This thread is a perfect example of how Foucault perceived of Discourse. Each discourse is a combination of many ideas, some that fit and some that kind of don't, but which are somehow bundled together to make a unit. So the example that some people feel like extreme ideas are incorporated in a discourse to protect the inclusion of other less radical ideas is an example of how some ideas that don't really fit still can be subsumed into a discourse. In addition, ideas can be in multiple different discourses at the same time, which is exactly what you are describing in your post. What is fascinating is that people seem to want clear cut boxes -- what is *in* the discourse and what is *out*. And some people want everyone to agree on the outline of the box. This is where Foucault had some of his greatest insights - identifying that discourses are not fixed, not isolated, not exclusionary. And people are not in control of what is in them. Discourses have a mind of their own, kind of an emergent phenomenon created from many independent voices. This thread showcases exactly what he saw and wrote about.

Well, your drag thoughts for about 8 hours straight has given me a very nice day of reading and thinking, so thank you.

I would love to hear about that. I am very interested in how radical feminist theory overlays with queer theory. I have been thinking about it a lot, but have very little background to know where to direct my thinking.

I'm no expert lol. Just working on my masters in environmental mangement using foucauldian discourse theory as both my ontological/epistomolocial foundation and my methods. I know absolutely nothing about queer theory. However, my guess is that queer theory was developed using foucauldian discourse theory to identify, describe and explain queerness which is what is called queer theory. The difference is that what they found *at that point in time* concerning what was *in* different discourses is not still true today because based on foucault, discourses are in constant flux. However, their description about how ideas are developed and consolidated are still valid today. My guess is that the academic papers were very clear on that, but that your profs just summarized the findings on the actual discourses at that point in time rather than giving you the discourse theory assumptions underlying the work that create the full theory. My guess is that you are taking the output of that research and overlaying it with a different ontological/epistomological assumptions than what Foucault advocated. Obviously, many assumptions are valid, just different, but they do impact how you would recall the research output. Just a guess. Obviously, I have no idea.

I assume that queer theory describes the different discourses rather than defining them, and that queer theory allows discourses to evolve. Isn't that what this thread has been discussing? That ideas concerning queerness are in flux, and that different people see queerness in different ways. Together these different ideas argue with each other, and form collections of similar and dissimlar ideas that form discourses that compete with other discourses for dominance. This thread has argued that drag queens are both in and outside of queerness depending on opinion. Clearly, discourse is only a collection of ideas that can be separate or overlap with ideas in other discourses, and all discourses are not set in time or place, but are in constant flux. Of course, the dominant discourse has the most political power, but currently, there is no hegemonic discourse concerning LGBTQIA because of the strength of the counter-cultural discourse. That is Foucault in a nut shell.

I don't have a background in queer theory, but I do have a background in Foucauldian discourse theory as I'm right now (as in today) writing my lit review chapter on the different types of discourse theory. I have found your aguments absolutely fascinating, and I completely agree with almost all of it. I have been discussing your points and those arguing with you with my dh for the past 3 hours. Then went off on a few research tangents, which was very eye opening. So I want to thank you for all your thoughts and time in this thread. The only thing I'm aguing is that if queer theory is a set of ideas, then it is not using Foucauldian Discourse Theory to arrive at them. Kind of an academic argument, but it is just that I'm writing about it right now. lol

Foucauldian Discourse Theory (FDT) does not include any agency. Under this form of discourse theory, people do not have 'goals' to subvert dominant discourse. Rather, FDT focuses on how all language has power that impacts without purpose the different discourses that exist in society. It argues that the dominant discourse is always in flux, always in competition with other non-dominant discourses. And it is through discursive practice, that a variety of discourses emerge. So based on FDT there are many different ways of viewing queerness, and it is not defined as one thing. All language creates discourses, and discourses are always in flux. There are other Discourse Theories besides those proposed by Foucault, and some of them include agency.

Can you explain this for me.

I was talking to my dh about this thread, and he said that on Tuesday the USA Embassy in Wellington New Zealand flew the pride flag. He could see it from his office window.

