Re: Home-schooled and illiterate

I read an article yesterday called Home-schooled and illiterate at Salon.com. The writer begins by describing a family she knew when she was younger that homeschooled poorly. They were conservative Christian and it seemed, from her looking in that the family did not value education for the girls most especially. The article goes on to state that other homeschooling moms usually from the quiverfull movement, bless their hearts, try, but get overwhelmed by  just having and caring for the kids they have, never mind actually educating them, and so they get lost in the fray.  It infers that even the most the most well meaning homeschool moms, fool themselves that they can handle homeschooling but they can't.

Of course the article throws in that there are some very diligent homeschooling parents who can and will  do a stellar job. But they add that in order to make sure that kids get the best education while homeschooling, there should be severe oversight.

 That's how I read it anyway. Let me know if you glean something different from it.

If I didn't find the article frustrating enough, the comments section sent me into a seizure. I'm twitching as I write this.  The comments ran the full gamut from "homeschoolers abuse their kids", to "if we are going to have oversight, we might as well embrace communism".  Yes, we like to overreact, don't we?

My problem is who are these people the article talks about, and why don't people ever look at the average homeschoolers? The ones who are kicking butt and taking names?!

I have about 10 years of blogging here. Look back. You will see that I am for the most part normal and very diligent about the education of my kids. Over the years, my personality and strong held convictions have softened, and happens with age, but you will see that we homeschooled because the schools left us no other option, and yes, I feel like my kids are better off for it.

And... there are millions of families like mine who started off in public or another form of school and then ran away screaming and waving their hands because their kids were being mistreated and/or swept under the rug. We homeschool diligently, with the goal being college, or post homeschool training of some sort. Our first goal is to make sure our children are educated well, and they are happy, and they are well adjusted.

And if you were to ask my kids, their list of things they would change is short... and that list is written in retrospect, a couple years after homeschooling. They have also given me a list of things they would do again if they had that choice... actually, see my last post.  I don't just pull these blog posts out of my butt.

I guess my final response to the article, is back off.  Don't look at the most fringe groups (I'm sure they will hate being called that) and make blanket decisions about all homeschoolers.  Don't look at the abusers and blame it on homeschoolers, blame it on abusers.  Finally, I really don't know about oversight.  The oversight we used to have here in GA was annoying and basic. Take an attendance sheet and send it in. Take a standardized test every few years and hold on to it just in case.  It was silly.  But more strict oversight will surely be enforced unevenly and haphazardly, so how would that work.  My biggest worry about oversight is that who is to say what is best for the child. The person who knows the kid or the person who drops in twice a year?  And what would that do to the uneven education that often happens in homeschooling that is actually brilliantly successful.  (What I mean by uneven education is that even if a kid is struggling in math and is a year behind, that should not stop them from being 4 grades ahead in language)... Traditional schools don't lend to well to this,  but it works well.  The kid will eventually catch up in math, but be literal geniuses in other areas.  I'd hate to see that controlled.

That's all I have for now, I would love to open this up to comments.  Please read the article and let me know what you think.

8 things I would do differently if I was to homeschool all over again

Well.. It's been 2 years and 3 months since I last had a child I could call a homeschooler. My youngest is now a college Jr.  I think a thoughtful retrospective is in order.  So, here are 8 things I would do differently if I were to homeschool all over again, and a couple things I would do the same.

1. Consistency is visiting museums, parks, playgrounds, and shows weekly.  I think I did this well when they were both in middle school, but the wigglyness of them when they were little and the busyness of them as high school students got in the way. But, It was a great bonding time and I wish I had been more consistent.

2. Food control. Kids do what you do, and I did not mind what I was eating very well, nor what they were eating. The kids and I had too much access to the fridge. I should have planned ahead better and kept fruit on the table instead of a free-for-all.

3. I should have been more strict about deadlines for assignments.  There were plenty of times when I let them pat me on the head and promise to do better next time.  Once they hit high school, I should have been more strict about deadlines.  That would have helped with the transition to college.

4.  I shouldn't have discussed homeschooling with relatives and non homeschooling friends.  Too many times it just ended up with upset feelings... mine.

