"We're Definitely Not in Public School!!"

[etrain16]

As I've mentioned many times before, our daughter is home-schooled. Since she is an only child, we feel it's important that she get around other kids as much as possible. So we have her enrolled in 3 different home-school 'schools'. They run just like a regular school in that they have classes with teachers, they do assignments, they learn their lessons. They also get the feel of the structure of a regular class, which helps for later when/if they move on to college.

The groups we belong to use a 'classical' model, similar to what many of the founding fathers would have gone through. What's amazing is that they are able to teach kids things that I wasn't even introduced to until Jr. High and High School. There is a strong respect for our country, our flag, our constitution, and in the case of these schools, for God.

But, my wife had an interesting interaction this week that I wanted to share. They were at lunch and some of the teens had come to join them at their table, something they don't often do as they tend to sit with the kids their own ages. My wife was chatting with them and was trying to open a package and just couldn't get it open. She finally asks these kids if any of them have a knife. What happened next really surprised her.

There were 5 teens at the table, 4 boys and 1 girl, and they ALL pulled out knives from their pockets. And not cheap little pocket knives, one kid had a Benchmade Griptilian, another had a fixed blade and the other 3 were in between. My wife wasn't the least bit shocked in terms of concern, but got a huge smile and said "We're definitely not in public school!" She went on to talk to them about their knives, which, of course, they were thrilled to talk about.

As I've also pointed out before, these schools not only are okay with concealed carry, they encourage and appreciate it. Kids with knives - not a problem. I should also point that these schools, which are found in all 50 states, and whose numbers are quickly growing, have never, ever experienced a shooting, stabbing or any other violent event.

I find that interesting. Do you?

This week is School Choice Week. I am thankful we have that choice and that right to provide something other than the government sponsored/mandated/directed schools around us (note: I don't think all public schools are bad, I know great teachers and students - it's the government involvement and direction I don't like). I hope that continues for many years to come. There are many in government that are fighting to take that right away, including here in Oregon. If you happen to be writing your legislators about gun laws, and you think about it, please add a sentence showing your support for school choice. Thanks!

Just in case you're curious - here is a page from the website that talks about what a "classical" education means: What Is Classical Education? | Classical Conversations

Mods - I put this under Defensive Carry & Self-Defense as it seemed to fit, feel free to move it if you think it belongs elsewhere.

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[ThemGunsThough]

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great program. I was shocked when you mentioned one had a Benchmade. That's nicer than my edc knife.

 

[etrain16]

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great program. I was shocked when you mentioned one had a Benchmade. That's nicer than my edc knife.

I carry a mini Griptilian - I know that kid's knife cost more than mine! I hear he has some nice parents.

 

[HB of CJ]

etrain16: Thank you. MAYBE some kids just don't have the time because their days are spent either at various home or private schools, then the extra curriculum stuff taught elsewhere like learning how to ...

...Stick shift car driving and racing. Motorcycle riding and dirt racing. Heavy farm machinery operation. Heavy truck driving including expertly shifting a Fuller 13 speed Roadranger transmission.

Horseback riding and general and advanced horse care. Farm animal knowledge. Gardening understanding and sweat. Martial arts including hand to hand with bruises. Knife fighting. Firearms training ...

... including automatic weapons. (yep) Swimming including rough ocean stuff. Hiking. Camping. Survival training with real situation tests. Scuba diving. Marine helmsman-ship. Sailing. Running.

I understand, (so I was told) that one grand niece now wants again to learn to fly. Now 14. "She already knows about boys and men". (???) What have some folks created? A spy kid? Dunno. Yikes!!

Edited by HB: ... Imaginary Kids? Dunno for sure.

...

