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That's great, I think the bolded part is the key. Lots of kids aren't part of any group. The one I know definitely was not. That's why it's good to listen to other people's experience. You are talking about a child who has been to Europe and I am speaking of one who wasn't allowed to spend the night away from home from the 1st - 12th grade.
Which should tell you there is as much difference on the homeschooling spectrum as there is in the public schooling sphere.
So stop making this into a homeschool issue. Its not.
I haven't read all of the replies and maybe I'm missing some updates. But there was certainly enough odd behavior that someone should have initiated a welfare check being done on these kids. And the extended family knew enough (unless they're off their rockers, too) to push the issue. The "not my responsibility" approach is wrong. We don't need proof that something is wrong, we need perception and an awareness that something may be wrong in order to help those who can't help themselves.
The 13 starving siblings held captive in a California house were allowed to eat only one rationed meal a day and shower just twice a year, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case told NBC News.
and:
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“They were just like any ordinary family,” said Betty Turpin, the 81-year-old mother of David Turpin. “And they had such good relationships. I’m not just saying this stuff. These kids — we were amazed. They were ‘sweetie’ this and ‘sweetie’ that to each other.”
I don't know about anyone else's family, but I don't know a bunch of siblings that ever call each other sweetie, sisters or brothers, not of that age! Is the family of these people deaf, dumb or blind...maybe all three!?!
I doubt these kids were home schooled at all. The mom couldn't have taught any courses. What was the lesson plan, marching around the room at night. The whole home school thing was just to keep the government off their backs.
Will these children ever have any kind of a near normal life. The mother didn't even have a high school education and she taught home school? The 29 yr old supposedly looks like 15. Very very tragic destroyed lives.
[quote=Magritte25;50733873] And truth be told, depending on the state (like Pennsylvania), these homeschooling families are still paying school taxes even though their kids aren't in the schools. So they, IMO, have every right in the world to take advantage of the public school sports for their homeschooled children. [/QUOTE]
I concur! So, whether one decides to homeschool, a Montessori school, a Catholic school or any other option where parents pay the costs/tuition...they are still paying taxes to support the public school system. It is the price we pay to live in a society which offers the public various needs and amenities.
School taxes are a necessary evil when it comes to owning a home or business. If one rents they are undoubtedly paying as well so the landlord can afford their taxes.
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Originally Posted by motownnative
I can say this with surety; there is no other time in your life you will be exposed to as many opportunities to make friends or have dating opportunities than in your high school or college years
Exposed being the defining word and not always a positive experience for all children. By the time my middle child and my youngest were ready for high school I was compelled to make other choices. The day I registered my middle child at school, an hour after we left a young man was shot in the head (in front of the school, outside) and killed AND this is a public school with metal detectors at the entrance and many local police throughout. My girlfriend worked at the school and called me immediately to make sure we were safe and not still on school grounds, my husband was horrified but in total agreement on my decision. My children are of the Orthodox religion but I sent them to the best Catholic High Schools (2 different ones;all girls and all boys), 2 towns over. It was not inexpensive by any measure and obviously I still paid taxes for our district schools.
My children had many, many opportunities for social interactions not to mention attending schools with an ethos that matched our moral and social beliefs.
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Originally Posted by Mr_Geek
Homeschooled kids do not usually sit around home 24/7 either by the way. My friends that do it with their kids have their kids out and about doing things that kids stuck in school 8 hours a day can't do. They all have lots of friends and social interaction.
I haven't read all of the replies and maybe I'm missing some updates. But there was certainly enough odd behavior that someone should have initiated a welfare check being done on these kids. And the extended family knew enough (unless they're off their rockers, too) to push the issue. The "not my responsibility" approach is wrong. We don't need proof that something is wrong, we need perception and an awareness that something may be wrong in order to help those who can't help themselves.
The sister should have called CPS.
Family dynamics are weird.
I grew up 1000 miles away from my extended family. I can't remember even once speaking on the phone wih my aunts and uncles. While my mom was very close to her mother, so we talked to my grandmother weekly, I don't remember ever speaking to my other grandparents on the phone. I could go years without seeing my aunts and uncles. We never did family gatherings for holidays - Thanksgiving was always just the 4 of us in my parents' home. In the internet age there is less of an excuse, but family dynamics are strange things.
Not to mention if these kids were brainwashed (and it sounds like there were - emotional abuse is horrible), they may not have sounded the alarms themselves. My parents were horribly abusive (though absolutely nothing like this) and none of my family had any idea until we were adults and cut them out of our lives. Our teachers knew and tried to intervene, though they were limited because it was emotional abuse and my mother worked for the school system and managed to squash suspicions.
One of the uncles in this scenario was an infant whe his sister left home and had no real relationship with her. I think it's hard to pin this on the siblings.
The grandparents, on the other hand, sound delusional.
I said a short while ago that this is not a homeschooling issue per se. However, it isn't surprising that the real issue (isolation) and homeschooling as a practice are being conflated. I could be very wrong, but I do not suspect that there is anywhere else in the developed world where parents can legally be just left to it to educate their own children! I know personally a homeschooler. A decent human being, but as for qualifications as an educator? Zero.
Go on a Patent Office website and look through some applications by American companies. Look at the names of the primary authors. Look at America's literacy rate? It's global competitiveness index. Tell me its all good. Even the paid, trained professionals have it hard educated the product of the dysfunctional enclaves that pass for families in much of the U.S. You think you can do better? With what? Your GED? Your "life experience"? Your "moral rigor"?
I don't know why y'all's are getting so wrought over this one example of human failure. There is plenty more where this came from. And it won't get better after Ms. DeVoss has her wicked way with the Federal Education System and the other three Horsemen totally finish of any semblance of civilization that this place had before their advent.
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