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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

JCC Homeschool kids are weird

Discussion in 'Community' started by DantheJedi, May 5, 2013.

  1. DantheJedi

    DantheJedi Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 23, 2009
  2. tom

    tom Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 14, 2004
    glass houses.
     
  3. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    That looks pretty accurate. I know several parents who homeschool their kids and the range is pretty broad. Some of them are normal and just think that the schools in their area suck, or they want the freedom to learn off the school schedule (I know one family in which the father travels for his job and the mother and kids go with him), or some combination of it. And I know at least a couple of them who are complete freaks who just want to shut their children away from the real world, and the kids are freaks too. Example: a nine-year-old kid saying he didn't want to live anymore if Obamacare passed. You can't make this **** up.
     
  4. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    Yeah, it should be noted that the idea of educating somone at home with proper materials seems fine. But the majority of homeschooling material is supplied by right wing/creationist groups.
     
  5. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    One issue I had with the commentary from the "normal" kid is that at least in North Carolina, homeschooled kids can't just "learn whatever they want," not completely anyway. The home school has to be registered with the state and the kids have to take end-of-grade tests each year and keep the scores on file.
     
  6. TahiriVeilaSolo69

    TahiriVeilaSolo69 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2002
    So how long were you homeschooled, Danthe?
     
  7. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    Danthe you really set yourself up for this one.
     
    TahiriVeilaSolo69 likes this.
  8. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    I do wonder if the more extreme end of the scale is a uniquely American occurrence. In virtually every single case I've known, and that's quite a few of them, they were all physically or mentally unable to function within the boundaries of the normal system.
     
  9. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    My best friend was homeschooled from first grade all the way through high school, largely because her mom was really controlling and somewhat suspicious of what evil things the public schools might teach, but also what evil kids her daughter might be exposed to and influenced by. It's also about keeping your kids only in contact with kids from church and other Christian homeschool groups. Which... really seems completely contrary to how Jesus lived, but okay :p

    After a while, her parents got divorced so her mom had to have a way to keep making money and she couldn't make enough as a part-time community college prof (which she did at night mostly, teaching bio in spite of not really believing in evolution, but I guess in that case there was just curriculum she had to stick to anyway). So she actually made her "school" a registered private school and had 4-6 other girls who came and had lessons there as well. Since she was a teacher she had a little more legit basis for that, and they did use textbooks and whatnot (though definitely right-leaning, I looked through some of them and was kind of surprised). There were other parents with specialized knowledge who pitched in (one was fluent in Spanish and came over to teach that a couple days a week).

    But by late high school, my friend was beyond what her mom could rightly teach, and thus had to take classes at the community college. Which doesn't seem so bad. Except that I should point out, our community college classes are ridiculously easy and filled with remedial idiots who couldn't hack it in high school. Some states have great community college systems. That's not how it was in Missouri. My bro had to take an English class there once in high school because something didn't fit in his schedule at school, and he said he felt like he could have passed it when he was in 6th grade. Awful. So that's what my friend's mom chose to send her to in her late high school years.

    On the flipside, our public schools were being lauded left and right as some of the best in the country. She could have sent her daughter there, to a school district focused on the arts and academics, for free. She could have gotten an IB Diploma, which in many parts of the world and country requires a rigorous admission process and often is part of an expensive private schooling program, for free.

    I think it was pretty negligent and stupid of her, IMHO, to homeschool. All it did was shelter her daughter and allow her to control her friends. I was one of her only public school friends, and I felt totally on the outside among her weird home school pals. They all did weird home school things like sewing and knitting and making crafts and soap and watching Veggie Tales all the time and not being allowed to watch PG-13 movies until the day she turned 13 (when I finally got to show my best friend Jurassic Park).

    My friend turned out okay. And her mom actually has lightened up over the years. But another friend of mine who was homeschooled with strict Christian materials, and so that she could also stay home and do the "woman's work" of helping watch over her three younger, adopted siblings.... yeah, when she turned 18, she split. She doesn't talk to her mom anymore at all, just her dad and siblings. Went totally the other direction and off the deep end for a while. That's what you get when you're insanely repressive. I can't say I really blame her.

