Why is the chat board so much more active than the other forums?

[Hunter]

The world has changed. Homeschooling and self-education have changed in response. In so many ways.

Edited October 13, 2020 by Hunter

[Kareni]

I'm another who has been here for quite some time; I remember the discussions as to what might happen with Y2K. (Answer: the board clock went back in time to, I think, 1903!)

While actively homeschooling, I used to spend a lot of time on the high school and college boards and less on the Chat board; now the reverse is true.

Regards,

Kareni

[KungFuPanda]

Also, is TWTM even a popular curriculum anymore? There could be a lack of fresh new users to populate the education boards. Do new homeschoolers even read homeschooling books? Does TWTM even HAVE that magical app that all the new parents are asking for? Even if I WANTED to participate in the curriculum-specific boards, my experience is limited to outdated curricula. I used Singapore Math before they even HAD an Americanized version. We loved all of the cultural differences and learned from them. To this day, if I can’t identify a fruit, I call it a “weird singapore math fruit.”

[klmama]

 

Just now, KungFuPanda said:

To this day, if I can’t identify a fruit, I call it a “weird singapore math fruit.”

This.  Our local grocery is suddenly carrying a lot of international fruits, and I was surprised and excited to see durians and rambutans.   

 

[moonflower]

People start off homeschooling and on the ed boards (like me) and then eventually often are no longer homeschooling for one reason or another, but still belong to the community.

[Frances]

16 minutes ago, moonflower said:

People start off homeschooling and on the ed boards (like me) and then eventually often are no longer homeschooling for one reason or another, but still belong to the community.

I haven’t seen you around in awhile Moonflower. I hope all is well with you and yours.

[Jean in Newcastle]

14 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

I've wondered this too. I've been around here since about 2013 but I'm only here off and on and have only HSed for the last two years. 

I've noticed that people sometimes try to start threads about philosophy of education and they die out. Sometimes we'll be told it's because the questions weren't asked in the right way or whatever. I think that's kind of an excuse. I won't accept that the HSing moms of 10 or so years ago were so much better than we are today. 

I don't think there is much tolerance outside of the Chat board for differences of opinion. Generally speaking of course. That EFL thread is a pretty good example of that. Let's be honest - only 3 people are welcome there. 

Personally, I'm pretty tired of hearing about how great the former posters were. 

There are very helpful people here on the education forums but there isn't discussion. 

 

I don’t think that older homeschoolers were so much better. I know how much I was making it up as I went along. 
 

But (and I don’t think that this is necessarily a bad thing)  I have been told over and over that homeschoolers now often have a different agenda than I had especially when I started out. Homeschooling was a lifestyle for me and not simply an educational choice. So certain philosophy type questions seem to show me up as a dinosaur who didn’t do co-ops or really outsource much at all. And I just am not sure if my experience is relevant to today’s homeschoolers who have different goals and ideas. 

[theelfqueen]

All the other boards are more focused ... the number of people looking to discuss high school education, or Bilingual issues, or whatever is a smaller part of the whole. If 20% of the people are on one board (say the k-8 board) and 80% are here in the chat board then this will be a busier place just by nature ... and a wide variety of people have something to say when your question is about cupcakes or vacuum cleaners or marital stresses - where only a handful can address.your question about a specific curriculum and such. 

[Pen]

I look in on a few education forums occasionally — usually to respond about High Noon reading programs or Brave Writer in Learning Challenges.  😁

I was prepared to homeschool this year due to CV19, but my son is doing senior year with public school. He is very much hoping for some in person things like classes, especially drama class, and fun senior year things like dances before year end.

Alas in summer our numbers looked good for in person school soon — but since start of autumn CV19 numbers have been getting worse and worse.  

 

Anyway,  my current interests and issues tend to be more “chat” or perhaps “teens and young adults” parenting related. 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Pen

[Carol in Cal.]

34 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

I've wondered this too. I've been around here since about 2013 but I'm only here off and on and have only HSed for the last two years. 

I've noticed that people sometimes try to start threads about philosophy of education and they die out. Sometimes we'll be told it's because the questions weren't asked in the right way or whatever. I think that's kind of an excuse. I won't accept that the HSing moms of 10 or so years ago were so much better than we are today. 

