My hamper floweth over

I posted the If you Give a Mom a Muffin link late last night when I should have been in bed. I saw a reference to it on another blog, searched it on Google, and put a link to the first page that came up. Today I went back and explored the link, to find that it contained anti-public school articles. I will take this opportunity to counter-point.


I would like to say upfront that I am not anti-homeschoolling. I am sure there are situations where it is the best choice for the child/parent. It just seems to me that many people choose to homeschool based on fear alone. They are afraid of the government, the teachers, and the children in public schools. They may tell their child something that don't personally believe, and how will their poor child cope?

Here is a link to one of the articles
Some problems I have with it:
* "Your child will never suffer the embarrassment of group showers after PE."
True, but you are assuming that they will have bad body image, which is a horrible thing to wish on your child.

*"If your child gets drugs at school, it's probably Tylenol"
Do these people really believe that our elementary schools are full of drugs? That's just plain insulting. And as to the availability of drugs in high school, I would rather my child be able to resist peer pressure than never be faced with it.

*" Your kids learn new vocabulary from their extensive collection of "Calvin & Hobbes" books, You can take the time to look at a tiny spider on a log, Your kids think reading history is best accomplished while lying on the floor with their head resting on the side of their patient dog."
Yes, public school children have no access to books at home, would never read them at home, and are never interested in nature.

* "You can't make it through a movie without pointing out the historical inaccuracies."
Boy I bet you are a blast to watch movies with! Apparently homeschooled children never learn to respect others around them and keep quiet so that they can enjoy a movie?

*"Your kids refer to the neighbor kids as "government school inmates."
Do I need to comment? Yes, let's encourage name calling! Not to mention an "us and them" mentalilty.


Here is a link to the second article I found
EVERYTHING about this article offended me. I wasn't aware that as a parent of public school children that I have no opportunity to teach my children at home.

It all boils down to fear and ignorance. When is the last time these people set foot in a public school? My guess is not since their personal bad experience with one.

Let's ask the "What would Jesus do?" question. Would he secure his children in a bubble teaching them that other children were scary and bad? Would he encourage his children to call people names and point out the flaws of others? I personally believe he would have taught his children by example, teaching them that everyone is a Child of God, and we should love each individual despite differences in beliefs and religions, and to be secure in yourself so that when you are faced with temptation, in the form of drugs, bullying, or whatever life throws at you, you can walk away feeling strong and confident yet not superior.

I am pretty sure Jesus would have sent his kids to public school, and put all that time and money to use volunteering there so that ALL kids could get a great education, not just his own.

I know that not all homeschoolers are as narrow minded and full of fear and hate as the authors of these articles. My comments are intended for them alone.

I've met a lot of homeschoolers here in Dallas, but if you want something REALLY scary, google "unschooling". If the kid never wants to learn to spell, apparently they never have to...Elena

I really want to call you to see if Max has kept his breakfast down OK, but I'm afraid to wake either of you. Hope you're getting some sleep! -Camille

Totally agree with the whole bubble thing. If you keep them away from absolutely everything then how can our kids learn to make good choices and withstand peer pressure and really learn who they are? I know it is such a fine line but wow, what a shock it would be to be kept from all of that only to go to college and get hit head on with it. Life isn't fair. People aren't nice and for goodness sake we all know how mean kids can be. We were all kids once too! These are simply facts of life and we need to teach our kids how to deal with it in their every day lives so they can brush it off and grow up to be capable, stable and sure of themselves.

Great post!

i agree that middle school is scary, especially for the mother of girls, but so is watching them grow up in general. I don't feel homeschooling is always the answer, though.
Yes, it is a shame to hear such bad language from young kids, but bad language is everywhere. I am not one of those, "They are going to hear it anyway, might as well be from me first" type parents, but hearing bad words is inevitable, and I think it is great to lead by example. My kids have heard bad words, and still think the worst words are "shut up", and from my 5 year old, (only saying it to tell me what a bad word it is) "holy crap". I curse ocassionally and know at some point a foul word will spew forth from the mouth of my children, it's whether or not they replace the rest of your vocabulary with them that I find pertinant.
I have seen "play fighting" at school, and don't allow my son to play quite so roughly. I also see it at McDonalds, the park...
I don't think I am sticking my head in the sand as much as I am looking for the good. No situation in life is perfect, and you can be a half empty or half full kind of person (I am different in different situations). I think what is really scaring most parents is the "have I really given them the tools to fly before letting them leave the nest?" type concern we all have, and rightfully so, because none of us got a manual when we had kids.
Thank you for commenting, I like a good debate (unless you are trying to tell me that a movie that was a waste of my 2 1/2 hours was not ...)