    I knew a ton of homeschool kids because of church. And I thought all of them, usually wearing dresses and sporting long hair as if they were amish, were kind of weird. They hadn't watched any of the movies or shows I had. They didn't really seem to know what were normal hobbies or pastimes for people to have.

    tl,dr version: My best friend was homeschooled so her mom could shelter her even though we had amazing public schools. I had a lot of homeschool friends who were weird. I think being the only public school kid around and having her over with my public school friends, I helped keep my best friend reasonably normal.
     
  10. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    I know a couple kids who are brothers who are homeschooled. The younger one is weird, the other is not.
     
  11. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    Home-schooling can be good if you don't like what the government-approved curriculum has on it or consider in inadequate (I know many people do) but you do get the issue as shown in the article of kids who have no social ability whatsoever. School isn't just about learning information, it's about learning how to behave around others and be able to be part of wider society (doesn't always work of course) through social interaction.
    I share the issue the writer had with the authority and lack of learning freedom aspect of regular schooling
     
    Jedi Merkurian likes this.
  12. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    I can't really condemn the option of homeschooling, because it was an option my family and I considered after a horrific year of bullying my last year of middle school. Ultimately we chose to continue on with regular high school and while I don't regret it (In fact I may have regretted it if I had gone the homeschooling route. I have many many fond memories of high school), I can't say I blame parents who choose to educate their kids at home in the wake of a bullying situation, especially with how kids bully nowadays (I'm just really really glad there was no Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace back in 8th grade).
     
  13. DantheJedi

    DantheJedi Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 23, 2009
    Yeah, me too. Considering how high school was for me, I almost wish I went that route, looking back. But it would involve being responsible, and using the time you'd normally be in school for, you know, schoolwork, and not video games or anything else.

    But you have to admit, parents who homeschool their kids because they think the secular world is evil and teach Young Earth Creationism aren't doing their kids any favors.
     
  14. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    On the other hand, some of them that do that for those type of religious reasons are more likely than not raising the next generation of bullies anyway, so they maybe doing the public school system a favor by teaching them in the home and away from any potential bullying victims.
     
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.
  15. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

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    Nov 8, 2004
    Yeah, no kidding. Some of those people sound like they're certifiably nuts. 8-}
     
  16. EmpireForever

    EmpireForever Force Ghost star 8

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    Mar 15, 2004
    Unless one of those bullies happened to be someone's older brother, in which case they'd basically be giving them their own personal bully victim.
     
  17. Darth Morella

    Darth Morella Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2004
    Yeah, I know a faculty member who decided to homeschool his kids because the Science class isn't secular enough for his liking (this being Texas). So, since he's a Biology professor at the university I think the kids will be fine in that regard, but idk about other topics like History and Math. Hopefully he planned this well.
     
  18. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

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    Nov 8, 2004
    I think that's the thing about homeschooling. It depends on what kind of background you have and your motivation is. A university professor, or a person with an MA in education will probably have sound and logical reasons for pulling their kids out of the system and can ensure that they will be properly educated. A Fundamentalist Christian who thinks that dinosaur bones are the work of Satan should not be given the option of homeschooling their children.
     
  19. Obi-Zahn Kenobi

    Obi-Zahn Kenobi Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 23, 1999
    Why not? Who gets to decide who is fit and who is not?

    They are their children, not the government's children and not your children. As long as they're not abusing them, the government should stay out of it.
     
  20. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    OZK, what really amuses me is that you were given a chance through good schooling (which taught evolution and proper science) to go to college and get your biochemistry degree. Apparently kids of super fundamentalists aren't entitled to the same opportunity as you.
     
  21. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    The 19th century called and wants its paranoid arguments against mandatory children's education back.
     
  22. Mortimer Snerd

    Mortimer Snerd Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 27, 2012
    Every time I agree with you, Vivec, which is more often than not, a small part of my brain starts to ache.

    Probably the part that controls the curmudgeon part of the brain.
     
  23. Harpua

    Harpua Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2005
    Why? Vivec makes sense most of the time.
     
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  24. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

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    Apr 17, 2006
    It's cause I'm a cat person harps :p
     
  25. LandoThe CapeCalrissian

    LandoThe CapeCalrissian Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 30, 2012
    [​IMG]

    look how much more BOSS Jesus is riding on a dinosaur...

    I mean he isn't on a T-Rex or anything but I guess its better than nothing.