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11 replies
  1. Rayne of Terror
    Rayne of Terror says:

    All I have to go on is how my boys’ school runs, and I don’t see what you are describing WRT food. Rural school, 25% free & reduced lunch.

    At lunch the kids choose between two entrée options, pizza, salad, ham sandwich, hamburger, veggie burger, tacos, hot dog, quesadilla, etc. Then there are a rotating bunch of sides which are all pretty healthy, mostly fruit or raw veggies, thanks Michelle Obama. ;) There are no salt or sugar shakers available, no trading of food is allowed whatsoever because of allergies.

    Where I do see a crazy making amount of sugar is in the parent provided snacks. In early elementary one parent provides snacks for the whole class once a month. Day after day it is intensely food colored, sugary snacks. I send in apple slices and hard cheese slices which costs probably $12 for a classroom. Sugar snacks are cheap and parents send in as cheap of snacks as they can.

    • Michele
      Michele says:

      Full disclosure: I’m a homeschool parent myself so I don’t have a child in school. I can’t imagine a salt shaker or sugar shaker in a school cafeteria setting but I am sure there is plenty of both ingredients in the processed food choices you’ve mentioned.

      And yes, I see lots of it coming from home – my nephew, for example, or from sports or camps my son has participated in. When I was a kid, soccer snacks were oranges or apple slices. These days it’s Welch’s “fruit” snacks, packages of cookies or crackers, washed down by “juice” drinks.

      Maybe the connection could have been that homeschooled kids might have more access to a wide variety of foods as refrigeration and food prep isn’t as much of a problem.

  2. Mark W.
    Mark W. says:

    “That’s because work isn’t about good grades and IQ, it’s about leadership, teamwork, and diligence LH –all traits of a star athlete.”

    LH – are you missing a ink?

    Also, national school choice week for this year ends today as it runs from 1/24 – 1/30/16. A web site by the same name proclaims – “The goal of National School Choice Week (NSCW) is to raise public awareness of all types of education options for children. These options include traditional public schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling.” School choice has a long ways to go in this country when viewed from a prism of practicality. Why do they call it school in the first place? How about National Educational Choice Week? Here’s something else – there should be no Dept. of Education in the federal government. Each State and locality is very capable of regulating education to the degree that the people in each State believe is necessary. Also the facilities and resources of public schools should be more accessible to homeschoolers if they so desire. Homeschoolers do pay taxes. So you may ask why am I bringing all this up in this post? It’s because of the sentence quoted above from this post which mentions “leadership, teamwork, and diligence”. Maybe there will be more homeschoolers in the future with these qualities and more to make education a better experience with more choices for children.

  3. Carol Therrien
    Carol Therrien says:

    Dear Penelope,
    I’m located north in Montreal, Canada. Having the choice to Homeschool or use private and public system is very subjective. A choice that we make as individuals I guess. There is success and failure in each. Over the years in my family I have seen both. At the end of the day I feel we have done our job properly if our children are able to do these things: Be CONSISTENT in whatever path you choose- meaning getting up in the morning and being committed to what you said you would do. Not being a BURDEN to the family or society. These two things seem rather simple as I have talked endless about them with a good friend of mine. We all have black sheep in our families and the worst thing that we do is enable them because they are the weakest link. I encourage my girls to choose something, a path to start with. But there has to be a starting line or otherwise there’s no direction and that means trouble. Thanks Carol

  4. Robyn D
    Robyn D says:

    Homeschooling also teaches children to think outside the box. Ideally, to observe and understand that just because something is popular, doesn’t make it right. Parents are also in a position to foster better tolerance, as homeschooled siblings and peers may all be at different levels and stages in the learning process, regardless of age, race, sex, or religion.

  5. jessica
    jessica says:

    The article about athletes took me by surprise. Mainly, due to the fact that it lists the area I grew up in and the schools they talk about are top notch, yet still not enough.
    Are homeschooling athletes the next top athletes then?

    • Bostonian
      Bostonian says:

      It’s not a matter of the schools not being enough, rather of being too much. If these kids are looking to be professional athletes, the time they can find after school and before studying isn’t enough for practice. Better they get a full nights sleep every night, focus on the sport when they’re at their best, and for several hours a day, and pencil-whip the school requirements when it isn’t inconvenient.

      It’s efficient. It makes sense they would be the next top athletes. Of course, that their form of dropping out is legitimated under homeschooling doesn’t mean they’ll have anything to do with any other homeschoolers. You won’t be seeing them in your science class or at the park day.

  6. GiGi
    GiGi says:

    I have a list like that I thought I’d share.

    1. All the questions answered (well, nearly) because they are at home and are “permitted” to communicate all day, they keep asking the questions and getting answers 24/7. How different will they be compared to school kids who simply logistically will have to suppress some, ask later, forget or potentially get into a habit of not asking?
    2. Ample sleep, healthy food, less or no stress etc. Ditto to comments above.
    3. Getting our two cents, A LOT MORE re politics, history, life, struggles… that I think are invaluable and timely, judging by the questions they’re asking. Not to mention the range of topics they’re exposed to. (actually not just family, but many more people around us)
    4. Living in an unstructured, free-flowing, but proactive (with all the projects we’re doing), and do-over permissions, and no rules except the important ones like respect, freedom etc. Should work in their favor in life. Actually, from time to time they love doing school workbooks just to relax from all the decision making they have to do on a daily basis.

    Please share your lists, this conversation makes us stronger and kids more confident.

  7. Amy - ENTP
    Amy - ENTP says:

    Hi Penelope,

    Have you thought about creating a personality type test geared toward kids? Maybe different ones based on age range? I’ve found your Quistic test for adults to be so helpful in personal and work scenarios.

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