Really Dumb Sh!t People Might Say To You if You Homeschool

[Jean in Newcastle]

I found one magical answer (in this area anyway) to get people off of my back with regards to homeschooling high school.  I got a lot of flack about high school until I would mention that I taught my son Latin. . Then all of a sudden it was "Ooooh.  Latin." and I was given instant respect!  (Not that I necessarily deserved that respect, mind you!)  After a while, it got to the point where people would ask if we still homeschooled through high school and I would just skip forward to "I teach my son Latin".  "Oooh.  Latin!"  It's this shiny subject that seems to scream "I know what I am doing so it's ok if I'm bucking the trend by homeschooling".

I actually don't teach my daughter Latin because she chose Japanese as her high school language but my current magical answer is "I graduated one already from homeschool high school and he's doing well in university out-of-state".  And if they still give me flack. . . "I taught him Latin"! 

[moonflower]

5 hours ago, Kassia said:

 

When my kids were in elementary school, they were subjected to silent lunches.  And, if they weren't silent enough during lunch, they would lose recess and would have to be silent then, too (this was the entire class, not just individual kids).  DH and I were furious and had to fight hard to get rid of those silent lunches.  It was worse than prison!  Just one of many reasons I always find the socialization issue to be ridiculous.

 

 

Yes!  This is why we started homeschooling back in the day - DS-then-5 was in K, and the rule was silent lunch.  If you weren't silent at lunch, you had to spend recess walking in circles around the playground instead of playing.  

I didn't realize this was happening to him regularly for a couple of months and once we did find out I was pissed.  We didn't take him back, and we took DD out too (she was in 3rd and terminally bored, but better at being silent).  It was the elem. I had gone to, in a good middle class school district.  Neither of their teachers were surprised that we left.

[Miss Tick]

3 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

After a while, it got to the point where people would ask if we still homeschooled through high school and I would just skip forward to "I teach my son Latin".  "Oooh.  Latin!" 

Ooo, I love magic! We are starting high school next year (sans Latin.) I wonder if it will work in the imperfect tense, "we've studied Latin!"

I wonder if it will work in other scenarios? "Why no, officer, I didn't see that stop sign. Have I had a chance to mention that we study Latin?"

"What's that you say? My electric bill payment is late? Shall I tell you how to say that in Latin? Anyone can learn if they put their mind to it, we did!" 

(Emojis omitted due to the possibility that they will appear gargantuan with no warning and little recourse)

[maize]

One of the strangest I got was a parent who worried about my kids' socialization because "there is a homeschooled kid at my church and my son says the other boys make fun of him."

I thought she ought to be more worried about the socialization of the other kids at church since they had evidently been socialized to bully kids they perceived as being different in some way...

[Ausmumof3]

On 2/24/2019 at 6:05 AM, ByGrace3 said:

I recently had a conversation with a Lebanese gentlemen -- a friend of my dad's. DS and I were sitting at my parents restaurant having lunch. My dad was sitting with us chatting and he came up. Of course, initial question was, "why aren't you in school?" To which we explain we homeschool. He was horrified. "Why would you do that?" "How do  you do that?" "Why would you not take advantage of public schools....that are so great . . . ." the questions are rapid fire and he didn't want any answers... after awhile he begins to tell a story about how when he came from Lebanon and entered US public schools, the high schools were about at a Lebanese 5th grade level... he proceeded to say how shocked he were that the public schools were so behind and how terrible they were academically. I just sat there staring. Seriously?!? 

My dad  vehemently defended our decision to homeschool and while I appreciated his support  .  . . some people are not worth the effort.

I have had the most negativity from immigrants.  I think some of it is possibly just that they are less likely to have come across it but also I think that for some of them public schools have been a really big part of assimilating to the culture.

[Ausmumof3]

3 hours ago, Gil said:

"Why don't homeschoolers believe in using black crayons?"

I am still  trying to comprehend where the heck that question could've come from.

Isn’t this a Steiner school thing or something?  I’ve heard of it

[Ausmumof3]

http://www.waldorfreviews.com/main-lesson-supplies-crayons/

here I found a link that discusses it.  Some homeschoolers use a Steiner philosophy so maybe they had met someone who didn’t.

[ScoutTN]

23 hours ago, Gil said:

I don't know why other parents think that social skills are learned at school. It's at home that social skills are supposed to be learned  so that they can be exercised or used outside of the home.

