18th child

I felt the same way until I met an woman with a Ph.D. in epidemiology, who's three-year old son taught himself to read.

No way that kid could really thrive in public schools.

My son did not thrive in school, but he did well with the home schooling. Was rough for me, but I managed to teach him what the schools couldn't. As long as the kids are in a loving home, I'm all for home schooling.

Actually, him being in real estate just makes it sicker to me.
Buying up land - won't go into a rant on that. <phew> Let's just say it goes a lot against the grain of what I'm about.

Home schooling? Didn't know that. How?

Let me guess. Like the older teach the younger, as mom/dad can't possibly do it all.

That's how it seems to go. You raise the older ones, and the older ones raise the younger ones by degrees and by responsibilities.

It's like an old school farm. Barf!!

ok, done now.

I'm not saying home schooling can never work.

I just have a lot of concerns about it.

I'm no expert, but these are some of the scenerios I think about....

I know there must be some type of minimum standard as far has what the child has learned, but if let's say the parents feel the child should be paying more attention, for better or worse, let's say bible study, and less on skills that will enhance the childs adult life, well, you're not making a well rounded child.

Not everyone has a Phd (stands for Piled Higher and Deeper in some cases), or just has superior knowledge in that particular area. I dated a Phd for a while, and let me tell ya, he couldn't find his way out of a paper bag, as far as common sense.

Some people may not be like Montana, who wanted her son to learn what he couldn't in school, because he was suited for that environment.

I think some people do it as a political statement.

Also, as far a socialization, I don't think they get a real world view.

It's said that home schooled children meet up and play with other home schoolers, or play with the kids from school when they come home, and on the weekend.

A bunch of home schoolers getting together just, well, limits them to others of their "kind".

As far as playing with other kids?

The kids in school spend lots of time with each other during the day, seeing and interacting to a large amount of children. They have inside jokes, knowledge of other kids who they talk about, whom the home schoolers will never see. It's like he isn't getting the total experience of seeing random things over the course of the day, that build social skills with a wide variety of people.

I had kind of the reverse...I went to school, but where I lived was rather far from where any of the kids I went to school with lived. It was a catholic school, and for some reason, thinking about it, most of the kids lived about 3 or 4 miles north of me, a long distance for a little kid.

I'd play and interact with the kids during the day, but never really knew what most of them did after school. I had a couple of girlfriends maybe a mile away who I'd visit. But, if the group that lived farther away got together with them when I was there, it happened that they'd be talking about stuff I could relate to, and wasn't going to be a part of. I knew these kids, and knew them in the context of school, but not the rest of it. I'd think home schoolers would be suspectible to the same problem.

Also, the separation of work time and home time.

When I work, I work. When I'm home, I'm home. Not saying the paths don't cross, but it would be harder to separate my non-work time, if I started working at home at specific times.

Doing class time at the dining room table with mom or dad? Me, I'd associate the dining room with school, not a place to relax and eat.

That's just me.

You have to respect the Amish a little more. At least they allow their children to go out and experience the real world for a year before committing themselves to the lifestyle that they were raised. Something about the Duggars gives me the impression that they are shoving their beliefs down the throat of their children. What about free will and life choices? Would they perform an excorcism if one of their teenage children came home smelling like beer?

whoops, crossed posted.

mushy, this in interesting, don't be done.

I don't think he's buying up land like a compound.

I bought my land, and basically rebuilt my house on it, don't understand the difference.

I recently got it all paid off, which is really wonderful.

i think she is talking about the practices we see here in austin that is driving up the cost of houses to astronomical ranges

buying a home for 150,000 sitting on it for a year , then advertising it in california or some other state for 3 times as much.. counting it as a deal in an up and coming city..

True, the amish have their "running around" period for youths.

I actually read a couple of novels written by a woman raised in the amish community, and in the storylines, that period come up several times.

I was surprised at how much freedom youths have at this time. I have to assume she was writing what she knew.

heh....the teens can stay out all night long if they want, experiment with drinking and such.

In fact, from these novels, and also a documentary I was watching, they even sleep with each other.

Not as in having sex, but sleeping in the same bed....yeah yeah, I'm sure sex happens, but I don't think as often as we'd think.

The otherall feeling I got was that the parents raised their children with responsibilites, and, when they were going through their "running around" they trusted their children would do the right thing. It felt also like the teens, knowing they were trusted, lived up to that trust.

