Comments on: BACK IN THE DAYS

By: Expat Mom

Expat Mom — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:07:40 +0000

When my parents homeschooled me and my sisters back in the 80´s, it was still illegal in Canada to homeschool. We also had to hide it . . . we even made up the name of a school so we could tell people when they asked where we went to study!

Now I´m grown with two little ones of my own that I´ll be homeschooling . . . . and I live in Guatemala, where it´s not considered proper to homeschool! Ah, the cycle begins again.

By: Anais

Anais — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:40:35 +0000

Thanks so much for sharing your homeschool-unschooling experience. You have provided our readers with an insight into home education world - even before it legal and mainstream.

Great to see the pioneers of the home education movement are still carrying the torch!

All the best!
Anais

By: LaVonne

LaVonne — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:53:30 +0000

I home UNschooled my now-20yo son for most of his teenage years. Can't say I did a good job of it because of illness and financial stress, but he's glad we made that choice. I'm not so sure, but only because I wasn't well enough or well-off enough to give him the educational experiences he deserved. I still believe in unschooling, theoretically at least.

My guess about why this is happening now is that it has to do with money. School districts probably feel seriously threatened with the loss of federal money now that the homeschooling movement has grown exponentially.

And of course, it also comes down to control. When the folks at the top feel they're losing control of the population, look out.

By: Gerrie

Gerrie — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:10:29 +0000

The two younger of our four children have always
unschooled.
When the older two were 10 and 12, we chose to
have two more children to run with the other
cousins.
What a blessing!
As the two older ones experienced middle school and
high school, we knew for certain that the younger ones
would not be attending.
It's never been about religous beliefs or the inadequa-
acy of the school system here. It's been about our
choosing to have children and raising them to be
exemplary citizens of this planet.
Those two young'uns are 18 and 15 now. They have
lived a child's life, surrounded by more love and an
array of people that I scoff when someone asks about
socialization. Are you serious? Is that what it's called
at school?
We were underground, not testing or registering, until
the older one wanted a driver's permit. The state requires a release from compulsory education in order
to obtain a license. That, of course, began our journey
into the state owning us.
Needless to say, the testing was only an anxiety source
for me and proved that (according to the state) that my
child excelled in academics.
This same child also decided to participate in high school
sports, which means maintaining the yearly testing.
So, to bring my point to a close; last evening at the
high school sports banquet, my child was given an award,
not as an outstanding athlete, but as an outstanding
human being. The coaches gave accolades to his kindness to everyone, his respect, his work ethic, his
positive attitude, and his worth as a person.
In my book, he may have not been a state champion,
but he definitely is a Planetary Champion that I am
proud of.
I realize that there are plenty of "schooled" children
that are outstanding citizens as well. But, for me, I
wouldn't change the past 18 years of having my
children home with me.

By: Renee

Renee — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:00:51 +0000

Thanks for writing this post! We are concerned about this decision in California. I believe those in California should have the freedom to educate their children as they see best. As we all know, this won't stay in California. It will move to other states if something is not done!

We've homeschooled 7 years and I can't imagine doing anything else!

Your journal is beautiful!

By: Lizz

Lizz — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:50:41 +0000

Hi guys!

We have 5 homeschooled children and are teaching them sustainability and real life learning. They are thriving!

Their Papa and myself often say that we wished we had been homeschooled.

Bless~

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:50:44 +0000

The best thing I ever did was "drop out" of high school. Unfortunately it took until halfway through 11th grade to convince my mother I just didn't belong in that system, but the single semester I spent controlling my own education (I did my three remaining semesters' of work during that one) sold me on the concept for life. for a while I was unsure how to handle things like applications that ask about education, but now I have high education, so no one really asks much. My small rebellion, however, is that rather than list the actual high schools I attended but left, I simply write in "homeschool" and the date I was awarded my GED.

I can only continue to pray that when I have children I am blessed with the resources to homeschool each of them. I just don't think any system can beat a curriculim custom-tailored to skill level and learning preferences of every child. That said, if my kids DO want to attend "regular" school, I will explore the options with them and find a good compromise.

Mostly, I just wanted to share my little rebellion up there.

Thanks once more all of you--I'm sure you hearit from many people, but you're a daily source of inspiration to me, too!

By: Truffula Tuft

Truffula Tuft — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:37:09 +0000

I want to thank Anais and the comment-ers as well. We are short time homeschoolers compared to most of you, only 4 years of "school-age" time. We're also unschoolers, using the curriculum of life as our guide.

I'm grateful for the growing homeschooling movement and confident that it can weather this storm. You can lend a bit of help to the cause by donating to the California Homeschool Network, which is a statewide advocacy group dedicated to protecting the fundamental right of parents to educate their children. http://californiahomeschool.net

Jennifer

By: Anais

Anais — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:17:58 +0000

Wow, great to see homeschoolers, unschoolers out there and all with same, similar experiences -- many which I left out of the post simply because there were too many too list. But you guys certainly touched on them for me.

My parents too felt threatened by the state and in fact one time it came down to them warning them that we could be taken away if they didn't comply. Or people stareing like we had "the cooties" or something.

It's wonderful to see so many kindred spirits (pioneers) who have themselves blazed/blazing trails towards a schooling/education self sufficiency.

Again, thanks so much for sharing your experiences we all enjoyed reading them ( I printed them up and passed them around the family!)

Blessings to all,
Anais

By: John

John — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:14:41 +0000

I was homeschooled in New Zealand up until I was 14 and my 4 brothers and sisters were homeschooled for varying lengths of time. We never followed any set program and had very few set subjects so we spent most of our time mucking round in the garden and reading. When I did go to school as a teenager I quickly realized that school is not primarily about education but about preparing young people for passive participation in our capitalist economy. After working that out activism then gardening naturally followed

We were lucky to know quite a few other families that homeschooled and took part in regular field trips swimming lessons etc.
I and my friends regularly went out from the age of about 10 to the library, swimming pools etc and most people seemed satisfied when we explained that we were homeschooled so we didn’t go to school.
When the Education inspectors turned up every few years they seemed blown away by active minds and well above average vocabularies

I am sure spending my formative years in the garden has shaped my decision to study horticulture and turn my parents quarter acre section into a permaculture demonstration site.