6/26: Homeschooling and animal skinning (thanks Slithy_Tove)

[kaleidoscopic ziggurat]

home schooling is the smartest thing a parent can do. massive respect.

and it is certainly wise to screen her email of all the idiotic filth that the public will surely be sending...

though i went to public school i learned 90% of what i know on my own and from my father... you simply cannot rely on the system in this part of the world.

[Katkeeper]

I just had to post because I am TONY's Mom. He was a bright active kid, and was reading by the time he was 2. Fortunately the only time he was attacked was by soccer parents when he did a brief stint as an umpire.

[elSicomoro]

Uh oh...time to get all the dirt on Tony now. ;-)

I was very fortunate to go to Catholic school from K-12. For me, it was a great educational experience. When I went to public college, I was WAY better prepared than many folk.

That having been said, Catholic (or parochial or private school for that matter) schooling isn't for everyone. My brother hated it and didn't do well there. Once he went to a magnet school, he thrived.

Home schooling has become much more acceptable...and much more successful. I think the key is making sure that the children have social connections outside the home.

[Katkeeper]

I promised Tony that I would not reveal any real dirt...

I went to a small private school for the first 6 years and had a very good education. I did 3 years in public school after that and was so far ahead of everyone there that I did no work at all most of the time. The only new subjects were Latin and Science. Point being, that the individual attention is what was important, especially in the formative years.

Tony would have benefited from home schooling.

[Undertoad]

Not only from your intelligence, but... I do feel that all the public schools I went to during my formative years were total crap. What a bunch of civil servants. Basically screwed me up from grades 2-5, and then spent grade 6 telling me how screwed up I really was. Left me in sheer terror and humiliation for grade 7-8. Let's just say that I don't *condone* Columbine... but I *understand* it.

[jaguar]

I went to public schools until year 8 (we have primary school till year 6, then secondary til year 12, then Uni) when i got into a palce called Melbourne HIgh, its an entrance only high school iwht more funding that it needs as is basicly a private school (full balzer uniform etc), because of the lack of distructive kdis and stuff (our school calls us the cream of the crop, personally i think its more they removed the gunky sediment form the bottom but...) the teachers are great and the amount we get though is jsut incredible, the workload boarders on insane (during term i'm often up till 2am, along with most of my class) but its worth it.

I haven't heard of any home schooling in australia but i've heard its better in most cases than Public schools at least. The only loss i would have htough would have been the social side of school...

Hate to sound really harsh and all but frankly, i think theres alot of animals that have more of a right to life than alot of people...

but hey, i am a supporter of VHEMT .......(i love the new URL buttons n stuff, makes it easier than trying to remember the syntax for 10 different sites)

Sycamore mentioned that he went to a catholic school, you stil catholic? were you ever?
The msot interesting thing i've foudn about them in Australia is they seem ot turn kids AGAINST Catholisim, which (and i'm not trying to offend anyone but ill back up my views if asked) is a good thing......

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by jaguar
Sycamore mentioned that he went to a catholic school, you stil catholic? were you ever?
The msot interesting thing i've foudn about them in Australia is they seem ot turn kids AGAINST Catholisim, which (and i'm not trying to offend anyone but ill back up my views if asked) is a good thing......

The simple answer is "no." A lot of people look at Catholicism as the "can't" or "guilty" religion. To be honest though, I'm not sure that really applies anymore. The biggest no-no is birth control (along with abortion). Other than that, Catholics gamble (bingo), drink (at church and at bingo), and women can wear pants.

I never regularly attended Mass, nor do I intend to marry in the Church, or believe in some of the tenets of the Church. I was never really big into the Church and just got sick of all the b.s. I'm not against the Church, just against most organized religions.

Isn't Australia primarily Anglican though?

[jaguar]

Originally posted by sycamore

Isn't Australia primarily Anglican though?

I think that is hte largest church but i'm not sure about largest religion, i think you'll find alot of thsoe that put themselves down as anglican never attend church anyway....

Recently there has been a great lot of interest in Buddhisim and meditation which is partof the growing Asian influence here, which frankly i find very refreshing (and i love Viet food).

Personally i'm pretty much BUddhist (The happiest people i've ever met were buddhist monks, kinda inpspired me) and its a religion or philosophy about yourself not ass-kissing some diety for a half-decent afterlife......

[alphageek31337]

"Ein menuten biter. Tengo un problemo...avec...these...err...religiones."
---Eddie Izzard on Martin Luther

Just to throw one out there, I'd like to say that I've been through a solid bit of parochial schooling and relatively tight Catholic upbringing (either Super-Italian-Wants-To-Fly-To-The-Vatican-To-Die Catholics, or Mondo-Irish-Wants-To-Exhume-Then-Burn-Protestant-English-Monarchs Catholics). I've found that a strict upbringing like that can only really have one of two effects. The child will either also become a massive Catholic, with absolute, fanatical, nearly dangerous devotion, or will turn completley away from Catholicism, and probably all established, organized religion. It all depends on a person's willingness to accept authority, really. If you don't mind being ruled, you find comfort in the structure of such a life. These are the type of people who would also find a career in the army very satisfactory. On the other hand, some people (mineself included) feel stifled by an authoritarian hand, and choose to break free. Unfortunately, those who fall into this category often end up with a deep-seated contempt for those of the former lot. This also happened to me. I guess it all depends on the individual.

