If you are homeschooling, you have already made a political statement. You are coloring outside the lines by most American standards. How far you color outside the lines really has to do with where you see yourself philosophically on this planet. Right or left, religious, secular, gay, straight, single, married, white, black, Latino, Asian, Native American -- all words that describe American homeschoolers.
There is a group here in the United States that has consistently promoted themselves at the Federal Level as the group that represents all homeschoolers. They can get away with that, because they do, because we let them.
Homeschooling is a way of life that cannot and should not be represented by any one group, and it certainly is not something that should be regulated at the Federal level.
On great example of this is what OldSage brought to you last month and that is a bit about a certain subgroup of homeschoolers that want to amend our U.S. Constitution with ideas about the rights of parents. Basically this would get down to describing and regulating what parents are and what a family looks like. (There is a wonderful history of this story written by Mary McCarthy called "Parental Rights Legislation" at the Washington Natural Learning Association website.) This movement by this one group illustrates how one group can and does usurp your right as an individual and as a homeschooler. This group may tell you they are protecting your rights and freedoms, but ultimately they are not, especially if you do not agree with their agenda.
So who are the "good guys" and "bad guys" with regards to homeschooling?
[read on]
The January Edition of The Eclectic Telegraph is out!
Here's what we arote about:
- But what about socialization?
- Kids, You Don’t Have to Go to College
- Not A Religious Fundamentalist or Neo-hippie?
- What's up With YouTube?
Life
as a homeschooler and in constant daily contact with a highly gifted student
brings an energy I can't explain, yet drains me; makes me think about
things in a new way, yet causes me to stick with tried and true methods;
makes me strive for accomplishing all the tasks I need to, yet causes
me to think forward to the time my student will go to bed and I can have
a cup of tea and listen to Jimmy Buffet in peace and quiet. Eclectic.
That's the description of the path I am enjoying on my journey right now.
Eclectic is also our homeschool "style". We do what works. We
dig in the dirt or the beach sand, we kayak on rivers, we read, we travel.....
Good
judgment comes from the experiences gained when exercising bad judgment.