That is where I was going to say. I'm used to high cost of living so choose to live small.

I found it interesting that the photos in the NZ news had the kids faces blurred out, but in the USA news, you could see them.

Older ds's university must agree with you. It doesn't run little 3 hour weekly labs in science courses, rather the science majors require a full lab class. For physics, ds was required to take a experimental physics class worth a class and a half. The expectation was 18 hours of work per week for 15 week term, and ds said it was all of that and more. There were no lectures and no tests or exams. There were only 3 labs and 3 write ups. So each lab and write up was expected to take 90 hours. My ds says it was the most difficult undergrad class he took. You can't take it until Junior year so that you can do some very hard stuff.

For Highschool, my kids did 1) a two day 10-hour lab run for homeschoolers at the university. (variety of labs, no write ups) 2) 3 hour lab on ions with a 3 hour write up 2) a 3 hour titration lab with a 3 hour lab write up. So 16 hours total in lab with 6 hours of lab reports = 22 hours for a year course. I just asked my younger son, and he said that the above highschool experience was plenty to do well in the labs in his freshman university chem class.

In my kid's experience, their freshman year, university, 1-semester chemistry classes had: MIT: ZERO labs! UC: SIX 3-hour labs

This is my older boy. He is 23 and still does not know how to drive, even though he lives in the USA. He chooses to live in cities and take public transport and ubers when required. He has no interest in learning to drive.

My sister is a councilor and she looked it up. It is actually an antipsychotic drug used for schizophrenia that they gave him that is not used in the USA. At low doses it is good for nausea. With the liver disfunction and the extreme weight loss, it just rolling into something very unfortunate.

My older boy was about 5 days. My younger boy was 9 MONTHS. He had 7 wisdom teeth - 3 were deep behind the others and 2 were in his sinus cavity. So the holes were particularly deep both back and up. The beginning of the recovery went as expected, but then because he couldn't eat for 2 weeks and then didn't want to eat for a few more weeks, he completely threw off his metabolism. He lost enough weight that he had bloods done that indicated that his liver was consuming his muscle. Once he got into ketosis, his appetite completely left him. Then when he would try to eat, he felt like he would throw up. They finally put him on a antinausea drug to try to get him to stop the nausea, and unfortunately he got Covid that week. Once he got over covid, they decided the first drug didn't work, so they tried a second one which was not focused on his stomach but rather his brain. It was an antipsychotic drug that at low doses helps with nausea, and did work, kind of, but definitely not perfectly. Finally, he started slowly every so slowly to eat again. This was at month 4. He was only allowed to be on this drug for 1 month because it is addictive, and he took a full month and MUCH misery to wean off of it, with the pukey feeling being on and off again the whole time as he cut his dose back over and over. Then began the process of gaining weight. There were many missteps. He got so stressed in month 6, that he quit eating again for 2 weeks. Then I started to worry about anorexia because he started to talk strangely about his body. But we persevered. He dabbled with the anorexic thinking for 2-3 months, but we steadily supported his weight gain and that thinking finally started to wane. By month NINE, he had gained back his weight and has been mostly stable. My guess is that he wins for worst recovery time. It was pretty horrible for him and us.

Iron needs to be eaten with vitamin C, so fruit or veg. And you need to avoid calcium at the same meal as calcium inhibits iron absorption, so no dairy or tahini etc. You also may need to get a vitamin B12 injection to help with absorption.

We are zoned for the 'best' school in the country based on National test scores. This public school beat out ALL the private schools in New Zealand and has for numerous years. I would never send a child there. I completely reject their method of motivating children through competition. I also reject their definition of a good education as good tests scores. This defintion means that they put all their effort into only one aspect of the child, and ignore the whole child especially mental health. I tutor kids who go to this school, and I would *never* compare my homeschool to this 'best' school that is 6 blocks from my house. Nope. My goal is a well balanced child with a strong sense of self, with a desire to learn, and with a desire to be kind. For me an excellent education is about empowering my child to make decisions and embrace options. Academics in my house are strong, but they are used to achieve these other goals rather than as an end in and of themselves.