[Griff]

Warning! scattered thought debris watch yer heads

Looks like I'm the token practicing Papist here, no offense taken nor intended given. I have a younger sister who fits the hardcore Catholic stereotype to the t. My younger brother is essentially on the other end, only another Catholic would understand his complex relationship with his childhood faith. My older sister is the high-light reel type... Christmas, Easter, palms, throats, and ashes.

I attend mass regularly and have have been asked to lector about once a month. For me, church going is about re-building community bonds in our increasingly fractured rural society. Big church Catholicism holds no attraction for me, maybe they can form communities in those huge parishes but I wonder if folks don't lose something in the convienience of anonimity. Catholicism can be as uplifting or oppressive as the individual (or his parents or priests) makes it. Right now we have a very talented (multi-lingual) very CHRISTIAN parish priest who was raised in a home split between the Russian Orthodox and RC churches. He is therefor much more aware that there are many paths, than our last priest (who almost destroyed our parish with his personality and political commentary). My wifes parents were Unitarians before they split and our extended family runs the full gamut of the American religious and irreligious scene, so naturally we don't take to exclusionary religion. Our new priest has a fascination with pre-Roman Celtic Christianity which should play well here in Irish country, although some of the old folks seem much more Roman than Celtic. As for those who are still cursing the House of Orange "We are," as Stan Rogers put it, "kindred in nothing but name." (brilliant folk anti-war tune I'll see if I can dig up a link)


My kids are in parochial school, more to avoid the public system than out of any religious concern. My wife and I discussed home-schooling, since educationally we make one good human, but didn't think we were organized enough. Our tuition is rising though and we may have to revisit the question. We both went to and hated public schools and both had nightmarish 7th grade experiences (now I'm wondering how common that is?)

[Undertoad]

Steve, I think there's a third category of religious refugees, and that's the folks who run screaming from organized religion in their late teens and 20s and go running back to it either when they have kids or when they find life tough to face. Something about the heavy questions of life, the universe, and everything makes it hard for people to bear without the comfort of what they grew up with, like a cosmic teddy bear that's always there for you.

That's not the ideal way to operate a personal belief system - like some sort of "break glass in case of life meaning emergency" box. But I bear no real ill wll towards those who choose it.

[ndetroit]

Hmmm... I'm by no means a 'religion expert', but I recall reading something similar to what Tony was talking about..

CS Lewis once wrote something like: "...All young people must, at some point in their life, cast off the cloak of their parents religion, leave the church, and come back to it for their own reasons"...

Obviously he was speaking figuratively (and I'm paraphrasing), but he is quite a well respected Christian author and philosopher, and seemed to suggest that if you want to develop a 'true belief' or 'faith', then just relying on what you were taught while growing up just does not cut it.
I guess this is your 'third type' of person...

[Katkeeper]

I have belonged to the Unitarian Church for many years, and since we do not have a creed, we are very aware that one of the main reasons for belonging to a Church is to belong to a community. And that is why I have been a member for as long as I have. I have single friends who do not have a community, and they are definitely lacking something in their lives. One of them shot himself last year, not wanting to go on with life as he was living it. I often think that a cmmunity would have helped him.
Tony grew up loosely connected with the Church, by the way. At least they let him believe what he wanted...

[russotto]

But if my mom shows up, I am outta here.

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by Griff
Warning! scattered thought debris watch yer heads

Looks like I'm the token practicing Papist here, no offense taken nor intended given. I have a younger sister who fits the hardcore Catholic stereotype to the t. My younger brother is essentially on the other end, only another Catholic would understand his complex relationship with his childhood faith. My older sister is the high-light reel type... Christmas, Easter, palms, throats, and ashes.

You damned Holy Roller you!

I always liked the feast of St. Blase. It didn't hurt that we also got cool days off that no one else did (e.g. The Ascenion in late May). In Baltimore, every year, they have a Mass where they bless the tools of workers. Isn't that cool?

*snips part of thread*

I can respect where you stand, Griff. You are open-minded and willing to accept (not just tolerate) other folks and their religious beliefs. The problem is that some people are so hard-core over something that is really SUBJECTIVE, that they'll stop at nothing to convert others...because they feel that THEIR religion is the SUPREME religion. If you want to carry that on an inner level, fine...but don't even think about spewing that to the masses. For example, I respect the Jehovahs that used to give me little booklets at the Metro station where I lived in DC. They weren't trying to force anything on me, but were genuinely SHARING their faith. Sharing is cool...forcing is not.

You think I'm bad, you should meet my gf.

My kids are in parochial school, more to avoid the public system than out of any religious concern. My wife and I discussed home-schooling, since educationally we make one good human, but didn't think we were organized enough. Our tuition is rising though and we may have to revisit the question. We both went to and hated public schools and both had nightmarish 7th grade experiences (now I'm wondering how common that is?)

My last year in high school (1993-94), my parents paid $2900 for me to go to Catholic school. And my school was one of the "lower end" schools too.

Although it can be costly, if your child is thriving, then it could be dangerous to pull them from that environment. I had a lot of non-Catholic friends that went to Catholic high schools...b/c their parents knew that the education was going to be top-notch. And that's the ONLY good thing I'll say about the Catholic life.