I don't think there is much tolerance outside of the Chat board for differences of opinion. Generally speaking of course. That EFL thread is a pretty good example of that. Let's be honest - only 3 people are welcome there. 

Personally, I'm pretty tired of hearing about how great the former posters were. 

There are very helpful people here on the education forums but there isn't discussion. 

 

What is EFL?

Personally , I feel like much of my experience is irrelevant to current homeschoolers.

I remember how the folks who used Ruth Beechick sounded like dinosaurs to me in the early 2000s, and I imagine that my recs would sound dinosaurish today.  

Plus I started here in the late 90s when it was still just a bit iffy whether homeschooling was doable or legit.  A very different set of questions are brought forward by that, and the need to design things yourself was still both scary and exhilarating.  I don’t get that sense so much right now. 

Plus even those who did not fully implement TWTM were here because they had seriously studied it and implemented what they thought applied to them, which BTW SWB would heartily endorse.  Now there are lots of folks who haven’t even read it here, and so the conversation does not start with the same common background and set of assumptions.  That’s not necessarily bad but it’s kind of rendered a lot of us either irrelevant or sort of likely to just feel like saying, read chapter 5 in the first edition and then we can discuss it.

[Pen]

 

5 minutes ago, theelfqueen said:

All the other boards are more focused ... the number of people looking to discuss high school education, or Bilingual issues, or whatever is a smaller part of the whole. If 20% of the people are on one board (say the k-8 board) and 80% are here in the chat board then this will be a busier place just by nature ... and a wide variety of people have something to say when your question is about cupcakes or vacuum cleaners or marital stresses - where only a handful can address.your question about a specific curriculum and such. 

 

I think this is the main answer even during non Covid times - yes.

 

[Shoeless]

I had oodles of big opinions about home education when my 12 yo was little.  Now that we're in year 7 of this grand experiment, I have to admit that I no longer enjoy hashing out curriculum recommendations for 1st and 2nd graders.  

Like, all my homeschool advice really comes down to "How's your relationship with your kid? What have you done to improve that?  Because I think if you fix some stuff there, your 'curriculum problems' will mostly go away".  I read posts on fb where both kids and mom are screaming and crying at each other all day over writing or math, so could someone recommend a new curriculum that "will work".  No, I really can't recommend anything because I don't think the curriculum is the broken thing in this situation.      

I think a lot of newer homeschool parents are very much into their idea of a homeschool "lifestyle", and it seems very superficial based on what is being offered up on social media.  I don't know of anyone outside of WTM forums who home educates for academic reasons. 

 

 

[Shoeless]

As for decreased activity on the education boards, it's probably several factors.  These boards were started when homeschooling was much less common and there were fewer ready-made resources for parents.  You mostly had to DIY it or adapt school books to your needs. But you weren't alone in that; everyone else had the same needs.  It's not like that anymore.  We don't all homeschool for the same reasons and don't all have the same needs anymore.  

[Shoeless]

3 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

I don't think it's that modern HSers have different goals. Rather, I think it's that HSing has changed and many modern HSers don't know anything different than what they see today. I think many HSers do co-ops because *everyone* seems to do co-ops. There are so many options for outsourcing today that it's almost hard not to outsource. I suspect that many "oldschool" HSers would take advantage of some of the outsourcing options available today. 

I've been around long enough to have noticed less discussion about methods and educational philosophies. I think people have picked sides and congregate with their 'side.' Even though I just griped about the lack of discussion here it is much better than what I've see on the groups that are based on a philosophy. If you belong to a FB group about Charlotte Mason, you can't start a thread discussing the benefits of CM versus Waldorf. You would be censured and removed from the group. 

Where does TWTM fall today? I think most of the posters here understand that it's actually neo-classical. Could you have a discussion a Circe FB page about whether what they offer is actually classical? They say it's classical and everyone there goes along with it. Is it because they censure disagreements or no one who disagrees ever comments on Andrew Kern's FB page? 

One thing I've noticed with IRL HSers is that they use curricula that no one here ever talks about. 

Now I'm curious. What are they using that isn't discussed here?

[frogger]

38 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:

Plus even those who did not fully implement TWTM were here because they had seriously studied it and implemented what they thought applied to them, which BTW SWB would heartily endorse.  Now there are lots of folks who haven’t even read it here, and so the conversation does not start with the same common background and set of assumptions.  That’s not necessarily bad but it’s kind of rendered a lot of us either irrelevant or sort of likely to just feel like saying, read chapter 5 in the first edition and then we can discuss it.