There are definitely those who home school for religious reasons. They get a lot of attention, but there's a large, and growing, mainstream movement.




Public schools, IMO, are too "cookie cutter." They're designed for working parents, and, especially with No Child Left Behind, the curriculum is designed toward making sure the kids can all jump the lowest bar, rather than challenging all kids equally.

I can see the point, I suppose, but it's a real disservice to average and bright kids. Especially the average kids; bright kids will find ways to challenge themselves.

Y'all know this rant, but some public schools are quite good.

The fact that not ALL public schools are equally good is certainly a shame, and something that needs to be addressed.

(Starting with getting rid of NCLB.)

Realtors = Satanists, Wizardry, et al

No, not realtors as satanists exactly. lol.

But it's a position where - if you have a good brain and knowledge and some capital (which Dude with Spermaplenty obviously does) , then you can easily mold and influence the environment around you.

As an example: put a heavy handed religious conservative (some examples in my community) in that position and watch him run his larger agenda.

I've seen my community go from one of small farms and wildlife preserves to one owned primarily and bought out by large religious families (won't state the ethic backgrounds, as it isn't exactly relevant).

How do you think who owns and has capital say over what influences the larger community, towns, world in general?

To me, it's a big deal.

To what Shewolf said, ooo, man, that is something I'm seeing my city right now. There are laws in place to ensure people can't do too much hopping (buy it, fix it superficially jack up the price, and sell it in a real sellers market) but they still are inadequate. I believe (not 100% sure, need to check!) the minimum is one year to occupy before selling.

It concerns me when anyone - but particularly those with religious agendas that have huge families all groomed to a particular ideology and way of life (Way of life is huge!) concentrate a bunch of capital and land ....

and it's legal. hey, they are paying their way. They build and fund their schools, churches, what have you.

It's true, they are...but when that goes against the very core deep values you hold...

it becomes a matter of a bit of elbows rubbing and causing some friction.

At certain points, on a real close level, what one guy chooses as a way of life comes and in order for him to do exactly what he wants, someone else 's way of life gets that bit tossed out and that's that...

How can you tell I live in Canada, land of the land claims insanity? lol.

Somebody always gets the **** end of the stick though when two ways of living collide...legalities are just that...legalities...

They are probably not only funding their own homeschooling program, but the local system as well. With a house the size of theirs I'll bet that they are paying a whopping real estate tax bill. That is unless they've formed their own not for profit group.

I just googled "Duggar Family Taxes". One blog says that since they have filed their house and the 20 acres that it sits on as a church that it is tax exempt. Any truth to this?

oh, I was saying that in refernce to another thread about a substitue teacher being accused of wizardry for making a toothpick disappear. We decided that accountants are also wizards, and I was putting realtors in that group also.

Along with home schoolers.

Definitely some public schools are quite good. Did not intend to give the impression of the contrary.

I don't know, but that's damned smart.

Maybe I should try that.

hey, isn't boomerang the pope of TCOICBINB?

she should look into this.

Same here. I know there are many wonderful public school, but my son wasn't fortunate enough to be in them. It's a long story and many of you know it, but in my sons situation, home schooling was the best thing for him. He was 13 by the time I decided to home school him and it worked well for him.

I'm not a religious person, so religion had nothing to do with my choice in teaching him at home.

MP, I hear what you're saying and what you said about the old farm house days where the older kids ended up stuck with a truck load of the responsability of caring for the younger ones, along with chores, made me think about my grandparents who had a bunch of kids. 11 on moms side and 13 on dads side. Some of my older aunts and uncles are still bitter today because they felt that they missed out on their childhood because they had to work at home.
Those are the ones who never had kids of their own because they already spend many years of their lives caring for their siblings.

My father left home at 15 years old because the family was dirt poor and he had to go to work. I know this family isn't poor, but what happens if dad becomes disabled? They're screwed if he doesn't keep the money rolling in.

In this case, I also have issues with the schooling being focused on religion. If they push the religion in their schooling, those kids are screwed. The world has become such a technical place and the demands on kids is so huge now that if religion is the base of their education, those kids are in for a major struggle in life.

I don't think it makes much difference how kids are schooled or raised (spiritually) - all that matters is are they decent people or not?