What a great question! I'm very much enjoying the responses.

I think this really varies by the kid, my older was independent for everything except writing. My younger was not independent AT ALL. For my older, I worked with him for 1 hour per day on his writing, and while we were sitting together, I would check in on what he was working on that day and how it was going. This was not a top-down assignments approach, rather it was a student-led 'what are your goals' approach. So basically a daily check in through highschool, and during his external exams (NZ has national exams), I was more involved with helping him set study goals. In contrast, my younger boy needed constant supervision and help. He has/had dysgraphia which impacted every aspect of his learning and there was no way he would achieve what he wanted to achieve in his education without my intensive help. Luckily, I was able to give it. In addition to content help (direct teaching), he needed me to micromanage his time most days. Even in highschool, he needed to be kept on task. Kind of an every hour sort of thing. By the time he hit university, he could manage a day of goals. But still called asking me to help him schedule out the day. By 19, he could schedule a week at a time on his own. Basically, because he had to deal with the dysgraphia, the independence piece was slower in developing than is typical. My point is that independent learning might be the end goal, but that does not mean that all kids blink it into existence at the age of 14. This is something that is still being taught for many kids, so I would suggest that you stay involved making sure things are getting done. Slowly, give more agency to your child. But there are many stories told here of parents who assumed their kid way more independent and responsible than they were, and then 5 months into the year, they realize that not much has been done. Most people need a watchful eye, some motivation, some encouragement, whether child or adult. 'Independence' is not isolation. Each of us has to find the balance that is right for our kid, and this balance is a constantly moving goal post.

Welcome to the board! We are a group of very eclectic homeschoolers. Although, many people use online classes for high school, it is definitely not a strongly held opinion for anyone here that I know of. People do what is good for their kids and that varies hugely. In addition, the WTM series of books focuses on learning not on resources. It is a method, a way of thinking about education. So it sounds to me like you fit right in here. So welcome.

I will also say that you never know how the mind works when you are looking in from outside. I could never understand why my ds was so SLOW when he was clearly highly gifted at mathematics and had no processing speed issues. He was constantly thinking and studying numbers. I was like, you know what to do, would you please just do it! Only much later, like when he was 14, did I find out that he has synesthesia with numbers. Numbers for him have both different colors and personalities. So he was spending so much time thinking about problems that were easy, because he was looking for patterns in the colors. Why would a green 6 and a yellow 2, add up to a red 8. That is not how paint works. Why was it that evil negative numbers always win over virtuous positive numbers when multiplying (they always turn evil), whereas when adding, the relationship is not consistent. Graphing was a serious problem because the different quadrants were diffferent colours and personalities so graphs were just odd and confusing to him. Things like parabolas would go in and out of color and personality depending on the reflection and translation. He would just study and study and study looking for patterns. He did not know that what he saw was highly unusual, so never thought to ask. I never discussed it, so he never discussed it. The different was, of course, that I never discussed it because I didn't see it! That situation really opened my eyes to differences in how the brain works. Once I realised what was going on, I was simply flabbergasted.

With my very mathy, but dygraphic boy, we did a year with Mathematics: a human endeavour (written by Jacobs, of Jacob's Algebra fame). It is an inspired, well-respected book full of deep thinking on a multitude of topics. It is engaging and fascinating. I found with dysgraphia that my ds had a serious problem with *encoding* math ideas into written language. Dysgraphia is a encoding problem after all. So our focus was not on 'showing your work' (because it was badly muddled) but on me training him what proper workings look like. This book gave us the opportunity to do a sideways move out of both preAlgebra and Algebra to give me interesting content to be able to train his brain to think logically and linearly about math. It was a very good choice.

My older boy graduated last year from universtiy, and has made the transition to grad school. He has decided on a sub field (quantum computing) that gives him broader job prospects than just being a professor, which makes me quite relieved. He is absolutely loving theoretical physics and has found an awesome professor and program. I'm really pleased that he is keeping a balanced life with hobbies in cooking, plant propagation, oragami, and of course his music.