In Patrick Henry's footsteps (Great Read on Homeschooling!)

WorldNetDaily ^ | 4/23/05 | Kevin Swanson

[WorkingClassFilth]

You are correct. I have a sideline selling books to home-schoolers and I agree with your impressions about the public libraries. They way it works here is that the dollars budgeted have to be spent and there is only so much shelf space. So, the inevitable crunch results in huge book discards. As far as I can determine, the criteria varies. Many books are nixed because they don't see traffic. Other's go simply because of age. Still more are tossed because of duplicates. Finally, I tend to believe that political agendas are afoot in the scheme as well.

I mention the last because I gauge my opinion on the flow of political books through a library system. It is the pronounced discard of obvious conservative titles and the much lower rate of discards for liberal-left titles that tells the tale. Of course, readership may be stronger for leftist books (possible in MN), but the discards usually seem to be cherry-picked titles that hold connections to leftist embarrassments or obvious corruption. As an example, the pro-Clinton titles have streamed out in the last two years after anywhere from a four to ten year run. Conservative books on President Bush or Clinton however, are usually discarded within a two year run. Now this is just casual observation, but I say it as one who actually thought about this topic for many years and watched the discard stream.

Do not believe that your public libraries are strapped for cash (well, ours sure aren't). I routinely buy $500.00 worth of books - sometimes weekly - for about 5% of their face value. Most are in very fine to unused condition despite being library books. Your tax dollars are simply keeping NY publishing houses afloat through the mindless purchase of whatever is offered. Think of that one for a moment, the libraries will actually ax copies of timeless titles on biography, history, Americana, etc. and purchase an endless stream of dreck from the bowels of the politically correct elites.

One final note...

The great beauty of Home Schooling, however, is that what appeals to the homeschooling family is nearly 180 degrees opposite what currently sells in the larger culture. If something is fashionable, politically correct, media-hyped or explicitly leftist it has a place on the front shelves of your local bookstore and library. If it is none of these things, it is discarded or ends up in the clearance section...

And that's where my job comes in.

[sdpatriot]

it's all right... my whole family was horrified when i pulled my kids out of Public School and started HS. they listed the same things as you as their concerns.

i had to weigh the good and bad.... even good and EVIL, as i saw it at the time.

we live on a ranch, so there was never a shortage of work. my youngest could run his Dad's backhoe when he was 12 like a pro. like the Hank Williams Jr song.. a country boy will survive. they know how to do home canning, raise chickens, dig a well, milk a cow, weld, break and train a horse, mechanic, make home made wine, rope a calf, and .. yes - shoot and skin a buck. they also know how their Government works and what the Constitution says.. and means. and that's just the practical stuff.. i didn't mention the academics.

they are both in higher education now... the oldest with a 4.0... and the other to graduate in 2 weeks from trade school. (and they're both a little too out going for me)

forgive the long post... moms love to brag..

ps... my family has all retracted their former nay-saying after seeing the finished (partly finished) products.

[esquirette]

I have always wanted to do what you are doing.

[sdpatriot]

and don't forget the Jack London books. they were my very favorite when i was a kid. i yearned for Alaska because of them..

[WorkingClassFilth]

Well, get used to not making money if you do. I do it only as a side to feed my personal book habit. The margins are too slim to make much beyond expenses - homeschoolers live on small budgets and only buy when they need to. Well and good, I say, but not a way to make a living.

[esquirette]

I think a couple million kids like that is an unfair advantage. . . .

[sdpatriot]

you mean 'cause they know how to make home made wine? ; )

[WorkingClassFilth]

I salute you and all other women (and fathers, too) that do the kind of job you are doing!

I read a piece in the WSJ last summer about the phenomenon of HS kids going through Patrick Henry College (for HS kids) and Hillsdale. The Bush administration has, I guess, about seven of these kids as interns in the White House. The leftists were in a foaming lather over it. One woman (or womyn) said she was "terrified" of these interns because of the future threat from religious politics.

I laughed when I read that one. Milk drinking kids that say please and thank you and can read and write "terrify" the left. What a good thing. You and the hundreds of thousands of other families doing your counter-counter-culture education are to be praised and lauded and esteemed. You done real good!

[Gabz]

Phyllis Whitney wrote some enjoyable books.

I think I read every one she ever wrote. I started reading them when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade and felt the stories were growing up with me even when I was in college and later.......

[sdpatriot]

well thank you. you know what really steams me? it's the lie that we CAN'T do it. i believed that lie for years... knowing in my heart that i was letting my children being indoctrinated.. but doubting my abilities. there was a straw that broke the camel's back..... and also, one of my kid's teachers who i resepected very much advised me to pull them out and HS when i asked her opinion.

it isn't hard. it's a JOY. it really is. i admire the poster who has an outside job and schools... that would be much harder.. but parents can do it. heck... Patrick Henry's parents did it. .. and he turned out not too bad.. LOL

[sdpatriot]

>>>>....HS kids going through Patrick Henry College (for HS kids) and Hillsdale. The Bush administration has, I guess, about seven of these kids as interns in the White House.<<<<


these are some rare pearls. God bless them and keep them safe... in every way.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Yep. We need to load up the farm teams on this end and down the road some will make it to the big leagues - maybe dominate them. One boy in my neck of the woods at about 19 or 20 has his sights set on being a Senator.

[Gabz]

I have never met a homeschooled child that was immature or not socialized or unable to follow specific directions......I know more kids from public school that fit that description.