Amen!

[ScoutTN]

8 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I have found the people who are really annoying about homeschooling (BIL, I'm looking at you) are often really annoying about everything.  You really can't please them unless you do everything exactly the way that they would do it.  And even then that might not be enough.

My in-laws are this way. 

[RootAnn]

2 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I found one magical answer (in this area anyway) to get people off of my back with regards to homeschooling high school.  I got a lot of flack about high school until I would mention that I taught my son Latin. . Then all of a sudden it was "Ooooh.  Latin." and I was given instant respect! 

The mother of a girl my DD is friends with gave so much respect to a fellow homeschooler because "her daughter is learning Latin!"

Um, yeah, I teach my kids Latin, too. But, no respect for me, just for her. I guess I'm not magical.

I remember when a friend showed me her Bilbo face commenting on an acquaintance (actually, the homeschooler I mentioned above) pulling her kids out of school. Friend said, "I feel so sorry for those kids!" Then, she commented that they'd be un-social(ized) and would miss prom! My kids had played with her kid for years, but I had no idea she was so anti-homeschooling until then. I stared at her for an uncomfortable amount of time after that. She'd always commented on how well behaved my kids were. I guess that was what she meant by being unsocialized (being able to play with her son & obeying me). 

[lulalu]

I don't think I have heard anything too bad from anyone. My dad has surprised me with how supportive he is and how he always says I am doing a great job! 

I have heard from friends while living in the middle east that they think it should be left to professionals. I am a professional teacher, so it always got akward. But in a lot of the middle east professionals are used for EVERYTHING- like you don't paint your own bedroom ever, or fix a broken appliance or anything. So it just comes with the culture I think. 

[Momto6inIN]

23 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

One former friend asked me if I wanted my dd to respect me when she grew up, because she clearly couldn't if I was just a SAHM. I still remember her saying "don't you want her to be able to look up to you?"

This makes me want to cry and scream at the same time ... 

[Bluegoat]

On 2/24/2019 at 1:00 PM, Jean in Newcastle said:

I had one lady that I met at a kid's birthday party look at my kids as they ran around with the other kids and say "You homeschool?  But. . . they are so . . . social!"  I deadpanned, "Yes, I let them out of the basement just for this."  She looked at me in complete horror and then chuckled nervously, "Oh!  You're joking!  . . . Right?"  In the interest of not having her call CPS on me, I did admit that yes, I was joking. 

 

Gosh, I had forgotten, but this reminds me of a work bbq I went to once.  My eldest was about 3 or 4, and was running around and playing with a group of kids.  One little kid fell, and she stopped and helped him up and made sure he was ok.

The parents of the kid were surprised that she was so friendly and concerned, "since she isn't in pre-school."  I was kind of ????, since generally we try and be friendly and concerned at home which is where she learned it.

But - those parents were kind of clueless about all kinds of things.  

[Bluegoat]

23 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I have had the most negativity from immigrants.  I think some of it is possibly just that they are less likely to have come across it but also I think that for some of them public schools have been a really big part of assimilating to the culture.

 

I think maybe the other element is that in some countries, being able to go to school is huge opportunity that people dearly wish they had. The idea of publicly funded schools for all is a real ideological value for them, something they value about the west.  The idea of not doing it might on the one hand be associated, unconsciously, with not getting an education, but also may just seem to be turning one's back to that value of public education.

[Jean in Newcastle]

2 minutes ago, Bluegoat said:

 

I think maybe the other element is that in some countries, being able to go to school is huge opportunity that people dearly wish they had. The idea of publicly funded schools for all is a real ideological value for them, something they value about the west.  The idea of not doing it might on the one hand be associated, unconsciously, with not getting an education, but also may just seem to be turning one's back to that value of public education.

For my immigrant ILs, education is the way to the American Dream.  And their DIL was standing in the way of their grandchildren achieving that!  Having my son get into university was the only thing that really relieved their fears.

[Violet Crown]

On 2/23/2019 at 4:48 PM, klmama said:

while her public-schooled 10yo granddaughter sat there silent and terrified-looking

To be fair, one of my children specializes in sitting there silent and terrified-looking if anyone talks to her. One of the many reasons not to put the poor kid in a school. But I've heard way too many people blame her anxieties, OCD, and (previous) muteness on her being homeschooled.