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Interesting thread, folks!
My grandson while in the Vancouver Public Schools system has always been in their program for gifted computer programmer and robotics students. They attend school on the WSU-Vancouver campus. Once, a couple years ago, he came to me for information about gun control! With my help he turned in an excellent, pro 2-A paper, and received an "A" for it! There was no harassment or bullying from the instructors! I've made it a point to meet a number of these people and they seem very straightforward and no nonsense types. No lefty krapp going on, my son is very diligent about vetting for propagandist's and he's as happy as can be!
I'm grateful for the educational opportunity the kid has, and that the teachers are scientists and not liberal arts types!
etrain, I'm glad that your daughter is receiving such a quality education!

 

[DB is Here]

As I've also pointed out before, these schools not only are okay with concealed carry, they encourage and appreciate it. Kids with knives - not a problem. I should also point that these schools, which are found in all 50 states, and whose numbers are quickly growing, have never, ever experienced a shooting, stabbing or any other violent event.

I don't find this surprising in the least. We as a society have largely forced God out of most everything, that said those that teach their children about God & more succinctly the Sanctity of Life do a service to that same society that would ridicule Home Schooling, let alone Charter Schools. Kudo's to you for making that decision to home school her.

 

[Joe13]

Your doing good etrain. Just keep it up.

Now if only the cities would give the $10,000 a year to homeschooled kids that they give the schools per kid enrolled, us homeschoolers would have better funding to help facilitate even better home learning.

Also, I applaud your proactiveness in getting your daughter more social time as that is something I have seen lacking in some of the home kids.

 

[bbbass]

Commiefornia wanted to ban homeschooling because kids would miss out on socialization. Code for social programming.

 

[Joe13]

Commiefornia wanted to ban homeschooling because kids would miss out on socialization. Code for social programming.

I can see that but our kid needed the social part of public school in high school - we had her early and just didn't have more then one person in our circle of people we knew that had a kid the same age as ours.

The private/public homeschool suplimental programs are often heavily filled with the religious (nothing against that but I grew up with Catholicism, Buddhism and some Hippy Voodoo so die hard Christian/Catholic/Mormon people can Sometimes be hard to intergrate with - nothing wrong with them but we didn't raise our kid to be single secular).

So all 4 years of public high school was focused on athletics and social events (she still passed the highest advanced program in the county and lettered in honors regardless).


After having said that - lots of people don't go at it like etrain is and just keep the kids home without making an effort to give them social interaction - thus making it a huge social shock when they get out on their own.

Just my 2¢ - I think every parent has the right to choose but I do think a lot of home schooled kids are getting the short end of the stick.

And anything that starts with CA should automatically be assumed to be messed up in their thought process

 

[etrain16]

Commiefornia wanted to ban homeschooling because kids would miss out on socialization. Code for social programming.

Funny how kids were able to become socialized long before public schools even existed. This has been an overused 'argument' against homeschooling. From what I see, I don't want my kid 'socialized' in most public schools - drugs, violence, profanity, social cliques, threats/intimidation, sexual crap going on. Kids can be 'socialized' in many ways (clubs, churches, neighborhood friends, play dates, alternate schools, etc.), there is no proof that socialization suffers in children that don't attend public school. In fact, recent studies indicate that homeschool and private school kids have a tendency to be better socialized and better adjusted. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but in general, that's how it's playing out.

 

[Joe13]

I can see that but our kid needed the social part of public school in high school - we had her early and just didn't have more then one person in our circle of people we knew that had a kid the same age as ours.

The private/public homeschool suplimental programs are often heavily filled with the religious (nothing against that but I grew up with Catholicism, Buddhism and some Hippy Voodoo so die hard Christian/Catholic/Mormon people can Sometimes be hard to intergrate with - nothing wrong with them but we didn't raise our kid to be single secular).

So all 4 years of public high school was focused on athletics and social events (she still passed the highest advanced program in the county and lettered in honors regardless).


After having said that - lots of people don't go at it like etrain is and just keep the kids home without making an effort to give them social interaction - thus making it a huge social shock when they get out on their own.

Just my 2¢ - I think every parent has the right to choose but I do think a lot of home schooled kids are getting the short end of the stick.

And anything that starts with CA should automatically be assumed to be messed up in their thought process

Outlawing something is the easy and wrong way to eliminate the issues - give parents the tools to homeschool successfully and they will thrive.

