying, outcasted) and was able to figure out what I should have said instead. I still interacted with kids my age because my parents made it a point for us to be in extracurricular activities.

I really owe my success today to homeschooling. I do not know where I would be if my parents did not start homeschooling me when they did. I am very grateful for that.

I do understand though that there are many families who homeschool to ultra shelter their kids from the world. I cannot tell you how detremental it is for them. I babysat a family who was just that. They believed that the devil lived in the public school system and they were taught that. One instance I remember is driving past a public school with that family. The mom said, "Ok children, who lives in the public school?" "THE DEVIL!" I was shocked.

You cannot keep your kid from the world. You can shelter them but you cannot isolate them. There is a huge difference that people need to recognize from that. You can shelter them from the sex, drugs, violence, language et. al. that is found in many of the public/private schools but you cannot isolate them from the fact that sex, drugs, violence, language et. al. exists in the world.

[quote name='MithLuin' post='1869936' date='May 17 2009, 11:11 PM']Back to the point of the thread. Parents homeschool their children because, for whatever reason, they think it's better for the kid than sending them to the local public (or private) school. This [i]does[/i] send a message about the opinion of the parents towards the educational system, and the editorial was perceptive to point it out. That being said, I think more people think this rejection of the status quo is nuts or silly than an actual threat to their way of life. But if homeschool families wonder why their neighbors view them as 'outsiders' - this does offer some insight into that.[/quote]

I don't think many homeschool families wonder why other people view as outsiders. We are in a sense. We are normal human beings, just different because we don't go to a school that is the norm. For us to wonder why people look at us differently would be silly. That would be like a punk rocker with piercing here there and everywhere and a geen mohawk questioning why everyone stares at him as he walks down the street.

[quote]If a parent wishes to harm a child, keeping that child out of the school system is one of the best ways to hide what it going on. Thus, it will always be possible to abuse the system, and the gov't should have a plan of what to do to detect such cases. I'm not advocating that they burst into people's homes and remove the kids - just that there is some follow through on making sure the children are learning. Yearly testing or submission of portfolios is what I am referring to. That will at least pick up the cases where the parent thought letting the kid play 'educational computer games' was the same thing as home schooling.[/quote]

I agree yet disagree. The subject of abuse has not sat well with me. Yes, it happens. It is very sad when it does. However, I do not think that it should be a reason for the government to step in and control things or monitor things. Homeschooled kids do have contact with the outside world. Maybe not with the schooling world but parents take their kids shopping, to Church, to the doctor. Kids have plenty of opportunities to be "viewed" by the world. If people would do their part and report abuse when they see it, the cases would be caught just as much as the public school/private school.

I totally do not agree with yearly submissions. That I find only causes more problems. We did standardized testing but not for the state. We did it for us. Standardized testing, I find should be more for testing the school's ability to teach. I think that is reasonable considering that they are funded by taxes and somewhat regulated by the government. Homeschooling is not. We do not get funding from the state to do what we do. Why is it the government's concern about us? I understand that it will help catch the few families who let their kids play "educational computer games" as homeschooling. However, it only will cause more problems for the familes who do not do so.

[quote name='Hassan' post='1870022' date='May 18 2009, 12:46 AM']Yes it is. A country cannot be run without some degree of socialization and control over the private lives of the citizens. Besides that not even you actually beleive that seeing as you want the government to outlaw abortion. A good friend of mine (a different friend) was kept out of the public school system untill Middle School and taught by her parents and a local Madrasa. Her parents wanted her to learn Islamic values, not fall to the temptations of the Western world, be acadamically advanced et cetera and that is just fine. If they taugt her, as is happening in some countries in Europe, the home schooling was used to teach the child to be violently opposed to their famlies adopted country the government has a duty to step in.

If your parents want to education you or anyone in good Christian morals while personally overseeing your education that is fine and I wishe them all the best. I once knew a woman who was very Christian and homescooled her children. The family were peaceful but fundamentalist evangelicals who adamently rejected evolution and Darwinism, but her children were educated in it. They rejected, but understood, Darwinish and modern bilogy. The government does have a duty to you to insure that if your parents go that option you still recieve an upbringing and education which will allow you to theoretically function in the society once you are an adult.[/quote]
Another issue in the wrong way vs. the right way. As I mentioned before, you can shelter kids but you cannot isolate. I was taught evolution and creation. The book I used was strictly creationalism (Beka Books: very antiCatholic). But my parents also taught us evolution so that we knew the information.


