What Are Your Children Learning?

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Colduglandon

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From Mass GOAL legislative hotline
A Quincy member recently sent GOAL a copy of material being issued in
his local school system. The homework assignment on the Brady Law,
issued around June 18 to a 9th-grade class, featured an editorial
cartoon showing the "NRA gun lobby" shooting a target labeled "Brady
Bill" with the caption, "Have you hugged your gun today?"
Similarly, a Milford member sent us material provided by a Rhode Island
teacher: a notice from the American Federation of Teachers stating their
positions on gun restrictions, and a message to contact congressmen at a
set of telephone numbers provided. Reportedly, area teachers were being
encouraged to hand this material out to parents.

At a shoot in southeastern Massachusetts, we were told of children
coming home from school and chastising their parents for owning guns.

Another member's sister was told by a psychologist interviewing her
child that she should not allow him to be around his uncle, because his
uncle owned guns -- this without the psychologist even knowing the
uncle.

Who is raising our kids? Should government-run schools be supplying
political propaganda to students and parents?
 
Paul,
My youngest son's 8th grade text book has an appendix on the constitution. The Bill of Rights section has the text listed and then a blue highlighted explanation. The blue highlighted explanation states that the courts have generally ruled that the right to bear arms is a collective not an individual right. (might not be the exact wording)

The Weekly Reader Current events newspaper is also very antigun. I really upset a teacher and the school board during the spring of '94 assault weapons debate when I went to school and informed them that I paid them to teach my child to read and write and "how" to think, not "what" to think.
Jeff
 
This is why my kids go to private school. It's still not a guarantee that they will be taught "exactly" what I want... but if I need to go in and complain, they know "exactly" who signs their paycheck. Gun issues have not come up yet, but I'm ready if they do.
 
Right now we don't homeschool our kids for fear of lack of dicipline to do it properly. However, when we have the "Meet your child's teacher day" before the start of school, I do grill the teachers that will be teaching my children about thier views on topics that my wife and I feel are important.

As yet, I have not had to call them on anything.


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John/az

"The middle of the road between the extremes of good and evil, is evil. When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..."
 
My kids still get Eddie Eagle on Safety Day.It's presented by the Jefferson County deputies ( yeah, that Jefferson County )along with the Fire Dept, etc. They fly in the Jeffco Huey, wheel in the fire trucks and ambulances. This is still real America.
 
Just want to say thumbs up for homeschool. We are a homeschool family in Massachusetts. If you thought being a gun owner is tough here try homeschooling in the People Republic of Massachusetts.
 
To JHS, Paul Morceau and anyone who commits to homeschooling their children, I have a great deal of respect for anyone who does it properly. I have an old friend who did it with 8! My own parents sacrificed a lot to send us to private schools as long as they could. I only had a few years in public schools, but it was a tremendous waste of time. Parents like John/az2 who stay actively involved in their childs public education deserve credit too. I plan to homeschool myself when and if I am blessed with a child.
 
I'm glad to see home schoolers here. My wife has just quit her job (as an assistant teacher in my kids' elementary school) in order to home school. We've discussed it for a couple of years, but the fact that my son was getting ready to enter middle school pushed us over the edge.

Here in NC, there is a tremendous support system for home schooling. In addition to a large and well-organized state organization, we have many friends and fellow church members who home school. There are also many sources of curriculum. After sorting through many of the offerings, we chose a curriculum that has a solid foundation in our Christian beliefs. We're (OK, she's :)) in the process of setting up lesson plans and a school calendar for the upcoming year. The whole family is excited.

Making the decision to home school was easy; giving up the second income was not. We're definitely feeling the pinch (Braces?!?! Nah, those teeth look perfectly straight to me. LOL) My gun and knife buying will also be sharply reduced! However, we know that it will all be worth it in the long run.


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Kelly

SenatorsPlace.com

Deo Vindice



[This message has been edited by Senator (edited August 01, 1999).]
 
With one a senior in college and one starting college this fall, I wish I could do it over. Luckily we did most things right (one income, hammered on values, made room and time for the kids)--but I would so some things differently. I would definitely have killed the TV years earlier and looked very hard at home schooling. To the extent we have succeeded, it has been in SPITE of popular culture and the educational system. It took me way too long to fully realize how worthless the school system is.

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for you homeschoolers......is it possible for a bunch of ya'll to network and say form your own classes like at a church or perhaps in someones home---in effect forming your own school........Does the govt regulate that as well?....fubsy.
 
One big reason why we homeschool our kids! I quit work last year, and my husband and I pulled our 5 y/o out of public school and began homeschooling. We're about to start 1st grade in a month or so, when our newborn gets a little more predictable.

To Paul M. and JHS, how long have y'all been homeschooling? In TX, we are lucky, it's one of the easiest states to HS in, not regulated at all really. No compulsory attendance or anything.

This way, we have control over what and WHEN our kids learn things. It's a big commitment, but well worth it IMHO. :)

fubsy, The TX govt. really doesn't regulate HS's, it's considered a private institution. We HS'ers could teach one another's kids certain subjects w/o their intervention, they don't keep up w/ grades or anything. I'm not sure about formally banding together, as far as legality. There are all sorts of co-ops around though. There are all sorts of correspondence and Internet courses out there for HS kids as well.



[This message has been edited by Darthmaum (edited August 02, 1999).]
 
My brother's kids were the victims of some teacher's anti-gun agenda. My brother had taught his kids to shoot at an early age, and, in fact, going to the range has been a great family outing we've all enjoyed for years. Yet one day his kids came home from school talking about how "assault weapons"--including their uncle's (= my) ARs--should be banned because they're only suitable for use by criminals!

