Mom-ninja. Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Anyone have to deal with anti-home school stuff with family gatherings? My bil was staying here for a few days. He is clearly anti- home school. He tutors math at Sylvan. All I can say is I would not want him tutoring my kids. My ds loves math, and loves to show people how he can solve math problems. So he asked bil to give him some subtraction/addition problems. Ds did them the way he has learned with RS math. That is he does it mostly mental, and subtraction is from left to right. My bil just about had a little fit, and told ds that he was doing it all wrong even though the answers were right. He told ds to not do math in his head because it will confuse him. Then he showed ds how to figure out the 9s times table by counting on fingers. Finger counting, oy! I quickly directed ds elsewhere. Explained to bil that the curriculum I chose specifically teaching mental math, and no finger counting. He humphed and told me to show him "the so called curriculum" so he could look it over and tell me if he approves. I smiled and told him that I liked my choice in math, had no doubts about it, and thank you but I wasn't looking for his approval. Then he starts to tell me how he comes across so many home school kids at Sylvan who are "messed up." These poor kids are so screwed up by their parents because their parents just don't know math well enough to attempt teaching it, and some parents should just not teach their kids. I got all prickly and told him the same can be said for teachers. There are some teachers that just should not be teaching kids. The I asked him, being a math major, what he figured the ratio was of home school kids vs public schooled kids that get tutoring where he works. He did not answer. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 I think I would have wrung his neck. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilymax Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 That's funny...one of my homeschooling friends is a former PS teacher who now works p/t as a tutor for Sylvan to help pay the bills. I've never heard her mention having any HS'd kids as clients...they're always schooled kids. I think you handled that well. Sounds like he needed to be told, point-blank, that his input on your curriculum was NOT needed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginevra Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Boy, that was...severe. He sounds very arrogant. Fortunately, I haven't had to cope with anything quite this rude. Once, my sister lambasted me about how I thought I could teach my kids better than someone "with a phd in education". Are there a lot of those in public elementary school? ;) Anyway, I did get sweet vindication eventually because she later homeschooled for a while, when she was told by an administrator that they would "push [my nephew] through" in an area where he was failing. So, she had to eat a little crow for her rebuke of my choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineFarmMom Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Ours isn't family against homeschooling anymore really. That battle, they have learned, isn't worth their effort and we've come to a peace of sorts. Our issues revolve more around dh & I being more protective and guarded towards our children than my brother & sister & their families are towards their own. My sister has a 7yo and has just basically tossed the notion of protecting him via the tv. My brother's youngest is 16, so it's not really an issue with him. I was constantly having to say no, that I wasn't okay with such and such being watched because I didn't want any of my dc watching it, particularly the 6 and 3yo dc. They were going to rent Twilight for all the kids to watch together??? Say what? They used to make slight comments about homeschooling, but we've been at it for 10 years, so that has really passed for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindermommy Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 My 29yo single BIL with no kids, who has an opinion about *everything* did bring up the notion that kids who are homeschooled "forever" are screwed up. When I reminded him politely that WE homeschool (I mean, did he forget that when he said that??) he quickly noted that WE were doing it "right" (I didn't ask what his definition of "right" was), but MOST people don't. I told him while I don't know ALL homeschoolers, I would NEVER use the word MOST. Maybe SOME? More likely A FEW. Anyway, he based this very long drawn out opinion on ONE kid he had as a friend (some 18 YEARS AGO!!) who was HS'ed until 6th grade where he then entered public school and tried to "assimilate" - but was tortured/teased/taken advantage of by my BIL and friends because he was "weird". I was like "yeah, HS sucks and I'd much rather my kid be exposed to what you and your're friends did!" (huge huge sarcasm). He basically dropped it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted December 31, 2009 Author Share Posted December 31, 2009 Boy, that was...severe. He sounds very arrogant. Yes, he is actually. His attitude is that he is pretty much always right. Maybe he'll grow out of it when he becomes a man (as DH says). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saille Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 That's funny...one of my homeschooling friends is a former PS teacher who now works p/t as a tutor for Sylvan to help pay the bills. I've never heard her mention having any HS'd kids as clients...they're always schooled kids. I think you handled that well. Sounds like he needed to be told, point-blank, that his input on your curriculum was NOT needed! The above describes me accurately. Never had a homeschooled kid. I think I'm the only hs-ing mom most of those tutors know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted December 31, 2009 Author Share Posted December 31, 2009 My 29yo single BIL with no kids, who has an opinion about *everything* Do we have the same BIL? I'm also really really curious if he is even tutoring any home schooled kids. I kind of think he isn't. I wouldn't put it past him to lie about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Anyway, he based this very long drawn out opinion on ONE kid he had as a friend (some 18 YEARS AGO!!) who was HS'ed until 6th grade where he then entered public school and tried to "assimilate" - but was tortured/teased/taken advantage of by my BIL and friends because he was "weird". I was like "yeah, HS sucks and I'd much rather my kid be exposed to what you and your're friends did!" (huge huge sarcasm). He basically dropped it. So, yay for all that tolerance of diversity and getting along with other sorts of people you learn in public school, right? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 My uncle is this way. I was shocked when he said, point blank, that I was ruining my sons, ruining our local ps, and part of the group that is ruining America. :001_huh: At that point, all I could say was, 'all hail freedom.' I mean, how can you respond to that?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted December 31, 2009 Author Share Posted December 31, 2009 My uncle is this way. I was shocked when he said, point blank, that I was ruining my sons, ruining our local ps, and part of the group that is ruining America. :001_huh: At that point, all I could say was, 'all hail freedom.' I mean, how can you respond to that?!? I think you had the perfect response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Anyway, he based this very long drawn out opinion on ONE kid he had as a friend (some 18 YEARS AGO!!) who was HS'ed until 6th grade where he then entered public school and tried to "assimilate" - but was tortured/teased/taken advantage of by my BIL and friends because he was "weird". I was like "yeah, HS sucks and I'd much rather my kid be exposed to what you and your're friends did!" (huge huge sarcasm). He basically dropped it.Soooo..."we public-schoolers once humiliated a homeschooler that tried to come to our school, therefore homeschoolers are "forever" screwed up." Yeah, that's PERFECT logic. :001_rolleyes: I would put it differently: Even homeschoolers can get screwed up if you expose them to the public schools! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 My bil was staying here for a few days. He is clearly anti- home school. He tutors math at Sylvan. All I can say is I would not want him tutoring my kids. My family's term for such people is "mannerless boor". That is the clean version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker25 Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I think my family just knows it would be a battle if they wanted to confront me about homeschooling so it's all good. LOL My cousin did get onto me once because I was talking about having to change some curriculum that was not working. She told me that having worked in a special ed classroom with her daugter that she thought changing curriculum would be too confusing to my kids. I explained to her that one of the great things of homeschooling was adjusting to each of my kids individual learning prefrences and instead of frustrating my kids with pushing through something that did not work I could adjust. She still insists that it will damage my kids in the long run. I just tell her she is welcomed to her opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I think you had the perfect response. I have a tendency to just gape when faced with such....... I don't even know how to put it. I was surprised I managed to squeek that response out. Funnier, he's always giving me grief for being Christian Conservative and believes himself to be "open-minded." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 You mean other than my dad telling me that I "wouldn't worry so much if I didn't sit at home all the time and do nothing." :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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