BTW: We're all arrogant idiots.

[KrissiK]

Hmm. That's a good one. First off, I can't remember anyone blaming the teachers. Did anyone around here blame the teachers? I used to be a teacher. I don't blame the teachers. Most teachers I know work hard and are good people. Personally, I blame the system. The unions. The govt. The whole concept of school in general that puts children in a classroom with 20-30 other of their peers and thinks that's a great way to teach. I really blame everything else about the school system except for the teachers. She needs to get her facts straight. Among other things. :glare:

[ktgrok]

Can someone PM me the link?? I'd like to share it with someone I know.

 

Thanks!

[KungFuPanda]

:lol::lol::lol:

 

She has a point. When I went to college, I focused exclusively on second grade because it was IMPOSSIBLE to be well-trained enough to teach K-8. Oh wait . . . . I don't think that's what happened. :D

 

If someone tells her how many "qualified" and "certified" teachers have chosen to homeschool, her poor head will explode. She doesn't seem like the type to ever understand the difference between tutoring and classroom teaching.

[lakotajm]

That's so odd that she thinks public school teachers are some miracles the ed. dept.s of colleges churn out through some magic we have no access to. And that comment about them becoming experts in one grade level. What? My SIL is a teacher and every year we have to ask her what grade she has this year because there have been do many changes in her district-in buildings, purposes for rooms, grade levels being switched among teachers, etc. She had kindy one year, special ed the next, then 2nd grade. I think it is second grade again this year, so they must be settling down!

 

And she has to study curriculum because it changes, too. She doesn't automatically know how to teach it. She may have learned a few tricks about teaching techniques and behavior control that I am not privy to, but I learn new things here and there from other homeschoolers, books, etc. She turned me on to starfall.com, but I have turned her on to other resources myself. Yes, me, an arrogant, ignorant homeschooler.

 

as a previous poster said, I agree:

Most of the public/private school teachers I know aren't like her though. They are supportive - as I am of them. Our problems with ps here have nothing to do with the teachers. Just administrators.:iagree:

I would have to add school boards. We live in a rural, redneck area. So we are definitely treated like we have cooties, because we think we are "too good for their school" I guess they figure. Thats how small town folk sometimes are-suspicious of anyone who doesn't want to be just like them.

Well, opinions are like...well, you know.

Lakota

[nitascool]

 

I'm sorry, but I know ten-year-olds that could get an education degree.

Just wondering were these ten-year-olds homeschooled? :tongue_smilie:

[WishboneDawn]

Hmm. That's a good one. First off, I can't remember anyone blaming the teachers. Did anyone around here blame the teachers? I used to be a teacher. I don't blame the teachers. Most teachers I know work hard and are good people. Personally, I blame the system. The unions. The govt. The whole concept of school in general that puts children in a classroom with 20-30 other of their peers and thinks that's a great way to teach. I really blame everything else about the school system except for the teachers. She needs to get her facts straight. Among other things. :glare:

 

Honestly, I've found the people here are generally more understanding and supportive of people then other parents I know. We get a small taste of what being in a classroom is like and imagining our experience multiplied by 5 or 10 or more...*shudder*

 

We GET it. Not completely of course but we GET it.:001_smile:

[Nscribe]

Homeschooling is growing and I suspect we will all see much more of this type of thing. I have had several teachers tell me that between homeschool, charters and privates they feel more and more the public schools are struggling to keep high performing students.

[6packofun]

I especially liked how her own English teacher--Mr., umm, Condon...--was, uh, "vulnerable" so that the kids could see the world differently.

 

Does anyone know what that MEANS??? LOL Am I the only one for whom that seems kind of creepy?

 

OK just goofing around with that bit. ;)

 

I don't take much of that rant seriously. The arrogance thing is just silly.

I have met very few teachers who seem like experts in their subject area so the implied expectation of such of a homeschool teacher is ironic. There are many very knowledgeable and effective teachers, yes, but they're not possessors of some exclusive knowledge on either the material OR the methods necessary.