 

[etrain16]

I can see that but our kid needed the social part of public school in high school - we had her early and just didn't have more then one person in our circle of people we knew that had a kid the same age as ours.

The private/public homeschool suplimental programs are often heavily filled with the religious (nothing against that but I grew up with Catholicism, Buddhism and some Hippy Voodoo so die hard Christian/Catholic/Mormon people can Sometimes be hard to intergrate with - nothing wrong with them but we didn't raise our kid to be single secular).

So all 4 years of public high school was focused on athletics and social events (she still passed the highest advanced program in the county and lettered in honors regardless).


After having said that - lots of people don't go at it like etrain is and just keep the kids home without making an effort to give them social interaction - thus making it a huge social shock when they get out on their own.

Just my 2¢ - I think every parent has the right to choose but I do think a lot of home schooled kids are getting the short end of the stick.

And anything that starts with CA should automatically be assumed to be messed up in their thought process

Good point. Our school is religious in nature, but it's approached in a way so as not to be exclusionary to those that don't believe the same way. There are a number of non-Christian families that attend these schools including agnostic, Buddhist and Hindu and find the school to be open and welcoming to their different beliefs. No one should have to feel intimidated or put upon by someone else for a difference in belief. That said, everyone who goes into these schools does so knowing full well it is a Christian based option. Folks can at least enter into that with eyes wide open.

 

[Joe13]

Good point. Our school is religious in nature, but it's approached in a way so as not to be exclusionary to those that don't believe the same way. There are a number of non-Christian families that attend these schools including agnostic, Buddhist and Hindu and find the school to be open and welcoming to their different beliefs. No one should have to feel intimidated or put upon by someone else for a difference in belief. That said, everyone who goes into these schools does so knowing full well it is a Christian based option. Folks can at least enter into that with eyes wide open.

Good point. Things have progressed quite a bit in the last 20 years concerning homeschooling options and support in this area as far as I can tell.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I believe it's true that all kids of school age deserve the voucher system (equal to public school funding $$$) so their parents can choose any school for them.
Hey, we pay taxes and we should be able to choose where it goes.

 

[Joe13]

I believe it's true that all kids of school age deserve the voucher system (equal to public school funding $$$) so their parents can choose any school for them.
Hey, we pay taxes and we should be able to choose where it goes.

This is a double like for that one^

 

[Caveman Jim]

This is a double like for that one^

I haven't checked but isn't private schools more expensive? Then it would only be proper to give vouchers to those families that want the best education (non public) for their kids. I may just see if there is a grass root movement for this cause.

 

[Joe13]

I haven't checked but isn't private schools more expensive? Then it would only be proper to give vouchers to those families that want the best education (non public) for their kids. I may just see if there is a grass root movement for this cause.

K-8 school here runs 12k/year plus your expected to make donations and put volunteer time in.

 

[11Charlie]

Funny how kids were able to become socialized long before public schools even existed. This has been an overused 'argument' against homeschooling. From what I see, I don't want my kid 'socialized' in most public schools - drugs, violence, profanity, social cliques, threats/intimidation, sexual crap going on. Kids can be 'socialized' in many ways (clubs, churches, neighborhood friends, play dates, alternate schools, etc.), there is no proof that socialization suffers in children that don't attend public school. In fact, recent studies indicate that homeschool and private school kids have a tendency to be better socialized and better adjusted. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but in general, that's how it's playing out.

I think its great what you are doing for your daughter!! I for one think there is a HUGE difference in children that are home schooled. I'm not saying that kids that go to public school are bad kids but from what I have noticed the kids that are home schooled are confident and polite. Yes Sir, Yes Ma'am They interact with adults more and learn how to hold a proper conversation.

Other than some of my friends kids and I'm sure everyone on this forum's kids most don't have respect for there elders and are not brought up to do so. I have seen some kids that you just want to back hand and teach them some respect because they are so rude.
When I was a teenager my mom and dad would have whooped me if I wasn't respectful to my elders.