Is this where I confess I'm not a classical homeschooler?  I have studied it some but I'm a bigger fan of what Chris Davis called Identity Directed Homeschooling. Some delight directed combined with special needs and the ability to think. Some of that is influenced by Classical but some is closer to unschooler as the student does get choices and can choose direction.

 

I have been a regular poster in a variety of homeschool forums since the turn of the millinium and this was the last one I joined. They are for the most part all dead. 

Edited October 13, 2020 by frogger

[theelfqueen]

Also,  there are now fifty gazillion options for every curriculum choice! Which makes shared experiences hard ... and those.of us who build our own are just weirdos. I'm not classical but I am interested in Academics in a way seeming inconsistent with the community outside TWTM that I've been in contact with. 

I can't speak to the unheard of curriculum IRL much - at the co-op/ group where we made most of our IRL homeschool contact it seemed like EVERYONE used Saxon or Teaching Textbooks and the use of anything else for math got you cross eyed stares... same for Apologia for science, it was EVERYWHERE...

I never used the same anything as anyone and they were shocked when I showed up with weird things (I love you TWTM boards for your diverse and interesting suggestions) to loan to my adventurous  friends (things like Literary Lessons through Lord of the Rings or Arbor math or Ellen McHenry ... you know, not crazy obscure but not available at Mardel) forget about teaching my kids Russian, Greek and Japanese not Spanish, French or ASL...

Edited October 13, 2020 by theelfqueen

[Jean in Newcastle]

55 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

I don't think it's that modern HSers have different goals. Rather, I think it's that HSing has changed and many modern HSers don't know anything different than what they see today. I think many HSers do co-ops because *everyone* seems to do co-ops. There are so many options for outsourcing today that it's almost hard not to outsource. I suspect that many "oldschool" HSers would take advantage of some of the outsourcing options available today. 

I've been around long enough to have noticed less discussion about methods and educational philosophies. I think people have picked sides and congregate with their 'side.' Even though I just griped about the lack of discussion here it is much better than what I've see on the groups that are based on a philosophy. If you belong to a FB group about Charlotte Mason, you can't start a thread discussing the benefits of CM versus Waldorf. You would be censured and removed from the group. 

Where does TWTM fall today? I think most of the posters here understand that it's actually neo-classical. Could you have a discussion a Circe FB page about whether what they offer is actually classical? They say it's classical and everyone there goes along with it. Is it because they censure disagreements or no one who disagrees ever comments on Andrew Kern's FB page? 

One thing I've noticed with IRL HSers is that they use curricula that no one here ever talks about. 

Since one of my primary goals was to teach my kids myself, I did have different goals than those who do co-ops and other outsourcing options.  They are rather contradictory goals.  I am not saying that my goals were/are better than anyone else's - just different. 

As far as educational philosophy goes, mine was a mix and it wasn't even the same for both of my kids.  My son learned with a much more classical approach than my daughter because he learned better with that approach and she didn't.  I didn't use TWTM as a template (sorry Susan) and have read various portions as needed but never read it all the way through. 

[Hannah]

The first WTM was published in 1999 - the same year that my eldest was born.  I don't know when the boards started, but I'm another who's been a fairly quiet member for nearly 20 years - I was on the old boards and remember waiting for the boards to flip to be the first to post, which was helped by the difference in time zones.  I read the educational boards daily, devouring the pro's and con's of different curriculum.  We had to import everything, so good research was key.   I've probably popped in at least once a week for all this time.

Over the years what homeschooling looks like has changed a lot.  I always worked part time and had an au pair to help with the schooling in the mornings.  I'd do the planning and preparation and she went through it with the kids.   In high school we outsourced some subjects.  In the primary years I remember being told that I could call myself anything else, but we weren't real 'homeschoolers' as I did not do all of the teaching myself and we weren't living the 'lifestyle'.  I think the community has become more tolerant of different ways of doing things and also different worldviews.  What I've always liked about these boards is that educational rigor has remained important.

 

[lewelma]

3 hours ago, Garga said:

I honestly don’t think I could have done it without the boards   

Me neither.  Boardies have been a powerful force in how I have homeschooled.  Plus, my older boy would not be at MIT except for this board.