 

How funny that teachers are known to complain bitterly about how government expectations and testing holds them back, how their materials suck--if they even have them--although they've got that expertise to rely on, right? They're teaching abilities are squashed constantly, they have to spend most of their time on crowd control and we all hear about it when parents want results. BUT those of us without those constraints and a fervent desire to teach the little people we love most in the world couldn't possibly figure out how to work with curriculum and the endless resources available to any parent OR teacher in order to give a decent education. I dare any other human being to say they are more motivated and have more at stake to teach MY child. Ability does not automatically follow, true, but they can't match my fire and that gets us through.

 

Goofy.

[GingerPoppy]

 

I kinda wonder if she wrote the article as part of that tribe on the website.

 

Did anyone else look at it a bit? I did.

 

One of the moms there says, "Remember what Heidi Klum says, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.."

 

Ugh:blink:

 

 

 

Blech!!!!!!! That has got to be one of the pukiest, most self-centered, SICK quotes I've heard...

[ChrissySC]

OK, clue me in. I need a pm - thread to find post. I work and you all get juicy. :P Rude!

[momma2three]

So her post was basically "Uh, I was going to do some research, but I never really got around to it, so I found one random book and kind of skimmed it, and now I will write an essay on it where I admit I know nothing about the subject and did no research."

 

Sounds like the sort of research paper I would have turned in in 8th grade! Public school, btw. :D

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

So her post was basically "Uh, I was going to do some research, but I never really got around to it, so I found one random book and kind of skimmed it, and now I will write an essay on it where I admit I know nothing about the subject and did no research."

 

Sounds like the sort of research paper I would have turned in in 8th grade! Public school, btw. :D

 

:iagree: She obviously has no idea what she's talking about.

[Slartibartfast]

 

One of the moms there says, "Remember what Heidi Klum says, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.."

 

Ugh:blink:

 

---I'm gonna shut up now.

 

That is on the "about" page.

 

So the person who runs the site said that.

[Impish]

Meh.

 

I can't be bothered to get worked up about this. Its like only being allowed to feel 6 inches of elephant and going off on a tirade about The Beast That Shall Eat The World.

 

Ranting out of ignorance is still ignorance.

[Cricket]

The teachers your children will encounter will be excellent examples of character sprinkled with a few non-examples but we need all of those perspectives to question our beliefs, confuse, irritate, inspire, uplift, and finally create ourselves. One parent teaching at home can’t do that.

 

It is really sad to me that people think children can only be inspired by teachers. There was a recent letter to the editor in our local paper that chastised Christians who homeschool because their children cannot love their neighbor while being homeschooled (you know, keeping them in the dungeon and all that).

 

And the idea that homeschooled kids live in a bubble....good grief! Obviously this person does not know any homeschool families.

 

It takes years for a teacher to hone their craft and their curriculum for one specific grade level.

Isn't one complaint of teachers that the administration changes curriculum frequently and most often the teachers hate the curriculum chosen and that they don't have the freedom to choose what they want to use?

[Bang!Zoom!]

That is on the "about" page.

 

So the person who runs the site said that.

 

That's correct.

 

The audience for which this site is aimed at is definitely a very special segment of society if you look around some.

 

Her article is the equivalent of finding a homemade cookie recipe in Hot Rod magazine.

[AndyJoy]

It takes years for a teacher to hone their craft and their curriculum for one specific grade level.

Isn't one complaint of teachers that the administration changes curriculum frequently and most often the teachers hate the curriculum chosen and that they don't have the freedom to choose what they want to use?

 

Around here teachers get shifted from grade to grade or school to school frequently as well. A teacher friend of mine has taught kindergarten, 7th & 8th grade science, 3rd grade, and K-2nd combined in the past 5 years!

[Cricket]

The bolded struck me as well, but for a different reason. If it takes years for a teacher to hone his or her craft, what safeguards are in place for the unfortunate children placed with a new teacher?