My favorite anti-homeschooling remarks are about how I'm helping wreck the public school system by keeping my kids out of it ... and I'm helping wreck the Catholic school system by keeping my kids out of it. Two school systems at once! My superpower.

 

[Bluegoat]

I do think sometimes these questions, while poorly put, contain more reasonable questions.  There are a lot of parents of older kids who struggle with social questions as homeschoolers.  And I do think as a citizen I have to be concerned about public education.  It can sometimes work when people ask these things to try and answer within those kinds of larger contexts, while also talking about the compromises that would be involved in making the choice to go to public school.  That assumes the people are actually interested of course, though sometimes if you give that kind of answer people will just shut up because they realise they don't know what they are talking about.

[Jean in Newcastle]

11 minutes ago, Bluegoat said:

I do think sometimes these questions, while poorly put, contain more reasonable questions.  There are a lot of parents of older kids who struggle with social questions as homeschoolers.  And I do think as a citizen I have to be concerned about public education.  It can sometimes work when people ask these things to try and answer within those kinds of larger contexts, while also talking about the compromises that would be involved in making the choice to go to public school.  That assumes the people are actually interested of course, though sometimes if you give that kind of answer people will just shut up because they realise they don't know what they are talking about.

We coffee shop school every morning.  I have had people come and stand right by my shoulder looking over at our math book.  For two or three minutes!  Awkward!  But most of our interactions have been curious but positive.  People have genuine interest in how it works.  (These are not people who are coming at it from an antagonistic angle.  I have met those before as well.)  I don't mind the genuinely curious.  I think that, while I don't owe it to them to give them a seminar on homeschooling every time, that answering a question or two in a pleasant manner does more good for the "cause". 

Family members can be more tricky but I also think that family does have a valid interest in how the children in the family are raised.  I don't think that they have final say or anything but especially grandparents do have a valid reason to ask why we are doing things outside the mainstream.  My own parents were fairly open to it but discouraged my SIL who dropped out of school at age 16 to homeschool high school.  I think that SIL could have had very valid reasons to still homeschool high school but she agreed with them that she did not in fact have the educational knowledge to school her kids during those years and put them into public school for the high school years.  My dad made a few comments about my kids missing the competitive aspect of high school.  I listened to him, heard his concerns, addressed them (we had other avenues where my kids worked with other kids and were able to compete in things) and kept on homeschooling.  For my in-laws, I listened, tried to explain, realized that they just could not understand and kept on homeschooling.   With my in-laws I had to do the "pass the beandip" strategy more often than not. 

[shawthorne44]

On 2/23/2019 at 9:13 PM, Momto4inSoCal said:

"They need go to school to learn street smarts" I'm not sure what exact street smarts they were referring too. We live in a plain Jane middle class suburban neighborhood and I'm sure none of the kids here would stand a chance in a bad neighborhood on the street. I'm not sure it would be a good thing if they could either. 

 

"It must be so nice to homeschool, sleep in all day, stay in your pjs" 

Ummm ya that's what we do all day sleep and stay in our pjs.

NOT learning street smarts is reason 417 to homeschool.    DH went to a school in downtown Dallas that had very few middle class kids.   Upper, yes.  Lower, yes.   That he knows the proper response to any gang sign, really bothers me.   
For anyone that is curious, the response is to cross your arms so that the arm muscles stick out and then slowly shake your head.   It conveys that you are too high in a gang hierarchy to do signs.   He knows other things, but for some reason this one bugs me.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

13 minutes ago, Margaret in CO said:

We used to have a local grumpy librarian. I asked her for some help finding some particular books (pre-internet days) and she informed me that "If I wanted curriculum, I should put my kids in public school, where they belong!", Okay, then. Several years later, I was checking out books, and the kids walked over with their piles. Dd piped up, "Look, Mom. They have Cat in the Hat and it's in English, not LATIN!" I could have kissed her. 

We had a grumpy librarian too. She was converted when Dd, three at the time, walked into the library and yelled “To be or not to be. That’s the question!”  

[klmama]

3 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

To be fair, one of my children specializes in sitting there silent and terrified-looking if anyone talks to her. One of the many reasons not to put the poor kid in a school. But I've heard way too many people blame her anxieties, OCD, and (previous) muteness on her being homeschooled.