[frogger]

I do wonder how things like Classical Conversations or Omnibus affected the number of people who were drawn away from WTM materials. People who would be drawn to words like classical and rigorous. I'm not argueing that they are (or aren't), but they use the same buzz words so might siphon off some homeschoolers. 

[Rosie_0801]

Also, PHONES! Arguing about philosophy is a whole lot more comfortable on a laptop than a phone.

[Laura Corin]

I came to the boards about 18 years ago. My children are adults now.

[El...]

16 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Also, PHONES! Arguing about philosophy is a whole lot more comfortable on a laptop than a phone.

THIS is a really important observation. 

[El...]

Not_a_number, I love to read the philosophical discussions. 

I tend to search first when I need book and teaching ideas, because I don't want to make more work for people who've already offered so much. 

Don't you guys use the new content function? I don't visit the boards one at a time; I just read the action. 🙂

[Terabith]

Because the fun people hang out here?

[Guest]

8 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

But the chat board can get you an answer to just about anything. I post most often looking for suggestions or product reviews. There is very little you could post on the chat board and not have someone chime in with an opinion. It’s very effective as a research tool.

What was the saying we had years ago? Something like, “The boards are faster than Google and less judgmental than your MIL”?

[Just Kate]

For me, I appreciate the chat board because I still have school-age kids, but I’m not a homeschooler. Now I really WANTED to be a homeschooler and I did in fact homeschool my oldest for three years. But alas I had to work and with my job I just couldn’t figure out how to make it happen. I love reading on these broads though because I love the idea of homeschooling, so I always felt like my thoughts about parenting and such more closely aligned to others who post here. And honestly, I have learned so much here on the chat boards! Plenty of things that I had no idea that I needed to know.

[Zebra]

Because the chat board reaches a wider audience, and fulfills a greater need now.

Things have changed so much in 20 years.   When I first read the original WTM, it was SO much more "DIY".    It was hard to sometimes figure out how to do things.   You didn't have easy access to educational items, and so many of them just didn't exist at the time.  Homeschooling was still considered a weird fringe thing too.   I didn't know anyone IRL who homeschooled when my dd was a toddler.    My family was horrible about it, and never accepted it.   I felt completely alone and overwhelmed.   I never found a homeschooling group IRL.

Having a curriculum like WWE available is so much more straightforward to implement than how it used to be done.    There is much more advice and help out there than there was.  The line between homeschooling and public schooling is also a lot blurrier than it used to be.

Now my DD is graduated.   But over the years I have gotten so much advice about everything from cupcakes and what kilt to buy my DH for Christmas.     So I keep coming back to chat.

 

[BlsdMama]

I found TWTM when my oldest was five or six... She’s graduated college, is married, and has kids.

There are many reasons I tend not to contribute on the Ed boards. Once this was a heavily classical board. Newcomers tend to have a different end goal, often putting their kid back in school. I’ve figured out what I like and I experiment less. Because of this, my recommendation of Rod and Staff Grammar or Saxon math needs to be defended and I don’t want to. I’ve not used current popular curriculum (Good and the Beautiful comes to mind) and I have no recommendation or urge to experiment.

Often the thread exists and I took part in the 2010 discussion. Keeping toddlers busy hasn’t changed nor has the necessity of reading aloud. I’m largely past Eureka! moments to share.

There are many reasons, not the least of which is that I’m busy with the ones I still have at home so I’m far less active here overall.

[Wheres Toto]

9 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

Yeah, jinx. And again, I don’t mind FB, but I like actually getting to know people and people giving thoughtful answers. Also, FB doesn’t lend itself to as much civility. I’m not entirely sure why.

I've never understood why FB was nastier.  Most people use their real names on there, so I would expect them to be using "public manners" but it doesn't seem to be the case at all. 

I think I've been on here 11 years or so.   I did a lot of reading and little posting in the beginning but I've learned a lot on here, about homeschooling, about how different life can look in different parts of the world or even different parts of the US.   

We still homeschool and have about 5 years still to go but I pretty much know what to use at this point.  I mainly go to the Ed boards if I have a specific question and often I search rather than ask.  

[Not_a_Number]

34 minutes ago, Zebra said:

Because the chat board reaches a wider audience, and fulfills a greater need now.