 

:lol: The poor children!

[AndyJoy]

The bolded struck me as well, but for a different reason. If it takes years for a teacher to hone his or her craft, what safeguards are in place for the unfortunate children placed with a new teacher?

 

:iagree:I thought the same thing!

 

Then there are the ones who are new to a particular grade. My 6th grade social studies/math teacher had just moved up from 4th grade. She had previously taught 1st grade as well. For most of the school year, she gushed about how everything we did was just amazing and massively inflated our grades and didn't challenge us. I hope she had higher standards for the next year's class, but maybe it took her years to perfectly hone her craft:D.

[NanceXToo]

Hmm. I guess the Girl Scouts leader, Judo Sensei, children's librarian who runs the book club, guitar teacher, other Homeschool families, friends, relatives, neighbors, soccer coaches, swim instructors, art camp teachers, field trip and educational tour guides, employees of the various establishments we frequent, and so on and so forth aren't part of "the village" in her little shoebox world. Such a shame I isolate my children from the 29 other kids their exact age and the few adults they might interact with on a daily basis in a public school classroom and expose them to the real world instead.

 

We all know it's much better to spend 12 years preparing for the real world while shut away in one room than actually, you know, living it. And how some overworked and underpaid teacher has more of a vested interest in our children than we do.

 

And I'm sorry she is so lacking in confidence and perceived intelligence that she can't even comprehend being able to teach a preschooler, for crying out loud (perhaps she has public school to thank for that)! But is she really unaware of the dismal failing states of our public schools, the graduates who can't put together a coherent written sentence, the way even the best public school teachers are forced to forgo a well rounded education in order to teach to the test?

 

It's ok. Kids like hers will work for kids like mine some day. She can put that arrogance in her pipe and smoke it!

Edited September 21, 2011 by NanceXToo

[FaithManor]

It's ok. Kids like hers will work for kids like mine some day. She can put that arrogance in her pipe and smoke it!

 

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

I have a dear homeschooling mom friend who takes quite a lot of grief from her rather ignorant mil. One day after her mil made this comment, "You don't want the children to become too smart because it's also important to fit in with the crowd." My friend said, "Oh, no. It's not important that they fit in. The crowd will be their minions and minions don't fraternize with management."

 

I was standing in her hallway and choked on my ice tea. She wasn't necessarily proud of her attitude later, but it did have the satisfying effect of her mil leaving and not returning for many moons!

 

Faith

[arghmatey]

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

I have a dear homeschooling mom friend who takes quite a lot of grief from her rather ignorant mil. One day after her mil made this comment, "You don't want the children to become too smart because it's also important to fit in with the crowd." My friend said, "Oh, no. It's not important that they fit in. The crowd will be their minions and minions don't fraternize with management."

 

I was standing in her hallway and choked on my ice tea. She wasn't necessarily proud of her attitude later, but it did have the satisfying effect of her mil leaving and not returning for many moons!

 

Faith

 

OMWord! Your friend is a sassafras! Ha!

 

I am so going to Zazzle something with that.

[Pretty in Pink]

Her village apparently exists specifically and exclusively within the confines of a public school building. What a pity. Our village is...the world. :001_smile:

[ChrissySC]

:D I was not very nice. Sorry. I contributed to the hot air that was swirling over there.

 

I will quote me:

 

Shockingly, I find that you are ill-educated on the topic. I suppose that parenting should be banned and a teacher should raise my children based upon your comments. In general, I find many illogical and unsubstantiated opinions. If you had backed your opinion with some type of experience or supportive research, I could respect it. As it stands, you are blathering pointlessly.

 

As for teachers, I do not find many that are qualified beyond academics to teach. I have experienced many good teachers, but the problem exists not at the level of a teacher. The problem is with the mainstreaming of education, unreasonbable reactions to behavior, extreme growth of the student population, etc – and that is only naming the major few.

