Homeschooling: I think some of the RW like it because it takes women

[Ilsa]

out of the workforce to stay home with the kids. Not that it is always women -- in my neighbor's household the father stays home with the boys to homeschool and the mom works outside the home. But they are liberals. And the kids are too brilliant for the typical classroom.

But some people think I may be a "femi-nazi".

[mac56]

1. Yeah, I've often suspected that myself.

Seems to make sense.

[peace13]

2. The world we live in views every intelligent, free thinking woman

as a 'femi-nazi'. Not to worry, you are in good company. Peace, Kim

[Beer Snob-50]

3. i think that most parents who homeschool do it not because they have to

which would validate your argument, but instead do it because they want to (thus one parent would have to stay at home to educate their children)

[enough]

4. I'm sure that's right, and also because it keeps kids out of public school,

where the get indoctrinated about things like science, the environment, and maybe even a little bit of civics, where they might hear about separation of church and state and that subversive idea of checks and balances.

[MessiahRp]

9. More and more these days that is the case...

I was homeschooled during high school, not for religious reasons and luckily enough I maintained enough respect for history and science that I did well on my HSED exams.

I think though we should toughen criteria on those tests to prevent parents from homeschooling their children for the sole purpose of ignorance to science, history and facts. If those tests focus on those topics as well as basic math and reading (as seems to be the only focuses of the POS NCLB tests) those kids will not get through and we won't have a wave of those kids cheating their way into colleges and eventually the Justice Dept.

Rp

[madokie]

11. Well enough

My DIL was home schooled until the 10th grade and she is the smartest most well balanced person I'm known in my 60 years. :scared:

[enough]

15. Oh madokie, you are so right. I too know several extremely intelligent and thoughtful people

who were home schooled. I don't know what got into me, and I hereby apologize to you and to the other posters who were offended by the broad brush. I usually try to keep that brush on a high shelf where I can't easily get at it.

[madokie]

25. fair enough

[Cid_B]

13. Quite the broad brush you use...

Ive been through all three systems... private, home and public school... They all had some great benefits. I was in home schooling because I could move faster and cover more information in less time than in public or private and it was not to avoid little things like "science"

You should clarify your statements or at least think them through....

[SteppingRazor]

5. I think that, to most of them, that's just an indirect, but beneficial, result

A huge percentage of home-schoolers are fundamentalist Christians -- 72 percent of home schoolers cite the need to provide their children with religious training as a reason for home schooling, and of these, 30 percent cited it as the primary reason.

(Source: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/)

Given that, for many fundies, a woman's place is most definitely in the home, her having to stay home to educate the kids is simply a useful side benefit.

All of that said, it is absolutely a huge broad brush to state that this is always or even mostly the case. For example, here's a Web site for Unitarian Universalist home schoolers:
http://www.uuhomeschool.org/

Now, clearly, these people would have answered in the previous survey that they home school to teach religion or morality. But they're about the furthest thing from fundamentalist Christianity that you can get this side of atheism. So, while a large percentage of people home school to instill their kids with religious or moral values, it would be a fallacy to suggest that even the large percentage of people who home school for that reason are, by definition, fundies.

[Ilsa]

6. Excellent reply. Like I said, "Some". No broad brush,

just another reason for some of the RW, not necessarily the people doing it. The reasons for the actual people doing it are plural, and they are not all RW.

[SteppingRazor]

8. Oh, I know! Didn't mean to accuse you of broad brushing...

I just wanted to add that because, all too often (and especially among *cough cough* "open-minded" liberals), home schoolers tend to be thought of as a bunch of tongue-speaking, snake-handling nutjobs, and that's not always or even mostly the case.

[Ilsa]

19. Yep. Lots of DUers homeschool also.

[Akoto]

7. I think it's safer to not assume ...

I finished high school at home, not because of political leanings or Christianity (I'm actually a Buddhist!), but because of health problems. In the end, it was a great thing for me.

High school was not all flowers and sunshine, but leaving it to school from home worked better for my health and bumped me into the adult world sooner. I performed much better in my studies without all of the associated distractions, and my social skills certainly weren't sabotaged. Hell, I now work in customer service while earning my degree, and that takes all of the social (and patience) skills you have!

I might be different due to the fact that most of my schooling wasn't at home, but I don't believe that the majority of homeschoolers have controlling or otherwise "bad" agendas.

[Ilsa]

20. Oddly, I was talking about Right Wingers, not homeschoolers or their parents.

It's easy for this topic to get confused with other homeschool issues.

I think alot of RWers who like homeschooling, even if they don't do it, like it because the wife and mother stays out of the workforce.

HS is horrible for alot of people. My best friend took her daughter out of private hs, then public hs, where she finished on her own. She's working on her PhD in biophysics with undergrad degrees in biochem and molecular biology.

[GoesTo11]

10. Nonsense

If they think it's good that the mothers are home with the children, it's because they think this is good for the children, not because the mothers shouldn't be doing anything else. You might not think it makes much difference for the children, you might think the mothers are giving up a lot, you can certainly argue that what goes for mothers should go for fathers. But you are demonizing the other side - assuming nefarious ($0.25 word) motivations for actions that could certainly have laudable motivations instead. There's enough to complain about the RW without fabricating new theories.

[Sal Minella]

14. But what about their antagonism to contraception --

I can't imagine anyone thinking, "It's good for the children" that twelve or fifteen siblings be gathered around one dining room table for their home schooling.