My daughter is in public school, but until she started kindergarten I was self-employed and took her where ever I went, whetherit was to the library for reasearch, the state capitol on a piece of legislation I was working on (I was a lobbyist), political meetings, rallies, fundraisers or what have you.

She's not quite 7, but is comfortable in a group of kids her age, mixed age, or even all adults.

Some leftwing whackos that have serious problems with my political positions have claimed I am a child abuser for exposing her to current events, political views, and life in general. I don't care

I am not a "real" homeschooler, but just because a child goes to public school doesn't mean they can't and shouldn't have the advantages of homeschooling. And based on my experience I don't see homeschooled children at any "disadvantage" compared to their peers in more formal school environments.

[yooper]

"Patrick Henry was indeed gifted. He read for the Bar (no law school) by reading Blackstone's Commentaries on the Common Law, and passed after 6 weeks of study. He was homeschooled!"

I have the utmost respect for those parents who choose to home school their kids; I'm sure it's a daunting task which demands much time and educational acumen. But I have a problem with it, on a personal level.

I'm a father raising two kids by myself. As such, it is impossible for me to home school. I'm a professional (civil engineer), so I'm capable of providing my kids with an education, but we also need to eat and pay the bills. In other words, I need to work, which means my kids need to attend the public schools.

Home schooling is a band-aid which only families in certain situations can benefit from. As I said, I'm capable of providing an education to my kids, but there are many families, both single parent and two-parent, who cannot provide the requisite education to their kids because they don't have the requisite skills.

No, home schooling is not the ultimate answer. It may be a temporary answer for you, and you will have rescued your kids from a corrupt US educational system, but it doesn't provide a long term solution which will benefit the masses for the greater good of society.

I believe in public education. I really do, because it worked for over 100 years. So why isn't it working now? It's because the NEA has incorporated an attitude in it's members that the public education system exists to provide teachers with a livelyhood, whereas before it existed to provide children with an education.

Fifty years ago, teachers went into the teaching profession with no illusion about the fact that they would be underpaid, but they would have the satisfaction of knowing that they had equipped the nation's children with the skills necessary to excel in life. I want that back! I demand that back!

I also want teachers to be compensated justly, and I want poor teachers to be held accountable.

You homeschoolers, you're still paying the state and local taxes which are being doled out to the public school systems. Doesn't that piss you off? If you are serious about confronting the public schools you should refuse to pay these taxes.

As for me, I'm forced to deal with the public schools. The answer isn't to run away; it is to demand a decent education for our kids from the schools that we are funding.

[sdpatriot]

checked out your bio page... LOL.

i grew up in Mn.. up by Bagley... about 25 miles from that Red Lake school shooting.

[SauronOfMordor]

We decided to stop homeschooling our eldest when she was 15. By skipping all the fluff and crud over the years, we'd managed to cover the whole HS curriculum a bit early. So we had her start college early

[Mulder]

A good article.

With the numbers of homeschooled children increasing, the "powers that be" are going to have to do something about it.

Illegal immigration, embraced by the ruling party (at the top there is only one party in American politics), has the effect of diluting the homeschoolers impact once they become adults.

But this won't stop them from becoming leading citizens able to rationalize things for themselves.

What I foresee happening is some kind of a "national service draft" lasting 2 years. During these 2 years of slavery, the state will attempt to do undo everything these children learned in the previous 18. Their values. Their independence. Their honor. And so.

Those that refuse to go along will be tried and sentenced as felons.

[sdpatriot]

>>If you are serious about confronting the public schools you should refuse to pay these taxes.<<

one problem there.. you will get your property confiscated and might go to prison.. i guess that's two problems.... and probably more..

true... we still pay property tax. But - the school doesn't get their head count money from the State (and fed matching most times). this is why the Public Schools and lefties and NEA hate private, home, Christian, etc schooling. it DOES take money away from them. they get so much per pupil.

you can just supplement what the school is lacking in. and i believe that is mostly in Civics. hmmm... i wonder why?
all you have to do is get some good (older the better IMO) books on US Government.. and do a little weekend schooling..

i'm sorry for your predicament.. but asking others to keep their children on a sinking ship ..... for what? ... is not going to happen.

to me the amswer is back to township schools. parents were in control and kids had a much healthier family type enviroment . meaning kids from 5 to 18.
now they are like little herd animals and really don't learn any more authentic social skills except herd animal ones - ie pick on the weakest, don't stand out etc.

JMO.

[sdpatriot]

>>Some leftwing whackos that have serious problems with my political positions have claimed I am a child abuser for exposing her to current events, political views, and life in general.<<

you forgot - and 'cause you're a dirty smoker.

LOL

i started rolling my own a couple months ago Gabz..
WOW is that cheap(er)! i tea-partied them! LOL

[yooper]

"one problem there.. you will get your property confiscated and might go to prison.. i guess that's two problems.... and probably more.. "

Yes, well, I knew that would be the reply, and it's certainly a legitimate reply, but how deeply do you believe in home schooling? Thoreau is watching you.

It just pisses me off to no end that I'm paying taxes to support a system which is an abject and obvious failure. And yet due to my personal situation I have no choice.

My point is that home schooling seems to me to be running away from a very serious problem which needs to be corrected for the greater good of the American people. The NEA have hi-jacked our kids, and I resent that.

The public schools belong to our kids, we pay for them, AND I WANT THEM BACK.