 

More than anything, I do not think that housing 1000′s (yes, 1000′s) of students on a campus that more resembles a college or university an acceptable way to exert any type of control or to model any type of appropriate social behavior. The schools have grown entirely too large and leave the children ungoverned and much too much to themselves. You only need to visit Facebook or read the newspaper to find that this type of an institution isn’t working. The alternative is preferred for many parents: homeschooling.

With that said, any academic situation can fail. You need to step off of the soap box and discover reality. Nothing is perfect, but sometimes the alternative is just better.

 

And you wonder why teachers get such bad press lately? Evaluate your own egocentric stance on an academic structure that fails to teach math and reading. Consider that only marginly more than 60 percent of all high school students actually graduate. Isn’t that your fault? Consider how ill prepared college students are for class. Only 40 percent of college freshman continue on and graduate. Back up your hot air, and come find me later.

Edited September 21, 2011 by ChrissySC

[DarlaS]

Yes, I think I've heard of that. Something to do with tubes, right?

 

:D

 

Youtube! That's how I learn everything I need to know. :D

[Impish]

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

I have a dear homeschooling mom friend who takes quite a lot of grief from her rather ignorant mil. One day after her mil made this comment, "You don't want the children to become too smart because it's also important to fit in with the crowd." My friend said, "Oh, no. It's not important that they fit in. The crowd will be their minions and minions don't fraternize with management."

 

I was standing in her hallway and choked on my ice tea. She wasn't necessarily proud of her attitude later, but it did have the satisfying effect of her mil leaving and not returning for many moons!

 

Faith

Love it!

[Hedgehog]

It is really sad to me that people think children can only be inspired by teachers. There was a recent letter to the editor in our local paper that chastised Christians who homeschool because their children cannot love their neighbor while being homeschooled (you know, keeping them in the dungeon and all that).

 

And the idea that homeschooled kids live in a bubble....good grief! Obviously this person does not know any homeschool families.

 

Isn't one complaint of teachers that the administration changes curriculum frequently and most often the teachers hate the curriculum chosen and that they don't have the freedom to choose what they want to use?

 

:iagree: great post.

 

I'm also loving Audrey and NanceXToo's posts... and ChrissySC's comment :D

[Lovedtodeath]

Well, I've got to admit, that until recently, I really was. :blushing::svengo:

[ChrissySC]

I just wanted to remind eveyrone, that we are not qualified to have this discussion. :)

[Forget-Me-Not]

I really want to take a red pen to her pronouns! If she could possibly get singular and plural pronouns correct, I might at least be willing to read this without cringing at her *expertise.*

 

Dawn

 

Not to mention her apparent distaste for semi-colons (see the first heading). And the person calling themselves "Zach" in the comments really, really likes the word "anyways".

Edited September 22, 2011 by LemonPie

[Impish]

I just wanted to remind eveyrone, that we are not qualified to have this discussion. :)

*snicker*

[kalanamak]

I can’t help but be freaked out by Facebook groups and blogs touting their homeschooling methods and group field trips.

 

Perhaps some medication or therapy?

 

 

[Donna]

Teaching is an art and a science. Teachers are experts in their field based on experience and education. How could parents (Education backgrounds or non) become experts in the curriculum each school year? It takes years for a teacher to hone their craft and their curriculum for one specific grade level. No one could ever prepare and master all standards and content K-12. How could anyone effectively teach their varied-aged children every single year just by trading lesson plans with other homeschooling moms? BA-NA-NAS. No one’s that awesome. I can rock a ninth grade English class teaching them poetry but I am certain my sad math skills won’t help me with my kids’ homework past the fifth grade.

 

Hmmm. I graduated from school and I did master all the curriculum/material from K-12. I know, I must be brilliant but also all the curriculum for the courses I took in college and graduate school as well. Isn't that what I went to school to be taught?

 

Let's see, she claims to have gone to school to learn how to be a teacher, yet, she has math skills below a 5th grade level. Hmmmm.