[quote name='MithLuin' post='1870029' date='May 18 2009, 12:55 AM']I did not say that all abusive parents homeschool - I said that homeschooling [i]may[/i] be used as a cloak to hide abuse - and has been. In my city, a guardian locked a child in her bedroom until she starved and/or died from being beaten with an electrical cord. Technically, she was a public school student, but it had been months since she attended. Social services was looking into it when the death occured. I also read 'A Boy Called It', and if I recall correctly, his school nurse played a role in identifying what was going on. Teachers and other school personel are required by law to report suspected abuse. In the case of a child who is homeschooled, when would this child come into contact with school personnel?[/quote]
We are not locked in a closet. We do get out in the world...even those families who do abuse their kids. We do no need a school as a sole reporter for abuse cases. There are doctors offices for example. And as far as I know, it is a job for everyone to report abuse, no? If this is the case, why do we need the public school to sort it all out?

[quote]Standardized tests verify that the child can read and do math problems at the appropriate level. Please explain how this is pushing a particular agenda? Efforts are made to remove bias from the test - asking a child who has never seen an ox to identify the plural as oxen can be seen as...unfair.[/quote]
I do not see it as pushing a particular agenda. I see it as not needed in the homeschooling world. The fact that some homeschooling families are lacking in academics as some of their counterparts does not mean that the government needs to step in. I see it more as an exception rather than the rule. Furthermore, I see just as many kids, if not more, not doing as well academically in the public/private schools.

[quote]The government obviously [i]does[/i] have a responsibility to provide its citizens with Free and Appropriate Public Education. If families choose not to make use of it, that is their right.[/quote]
Totally agree. I think it is a responsibility of the government. However, if someone chooses not to use that then the government also needs to respect that.

[quote]I am a high school science teacher. Not all parents would be qualified to or interested in teaching their children chemistry. If they want to send them to someone else to learn that, there's nothing wrong with that picture. Likewise with foreign language. If you don't happen to know one yourself, it would be rather difficult to pass that on to your child![/quote]
There are so many sources for homeschooled families out there. We took some courses at the local community college. We also learned our language through a group class geared towards homeschoolers. Again...right way vs. wrong way



I think that this is probably the longest post I made in the history of phatmass....

[CatherineM]

[quote name='Raphael' post='1870842' date='May 19 2009, 09:02 AM']I agree with your comment because even though we weren't planning on having our second child so soon, we obviously are choosing to let God do as He sees fit. As a result of our family's choice to submit to God's will, I had a prominent parishioner tell me to my face at work that I need to start using condoms.[/quote]

I had a nun lecture us on the kinds of birth defects that kids can have when the mother is over 40. I was 2 1/2 months pregnant at the time, and didn't need to hear that kind of stuff in the first place.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1871054' date='May 19 2009, 03:01 PM']I had a nun lecture us on the kinds of birth defects that kids can have when the mother is over 40. I was 2 1/2 months pregnant at the time, and didn't need to hear that kind of stuff in the first place.[/quote]

You should tell her the kind of soul defects people get for having abortions or using contraception.

[virginiancatholic]

[quote]Well, I realize that it can be done with no financial investment in itself, but if it means going below two incomes, then we'd be broke. For us to homeschool, I'd need to make significantly more so my wife could stay home (or vice versa).[/quote]

Oh...gotcha. If it's meant to be, things will work out. If not, they'll work out anyway.

[quote]I had a nun lecture us on the kinds of birth defects that kids can have when the mother is over 40. I was 2 1/2 months pregnant at the time, and didn't need to hear that kind of stuff in the first place[/quote]

Oh....nice. Exactly what a mother in your position needs to hear.

[quote]The issue with socialization has been one of the most hottest talked about conversation with me and other people. "Did you get to talk to other kids?" "Did you ever get out of the house?" "How do you feel know after going through homeschooling? Do you feel like you can make it in the world?"

Sometimes it frustrates me when people ask me these questions. They usually ask me after I had a 10 minute conversation with them already where they know I went to college and that I am a nurse and I have a future plan to continue my education and so forth. I become frustrated because they themselves can judge whether or not I have been "well-socialized".

I have a unique perspective because I went to both public school and homeschool (if you can go to homeschool hehe.gif) I also babysat many homeschooled families.

................................

I really owe my success today to homeschooling. I do not know where I would be if my parents did not start homeschooling me when they did. I am very grateful for that.