Things have changed so much in 20 years.   When I first read the original WTM, it was SO much more "DIY".    It was hard to sometimes figure out how to do things.   You didn't have easy access to educational items, and so many of them just didn't exist at the time.  Homeschooling was still considered a weird fringe thing too.   I didn't know anyone IRL who homeschooled when my dd was a toddler.    My family was horrible about it, and never accepted it.   I felt completely alone and overwhelmed.   I never found a homeschooling group IRL.

Having a curriculum like WWE available is so much more straightforward to implement than how it used to be done.    There is much more advice and help out there than there was.  The line between homeschooling and public schooling is also a lot blurrier than it used to be.

Now my DD is graduated.   But over the years I have gotten so much advice about everything from cupcakes and what kilt to buy my DH for Christmas.     So I keep coming back to chat.

I guess that's the thing for me -- I've now done this for 2 years, and I still haven't managed to actually follow a curriculum other than 100 Easy Lessons when my kids are teeny 😉 . I DIY by inclination, because I get grumpy about following other people's stuff, and in any case, I think the quality of my teaching matters much more than what I use. 

[Wheres Toto]

3 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I guess that's the thing for me -- I've now done this for 2 years, and I still haven't managed to actually follow a curriculum other than 100 Easy Lessons when my kids are teeny 😉 . I DIY by inclination, because I get grumpy about following other people's stuff, and in any case, I think the quality of my teaching matters much more than what I use. 

I don't think I've ever used something without heavy tweaking.  I can't seem to just follow things as they are. 

[Ausmumof3]

10 hours ago, frogger said:

And if you figure out where the interesting homeschooling philosophy type things are being discussed, let me know. 😉

If you don’t mind Christian input the literary life podcast skirts around it a bit and also schole sisters.  The literary life podcast is more about books and lit but education comes into it a lot as well.  And they have a Facebook group where discussion happens.  Obviously it’s more literature focused than math and science.   

[Not_a_Number]

6 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Since one of my primary goals was to teach my kids myself, I did have different goals than those who do co-ops and other outsourcing options.  They are rather contradictory goals.  I am not saying that my goals were/are better than anyone else's - just different. 

Ah, we use local homeschooling classes, but I think our goals are the same -- I just wanted the social time for my kids 🙂 . (That's how I wound up teaching classes -- it was easier to run a class for social time and to simply make work for DD8 within the context of the class.) 

 

6 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

As far as educational philosophy goes, mine was a mix and it wasn't even the same for both of my kids.  My son learned with a much more classical approach than my daughter because he learned better with that approach and she didn't.  I didn't use TWTM as a template (sorry Susan) and have read various portions as needed but never read it all the way through. 

Hah, oh, you too, eh? I still haven't finished that book. I'm just not that into following other people's models... that's the same reason I don't love reading old threads, because I like actually talking about things and not just reading other people stuff 🙂 . (Not that I never read old threads, it's just not my favorite thing.) 

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, DorothyNJ said:

I don't think I've ever used something without heavy tweaking.  I can't seem to just follow things as they are. 

Right, same here. And I've decided that I'm going to consider that a strength and not a weakness 😉 .

[Zoo Keeper]

I've been around since the early 2000's; one of mine has graduated, and another will this spring.  These boards have been part of my lifeline! 🙂

Yes, the "flavor" of the boards overall has changed (and that's not a criticism)-- fewer people seem to want big ol' threads of philosophy and what can seem like quibbling over minutiae of curriculum.  Many new posters seem to want a quick answer for a quick question. 

I liked those threads-- good reading and food for thought-- but I just don't have as ,much time to do long, thought out posts anymore.  It was easier when most of my crew were smaller and were happy to watch Thomas the Tank Engine while I scrolled away. 🚂

 

 

 

[Ausmumof3]

5 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Also, PHONES! Arguing about philosophy is a whole lot more comfortable on a laptop than a phone.

Everything I do here is done on phone.  Hence the frequently poor capitalisation because autocorrect messes it and it’s way too hard to change.

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Everything I do here is done on phone.  Hence the frequently poor capitalisation because autocorrect messes it and it’s way too hard to change.

I get twitchy if I don't capitalize or punctuate correctly, so even when I'm on my phone, I get my grammar right. But I absolutely make much shorter posts when I'm on my phone. Right now, I'm on my computer and I can type 100 WPM, which is a pretty different proposition than doing things with my thumbs! 