 

I sent my middle ds to PS last year and he scored worse on his MAP testing after a year of PS than he did going in. Lovely! So glad their curriculum and teaching is so much more awesome than I am.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Yeah, I liked how she couldn't even bring herself to research it because she was so horrified by it. . . perhaps she's afraid we'll all convert her to our Evil Homeschooling Cult.

[Impish]

Yeah, I liked how she couldn't even bring herself to research it because she was so horrified by it. . . perhaps she's afraid we'll all convert her to our Evil Homeschooling Cult.

Bwah hahahahaha!

 

Or she thinks we're Borg, and she'll be assimilated. Or a virus.

[Slartibartfast]

Let's see, she claims to have gone to school to learn how to be a teacher, yet, she has math skills below a 5th grade level. Hmmmm.

 

 

 

That makes me want to toss my kid on a bus.

[WishboneDawn]

What I don't get though...That's a commercial site with sponsors.

 

Why alienate a portion of the target audience?

[Sputterduck]

She thinks we're arrogant idiots, yet she stands there judging us (in arrogance!) and can't teach her children 5th grade math (who's the idiot now, lady?)?

[Lizzie in Ma]

I laugh when I read diatribes like hers. Don't make me pull out my papers and measure up with hers, because I guarantee you right now that hers are going to look mighty meek next to mine. I got that crap from a ps teacher in my town once. She's oh-so-sorry she ever did that.

 

I only appear arrogant because I am right, I am smarter than her, I am more qualified than her, and she is just another simpering whiny ps parent who thinks that years spent learning how to make a bulleting board, manage behaviour problems and turn on an overhead projector qualify someone to educate a human being. She probably also believes that phonics don't work, that Everyday Math is a production of genius and that contemporary textbooks are veritable fonts of objective facts.

 

Oh.... I think I just laughed up my lunch.

 

:lol:

[lakotajm]

OK, now ya'll have made me curious to read the article from the site. So PM me the link, please. I can't take the suspense. I'm glad I'm not a cat.

[plansrme]

I laugh when I read diatribes like hers. Don't make me pull out my papers and measure up with hers, because I guarantee you right now that hers are going to look mighty meek next to mine. I got that crap from a ps teacher in my town once. She's oh-so-sorry she ever did that.

 

I only appear arrogant because I am right, I am smarter than her, I am more qualified than her, and she is just another simpering whiny ps parent who thinks that years spent learning how to make a bulleting board, manage behaviour problems and turn on an overhead projector qualify someone to educate a human being. She probably also believes that phonics don't work, that Everyday Math is a production of genius and that contemporary textbooks are veritable fonts of objective facts.

 

Oh.... I think I just laughed up my lunch.

 

Audrey, is the house next door to yours for sale? 'Cause I want to be your neighbor.

 

Terri

[sewingmama]

I had to laugh when she described herself as not being having the special skills and knowledge to know the standards to teach her DD in Pre-K. Public school worked out great for her then didn't it ;)

 

In my State we have to gain approval each year from the Education Department to HS and to get it I have to at least loosely follow the same standards as the PS. I have a copy of the official curriculum and standards right here beside me for my DD who is in K and here is a quote of what standards and curriculum are being taught in PS K for English.

 

"Identifies and writes most letters of the alphabet"

"Recognises the letters on a keyboard"

"Understands the difference between a letter, a word and a sentance"

"Recognises that drawing and writing are different"

"Attempts to use correct pencil grip"

"Identifies the title of a book or CD"

 

 

I'm pretty sure all of us here could "understand and teach these standards" without too much specialised training. :tongue_smilie:

 

My DH is a PS teacher. Next year the Australian government is introducing a common nationwide curriculum as opposed to the States having their own curriculums as we have now -so every kid in Australia will be learning the same thing. So far my DH has not been told he is out of a job or has to go back to University for another 4 years to learn the new curriculum -gee -I wonder how he will figure it out ;)

 

Every single day my DH comes home and tells me he is so glad we are homeschooling our kids. Not just because of the enviroment of the schools but because the standards here are so low. DH is a senior HS teacher and is sick to death of not being able to teach the curriculum he is supposed to teach because every year he has to take major time in his Year 11 and 12 classes to teach the kids how to write a proper sentance or paragraph - things they should have alreay learnt by now since they are expecting to go to Uni in a year or 2.