I do understand though that there are many families who homeschool to ultra shelter their kids from the world. I cannot tell you how detremental it is for them. I babysat a family who was just that. They believed that the devil lived in the public school system and they were taught that. One instance I remember is driving past a public school with that family. The mom said, "Ok children, who lives in the public school?" "THE DEVIL!" I was shocked.

You cannot keep your kid from the world. You can shelter them but you cannot isolate them. There is a huge difference that people need to recognize from that. You can shelter them from the sex, drugs, violence, language et. al. that is found in many of the public/private schools but you cannot isolate them from the fact that sex, drugs, violence, language et. al. exists in the world.

...

We are not locked in a closet. We do get out in the world...even those families who do abuse their kids. We do no need a school as a sole reporter for abuse cases. There are doctors offices for example. And as far as I know, it is a job for everyone to report abuse, no? If this is the case, why do we need the public school to sort it all out?

...

I do not see it as pushing a particular agenda. I see it as not needed in the homeschooling world. The fact that some homeschooling families are lacking in academics as some of their counterparts does not mean that the government needs to step in. I see it more as an exception rather than the rule. Furthermore, I see just as many kids, if not more, not doing as well academically in the public/private schools.[/quote]

Good golly girl! Take a breathe!!!!!

Excellent story, though I didn't want to quote the whole thing here. I agree on every point you made. And I'm glad you're a nurse. It infuriates me every time someone says "well, you were homeschooled, honey, and now you've only known the Franciscan University bubble so you can't possible know anything about the real world or anything for that matter." I know plenty about the real world...too much at times. I'm almost a nurse for crying out loud! I've seen and experienced plenty of hard times and evils...also I don't live in a closet and I really don't think I live in a bubble either...my shelteredness, though once intact, has been all but melted away.

Edited May 19, 2009 by virginiancatholic

[picchick]

[quote name='virginiancatholic' post='1871077' date='May 19 2009, 03:28 PM']Good golly girl! Take a breathe!!!!!

Excellent story, though I didn't want to quote the whole thing here. I agree on every point you made. And I'm glad you're a nurse. It infuriates me every time someone says "well, you were homeschooled, honey, and now you've only known the Franciscan University bubble so you can't possible know anything about the real world or anything for that matter." I know plenty about the real world...too much at times. I'm almost a nurse for crying out loud! I've seen and experienced plenty of hard times and evils...also I don't live in a closet and I really don't think I live in a bubble either...my shelteredness, though once intact, has been all but melted away.[/quote]

I love talking about my homeschooling experience and what I have observed as a whole sometimes I forget that I need to breath and not hit people with so much at one

One question I laughed at (inside but almost outloud) was, "What about your sex education? Did you learn about it?" I wanted to say back, "Uh...what? Sex? What is that?" I refrained. I really didn't know what to say to the guy. I just said, "My parents taught me." What am I suppose to say...and I am twenty four...if I don't know about sex now then I am in big big trouble.

I think what he was getting at (maybe) was if I got all the angles possible on issues such as sex and evolution and so forth. I didn't get into detail with him because I really didn't see the need to. However, I did learn about condoms, contraception, abortion, "safe sex" and everything else there is to know about sex. HOWEVER! It was taught to me in the light of what was moral and what was not. That way, when I did make my way into the world, I was not shocked and ignorant on what was out there. And I know what I need to do

[virginiancatholic]

[quote name='picchick' post='1871105' date='May 19 2009, 04:06 PM']I love talking about my homeschooling experience and what I have observed as a whole sometimes I forget that I need to breath and not hit people with so much at one

One question I laughed at (inside but almost outloud) was, "What about your sex education? Did you learn about it?" I wanted to say back, "Uh...what? Sex? What is that?" I refrained. I really didn't know what to say to the guy. I just said, "My parents taught me." What am I suppose to say...and I am twenty four...if I don't know about sex now then I am in big big trouble.

I think what he was getting at (maybe) was if I got all the angles possible on issues such as sex and evolution and so forth. I didn't get into detail with him because I really didn't see the need to. However, I did learn about condoms, contraception, abortion, "safe sex" and everything else there is to know about sex. HOWEVER! It was taught to me in the light of what was moral and what was not. That way, when I did make my way into the world, I was not shocked and ignorant on what was out there. And I know what I need to do [/quote]



O my gosh....yeah, I had a similar experience once. A lady at church took me aside and asked if I was getting "proper sex education" and said that I needed to be more responsible than my parents, so I told her I would be do better than my parents cause I planned on having twice as many children as them. Needless to say, she didn't think that was very responsible of me.