[Ausmumof3]

2 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I get twitchy if I don't capitalize or punctuate correctly, so even when I'm on my phone, I get my grammar right. But I absolutely make much shorter posts when I'm on my phone. Right now, I'm on my computer and I can type 100 WPM, which is a pretty different proposition than doing things with my thumbs! 

Well that used to be me. And I would never be so lazy on a computer.  But after correcting the same word 3 or four times and the phone correcting it back to what it thinks, several hundred times I’ve finally given up.  I think people don’t take you as seriously when you’re lazy about it though.  

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Well that used to be me. And I would never be so lazy on a computer.  But after correcting the same word 3 or four times and the phone correcting it back to what it thinks, several hundred times I’ve finally given up.  I think people don’t take you as seriously when you’re lazy about it though.  

I do get really annoyed about phones correcting things. But I'm also the person who will edit her posts infinitely due to mistakes 😉 . 

[Ausmumof3]

3 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I do get really annoyed about phones correcting things. But I'm also the person who will edit her posts infinitely due to mistakes 😉 . 

The worst is when it does it on duolingo and I don’t notice and get marked wrong. 😬

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Zebra said:

Because the chat board reaches a wider audience, and fulfills a greater need now.

Things have changed so much in 20 years.   When I first read the original WTM, it was SO much more "DIY".    It was hard to sometimes figure out how to do things.   You didn't have easy access to educational items, and so many of them just didn't exist at the time.  Homeschooling was still considered a weird fringe thing too.   I didn't know anyone IRL who homeschooled when my dd was a toddler.    My family was horrible about it, and never accepted it.   I felt completely alone and overwhelmed.   I never found a homeschooling group IRL.

Having a curriculum like WWE available is so much more straightforward to implement than how it used to be done.    There is much more advice and help out there than there was.  The line between homeschooling and public schooling is also a lot blurrier than it used to be.

Now my DD is graduated.   But over the years I have gotten so much advice about everything from cupcakes and what kilt to buy my DH for Christmas.     So I keep coming back to chat.

 

That was my initial experience, too, for the most part. I did know, I think 2 homeschoolers, but one was super-busy with a houseful of kids and I did not feel able to pick her brain. The other I just couldn't relate to. 

At first, I had an extremely hard time finding a homeschool support group or co-op. The internet was in its infancy and that wasn't a good way to find things. Remember CHEN? Something like Christian Homeschool Educators Network? There was a CHEN website, that had groups listed by state, but then you had to call someone who was a homeschooling mom and wait for ages to see if she would get around to calling you back. 😄 Even *that* route was not something I was able to find until my dd was Kindergarten-age. And then, I couldn't join until the spring semester. Everything had to be done in person.

Almost every sister or in-law I had was vehemently opposed to homeschooling. Some really not-nice things were said to or about me. I felt very, very alone. DH was also opposed to homeschooling and it took years before I felt like I could even *discuss* any issue to do with homeschooling and the kids, because it would be "proof" that I should not homeschool. 

My MIL was always "quizzing" my dd, because MIL volunteered at the elementary school and she always wanted to see if dd was up to snuff. (Luckily, dd was extremely precocious so usually, it was the kids at school that looked kinda dumb by comparison.) The break-through was maybe 3 or 4 years into my homeschooling when my MIL said, "I think, if I had it to do over again, I would do what you're doing." Seriously, y'all - you could have knocked me over with a feather. Maybe she also said something like this to dh, because he started becoming more of an advocate for homeschooling, when he would talk to other parents at sports fields and such. 

All those days seem like so long ago....

[Not_a_Number]

8 minutes ago, Quill said:

Almost every sister or in-law I had was vehemently opposed to homeschooling. Some really not-nice things were said to or about me. I felt very, very alone. DH was also opposed to homeschooling and it took years before I felt like I could even *discuss* any issue to do with homeschooling and the kids, because it would be "proof" that I should not homeschool. 

Oooh, that sounds hard. I don't think I'd want to do this without DH on board 😕 . Thankfully, he's just enthused about it as I am. But then he hated elementary school teaching and wound up basically homeschooled for college, in the sense that he took college classes instead of showing up for high school classes. 