My brother was disgusted at this attempt at propagandizing and brainwashing. But he simply told his kids not to believe what they knew was untrue, even when the untruth came from a teacher.

I think his kids knew in their hearts that their teacher was wrong. They knew this because of their own positive experiences with guns, and also because they knew that no member of their family would do anything criminal. But their teacher's abuse of power had put them in a bind that they couldn't free themselves from without parental guidance. I expect that kids from non-gun families would have gone on believing the propaganda.
 
Fusby - while we are already planning activities/field trips with other home schooled kids in the area, we don't yet have formal plans to have regular "classes" with other kids. That may change in the future as we get adjusted to this whole new way of doing things.

NC has some fairly simple regs for home schoolers. You must hold class for the same 180 days that gov't. schools do, and the kids must get end-of-grade testing every year. Other than that, there's not a whole lot. We plan on keeping meticulous records of our kids' progress and grades in order to "prove" to colleges that they did, in fact, learn something.

NC has also loosed up regulations tremendously on what are called charter schools. I think this is what you may have in mind, fusby. Charter schools are where a group of parents get together to form their own (essentially private) school. Most of these schools are fairly small with kids coming from the same neighborhood. The schools have parent-teachers that teach specific subjects. Good idea.

Robert - we feel fortunate that we've been able to do this. My wife spent the first eight years of our marriage at home with the kids. When our youngest entered kindergarten, my wife became an assistant teacher at their elementary school. This seemed ideal as they commuted together and pulled in a second income for the first time. After several years of behind-the-scene peeks at what really goes on in our public schools, we'd had enough.

The biggest criticism that we've heard is "What about the social interaction between the kids?" My reply, "That's one of the main reasons that we're pulling them out!" To put it bluntly - today's youth just plain suck! Their attitudes are horrible. It's a case of the inmates running the asylum in most classes.

Another problem we have is forced busing in NC. This means that kids from predominately black neighborhoods get bused over to the "white" side of town and visa versa. Kids sometimes endure up to three hours (!) of bus rides per day. I don't care what color your skin is; this is completely unfair to all of the kids. (But we do it for the children! :o)

Our kids are active in church youth groups, have friends outside of church and school, and participate in sports and other social activities. They'll get plenty of exposure to other kids. The big difference - we get to choose (to a large extent) the kids that they get exposed to.

Wish us luck...


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Kelly

www.SenatorsPlace.com

Deo Vindice



[This message has been edited by Senator (edited August 02, 1999).]
 
I also am pretty fed up with the garbage that our kids get at school. We have always tried to educate our kids about guns, gun safety and our rights given to us by the 2nd amendment.

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www.sidearmor.net

Precision Crafted
Kydex Holsters
 
Jeff White: That is absolutely infuriating. If there is any ONE single reason why we will lose the battle in the long run (if in fact we do), it will be because the masses are convinced over time that it is NOT an individual right. And what single more important/profound way can you imagine to influence the masses than teach them in 8th grade civics there is no individual RKBA. This is truly where the battle lies. This is doubly infuriating to me because I have no children, so I have no standing to complain about it to the schools. I would bitch and moan and file lawsuits till the cows came home if my kid was taught that BFingS!
 
Just got back from vacation. Would like to keep this thread alive for awhile. Home schooling families have been on the front lines for a long time. For the most part we have already seen the face of the Police State in this country. Police and Social workers at the door. Taking kids away from the family etc. You know all Power to the State. Gun owners have had it easy so far in comparison. Our principle adversary is the NEA, National Education Association, and the same liberal think tanks that support gun control.
Home schooled kids are a real threat to the system. Remember Specialist New(spelling ?) who refused to wear the UN uniform in the Balkans. He was one of ours. The military only recently raised the qouta on the number of home schooled kids they will take.
 
For those of you interested in what PS is teaching these days, and how the PS system got to be such a nightmare, click there -> #

PS, to Darthmaum, I know what you're gonna say, so in responce- "Oddball!" :D (Why ain't there a kissy-smiley?)

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"Is fhe'arr teicheadh math na droch fhuireach"
-Sarabian Oomodo

If it isn't Scottish, it's CRAP!

[This message has been edited by Jedi Oomodo (edited August 09, 1999).]
 
Paul,

Up until 94 or 95, in Texas, it was much as you described it above, with kids being taken away from their parents, all that crap. A Texas homeschool family filed a lawsuit against the district they lived in, where the district was trying to force them to put their kids in PS. The TX Supreme Court ended up voting for the family, saying that TX'ns do have the right to HS their kids. It was the landmark case that changed all the legislation and made HS'ing in TX what it is today.

We still are fighting battles with individual districts who are trying to bully parents into all sorts of illegal schlock (hmm, nothing new here!) regarding everything from having the districts "permission" to HS; to penalizing HS students when they are out in public during a "daytime curfew."

Thus far, we haven't been harassed by our district or by the State, but when and if we are, we know our rights!

It's kinda like our "right" to carry concealed here in TX. For now, the State is "allowing" us to both carry concealed and HS our kids. I sometimes am afraid that it won't last.

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"...What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?... Fight, and you may die, run and you'll live, at least a while. And dying, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that, for just one chance, to tell our enemies, that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our FREEDOM!!!"
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je suis prest




[This message has been edited by Darthmaum (edited August 09, 1999).]
 
Paul, I wouldn't worry too much about doing away with this in our schools. There is more than enough of it in our popular media to get the jop done. It has a wider effect there anyway.
 
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