Elizabeth

Perhaps you can’t understand this because you are not intelligent enough to grasp the concept of learning for learnings sake, rather than sitting and being taught what the teachers in public school think you should know. Who’s the free thinker of the two?

Well, what ARE you trying to do? Much more convincing that a simple denial.

“Children are by nature curious and when a parent smothers that curiousity by exposing them to so little.”

Who smothers kids curiosity more than the public school? I mean, when I was in fifth grade and I was constantly told to “shut-up” when I asked a question in class, because “that’s not in the curriculum for this year”, I can tell you that didn’t make me any more curious. When I am homeschooling, if I ever show an interest in a subject, say Ancient Egypt, even if it isn’t on the planned curriculum for the year, my mom always gets really excited about it and drives me to the library so I can research and discover everything and anything I want on the subject. Who’s trying to smother my curiosity?

“sheltering your kids from the world because you fear someone might give them an opinion…”

When homeschooling, I spend four hours on school work then go out to the “real world” to socialize with all kinds of people of varying different ages, while my fellow public school peers are forced to spend seven hours of their day locked in a building away from the real world and are only allowed to socialize with people in their age group.

This is where you are really off base. By not having to do “group think”, the children who are home educated get to learn by investigating ideas, and drawing their own conclusions. Our kids use the Socratic method of learning, which means they read original works and then discuss and draw conclusions based on what they read. They have the freedom to study what interests them, not what a curriculum has on the schedule for that day.

They have had numerous teachers, because we cooperatively teach with some other families, and they are involved in many community activities. All this, and we still have time to be together as a family because they don’t have to spend all day at a school building, having their every movement monitored and scheduled. My students are free to learn much more by being home schooled.

And, my kids are the activists in this family. I had never stepped foot at a pro-life rally until they asked me to take them to the first big protest in Aurora in August. So in this family, it was the kids that influenced the mom to get out there and stand up for life!

By the way, can you tell I’m homeschooled?
Also, the reason why homschooling is great is this-
1. I get to learn at my own pace and explore my own interests along with my education. Anything I can not teach myself or my parents can not help me with I can take a class at my local community college for.
2. I get a flexible schedule to be able to do a wide variety of hobbies and volunteer work, along with spending time with my friends (yes I actually hav friends!).
3. I do not have to deal with listening to teachers lecture me all day- I independently learn the material (I do an accredited correspondance school) and ask myself how I feel about an issues istead of being told how to feel. I am constantly researching issues like abortion from all different sources (including Planned Parenthood) so I can learn for myself what is true and not true.
As a result or being homeschooled, I have not only tested above average on my standardized tests and recieved A’s in college level studies at age sixteen, but I have learned to think what I want independently of what is popular or fashionable. I would write more reasons why I like being homeschooled but this post is too long as it is!

In any case, why this person would lie or even if this person was lying about his/her personal experience is immaterial to the issue. The issue is that this person said that the main reason that we see teens protesting abortion is for their GPA- something that is not true. We know this is not true because if you check the schools these teens go to and if you actually talk to these teens you will discover that they are doing this completely out of their own free will.

In regards to the flick on youtube- if that is what you think all homeschoolers are like you are even more closed minded than I thought. Regardless, I appreciate you voicing your opinion on this site, even if I strongly disagree with you.

I went to public school all through grade school and high school. I loved it and hated it. I was exposed to all sorts of ideas (mostly conservative ones because of where I grew up). I hated it because of the cliques, the fights, the endless bueraucracy and politics of any system of that size (my high school had a graduating class of over 1000). But you know what, I wouldn’t trade that experience for all of the world. I learned about injustice by witnessing it, not by my parents telling me what it was. If homeschooling is that great, please explain it ot me then because I don’t get it. It seems like a glorified way of hiding your children from the world and to make them walking clones of you.

you aren’t exactly making friends here.

This is a longer clip and a better one.

Maybe it’s just me but I don’t know a single 6 year old who can think for themselves. They are impressionable and listen to what their parents say. My parents never focused any particular ideology me. They instilled an intense curiousity in me, but they never forced certain beliefs on me. I think any study of psychology would back up my belief that 6-year-olds don’t think independently when there is extreme adult influence.

Look, all I’m saying about home schooling is this, I think it is beneficial to be around other children and to learn a diverse set of ideas, not just the ones the parents instilled. I have to enforce this again. WATCH THIS CLIP!! NOW! http://youtube.com/watch?v=07WX3F7UQWA

Just an FYI.

So much for respecting the freedom of choice of parents to educate their children the best way they see fit.

“Those kids end up with horrible social skills and are never prepared for the real world.”

Kids from all types of educational environments—public school, private school, home school—can be found who have either exceptionally well developed or exceptionally not well developed social skills. As Renee rightly pointed out, you’re stereotyping out of ignorance.

“Veronica, I’m sorry I don’t buy your story about that girl’s abortion.”

Whom are you calling a liar, and based on what evidence? Veronica or her friend? Or both of them?

5 and 6 year olds can think for themselves. Middle schoolers can think for themselves. When you show kids pictures of unborn babies, and ask, “What is this?” they say “A baby.” When you ask them, “Do you think we should tell the mother she can stop her pregnancy?” they reply, “Won’t that kill the baby?” So clearly, they understand what’s going on even without someone leading them by calling it “killing” or “murder.”

I don’t think you have nearly enough information about home schooling to be sickened by it. You seem to be ruled by emotion and stereotype. Maybe if you were home schooled you would be a more clear thinker.

I like being homeschooled. I think I have a better social life than I ever did in school (I spent fifth and sixth grade in “regular” school). The “homeschoolers are socially inadequate” stereotype is an old one and has no real basis in fact.

“If you want to smother your children in your ideologies about everything go ahead, but I think it puts them at a huge disadvantage.”

My parents have never forced their opinion on me. I can’t say the same for public school, where they spent every single second of every single minute trying to force their political views on the students.

If I’m having an abortion, I dont have to look at the sonogram if I don’t want to. The end.

Veronica, I’m sorry I don’t buy your story about that girl’s abortion.

And finally, why would this person lie about the extra credit? I think it seems perfectly reasonable.

If you think about it, they have to be scared, because they stated that they were in our place a few years ago, meaning that they know the power of prayer and fail to acknowledge it.

When i first saw the blog I was kind of upset, but then i realized, that we have to keep praying for these people, because it is only through our prayers, that they will see and their hearts will be turned.