The government needs to make some changes to our public schools so that the kids of tomorrow aren't just a number and they don't get lost in the system. I have seen it to many times especially with the ones that have parents that let the school system raise there kids.

 

[Alexx1401]

As I've mentioned many times before, our daughter is home-schooled. Since she is an only child, we feel it's important that she get around other kids as much as possible. So we have her enrolled in 3 different home-school 'schools'. They run just like a regular school in that they have classes with teachers, they do assignments, they learn their lessons. They also get the feel of the structure of a regular class, which helps for later when/if they move on to college.

The groups we belong to use a 'classical' model, similar to what many of the founding fathers would have gone through. What's amazing is that they are able to teach kids things that I wasn't even introduced to until Jr. High and High School. There is a strong respect for our country, our flag, our constitution, and in the case of these schools, for God.

But, my wife had an interesting interaction this week that I wanted to share. They were at lunch and some of the teens had come to join them at their table, something they don't often do as they tend to sit with the kids their own ages. My wife was chatting with them and was trying to open a package and just couldn't get it open. She finally asks these kids if any of them have a knife. What happened next really surprised her.

There were 5 teens at the table, 4 boys and 1 girl, and they ALL pulled out knives from their pockets. And not cheap little pocket knives, one kid had a Benchmade Griptilian, another had a fixed blade and the other 3 were in between. My wife wasn't the least bit shocked in terms of concern, but got a huge smile and said "We're definitely not in public school!" She went on to talk to them about their knives, which, of course, they were thrilled to talk about.

As I've also pointed out before, these schools not only are okay with concealed carry, they encourage and appreciate it. Kids with knives - not a problem. I should also point that these schools, which are found in all 50 states, and whose numbers are quickly growing, have never, ever experienced a shooting, stabbing or any other violent event.

I find that interesting. Do you?

This week is School Choice Week. I am thankful we have that choice and that right to provide something other than the government sponsored/mandated/directed schools around us (note: I don't think all public schools are bad, I know great teachers and students - it's the government involvement and direction I don't like). I hope that continues for many years to come. There are many in government that are fighting to take that right away, including here in Oregon. If you happen to be writing your legislators about gun laws, and you think about it, please add a sentence showing your support for school choice. Thanks!

Just in case you're curious - here is a page from the website that talks about what a "classical" education means: What Is Classical Education? | Classical Conversations

Mods - I put this under Defensive Carry & Self-Defense as it seemed to fit, feel free to move it if you think it belongs elsewhere.

The left NEVER wants to talk about this. When I was in school many of us who had a car had guns. We would shoot after school. NO ONE ever shot anyone. All the boys, many girls had knives. NO ONE was stabbed. EVERYONE knew what would happen if the rules were violated.

 

[PaulB47]

Uh, I just have to comment on this thread...

No need to worry about homeschooling being outlawed. THAT Djinni is not getting stuffed back into the bottle again. There would be hell to pay at any attempt. Some years ago they tried it in California, and it flopped completely. Once parents try homeschooling, there is no way they will be bullied by the school establishment any more.

The one thing that could harm homeschooling is the acceptance of money and aid from the government. No, we should NOT get $10k from government; that just puts us on the dole and allows the government to regulate us out of existence.

The correct way (if there is such a way) is to forgive us our property taxes since we don't use the government school. That way we are not stealing Other People's Money; we wouldn't be on the dole. But even that has risks, and let's face it people with no kids at all are also screwed in the same way.

The average cost to homeschool a child runs around $500 per year and that means a lot of people do it for substantially less.

As to "school choice", if by this you are talking about the euphemism for tax-funded vouchers, I am as opposed to that as to government schooling. It just exchanges socialism+welfare into fascism+welfare. It's just another government program, and will destroy independent schools.

The government needs to make some changes to our public schools so that the kids of tomorrow aren't just a number and they don't get lost in the system.

Don't go chasing after unicorns. The government schools are already doing exactly what they were designed to do. Why should they change?