Friends at school would always try to shock me...unfortunately, my reactions are pretty mellow and leave something to be desired I guess. .

[Socrates]

[quote name='picchick' post='1871105' date='May 19 2009, 04:06 PM']I love talking about my homeschooling experience and what I have observed as a whole sometimes I forget that I need to breath and not hit people with so much at one

One question I laughed at (inside but almost outloud) was, "What about your sex education? Did you learn about it?" I wanted to say back, "Uh...what? Sex? What is that?" I refrained. I really didn't know what to say to the guy. I just said, "My parents taught me." What am I suppose to say...and I am twenty four...if I don't know about sex now then I am in big big trouble.

I think what he was getting at (maybe) was if I got all the angles possible on issues such as sex and evolution and so forth. I didn't get into detail with him because I really didn't see the need to. However, I did learn about condoms, contraception, abortion, "safe sex" and everything else there is to know about sex. HOWEVER! It was taught to me in the light of what was moral and what was not. That way, when I did make my way into the world, I was not shocked and ignorant on what was out there. And I know what I need to do [/quote]
Yeah, people would never know how to have babies without government schools to teach them . . . .

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='picchick' post='1871011' date='May 19 2009, 03:11 PM']Another issue in the wrong way vs. the right way. As I mentioned before, you can shelter kids but you cannot isolate. I was taught evolution and creation. The book I used was strictly creationalism (Beka Books: very antiCatholic). But my parents also taught us evolution so that we knew the information.


I think that this is probably the longest post I made in the history of phatmass.... [/quote]
Can you tell me more about the Beka books?

[MissScripture]

[quote name='picchick' post='1871011' date='May 19 2009, 02:11 PM']The issue with socialization has been one of the most hottest talked about conversation with me and other people. "Did you get to talk to other kids?" "Did you ever get out of the house?" "How do you feel know after going through homeschooling? Do you feel like you can make it in the world?"

Sometimes it frustrates me when people ask me these questions. They usually ask me after I had a 10 minute conversation with them already where they know I went to college and that I am a nurse and I have a future plan to continue my education and so forth. I become frustrated because they themselves can judge whether or not I have been "well-socialized".

I have a unique perspective because I went to both public school and homeschool (if you can go to homeschool ) I also babysat many homeschooled families. I will definitely say that there is a right way to do it and a wrong way. But this is also the case for public schooling and private schooling. There is a right way and a wrong way to school. Furthermore, homeschooling is not for everyone. Just as pubilc school is not for everyone and private school is not for everyone.

Now for my experience. I went to public school from kindergarten to 5th grade. I was made fun of and I was the misfit. I was bullied and so forth. I had friends in school of course but the negative aspects made me shy, reluctant to participate in class, awkward and unable to respond and talk with my classmates. I was just afraid that everytime I opened my mouth to say something I would get made fun of. Teachers did little to correct what was going on. Furthermore, teachers would tell my parents that I needed to participate in class more. My parents told me this and the next few weeks I raised my hand more to answer questions. I did not get called on. In one of the classes I volunteered almost every week to go up to the board to do a puzzle. I was never picked until the last day of school. And at that point, I had to share the puzzle. My point? My socialization in the public school was more crippling than helpful.

As I entered 5th grade, my grades began slipping. I managed to get my first F and from there it just kept going. I just didn't care to try anymore I guess. I lacked the discipline to do the work. Sixth grade my parents withdrew us from the school and began searching for a private school to send us to. It was partially the very liberal attitude of the school (they taught us to use beesh and had us write it as if there was no negative connotation connected to it) and the fact that they wanted to have a more religion based education. They went to the private schools in the area and ended up deciding to homeschool.

The first few years of homeschooling was hard due to adjustments by both me and my family. However, the learning experiences went beyond school books. I excelled academically but I also became more disciplined, more self-sufficient and more self-motivated. I had the time to reflect on how I was treated in the past (bullying, outcasted) and was able to figure out what I should have said instead. I still interacted with kids my age because my parents made it a point for us to be in extracurricular activities.

I really owe my success today to homeschooling. I do not know where I would be if my parents did not start homeschooling me when they did. I am very grateful for that.

I do understand though that there are many families who homeschool to ultra shelter their kids from the world. I cannot tell you how detremental it is for them. I babysat a family who was just that. They believed that the devil lived in the public school system and they were taught that. One instance I remember is driving past a public school with that family. The mom said, "Ok children, who lives in the public school?" "THE DEVIL!" I was shocked.

