Flying Monkeys

Now, it so happens, as a homeschooler, you tend to get asked, "Why do you homeschool?" Sometimes its asked of genuine curiousity, even from someone that's considering homeschooling themselves. Othertimes, its asked from someone whose really just looking to be obnoxious and start a debate or argument. Trust me when I say, as a seasoned homeschooler, you begin to know the difference. The belligerent tone of voice is usually something of a clue, lol!

So, I was recently asked, "Domestic Goddess, how do you handle those moments?"

Simple. Flying monkeys.

When someone comes at me in an aggressive tone, looking for a debate, and demands to know WHY I homeschool, I reply, "Flying monkeys." Sometimes I say this calmly and matter of factly, other times I'll say it in a fearful tone, scanning the skies in a worried sort of way.

They never ask you anything again. Trust me.

Its sort of a disappointment to me, actually. See, I have this whole scenario worked out in my head, if only they WOULD continue. Goes something like this:

Woman runs, off, grabs a friend, talks to her while wildly gesturing in my direction. Both women then head over to me.

First woman: "Tell her what you said!"

Me, giving a blank stare: "I'm sorry?"

FW: "Tell her what you said about homeschooling and flying monkeys!"

Me, concerned: "Ma'am, are you quite all right?"

Second Woman: "She says you homeschool because of flying monkeys."

Me, taking a cautious step back from the two women, and eyeing them warily, as if expecting them to suddenly turn into flesh eating zombies,:" Reeeeallly now. How...interesting. Kids? We need to go. NOW!"

FW, getting a bit hysterical: "You did! You said, flying monkeys! You did! You did!"

Just doin my bit to add a bit of interest to a mundane day

Teacher-Student Bonding

A new discussion is underway here in my city, amongst the public school board and its minions that I find disturbing, and makes me once again grateful to God to be a homeschooler, and affirm again my intention to NEVER have a child in public school.

Apparently the new idea being bandied about (it hasn't hit the general population yet, only those in the school board are aware of it, teachers, etc) is that teachers will be promoted along with the students. So Mrs. Crankypants who is Johnny's teacher in grade one will greet him on the first day of grade two! The idea behind this is 'to promote teacher-student bonding'

Pardon?!
I have two problems with this.
The first problem is minor in comparison to the second. If Jr gets Ms. Sea Hag, kiss goodbye his love of learning if he's stuck with her through elementary school.

The second is far more alarming to me, and is the exact basis of this idea. Teacher-student bonding. 'scuse me?! I find this frightening, I really, truly do. To me, its another way to widen the gap between the public schooled student and his/her family. Ensure that he's bonded to his teacher and further diminish his bond with his mother. (I'm going with the statistics that the majority of elementary teachers are female) To me, this is very very frightening.

I think that public school has a heck of a lot to answer for when it comes to the demise of the nuclear family. Anyone whose been through the public school system has been taught that homework is secondary to family commitments. I cannot begin to count the times that I was punished in school for not completing homework due to family commitments. My mother's notes weren't valid excuses, the homework wasn't completed, and that was all that mattered. I know that I'm not the only student to have experienced that. So many times I've heard people undergoing martial counselling and even divorce because they've been unable to balance work and family, and I've come to understand that the mind set for that started in the public school hallways, where homework was of ultimate importance, family a distant second. That was pounded in to us by our teachers, who had us 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week, in comparison to parents who saw us in the evenings and weekends.

And now they want to further those bonds, by ensuring that teachers follow students for six years or more?

The only bonds young children need to be fostering are those with their family. Not with paid representitives of the public school board!