To me, the War on Contraception is a lot Anti-Woman, and Pro-Child not much. jmho.

[fed_up_mother]

16. Oh, good God!

Most homeschoolers I know have about three kids - definitely a little larger than average, but the "largest" homeschooling family I know has six kids, and they are quite large even within the homeschooling community. Actually, I know two families with six kids. I also know a few families with an "only" child.

My 'burb has many homeschooled kids, and most of their parents are well educated and are/or were professionals. Some are fundies, some are mainstream Christians, and some others are none of the above. One family I can think of were Mexican immigrants without benefit of college educations. They managed the lower grades quite well, and then outsourced their kids to "homeschool" classes as they got older. The oldest is making straight "A's" in junior college right now.

There's a world of difference in teaching two or three children that you know intimately compared to twenty-five new faces year after year. Besides, as my own kids got older, much of their education got outsourced, as well.

Much of their education was also self-directed. It's probably the greatest by-product of homeschooling. These kids just transition into university as if they've been there all their lives, because they're accustomed to working independently or taking classes a couple of times a week. It's a very natural transition.

[Sal Minella]

17. Ooops -- I meant the FUNDIES' antagonism to contraception, not home-schoolers!

Should have been more clear. Sorry.

I know only one home-schooling family well, and they have one (1) child. Who is brilliant btw.

[Ilsa]

21. Hey, I know some of these people. I know men who hated working for

women who were good bosses. They thought the woman belonged at home with their kids. Some Right-Wingers, EVEN IF THEY AREN'T HOMESCHOOLING THEIR OWN KIDS, like seeing women stay out of the workforce. I don't have to make it up -- there are still neandertals out there. But thanks anyway.

[csziggy]

12. My fundie BIL loves that his better educated wife has to stay home to

home school their five kids. And he monitors every single moment of their lives. The wife & kids cannot get phone calls unless he listens in. He only allows the family to have one email address so he can check every message.

Their oldest child had a breakdown when he "graduated" and had to start planning for a life outside of his father's home. As a result he is now working and attending college, he still lives with his parents under the same restrictions he has always known. I am not sure if the boy will every be able to live on his own, though he should have been an intelligent, functioning person.

My SIL has a college degree in a very desired field (special education) and could easily have gotten well paying jobs after BIL retired from the military and could not find a job. But she was not allowed to get re-certified to look for positions since her control freak fundie hubbie did not want her working. Better that the family be deprived than she work!

On the other hand, my sister home schooled her kids and stayed home for ten years to do so. She had problems as a child since she was always ahead of her classmates - started school a year early, was in early entry college and got her AA degree at 16 and her BS at 17. Her kids take after her and she wanted them to be able to learn at their own rates.

When her children decided to move into the public school system, every one tested above their expected grade levels.

So I have seen the two extremes of home schooling - the fundie control freak and the teach to the ultimate level of the child. In their own ways, they are somewhat successful, but the fundie method does not seem to do a good job of preparing children for our modern world.

[GoesTo11]

23. I was wrong. OP is right. They're effin' nuts.

From HomeschoolToday.com

Father-Led Home Education
The Pathway to Freedom for Weary Moms
With so much pressure to do hyper-planning and to live up to everybody else's expectations, there are few voices out there telling Mom to listen only to her husband's leading. Father-led home education gives Mom the freedom to seek to please only one person, rather than the "experts," the relatives, society, the check-out clerk, the government schools, etc.

The Biblical Basis for Father-Led Home Education
Homeschooling father Jim Bob Howard will present an overview of Scripture showing that the onus is on Dad to lead the education of his children. We fathers need to simplify our approach to look at what Scripture says about the end-goal of education and the training up of children. Everything else is a constraint put on by the world, the devil, and our sinful nature.

Where is Mom in all of this?
As a homeschooling mother of four, Amy Howard will encourage Mom to seek our heavenly Father's will by seeking our husband's desire for his children. If you're ready to throw in the towel… that's great! Come listen how to do it.

[csziggy]

26. Yeah, that sounds like my fundie BIL.

I dread holidays since that is the only time I have to spend time with his family. His daughters will not even talk to me - I am sure their father has told them how evil I am. After all, I never had a religious marriage, just a civil ceremony, never changed my name, only wear a wedding ring if I feel like wearing jewelry (which is almost never) never wear a dress, and pretty much run our household and rule my husband. I AM a fundie's worst nightmare. :rofl:

I just do not understand how my SIL married this jerk. She was raised Unitarian, college educated, moderately intelligent. Yet she got caught up in the Campus Crusade for Christ then met this guy when they had a joint social event with one of the military versions of CCC. I just cannot understand how a sane woman who was raised with her advantages allowed herself to be subjugated the way her husband does her and her children.

[Joanne98]

18. Yeah I've thought that too.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

22. Probably true, but there's a big difference between why liberals

and reichwingers home school.

Liberals homeschool tp make sure their kids' minds stay open and un-dumbed down.

Reichwingers do it to make sure their kids' minds stay closed.

[Ilsa]

24. "Some" of the RW like it for that reason. I'm not saying it is the primary

reason RWs homeschool. And I think there are plenty of RW who don't homeschool that still like the idea for the reason of it keeping the little wife at home.

But yes, ITA, liberals and conservatives hs for different reasons.