Our friends and family are a bit incredulous about the decision and wouldn't make it themselves (although a couple of our friends are really seeing the benefits during COVID, curiously enough! They are all highly educated and have either discovered gaps in their kids' education that fill them with dismay, or have realized how much time you have when homeschooling to do cool stuff.) But no one is too judgmental, either, possibly because I also have precocious kids. 

One thing I've noticed is that people who aren't homeschooling don't want to talk educational decisions with us that much. I think there's a lot of angst about it all, frankly, and it's hard not to sound critical of some aspects of schooling when you've chosen to homeschool, even if you're overall not someone who hates school or would never consider it for her kids. 

And most of our local homeschoolers aren't academically oriented (there are obviously exceptions, but just as an average), so then talking to people about academics always comes off as showing off or spoiling for a fight. So then I mostly just don't talk about it (and so far, every time I've talked about it too much, I've been sorry.) 

Anyway, this board has been a lifesaver 🙂 . 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Not_a_Number

[brehon]

I’m like other old-timers here. I’m pretty much set in my various choices and truly don’t have a desire to research elementary programs anymore even though my youngest two are 10 and 8. I’m also mostly a confirmed DIYer due to cost. My older kids take some online classes/teachers and I’m grateful those options are there. (I could not, for instance, possibly teach Russian or precalculus.) I’ve never participated in co-ops nor really had the desire to do so. 

I’ve participated in many an educational philosophy thread (anyone else think fondly of the broad v. deep thread?). I survived the Great Math War and its proxies the Pre-Algebra Skirmish and the Algebra Cold War. I have battle scars from The Phonics Dustups and the Writing Programs Duels.

I just don’t think newer homeschoolers are interested in those types of discussions, by and large. That’s not wrong and it doesn’t mean I’m better in any way; it just means that things change and I’ve probably been consigned to the “Information Not Useful” bin.

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

One thing I've noticed is that people who aren't homeschooling don't want to talk educational decisions with us that much. I think there's a lot of angst about it all, frankly, and it's hard not to sound critical of some aspects of schooling when you've chosen to homeschool, even if you're overall not someone who hates school or would never consider it for her kids. 

I remember in my bunco group (as the only homeschooler), every fall there was so much chatter an angst about what teachers the kids were assigned or switching out of certain classes or similar issues.

One time, one of the moms was complaining to me because her kid's teacher was "wasting all this time teaching the kids to memorize who the Ancient Egyptian Sun god is," and I impulsively answered, "Ra." I mean, I couldn't help it, the word just rose to my lips! It was just one of my socially awkward mom moments.  

[Not_a_Number]

11 minutes ago, brehon said:

I just don’t think newer homeschoolers are interested in those types of discussions, by and large. That’s not wrong and it doesn’t mean I’m better in any way; it just means that things change and I’ve probably been consigned to the “Information Not Useful” bin.

Aww, but I am!! Math wars all the way!!

[Ditto]

I like seeing and reading the wide variety of topics on the chat board which is why I spend more time here.  I tend to only go to the homeschooling boards when I have a question or just want to get some ideas.   I have homeschooled for a long time, but definitely still have questions at times.

[Roadrunner]

I remember high school board and all the wonderful ladies and their wisdom. Swimeemom, luckymom... oh and estermaria  among so many others. Almost everybody is gone and discussions dried up. Barely any educational discussion ever takes place there. It’s sad. 
I think Facebook is partly responsible. I really dislike Facebook groups though. They are usually started by a person or two with an agenda of their own and only groupthink is allowed. You must agree with them and get in line. 

[Not_a_Number]

22 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I remember high school board and all the wonderful ladies and their wisdom. Swimeemom, luckymom... oh and estermaria  among so many others. Almost everybody is gone and discussions dried up. Barely any educational discussion ever takes place there. It’s sad. 
I think Facebook is partly responsible. I really dislike Facebook groups though. They are usually started by a person or two with an agenda of their own and only groupthink is allowed. You must agree with them and get in line. 

It’s a little more complicated than that. It’s really hard to moderate FB groups is the problem.

[Roadrunner]

@Ordinary ShoesSWB has been an incredible hosts. While many of us came here because of her books and curriculum, and many of us use her books and her online school, there has never, ever been a push towards her books exclusively. Moreover, we, the ungrateful guests (😉), often criticize her curriculum and she tolerates is just the same.