Right, and that goes along with my point, although perhaps I didn't express it well.  The lady was saying being in school was the way to good socialization (which her other comments showed she thought meant being able to talk to people), but being public-schooled did not make her granddaughter a comfortable conversationalist, just like being home-schooled didn't make my dc incapable of making pleasant conversation with a stranger.  She was convinced she was right, even though she had two little children right there proving her wrong.   I've known a number of extremely anxious homeschoolers who became homeschoolers because school only made their anxiety worse; by not being in school, they were able to relax and learn, and they've gone on to do some really interesting things as adults.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

11 minutes ago, klmama said:

Right, and that goes along with my point, although perhaps I didn't express it well.  The lady was saying being in school was the way to good socialization (which her other comments showed she thought meant being able to talk to people), but being public-schooled did not make her granddaughter a comfortable conversationalist, just like being home-schooled didn't make my dc incapable of making pleasant conversation with a stranger.  She was convinced she was right, even though she had two little children right there proving her wrong.   I've known a number of extremely anxious homeschoolers who became homeschoolers because school only made their anxiety worse; by not being in school, they were able to relax and learn, and they've gone on to do some really interesting things as adults.  

In my opinion, what matters is if the child is being properly scaffolded. Some homeschool parents do not help kids with special needs of any kind (defining this loosely as someone who has a need that is special- not necessarily a disability). Some schools don’t either, no matter what they say. I am not a “homeschool is always best just because it is homeschool” person but do feel like the opportunity to provide for individualized education including scaffolding is one of homeschooling’s biggest strengths. But for me that meant that I had to be proactive to look for opportunities to help my dd with significant anxiety issues and for my ds who is an Aspie. Just homeschooling them without meeting their social needs would have been letting them down. 

Edited February 26, 2019 by Jean in Newcastle

[shawthorne44]

I have to say that these posts have totally blown my mind.   Thinking of the first post, I think laughter IS the proper response to most of these.  
I am thankful that my parents quickly were converted and DH tells MIL to shut up if she comments.  Every now and then I'll get a socialization comment, but more in a neutral way like, "We don't homeschool because of Socialization" to which I point to our kids playing together nicely.  

[Gil]

On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 5:37 PM, Tanaqui said:

 

That's Waldorf schools that don't use black crayons, isn't it?

I had no idea what they would've been talking about.

On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 5:43 PM, nixpix5 said:

https://www.acornsandtwigs-blog.com/waldorf-education-black-crayons/ In case you were truly curious 🤣

Well, I would've used the word baffled, but thanks for that link. It was interesting learn that they weren't just crazy.

[nixpix5]

1 hour ago, Gil said:

I had no idea what they would've been talking about.

Well, I would've used the word baffled, but thanks for that link. It was interesting learn that they weren't just crazy.

😂 I only knew about it from working in a Montessori environment for a while. We were always fielding Waldorf questions like "did Maria Montessori allow black crayons?" Which just cracks me up since Maria was concerned about educating street children and probably did not stop to contemplate the spiritual conundrums of black crayons 😂 I do love me some wonky educational philosophies that get taken VERY seriously 😝 

On a Montessori note, I once had a Montessori teacher pull me aside and scold me in a soft, serious tone (as only a Montessorian can) because she saw me playing a fairy tale board game with a student in my office. Apparently because Maria did not believe kids should be allowed to indulge in fairy tales then it was forbidden that I, as a counselor, should not use such tools to break the ice with shy little children 🙄 

Edited March 2, 2019 by nixpix5

[Tanaqui]

I thought that Maria Montessori only thought that fairy tales shouldn't be encouraged in the classroom but didn't object to them being around in the rest of children's lives...?

[Terabith]

On 2/24/2019 at 3:42 PM, Gil said:

"Why don't homeschoolers believe in using black crayons?"

I am still  trying to comprehend where the heck that question could've come from.

Waldorf schools don't allow children to use black crayons, especially young children.  Maybe they had encountered a Waldorf homeschooler?

ETA:  Oops.  Saw this was already answered.  Maria Montessori didn't believe in fantasy for kids under 6.  She thought fairy tales were fine from age six on up.  