You cannot keep your kid from the world. You can shelter them but you cannot isolate them. There is a huge difference that people need to recognize from that. You can shelter them from the sex, drugs, violence, language et. al. that is found in many of the public/private schools but you cannot isolate them from the fact that sex, drugs, violence, language et. al. exists in the world.[/quote]

Due to my experience with private school and my fiancee's experience with public schools, we'll mostly likely try to homeschool, if at all possible. If not, we're going to be those obnoxious parents who will scrutinize any school that our children are going to and want to know absolutely EVERYTHING about what goes on at school with our children. I've learned from my family and my fiancee's family that without being over-involved, only God knows what might happen to your kids. And I don't mean that I want to try to shelter them, just that a lot of things go on that parents never hear about. I know my parents feel terrible now, having found out things that went on in school with my brother --which have contributed to his problems, today --that they never knew about, but the teachers did, and didn't say anything to them. I'm probably sounding like some sort of control freak, but there is too much unknown if you blindly trust teachers to keep you updated on what you need to know about your kids having problems. My brother was a good student, his grades never slipped because he was having problems, so my parents never imagined things were going on, and the teachers never said anything to them (then again, one of the teachers was a contributing factor).

I also suppose a large contribution to the idea of homeschooling comes from the fantastic experience I've had dealing with the homeschool families in our area. I became an attachment to a homeschool family (most people think I am actually related to the family) and got to experience a good deal of the homeschool co-op.


My little sister is going to be homeschooled, next year. It is her senior year of high school. She was informed by her friends, that despite the fact that she's gone to "regular" school most of her life, she, as they were, will still be asked "Do you have friends?" I told her to respond with, "And here I thought that it was the home school kids who were supposed to be lacking in social skills."

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1871425' date='May 19 2009, 11:21 PM']Can you tell me more about the Beka books?[/quote]
I think she meant A Beka. BJU (Bob Jones University Press) is another culprit-- usually worse. Here's a snipet from Rethinking Schools Online:

[quote]Anti-Catholic bias is most prevalent in books published by A Beka. One particularly striking aspect of the texts is the sense that theological battles of the Protestant Reformation continue unabated to the present day. In the texts, bias against Roman Catholics and the Catholic Church is exclusively theological rather than socio-cultural.

Descriptions of contemporary life in European countries that are primarily Roman Catholic frequently include derogatory statements about the Church: "Almost all the children of [the Republic of] Ireland grow up believing in the traditions of the Roman Catholic church without knowing of God's free salvation." 28

A Beka's seventh grade world history book, for example, describes the early Roman church (before 500 A.D.) as "a monstrous distortion of Biblical Christianity." 29 Speaking of the Crusades, the text speculates that "if Christendom had succeeded with its crusades, distorted Christianity might have been imposed on all mankind." 30 In the chapter titled "The Age of Darkness," which is subtitled "Distorted Christianity, Holy Roman Empire, Renaissance," the author writes, "The papacy had always distorted Christianity. ·" 31

In all, the seventh grade book uses the term "distorted" or its variants 28 times in the six chapters in which its discussions of the Roman Catholic faith are most concentrated.

Tenth graders using A Beka books are taught that "the doctrines and practices of the Roman church had digressed so far from Scripture that the church was compelled to keep its members from reading the Bible and discovering the truth." 32[/quote]

[url="http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/voucher_report/v_into162.shtml"]http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_r...v_into162.shtml[/url]

Cathy Duffy, who is a reviewer of homeschool curriculum (She is a Catholic revert, I believe), also points out in several reviews of A Beka history curriculum (in particular) that there is anti-Catholicism.
[url="http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/history-geography/us-history-abeka.htm"]http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/history-g...story-abeka.htm[/url]
[url="http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/history-geography/world-history-abeka.htm"]http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/history-g...story-abeka.htm[/url]

[Archaeology cat]

I agree that there are good and bad ways to homeschool, and good & bad public & private schools. In a way, I wish I'd been homeschooled at least in elementary school, as I was so bored for most of my time there. Though not sure it would have been very possible, since my mom went back to work when I was in 3rd or 4th grade.

[quote name='virginiancatholic' post='1870175' date='May 18 2009, 05:12 PM']If I have children, my goal for their education would be precisely that: they learn how to learn in order to search for truth, to question every issue and be able to examine it thoroughly, and to develop a grounded and rounded world view. Ideally, education should foster a love a learning and encourage each child to follow their passion and develop their interests.[/quote]
Agreed. My father definitely instilled this in me (he was an elementary teacher & principal, and now works with America's Choice for standards-based education).