 

Today DH is substitute teaching at the primary school down the road and his class today is Year 4. He is expected to teach the lessons that their regular teacher has left - how on earth will he figure out what he has to teach when he was trained for Year 11 and 12 English and Drama :tongue_smilie:

[*Inna*]

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

I have a dear homeschooling mom friend who takes quite a lot of grief from her rather ignorant mil. One day after her mil made this comment, "You don't want the children to become too smart because it's also important to fit in with the crowd." My friend said, "Oh, no. It's not important that they fit in. The crowd will be their minions and minions don't fraternize with management."

 

I was standing in her hallway and choked on my ice tea. She wasn't necessarily proud of her attitude later, but it did have the satisfying effect of her mil leaving and not returning for many moons!

 

Faith

Love it! Zing! :lol::lol::lol:

[Word Nerd]

You forgot "ignorant sows." Such persuasive debate skills her supporters have.

[elegantlion]

Yeah, I liked how she couldn't even bring herself to research it because she was so horrified by it. . . perhaps she's afraid we'll all convert her to our Evil Homeschooling Cult.

 

Some of us did order goats a while ago. :lol::lol:

[Mom-ninja.]

Bwah hahahahaha!

 

Or she thinks we're Borg, and she'll be assimilated. Or a virus.

 

Well, it is pretty useless trying to resist the Hive.

[mandymom]

My 3 roommates in college were all education majors. I love them each dearly, but there is only one of them that I would want my kids in her class....and she's not even in a classroom now. She's in administration. They are all lovely people, and very loving and dedicated. However, one of my roommates could barely do elementary math. Seriously. Just because she passed a test that said she was certified does NOT mean that she is somehow more qualified than me, because I can do and teach elementary math just fine.

 

My mom is also a PS teacher. She's been out of the classroom for TWELVE years as an instructional technology specialist. Because of budget cuts this year, her position was eliminated, and she's back in a classroom this year. She has a degree in secondary history (that she received in 1971), taught in '71 and '72, and then quit to raise her kids. She didn't go back into the classroom until '94 and then was only there for a few years before she got the ITS position. Since it was hard to get a history position, she took a few certification tests this summer, and passed the certification for 1st-8th grade generalist. That mean that she is now "certified" to teach ANYTHING from 1st-8th grade. And as much as I love my mother, I'm not even sure I would want HER to teach my kids come subjects. I am FAR more qualified to teach science than she is, as I have a BSN, and she would be the first to admit it. By the way, she teaches English, a subject that she is fairly competent in. However, she is SO restricted in how and what she teaches. Even the best trained teachers will be severely limited in what they are allowed to do in the classroom.

 

My mom, MIL, and best friend are all public school teachers and wholeheartedly support our decision to bring the kids home. They are in the midst of it day in and day out, and they've all said it was the best thing we could do.

 

Let her village raise her children. My children will hire her children some day (well, maybe).

[scrapbookbuzz]

I exercised my self-control by NOT posting on her blog that she's obviously an absolute dork. She lumped all of homeschooling into unschooling and obviously know not one whit about homeschooling in general. I'm waiting for her to meet someone like, oh, say, AUDREY. Hooh boy! I'd like to witness that encounter! :^)

[IsabelC]

Well, from one sow to some other sows, her standard of writing and argument is about what I'd expect from a woman whose main focus seems to be boots, clothing, her sponsors, and how 'hot' she is :lol:

[Lovedtodeath]

She thinks we're arrogant idiots, yet she stands there judging us (in arrogance!) and can't teach her children 5th grade math (who's the idiot now, lady?)?

:D