Honestly, as annoying as I found the socialization question when we were homeschooling, it was a reason we put the kids in school.  When they were little and homeschooling, they got plenty of socialization from extracurricular activities and playing at parks and with neighbors.  But as they got older, it was harder to make friends that way.  Folks at extracurriculars didn't stay and play; everyone rushed off to the next thing.  And my kids needed more frequent, consistent interaction with the same kids over time to make friends, and I was really struggling to meet that need for my oldest especially at home.  It wasn't THE reason we put them in school (the real reason was that it was hurting our relationship), but it was a pretty major factor.  I do think school is a more efficient means of training certain executive functioning skills.  But I firmly believe that it would be best if almost all kids could be homeschooled at least K-2 or 3.  Learning to read, write, and the basics of math is just so much more efficient one on one, and school is both inefficient and full of extremely developmentally inappropriate expectations and not enough playtime.  

Edited March 2, 2019 by Terabith

[nixpix5]

2 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

I thought that Maria Montessori only thought that fairy tales shouldn't be encouraged in the classroom but didn't object to them being around in the rest of children's lives...?

You are not wrong. Actually, Maria had a brilliant scientific mind and would carefully watch children and creatively develop tools to meet the needs of the children. Her "follow the child" research was really just that; watching children closely to see what they gravitate towards and removing boundaries so they can meet their learning objectives. She was against the very nature of adhering to a dogmatic system as she was wise enough to see not every path was for every child but by following, you can order an environment in such a way that leads to peaceful and thoughtful learning. I often think she would roll over in her grave knowing that tool she developed that one time for little Timmy to learn from was now being enforced to an anal extent on every Montessori child. However, that is a topic for another thread...😝

[*****]

I know my dear neighbor had doubts (even though I am a former teacher).  Now that my oldest has graduated from college and my second one is in college, she can't say enough nice things about how they turned out...so just keep your chins up!  We know what we are doing is right for our families. 

My parents also were a little hesitant, ditto on the above.  It was nice to hear them finally come around and say so...

[Gil]

3 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Not too long ago there was a lady at one of our extracurriculars who got very upset about talking animal puppets that one of the instructors was using during class. I always wondered what that was about. She was very adamant children not be misled by being given the idea that talking animals existed or something. It was one of those things where you perk up, but don't dare pipe in, LOL. Anyway, I wonder if it's something along the lines of misunderstanding something like this. I am pretty sure her kids went to a local Montesorri and it made me think of it when I saw your post. I don't really know anything about Montessori. But wow- you'd have thought is was demonstrating a Satanic Ritual via puppetry based on her reaction. So weird. 

Do you happen to live in the South?

Last month we were checking out at WM when The Boys saw a bunch of the trading card games had CLEARANCE tags and started browsing them. They brought over a large pack of Pokemon cards and asked the cashier woman to price-check it for them since they didn't see the original price sticker.

The woman asked if their parents actually let them play with Pokemon cards (even though I was standing right there) and when they told her "yes" she started shaking her head no and told The Boys that she wouldn't ever let her kids play with Pokemon cards because Monsters are evil and she "didn't want her kids to believe in them."

Pal was confused and caught off guard, he said something like "Pretty much everyone knows the difference between reality and pretend. Pokemon cards are really fun."
She clarified that Monsters and Evil were against (her brand of) Religion so playing games that glorify Evil and Monsters was a sin and Pal asked: "But Pokemon don't ACTUALLY exist. How is an imaginary sin a real sin? What about mickey mouse--is he evil too?" (She was wearing Mickey Mouse ear rings)

She got quiet but was clearly upset while she finished ringing up our order but just as we were getting the last of our bags she yelled: You need to repent and bring Jesus Christ into your life and be saved! 

It startled me and yes, it was as weird as you think it was.

 

[8filltheheart]

I have family members who are the worst when it comes to homeschooling. One is just an all around, well, you know. He says beauties like, "You don't have the right to share your opinion until you can prove your little experiment didn't ruin your children's lives," when my oldest is happily married with an excellent career as a chemE, a ds is in grad school at Berkeley, a Dd is attending college on almost complex scholarship, etc. Seriously, some people are so prejudiced that nothing will penetrate their bias. They aren't worth the oxygen it would take to have the conversation.

Meanwhile, that exact same afternoon another family member stated, "Your kids are just so nice," while the other kids there were non-interactive with adults or had invited friends to come bc they didn't want to interact with family bc it would be so boring or were so rude to their parents that I was honestly shocked. Her Dh scowled when she made the comment! Whatever.