[quote name='Socrates' post='1870615' date='May 19 2009, 03:39 AM']The thing about homeschoolers being better able to interact with adults and people of a variety of ages is actually a very legitimate point, and one that is often brought up in debates on homeschooling. The whole system of kids spending much of their lives mainly with people within a year or so of their own age is a very artificial environment, which doesn't correspond to the "real world" or any natural human society.[/quote]
That's actually something that has been discussed in regards to the youth here. So often it seem that they have no interaction with adults (at least in the lower income areas), and so rely on each other for socialisation, but then don't know what to do in the world. Looking back, it appears that I was the weird one of my peers, as I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and parents.

[quote name='MissScripture' post='1871519' date='May 20 2009, 05:33 AM']Due to my experience with private school and my fiancee's experience with public schools, we'll mostly likely try to homeschool, if at all possible. If not, we're going to be those obnoxious parents who will scrutinize any school that our children are going to and want to know absolutely EVERYTHING about what goes on at school with our children. I've learned from my family and my fiancee's family that without being over-involved, only God knows what might happen to your kids. And I don't mean that I want to try to shelter them, just that a lot of things go on that parents never hear about. I know my parents feel terrible now, having found out things that went on in school with my brother --which have contributed to his problems, today --that they never knew about, but the teachers did, and didn't say anything to them. I'm probably sounding like some sort of control freak, but there is too much unknown if you blindly trust teachers to keep you updated on what you need to know about your kids having problems. My brother was a good student, his grades never slipped because he was having problems, so my parents never imagined things were going on, and the teachers never said anything to them (then again, one of the teachers was a contributing factor).[/quote]
As a former teacher, I can say that, if I were teaching your child, I'd appreciate you checking in a lot.

[virginiancatholic]

A Beka books are alright in certain subjects, like science and mathematics until about grade 5 or 6. In any case, they were that way when I used them. The nice thing about them is that they are colorful and fun, which definitely appealed to me. I used the sciences through high school, but at the same time had a very thorough grounding in apologetics and theology so that certain theological errors present in the science books (I'm not talking about creationism or evolution here, but actual religious world views they would project onto the physical world) merely presented a new point for discussion with my parents reinforced my own faith. Don't use their history though, as Homeschoolmom detailed only a few of the major problems present in them.

We stayed far away from Bob Jones University Press...very far away. We talked with vendors from there occasionally at homeschooling conferences, and their personal anti-catholic bias was apparent within only a few sentences . Flip through one sometimes...it jumps right out of the book at you.

There are tons of old Catholic school books out there if you know where to find them...some better than others, obviously. [url="http://www.setonhome.org/"]Seton,[/url] [url="http://www.kolbe.org/storefront-c0.html"]Kolbe Academy[/url], [url="http://www.motherofdivinegrace.org/"]Mother of Divine Grace[/url], and other homeschooling organizations include some of these in their courses and have many resources available on their web pages. They (the books) also work as a supplement to public school education where necessary, and also as resources for chatechesis and religious education in youth group or CCD settings.

You can find most of these online or in thrift stores, at little homeschooling stores or conferences, or as cast offs from homeschooling families...I'm pretty sure my mother acquired at least half of our school books at various thrift stores and yard sales.

Edited May 20, 2009 by virginiancatholic

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1871619' date='May 20 2009, 07:26 AM']I think she meant A Beka. BJU (Bob Jones University Press) is another culprit-- usually worse. Here's a snipet from Rethinking Schools Online:



[url="http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/voucher_report/v_into162.shtml"]http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_r...v_into162.shtml[/url]

Cathy Duffy, who is a reviewer of homeschool curriculum (She is a Catholic revert, I believe), also points out in several reviews of A Beka history curriculum (in particular) that there is anti-Catholicism.
[url="http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/history-geography/us-history-abeka.htm"]http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/history-g...story-abeka.htm[/url]
[url="http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/history-geography/world-history-abeka.htm"]http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/history-g...story-abeka.htm[/url][/quote]

Wow...that's so blatent it's amazing to me that any responsible parent would consider the series to be educating and not brainwashing.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Raphael' post='1871657' date='May 20 2009, 10:02 AM']Wow...that's so blatent it's amazing to me that any responsible parent would consider the series to be educating and not brainwashing.[/quote]
Well, if that's your world view, it's impossible to see that.