5.  I should not have discussed homeschooling at parties.  I found myself being the entertainment far too often.  I should have just answered that question about where they go to school as matter-of-factly as the kids did and then changed the subject.

6.  I should have pushed harder when they wanted to quit something.  Fencing for instance, they gave up too soon.  Not because they weren't good, but because they weren't making friends.  That's not a good reason to walk away.

7.  We should have taken advantage of duel enrollment programs.  My son, now a college Sr. thinks he would have transitioned better into college had he taken some courses at the local college first, or even taken some academic classes at the local high school.  Neither of these were easily available to us the year he was a Sr. in High school, but If I was willing to drive a little ways, we could have found a school that would take him.  (our county began welcoming students the very next year).  I agree with him that his first two years in college would have been less of a struggle with home real life experiences and easing into the college environment.  The good news  is that he eventually got the hang of things and has been doing great.

8. We should have put more variety in our outside activities.  The kids did attend a great program that taught history through the arts, and optional academics (we opted to do academics independently).  The only problem is that looking back, there were times when we should have stepped outside of the program for some variety, to try a different theatre program for one show, or do experience a different choir or something because what is best for the group isn't always best for the individual child, and too much loyalty can bite you in the butt. But, in all honesty, I was being lazy and trying to keep all activities localized to avoid too much driving.

Things I would not change.  

1.  We would have still joined the homeschool arts and history program because it was awesome and my kids did make life-long friends. It is important to have a tribe.  To me this was akin to a homeschool co-op. I am even glad that I spent a lot of money for this program.

2. I am so glad that we used free online programs and resources instead of buying boxed curriculum.  My kids had access to the world on knowledge on the internet and I was able to use those extra hundreds of dollars a year for experiences and specialty classes.

GETTing shafted in NYC

update: GETT gave me a partial refund, but would not communicate with me. 

It's been some kind of week.  I wrote about the problem with Time Warner and Acceller in my last post.  I am waiting for my reimbursement that was promised AFTER I wrote a blog about it, tweeted it, and forwarded it to Acceller.

So everyone knows not to trust Time Warner, that is not a big surprise. But what about your friendly hot dog vendor.  A couple of days into my first trip to NY to apartment hunt back in April, or was it May, I heard about the following new story where a hot dog vendor was caught charging $30.00 for a hot dog.  This was the day after I paid $6.00 for a hot dog and a Snaffle.  I found out later that should have cost me $3 to $4 and prices should have been posted.  I walked by that same vendor yesterday, and I really wanted to punch him.  I'm just tired of people being dishonest like that.

Update of GETT situation, (below) no one would speak to me about it, but I did get a $9.00 refund in my account.  The chances of me using this service again is low... I do have a coupon for a $10.00 ride, which I may use to give them a second chance... maybe. 

Speaking of dishonesty and over charging, GETT, a car service/App similar to Uber and LYFT

When Time Warner and Acceller ripped me off

Don't mess with a woman who takes notes

I knew getting an apartment in NYC had its pitfalls.  Needless to say, I got ripped off by companies that you would expect to do good business... but wait, they are monopolies, why should they bother.  I should have expected to get ripped of.

It went like this.  I called ConEdison to set up my electricity.  That went well. Before I ended the call, I was asked if I wanted their help in setting up my TV and Internet. I said sure.  They said, OK we are transferring you over to someone who will verify that your Electric was set up properly, and then they will help you with your TV and Internet.  I thought this meant I would be sent to another department within Con-Ed, but that was not the case.  They transferred me to a company called Acceller (AKA Home Connections), and no one ever once mentioned that I was now dealing with a company that gets paid to "help me" set up my utilities.

I asked the operator (name I was given is Cody Bland) what my options were.  He Strongly sold me on Time Warner.  I made it clear that I needed the smallest TV package as watching TV was not the reason we were getting an apartment in NY.  I was told, and I quote, " Basic service at Time Warner is $44.99 for 126 channels".  I said fine and move forward, and even paid a $50 deposit even though my credit is stellar.  I then asked about Verizon Fios, my