My kids. My choices. Rhino hide helps. Passing the bean dip. Knowing when to engage and when to simply glaze your eyes. 

Fwiw, I have socially awkward kids and completely non-socially awkward kids. I have extreme introverts who are anxious and extreme extroverts who are complete and total hams. I have brilliant kids and avg kids. I have kids who are easy to parent and I have kids who have me on my knees. Same parents. Same upbringing. It all just boils down to individuals are individuals.

[Rosie_0801]

2 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

I have family members who are the worst when it comes to homeschooling. One is just an all around, well, you know. He says beauties like, "You don't have the right to share your opinion until you can prove your little experiment didn't ruin your children's lives," when my oldest is happily married with an excellent career as a chemE, a ds is in grad school at Berkeley, a Dd is attending college on almost complex scholarship, etc. Seriously, some people are so prejudiced that nothing will penetrate their bias. They aren't worth the oxygen it would take to have the conversation.

 

Some people seem born to teach us why ad hominem attacks deserve such a splendid sounding name.

[Bluegoat]

14 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Whoa! That's nuts! 

I'm in SE Texas, so I think TX is sort of it's own thing apart from the South. I guess we would qualify as Bible Belt though? I have met the anti-Harry Potter people, and the no Halloween people-they were all public schoolers. The homeschoolers have been the ones who refuse to teach Norse or Greek mythology because it's pagan. I thought I had heard it all. But the Pokemon is a new one to me! Wow. 

I didn't know about the black crayon thing either until this thread. That's weird. People are really weird.  

ETA- I don't think any of the anti-wizardry or paganism people had anything against talking animal puppets. It's not something that really comes up in conversation.....But now I feel like I should ask. 

 

I'd guess most of the people who have issues with crayon colours are Waldof types, and the thing about no pretending is Montessori.  It's kind of interesting they are so opposite - Montessori doesn't really like kids pretending, even pretend play, whereas Waldorf doesn't like to tell kids how technology and such actually work and instead advocate giving them magical/fairy based explanations for such things.

[nixpix5]

15 hours ago, Gil said:

Do you happen to live in the South?

Last month we were checking out at WM when The Boys saw a bunch of the trading card games had CLEARANCE tags and started browsing them. They brought over a large pack of Pokemon cards and asked the cashier woman to price-check it for them since they didn't see the original price sticker.

The woman asked if their parents actually let them play with Pokemon cards (even though I was standing right there) and when they told her "yes" she started shaking her head no and told The Boys that she wouldn't ever let her kids play with Pokemon cards because Monsters are evil and she "didn't want her kids to believe in them."

Pal was confused and caught off guard, he said something like "Pretty much everyone knows the difference between reality and pretend. Pokemon cards are really fun."
She clarified that Monsters and Evil were against (her brand of) Religion so playing games that glorify Evil and Monsters was a sin and Pal asked: "But Pokemon don't ACTUALLY exist. How is an imaginary sin a real sin? What about mickey mouse--is he evil too?" (She was wearing Mickey Mouse ear rings)

She got quiet but was clearly upset while she finished ringing up our order but just as we were getting the last of our bags she yelled: You need to repent and bring Jesus Christ into your life and be saved! 

It startled me and yes, it was as weird as you think it was.

 

So one of the straws that broke the proverbial camel's back for me when my kids were in kindergarten at our local Christian school was this. One of my k's at the time wore a pikachu sweatshirt. It wa winter and they made him take it off and wear some too small sweatshirt from the office. They then proceeded to tell him pokemon were evil. So not only was my sweet little pokemon loving guy embarrassed and terrified but it sent the message that we as parents could not make adequate clothing purchases for him. It was not in the clothing banned list but apparently an email had gone out early in the year that I missed. When I went in to talk to the principal about what I felt was a mishandling, she said this was too important not to address with him and that pokemon were evil and kids should not have access to them. I was already on my way out of that crazy school but that prompted a pull mid year to homeschool. The best part was when she and I were talking a little kid comes in with a backpack with Darth Vader on it wielding a light saber and I said "what is the evil factor on that?" And she goes "we don't consider that evil at all" 😂 ok check, cherubic electric mouse evil, the absolute epitome of the dark side not evil...got it. 🙄

The day we went in to unenroll I let both boys wear their pokemon sweatshirts and bought them new booster packs to open as I filled out the paperwork in the office. 

[nixpix5]

1 hour ago, Bluegoat said:

 

I'd guess most of the people who have issues with crayon colours are Waldof types, and the thing about no pretending is Montessori.  It's kind of interesting they are so opposite - Montessori doesn't really like kids pretending, even pretend play, whereas Waldorf doesn't like to tell kids how technology and such actually work and instead advocate giving them magical/fairy based explanations for such things.

I know, it just cracks me up. There are aspects I love about both philosophies. We do alot of Montessori math and grammar because to me it is brilliant. I love children having access to adult items in their size. I do really love the general aspect of Montessori but not the rigidity that was never really meant to be what it was. Waldorf really does a fabulous job with art and nature studies. We tap into that alot for inspiration. I love watching Pepper and Pine YouTube videos because she was a Waldorf student herself and puts together amazing unit studies heavy on the Waldorf. Lots of beauty in it. Then again, I enjoy most things in moderation and when it tilts over into cult status I slowly back away smile-and-wave-boys status 😂

Edited March 3, 2019 by nixpix5

[Petrichor]

On 2/26/2019 at 12:25 PM, shawthorne44 said:

NOT learning street smarts is reason 417 to homeschool.    DH went to a school in downtown Dallas that had very few middle class kids.   Upper, yes.  Lower, yes.   That he knows the proper response to any gang sign, really bothers me.   
For anyone that is curious, the response is to cross your arms so that the arm muscles stick out and then slowly shake your head.   It conveys that you are too high in a gang hierarchy to do signs.   He knows other things, but for some reason this one bugs me.  

Had a hard time deciding what to react with. that's insane!

I wouldn't know a gang sign if it hit me over the head. So I googled it (not sure what exactly I googled, LOL) and it's not a rabbit hole I enjoyed one bit.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

23 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Not too long ago there was a lady at one of our extracurriculars who got very upset about talking animal puppets that one of the instructors was using during class. I always wondered what that was about. She was very adamant children not be misled by being given the idea that talking animals existed or something. It was one of those things where you perk up, but don't dare pipe in, LOL. Anyway, I wonder if it's something along the lines of misunderstanding something like this. I am pretty sure her kids went to a local Montesorri and it made me think of it when I saw your post. I don't really know anything about Montessori. But wow- you'd have thought is was demonstrating a Satanic Ritual via puppetry based on her reaction. So weird. 

I'm a Montessori teacher for 0-3 and 3-6.

We actually use puppets in 0-3 as a way of showing that an inanimate object can be made to look animate. It's a great tool and really fun to include in music and rhymes. What an odd reaction you got!

[73349]

On 3/1/2019 at 9:44 PM, Terabith said:

 But I firmly believe that it would be best if almost all kids could be homeschooled at least K-2 or 3. 

For me as a kid, it was the opposite. I learned to read and count before K anyway, had fun and got to know some friends in K-2, and by 3rd I was bored and would've been better off at the library.

People have been neutral to supportive of our homeschooling--it's popular enough here that strangers have heard of it (and on any given day there are kids out and about because there are so many different school calendars anyway), and because i have a teaching background, family doesn't seem to worry about it. An exception is folks from my church, which is very gung ho about public education. (So am I, but it doesn't serve every child successfully; the district is welcome to my taxes and my supportive votes, but not my kid, whom they wouldn't appreciate anyway).

I did have a friend in another state who didn't know there was homeschooling apart from cyberschooling--she was like, "So you log in every morning and they tell you what to do?" Nope: my calendar, my curriculum choices, my responsibility to pay for them, my pacing, my instruction, my evaluation other than an annual standardized test. And it may have ruined me for teaching by somebody else's rules.

[scoutingmom]

A few years ago I was one of the cub leaders in the scouting group my kids are in.  We had a new cub leader; after a couple of meetings he came up to me and said something like "I couldn't even tell your kids were homeschooled".   I stared at him a few minutes, then said "thank you???"

Honestly I was trying to figure out if he was expecting them to be so socially inept that they would stick out... while being mildly upset that they hadn't stood out for being so outstanding.  I was a bit upset inside that obviously we were being talked about because I hadn't mentioned it.

I probably shouldn't mention that a year later I discovered that the phone calls to cfs and the homeschool office to complain that occurred shortly after the above story were initiated by him....